Part 38 (1/2)

”No guts.”

”That's right. But I can get you clear. Evie can back us up, too.”

”You kiddin'? She's an idiot. That's how I got her so easy. She was dumb enough to go back home to pick up an extra pair of socks, then take a ride from a stranger. But what a mouth for saying a whole lot of nothing.” I could imagine that's why he'd gagged her, so he wouldn't have to listen to her talk. He'd likely questioned her, though, and figured out why Mitch.e.l.l wanted her. ”You wanna get out of this breathing? What d'ya say?”

He didn't say anything while I stared at the wall.

”C'mon, Hoyle.” I must have cut close to the bone, given him too much to think about. Counted a slow ten, then said, ”If we don't do what Mitch.e.l.l expects, don't kill each other... then we can both go after him. We win, he loses.”

A very long silence. Cautiously, I tried turning again. He let me get all the way around.

He looked bad. Unsteady on his feet, having to brace with one hand on the ceiling, unshaved, and eyelids twitching. He was scared. Of me. I understood now. My threat to kill him, with or without eye whammy, was something he'd taken to heart.

”Where's Mitch.e.l.l?” I gently asked.

”I donno. If I did, he'd be dead.”

”We need him alive to take the whole blame.”

”None of that matters,” he said.

I recognized the finality of his tone. Scared or not, he'd made up his mind. ”I get ya. It's how it's supposed to be.

You can come clean with me, I won't be walking out with anything you say. Why did he kill Caine?”

Hoyle made a slow smile. On his broken, rawboned face it was a very unpleasant sight. ”You'll never guess.” He centered the aim of the gun. ”And you'll never know...”

Even as I rushed forward and grabbed- -another gun went off and Hoyle's right eye exploded in a puff of red that splattered hot on my face. Bone and brain hit a fraction behind that, and Hoyle dropped heavily on me.

I reeled under his sudden weight, dizzy from the abrupt change, struck the wall, and felt my legs go. Couldn't do anything but fall over with his body on me, my wet face against the freezing concrete floor, arms loose, hands spasming. Too much like that other place where Bristow had...

No... please, G.o.d, no not again ...

The stuff within unsympathetically took over, set me to groaning and s.h.i.+vering as though from malaria. I was cold inside and out and empty and lost in the dark forever; it would never let go its grip. I might as well declare a surrender and vanish.

But I couldn't. A dim part of me was aware I had a witness who'd already seen too much.

”Boss? Hey, Boss? Fleming? What is it?” Strome's voice cut into my fog. There was a concern in his tone that told all I needed to know about what he saw at the freak show.

The weight lifted as he dragged Hoyle's body off me.

”You're okay,” Strome insisted. ”I got him. It's over! Hey! It's over!”

Oh, G.o.d...

I pulled my arms in tight, tried to suppress the shaking. Locked my jaw, refused to let any more sound escape.

Nothing to do but wait for it to fade. I hated him seeing me like this. G.o.d, I felt sick.

The humiliation finally played itself out.

Strome knelt on one knee next to me, gun in hand, his stone face showing worry. ”Jeez, I dint know you were so bad off. Thought for a second he shot you. You okay, now? You need a doctor or somethin'?”

”I told you to say put,” I rasped. A change of topic. Anything so long as it wasn't about me.

”Seemed like I waited there long enough. Thought I should check on you. Good thing you left that key in the lock on the outside. Heard you guys, saw he had the drop on you. Jeez, you ain't mad 'cause I killed him, are ya?”

Shook my head. I felt a lot of things, but mad wasn't one of them. I was too tired and ashamed of my weakness to feel anything else.

”I'll back up whatever you wanna say about this,” Strome added.

”I don't wanna say squat. Ever. If we work this right, Mitch.e.l.l gets the heat for it.” ”Sounds good. You need help?”

I was making ready to stand, and let him take some of my weight as I struggled up.

”You find out where Mitch.e.l.l is?” he asked.

”No.” I paced a little to make sure my legs weren't just fooling, making a point not to look at Hoyle's long form huddled on the floor. My face was still wet with his blood. I went to the hanging blanket and tried to wipe away the evidence. It'd take an all-day dip in that d.a.m.ned lake to clean this kind of stuff from my soul.

”Who's the twist?” He noticed Evie Montana. She lay so still I thought she'd been shot, too, but it was an animal's defense. Stillness meant you could be overlooked.

I went to Evie and told her who I was and to relax, she was going home. I said this before removing her gag and blindfold. Her eyes were crazy; I thought she might be in shock. She wasn't talking any. I found my folding knife and cut off the bonds, ma.s.saging her wrists, told her everything was going to be all right.

She must have been chilled through, but her flesh felt very warm to me, very soft and warm. I liked the feel of it too much. She looked up into my eyes, blanched, and launched clumsily off the cot toward Strome. She fit right under one of his arms. He looked surprised that anyone would come to him for protection.

”Take her up to the car, drive her where she wants,” I said.

”What about you?”

Ignored him. ”Tell Derner everything. Mitch.e.l.l killed Alan Caine and Jewel Caine, G.o.d knows why. He's running loose, I want him landed. I'll look through this mess in case there's a lead to him. Now get out.”

He got out, taking the strangely silent Evie with him.

I waited until they were quite gone, until the only sounds were caused by the heater and the wind playing on the tin roof. I waited, and if my heart had been working, it would have been going faster than any drum.

My brain was frozen, but the rest of me moved just fine.

My hands shook as I turned Hoyle so he was face-up. I pulled on his coat and s.h.i.+rt, opening them, freeing his neck.

Hovered over him, wavering, feeling the press of appet.i.te. A part of me that stood outside myself looked down on at the dangerous, crazy man crouched on the floor next to a body so freshly dead it was still twitching. Hoyle was gone- there was nothing left in his eyes-but that shot in the brain hadn't stopped everything yet. I heard that after death the brain could still send out messages, and the flesh, not knowing the futility of it, would try to respond.

My corner teeth were out.

And here was my food.

I dug into his exposed neck with the same force I used on the Stockyards cattle, ripping the skin to open the big vein. When I was with Bobbi I never went so deep. The smaller veins close to the surface were sufficient. If I went in like this, tearing into her carotid, she would die, bleeding to death in seconds.

Didn't have to worry about that with Hoyle.