Still Life With Crows

by Douglas Preston

  They continued moving on.

  It sounds like our killer is the organized type, said Corrie.

  In fact, he is not. Pendergast paused and looked at her. This is strong stuff, Miss Swanson.

  I can take it.

  He gazed at her a moment, and then said, almost as if to himself, I believe you can.

  There was a whine from the machine, and Pendergast knelt and scraped, uncovering a small, rusted toy car. She saw him smile fleetingly.

  Ah, a Morris Minor. I had a Corgi collection when I was a child.

  Where is it now?

  A shadow passed across Pendergasts face and Corrie did not pursue the question.

  Superficially, our killer does seem to fit the organized type. But there are some major deviations. First, there is a sexual component to virtuallyall organized serial killings. Even if it is not overt, it is there. Some killers prey on prostitutes, some on homosexuals, some on couples in parked cars. Some killers perform sexual mutilations. Some killers rape first and then kill. Some killers just kiss the corpse and leave flowers, as if they had finished a date.

  Corrie shuddered.

  These killings, on the other hand, have no sexual component whatsoever.

  Go on.

  The organized killer also follows a modus operandi, which forensic behavioral scientists call ritual. The killings are done ritualistically. The killer will often wear the same clothes for each killing, use the same gun or knife, and perform the killing in exactly the same way. Afterwards, the killer will often arrange the body in a ritualistic fashion. The ritual may not be obvious, but it is always there. It is part of the killing.

  That seems to fit our serial killer.

  On the contrary, it does not. Yes, our killer performs a ritual. But heres the catch:its a totally different ritual each time. And this killer doesnt just kill people: he kills animals. The killing of the dog is completely mystifying. There was no ritual at all involved there. It has all the earmarks of the disorganized type. He simply killed the dog and ripped off its tail. Why? And the opportunistic attack on John Gasparilla was similarno ritual, not even an effort to kill. He just, ah, seems to have taken what he neededthe mans hair and his thumband gone away. In other words, these killings share elements of both organizedand disorganized serial killers. This has never been seen before.

  He was interrupted by an explosive squawk from the metal detector. They had almost reached the end of the test line; ahead of them, the grassy slope descended through a fold of land to the great sea of corn below. Pendergast knelt and began to scrape away the dirt. This time he did not uncover anything. He placed the metal detector directly on the spot and adjusted some dials while the machine continued shrieking in protest.

  Its at least two feet down, he said. A trowel appeared in his hand and he began to dig.

  In a few minutes, a sizable hole had been excavated. More carefully now, Pendergast trimmed the edges of the hole, going down scant millimeters at a time, until his trowel touched something solid.

  A very small brush appeared in his hand and he began to sweep dirt from the object. Corrie watched over his shoulder. Something began emerging into view: old, twisted, curled up. A few more sweeps revealed it: a single cowboy boot with a hobnail sole. Pendergast lifted it out of the hole and turned it around in his hand. It had been neatly sliced down the back as if with a knife. He looked at Corrie and said:

  It appears Harry Beaumont wore a size eleven, does it not?

  There was a shout from behind. A figure was huffing his way out of the Mounds toward them, waving his hands. It was Tad, the deputy sheriff.

  Mr. Pendergast! he was calling. Mr. Pendergast!

  Pendergast rose as the red-faced, lanky figure came up to them, sweating and blowing.

  Gasparilla . . . in the hospital. Hes regained consciousness, and Tad paused, heaving. And hes asking for you.

  Twenty-Six

  Hazen sat in one of two plastic portable chairs set up outside Gasparillas intensive-care room. He was thinking hard: about the first cool nights of fall; buttered corn on the cob; reruns ofThe Honeymooners; Pamela Anderson naked. What he tried very hard not to think about was the incessant moaning and the terrible smell that came from the room beyond, penetrating even the closed door. He wished he could go. He wished to hell he could at least head off to the waiting room. But no: he had to wait here, for Pendergast.

  Jesus Christ.

  And there was the man himself, in full undertakers getup as usual, striding down the hall on those long black-clad legs. Hazen rose and reluctantly took the proffered hand. It seemed as if where Pendergast came from they shook hands five times a day. Great way to spread the plague.

  Thank you, Sheriff, for waiting, said Pendergast.

  Hazen grunted.

  Another long gibbering moan, almost like the cry of a loon, came from behind the door.

  Pendergast knocked, and the door opened to reveal the attending physician and two nurses. Gasparilla lay in the bed, swathed like a mummy, only his black eyes and a slit for a mouth relieving the massive white swaddle of bandages. He had wires and tubes out the wazoo. All around, banks of machines ticked and blinked and chirped and buzzed like a high-tech orchestra. The smell was much stronger here; it hung in the air like a tangible presence. Hazen stayed near the door, wishing he could light up a Camel, watching as Pendergast strode across the room and bent over the prostrate form.

  Hes very agitated, Mr. Pendergast, the doctor said. Asking for you continuously. We hoped your visit might calm him.

  For several moments, Gasparilla went on moaning. Then, suddenly, he seemed to spy Pendergast. You! he cried, his body suddenly struggling under the bandages.

  The doctor laid a hand on Pendergasts arm. I just want to caution you that if this is going to overly excite him, youll have to leave

  No! cried Gasparilla, his voice full of panic. Let me speak! A bony hand, swathed in gauze, shot out from underneath the covers and clutched at Pendergasts jacket, clawing and grabbing so frantically that a button popped off and rattled to the floor.

  Im having second thoughts about this the doctor began again.

  No! No! Imust speak! The voice rose like the shriek of a banshee. One of the nurses quickly shut the door behind Hazen. Even the machines responded, with eager low beepings and a blinking red light.

  Thats it, said the doctor firmly. Im sorry. This was a mistake; hes in no condition to speak. I must ask you to leave

  Noooo!A second hand grasped Pendergasts arm, pulling him down.

  Now the machines were really going apeshit. The doctor said something and a nurse approached with a needle, stabbed it into the drug-delivery seal on the IV, emptied it.

  Let me talk!

  Pendergast, unable to escape, knelt closer. What is it? What did you see?

  Oh, God! Gasparillas anguished voice strangled and choked, fighting the sedative.

  What? Pendergasts voice was low, urgent. Gasparillas hand had Pendergast by the suit, screwing it up, dragging the FBI agent still closer. The awful stench seemed to roll in waves from the bed.

  That face,that face!

  What face?

  It looked to Hazen as if, lying on the bed, Gasparilla suddenly came to attention. His body stiffened, seemed to elongate. Remember what I said? About the devil?

  Yes.

  Gasparilla began thrashing, his voice gargling. I was wrong!

  Nurse! The doctor was now shouting at a burly male nurse. Administer another two milligrams of Ativan, and get this man outnow!

  Noooo!The clawlike hands grappled with Pendergast.

  I saidout! the doctor yelled as he tried to pull the mans arms away from Pendergast. Sheriff! This man of yours is going to kill my patient! Get him out!

  Hazen scowled.Man of yours? But he strode over and joined the doctor in trying to pry off one of Gasparillas skeletal hands. It was like trying to pry steel. And Pendergast was making no attempt to break his grip.

  I was wrong! Gasparilla shriek
ed. I was wrong,I was wrong!

  The nurse stabbed a second syringe into the IV, pumped in another dose of sedative.

  None of you are safe,none of you, now thathe is here!

  The doctor turned toward the nurse. Get security in here, he barked.

  An alarm went off somewhere at the head of the bed.

  What did you see? Pendergast was asking in a low, compelling voice.

  All of a sudden, Gasparilla sat up in bed. The nasogastric tubing, ripped out of position with a small spray of blood, jittered against the bedguard. The clawed hand went around Pendergasts neck.

  Hazen grappled with the man. Christ, Gasparilla was going to choke Pendergast to death.

  The devil! Hes come! Hes here!

  Gasparillas eyes rolled upward as the second injection hit home. And yet he seemed to cling even more fiercely. Hedoes exist! I saw him that night!

  Yes? Pendergast asked.

  And hes a child . . .a child . . .

  Suddenly Hazen felt Gasparillas arms go slack. Another alarm went off on the rack of machinery, this one a steady loud tone.

  Code! cried the doctor. Weve got a code here! Bring the cart!

  Several people burst into the room all at once: security, more nurses and doctors. Pendergast stood up, disentangling himself from the now limp arms, brushing his shoulder. His normally pallid face was flushed but otherwise he seemed unperturbed. In a moment he and Hazen had been sent outside by the nurses.

  They waited in the hall whilefor ten, perhaps fifteen minutesthere was the sound of furious activity within Gasparillas room. And then, as if a switch had been turned off, there came a sudden calm. Hazen heard the machines being shut down, the alarms stopping one by one, and then blessed silence.

  The first to emerge was the attending physician. He came out slowly, almost aimlessly, head bent. As he passed them he looked up. His eyes were bloodshot. He glanced at Hazen, then at Pendergast.

  You killed him, he said wearily, almost as if he had passed the point of caring.

  Pendergast laid his hand on the doctors shoulder. We were both only doing our jobs. There could have been no other outcome. Once he had me in that grip, Doctor, I assure you there would be no escape until he had his say. He had to talk.

  The doctor shook his head. Youre probably right.

  Nurses and medical technicians were now wandering out of the room, going their separate ways.

  I have to ask, Pendergast went on. How exactly did he die?

  A massive cardiac infarction, after a long period of fibrillation. We just couldnt stabilize the heart. Ive never seen anyone fight sedation like that. Cardiac explosion. The heart just blew up.

  Any idea what caused the fibrillations to begin with?

  The doctor shook his head wearily. It was the initial shock of whatever happened to him. Not the wounds themselves, which were not life-threatening, but the profound psychological shock that came with the injury, which he was unable to shake off.

  In other words, he died of fright.

  The doctor glanced over at a male nurse who was emerging from the room, wheeling a stretcher. Gasparillas body was now wrapped head to toe in white and bound tightly with canvas straps. The doctor blinked, passed the back of a sleeve across his forehead. He watched the body disappear through a set of double doors.

  Thats a rather melodramatic way of putting it, but yes, thats about it, he said.

  Twenty-Seven

  Several hours later, and two thousand miles to the east, the setting sun burnished the Hudson River to a rich bronze. Beneath the great shadow of the George Washington Bridge, a barge moved ponderously upriver. A little farther south, two sailboats, small as toys, barely broke the placid surface as they sailed on a reach toward Upper New York Bay.

  Above the steep escarpment of Manhattan bedrock that formed Riverside Park, the boulevard named Riverside Drive commanded an excellent view of the river. But the four-story Beaux Arts mansion that stretched along the drives east side between 137th and 138th Streets had been sightless for many years. The slates of its mansard roof were cracked and loose. No lights showed from its leaded windows; no vehicles stood beneath its once-elegant porte cochère. The house sat, brooding and still, beneath untended sumacs and oaks.

  And yetin the vast honeycomb of chambers that stretched out like hollow roots beneath the housesomething was stirring.

  In the vaults of endless stone, perfumed with dust and other subtler, more exotic smells, a strange-looking figure moved. He was thin, almost cadaverously so, with leonine white shoulder-length hair and matching white eyebrows. He wore a white lab coat, from whose pocket protruded a black felt marker, a pair of library scissors, and a glue pencil. A clipboard was snugged beneath one narrow elbow. Atop his head, a miners helmet threw a beam of yellow light onto the humid stonework and rows of rich wooden cabinetry.

  Now the figure stopped before a row of tall oaken cabinets, each containing dozens of thin, deep drawers. The man ran a finger down the rows of labels, the elegant copperplate script now faded and barely legible. The finger stopped on one label, tapped thoughtfully at its brass enclosure. Then the man gingerly pulled the drawer open. Rank upon rank of luna moths, pale green in the glow of the torch, greeted his gaze: the rare jade-colored mutation found only in Kashmir. Stepping back, he jotted some notes onto the clipboard. Then he closed the drawer and opened the one beneath it. Inside, pinned with achingly regular precision to the tack boards beneath, were a dozen rows of large indigo moths. Upon their backs, the strange silvery imprint of a lidless eye stared up from the display case.Lachrymosa codriceptes, wingèd death, the intensely beautiful, intensely poisonous butterfly of the Yucatan.

  The man made another notation on his clipboard. Then he closed the second drawer and made his way back through several chambers, separated from each other by heavy cloth tapestries, to a vault full of glass cabinets. In the center, upon a stone table, a laptop computer glowed. The man approached it, set down the clipboard, and began to type.

  For several minutes, the only sound was the tapping of the keys, the occasional distant drip of water. And then a strident buzzing suddenly erupted from the breast of his lab coat.

  The man stopped typing, reached into his pocket, and removed the ringing cell phone.

  Only two people in the world knew he had a cell phone, and only one person had the number. The man lifted the phone, spoke into it: Special Agent Pendergast, I believe.

  Precisely, came the voice on the other end of the line. And how are you, Wren?

  Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.

  That I sincerely doubt. Have you completed yourcatalogue raisonné of the first-floor library?

  No. Im savingthat for last. There was an undisguised shudder of relish in the voice. Im still assembling a list of the basement artifacts.

  Indeed?

  Yes, indeed,hypocrite lecteur. And I expect to be at it several more days, at least. The collections of your great-grand-uncle were, shall we say, extensive? Besides, I can only be here during the days. My nights are reserved for the library. Nothing interferes with my work there.

  Naturally. And youve heeded my warningnot to proceed into the final chambers beyond the abandoned laboratory?

  I have.

  Good. Any surprises of particular interest?

  Oh, many, many. But those can wait. I think.

  You think? Please explain.

  Wren hesitated briefly in a way that his friendshad he anywould have called uncharacteristic. Im not sure, exactly. He paused again, looked briefly over his shoulder. You know that Im no stranger to darkness and decay. But on several occasions, during my work down here, Ive had an unusual feeling. A most disagreeable feeling. A feeling as ifhe lowered his voiceas if Im beingwatched.

  Im not particularly surprised to hear it, Pendergast said after a moment. I fear even the least imaginative person on earth would find that particular cabinet of curiosities an unsettling place. Perhaps I was wrong to ask you to take on thi
s assignment.

  Oh,no! Wren said excitedly. No, no, no! I would never forgo such a chance. I shouldnt even have mentioned it. Imagination, imagination, as you say. One sees more devils than vast hell can hold; such tricks hath strong imagination. No doubt its simply my knowledge of the, ahem,things these walls have borne witness to.

  No doubt. The events of last fall have yet to release their hold on my own thoughts. Id hoped that this trip would in some measure drive them away.

  Without success? Now Wren chuckled. Not surprising, given your notion of getting away from it all: investigating serial murders. And from what I understand, such a strange set of murders, too. In fact, theyre so unusual as to seem almost familiar. Your brother isnt vacationing in Kansas, by any chance?

  For a moment there was no answer. When Pendergast spoke again, his voice was chill, distant. I have told you, Wren,never to speak of my family.

  Of course, of course, Wren replied quickly.

  Im calling with a request. Pendergasts tone became brisk and businesslike. I need you to locate an article for me, Wren.

  Wren sighed.

  Its a handwritten journal by one Isaiah Draper, entitledAn Account of the Dodge Forty-Fives. My research indicates that this journal became part of Thomas Van Dyke Seldens collection, acquired on his tour through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas in 1933. I understand this collection is now held by the New York Public Library.

  Wren scowled. The Selden Collection is the most riotous, disorganized aggregation of ephemera ever assembled. Sixty packing cases, occupying two storage rooms, and all utterly worthless.

  Not all. I need details that only this journal can provide.

  What for? What light could an old journal shed on these murders?

  There was no answer, and Wren sighed again.

  What does this journal look like?

  Alas, I cant say.

  Any identifying marks?

  Unknown.

  Just how quickly do you need it?

  The day after tomorrow, if possible. Monday.

  Surely you jest,hypocrite lecteur. My days are taken up here, and my nights . . . well, you know my work. So many damaged books, so little time. Finding a specific item in that hurricane of