Part 29 (1/2)
”Maybe Clark went after him,” a third cop said.
A fourth chimed in then. ”It's bulls.h.i.+t. It's all bulls.h.i.+t. How the h.e.l.l could they both have their throats slit?”
That brought on a real silence. The first cop sighed. ”I've got to find a john.”
He had been leaning on his patrol car; now he straightened and headed toward a staff entrance to the building.Bryan followed him inside.
The corridors were empty. Bryan followed the officer down a hall with a sign that bore a number of arrows. One pointed to ”Out- patient radiation, vending machines, billing and restrooms.”
He decided to let the man pee.
He waited. When the cop came out of the bathroom, Bryan caught him with a quick blow. He fell without so much as a whimper.
Bryan dragged him back into the restroom.
”Sorry, buddy. I just need the uniform.”
Upstairs, he found crime-scene tape blocking off the room. Pretending to ask about his a.s.signment, he got close to the door.
They hadn't moved the bodies yet.
”You there. Harrison,” a big cop called.
”Yes, sir?” he answered.
”What are you doing up here? You're supposed to be downstairs. They'll be a.s.signing you to crowd patrol soon. The mayor is going to be giving a statement, and things might get ugly.”
”Yes sir. Sorry. I was told I should report to you...Sergeant Mendez,” Bryan said, reading the man's badge.
He stared at Mendez, who stared back, fingering the crucifix around his neck.
A strange look entered Mendez's eyes; he crossed himself. ”You're not Harrison,” he said softly.
”I'm not,” he said, keeping eye contact. ”But I need to see the bodies,” he said.
”You-you shouldn't be impersonating a cop,” Mendez said, but there was no conviction in his words, and he stepped aside to let Bryan pa.s.s.
”I want you to block the hallway,” Bryan said. ”Do you understand?”
”Yes,” Mendez replied tonelessly, then stood firmly in the hallway.
Bryan saw that a reporter had just slipped in, and everyone was busy keeping him at bay. Good.
He moved quickly, surveyed the bed, then the bodies. He knelt beside them, checking them out thoroughly. He saw the scalpels.
The blood.
And then he saw the smudge in the blood where something had been written.
He tensed, then rose quickly, slipping out past the still-dazed Mendez and the crowd holding off the reporter.
As he left the building-through the front doors this time-he saw a number of cops again and frowned. He recognized one of them.
Bobby Munro. The cop Stacey was dating.
Jessica reached Maggie's house just a few minutes after daylight. The children were still sleeping. Maggie looked as if she'd been pacing for a very long time.
”What the h.e.l.l happened last night?” Jessica demanded. ”Two cops dead?”
”Yes, made to look as if they'd gotten into a fight and killed each other. But no way could two guys have slit each other's throats like that.”
”You saw them?” Jessica asked weakly.
”No. Sean described the scene. And it wasn't any newborn creature seeking a meal, I can a.s.sure you. The Master was there. In the hospital.”
”We were conned tonight. He set it up perfectly. The would-be vampires, the real thing, the old house...But the whole thing was a ploy. It's as if...”
”It's as if it's been planned from the start,” Maggie said. ”He's found you. All these years, all the deception, the elaborate masquerade you set up yourself, and he's found you, anyway, and wants to show you his power, make you suffer.”
”To have discovered I was in New Orleans, practicing psychology, to have found out about a conference, found out I was going, then planned the party, knowing I'd come....”
”He's had years to plan all the revenge he wanted,” Maggie reminded her.
”But why bother?” Jessica murmured, but she knew the answer. Because he hated her with a pa.s.sion that had outlasted centuries.
”So what happened? You were there, you staked a bunch of the bad guys...?”
”More or less,” Jessica murmured.
”Did Bryan make an appearance?”
”Yes.”
”When you were the dominatrix?” Maggie demanded.
”Yes.”
”And he didn't try to kill you?”
”Yes.”
”Oh, my G.o.d. You didn't kill him. You didn't kill a warrior, did you?” Maggie asked.
”No.”
”Then...?”
”We came to an impa.s.se.”