Part 24 (1/2)
”I'm..., I'm not a murderer, Jane,” he replied, shocked and offended. ”Although I must admit that when I did have to get my hands dirty with a couple of those police officers at St Joseph's, I did enjoy it. There's something to be said for the do-it-yourself approach, especially when you spend your life behind the scenes.”
”You're insane,” she couldn't stop herself from blurting out.
”I have been planning this forever, Jane; every twist and turn that you went through was all part of the plan. h.e.l.l, I even managed to secure some of Arthur Durage's blood and plant it at Alan Holmes' murder scene. Have you any comprehension of what this has taken? The organisation, the planning - layers upon layers don't just happen overnight.”
”I still don't understand why.”
” Training, Janey - training for you. I had to make you strong, Sis, strong enough to stand by my side, strong enough for us to take on the whole world. I had to find something to bring you out of your exile and then I had to get you in shape, Janey. You were psychically flabby, to say the least.”
”You're insane,” she reiterated.
”Every visionary has been called something similar at one time or another; history will judge me, Jane. They'll judge us.”
”And what about Danny? You were with him for almost two years, Danny said.”
”Sacrifices had to be made,” his voice suddenly went stiff and terse. ”Believe me, you have no idea just what commitment this has taken, what kind of horrors I've had to endure.”
She wanted to rail against him but his power was so overwhelming here in his mind that she didn't dare.
Something buzzed around her from the outside and she tried to ignore it but the nagging became insistent. She wanted to stay and keep him talking until she understood, but the buzzing became a deafening chorus.
”Stay with me, Jane,” her brother pleaded. ”I have done so much for us to be together, things that have blackened my soul, but I've done them all for you, for us.”
His voice was becoming distant and, despite the fact that he was a monster, part of her wanted to stay; there was a seductive quality about his freeness, about his power, and she wanted to know more. The strongest motivation, however, was the fact that she still didn't know his face or where he was.”
”What do I call you?” she had to shout as he faded. ”Is it really Alexandru or Nathan?”
”Simon,” he replied from a growing distance.
”I have to see you, Simon. I have to meet my brother,” she screamed into the blackness behind her as she rushed towards the light.
His answer wasn't in words. It was in a flash of an emotion of fear, mixed in equal measure with excitement. She could feel her bones rattle as she screamed in delight when the wind hit her face and the world thundered around her and she knew where he was.
CHAPTER TWENTY.
REUNION.
Danny plunged Jane's head under the ice cold bathwater again. Her face disappeared beneath the surface and he prayed for her to struggle. She had collapsed into a catatonic state that he had been unable to shake her from until her breathing had slowed to the point of being almost non-existent. He knew instinctively that Randall's cries for him to call for an ambulance would yield no success for Jane. She wasn't ill, she was simply inside the inner world that only she could reach.
He had moved her to the sofa in the lounge, pacing up and down, hoping that she would come out of it soon. Randall had been clucking about doctors and hospitals but Danny had known that this was all that was necessary.
He had yet to allow his mind to confront the creeping fears that were tingling up his spine about Nathan. Zerneck claimed that the man in Nathan's photo was some eastern European gravedigger and Jane had said that he was Alfonso Ramsey's a.s.sistant. But he was still clinging to the hope that both of them were wrong or maybe that Nathan was simply covering his name and occupation; maybe he was further in the closet than Danny had ever been. But in his heart he knew that something was very, very wrong; he just didn't dare face it, not yet.
Eventually, he had grown as nervous as Zerneck as Jane continued to stay under. He'd swept her up into his arms and carried her to the bathroom. He'd run a tub full of cold water before ducking her under the clear surface, praying that the impact would slap her out of wherever she was.
”Easy, easy,” he soothed as she returned, struggling against him. ”You're safe now.”
She clung to his arms, shaking from the cold water and from wherever she had been. He desperately wanted to press her for answers, but her eyes were wide and in shock.
He pulled her from the water and Zerneck handed him a fresh towel which he wrapped around her trembling shoulders. He half carried her from the bathroom into the closest bedroom and set her down on the bed. She tucked her knees up to her chest and pulled the bed's blanket around her. Danny waited patiently for her to speak.
”It's all my fault,” she whispered eventually. ”All of this is because of me, all of it.”
His first instinct was to tell her that she was being ridiculous, that it couldn't be her fault, but something in her voice kept him from denying her and so she told her tale from beyond.
”This is nuts,” Zerneck said in a small quiet voice a short time later as the two men stood in the kitchen.
The sun was fresh on the horizon and Danny had never felt more tired in his life. His body cried out for sleep but he could not fulfil such a selfish request. They were bathed in the warming glow of the morning but Danny felt chilled to the bone. He had spent time alone with Jane in the bedroom while she had explained everything to him, telling him that they needed to talk in private. He had just finished relaying her story to Zerneck.
”I know its nuts,” he sighed. ”But at the same time we both know that it's happening.”
”You can't really expect me to believe all of this?” Zerneck exclaimed.
”Open your eyes, Randall. More importantly, open your ears. You've been in your business longer than I've been in mine and you know when someone is lying and when they're telling the truth.”
”Hey, just because she believes what she's saying doesn't make it the truth.”
”But it is and you know it.”
”Bulls.h.i.+t.”
”I know it's scary, Randall - believe me, I know. Having your whole system of belief shattered, finding out that the world isn't flat, that there is more to this life than we can see, that there is something else beyond our comprehension, it's enough to send you mad if you let it. But she's telling the truth and there's still a killer out there.”
”Killer?”
”I don't care if he didn't do the cutting. Kline may have been the weapon, but he pulled the trigger, Randall; it was all him.”
”Well how the h.e.l.l are we supposed to find him then? If this man is capable of the things that Jane says he is, how do we find a..., man like that?”
”She'll take us to him,” Danny said, nodding firmly. ”She says that she doesn't know where he is, but she'll be able to track him now. That's where he's made his first mistake.”
”Mistake? It sure doesn't look like it from where I'm standing, Inspector.”
”He's opened himself up to her now. No more illusions, no more smoke and mirrors - he's laid himself bare, hoping that his revelations will bind her to him.”
”And you think he's wrong about that?” Zerneck asked suspiciously.
”Well, you heard her in there; she told us everything.”
”Except where to find him.”
”She said that she doesn't know,” Danny answered, irritated.