Part 17 (2/2)

Amazed, Preduski said, ”They're friends? You mean they go out and murder-like other men go out bowling?”

”I wouldn't put it like that.”

”They're killing women, trying to make it look like the work of one man?”

”Yes.”

”Why?”

”Don't know. Maybe they're creating a composite character in the Butcher. Giving us an image of a killer that isn't really like either of them. Throw us off the track. Protect themselves.”

Preduski started to pace in front of the littered table. ”Two psychopaths meet in a bar-”

”Not necessarily a bar.”

”They get chummy and sign a pact to kill all the women in Manhattan.”

”Not all,” Enderby said. ”But enough.”

”I'm sorry. Maybe I'm not very bright. I'm not well educated. Not a doctor like you. But I can't swallow it. I can't see psychopaths working together so smoothly and effectively.”

”Why not? Remember the Tate murders in California? There were several psychopaths in the Manson family, yet they all worked smoothly and efficiently together, committing a large number of murders.”

”They were caught,” Preduski said.

”Not for quite some time.”

26.

Six business offices occupied the thirty-first floor of the Bowerton Building. Graham and Connie tried a few doors, all of which proved to be locked. They knew the others would be shut tight as well.

However, in the main hall near the elevator alcove, Connie discovered an unmarked, unlocked door. She opened it. Graham felt for the light switch, found it. They went inside.

The room was approximately ten feet deep and six or seven feet wide. On the left was a metal door that had been painted bright red; and to one side of the door, mops and brooms and brushes were racked on the wall. On the right, the wall was lined with metal storage shelves full of bathroom and cleaning supplies. and to one side of the door, mops and brooms and brushes were racked on the wall. On the right, the wall was lined with metal storage shelves full of bathroom and cleaning supplies.

”It's a maintenance center,” Graham said.

Connie went to the red door. She took one step out of the room, holding the door behind her. She was surprised and excited by what she saw. ”Graham! Hey, look at this.”

He didn't respond.

She stepped back into the room, turned and said, ”Graham, look what-”

He was only a foot away, holding a large pair of scissors up to his face. He gripped the instrument in his fist, in the manner of a man holding a dagger. The blades gleamed; and like polished gems, the sharp points caught the light.

”Graham?” she said.

Lowering the scissors, he said, ”I found these on the shelf over there. I can use them as a weapon.”

”Against a gun?”

”Maybe we can set up a trap.”

”What kind of trap?”

”Lure him into a situation where I can surprise him, where he won't have time enough to use the d.a.m.ned gun.”

”For instance?”

His hand was shaking. Light danced on the blades. ”I don't know,” he said miserably.

”It wouldn't work,” she said. ”Besides, I've found a way out of the building.”

He looked up. ”You have?”

”Come look. You won't need the scissors. Put them down.”

”I'll look,” he said. ”But I'll keep the scissors just in case.”

She was afraid that when he saw the escape route she'd found he would prefer to face the Butcher armed only with the scissors.

He followed her through the red door, onto a railed platform that was only eighteen inches wide and four feet long. A light glowed overhead; and other lights lay some distance away in a peculiar, at first unidentifiable void. and other lights lay some distance away in a peculiar, at first unidentifiable void.

They were suspended on the side of one of the two elevator shafts that went from the ground floor to the roof. It served four cabs, all of which were parked at the bottom. Fat cables dangled in front of Connie and Graham. On this side and on the opposite wall of the cavernous well, from roof to bas.e.m.e.nt at the odd-numbered floors, other doors opened onto other tiny platforms. There was one directly across from Graham and Connie, and the sight of it made them realize the precarious nature of their perch. On both sides of the shaft, metal rungs were bolted to the walls: ladders connecting the doors in each tier to other exits in the same tier.

The system could be used for emergency maintenance work or for moving people off stalled elevators in case of fire, power failure, or other calamity. A small white light burned above each door; otherwise, the shaft would have been in absolute darkness. When Connie looked up, and especially when she looked down from the thirty-first floor, the sets of farther lights appeared to be closer together than the sets of nearer lights. It was a long way to the bottom. otherwise, the shaft would have been in absolute darkness. When Connie looked up, and especially when she looked down from the thirty-first floor, the sets of farther lights appeared to be closer together than the sets of nearer lights. It was a long way to the bottom.

His voice wavered when he said, ”This ”This is a way out?” is a way out?”

She hesitated, then said, ”We can climb down.”

”No.”

”We can't use the stairs. He'll be watching those.”

”Not this.”

”It won't be like mountain climbing.”

His eyes s.h.i.+fted quickly from left to right and back again. ”No.”

<script>