Break You

by Blake Crouch

  DAVID MORRELL

  Excerpt from Locked Doors…

  The headline on the Arts and Leisure page read: Publisher to Reissue Five Thrillers by Alleged Murderer Andrew Z. Thomas.

  All it took was seeing his name.

  Karen Prescott dropped The New York Times and walked over to the window.

  Morning light streamed across the clutter of her cramped office--query letters and sample chapters stacked in two piles on the floor beside the desk, a box of galleys shoved under the credenza. She peered out the window and saw the fog dissolving, the microscopic crawl of traffic now materializing on Broadway through the cloud below.

  Leaning against a bookcase that housed many of the hardcovers she’d guided to publication, Karen shivered. The mention of Andrew’s name always unglued her.

  For two years she’d been romantically involved with the suspense novelist and had even lived with him during the writing of Blue Murder at the same lake house in North Carolina where many of his victims were found.

  She considered it a latent character defect that she’d failed to notice anything sinister in Andy beyond a slight reclusive tendency.

  My God, I almost married him.

  She pictured Andy reading to the crowd in that Boston bookshop the first time they met. In a bathrobe writing in his office as she brought him fresh coffee (French roast, of course). Andy making love to her in a flimsy rowboat in the middle of Lake Norman.

  She thought of his dead mother.

  The exhumed bodies from his lakefront property.

  His face on the FBI website.

  They’d used his most recent jacket photo, a black-and-white of Andy in a sports jacket sitting broodingly at the end of his pier.

  During the last few years she’d stopped thinking of him as Andy. He was Andrew Thomas now and embodied all the horrible images the cadence of those four syllables invoked.

  There was a knock.

  Scott Boylin, publisher of Ice Blink Press’s literary imprint, stood in the doorway dressed in his best bib and tucker. Karen suspected he was gussied up for the Doubleday party.

  He smiled, waved with his fingers.

  She crossed her arms, leveled her gaze.

  God, he looked streamlined today--very tall, fit, crowned by thick black hair with dignified intimations of silver.

  He made her feel little. In a good way. Because Karen stood nearly six feet tall, few men towered over her. She loved having to look up at Scott.

  They’d been dating clandestinely for the last four months. She’d even given him a key to her apartment, where they spent countless Sundays in bed reading manuscripts, the coffee-stained pages scattered across the sheets.

  But last night she’d seen him at a bar in SoHo with one of the cute interns. Their rendezvous did not look work-related.

  “Come to the party with me,” he said. “Then we’ll go to Il Piazza. Talk this out. It’s not what you--”

  “I’ve got tons of reading to catch up--”

  “Don’t be like that, Karen. Come on.”

  “I don’t think it’s appropriate to have this conversation here, so . . .”

  He exhaled sharply through his nose and the door closed hard behind him.

  Joe Mack was stuffing his pink round face with a gyro when his cell phone started ringing to the tune of “Staying Alive.”

  He answered, cheeks exploding with food, “This Joe.”

  “Hi, yes, um, I’ve got a bit of an interesting problem.”

  “Whath?”

  “Well, I’m in my apartment, but I can’t get the deadbolt to turn from the inside.”

  Joe Mack choked down a huge mouthful, said, “So you’re locked in.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Which apartment?” He didn’t even try to mask the annoyance in his voice.

  “Twenty-two eleven.”

  “Name?”

  “Um . . . I’m not the tenant. I’m Karen Prescott’s friend. She’s the--”

  “Yeah, I get it. You need to leave anytime soon?”

  “Well, yeah, I don’t want to--”

  Joe Mack sighed, closed the cell phone, and devoured the last of the gyro.

  Wiping his hands on his shirt, he heaved himself from a debilitated swivel chair and lumbered out of the office, locking the door behind him.

  The lobby was quiet for midday and the elevator doors spread as soon as he pressed the button. He rode up wishing he’d bought three gyros for lunch instead of two.

  The doors opened again and he walked onto the twenty-second floor, fishing the key ring containing the master from the pocket of his enormous overalls.

  He belched.

  It echoed down the empty corridor.

  Man, was he hungry.

  He stopped at 2211, knocked, yelled through the door, “It’s the super!”

  No one answered.

  Joe Mack inserted the master into the deadbolt. It turned easily enough.

  He pushed the door open.

  “Hello?” he said, standing in the threshold, admiring the apartment--roomy, flat-screen television, lush deep blue carpet, an antique desk, great view of SoHo, probably loads of food in the fridge.

  “Anybody home?”

  He turned the deadbolt four times. It worked perfectly.

  Another door opened somewhere in the hallway and approaching footsteps reverberated off the hardwood floor. Joe Mack glanced down the corridor at the tall man with black hair in a black overcoat strolling toward him from the stairwell.

  “Hey, pal, were you the one who just called me?” Joe Mack asked.

  The man with black hair stopped at the open doorway of 2211.

  He smelled strange, of Windex and lemons.

  “Yes, I was the one.”

  “Oh. You get the lock to work?”

  “I’ve never been in this apartment.”

  “What the fuck did you call me for--”

  Glint of a blade. The man held an ivory-hilted bowie. He swept its shimmering point across Joe Mack’s swollen belly, cleaving denim, cotton, several layers of skin.

  “No, wait just a second--”

  The man raised his right leg and booted Joe Mack through the threshold.

  The super toppled backward as the man followed him into the apartment, slammed the door, and shot the deadbolt home.

  Karen left Ice Blink Press at 6:30 p.m. and emerged into a manic Manhattan evening, the sliver of sky between the buildings smoldering with dying sunlight, gilding glass and steel. It was the fourth Friday of October, the terminal brilliance of autumn full blown upon the city, and as she walked the fifteen blocks to her apartment in SoHo, Karen decided that she wouldn’t start the manuscript in her leather satchel tonight.

  Instead she’d slip into satin pajamas, have a glass of that organic chardonnay she’d purchased at Whole Foods Market, and watch wonderful mindless television.

  It had been a bad week.

  Pampering was in order.

  At 7:55 she walked out of her bedroom in black satin pajamas that rubbed coolly against her skin. Her chaotic blond hair was twisted into a bun and held up by chopsticks from the Chinese food she’d ordered. Two unopened food cartons and a bottle of wine sat on the glass coffee table between the couch and the flat-screen television. Her apartment smelled of spicy-sweet sesame beef.

  She plopped down and uncorked the wine.

  Ashley Chambliss’s CD Nakedsongs had ended and in the perfect stillness of her apartment Karen conceded how alone she was.

  Thirty-seven.

  Single again.

  Childless.

  But I’m not lonely, she thought, turning on the television and pouring a healthy glass of chardonnay.

  I’m just alone.

  There is a difference.

  After watching Dirty Dancing, Karen treated herself to a soak. She’d closed the bathroom door and a Yankee candle that smelled of cookie dough sat burning in a glass jar on the sink, the projection of its restless flame flickering on the sweaty plaste
r walls.

  Karen rubbed her long muscular legs together, slippery with bath oil. Imagining another pair of legs sliding between her own, she shut her eyes, moved her hands over her breasts, nipples swelling, then up and down her thighs.

  The phone was ringing in the living room.

  She wondered if Scott Boylin was calling to apologize. Wine encouraged irrational forgiveness in Karen. She even wished Scott were in the bathtub with her. She could feel the memory of his water-softened feet gliding up her smooth shinbones. Maybe she’d call and invite him over. Give him that chance to explain. He’d be back from the Doubleday party.

  Now someone was knocking at the front door.

  Karen sat up, blew back the bubbles that had amassed around her head.

  Lifting her wineglass by the stem, she finished it off. Then she rose out of the water, took her white terrycloth bathrobe that lay draped across the toilet seat, and stepped unsteadily from the tub onto the mosaic tile. She’d nearly polished off the entire bottle of chardonnay and a warm and pleasant gale was raging in her head.

  Karen crossed the living room, heading toward the front door.

  She failed to notice that the cartons of steamed rice and sesame beef were gone, or that a large gray trashcan now stood between the television and the antique desk she’d inherited from her grandmother.

  She peeked through the peephole.

  A young man stood in the hallway holding an enormous bouquet of ruby red roses.

  She smiled, turned the deadbolt, opened the door.

  “I have a delivery for Karen Prescott.”

  “That’s me.”

  The delivery man handed over the gigantic vase.

  “Wait here. I’ll get you your tip.” She slurred her words a little.

  “No ma’am, it’s been taken care of.” He gave her a small salute and left.

  She relocked the door and carried the roses over to the kitchen counter. They were magnificent and they burgeoned from the cut-glass vase. She plucked the small card taped to the glass and opened it. The note read simply:

  Look in the coat closet

  Karen giggled. Scott was one hundred percent forgiven. Maybe she’d even do that thing he always asked for tonight.

  She buried her nose in a rose, inhaled the damp sweet perfume. Then she cinched the belt of her bathrobe and walked over to the closet behind the couch, pulling open the door with a big smile that instantly died.

  A naked man with black hair and a pale face peered down at her. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and swallowed.

  The cartons of leftover Chinese food stood between his feet.

  She stared into his black eyes, a coldness spreading through her.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she said.

  The man grinned, his member rising.

  Karen bolted for the front door, but as she reached to unhook the chain he snatched a handful of her wet hair and swung her back into a mirror that shattered on the adjacent wall.

  “Please,” she whimpered.

  He punched her in the face.

  Karen sank down onto the floor in bits of glass, anesthetized by wine and fear. Watching his bare feet, she wondered where her body would be found and by whom and in what condition.

  He grabbed her hair into a ball with one hand and lifted her face out of the glass, the tiniest shards having already embedded themselves in her cheek.

  He swung down.

  She felt the dull thud of his knuckles crack her jaw, decided to feign unconsciousness.

  He hit her again.

  She didn’t have to.

  The following is an excerpt of SHAKEN by J.A. Konrath, the 7th Jack Daniels novel, published in 2010 by Encore.

  1989, June 23

  This guy isn’t a killer, Dalton thinks. He’s a butcher.

  Dalton isn’t repulsed by the spectacle, or even slightly disturbed. He stays detached and professional, even as he snaps a picture of Brotsky tearing at the prostitute’s body with some kind of three-pronged garden tool.

  There’s a lot of blood.

  Dalton wonders if he should have brought color film. But there’s something classic, something pure, about shooting in black and white. It makes real life even more realistic.

  Dalton opens the f-stop on the lens, adjusting for the setting sun. He’s standing in the backyard of Brotsky’s house, and his subject has been gracious enough to leave the blinds open. From his spot on the lawn, Dalton has a clear view into Brotsky’s living room, where the carnage is taking place. Though Brotsky has a high fence and plenty of foliage on his property, he’s still taking a big risk. There are neighbors on either side, and the back gate leading to the alley is unlocked. Anyone could walk by.

  It’s not a smart way to conduct a murder.

  Dalton has watched Brotsky kill two hookers in this fashion, and surely there have been others. Yet the Chicago Police Department hasn’t come knocking on Brotsky’s door yet. Brotsky has been incredibly lucky so far.

  But luck runs out.

  At least Brotsky has the sense to put a tarp down, Dalton thinks.

  He snaps another photo. Brotsky’s naked barrel chest is slick with gore, and the look on his unshaven face is somewhere between frenzy and ecstasy as he works the garden tool. He’s not a tall man, but he’s thick, with big muscles under a layer of hard fat. Brotsky sweats a lot, and his bald head gives off a glare which Dalton offsets by using a filter on his lens.

  Brotsky sets down the garden tool, and picks up a cleaver.

  Yeah, this guy is nuts.

  Truth told, Dalton has done worse to people, at least as far as suffering goes. If the price is right, Dalton will drag someone’s death out for hours, or even days. But Dalton gets no pleasure from the task. Killing is simply his business.

  Brotsky is killing to meet baser needs. Sex. Power. Blood lust. Hunger, Dalton muses, taking a shot of Brotsky with his mouth full of something moist.

  If Brotsky sticks to his MO, he’ll dismember the girl, wrap up her parts in plastic bags, and then take her severed head into the shower with him. When Brotsky returns, he’ll be squeaky clean, and the head will be gone. Then he’ll load the bags into his car and haul them to the dump site.

  Dalton guesses it will be another eleven minutes. He waits patiently, taking occasional snapshots, musing about what Brotsky does with the heads. Dalton isn’t bothered by the heat or the humidity, even though it’s close to ninety degrees and he’s wearing a suit and tie. Unlike Brotsky, Dalton doesn’t sweat. Dalton has pores. He just never feels the need to use them.

  Exactly eleven minutes and nine seconds later, Brotsky walks out his back door, dressed in shorts, sandals, and a wrinkled blue Hawaiian shirt. He’s lugging several black plastic garbage bags. The man is painfully unaware, and doesn’t even bother looking around. He walks right past Dalton, who is hiding behind the girth of an ancient oak tree, gun in hand.

  The hitman falls into step behind the butcher, his soft-soled shoes silent on the walkway. He trails Brotsky, close as a shadow, for several steps and then jams the Ruger against the fat man’s back. Brotsky stops cold.

  “This is a gun, Victor Brotsky. Try to run and I’ll fire. The bullet will blow your heart out the front of your chest. Neither of us want that to happen. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” Brotsky says. “Can I put down these bags? They’re heavy.”

  Brotsky doesn’t seem frightened, or even surprised. Dalton is impressed. Perhaps the man is more of a pro than Dalton guessed.

  “No. We’re going to walk, slowly, out to the alley. My car is parked there. You’re going to put the pieces of the hooker in the trunk.”

  Brotsky does as he’s told. Dalton’s black 1989 El Dorado Roadster is parked alongside Brotsky’s garage. The car isn’t as anonymous as Dalton would prefer, but he needs to keep up appearances. The wiseguys he works for like Caddys, and driving the latest model somewhat compensates for the fact that Dalton isn’t Italian.

  “Trunk i
s open. Put the bags inside, and take out the red folder.”

  Brotsky hefts the bags into the trunk, and they land with a solid thump. The alley smells like garbage, and the summer heat makes the odor cling. Dalton moves the gun from the man’s back to his neck.

  “Take the folder,” Dalton says.

  The light from the trunk is enough. Brotsky opens the folder, begins to page through several 8x10 photos of his two previous victims. He lingers on one where he’s grinning, holding up a severed leg. It’s Dalton’s personal favorite. Black and white really is the only way to go.

  “I’m a teacher,” Brotsky says. He has the barest trace of a Russian accent. “I don’t have much money.”

  Dalton allows himself a small grin. He likes how Brotsky thinks. Maybe this will work out after all.

  “I don’t want to blackmail you,” Dalton says. “My employer is a very important Chicago businessman.”

  Brotsky sighs. “Let me guess. I slaughtered one of his whores, and now you’re going to teach me a lesson.”

  “Wrong again, Victor Brotsky. See the lunch box in the corner of the trunk? Open it up.”

  Brotsky follows instructions. The box is filled with several stacks of twenty dollar bills. Three thousand dollars total.

  “What is this?” Brotsky asks.

  “Consider it a retainer,” Dalton says. “My employer wants to hire you.”

  “Hire me for what?”

  “To do what you’re doing for free.” Dalton leans forward, whispers in Brotsky’s plump, hairy ear. “He wants you to kill some prostitutes.”

  Brotsky turns around slowly, and his lips part in a smile. His breath is meaty, and he has a tiny bit of hooker caught in his teeth.

  “This employer of yours,” Brotsky says. “I think I’m going to like working for him.”

  2010, August 10

  The rope secured my wrists behind my back and snaked a figure eight pattern through my arms up to my elbows. Houdini with a hacksaw wouldn’t have been able to get free. The best I could do was flex and wiggle my fingers to keep my circulation going.