"I’m sorry, Brad. I know you did your best."
"His name was Doug Belle. Did you know him?"
"I don't think so. Maybe he went to Strohm, or one of the charter schools?"
The hard plastic steering wheel was digging into my forehead. I sat up and rubbed at the sore spot. "Toni?"
"I'm here."
"Who's the Green Queen?"
"Didn't you ask me this the other day?"
"Any idea who she is?"
"I don't get it. What's a Green Queen?"
"Doug mentioned her before he killed himself. That's why I asked if he was in your class. You sure you've never heard of her? She's not a character in a book?"
"None that I've heard of."
"And your concern about Couttis?"
"Kerry's been talking. Something bizarre is going on in Emersville, and I think Gordon Couttis may be involved. Also the mayor, Conrad Hunter. And Annabel St. Crux. Hell, I think just about everyone here is involved."
"Involved in what?"
"Not on the phone. When you and Frank get back. You should hear it from Kerry. I'm bound to miss something. And...and I'm having trouble believing it myself. The things she claims are going on in this town, what the people are planning, what they’re doing."
"You make it sound like a conspiracy."
"It is. On a scale you can't imagine."
The ambulance pulled away, its lights flashing but no siren wailing. Doug Belle's dead body lay in the back. Soon he will be put in the ground, his frail body encased in wood and darkness and lost hopes. The thought sickened me, and I turned away from the sight.
"You're scaring me, honey."
"I know," she said. "Get here when you can."
"As soon as Frank's done."
"And Brad?"
"Yes."
"Bring a pregnancy test."
* * *
Frank stopped at an all-night drug store so I could buy a pee stick.
"Let me guess," he said, pulling onto the highway. "Your period is late."
"Something like that," I said, and filled him in on the conversation with Toni.
"A town-wide conspiracy?"
"It would seem so."
"Kerry knows about it?"
"Ditto."
"Did Toni say what kind of conspiracy?"
"She wouldn't talk about it on the phone. She sounded frightened."
"Bullshit. Your wife could stare down a pit bull."
"I used to think so."
"And that?" He pointed to the E.P.T. kit cradled in my lap.
"Your guess is as good as mine."
"Real helpful, Paco. Real helpful."
We rode the rest of the way in silence. When we hit Emersville's borders, Frank popped the flashers and blew through every stop sign and red light until we arrived at the Star Fall Motel. He pulled in next to Toni's 4Runner.
"Let's find out what this is about," he said, and tried the door to room 12.
Locked.
"Hey!" he called out. "Open the door."
No one came. He tried again with the same result.
Frank drew his gun and pounded on the door with it. The noise was louder, harsher. "Kerry, it's me!"
"I'll get a key." I ran for the manager's office, only to find that door also locked. The lights were on, and I could see the lobby and front desk through the thick glass door, but it appeared deserted.
"Hello!" I shouted. "Hey, anybody?"
After about a minute of yelling, I gave up and returned to Frank. "The office is locked and looks deserted."
Frank squinted at the door. "I'm probably gonna regret this." He brought his foot up and kicked the door. The impact was powerful, but not enough to open it. He kicked again. This time the aging wood shattered near the lock with a crack loud enough to make me wince. The door swung open. Darkness filled the room. Frank flipped on a light.
The place was a mess. Bed tossed, sheets strewn on the floor, the lone lamp broken and resting against the wall, its shade torn. Only a small table and chair remained upright.
"Stay here," Frank said. Holding the gun barrel up, he stepped into the room. "Police! Anyone here?"
It took him less than twenty seconds to secure the room.
"No sign of the girls," Frank said. "Try Toni's phone. Kerry's is still in her car."
I punched in my wife's number. It went right to voicemail. "Hey, call me as soon as you get this." My heart sank as I looked at the mess. "They're gone. Taken, by the looks of it."
"Tell me something I don't already know." Frank holstered his gun. "Toni's car is still here, which means they were driven off in someone else's vehicle, and without a night manager, I doubt we'll have a witness who can identify the car.” He glanced through the open doorway. “The parking lot is blacktop. No chance of tire tracks showing at least a direction they were taken." He considered. "We need more information, and I think I know a way to get it."
Frank stepped over to the nightstand and picked up the phone.
He punched in three numbers.
* * *
The officer who responded to the call wasn't Sytniak, but a matronly woman named Jacaruso. Her dark, Mediterranean eyes narrowed when Frank badged her.
"There's been an abduction," he said, and gave her a judiciously-edited version of what happened. "I want to talk to Chief Couttis. Seems he can't control what's going on in his town."
Frank in full-bore imitation mode was a formidable sight. Officer Jacaruso, however, stood her ground. "Did you do that?" she asked, pointing to the broken door.
Frank visibly restrained himself from shouting. "I had reason to believe a crime was being committed."
"And getting a key from the manager would've taken too much time?"
I stepped forward. "We tried. The office is closed."
"The lights are on," she countered.
"The door's locked,” I said. “I didn't see a night manager."
Jacaruso gestured to the bed, the lamp. "Did you do this, too?"
"No," Frank said though clenched teeth. "It's part of a crime scene."
"At this point," Jacaruso said coolly, "I'm assuming everything here is part of a crime scene, including the door.” She nosed around the room, examining the broken lamp and glancing in the bathroom. “You already admitted to breaking and entering. How do I know you didn't toss the place?"
"Toss it and then call it in," Frank said. "Did they weed out the smart ones for this job?"
Jacaruso stiffened. "You know how the law really works, Detective—everyone is guilty until proven innocent. Prove your innocence and I'll move on to other lines of investigation. Fight me on this and I'll crawl so far up your ass I'll find last night's dinner. Are we clear on this?"
"My wife is missing," he said. "A second woman is also missing. Given the state of this room, I believe they were taken against their will. That is the fucking 'line of investigation' you will follow. The longer it takes for you to mark your goddamn territory, the greater the chances I will never see my wife again. If it comes to that, I'll have your badge. I fought a State senator, Officer Jacaruso. You don't intimidate me." He took a moment to compose himself. "Call your chief. Wake his ass up if you have to. I want him here pronto. His town is falling apart, and I'm here to help him pick up the pieces."
Police officers have a code, a certain politeness they follow when interacting with one another. Some, like Frank, comply if it suits their purpose, or they stomp it to dust if it doesn’t. Others, mostly those new to the force, tend to follow, even if it means relinquishing authority. To her credit, Officer Jacaruso fell into the former.
"Nice try, Detective," she said, though the words came with a slight smile. "Give me your word you didn't toss the room, that you're here to find your wife, and, I'm assuming, his wife." She nodded to me. "Then we can move on."
Frank eyed the woman. "How many years pushing a car, Jacaruso?"
"Eighteen, next February."
"Never bucked for a command position?"
> She shook her head. "Passed on every offer. Can't stand sitting behind a desk. Plus, you know how hard it is to carry wearing a pants suit? I refuse to keep a gun in my purse."
Frank chuckled. "I hear you. Yes, you have my word. Neither I nor Doctor Jordan contributed to the crime scene. I take ownership of the door and nothing else."
"Have you touched anything, moved anything?"
"No, ma'am. The scene is intact. You will, though, find our fingerprints. Brad and I stopped here earlier to check on our wives. We probably touched something the CSU boys'll examine."
"Good," Jacaruso said, and pressed a button on the mic attached to her shirt. "Base 2, this is 41. Come in."
"41, this is Base 2."
"Jerry, call the chief. Tell him we have an incident at the Star Fall. There's a Rock Mills DT here. He wants to talk to Couttis pronto."
"You sure, Val? It's almost three bells."
"Do it, Jerry."
"Aye aye, ma'am."
"Jerry's former Navy. Good man, but still hasn't lost the sea talk." As she scanned the room, I noticed the lines at the corners her eyes, the slight pouches under her jawline. Office Jacaruso was older than I had initially thought. "When was the last time you spoke to your wife?" she asked Frank.
"About three hours ago, here in this room. Brad talked to his about an hour ago."
She turned to me. "What was the conversation like?"
Toni's phone call, her concern that Chief Couttis might show up at a crime scene forty miles away, still bothered me. Also, she'd mentioned a conspiracy involving most of the city.
Could Jacaruso be part of it?
I decided to try something. Reaching into my pocket, I found the metal egg and casually removed it.
"One of my patients was in crisis," I said, bouncing the egg in my hand as if it were some kind of good luck token. "The police asked for my help. Toni called to see—"
I dropped the egg.
Officer Jacaruso watched it bounce on the threadbare carpet. It rolled momentarily, wobbling, and came to rest between her feet.
Her face tightened. Her eyes darted to me, to Frank, back to me. Then her lips peeled back into an angry snarl and she went for her gun.
Frank struck first. He snatched her hand and twisted. Jacaruso kicked. I had to jump back to avoid one in the nuts. Frank clamped his other hand on the back of Jacaruso's head and twisted his fingers into her bun. He wrenched the officer up until her back arched.
"Grab her gun," he said.
I reached out, but Jacaruso twisted and thrashed, making it impossible to get near her.
Frank yanked her head around. "Hold still!"
Jacaruso complied, sort of. She spat at me when I took her gun.
"What should I do with it?" I asked, wiping the wetness from my face.
"Pop the clip and take it," he said. "Leave the rest."
Shrieking, Jacaruso brought her hand up. Frank darted his head back, narrowly avoiding a fist full of knuckles. Jacaruso squirmed and clawed and kicked like a wild woman. Frank struggled to hold her.
I stepped in front of Jacaruso and lifted her service revolver until the barrel was level with her face. "Hold still."
She tried to kick me again.
I thumbed off the safety. "Hold fucking still."
She glared at me, probably deciding whether I would shoot or not, and stopped resisting. Her bun had come undone. Her graying hair hung in wild strands around her face.
"Is the chief coming?" I asked. When she didn't reply, I pressed the barrel into her forehead. "The chief. Is he coming or not?"
Jacaruso sneered. "Jerry will call him. He's an obedient puppy."
"But Couttis won't come, or if he does, he'll have reinforcements." I didn't want this to turn into a gun fight.
Frank wrenched her head back. "Where are our wives?"
"Where you’ll never find them."
I tightened the grip on my gun. "Where’s that?"
"Shoot me," she said, "and you kill the other."
Puzzled by her words, I let the gun dip. It now pointed at her chest. "What other? What are you talking about?"
Jacaruso's laugh was thin and hard and filled with malice. "You have this"—she nudged the egg with her toe—"and you still don't understand. You don't understand!"
We were losing our advantage. She wasn't afraid anymore, which meant she wasn't going to tell us a damn thing.
She had information we needed. I had to convince her we knew as much as she did.
"You mean the proximity lock," I said. "What your mayor, Conrad Hunter, is so keen on retrieving. What people like you and Cyrus Kline and god knows who else are willing to kill for. What Annabel St. Crux hid in the dolls she's been selling to unsuspecting people. That's what you're talking about."
"So you know a little," she said, still sneering. "A small part of something infinite is still nothing."
Something infinite? I recalled my nightmare, the dream where I sailed through dark, endless space with Thumbkin at my side yelling, "You weren't supposed to see this!"
What if it had been more than a dream?
I took a step closer. "What about the planet, Officer Jacaruso? A floating rock, waterless and barren, with endless drifts of orange soil. What about that?"
Her face paled. "How—?"
"And the Green Queen?" I said, not knowing where I was going but confident I was on the right track. "What will she do to you when she learns of your failure?"
Jacaruso lost it. She started screaming obscenities and bucked in Frank's grip, twisting and turning in an effort to break free. "Let me go! LET ME GO!"
Frank pulled her against him. "Tell us where our wives are and we'll let you go."
"NO! I CAN'T! THEY'LL KILL ME!"
"Let's take her back to Rock Mills,” I said. “Maybe if she's away from this damned town she'll have a change of heart."
"DON'T! PLEASE! I DIDN'T GIVE UP EVERYTHING, COME ALL THIS WAY—"
Jacaruso collapsed, head lolling to one side. Frank had to quickly shift his grip to keep her from falling. Suspecting a trick, I kept the gun trained on her.
Moments later, the officer stirred. She dragged her head up. When her eyes found mine, they were filled with pain. "My babies. You need to save my babies. Don't let them grow up like this. I love them too much. It would break my heart." Her face hardened. "Find the Queen. Find her and kill her."
I lowered the gun. "Officer Jacaruso?"
She nodded. "Marge. The other is called Thyll. It's a part of me now. It whispers to me. It tells me things that frighten me."
My gut tightened. "Who does?"
"No time. It'll regain control soon. Already it's fighting me. Leave while you can."
Frank lifted her a little straighter. "Do you know where they've taken our wives?"
She began to cry. "Kill me. Don't let my babies see what I've become."
"What's going on?" I said. "What are we dealing with?"
"Aliens," she said. "It's an invasion." Then Marge Jacaruso snatched the gun from my hand, pointed it at her temple, and pulled the trigger. The shot sounded like the world cracking. The bullet tore through her skull, blowing the front half wide open. Blood and brain matter splashed my eyes, my nose, my mouth. Frank cried out and released her. Jacaruso crumpled, lifeless, to the floor.
Shaking, vomit burning the back of my throat, I wiped the gore from my face.
"Jesus, fuck," Frank whispered.
"We need to leave." Brain and bits of bone covered my hands. I wiped them on my pants. "Before the chief gets here."
"What about the girls?"
"Later, once we've learned more. If we're caught—"
Two men stepped into the room. One was Chief Couttis. The other was Officer Sytniak. They had their guns trained on us.
"Move," said Chief Couttis, his face grim, "and I'll kill you both myself."
Chapter Fifteen
"Chief Couttis," I said. "We can explain—"
"Shut up!" Gordon Couttis tre
mbled with fury. Except for his gun hand. It remained rock-steady. "Marge Jacaruso was a good officer, a good woman. I've known her and Henry for years. Shit, Henry and I are both members of the Rotary. I even helped them put up Christmas lights last year, when Henry broke his arm after a Hi-Lo hit him at the plant." He licked his lips. "How am I supposed to tell him she's dead? And her kids? They'll be devastated."
Frank slowly raised his hands. "Chief, I understand how this looks, but we didn't kill Officer Jacaruso. She shot herself."
"Bullshit," Couttis said. "One of you did it. I'll run every test CSU can think of until I figure out who. Until then, you're both under arrest. Ted, if you'll do the honors."
Frank bristled. "We're not holding the gun. You didn't see us shoot. You don't have probable cause. You can't arrest us."
"Watch me," Couttis said. "Ted."
Office Sytniak stepped forward. As he drew a pair of handcuffs from his belt, his foot kicked the proximity lock lying on the floor and sent it tumbling. He froze, a look of surprise on his face.
Chief Couttis saw the egg and picked it up. "What's this thing?"
"You don't have to pretend," I told him. "We know what it is."
"And what would that be, young man?"
"A proximity lock. It's the one your mayor was so gung-ho on recovering when he broke into my house."
Couttis gave me a genuinely puzzled look. "Funny, I don't remember you mentioning this earlier, and Connie never said a word about it. Proximity lock, huh?" He held the egg out to Sytniak. "You ever see one of these before?"
Sytniak gave his boss a sad smile. "Yes, I have," he said, and turned his gun on Couttis.
"Jesus, Ted!" Couttis raised a hand to push away the weapon. "Watch where you're pointing that thing."
"Sorry, Gordon." Sytniak pulled the trigger. Gordon Couttis's head exploded into a grotesque mass of pink and red confetti. The impact jerked his body back, his arms flailing as if they still had life, until he slammed against the wall and fell.
Sytniak turned, his gun swinging in a wide arc toward us, but Frank had already drawn his weapon. He leveled it at Sytniak.
"Drop your weapon," Frank yelled. I could barely hear him over the ringing in my ears.
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