She headed for the door. “Let’s go. I’ll have to call Catherine soon and tell her that we’ve left the hotel. I suppose you do know where we’re going?”
“Yes.” He opened the door for her. “We’re going back to my childhood, Eve.”
* * *
“SON OF A BITCH.” QUEEN’S hand tightened on the phone. “Did you have to cause such a stir, Black? Taking that kid was a bad move. People get upset about children. Do what you like on your own, but this is my job you’re doing.”
“Then find a way to take the heat off me,” Black said mockingly. “Why are you so upset? You’ve done it before. Plant some evidence, find a convenient witness to give a false description. Judy Clark will probably die anyway, and that will make it safer. I decided I needed the little girl.”
“Don’t kill her. There’s too much publicity already.”
“Don’t tell me what to do. You want your ledger. I’m going to get it for you.” He added softly, “Cover me just like you’ve always done, and everything will be fine.” He hung up.
Queen cursed beneath his breath. Cover the homicidal son of a bitch? How was he supposed to do that when Black was becoming more reckless all the time? He’d planned for this to be Black’s final job for him, but the bastard was going to ruin him if he couldn’t find a way to control him.
And if he killed the kid, Queen hoped to hell he hid her body so that no one would ever find it.
* * *
WHINING ASSHOLE.
Black pocketed his phone and turned to the little girl sitting on the chair across the room. She had tousled sandy blond hair and was wearing a pink Cinderella nightshirt. Her feet were bare and dangling a few inches from the floor. She was one of the quiet ones. Her big brown eyes wide and frightened as a doe before the final shot of the hunter.
They were all different. That was what made the child-kills such an exquisite pleasure.
“Did you hear me tell him that your mother was going to die? She wasn’t quite dead when I took you from the house.” He smiled. “But you saw what I did to her, didn’t you?”
She nodded, her eyes filling with tears.
“You mustn’t cry. I don’t like it. If you cry, I’ll do the same thing to you that I did to your mother and grandmother.”
“I won’t cry.” Her voice was almost a sob as she frantically tried to stop. “Please don’t hurt me.”
“You have eyes like a deer, like Bambi. Did your mother ever let you see the DVD about Bambi, Cara?”
“Yes.”
“And do you remember how the hunter killed Bambi’s mother?”
The tears were beginning to roll down the child’s cheeks. “It was sad.”
“But that’s what hunters do, they hunt the pretty deer. I’ve decided that’s what I’m going to do with you. I’m going to turn you loose in the forest, and we’ll play hunter and deer.” He got up and strolled across the space separating them. “I’m a very good hunter, Cara.” He reached out and touched her tear-wet cheek. “You’re going to have to be very clever, very fast to get away from me. I’m afraid that you won’t be able to do it. I’ll catch you and kill you and skin you.”
“Please. I’ll be good.” She was sobbing. “Don’t hurt me.”
“But you’re not a good girl. I told you not to cry.”
“I’ll stop. I’ll stop.”
“Too late.” His hand dropped away. “But we won’t play that game for a while. We’re going on a little car trip.” He took her arm and led her toward the door. “And then I may need you to talk to someone on the phone. You’ll do that for me, won’t you?”
“I’ll do anything you say. I promise. I’ll be so good.”
Those pretty doe’s eyes swimming in tears, gazing frantically up at him. It had been a brilliant idea to go for the hunt. He could hardly wait.
He smiled down at her. “Yes, in the end you’ll be very good for me.”
* * *
EVE GAZED IN BEWILDERMENT AT the huge bus terminal in the middle of the city.
“This is returning to your childhood?”
“In a manner of speaking.” John took her arm and nudged her through the crowd to the front entrance. “When I was a kid, this was where the housing project that I grew up in was located. Several years after I left, they tore it down and sold the property to a developer. They made it into a bus depot.” He shrugged. “I was just as happy. I hated the place.”
“The Bricks,” she murmured. “You said everyone called it the Bricks.”
His brows rose. “You remember that? I’m surprised.”
“So am I.” The memory had come out of nowhere. “I guess I remember more than I thought about that time.” Then she recalled something else. “I had to gather all my memories of you together once when Bonnie was a baby. I suppose they kind of stuck.”
“Really? And why did you do that?”
“Your uncle had just told me that you were dead. I thought I should tell Bonnie a little about her father.” She grimaced. “It was a crazy idea. She was only eight months old. She couldn’t have understood any of it. But I remember her looking at me as if she did.”
“Maybe she did,” John said quietly. “You told me the nurse said she was magic. Maybe that was how she was able to come to me in that prison. You gave her the key.”
Eve was once more aware of the wave of intimacy that seemed to be a recurring theme. She looked away from him. “I don’t know. All I wanted to do was not let her go through life without knowing something about the man who gave her life. All the rest is a mystery. I’m still having trouble with understanding what you told me.” She changed the subject. “Why are we here? I’m sure it’s not some sentimental journey to the past.”
“No.” He nodded at the wall of lockers across the terminal station. “When I was looking for a place to hide Queen’s ledger, I thought of this spot. I have only ugly memories of this site, and I thought I’d add another bit of ugliness to the place. Why dirty up any other area?” He held out his hand. “The key I gave you?”
She reached in her bag and located it. “The ledger is here?”
He took the key and his pace quickened. “Yes. Locker 57. Come on, let’s retrieve it and get the hell out of here.”
She watched him unlock the locker. “It still bothers you? Even though the place was torn down years ago?”
“There’s nothing more vivid than childhood memories.” He pulled out a leather briefcase, checked inside, and slammed the door of the locker. “Yeah, it bothers me.”
That had been a stupid question. A father who had put his cigarettes out on his son’s back? That was not a memory that would vanish with time. “But you had your uncle Ted.”
He nodded. “And that saved me.” He took her elbow. “Let’s go. I’ve got what I came for. This place suffocates me.”
She didn’t speak until they were in the car and driving away from the bus station. “Then why didn’t you find another place for the ledger? It hurts you. It’s not worth it.”
He shrugged. “Maybe it’s a form of self-flagellation. It could be I feel the need to punish myself for all my sins.” He paused. “Or perhaps just for one particular sin.”
“What sin?”
“I’m not going to use you as a confessor, Eve.” He nodded at the briefcase he’d put on the floor of the passenger seat. “Take a look at the ledger. I want you to be able to identify it if it becomes necessary.”
She undid the briefcase and pulled out a thin, cloth-wrapped brown leather volume. The pages were stiff, brittle, the entries clear, but in a script that must have been Korean. “I wouldn’t be able to identify any of these entries.”
“There’s a mark in green ink at the bottom of the sixth page. The color is very close to the blue of the other entries. You probably wouldn’t know it was there if you weren’t aware of the difference.”
“I see it.” She looked at him. “You believe that there’s a possibility the ledgers could be switched?”
“
It’s possible. If I’m not around, I want you to be able to identify it.”
“Why wouldn’t you—” Then she understood. “You think you might be killed.”
“I have every intention of staying alive. Anything can happen. Now take a photo of the ledger and a few of the pages with your camera phone.”
She took the photos, then replaced the ledger in the briefcase. “Now what?”
“Now we go up to my cabin about seventy miles north of the city.” He smiled faintly. “It’s on a lake, and that place has only happy memories for me. My uncle rented it and took me up there several times when he was on leave. When I managed to start making money after I broke with Queen, I bought the cabin and several hundred acres around it.”
“And why are we going there?”
“I know the area. Queen does not. Neither does Black. That’s enough reason.”
“You’re going to call Queen and make a deal?”
He didn’t speak for a moment. “Yes, I’ll call Queen.”
But he wasn’t committing, she realized. She felt a chill as she remembered that rage that had so shocked her. Well, she had been angry with the senseless atrocity, too. What measures would she take to save little Cara Clark?
She would just have to see how the scenario unfolded.
CHAPTER
17
THE CABIN WAS SMALL, ONLY a bedroom, living-kitchen combination, and a tiny bathroom.
“Nothing fancy.” John put their bags down inside the door. “I don’t entertain here. I’ll get the broom out of the closet and sweep up after I make a pot of coffee.”
“I’ll sweep.” The place could use it. It didn’t appear neglected, but the dust was a fine film on the floor. “How long has it been since you were here?”
“I don’t remember. A year?” He was at the cabinet getting down a can of coffee. The vacuum hissed as he opened it. “When I used to come up here with my uncle, he made sure I cleaned the place up before we spent even an hour here. He hated dirt. That was his military training.”
“I remember him as being a very kind man. He loved you.”
“Yes.” He put the coffeepot on the burner. “And I loved him.”
She opened the door and swept the dust outside. The clean air rushed in and made the interior smell of pine and earth. She paused a moment to look out at the incredible beauty of the blue lake. “I can see why you liked it as a boy. It’s night and day from the stink of the projects. I would have loved it here.”
“Sorry. You wouldn’t have been invited. It was strictly a man-to-man outing. No girls allowed.”
She smiled. “Chauvinist.”
He smiled back at her. “Well, maybe we would have let you come. You’re not the usual female. You’d have held up your end.”
“You’re darned right.” She put the broom back in the closet. “I was planning on taking Bonnie camping, but I had school and was too busy.” Her smile faded. “Sometimes life goes by too fast, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“And then it’s gone.”
“Sit down.” He got down two cups and was washing them at the sink. “Bonnie didn’t miss what she’d never known. You gave her a great life.” He set the cup in front of her. “Maybe the next time around, we’ll be able to do it all.”
“Do you believe there’s a next time?”
“Why not? Millions of people believe in reincarnation. I believe in hope. I believe good people like Bonnie and you deserve a second chance.” He poured coffee in her cup. “And I believe that even not-so-good people like me might have a chance to work it out.”
She could feel her throat tighten with emotion. “I believe in hope, too. I’m still working on everything else.” She took a drink of the coffee. “It’s difficult when I want so badly to have Bonnie given a second chance. I ask if I’m fooling myself.”
He shook his head. “You always were a complete realist. So was I. But in that prison, I found that reality faded and was only as true as I believed it to be. And dreams could be far more authentic than any reality.” He lifted his cup. “And they called me mad. But madness can make life bearable, Eve.”
“You’re not mad, John.”
“You haven’t seen me fall from grace. Not really. Tell me that after you have.” He looked out the window. “The sun is going down. It will start getting chilly. I’ll make a fire as soon as I call Queen.” He took another swallow of coffee and pushed back his chair. “Which will be right now.” He took out his phone and put it on speaker. “Let’s get it over with.” He dialed the number. “Then we can get the stench off us by taking a walk down by the lake.”
Queen answered after the third ring. “Gallo? Where are you?”
“What an absurd question. Do you really think that I would tell you? As I recall, you sicced your dogs on me and burned my place to the ground.”
“That was a misunderstanding. I merely wanted to stop you from making a mistake. Taking Eve Duncan could have been a terrible disaster for both of us. You were much too impulsive.”
“No more lies.” John’s voice was terse. “I know what Black did to Judy Clark and her mother. It’s not your style. You called him in to find out where I was. And you let him take the kid.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I told you I’d find him for you.”
“And you did, in Samoa. But I think you screwed up, and now he’s pulling the strings. But you must have some control of him, or you wouldn’t be furnishing him with information.”
“This is all guesswork.”
“Good guesses, logical guesses. This is the end of the story, Queen. Stop bullshitting me and let’s get down to cases. I’m expecting Black to contact me at any time and offer to trade Cara Clark for your ledger.”
He was silent. “I had nothing to do with him taking the kid. You know that Black can’t be controlled.”
“But you made a deal to put him on my trail.”
Another silence. “I didn’t like to be at your beck and call. I want that ledger. You’ve been holding it over my head too long. You should have expected it.”
“Oh, I did. But I didn’t expect him to murder and take a six-year-old to do it. You know as well as I do that he’ll kill that little girl. You’ve got to stop him.”
“I told him not to do it. I said it would be a mistake.”
“That’s not strong enough. You brought him down on Judy Clark’s family. Now you’ve got to do what you can to stop the damage.”
“You should have given me the ledger. None of this would have happened.”
“You want the ledger? I have it with me now. It’s within reach of my hand. But the moment Black kills that little girl, it will go to the Washington Post, and they’ll spread it all over their paper. It won’t be long until you’ll be toted off to a federal prison.”
“Wait. Give the ledger to Black. That would solve everything.”
“He’ll still kill the kid. No, you have to stop him. I want you to come personally and meet with him. I don’t care what you do to convince him, but do it.”
“I’ll call him and try to—”
“Meet him. Face-to-face. Are you frightened, Queen? Is Black too much for you?”
“I’m not scared.” Queen hesitated. “You’ll give me the ledger?”
“When this is over, I won’t give a damn about the ledger. But if Black kills that kid, then I’ll blow you out of the water, Queen. Get here and get here fast. I want you to run interference and get me that kid.”
“I could try to do it,” Queen said cautiously. “Though it would be better to—”
“Catch the first flight to Milwaukee. I’m sending you a photo of the ledger so that you’ll know I have it in my immediate possession.”
“It’s reasonable that you’d give me the ledger,” Queen said thoughtfully. “After all, you’ll find a way to get Black, and that’s what you’ve always wanted.”
“Very reasonable. Now get your ass here as soon as possible.” He hung up.
“He’s going to come,” Eve said.
John nodded. “Why not? It’s so ‘reasonable.’” He stood up. “Let’s go for that walk. I need to cool down.”
But he didn’t seem nearly as angry as he had after he’d heard about the attack on Judy Clark and her family. He was tense, not on the edge of explosion.
She fell into step with him as he strode down the lake path. “Will Queen be able to do anything with Black?”
“I doubt it. Black doesn’t pay any attention to anything but what he wants to do. But Queen may be able to run interference or cause a distraction.”
“That’s why you wanted him here?”
“No, I wanted him here because we’re coming to the end of the road, and I wanted him where I could reach out and take him.”
Her gaze flew to his face. “You’re going to kill him?”
“You don’t think he deserves it? Let’s go over the list. He sent me into that prison and let me rot there. Suicide missions. Protecting Black from being caught and tried for dozens of murders. He gave Black the address where he could find Judy Clark and her little girl.”
“I’m not arguing that he may deserve it. He’s committed terrible crimes, and he seems to have no conscience.” She looked out at the lake. “I’d just rather he be used to save Cara Clark if possible.”
“I’ll try to let him have his chance … first.”
But he would not change his mind about Queen’s death, she realized. And she was not sure she wanted him to. Queen was not the same brand of monster as Paul Black, but he was a monster just the same. “So we just wait for a call from Paul Black. I’d have thought he’d have contacted us already.”
“Black is unpredictable. He enjoys dragging out his kills. He’s probably enjoying himself right now.”
“You think he’s killed that little girl already?”
“If he decided it’s worth it to him to get Queen’s ledger, then he’ll keep her alive … until he gets it.”
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