By now, I’d recovered enough to get to my feet, gloved hands pulling me up on the ropes. Maddox was so close. All I had to do was get down from the ring, then—
Maddox smiled when he saw this and turned away, heading for the nearby exit door. Then he stopped for a moment, looking back at me over his shoulder.
“By the way, Danny, I hope this proves how easy it is for me to get to you. Anytime, anywhere. But not now. And not soon. Your end will come when it suits me, and not before.”
The feeling had returned to my limbs, and I began to climb awkwardly out between the ropes. To my horror, my bruised body moved as slowly as if made of concrete.
He paused, enjoying my struggle. His hand on the doorknob.
“Oh, I almost forgot. The next one? Won’t be a patient. Someone a lot closer to home. Just to mix things up a bit.”
By the time I’d made it down from the ring, he’d gone out the door. I crossed the room as quickly as I could and followed him out into the noonday sun.
I looked up and the down the street.
Maddox had disappeared, as though he’d never been.
l l l l l
A few minutes later, I was standing under a steaming shower in the gym. Everything hurt like hell, the stinging pain a seeming rebuke for my foolhardiness in agreeing to spar with that smiling young ape in the first place.
Back in my street clothes, I used the gym’s phone to call for an Uber. It arrived in a matter of minutes, and I slid into the backseat. As we headed across town for the Liberty Bridge and home, I closed my eyes and tried to calibrate my breathing. Slow, deep inhalations, followed by equally slow exhalations. Though I doubted it would do much good.
I was right. Before too long, I could feel my tired limbs stiffen, my muscles aching under the skin. My body’s expected response to the punishment I’d taken in the ring.
As the dull throb of insistent, deep-tissue pain coursed through me, I found myself wondering if I had any analgesic meds back at the house. I’d gotten a prescription some time back, but couldn’t remember now if there were any pills left.
As my driver made his way up to Grandview, I replayed my conversation with Maddox in the gym. His boast about how easy it was to get to me. Any time he wanted. As always, his goal was to mess with my head, to feed a growing sense of powerlessness.
Mine was not to let him.
l l l l l
The moment I came through the front door I was met by both Gloria Reese and Lyle Barnes, sharing the same anxious look.
“Where the hell have you been?” Gloria said sharply. “We figured you’d be back long before now—”
She stopped abruptly, having registered my bruised face, my careful gait. Instead, Barnes spoke next.
“What happened to you downtown, son? Unless Pittsburgh PD’s got some secret goon squad I don’t know about…”
I explained quickly, including the last thing Maddox said to me. His threat that the next victim would be closer to home.
“Yes, but what does that mean?” Gloria sat on an arm of the sofa. “A friend, a colleague?”
“No idea.” I could tell my brain was still clouded, as though drugged. Which reminded me.
“I’m going to see what I have in the bathroom.” I headed for the hallway. “For the pain.”
“You’ll also need to attend to those bruises,” Gloria said.
Barnes rubbed his chin. “If you don’t mind, Agent Reese, how about playing nurse again while I keep monitoring the Doc’s laptop? Plus, I’m just starting to make some headway pulling data on this Maddox creep.”
Gloria smiled her agreement and went with me once again into the bathroom. I resumed my previous position on the edge of the tub while she rummaged through my medicine cabinet. Within moments she found what she was looking for.
“Okay, Rinaldi.” Gloria turned, laden with swabs, tubes of cream, and small brown bottles. “Off with your shirt. And don’t worry, I’ll try to control myself.”
I gingerly slipped out of my jacket and peeled off my shirt, each movement sending shivers of pain through my arms and torso. Glancing in the mirror over the sink, I saw a patchwork of gray, angry bruises and splotches of reddened skin.
“Don’t tell me,” she said, beginning to apply one of the creams. “I should see the other guy.”
“Nope. Truth is, the other guy looks fine. I pretty much got clobbered.”
“Serves you right, Danny. It was a dumb thing to do.”
I was too tired to argue with her, especially since I knew she was right. Sparring with that guy was dumb. Besides, as Barnes had pointed out, I wasn’t getting any younger.
She’d returned to the medicine cabinet and found some surgical tape and adhesive, and was now carefully bandaging my ribs. Other than her bemused murmurs of disapproval and my occasional wince of pain when she touched a particularly tender area, the whole procedure was pretty much wordless.
Finally, she sat back to observe her handiwork.
“It could be worse. If I hadn’t run out of bandages, you’d be a spitting image of the Mummy.”
“Hilarious.” I nodded at the medicine cabinet. “You didn’t happen to find any pain meds in there?”
“Just Motrin. I’d take a few and try to get some sleep.”
She handed me the bottle. “I’m serious, Danny. You took a helluva beating. If you weren’t in such great shape, you’d be in much worse shape.” A warm smile. “If you know what I mean.”
I nodded, and slowly climbed to my feet.
“Thanks, Gloria,” I said quietly. “I mean, for everything. This thing with Maddox…helping me the way you are. It’s… well, just know how much I appreciate it.”
Her smile broadened. “Your tax dollars at work.”
She put her palm against my bare chest, letting it linger there for a long moment. Then, without another word, she turned and left the room.
Chapter Twenty-one
Suddenly famished, I went into the kitchen to make myself something to eat. That’s when I saw Lyle Barnes through the sliding glass door leading to my rear deck. His back to me, he was leaning against the pinewood railing.
He turned when I joined him there, a half-eaten sandwich in his hand. Obviously, we’d had the same idea.
“I’ve always liked this deck you got here, Doc.” He chewed reflectively. “Good place for a man to think.”
“About Sebastian Maddox?”
He nodded, then squinted out at the sun-drenched day. A vault of blue sky backed a meager threading of clouds, offering the hope of more dry days ahead. Not always the norm for a Pittsburgh spring. But at least for today, the Three Rivers sparkled below us as though requisitioned by the chamber of commerce. And the array of new office buildings at the Point, polished to a sheen by the recent rains, glistened in the sun.
“He’s out there somewhere.” Barnes lay his unfinished sandwich on the railing, then brushed crumbs from his shirt.
“And I’m stuck here with my head up my ass, wondering where. Just as I used to wonder about the serial killers the Bureau was after. I’d profile the unknown suspect, based on the usual psych parameters and historic data, but I still knew most of it was guesswork. While our agents in the field were flying blind. All of us aware that with every passing day we were giving the sick bastard another opportunity to act.”
“At least we know who the guy is.”
“Yeah. With Maddox, it isn’t about profiling, it’s about research. Learning everything we can about him to help us try to anticipate his next move. And unlike a serial, he’s not killing indiscriminately. He’s targeting specific people in your life.”
“And getting to them…”
Barnes grunted. “We’ll find the bastard, I promise.”
“Maybe. But that’s what I’m worried about, Lyle. If we do find him, if he’s cornered…I can�
��t say why, but I get the feeling he’d want to go out in a blaze of glory. That he’d never be willing to go back to prison. This time, maybe on Death Row.”
The other man managed a wry smile. “Funny you should say that. I’ve had the same vibe for a while now. This whole thing has ‘end game’ written all over it. I knew perps like that. Guys who’d never allow themselves to be apprehended. And if it looked like they were going down, they’d take as many people with them as possible.”
“Christ, this just gets better and better.”
We lapsed into a long silence, both of us distractedly watching as a flock of birds crossed the sky. Until Barnes stifled a yawn.
I saw my opening. “You get any sleep last night, Lyle?”
“Define your terms.”
“You know what I mean. Are you having symptoms?”
“On and off, the past couple weeks. But nothing I can’t handle. It’s not like before.”
I stared at the side of his angular face till he turned.
“I’m telling the truth, Doc. Your patient is doing fine. A satisfied customer.” An unconvincing smile. “I’d be happy to recommend you to all the screwed-up ex-agents I know. Which is pretty much all of them.”
His smile faded as he put a hand on my forearm.
“Let’s face it, Daniel. We have bigger fish to fry, as my old man used to say.”
“I know. I just—”
“Besides,” he went on, “I’m not the one who looks all beat to shit. If anyone needs sleep…”
“Yeah, I know that, too. Maybe I’ll try to grab a few hours…as long as you or Gloria keep monitoring my laptop. Maddox is going to make his next move soon. I can feel it.”
“Don’t worry, Agent Reese and I are all over this. Though before you sack out, I think you should cancel tomorrow’s patients. Maybe even for the whole week.”
“I already considered that. Probably a good idea. Nobody’s in a particular crisis at the moment…”
Barnes gave me a frank look. “You mean, besides you?”
I returned the look. “Point taken.”
I pushed off from the railing and was about to go back inside when another thought occurred to me.
“I just realized, Gloria will have to return to the office tomorrow. She’s a senior field agent, and the Bureau’s probably working its usual load of cases—”
“Then it’ll just have to get along without her for a while. She told me she took some overdue vacation time.”
I frowned. “Hardly a vacation.”
He offered me an enigmatic shrug, then turned once again to stare out at the uncommonly peaceful day.
l l l l l
Using the landline again, I called all of the upcoming week’s patients and cancelled their appointments. Then, after staving off my hunger with a simple ham sandwich, I padded into the bedroom. The afternoon sun streamed through the window, so I drew the shutters, plunging the room into soothing darkness.
I stripped and climbed under the sheets. Gratefully closing my eyes, and hoping that my wired brain would at least let me rest…
It was the last thing I remember thinking, until the sound of the shutters opening roused me from sleep. At first, I covered my eyes, expecting the room to be flooded with light.
But, instead, it was as dark as before, if not more so. When I glanced at the window, I saw that night had fallen. I realized I must have been asleep for hours. The rest of the day, in fact.
Still groggy, I pulled myself up to my elbows. It was only then that I turned my head, and noticed that I wasn’t alone in the bed.
As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I made out Gloria’s oval face. Her searching gaze offset by a wry, beautiful smile.
Even partially concealed under the covers, I could tell that she was naked.
“Somebody needed his beauty sleep.” Her voice softly mocking. She stirred then, pushing the covers away. The smooth curves of her body barely visible in the dimness.
Before I could form words, she put her finger to my lips.
“Keep it down, okay? The door’s locked and the old man is in the front room, but he isn’t deaf.”
“But…I mean, Maddox…Has he—?”
“Nothing, Danny. Not a peep. I watched the laptop the whole time you were asleep.”
I shook my head to clear it. “I had no idea I’d sleep so long…Must’ve been more wrecked than I thought.”
“Yeah…” Her voice changed, lowered. “Must’ve been…”
She moved stealthily on the bed, until her body was on top of mine. I felt the pressure of her small breasts against me, the languorous touch of her legs scissoring mine. Then her full lips pressing down, a hungry kiss that was like a jolt to my heart. Despite myself, I melted into it. Savored it.
I took hold of her shoulders—like the rest of her, slender but strong—and gently pushed her up.
“Look…” My words a weary rasp. “I’m pretty banged up…I mean, I don’t know if I can…”
Suddenly I felt her hand encircle my urgent erection.
“You don’t, eh?” she whispered. “Looks like your cock didn’t get the memo.”
With that, she slid down and took me in her mouth.
My thoughts shredded, fell away as I lay back and let myself become lost in the sensation…
And then she reared up, face near to mine. We kissed again, harder this time. And then I was inside her, all of me, deep, reveling in her moist warmth. Her muffled gasps as we fell naturally, wordlessly, into a rolling, measured rhythm.
It was strangely exhilarating, the exquisite charge of our lovemaking blending with the sharp twinges of pain as my body’s bruises protested. Our hearts pounding even as we kept our voices constrained. Our urgent cries muted.
We clung to each other, seeking solace in our entwined bodies, a barrier of flesh and desire against the horrors we’d faced. And those that lay ahead.
l l l l l
Afterwards, I cradled her in my arms, enveloped by the comforting darkness. I wanted to stay that way forever. I said as much. Gloria murmured her agreement, and snuggled in closer.
I closed my eyes. For once, I wasn’t thinking like a therapist. Assessing, interpreting. Wondering how this had happened. So suddenly, unexpectedly. Yet maybe there was nothing to wonder about. Sometimes the body has its own wisdom.
But what did this mean for Eleanor Lowrey and me? If anything? At this point, I didn’t know whether what we had now could even be called a relationship anymore. Especially given her renewed feelings for her former lover.
Putting these thoughts aside, I turned and kissed Gloria.
“Delicious,” she whispered. “And I wouldn’t mind going another round, but…”
“Yeah, I know. Reality’s on the other side of that door, and, like it or not, it’s waiting for us.”
She nodded ruefully. But before stirring, she returned my kiss with a long, slow one of her own.
Then, as we started to climb out of bed, I winced.
“Jesus.” I gingerly rubbed my bandaged ribs. “It’s not like I wasn’t sore enough before…”
“What did I tell you?” A knowing wink. “Small but mighty.”
We each dressed quickly and went down the hall to the front room. Now in a sweater, slacks, and loafers, Barnes was leaning forward on the sofa, staring at my laptop on the coffee table. His arm in its sling propped on one bony knee.
“Interesting career track, our Mr. Maddox.” Other than a brief nod to acknowledge our presence, he didn’t move a muscle. “From age seven or so. Makes for fascinating reading.”
Gloria planted herself on the cushions next to him. “I’d settle for the CliffsNotes version again.”
Not me. I wanted as much history as I could get. There might be something in Maddox’s past that could help us. Give us a way into his psyche. O
r at least reveal repetitive patterns of behavior. Anything.
But before I could make my case, the landline on my rolltop desk rang.
Equally startled, we three exchanged worried looks. Then I strode to the desk and looked at the phone display.
It was Noah Frye. I picked up. His frantic, breathy voice was barely intelligible.
“Danny, it’s me! Have you seen Charlene?”
“What? Noah, slow down—”
“It’s my Charlene! She never came home after having dinner with her brother tonight. I called Skip and he said she left hours ago.”
“Have you tried calling her?”
“Yes! YES! I’m crazy, not stupid. But there’s no answer from her cell…Danny, she’d never—”
I could hardly speak myself, dread choking my throat. It was Maddox. It had to be.
“Oh, Jesus…Oh, Christ…” Noah was almost babbling now. “What happened to Charlene, Danny? Where the hell is she?”
Chapter Twenty-two
A half-hour later I was weaving down the hill from Grandview Avenue, my high beams poking twin holes in the resolute darkness. The twinkling lights moving slowly across the bridge below revealed much more traffic than I would have expected for a Sunday night. Not good.
After I’d hung up with Noah, I hurriedly checked my office voice mail for some message from Maddox, informing me that he had Charlene Hines, and what he intended to do with her. But there was nothing. Meanwhile, Barnes and Gloria were peering anxiously at my laptop, which remained silent, its screen blank.
“Check your cells,” I said. “Just in case he’s identified them and hacked in.”
Head Wounds Page 15
