Part 7 (1/2)
”Uh-huh.”
”Man, you just started working tonight. How could you have anything on him?”
”Yeah, but I've been following some things very closely. That's one thing they taught us at the Academy. To watch things that don't seem to be related.”
”Like what?”
He didn't say anything for a time. Just drove. His uniform gave him the right to be mysterious.
The mercury vapor lights made the glowing snow purple. No other cars were on the street. The town looked doomed.
”You been following the robberies?”
”What robberies?” I said.
”Eight convenience stores in little towns all within fifteen miles east and west of here.”
”Guess not.” Of course not. Why would I follow anything like that?
The radio squawked. He picked it up and checked in and then ten-foured.
He looked over at me and grinned. ”I do that s.h.i.+t pretty good, don't I?”
”Yeah, Conan couldn't have done it any better.”
He laughed. ”That'd make a great movie. You know, fish-out-of-water. Conan gets transported forward in time and is a cop.”
It really was a pretty funny idea.
Then, ”Three weeks ago, in one of the robberies, two store clerks got murdered.”
”That's right. I forgot about that.” Then, realizing his implication, I said, ”G.o.d, you think Myles had something to do with that?”
”Maybe. But if you tell anybody, I'll deny I said it.”
”Why would he rob convenience stores? His old man's rich and he's a football hero.”
”Have some fun, maybe. Who knows?”
”Anyway, how could you tie him to it?”
”Hamstring.”
”Huh?”
He shook his head. ”Maybe I'll explain someday.”
He pulled up in front of my house. All the lights were on. Mom and Dad and Josh would be waiting up. Nervously.
Just as I was getting out of the car, I said, ”You could've let her drive me home.”
”I know. But I figure the less time she spends with you, the better my chances are.”
At least he was finally being honest about it.
”Man, who would've thought that two comic book nerds like us would be going after the same beautiful girl?”
I suppose I felt sorry for him again. At the moment I felt that Cindy was completely mine. I could afford to joke with him.
”Too bad she doesn't have a twin,” he said, and then put the car into gear.
”Yeah,” I said, ”too bad.”
And then I closed the door.
And then he was gone.
Richard Mitch.e.l.l, KNAX-TV: ”Another problem they had with the last execution here at the prison was that one member of the execution team snuck in a tiny camera to the death chamber and secretly snapped pictures of the prisoner while he was dying. He then sold the photos to one of the tabloid TV shows for a lot of money. So tonight, before the execution team enters the chamber, every member is going to be searched. The warden doesn't want a repeat of last time.”
Tape 21-D, August 14. Interview between Attorney Risa Wiggins and her client in the Clark County Jail.
A: The alien was controlling your mind?
C: Absolutely.
A: Tell me about the headaches again.
C: You mean the ones I got right before it would take control of me again?
A: Yes.
C: Well, I'd see it for what it was. I'd have these blinding pains in my head and then I'd see the alien, what it really looked like, I mean. It was horrifying.
A: You do admit that you took LSD a few times several years ago?
C: Yes.
A: Could all of this have been some kind of flashback?
C: No way, no.
CHAPTER NINE.
It was sort of like being sick when you were a little kid. Everybody was extra nice to you.
I spent the next morning sitting in the living room watching Repo Man, one of my favorite science fiction movies, and sipping the honey-laced tea my mom made for me.