"Besides, Brandy wasn't poisoned. It was a hell of a lot more violent than that. You saw. Crazy-violent. Not something any neighbor would do."
"You'd be surprised what neighbors will do," Wilford said .
"Sometimes they even kill each other. Not unusual at all. It's a strange world we're living in."
"You're wrong," she said hotly ." It was the old woman. The dog and the face at the window-they were both connected with that old woman."
He sighed ." You may be right."
"I am right."
"I was only suggesting that we keep our minds open," he said.
"Good idea," she said pointedly.
He closed his notebook ." Well, I guess I've got all the details I need."
Christine got up as the officer rose from his chair. She said, "What now?"
"We'll file a report, of course, including your statement, and we'll give you an open case number."
" What's an open case number?"
"If anything else should happen, if this old woman should show up again, you give the case number when you call us, and the officers answering your call will know the story before they get here; they'll know what to look for on the way, so if maybe the woman leaves before they arrive, they'll spot her in passing and be able to stop her."
"Why didn't they give us a case number after what happened last night?"
"Oh, they wouldn't open a file just for one report of a prowler," Wilford explained ." Last night, you see, no crime had been committed-at least so far as we could tell. No evidence of any sort of crime. But this is . . . a little worse."
"A little worse?" she said, remembering Brandy's severed head, the dead glassy eyes gazing up at her.
"An unfortunate choice of words," he said ." I'm sorry. It's just that, compared to a lot of other things we see on this job, a dead dog isn't so-"
"Okay, okay," Christine said, increasingly unable to conceal her anger and impatience ." You'll call us and give us an open case number. But what else are you going to do?"
Wilford looked uncomfortable. He rolled his broad shoulders and scratched at his thick neck ." The description you've given us is the only thing we've got to go on, and that's not much .
We'll run it through the computer and try to work backwards to a name. The machine'll spit out the name of anyone who's been in trouble with us before and who fits at least seven of the ten major points of standard physical comparison. Then we'll pull mug shots of whatever other photos we have in the files. Maybe the computer'll give us several names, and we'll have photos of more than one old woman. Then we'll bring all the pictures over here for you to study. As soon as you tell us we've found her . . . well, then we can go have a talk with her and find out what this is all about. You see, it really isn't hopeless, Mrs. Scavello ."
"What if she hasn't been in trouble with you before and you don't have a file on her?"
Moving to the front door, Wilford said, "We have data-sharing arrangements with every police agency in Orange, San Diego, Riverside, and Los Angeles Counties. We can reach their computers through our own. Instant access. Datalink, they call it. If she's in any of their files, we'll find her just as quickly as if she were in our own."
"Yeah, sure, but what if she's never been in trouble anywhere?" Christine asked anxiously.
Opening the front door, Wilford said, "Oh, don't worry, we'll probably turn up something. We almost always do."
"That's not good enough," she said, and she would have said it even if she had believed him, which she didn't. They wouldn't turn up anything.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Scavello, but it's the best we can do."
"Shit."
He scowled ." I understand your frustration, and I want to assure you we won't file this away and forget about it. But we can't work miracles."
"Shit ."
His scowl deepened. His bushy eyebrows drew together in a single thick bar ." Lady, it's none of my business, but I don't think you should use words like that in front of your little boy."
She stared at him, astonished. Astonishment turned to anger .
"Yeah? And what're you-a born-again Christian?"
"In fact, I am, yes. And I believe it's extremely important for us to set good examples for our young ones, so they'll grow up in God's image. We've got to-" "I don't believe this," Christine said ." You're telling me that I'm setting a bad example because I used a four-letter word, a harmless word-"
"Words aren't harmless. The devil beguiles and persuades with words. Words are the-"
"What about the example you're setting for my son? Huh? By your every act, you're teaching him that the police really can't protect anyone, that they really can't help anyone, that they can't do much more than come around afterwards and pick up the pieces ."
"I wish you didn't see it that way," Wilford said.
"How the hell else am I supposed to see it?"
He sighed ." We'll call you with the case number." Then he turned away from the door, away from her and Joey, and moved stiffly down the walkway.
After a moment, she hurried in his wake, caught up with him, put a hand on his shoulder ." Please."
He stopped, turned to her. His face was hard, his eyes cold.
She said, "I'm sorry. I really am. I'm just distraught. I don't know what to think. All of a sudden I don't know where to turn ."
"I understand," he said, as he had said a couple of times before, but there was no understanding in his granite face.
Glancing back to make sure Joey was still in the doorway, still too far away to hear, she said, "I'm sorry I flew off the handle at you. And I guess you're right about watching my language around Joey. Most of the time I do watch it, believe me, but today I'm not thinking straight. That crazy woman told me that my little boy had to die. That's what she said. He k got to die, she said. And now the dog's dead, poor old fur-face. God, I liked that mutt a lot. He's dead and gone, and Joey saw a face at the window in the middle of the night, and all of a sudden the world's turned upside-down, and I'm scared, really scared, because I think somehow that crazy woman followed us, and I think she's going to do it, or at least try to do it, try to kill my little boy. I don't know why. There can't be a reason. Not a reason that makes any sense. But that doesn't make any difference, does it? Not these days. These days, the newspapers are full of stories about punks and child molesters and lunatics of all kinds who don't need a reason to do what they do."
Wilford said, "Mrs. Scavello, please, you've got to keep control of yourself. You're being melodramatic. I won't say hysterical, but definitely melodramatic. It's not as bad as you're making out. We'll get to work on this, just like I told you. Meanwhile, you put your trust in God, and you'll be all right, you and your boy ."
She couldn't reach this man. Not ever. Not in a million years.
She couldn't make him feel her terror, couldn't make him understand what it would mean to her if she lost Joey. It was hopeless, after all.
She could barely remain on her feet. All the strength went out of her.
He said, "I sure am glad, though, to hear you say you'll watch your language around the boy. The last couple generations in this country, we've been raising anti-social, know -it-all snots who have no respect for anything. If we're ever going to have us a good, peaceful, God-loving and God-fearing society, then we got to raise 'em up by the right example."
She said nothing. She felt as if she were standing here with someone from another country-maybe even from another planet-who not only didn't speak her language but who had no capacity to learn. There was no way he could ever grasp her problems, appreciate her concerns. In every way that counted, they were thousands of miles apart, and there was no road between them.
Wilford's flinty eyes sparked with the passion of a true believer as he said: "And I also recommend you don't go around without a bra in front of the boy, the way you are now. A woman built like you, even wearing a loose blouse like that, certain ways you turn or stretch . . . it's bound to be . . .
&nb
sp; arousing ."
She stared at him in disbelief. Several cutting remarks came to mind, any one of which would have stopped him dead, but for some reason she couldn't seem to summon the words to her lips. Of course, her reticence was in part the result of having had a mother who would have made General George Patton look soft-hearted, a mother who had insisted on good manners and unfailing politeness. There were also the lessons of the Church, deeply ingrained in her, which said you were supposed to turn the other cheek. She told herself she had broken loose from all of that, had left it far behind, but now her inability to put Wilford in his place was indisputable proof that, to her dismay, she was still to some degree a prisoner of her past.
Wilford went right on babbling, oblivious of her fury ." Maybe the boy doesn't even notice now, but in a couple of years he'll notice for sure, and a boy shouldn't be having those kinds of
thoughts about his own mother. You'd be leading him in the way of the devil."
If she hadn't been so weak, if she hadn't been weighed down by the terrible awareness of her and Joey's helplessness, Christine would have laughed in his face. But right now there was no laughter in her.
Wilford said, "Well, okay then. I'll be talking to you. Trust in God, Mrs. Scavello. Trust in God."
She wondered what he'd say if she told him it wasn't Mrs. Scavello. What would he do if she told him Joey had been born out of wedlock, a bastard child? Would he work on the case a little less eagerly? Would he be at all concerned about preserving the life of an illegitimate little boy?
God damn all hypocrites.
She wanted to hit Wilford, kick him and hit him and take out her frustration on him, but she only watched as he got into the patrol car where his partner waited for him. He looked back at her, raised one hand, and gave her a curt little wave through the window.
She returned to the front door.
Joey was waiting for her.
She wanted to say something reassuring to him. He looked as if he needed that. But even if she'd been able to find the words, she wouldn't have been able to deceive him by speaking them .
Right now, until they knew what the hell was happening, it was probably better to be scared. If he was frightened, he would be careful, watchful.
She felt disaster coming.
Was she being melodramatic?
No.
Joey felt it coming, too. She could see a dreadful anticipation in his eyes.
She stepped into the house, closed the door, locked it.
She ruffled Joey's hair ." You okay, honey?"
"I'm gonna miss Brandy," he said in a shaky voice, trying to be a brave little man but not quite succeeding.
"Me too," Christine said, remembering how funny Brandy had looked in the role of Chewbacca the Wookie.
Joey said, "I thought .
"What?"
"Maybe it would be a good idea .
" Yeah? "
". . . a good idea to get another dog soon."
She hunkered down to his level ." You know, that's a very mature idea. Very wise, I think."
" don't mean I want to forget Brandy."
"Of course not."
"I couldn't ever forget him."
"We'll always remember Brandy. He'll always have a special place in our hearts," she said ." And I'm sure he'd understand about us getting another dog right away. In fact, I'm sure that's what he'd want us to do."
"So I'll still be protected," Joey said.
"That's right. Brandy would want you to be protected."
In the kitchen, the telephone rang.
"Tell you what," she said, "I'll just answer the phone, and then we'll make arrangements for burying Brandy."
The phone rang again.
"We'll find a nice pet cemetery or something, and we'll lay Brandy to rest with all the right honors."
"I'd like that," he said.
The phone rang a third time.
Heading toward the kitchen, she said, "Then later we'll look for a puppy." She picked up the phone just as it completed a fifth ring ." Hello?"
A woman said, "Are you part of it?"
"Excuse me?"
the woman asked."Are you part of it-or don't you know what's happening?"
Although the voice was vaguely familiar, Christine said, "I think you've got the wrong number."
"You are Miss Scavello, aren't you?"
"Yes. Who's this?"
"I've got to know if you're part of it. Are you one of them?
Or are you an innocent? I've got to know."
Suddenly Christine recognized the voice, and a chill crept up her spine.
The old woman said, "Do you know what your son really. is?
Do you know the evil in him? Do you know why he's got to die? "
Christine slammed the phone down.
Joey had followed her into the kitchen. He was standing just this side of the door to the dining room, chewing on a thumbnail. In his striped shirt and jeans and somewhat tattered sneakers, he looked pathetically small, defenseless.
The phone began to ring again.
Ignoring it, Christine said, "Come on, Skipper. Stay with me .
Stay close to me."
She led him out of the kitchen, through the dining room and living room, upstairs to the master bedroom.
He didn't ask what was wrong. From the look on his face, she thought he probably knew.
The phone kept ringing.
In the bedroom she pulled the top drawer out of the highboy, rummaged under a stack of folded sweaters, and came up with a wicked-looking pistol, a selective double-action Astra Constable .32 automatic with a snub-nosed barrel. She had purchased it years ago, before Joey was born, when she'd begun living alone, and she had learned how to use it. The gun had given her a much-needed sense of security-as it did now, once again.
The phone rang and rang.
When Joey had come into her life, especially when he had begun to walk, she'd been afraid that, in his ceaseless curiosity, he would find the weapon and play with it. Protection against
burglars had to be weighed against the more likely-and more frightening-possibility that Joey would hurt himself. She had unloaded the gun, had put the empty magazine in a dresser drawer, and had buried the gun itself beneath the sweaters in the highboy, and fortunately had never needed it since then.
Until now.
The shrill ringing of the telephone became louder and more irritating by the moment.
Pistol in hand, Christine went to the dresser and located the empty magazine. She hurried to the closet where she kept a box of ammunition on the top shelf, all the way at the back. With trembling and clumsy fingers, she pushed cartridges into the magazine until it was full, then slapped it into the butt of the pistol hard enough to lock it in place.
Joey watched in wide-eyed fascination.
At last the telephone stopped ringing.
The sudden silence had the force of a blow. It briefly stunned Christine.
Joey was the first to speak. Still chewing on a thumbnail, he said, "Was it the witch on the phone?"
There was no point in hiding it from him and no point in telling him the old woman wasn't really a witch ." Yeah. It was her ."
" Mommy . . . I'm scared."
For the past several months, ever since he had overcome his fear of the imaginary white snake that had disturbed his sleep, he had called her "Mom" instead of "Mommy" because he was trying to be more grown-up. His reversion to "Mommy" was an indication of just how badly frightened he was.
"It'll be all right. I'm not going to let anything happen to . . .
either of us. If we're just careful, we'll be okay."
She kept expecting to hear a knock at the door or see a face at the window. Where had the old woman been calling from?
How long would it take her to get here now that the cops were gone, now that she had a clear shot at Joey?
" What're we gonna do?" he asked.
She put the loaded gun on top of the six-drawer highboy and dr
agged two suitcases from the back of the closet ." I'm going to pack a bag for each of us and then we're getting out of here."
"Where're we going?"
She threw one of the suitcases onto her bed and opened it ."
don't know for sure, sweetheart. Anywhere. To a hotel, probably. We'll go someplace where that crazy old hag won't be able to find us no matter how hard she looks."
"Then what?"
As she folded clothes into the open suitcase, she said, "Then we'll find someone who can help us ... really help us."
"Not like the cops?"
"Not like the cops."
"Who? "
"I'm not sure. Maybe ... a private detective.
"Like Magnum on TV?"
"Maybe not exactly like Magnum," Christine said.
"Like who, then?"
"We need a big firm that can provide us with bodyguards and everything while they're tracking down that old woman. A firstrate organization ." "Like in them old movies?"
"What old movies are those?"
"You know. Where they're in real bad trouble, and they say, 'We'll hire Pinkelton." "
"Pinkerton," she corrected ." Yeah. Something like Pinkerton. I can afford to hire people like that and, by God, I'm going to hire them. We're not just going to be a couple of sitting ducks the way the cops would have us."
"I'd feel a whole bunch safer if we just went and hired Magnum," Joey said.
She didn't have time to explain to a six-year-old that Magnum wasn't a real private eye. She said, "Well, maybe you're right .
Maybe we will hire Magnum."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I "He'll do a good job," Joey said soberly ." He always does."
At her direction, Joey took the empty suitcase and headed toward his room. She followed, carrying the suitcase that she had already packed-and the pistol.
She decided they wouldn't go to a hotel first. They'd go straight to a detective agency and not waste any time dealing with this.
Her mouth was sandpaper-dry. Her heart thudded. She was breathing hard and fast' '
In her mind a terrible vision rose, an image of a bloody and decapitated body sprawled on the back porch. But in the vision, it wasn't Brandy she saw in gory ruin. It was Joey.
Dean Koontz - (1984) Page 4
