He pushed past the door, deposited the dog on the floor, and went right to the mini fridge. The bottles stared back at him, a row of beautiful, glistening jewels that were waiting for him to press the sweet nectar out of their glassy, hard facets.
His entire body was trembling, and his knees felt loose and watery as he moved back and forth between the fridge and the sink, stacking all of the bottles on the counter. He stopped counting at eight.
With hands that refused to grip with a solid purchase, Joshua opened up every one of the tiny containers in front of him, emptying the contents into the bucket that was supposed to be used for ice. He did so with no regard to what he was mixing together. The labels were all blurred, his vision crossed and dim, as if he were moments from passing out. Whatever this concoction was, it would not taste good.
But that was the last thing on Joshua’s mind. There was a gaping hole in his stomach that was growing too big for his body to contain. It was an abyss that could only be filled with the fiery burn of the alcohol as it ran down his throat into the pit.
That glow would save him. It would fill him. He wouldn’t have to drown in his own emptiness.
The liquid sloshed in the bucket as Joshua held it up to his mouth with hands that could not follow his brain’s most basic commands for steady movement. The fumes from the mixture invaded his nostrils, causing the tender flesh inside his nasal passages to wrinkle back as if it could escape the punishment about to be administered.
Tilting the container back, Joshua felt a tugging at his ankle. Bella had dragged her leash over and was now biting at his pant leg, her tail wagging with a ferocity that only the young and exuberant could muster.
He shook his leg, dislodging the enthusiastic puppy, who then proceeded to prance in front of him, barking and wagging her tail. She wanted to play.
“Stop it, Bella,” he snapped at her. What had gotten into her? There was nowhere for him to go to get away from the stupid dog. She was between his feet, in front of them, behind them, seemingly all at once. He moved to put the bucket down on the sink so he could move her… maybe stuff her in the bathroom for a moment… when somehow she was entwined in his legs.
Joshua felt Bella’s soft body give against his foot as he kicked his leg out to try to catch his balance. She yelped once, a pitiful cry, as she was propelled against the corner of the king bed in the middle of the room. Her form went still as it slumped to the ground.
Thrusting the bucket down on the counter of the sink, Joshua barely noticed as it tipped over and the amber fluid within began sloshing down the drain. Instead, his focus was on the tiny body crumpled up in a heap at the foot of the bed.
As he got closer, he could see that her ribs were rising and falling with her breath. She wasn’t dead. And when he crouched down next to her, she stirred, looked up at him and licked his nose, making him sneeze.
He scooped her up, her wiggling making it clear that there was no permanent damage. Bella was as happy as ever, the incident apparently forgotten as far as she was concerned. Her whimper, which before had dug into Joshua’s soul like an awl through tough leather, now caused warmth to filter down into the dark recesses of his heart.
Moving over to the bed, Joshua cradled the puppy in his arms, surprised to find that tears were streaming down his cheeks. The idea that he had almost killed or even just hurt this little one was more than he could bear.
His arms shook, whether from the onset of alcohol withdrawals or a residual effect from the scare he had just suffered, Joshua neither knew nor cared. What he did know was that everything was okay.
The drink that was so necessary only moments ago was now intoxicating whatever denizens of the sewer system that might be circling the drains down below. And yet, with Bella snuggled up against his chest, radiating the kind of heat that only tiny puppies could, all was well with the world.
Bella was safe and sound. And so, miraculously, was Joshua.
* * *
Sariah knew that she had messed up. No matter the provocation, speaking to Joshua in that way about the cops that had died in Cedar Rapids had not been okay. Not in the slightest.
The problem was, she now had no idea what to do about it.
Joshua had stalked off, probably to go back to his hotel room and down whatever his minibar might contain. She couldn’t really blame him. After the day they’d had, Sariah wanted a drink herself. Too bad she was wearing the ankle bracelet. That may not have been one of her best ideas, looking at it in retrospect.
The hotel wasn’t far. Just on the other side of the freeway. The night air, still summery, but much cooler than the day had been, smelled of burnt rocks, gasoline and grass. It was a smell that felt like travel during summer break. Back before everything had gone bad. There were moments when it felt like she understood Joshua perfectly.
As Sariah stretched her arms, doing what she could to convince herself that chasing down the former agent was a good idea, a voice came from behind her. At the same moment, a hand settled on her shoulder.
“You okay?” It was Reggie.
Turning on her heel, Sariah spun to face the part-time cop. Her face burned for some unknown reason. “Yeah.” She stopped, then reconsidered her answer. “Well, actually, no.”
“Good.”
Sariah did a double take. “What did you say?”
“Sorry.” Reggie grimaced. “I seem to do that with you a lot, don’t I? I meant that… well, that it’s good that you’re worried about him.”
“Oh, right.”
The young cop started to speak, then seemed to think better of it, then finally asked, “Are you two…?”
It took Sariah a bit to figure out what Reggie was talking about. When the meaning of the partial question dawned on her, she almost laughed.
“Us? No. Hell, no.”
“Good.” Reggie gave her another half-smile and disappeared into the night. Now what was that supposed to mean?
Shaking off the encounter, Sariah made the trek back to the hotel. There was some residual heat that remained in her face, whether from her argument with Joshua, the encounter with Reggie, or her fear about what she would find at the hotel, she couldn’t say for sure.
When she found herself outside Joshua’s hotel room, she sat staring at the bland, eggshell colored surface for a long while. There was a part of her that had no desire to know what was happening in there. If she didn’t find out, she could pretend. Pretend that it had just been a typical argument between two colleagues, and that she didn’t have anything to feel guilty about.
But Sariah was never one for hiding from hard truths. They weren’t going to go away just because she decided to bury her head in the sand.
She knocked, but there was no answer. Fantastic. This was looking to be just about as bad as she’d feared. Pulling out the key card, she swiped it through the reader and eased the door open, hoping that she wouldn’t catch Joshua coming out of the shower or something.
She needn’t have worried. There, resting on the counter of the sink, were twelve tiny bottles of alcohol. It appeared to be the entire stock from the minibar. Moving farther into the room, Sariah could see that Joshua was passed out on the bed, with Bella resting in the crook of his arms.
Twelve drinks. That was a lot, even for Joshua. Concerned, she took a closer look at the sleeping form and waited until she could see that he was still breathing.
So, at least he wasn’t dead. And a night of binge drinking was probably not the worst thing that could have happened after a day like today.
She stopped herself. Who was she kidding? That was binge drinking for a normal human being. For Joshua, it probably didn’t even crack the top one-hundred for moments of drunken excess. It wasn’t her fault. He had been like this when she found him. Worse.
So why was it that her stomach twisted with guilt as she let herself out?
* * *
The bing of an alert on his laptop distracted Had from his morning toilet. Luckily, he’d just finished shaving, a
nd he was debating the whole shower situation. He’d heard that showering too often could rob you of your body’s natural oils and masculine scent. Who knew when he might need a little extra magnetism boost from his own pheromones?
All thoughts of a shower were thrust from his mind, however, when he saw what the alert meant. He’d set his program to activate when certain search parameters changed, or when new information popped up that was relevant to their case.
And sure enough, it had worked. Back farther to the west, out in Tucson this time, someone had been kidnapped. And it just happened to be within ten miles of their prime suspects trucking route.
This was big news, and it needed to get to Agent Cooper right away. He threw on some clothes, once more regretting the demise of his shrink-to-fit jeans, and ran out the door. As he hurried down the hall, he almost ran straight into Joshua’s back. The former agent was apparently headed down to breakfast as well. With Bella in tow, her service dog vest on proud display. Had thought it suited her.
“Sorry about running into you.”
“No problem,” Joshua answered. Had almost stopped dead in his tracks. Were his ears functioning correctly? It sounded an awful lot like Joshua being okay with an accidental jostling. Had shook his head. Must have been his imagination.
“Hey, that vest looks awesome on Bella. Where’d you get it?”
“Amazon. Came in this morning,” the former agent replied.
“Gotta love them. You headed down to breakfast?”
“Yeah.”
Another first for Joshua, at least as far as Had could remember. Not that Joshua never ate breakfast. He just didn’t do it all that willingly. And since Coop was nowhere in sight, Had figured it must be of Joshua’s own volition.
Good for him. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day, after all. He clapped his hand on Joshua’s back, realizing belatedly that it might not have been the best idea. When there was no immediate response from the former agent, Had continued.
“I’ve got something. I’ll wait until we’re all together to tell you, though.”
“Whatever.” Now that was more like Joshua. Had let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding.
When they got down to the dining area, Coop looked up from her English muffin and jam. She nodded to Had, and then her eyes moved to Joshua and seemed to leap out of her face. Choking on her food, she waved at them to sit down.
“Joshua. I didn’t… I mean, I… How are you?”
The former agent pulled Bella up into his arms and shrugged. “Fine, I guess.”
“Well, you… Ah…” Agent Cooper visibly pulled herself together and started again. “I wanted to apologize for—”
“Don’t.” Joshua held up a hand. “It was all true, and I needed to hear it.”
“But I—”
“I mean it, Coop. It’s important for me to remember that my actions have consequences, even when I can’t see what they are.” He raised an eyebrow. “I can’t promise that my behavior’s going to change all that much, but I’ll at least try to be aware of what I’m doing.”
Something that Agent Cooper was eating didn’t seem to be going down well. She seemed to be trying to swallow, then finally held up a glass of orange juice and took a deep gulp.
“Okay. Fine. But that explosion wasn’t your fault.”
“I know. There are some things that we just can’t control.” He sat down at the table and rubbed his hands together. “So, let’s order, Had. I’m starving.”
He lifted a hand, getting the attention of one of the servers who was finishing up with another table. As the woman moved over to their table, Had could see that Coop was staring at Joshua, her gaze focused. Had couldn’t say for sure, but the expression on her face seemed to be one of disbelief or shock.
“What can I get for you two good-lookin’ men?” the server asked. She glanced down at Bella, noticing the vest. “Wow. That pup of yours seems awful young for a service dog.”
“Long story,” Joshua mumbled, grinning up at her. She was an older woman in her late 50s, smacking gum as she held a pen over a pad of paper, ready to take their order. Had thought she looked and acted perfect. She was the epitome of a greasy spoon diner waitress.
“Well, we don’t have much on the menu for canines, but I can get something for you two, at least,” she said, smiling back at Joshua. She seemed fairly taken with the scruffy former agent.
“I’ll have the chicken-fried steak and eggs, eggs over-easy, with an order of hash browns, toast and pancakes on the side. Oh, and some coffee, black, and a carafe of orange juice.”
This time Had was right there with Coop. They both swiveled their heads and goggled at Joshua. Getting him to order even just the cup of black coffee was usually like pulling teeth. What was going on here?
Then Had realized that the server was looking at him, waiting to take his order. He’d been just staring at Joshua, gobsmacked at the idea that Joshua was going to eat. And not just a mamby-pamby little quiche or something. He was eating. A lot.
Had cleared his throat and ordered something. What it was he couldn’t have said. But the server had nodded without any commentary, so it must have been something fairly normal. He hoped he hadn’t ended up ordering menudo or something crazy like that. Not that this was the kind of place that served menudo.
“You said you had something you wanted to share with us, Had?” Joshua mentioned. He was filling up a bowl on the table with some water and putting it down next to Bella. His words seemed to trigger something in Coop, as her eyes seemed to refocus and she shook her head.
“I’ve got something, too.”
“Go ahead, Coop,” Had told her, waving at her to speak.
“Well, I just got word from the BAU that another body part was found. It falls on the route, nothing out of the ordinary as far as the site goes… it had been there for a long time judging by the level of decomp. But there was one thing that was different.”
“No message this time?” Joshua asked. Agent Cooper winced, probably from the reminder of what had occurred yesterday.
“No, but the body part was one of the arms that was still missing from our body,” she said, taking another sip of her orange juice. “That only leaves its opposite now. But here’s the thing. There were ligature marks on the wrist. Pre mortem.”
Joshua sat back and rubbed his hand through his hair, making it stand on end. “So he’s been keeping the victims tied up before he kills them. That’s new.”
“It’s also good news, right?” Had asked. “I mean, not that he’s tying them up, but that there’s maybe more time before he kills them and cuts them up.”
Coop nodded. “According to the M.E. in Denver, where the arm was found, the marks looked like they were made over the course of at least two or three days.”
Had breathed out a long sigh. “That’s possibly really good news.”
“Why, what’s up?” she asked.
“Well, that’s what I wanted to tell you. There’s been a kidnapping reported down in Tucson, Arizona. And it’s right along Mr. Howse’s route.”
“When did it happen?”
“That’s the kicker. It was while we had Howse in custody.” Had knew it wasn’t anywhere close to being conclusive, but they’d need to open up their investigation to some other possibilities.
Their server returned at that point, but got tripped up in Bella’s leash. She tilted forward dangerously, the carafe of orange juice slipping off the tray and landing square in Joshua’s lap. He leapt up, brushing the juice out of his lap.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” the server yelped, setting down the rest of the food and grabbing a cloth from where it was draped in front of her apron. “I didn’t see the dog there, and I just…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Joshua said. “It was an accident. No big deal.”
Once more, Had and Coop were left speechless. It was like they had stepped into some kind of alternate universe with some anti-Joshua who was… nice.
That was so not okay.
“Well, darlin’, I’m of the opinion that it’s a huge deal,” their server corrected him. “Your breakfast is on the house. Least I can do.”
“It’s really no problem,” Joshua reaffirmed. “But thank you.”
And with that statement, it was confirmed. As far as Had was concerned, Joshua had been taken by aliens and replace with some kind of simulacrum. Glancing at Agent Cooper, it seemed pretty clear that her thoughts were going in the same direction.
So the only question now, was how long they could keep this version.
CHAPTER 16
Facts are stubborn things.
It was a quote from John Adams, and right now it wouldn’t leave Sariah’s head. She knew that the news of the kidnapping was significant information. It was even something that she’d anticipated.
But it was interfering with her clear idea of who the killer was. At this particular moment, she was a bigger fan of Reagan’s famous misquote of the same phrase, Facts are stupid things.
Or even better. Facts are the enemy of truth. That was one that was attributed to Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, but it wasn’t really him. It was Dale Wasserman. It came, not from Don Quixote, but from The Man of La Mancha, a musical based on the Spanish novel and written in 1965, not 1605.
There was probably a lesson in all of that, but Sariah was too tired and pissed off to try to tease out the meaning of it. At the end of the day, what it meant was that they had to start back at the head of the trail, even if it was just to cover their bases.
As far as she was concerned, Sariah would much rather just stay on Curtis Howse until he cracked. She sighed. Maybe they could do both at the same time.
Joshua and Sariah were in their makeshift office at the back of the truck stop, Bella playing with a chew toy Joshua had purchased for her earlier. It was a squeaky toy in the shape of a semi that said Trucker Dog on it. She seemed to love it, and was busy throwing it up in the air and trying to catch it on the way down.
Humpty Dumpty: The killer wants us to put him back together again (Book 1 of the Nursery Rhyme Murders Series) Page 19
