by Robert Crais
“He doesn’t talk so much. You ask him, he doesn’t say so much.”
“How does he get along with the other men?”
“Well enough, I guess. He never had much to do with anyone until Dennis came back. That was only a week or so ago. Before Dennis came back, he would just stay by himself and watch everyone else.”
“What do you mean, watch everyone else?”
“I don’t know if I’m saying it right. When the guys go on a break, he doesn’t sit with’m. He sits off by himself and watches them, kinda like he was keeping an eye on them. No, wait, that’s not right. It was more like he’s watching TV. Does that make sense? Sometimes it’d make me think he’d fallen asleep the way he’d do that. He was just, I dunno, staring.”
Talley didn’t like what he was hearing about Krupchek, but he also didn’t know what to make of it.
“Has he ever demonstrated violence or aggression toward the other men?”
“He just sits there.”
Talley handed the photograph back to Anders. Mars Krupchek might be retarded or suffer from some other mental impairment, but Talley didn’t know. He had no sense of who Mars Krupchek was, what he was capable of, or how he might act. This left Talley feeling anxious and wary. The unknown could kill you, and was often worse than you imagined.
“Mr. Dill, do you have an address for Krupchek?”
Dill pulled a tiny address book from his back pocket and read off an address and phone number. Anders copied them.
Talley thanked Brad Dill for his help, told him that Anders would bring him home, then took Anders aside out of earshot.
“Check that Krupchek’s address matches with the billing address listed with the phone. If it does, call the Palmdale City Attorney’s office and ask for a telephonic search warrant, then head to his residence. After you’ve got the warrant, go in and see what you find. Take someone with you.”
As Anders and Dill drove away, Talley tried to recall the things that he still needed to do. Mrs. Smith had to be found, his officers had to be fed, and he wanted to check the perimeter positions of the newly arrived Highway Patrol officers to make sure that Jorgenson hadn’t placed them too close to the house. When he realized that he would have to call Rooney again soon, a swell of panic threatened to overwhelm him. He would have to call Rooney every hour throughout the night; interrupt his sleep, break down his resistance, wear him down. A hostage barricade was a war of attrition and nerves. Talley didn’t know that his own nerves were enough to see it through.
Metzger’s voice cut through his radio.
“Chief, Metzger.”
“Go, Leigh.”
“The Sheriffs are inbound. Ten minutes out.” Talley slumped against his car and closed his eyes. Thank God.
DENNIS
Dennis tried not to look at Mars after his conversation with Talley, but he couldn’t help himself. He thought about what Kevin had told him, about Mars wanting to shoot that cop who had come to the door, about Mars lying that the cop had pulled his weapon and Mars firing first. Maybe Talley had something; maybe Dennis could beat the rap if it was Mars who shot the officer, and not him. If Kevin backed him up, they might be able to cut a deal with the prosecutor for their testimony against Mars. Dennis felt a desperate hope, but then he remembered the money. If he cut a deal, he had to give up the money. He shoved the phone aside and turned back to the others. He wasn’t ready to give up the cash.
Kevin looked at him anxiously.
“Are they giving us the helicopter?”
“No. We gotta find another way out of here. Let’s start looking.”
The girl and her fat brother were still kneeling beside their father. She started on him right away.
“There’s nothing to look for. You’ve got to do something to help my father.”
She still held the washcloth to her father’s head, but now the ice was melted and the cloth was soaked. Dennis felt a flash of annoyance.
“Shut up, all right? I’ve got a situation here, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Her face worked harder.
“All you’re doing is watching yourself on TV. You hurt him. Look at him. He needs a doctor.”
“Shut up.”
“It’s been hours!”
“Put more ice in the cloth.”
“Ice doesn’t help!”
The fat boy started crying.
“He’s in a coma!”
The girl surprised him. She lurched to her feet with the abrupt fury of a jack-in-the-box and stomped toward the door.
“I’m getting a doctor!”
Dennis felt outside of himself, as if the weight of the cops and his being trapped in this house were all suddenly real where they hadn’t been before. He caught her in two steps, slapping her just the way his old man used to lay out the old lady, that shrill bitch. He caught the girl square on the side of the face with the weight of his hand, knocked her flat fucking down to the floor. The fat boy shouted her name and charged, pummeling Dennis like an angry midget. Dennis dug his fingers into the soft meat on the back of the boy’s neck, and the fat boy squealed. Then Kevin was shoving him away.
“STOP IT!”
Kevin pushed the fat boy down with his sister, placing himself between them and Dennis.
“Just stop it, Dennis. Please!”
Dennis was in a blood fury. He wanted to beat Kevin down, to smash his face and kick him into a pulp. He wanted to beat the fat boy and the girl, then throw the cash in the Jaguar and crash out of the garage and shoot it out with the cops all the way down to Mexico.
Mars was staring at him, his face a shadow, his eyes tiny glints of strange light like ferrets peering from caves.
Dennis shouted, “What?”
Mars made the quiet smile and shook his head.
Dennis stepped back, breathing hard. Everything was coming apart. Dennis looked back at the television, half expecting to see the cops storming the house, but the scene outside was exactly as it had been minutes before. The girl was holding her face in her hands. The fat boy was glaring with hate-filled eyes like he wanted to cut Dennis’s throat. Their father was breathing noisily through his nose. The pressure was making him crazy.
Dennis said, “We gotta do something with them. I can’t deal with this shit.”
Mars lumbered to his feet, large and gross.
“We should tie them up so we don’t have to worry about them. We should have done that anyway.”
Dennis hooked his head toward the girl, speaking to Kevin.
“Mars is right. We can’t leave these assholes running around like this, getting in the way. Find something to tie’m up with, and take them upstairs.”
“What do I use to tie them?”
“Look in the garage. Look in the kitchen. Mars, you find something, okay? You know what we need. This turd doesn’t know anything.”
Mars disappeared toward the garage. Kevin took the girl’s arm as if he was afraid that she would hit him, but she stood without resisting, her face working and the tears coming harder.
“What about my father? You can’t just leave him like this.”
Her father was cold to the touch; every few seconds a tremor rippled through his body. Dennis took his pulse like he knew what he was doing, but he couldn’t tell a goddamned thing. He didn’t like how the man looked, but didn’t say anything about it because there was nothing to say.
“We’ll put him on the couch. That way he’ll be more comfortable.”
“He needs a doctor.”
“He’s just sleeping. You take a head shot, you gotta sleep it off, is all. My old man used to beat me worse than this.”
Dennis had Kevin help lift her father onto the couch.
When Mars returned, Dennis told them to take the kids upstairs. He was tired of thinking about them. He was tired of thinking about everything except the money. He needed a way out.
JENNIFER
Mars opened the door to her room, then stepped aside so that she and Kevin could ente
r. He had come back from the garage with extension cords, duct tape, a hammer and nails. He gave two extension cords to Kevin.
“Put her in here. Tie her to the chair, and tie her tight. Tie her feet. I’ll take care of the windows and the door when I finish with the boy.”
Mars looked at her with unfocused eyes, as if he were waking from a deep sleep and she was the memory of a dream.
“I’ll check how you tie her when I come back.”
Mars pulled Thomas away as Kevin brought her into the room. The lights were on because she never turned them off; she fell asleep with them on, either talking on the phone or watching TV, and woke with them on, and never thought to turn them off when she left to start her day. The shades had been pulled and the phone was on the floor against the wall, its plug smashed so that it couldn’t be used. Kevin dragged her desk chair into the middle of the floor. He avoided her eyes, nervous.
“Just let this happen and everything will be okay. You gotta pee or anything?”
She felt a flush of embarrassment. She had to use the bathroom so badly that she burned.
“It’s in there.”
“Where? You got your own bathroom?”
“Uh-huh. It’s right there.”
“Okay, come on.”
She didn’t move.
“You can’t come with me.”
He stood in the bathroom door, waiting.
“I’m not going to leave you alone.”
“I’m not going to the bathroom in front of you.”
“Would you rather pee on yourself?”
“I’m not letting you watch. I don’t have guns or anything in there, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
He seemed annoyed, but she didn’t care. He stepped into the bathroom to look around, then came back.
“Okay, I won’t go in with you, but you can’t close the door. I’ll stand over here. That way I can’t see you.”
“But you’ll hear.”
“Look, piss or don’t piss. I don’t care. If you’re not going to go, put your ass in the chair before Mars comes back.”
Jennifer had to pee so badly that she decided to go. She tried to pee quietly, but it seemed louder than ever. When she was finished, she returned to her room too embarrassed to make eye contact.
“You’re disgusting.”
“Whatever. Sit here and put your hands behind the chair.”
“I don’t see why you can’t just lock me in. It’s not like I can go anywhere.”
“Either I’m going to tie you or Mars will tie you.”
She perched on the chair, tense and wary.
Kevin had two long black extension cords. She cringed when he touched her, but he didn’t treat her roughly or twist her arms.
“I don’t want to make this too tight, but I got to tie you. Mars is going to check.”
His voice held a regret that surprised her. She knew that Kevin was scared, but now she wondered if he felt embarrassed at what they were doing. Maybe he even had a conscience. He finished with her wrists, then moved around in front of her to tie her ankles to the legs of the chair. She watched him, thinking that if there was a friend to be found among them it was him.
“Kevin?”
“What?”
She kept her voice soft, scared that Mars would hear.
“You’re caught in this just like me.”
His face darkened.
“I’ve heard the three of you talking. You’re the only one who seems to know that you’re making it worse by being here. Dennis doesn’t get that.”
“Don’t talk about Dennis.”
“Why do you go along with him?”
“Things just happen, is all. Don’t talk about it.”
“My father needs a doctor.”
“He’s just knocked out. I’ve been knocked out.”
“You know it’s worse than that. Think about what you’re doing, Kevin, please. Make Dennis see. If my father dies they’ll charge you with his murder, too. You know that.”
“There’s nothing I can do.”
“You knew better than to rob that minimart, didn’t you? I’ll bet you tried to talk Dennis out of it, but he wouldn’t listen and now you’re all trapped in here and wanted for murder.”
He kept his face down, pulling at the extension cords.
“I’ll bet that’s true. You knew it was wrong, and it was. Now you know this is wrong, too. My daddy needs a doctor, but Dennis is just being stubborn. If you keep following Dennis and Mars, the police will kill you all.”
Kevin leaned back on his heels. He seemed tired, as if he had been worrying the problem for so long without solution that the worrying had worn him out. He shook his head.
“I’m sorry.”
A shadow moved behind Kevin, catching Jennifer’s eye. Mars stood in the door, staring at them, his face blank. She didn’t know how long he had been there, or what he had heard.
Mars didn’t look at Kevin; he was staring at her.
“Never be sorry.”
Kevin stood so quickly that he almost fell.
“I tied her ankles too tight. I had to tie them again.”
Mars went to the windows. He hammered heavy nails into the sills so that the windows wouldn’t open, then came back to stand in front of her. He stood very close, towering over her in a way that made him seem to reach the ceiling. He squatted between her legs, then tugged at the bindings on her ankles. The cord cut into her skin.
“This isn’t tight enough. You tied her like a pussy.”
Mars wrapped the cord more tightly, then did the same at her wrists. The wire cut into her flesh so hard that she had to bite her tongue, but she was too scared to complain. He tore a strip of wide gray duct tape off the roll. He pressed it hard over her mouth.
Kevin worried his hands, fidgeting, clearly frightened of Mars.
“Make sure she can breathe, Mars. Don’t put it so tight.” Mars ran his fingers hard over the tape. She was so creeped out at his touch that she wanted to scream.
“Go downstairs, Kevin.”
Kevin hesitated at the door. Mars still knelt in front of her, pushing at the tape as if he wanted to work it into her pores. Pushing and pushing. Rhythmic. Pushing. Jennifer thought she might faint.
Kevin said, “Aren’t you coming?”
“I’ll be along. Go.”
Jennifer looked at Kevin, pleading with him not to leave her alone with Mars.
Kevin left.
When she finally looked at Mars again, he was watching her. Mars brought his face level with hers, then leaned forward. She flinched, thinking he was going to kiss her, but he didn’t. He didn’t move for the longest time, staring first into her left eye, then into her right. He leaned closer, and sniffed. He was smelling her.
Mars straightened.
“I want to show you something.”
He pulled off his shirt, revealing a flabby body as pasty as an unwashed bedsheet. Tattooed across his chest in flowing script was:
A Mother’s Son.
“You see? It cost two hundred forty dollars. That’s how much I love my mom.”
Looking at him grossed her out. His chest and belly were specked with small gray knots as if he were diseased. She thought they might be warts.
She suddenly felt the weight of his eyes and glanced up to see him watching her. She realized that he knew she had been staring at the lumps. He touched one of them, a hard gray knot, then another, and the corner of his mouth curled into a smile that was almost too small to see.
“My mom burned me with cigarettes.”
Jennifer felt sick. They weren’t lumps or warts; they were scars.
Mars pulled on his shirt, then leaned close, and this time she was certain that he would touch her. Her heart pounded. She wanted to turn away, but she couldn’t.
He placed his hand on her shoulder.
Jennifer jerked against her binds, twisting her head, arching her back, feeling the bite of the extension cords in her wrists and ankles as she
tried to scream through the tape.
Mars squeezed her shoulder once, firmly, as if he were testing the bone beneath her flesh, and then he drew away.
Mars made the little smile again, then went to the door. He paused there, staring at her with eyes so empty that she filled them with nightmares. He turned off the lights, stepped out, then pulled the door closed. The sound of his hammer was as loud as thunder, but not so loud as her fearful heart.
DENNIS
Dennis was at the window, watching the police, when he heard the pitch of the helicopters change. That was the first thing, the helicopters repositioning themselves. Then one of the patrol cars out front fired up. The lead car swung around in a tight arc, roaring away as a new Highway Patrol car arrived. He couldn’t tell if Talley was still outside or not. The cops were up to something, which made Dennis feel queasy and scared. They would have to leave soon or they might not be able to leave at all.
Mars settled onto the couch by Walter Smith. He put his hand on Smith’s head as if he was stroking the soft fur between a dog’s ears.
“They didn’t give you the helicopter because they don’t believe you’re serious.”
Dennis paced away from the window, irritated. He didn’t like Mars’s smug I-know-something-that-you-don’t smile. Mars had egged him on about robbing the minimart, and Mars had shot the cop at the front door.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. They’ve got rules about this stuff. Fuck them anyway. I never thought we’d get a helicopter. I just thought it would be worth a try.”
Mars stroked Smith’s head, running his fingers slowly over the man’s scalp as if he was probing the contours of his skull. Dennis thought it was weird.
“You don’t see the big picture, Dennis.”
“You want a picture, Mars? Here it is: We’ve gotta find a way out of here with that cash.”
Mars patted Smith’s head.
“Our way out is right here. You don’t understand the power we have.”
“The hostages? Jesus, they’re all we have. If we didn’t have these people, the cops would be all over us.”
When Mars looked up again, Dennis thought his eyes were brighter, and somehow now watchful.
“What we have is the fear they feel. Their fear gives us power. The police will only take us seriously if they’re scared we’ll kill these people. It isn’t the people that we have to trade, Dennis. It’s their death.”
