A Perfect Evil Part 27

"You can't possibly understand. Even I didn't understand. I just wanted the story, like you."

McMa.n.u.s looked around for the stage director, trying to appear casual while frustration clouded her cool exterior. The thin painted lips were pursed tightly over white, even teeth.

"I'm sure you're under a lot of stress, Christine. And this must also be stressful. Let's take a commercial break and give you a chance to pull yourself together."

McMa.n.u.s kept the smile until the camera lights dimmed and the stage director motioned to her. Then the anger erupted on her face with a scowl that cut new lines in her makeup. But the anger was directed at the tall, bald man and not Christine. In fact, Christine became invisible again.

"Where the h.e.l.l are we going with this? I need something I can work with."

"Do I have time to go to the restroom?" Christine asked the stage director, and he nodded. She unsnapped the microphone and laid it next to the rejected gla.s.s of water.

McMa.n.u.s looked up at her and manufactured a curt smile.

"Don't take too long, honey. This isn't like your newspaper. We can't just stop the presses. We're live." She reached for the gla.s.s and drank in delicate sips so as not to mess up her lipstick.

Christine wondered if McMa.n.u.s even knew Timmy's name without the help of the TelePrompTer. The high-priced anchor didn't care about Timmy or Danny or Matthew. Dear G.o.d, how close had she come to being just like Darcy McMa.n.u.s?

Christine made her way backstage, carefully avoiding and stepping over all the cables and cords. As soon as she was out of the bright lights, her body felt a rush of cool air. She could breathe again. She marched down the narrow hallway, dodging stagehands and finding her way past the dressing rooms, past the restrooms and, finally, escaping out the gray metal door marked Exit.

CHAPTER 66.

"Am I under arrest?" Ray Howard wanted to know while fidgeting in the hard-backed chair.

Maggie stared at him. His pasty complexion made his eyes bulge out-eyes a dull, watery gray with red veins telegraphing his exhaustion. She rubbed her own exhaustion from the back of her neck. A tight knot pinched the muscles between her shoulders. She tried to remember when she had slept last.

The small conference room hummed with the percolating of fresh coffee, filling the room with its aroma. A stream of orange sunset seeped in through the dusted blinds. She and Nick had been here for hours, asking the same questions and getting the same answers. Even though she'd insisted they bring Howard in for questioning, she still believed he wasn't the killer. Nothing had changed, but she hoped he might know something, anything, and break under pressure. Nick, however, persisted, convinced Howard was their man.

"No, Ray. You're not under arrest," Nick finally answered.

"You can only hold me here for a certain number of hours."

"And how do you know that, Ray?"

"Hey, I watch Homicide Homicide and and NYPD Blue NYPD Blue. I know my rights. And I have a friend who's a cop."

"Really? You have a friend?"

"Nick," Maggie cautioned.

Nick rolled his eyes and pushed up the sleeves of his s.h.i.+rt. She noticed his clenched fists, his impatience boiling close to the surface.

"Ray, would you like some of this fresh coffee?" she asked politely. The well-dressed janitor hesitated, then nodded.

"I use cream and two teaspoons of sugar. Real cream. If you have it. And I prefer not using those little sugar cubes."

"How about something to eat. I know we kept you over lunch, and it's almost dinnertime. Nick, perhaps you could order all of us something from Wanda's."

Nick scowled at her from across the room, but Howard sat up, delighted.

"I love Wanda's chicken-fried steak."

"Great. Nick, would you please order Mr. Howard a chicken-fried steak?"

"With mashed potatoes and brown gravy, not the white. And I like creamy Italian dressing for my salad. But on the side."

"Anything else?" Nick didn't bother to hide his impatience or his sarcasm. Howard shrunk back into the chair.

"No, nothing else."

"And what for you, Agent O'Dell?" He shot her a look of contempt clouded with frustration.

"A ham and cheese sandwich. I believe you know how I like it." She smiled at him, pleased when his dark bristled jaw relaxed and his eyes softened.

"Yes, I do." It was obvious the memory immediately replaced the sarcasm and frustration. "I'll be right back."

She set a steaming mug of coffee in front of Howard, then paced the length of the room, waiting for him to relax. She flipped on the overhead lights. The fluorescents flooded the room, making him blink. He reminded her of a lizard with slow deliberate blinks while he tested the hot coffee with a long pointed tongue. He was listening to the noises of the sheriff's department. Though the walls m.u.f.fled the activity, it was easy to hear footsteps scurrying, phones ringing and an occasional voice raised above the hum.

Just when she knew he had forgotten her presence, she stood behind him and said, "You know where Timmy Hamilton is, don't you, Ray?"

He stopped slurping. His back straightened, ready to defend himself again.

"No, I don't. And I don't know how that phone got in my drawer. I've never seen it before."

She came around the table and sat down directly across from him. The blinking lizard eyes tried to avoid hers and finally settled on her chin. There was a glance to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Quickly he looked back up, but not quick enough to stop the red from crawling up his otherwise white neck.

"Sheriff Morrelli thinks you killed Danny Alverez and Matthew Tanner."

"I didn't kill n.o.body," he blurted.

"See, I believe you, Ray."

He looked surprised and checked her eyes to see if it was a trick. "You do?"

"I don't think you killed those boys."

"Good, 'cause I didn't."

"But I think you know more than you're telling us. I think you know where Timmy is."

He didn't protest, but his eyes darted around the room-the lizard looking for an escape. He held the hot mug with both hands, and Maggie noticed the short, stubby fingers with chewed-off nails, some down to the quick. They certainly didn't look like the hands of a man obsessed with cleanliness.

"If you tell us, we can help you, Ray. But if we find out you knew and didn't tell us, well, you could end up going to jail for a long time, even if you didn't kill those boys."

His head c.o.c.ked to one side. He was listening again to the activity on the other side of the door, perhaps listening for Nick's return or maybe for someone to rescue him.

"Where's Timmy, Ray?"

He brought a hand in front of his face, inspected the fingers then began biting and peeling what was left of his fingernails.

"Ray?"

"I don't know where any kid is!" he yelled, holding the anger behind clenched, yellow teeth. "And just because I drive the pickup sometimes to cut wood doesn't mean nothing."

Maggie dragged her fingers through her hair. The lack of sleep and food made her light-headed. Had they just wasted an afternoon? Keller could easily have hidden the cellular phone in Howard's room. Yet, Maggie couldn't imagine anything happening at the rectory without Howard making it his business to know.

"Where do you go to cut wood, Ray?"

He stared at her, still sucking on his fingertips. He was trying to figure out why she wanted to know.

"I've seen the fireplace in the rectory," she continued. "It looks like it would take a ton of wood over the winter, especially starting this early."

"Yeah, it does. And Father Francis likes..." He stopped and looked down at the floor. "G.o.d rest his soul," he muttered to his feet, then looked up again. "He liked it really warm in that room."

"So where do you go?"

"Out by the river. The church still owns a piece of property. Out where the old St. Margaret's is. It was a beautiful little church. It's falling apart now. I get lots of dried-out elm and walnut. Some oak. There's tons of river maples. The walnut burns the best." He stopped and stared out the window.

Maggie followed his empty gaze. The sun sank behind the snow-covered horizon, blood-red against the white. Cutting wood had reminded him of something, but what?

Yes, Ray Howard knew much more than he was letting on, and neither the threat of jail nor the promise of Wanda's chicken-fried steak would get him to talk. They were going to have to let him go.

CHAPTER 67.

Nick hung up the phone and sat back in his office chair, rubbing the sting of anger from his eyes. He realized that Maggie must have seen how badly he wanted to hit something, maybe even Ray Howard. How could she remain so cool and calm?

He couldn't stop thinking about Timmy. He felt as though a time bomb had been planted inside his ribs, the ticking getting faster and faster, drumming against his chest. The ache was unbearable. It didn't help matters that he couldn't erase the image of Danny Alverez. That small body lying in the gra.s.s. Those vacant eyes staring up at the stars. He had looked so peaceful. That is if you didn't notice the red-raw slash under his chin and gouges in his small, white chest.

They were running out of time.

Aaron Harper and Eric Paltrow had been murdered less than two weeks apart. Matthew Tanner was taken exactly a week after Danny Alverez. It was only several days since Matthew, and now Timmy. The timetable grew shorter. Something was making the killer explode, sending him over the edge. And if they didn't catch him, would he simply disappear again for six years? Or worse, would he melt into the woodwork of the community just as he had before? If it wasn't Howard or Keller, who the h.e.l.l was it?

Nick grabbed the crumpled paper from his desktop. The obscure schedule he had found in the pickup's glove compartment had a strange grocery list scrawled on the back. He scanned the items one more time, trying to make sense of them: wool blanket, kerosene, matches, oranges, Snickers bars, SpaghettiOs, rat poison. Perhaps it was a simple camping-trip list, yet something told Nick it was more.

There was a knock on the door, and Hal came in without waiting for an invitation. The big shoulders slumped from exhaustion. His normally well-groomed hair stuck to his head from too many hours stuffed in his hat. His s.h.i.+rt collar was unb.u.t.toned and his coffee-stained tie was twisted loose and at an odd angle.

"What do you have, Hal?"

He sank into the chair opposite Nick on the other side of the desk. "The empty gla.s.s vial you found in the pickup contained ether."

"Ether? Where in the world did it come from?"

"More than likely the hospital. I checked with the director, and he said they have similar vials down in the morgue. They use it as some sort of solvent, but it could be used to knock someone out. All it takes is a couple whiffs."

"Who would have access to the morgue?"

"Anyone, really. They don't lock the door."

"You're kidding?"

"Think about it, Nick. The morgue's hardly ever used, and when it is, who's gonna want to mess around down there?"

"When there's a criminal investigation, it should be locked, with only authorized personnel allowed in." Nick grabbed a pen and started tapping out his anger. The desire to hit something still raged inside him.

Hal didn't respond, and when Nick glanced up at him he wondered if even Hal thought he was losing it. "Were you able to get any prints off the vial?"

"Just yours."

"What about the matchbook?"

"Well, it's not a strip joint. Get this-the Pink Lady is a small bar and grill in downtown Omaha, about a block from the police station. Evidently a lot of police officers hang out there. Eddie says they serve the best burgers in town."

"Eddie?"

"Yeah, Gillick was with the OPD before he moved here. I thought you knew that. 'Course, it's been a while...six or seven years now."

"I don't trust him," Nick blurted out, then regretted it as soon as he saw Hal's face.

"Eddie? Why in the world wouldn't you trust Eddie?"

"I don't know. Forget I said anything."

Hal shook his head and pushed himself out of the chair. He started for the door then turned back as if he had forgotten something.

"You know, Nick, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but there's a lot of people in this department who feel the same way about you."

"What way is that?" Nick sat up. The tapping stopped.

"You have to admit, the only reason you got this job is because of your dad. What experience do you have in law enforcement? Look, Nick, I'm your friend, and I'm with you every step of the way. But I have to tell you, some of the guys aren't too sure. They think you're letting O'Dell run the show."

There it was-the slap he had been expecting for days. He wiped a hand across his jaw as if to erase the sting.

"I guess I figured as much, especially since my dad seems to be running his own investigation."