“When we got back,” he said.
“Not on the phone?” I asked.
“He just talked to me,” interrupted Huck. “I told Kevin she was dead.” She looked squarely at him. “You never told me anything about Toby coming to you that night.”
“That's because you don't matter,” he said simply.
Huck flinched.
“Who does matter, in this?” asked Hester, quickly. This was no time for an argument between Huck and Kevin.
Kevin smiled, enigmatically. “Depends.”
“Well right now,” I said evenly, “it better be us.” I was getting really irritated with his attitude. “So tell me what Toby told you.”
It worked. Better than I'd hoped.
“All he said was that Dan and him and Edie were together, and Dan wanted to do that 'secondhand' experience thing he kept talking about, and he had Toby and Edie get it on, and then Edie got all wild on them, and things just went all ugly from there.”
Well, at least it was fairly succinct.
“And, where did he say they were when this was going on?”
He sighed, all exasperated and put out. “I told you, Toby didn't tell me.”
He was, of course, lying. He was an easy tell, too.
After that, it was pretty much a communal effort to inform us about what Dan Peale considered a good time.
Because Dan Peale apparently believed that he would be able to experience emotions “secondhand” if he ingested the blood of another, at a time when that other person was experiencing a strong emotion, he had tried his theory out first with pleasure being the target. He said it worked, and was able to “experience the afterglow” of a woman's orgasm with Edie. Given the fact that he was probably doing some meth or ecstasy at the time, and so was she, go figure.
Anyway, things progressed, as they always seem to, toward more and more extreme events. It dawned on him at some point that blood coming directly from the brain would contain the most undiluted pheromones or endorphins, or something. He obtained some needles, and as far as they knew, did his first jugular stick in June 2000.
“That was me,” said Hanna. “I was pretty high, and it still hurt like hell, and it was the scariest thing I ever did. I never let him do that again. Ever.”
“Why did you let him do it in the first place?” asked Hester.
Hanna gave it about one second's worth of thought. “Because he scares me to death,” she answered. I think the irony escaped her.
As it turned out, it wasn't just the pleasures life offered that Dan Peale wanted to experience.
“The next step,” murmured Melissa, “was fear. Well, he called it 'terror,' and I suppose it was.” She looked up. “That was me. Back in August.” She shook her head. “Terror isn't the word. You really can't move, you know. I mean, with that thing stuck in your neck. Hell, he tied my hands, but he really didn't need to. 'If you move, you could kill yourself,' he said. No joke.” She shuddered, and rubbed the right side of her neck with two fingers. “He told me that it made such a small hole, there was no problem. Then, after he got it in, he said he'd lied. The prick stuck it in there, and starts telling me that, if I moved, I'd bleed to death. That the hole was bigger than he'd said. Then he'd, like, make sudden moves, you know? Clap his hands. Yell. Just to startle me, scare me. Shit.” She seemed to get more of a grip on herself. “But I made it, didn't I? He didn't use too big a needle, after all. He said he was sorry. Afterward. I didn't know whether to hate him for scaring me or for lying to me. But he didn't really injure me,” she added quickly.
I was dumbfounded, truly, that he could get them to do that. But this wasn't the time to go there.
“See?” said Kevin. “That's probably what happened to Edie. Like I said, an accident.”
“But you don't know?” Hester was starting to press him.
“Well… ”
“So you don't, then.” She said it with finality.
“Don't jump to conclusions, lady.” Kevin was getting insulting with the “lady” business.
“I'm not the one jumping,” said Hester. “So Toby only told you that's what happened? Right?”
Right, but with a twist. It seems that Toby had told Kevin that he, Edie, and Dan Peale were involved in a threesome, and that both he and Edie had been surprised when the blood thing had been brought up. They weren't expecting more than just some heavy sex, apparently.
“So,” I asked, “he didn't always get into the blood?”
“No,” said Huck.
“Not all that much,” said Melissa. “Just sometimes. Sometimes you could tell when it was going to be, sometimes you couldn't.”
“Edie got a little reluctant,” said Kevin. “So Dan had Toby hold her.”
“Wait a second,” I said. “If Toby was in love with Edie, why would he do that?”
There was a long enough pause that I began to think I had really missed something obvious. Huck finally spoke.
“He'd help Dan,” she said, “because the only time Edie would let him get into heavy duty snogging with her was when Dan was there, too. Edie did it for Dan, and without Dan, Toby would never have had a chance with her.”
It took me a second to digest that.
“Right.”
“See,” said Kevin, “Toby wouldn't have helped kill her, though. Like I keep trying to tell you, it was an accident.”
It was left to Huck to play the last card.
“No, it wasn't. It was not an accident.” Huck put her chin in her hands, and regarded me for a beat. “I know for a fact that the times with Hanna and Melissa were 'test flights,' like he called them.” She stopped my question by saying, “Dan. Dan called them that. He told me what he really wanted, and he told me that I'd have to die if I told anybody else.”
She folded her arms across her chest, defiantly. She took a deep breath, and then said very rapidly, “He told me that he wanted to experience death secondhand. But that to do it right, the donor would have to know they were going to die, and he'd probably have to kill them.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
Tuesday, October 10, 2000
17:40
“Brilliant,” said Kevin. “Just brilliant, Huck. Do you really have a death wish?”
That got me involved, from a slightly different angle.
“You got someplace safe to go?” I asked Huck.
She shrugged. “Oh, I think. But I'll probably just stay here. I don't think Dan's coming back.
” I raised both eyebrows, as meaningfully as I could.“You sure?”
“I'll let you know. But thanks, anyway. For asking.”
“Your call.”
She just nodded.
Here we were, about to begin mining a mother lode of information, and we were looking at the clock, wondering when we could head for Lake Geneva to interview Jessica Hunley. Hester and I talked quickly, and then I went to the phone in the hall, and called the office and had Borman head up. I told them to send Sally, too, since she was a reserve. Both of them knew the witnesses we were interviewing, and both could do a credible job of follow-up.
When I got off the phone, Hester used her cell phone to call her boss, and get another agent assigned and started up to meet with us. It was going to aggravate him no end, because they were short, but she'd get one, even if it meant overtime.
We were going to be getting a late start, but talking to Jessica Hunley was too important to let go for another day or two.
We continued the interviews, to keep the information flowing. I began to suspect that, although they'd cover for Dan, his absence was loosening the bond.
At one point, Melissa asked a probing question that I fielded as well as I could.
“Why don't you go talk to Jessica?” she asked. She looked pleased with herself for asking, and that tripped a warning switch.
“Jessica,” I said, “is out of our jurisdiction right now.” Technically true. I said it in a brush-off tone. It made it more believable.
“Oh. Oh, yeah. She is,
isn't she?”
“Yep. Now, like I was saying… ”
I made a mental note that our replacements couldn't know where we were going. Just so they couldn't spill the beans.
Borman and Sally arrived fairly shortly after I'd called. I briefed them on what we'd accomplished. Sally was a little freaked.
“No shit? He killed her slow, so he could drink her blood, and live her death? Jesus, Dark Shadows, all over.”
Sally liked soap operas, too.
“Yep. That's what he did.”
“Christ,” said Borman. “That's one evil dude.”
“Yeah,” I said, “he's bad all right. So, anyway, what you are going to be doing is obtaining thorough statements, and taking notes. There's another DCI agent headed in, and whoever they send will be helping with the follow-up here, just like you are.”
“So,” said Borman, “what are you guys going to be doing while we do this?” “We have a lead we're going to follow up. Has to be done right away.” True.
“Need to know?” Completely insincere, Borman was developing a way of asking questions that assured he wasn't going to get a complete answer.
“Yeah. Need to know only.” I changed the subject. “I want you two to emphasize the possibility that Peale might return here. I don't want these people endangered in any way. It's their choice,” I explained, “but if you can convince them to be in a safer location, try to do that. Especially Huck.”
“Where?”
“If I knew that, Sally, I'd tell you.” I handed her some of my notes. “Maybe parents? Relatives, friends… just somewhere that they can rely on somebody calling if Peale shows up.”
“I'll try,” she said. “I can transmit fear,” she said, her face crinkling in a smile. “Believe me.”
We were out of the Mansion at 20:20.
“Okay,” said Hester. “It's about eight-thirty. Get me back to my motel, I'll get my car, meet you at your house at, oh, what? Nine-fifteen?”
“I'll try, but it's going to be closer to nine-thirty.
What you think, one night? Two at the most?”
“Two at the very most.”
“Okay,” I said. “Then we pick up Harry, and we're off.” We would each take our separate cars. That was a given, as our bosses could suddenly request our presence, and we'd have to leave at once. In this case, two of us wouldn't want to be pulled out of Lake Geneva just because the other had to leave. It was most likely that the one called would be Hester, and I didn't want to end up stranded a couple of hundred miles south of Nation County, killing time while she went to some unrelated murder scene. It was getting late, and the gas stations in Nation County would be closing around ten. If she needed gas, I was sort of gently reminding her where she was.
“I'll get some before I pick you up.”
“Okay, and if you can't, for some reason, I can get you to the county pumps.”
“I'd prefer real gas,” she said. “If I can get somebody to accept my state card.”
I dropped Hester off at her motel, and headed home.
Sue said, “Welcome home! And before ten, too!”
I kissed her, and broke the news.
“Lake Geneva?”
“Yeah, but you don't know that. Harry and Hester and I are going over to do interviews, and nobody can know that.”
“Okay. I guess.”
“Lamar knows, but nobody else. It's just for a day or two, at the most.”
I kept talking to her as I sat at our computer, and looked up accommodations in Lake Geneva. Several were just too pricey, especially those on the lake, itself. I checked maps and addresses, looking for something inexpensive.
“This is going on our credit card, isn't it?”
“I'm afraid so.” I looked up from the screen. “You know the county.”
“We will get reimbursed?”
“Oh, sure. Within six months.”
She sighed. “You want help packing?”
“Well, I'm trying to remember where the small overnight bag is… ” I settled on a motel that had no stars at all in its rating, in Fontana. I checked my map. On Lake Geneva, the western end. Maybe three to four miles from the town of Lake Geneva, itself. Good enough. It not only had no rating stars, it had no internet capability, either. I had to make a long distance call, and just give my card info over the phone. The clerk was pretty disinterested. With a room rate of thirty-four dollars a night, I suppose interest was a bit too much to ask.
I went upstairs, and Sue had my bag out, and already laid out underwear, socks, and sweatpants for me to lounge in.
“Hester sees you in these, I'll sleep better for knowing she fled laughing,” she said. But it did bother her a bit.
“There's no reason to worry.”
“I know that. But I just… well, it's a little uncomfortable. You know?”
I squeezed her shoulders. “Yeah, but don't let it be. Strictly professional.” She looked up, and I kissed her. “Besides,” I said, “Harry's rooming with me.”
“Now I'm really worried,” she said. “Go get your shaving gear, while I pick out a couple of shirts.”
I made a quick call to Lamar, and told him that we were leaving.
“Okay, Carl. I already called the office. Nobody will call you, on the phone or the radio. You're officially on a stakeout in a confidential location.”
“Thanks.”
“Don't even check out with Dispatch on the radio, and just keep track of your mileage and meals.”
“Okay, Pop. I'll call you when I get back, if not before, if we find out anything. Sue's got the phone number of my motel, and the Walworth County Sheriff's Department in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, will know where we are all the time. Got a pencil handy?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, their ORI is WI0650000, in case you want to teletype them for any reason.” ORI is an abbreviation for Origin, and is the teletype address of any particular law enforcement agency. The numbers are usually carried over into the call sign of the particular department, and in this case, the radio call number of their sheriff would probably be 65-1. All their county cars would begin with sixty-five.
“Okay, they're sixty-five with the zeroes. Okay. Good. Let me know right away… about anything I should know about.”
“Don't worry, Lamar. How's your sister taking things?”
“Just like I thought she would,” he said, disgustedly. “Now she wants to sue the funeral home.”
Fifteen minutes and a flurry of packing later, Hester knocked on the back door.
“Hester, nice to see you,” said Sue. “Come on in.”
“Sorry to have to borrow your husband for a day or two,” said Hester, “but I'm afraid it's necessary.”
“Just watch what he eats,” said Sue. “Or, as long as you can stand it, anyway. I don't envy you going with both Carl and Harry together.”
“It's scary, isn't it?” said Hester. “I'll submit a written report on Carl's diet.”
“You be careful, too,” said Sue. “All of you, be careful.”
I hugged her. “Be back before you know it,” I said.
Hester's car was running in the driveway. As she got in, she said, “Harry's waiting for us just across the river.”
“Okay,” I answered. “When we get where we're headed, I have reservations for me and Harry at a motel in Fontana.”
“Fine. I'm in a place called the Geneva Inn. In Lake Geneva, on the other side of the lake.”
“Okay!” I hoped she had a nice place.
I got in, buckled up, checked everything to make sure it was either working or turned off, and backed out of the garage. I could see Sue, waving, from the back door. I honked my horn, and waved back.
We three took our separate cars on Highway 18 to Madison, then I 90 SE to Janesville, where we stopped for a bite to eat. It was 23:40. We only had about another hour to go.
We pulled in to a McDonald's, which seemed to be the only place open, although they were mopping the floors as we entered. We got
the stuff to go, and ate in my car, Harry in front with me, and Hester in back. As Hester said, “It's not so noticeable if we spill in yours.”
We'd all been thinking as we drove, and we used this chance to plan a bit.
“What do you hear about your missing girl, Harry?” asked Hester.
“Haven't really heard shit,” he replied, munching a Big Mac. He swallowed. “It's strange. She just went into the ladies john, and disappeared. Took her car, as far as we can tell, and just left.”
“Foul play?” I asked. That was a formal designation in “Attempt To Locate” bulletins for missing persons. “Foul Play Feared.”
“Beats the crap out of me,” said Harry. “But we put in, just in case.”
By categorizing the case as a “Foul Play Feared,” it opened up the nationwide system about twelve hours earlier than a normal missing persons report, and was flagged for immediate attention.
“Not one fuckin' sign of a struggle,” said Harry. “ 'Scuse me, Hester. Just a bunch of worried friends.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “At least I ain't had nobody drive a stake in any corpses this week.”
“That,” I said, searching for my fries in the bag, “was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.”
“Me, too,” said Hester. “It was just plain spooky.”
“Mmmph,” said Harry.
“I've been thinking about our little group at the Mansion,” said Hester, holding open the other sack for me to get my two Big Macs.
“Yeah?” I lifted both burgers out in their cardboard containers, and placed them carefully on the dash. “Nonconformists, aren't they?”
“Dedicated,” said Hester, handing me my napkin.
“I kinda like most of 'em,” I said, opening the first burger box. “Boy, I'm hungry.”
“I do, too,” she said. She started rustling around in the sack, looking for the fries she'd ordered. “I'm going to tell you guys something, and you keep it to yourselves, okay?”
“Yeah, sure.” I took a bite of my burger.
“You betcha, Hester,” said Harry, earnestly.
“Okay, I think this might help us figure them out. That's the only reason I'm telling you this.”
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