by Dean Koontz
The tugboat listed to port, and the deck sloped down toward the stern because the bow had climbed onto the beach. Although the wet deck had not been a serious challenge when we had been at sea, this degree of incline promised to provide me with entertainment.
Slipping, as they say, like a pig on ice, I crossed the canted deck to the railing and looked down. Wondering why a pig would ever be on ice, I saw dark ground under the eddying fog.
I hefted the satchel over the railing and let it drop. All the triggers were wrapped in double-walled felt bags, as if they had been purchased in an upscale store like Tiffany; consequently, they did not clank rudely upon impact.
Because the boat listed in this direction, I had to climb out onto the railing as well as scramble over it. When I landed beside the satchel, on solid ground, I promised myself that my seagoing days were over.
In the past, I had lied to myself about such things. For the moment, however, I was willing to disregard those previous false promises, perfidious as they might have been, and to take joy in my commitment to a landlubber’s life.
I considered heading directly inland, through Hecate’s Canyon, where coyotes prowled and where the buried bodies of at least two murdered girls—victims of the art teacher, Arliss Clerebold—had never been found.
Nope.
Instead, I picked up the satchel and, leaning to the right as though I remained on a listing deck, I stepped within sight of the breaking surf and followed it north, which was to my right as I faced the Pacific. In this white wilderness, the water line was the only reliable guide available to me.
According to the GPS sea map on the tugboat bridge, the cove had a crescent beach that curved between the steep slopes that formed the terminus of the canyon. At the northwest end of the cove, the beach continued north along the coast all the way past town to the harbor.
That turn, from cove to coastal shore, could be underwater at high tide. Fortunately, this was not high tide, and at a brisk walk I reached the main beach in two or three minutes.
A bluff diminished northward for the next quarter of a mile or more. I followed it until it petered out, and then headed inland until I came to Magic Beach’s quaint concrete boardwalk, on which I continued north.
I was tired. The events of the night justified my weariness. I felt that it would be within my rights to lie down for a nice sleep on the boardwalk, and to hell with the in-line skaters whose early-morning speedfest would be presented with one more obstacle in addition to the usual old men with canes and little old ladies with walkers.
Weariness alone did not explain my increasing difficulty with the leather satchel. Weary or not, the farther you carry any heavy burden, the heavier it seems, but neither did that truth solve the puzzle of the rapidly escalating weight. I had been lugging the bag for less than ten minutes, and already it felt twice as heavy as when I had dropped it over the tugboat railing.
With caution, I approached Hutch Hutchison’s house from the alleyway. Although I did not have to worry that Utgard Rolf might be waiting inside for me, and although I figured Hoss Shackett must be busy elsewhere, tearing his hair out and contemplating an extreme identity change that would include gender alteration, the pair of redheaded gunmen might have time on their hands and the patience to wait here like trap-door spiders.
After letting myself through the gate beside the garage, I had to carry the satchel with both hands. By then it felt as though it contained the grand piano that Laurel and Hardy had never been able to get up those narrow stairs.
I put it down on the brick patio, next to the wrought-iron chair on which earlier I had draped my sand-caked jeans and socks. I had to roll my shoulders and stretch my arms to relieve the strain that had knotted my muscles.
I stepped back from the house, to a corner of the garage, where I flipped open the cell phone given to me by Birdie Hopkins. I called the Cottage of the Happy Monster. Annamaria answered on the third ring.
“It’s me,” I said. “Where’s Blossom?”
“Making popcorn. She’s the dearest person.”
“I knew you’d like her.”
“She will be with me always,” Annamaria said, which seemed to me an odd way to say that she would never forget Blossom Rosedale.
“I’ll be coming for you soon,” I said. “Within the hour. We’ll have to leave town, if that’s all right with you.”
“What will be will be.”
“Here we go again.”
“You’re my protector, and I’m your charge. We do as you think best.”
I did not know why I felt now a greater weight upon me than when in my sole possession, aboard the death boat, had been four nuclear bombs and their triggers.
When I found myself with no reply, she said, “You’re always free to retract your pledge, Odd Thomas.”
In memory, I saw her in the light of the oil lamp: Will you die for me?
I had said yes, and had taken the offered bell.
“No,” I said. “I’m with you. Wherever this is leading. Until the end of it. We’re leaving town. I’ll be there within the hour.”
I closed the phone and slipped it in a pocket of my jeans.
Although Ozzie Boone’s tutelage and the writing of these four manuscripts have given me some facility with language, I don’t have the words to describe the strange feeling that overcame me then.
Of all the things I am, a killer is one of them. Not a murderer, but still a killer. And a fool. The only child of a mad mother and a narcissistic father. A failed hero. A confused boy. A troubled man. A guy who makes his life up as he goes along. A seeker who cannot find his way.
No one should entrust someone like me with a treasure. Whether Annamaria herself was the treasure, or her child, or neither of them, but instead some mysterious thing yet to be revealed, I knew that she believed she had a treasure that required protection. Her judgment in the matter had a conviction that convinced me.
In spite of an acute awareness of my inadequacies, I intuited that, for all my faults, this was my duty and my honor. What I felt then, by Hutch’s garage, that I cannot describe is a nameless emotion below humility, a deference immeasurably greater than what the meek feel in the shadow of the mighty, what a sparrow might feel if Nature charged him with carrying on his small wings all the living things of a dying Earth to a new world.
And I did not know why I felt all this, because I did not know to what I had committed. Or perhaps I knew in my heart, but kept the knowledge from myself, preferring to proceed in ignorance, for fear the truth would paralyze me, petrify me as solidly as eons of time can petrify living wood into hardest stone.
FORTY-TWO
IN CASE THE REDHEADED GUNMEN HAD COME visiting Hutch, had not been convinced by his performance, and had settled down to wait for me, I examined the compact pistol. The ten-round magazine held nine. I switched off the safety.
Most likely because I had recently spent too much time at sea, I muttered, “Okay, fish or cut bait.”
The Ziploc pill bag in the terra-cotta bowl of cyclamens. The key in the bag.
Ease open the door. Quiet. The fading cinnamon aroma of homemade cookies. The golden glow of the string lights hidden in the recessed toe kick of the cabinets.
All as it should be. Never a good sign.
This time wearing pants, I crossed the cozy kitchen and warily entered the downstairs hall.
When I peered cautiously through the open parlor door, I saw Hutch in the armchair where I had left him. The chenille throw lay across his lap and draped his knees; but he had put the book aside. He snored softly.
I engaged the safety on the little pistol, and pocketed the weapon.
Hutch must have had dinner while I’d been gone, and had returned to the parlor to watch television. On the TV played an old movie in which he had starred. He had muted the sound.
I stood watching the silent screen.
His co-star in this one had been the wondrous Deborah Kerr, as beautiful as she had been in The Life and De
ath of Colonel Blimp, as haunting as in An Affair to Remember, as elegant as in Bonjour Tristesse, as fresh-faced and innocent as in Black Narcissus.
Hutch had not been storklike in those days. With his height and his mane of hair, he had been a lion on the screen. Time had not yet carved his noble profile into a caricature, brow and beak and blunted chin.
Whatever he was currently saying to Deborah Kerr and she to him, the conversation was intense. He held her tenderly by her shoulders, and she gazed up at him, and the moment was building to a kiss as surely as lightning leads to thunder.
“She was magnificent,” Hutch said, having awakened as I stood entranced by the images on the TV.
“Were you in love with her, sir?”
“Oh, yes. Very much so. From a distance. She was untouchable, however. A true lady. There are none like her now.”
And here came the kiss. A few more words. And a second kiss. Dissolve to a European battlefield.
Hutch sighed. “Half a century goes by in what seems like a year. Don’t waste an hour in boredom, son, or wishing for tomorrow.”
“I do my best to keep myself occupied,” I assured him.
Sitting up straighter in the chair, he said, “I’m sorry to say no one has come looking for you.”
“I’m delighted to hear it.”
“I would have given a stirring performance, one for the ages. Acting is a marvelous profession, son. If you can spend enough time playing other people, you don’t have to think too much about your own character and motivations.”
“To save my skin, I had to be someone else tonight. I called myself Harry Lime.”
“That takes chutzpah. You’re no Orson Welles, young man.”
“I wouldn’t disagree, sir.”
“I almost landed the lead in The Third Man. But I can’t begrudge Joseph Cotten getting it. He was superb.”
I sat on the footstool. “Mr. Hutchison—”
“Call me Hutch. Everyone does.”
“Yes, sir. Well, as you know, I didn’t arrive on this job with many clothes—”
Leaning forward in his armchair, eyes alight, he interrupted: “We’ll go to a thrift shop tomorrow! I’ve been afire with the idea since we talked about it earlier.”
“Well, gee, what I was about to say is…I’m going upstairs to change into a clean sweatshirt. And I’m in such a hurry, I was kind of hoping it wouldn’t be too much of an inconvenience if I asked you to dispose of my clothing.”
He understood but didn’t want to understand. “What a peculiar request.”
“I have to leave tonight, sir.”
“But why?” He held up one hand that, in the day, held Deborah Kerr. “Yes, I see. Big guy with a chin beard, then a redheaded guy who does or does not have bad teeth. So am I to assume that your differences with them could not be resolved?”
“Not entirely, sir.”
“Now you’re going on the lam.”
“Exactly.”
“Once, I was on the lam myself.”
I said, “With Henry Fonda in relentless pursuit.”
“Relentless in his relaxed way. I think it would have been better if Henry shot me down.”
“But you were innocent.”
“Yes, but sometimes the innocent die, and audiences occasionally like a tragedy.” He frowned. “Son, you came here with one suitcase, and you’re leaving with just the clothes on your back.”
“I prefer to travel light.”
“Just be certain to wear pants.”
“I intend to, sir.”
“Call me Hutch. Everyone does. These thrift-shop clothes of yours…do they come with an obligation?”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
“When one buys clothing in a thrift shop and is done with it, is one contractually obligated to pass the clothing on to someone poorer than oneself?”
“Oh, no, sir. You can just throw them in the trash.”
“That’s easy, then. I thought there might be some protocol that I would want to honor, if you had committed to it.” He pulled aside the chenille throw on his lap and prepared to get up from the chair.
I said, “One more thing, and I regret having to ask.”
He looked crestfallen. “You want to take the rest of the cookies you made today.”
“No, no. Those are yours.”
“Oh, good. Splendid. Lovely.”
“Sir, I was wondering if I could borrow one of the cars.”
“Of course. You’re a superb driver.”
“I can’t risk trying to leave town by bus or train.”
“They’ll be watching public transport.”
“Precisely. If I could drive your car to Santa Barbara, I could leave it with your nephew there, and maybe he could arrange to get it back to you.”
His brow creased with worry. “But what will you do then?”
“Make it up as I go along. It works for me.”
“Sounds grim.”
“No, sir. It’s adventurous but not grim.” I got up from the footstool. “I’d better change sweatshirts and get moving.”
Each of his long legs seemed to have two knee joints as he unfolded them and got to his feet. “I shall meet you in the kitchen with the car keys.”
“Oh,” I said, “and a flashlight? I’ll need a flashlight. That’s it. I won’t keep asking for stuff.”
“One needs a good flashlight on the lam. No problem.”
Upstairs in my room, I realized that I would also be leaving a collection of Sinatra biographies. I suspected that I would not need them anymore.
In the bathroom, I stripped to the waist, washed my upper body, face, and hands, careful not to disturb the taped wound on my side. I put on a fresh T-shirt and a sweatshirt that did not have a word on either the chest or the back.
When I went down to the kitchen, a flashlight and the keys to the Mercedes were on the kitchen island.
“Sir, I can’t take the Mercedes.”
“It is much better cover than the Explorer. They might expect a young man such as yourself, in sneakers and a sweatshirt, on the lam, to split town in an Explorer, but never in a Mercedes.”
“I’d rather have the Explorer.”
“I refuse to give you the keys to the Explorer. The Mercedes is better cover. And I am the director for once.”
“But—”
Hutch pointed to a plastic-wrapped package also on the kitchen island. The label said PORK RIND, and the plastic was still crusted with frost from the freezer.
“I want you to have that,” he said.
“Gee, sir, I do love pork rind, but I’m not going to have any cooking facilities for a while.”
“Pork rind is merely my code, so I’ll know what’s in the package. If it said beef tongue, then it would contain entirely twenties. If it said sweetbreads, it would contain a mix of half twenties and half hundreds.”
“Money? Oh, no. No, no, no. I can’t accept that.”
“I have bank accounts, of course, but I don’t entirely trust banks, you see. When I was nine years old, a lot of banks failed.”
“I have money,” I assured him. “I’ve saved some of my pay.”
“That’s not enough to go on the lam. You need to be flush when you go on the lam, as I learned the hard way.”
“But that’s too much, way too much.”
“How would you know? Maybe pork rind is my code for a brick of one-dollar bills.”
“What is it your code for, sir?”
“None of your damn business.”
He produced a pink hostess-gift bag decorated with yellow birds flying with curls of blue ribbon in their beaks. He put the package of so-called pork rind in the bag and held it out to me by the two braided gold-cord handles.
I waved it away. “Really. Really, I can’t.”
His face darkened with disapproval, tightened with authority, thrust forward with the expectation of obedience. His voice was that of the heroic captain demanding of his men more than they think they are capable of g
iving. He raised his free hand in a bony fist for emphasis.
“Soldier, you are going to take this, and you are going to do the right thing with it, and I will brook no debate, accept no excuse. Is that perfectly clear?”
Annamaria said that people gave her money. I doubted that any of them had forced it upon her with an implied threat of violence.
“This is very generous, sir.”
He broke character and grinned. “Take, take. Don’t be silly. It’s Nibbles’s money, anyway.”
“Nibbles the swashbuckling rabbit.”
“He just keeps earning royalties that I don’t know what to do with.”
Accepting the hostess-gift bag, I said, “If I ever have kids, sir, each of them will have his own full set of Nibbles’s adventures.”
As I put the flashlight in the bag with the frozen money and picked up the keys to the Mercedes, Hutch said, “Through dinner and everything this evening, how many times do you think I sanitized my hands with Purell?”
“Well, you had the chicken enchiladas, and though you like the taste of chicken, it makes you nervous because of all the salmonella and E. coli stories in the press. So I’d say…twenty times?”
“Guess again.”
“Thirty?”
With an unmistakable note of pride, he said, “Five.”
“Only five?”
“Five,” he repeated.
“That’s really something, sir.”
“Isn’t it? Having touched money, even wrapped in plastic and frozen, I’m half desperate to Purell my hands right now, but I’m not going to.”
“You’re not going cold turkey, are you?”
“No, no. I’ll wean myself from it as best I can. I had a brother who was a heroin addict and went cold turkey. It was ghastly.”
“Yes, sir. The young Anthony Perkins.”
“The experience so shattered him that later he wore his mother’s clothes and stabbed people. I shall minimize my use of Purell but not risk such a fate as his.”
He smiled and so did I.
“Take care of yourself, son.”
“I will, sir. You, too.”