Dead Mann Walking

27

I made it to the shoulder, collapsed at the edge of a brittle, sunbaked field. A turkey buzzard wheeled in the sky above me, coming lower and lower. Once it got close enough for a good look, it turned and flew off. I wasn’t even good enough to be carrion.

Forcing myself to sitting, I fished in my pockets. I couldn’t find my cell, but I did get my hands on the recorder. I was thinking I should get some of this down. Not that I was worried I’d forget, but if Turgeon had spotted me, he might be on his way back, and I wanted to leave at least some kind of record.

Crap. The recorder was still damp. I pressed a button and a set of little black LED letters flashed on the screen. It still worked. I pressed record and tried to talk, but all I could do was babble. After about ten seconds, I turned it off.

I looked up and down the highway. Hondas, trucks, and hybrids. No sign of the Humvee. Good for me, not so much for Nell Parker. Soon she’d be one of his friends, one of his daddies, or, in her case, a mommy, and he’d be reliving the death of his own parent over and over and again for the sake of . . .

Wait a minute.

Christ, I think I’d set a world record for staring at something and not being able to see it. Whatever other relationship he was having with the heads, he was trying to keep them quiet.

What did they know? What was the one thing Wilson, Boyle, and Parker all knew? That they were innocent, that someone else killed their spouses.

Son of a bitch, son of a bitch, son of a bitch. What if it was Turgeon to begin with? What if he’d committed the murders and set them all up? It’d be a perfect gig for a psycho. Most murder victims are done in by someone they know. Need to kill someone? Find someone with a history of domestic violence, kill the spouse, and leave the aggressor to take the rap. Brilliant. It’s not like they’re not going to bring your patsy back from the dead, right?

But then they do bring them back. You can’t have them wandering around, maybe trying to find the real killer. So you find them and silence them.

And if I was on his list, that meant . . .

I grabbed my chest as if something still beat inside it. I grabbed my head. I could feel every crenellation pulse, filled to bursting.

I’d found the man who killed Lenore.

That’s why he hired me in the first place, why he asked all those questions about whether I remembered what happened or not. The fact that I couldn’t probably pushed me farther down the list.

The man, the thing that killed Lenore.

I saw my wife’s face for the first time in ages, smooth, pale, Irish skin, a round moon face with saucer eyes, cupped by straight black hair. You couldn’t see a single blemish unless you looked real close, but I remembered even those, even a little crescent moon scar under her jaw, half the width of my pinkie nail. She said she got it from tumbling down a flight of stairs when she was two. She had a tight body and just enough muscle to make it interesting.

The better angels of our nature aside, she was moody to the extreme and I was a shit with a temper. My father, Albert Mann, was a big drinker, a bull of a man. He’d get in your face and yell real loud until you backed down. Usually he didn’t have to hit you.

Whether it was a strategy or not, the shouting worked, so I picked it up. Get me pissed enough and I’d come at you with murder in my eyes. Only, I’m not planning to do damage; I’m trying to cow you. It worked with me and with my mother. It never worked with Lenore. She always held her ground. Coming from a big family with a lot of brothers toughened her up, made her stand up for herself.

I admired it, but in a pinch, it crossed my wires big-time. I was a one-trick pony. Whenever I tried to cow her by screaming, I wound up feeling cornered. Yeah, I did hit her once, and no, I don’t remember what the fight was about. Worst day of my life, not counting the one where I found her body. She kicked me back pretty good—we both had nasty bruises for days.

That one time almost ended things. I went to counseling for a year, learned to step back instead of forward. That helped. We still shouted. Sometimes I punched a wall or smashed a plate, but I never touched her, never again. Maybe we shouldn’t have been together, but the fights were rare and, stupid as it sounds, I loved her and thought she loved me. The marriage was heaven on earth, with occasional side trips to hell, or so I thought.

By the middle of the recession, the cuts reached the homicide department. Short on staff, I wound up working extra shifts, which meant less time at home. Thanks to ChemBet, we had a string of former convictions walking around. Folks we’d arrested were popping back up on the street. It was a whole new world with all new problems. With so much going on, I lost track of her. Things seemed okay, so I wasn’t worried, but I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t even blink when she asked that we stop trying to have kids for a while. I was too busy resenting all the time off Booth was enjoying. He’d earned it, I guessed, five more years than me. When he retired I was next in line. Except for the fact that I wasn’t well liked. Tended to be a loner, and everyone knew I had a temper.

Then came the morning the photo showed up in my in-box, Lenore’s skin smooth like a goddess’s, her body caught in an instant when it’d been writhing in pleasure, pushing up against Booth’s muscles, her hands clawing at his hairy back. Didn’t matter that it was a photo. I could see them moving. I could hear the moans of pleasure.

Something inside me crashed. It felt like my life was over, like I’d died, as if I knew what that meant. I did like my counselor said: I hit something else, in this case the wall. But it was in the office this time, and to be honest, for the first time, I was imagining it was her.

I rushed home, thinking . . . I don’t know what. I don’t remember. I like to believe I’d calmed down by the time I was halfway there. I hope I was planning to talk things out, or tell her I’d give her a divorce if she wanted it. Only, that doesn’t sound like me. Still, I hold on to the possibility that the last conversation I was planning to have with her would be the best I had to offer, not the worst. The fact is, the car ride’s a blur. Whatever I was feeling is one of those blank spots in my soul. Message erased.

I do remember stumbling into the kitchen, stepping into her blood and wondering what was so damn sticky. I remember her crushed face, looking like a broken egg with a different palette of colors. They never found my bat and I’ve never been sure it wasn’t me.

Now I knew it wasn’t, and I had a real good idea who it was.

I got to my feet, screaming. I staggered out onto the highway, still screaming.

What a sight that must have been, zombie dirt monster raging in the middle of the highway. Cars zoomed by. I’m sure someone would’ve hit me if they weren’t worried about ruining their finishes.

One asshole driving an old Civic must have been text-ing or watching a DVD. By the time he saw me, he had to turn the wheel so hard, he nearly flipped his car. Instead, tires squealing, it spun and came to a halt on the shoulder. The air bag popped and he was just stupid enough to be angry about it.

Face in a fierce snarl, he pushed the air bag away, popped the door, and stormed toward me. He was early twenties, hair baked blond and dried like the field, a football player, someone who’d kick a boulder in his way rather than walk around it.

“You stupid mother . . .”

I guess he hadn’t noticed I was dead and howling until about then. I saw no reason to stop screaming for his sake.

“Holy shit!” He backed up, put the car between us. I came forward, getting louder. I wasn’t feral, but I wasn’t real happy, either.

He thought about getting back in his car, but I hopped up on the hood and gave him a real loud one, nearly tore out my vocal cords. He started backing up. He didn’t want to give up the car, but he didn’t want to die, either.

With a final, “Oh, shit!” he turned and started running.

I got behind the wheel. The engine still running, I put it in gear and drove past him.

I won’t take credit for planning any of it. It just sort of happened. But you should have seen the look on his face. Wish I’d had a camera.

I did about eighty until I spotted some state troopers and had to slow down. The Humvee was long gone. No way I’d catch up, and I didn’t know where he was headed. Aside from everything else eating at me, now I had the sick feeling I couldn’t save Nell.

The only other lead I had was that other chak, and right now I couldn’t even remember his name. I did remember the notes I’d made with Ashby, so I tried working the recorder while driving with one hand. Couldn’t manage that, so I had to pull over, lose even more time.

Took me about five minutes to find it, my creaky voice saying, “Odell Jenkins, works for Hammer Rejuvenations, LLC.”

Ashby gave off a little heh in the background. Funny, it was nice to hear him again.

After a lot of twisting and yanking at the dried muck on me, I even found my cell phone. As I pulled back onto the road, I hit 1 on the speed dial.

Misty answered on the first ring. “Hess, where the hell are you? Are you okay?”

“I’m not so bad, considering. I figured out who killed my wife, and I’ve got a new car.”

Rather than give her the details, I gave her the name of the remediation company, asked them to inquire about Jenkins and call me back as soon as she knew anything. The sooner I got to Turgeon’s last potential victim, the better chance I had of finding him.

And then what?

As I drove, I tried to come up with a plan. Part of me wished I still had the gun. Then I could shoot Turgeon over and over until the only thing that made him twitch would be the impact of the bullets. Partly I wanted to play “good cop.” I wanted to nab him, bring him in, have him arrested, tried, and fried, with me in the audience.

The missing gun mooted the first option. Being a chak put the odds against the second. By the time I reached the Bones, Misty still hadn’t called back, so I headed to the office. The phone was in her hand as I walked in. There was some poster board and markers on her desk, so I figured she’d been making signs for Jonesey.

I thought she’d have a harder time guessing what I’d been up to, but as she rose for a better look at my makeover, she said, “You look like you’ve been sleeping in the bottom of a swamp.”

“Close. Colby Green’s swimming pool.”

She grabbed a spork from her lunch and used it to scrape off the bigger chunks of dirt. While she worked, I filled her in on the details. By the end of it, she looked more upset than I was. I wanted to thank her for that. Instead, I asked if she’d made any headway on Odell Jenkins.

“Yeah, he’s at a job site.”

“Good. Did you get a number? Can we call him?”

“Already tried. His boss said he keeps his cell off while he’s working. Doesn’t want to get distracted using power tools.”

“Makes sense. What’s the address? I’ve got to get over there.”

“Wait. Hess, what if you run into Turgeon? You can’t go.”

I gave her a look. “I can’t not. Put aside Wilson, Boyle, Parker, and their spouses, which probably doesn’t scratch the surface of his victim list, Misty—this guy killed Lenore.”

“And if you make one wrong move, he’ll cut your head off and put it in a bag!”

“He’s going to try to do that anyway.”

“We can move out of the state. I’m still half-packed.”

“I’d go feral on the bus, knowing he was out there.”

“Then . . . then . . . call Booth.”

I thought about that one. He loved Lenore, too. He’d want to find her real killer. But he was sure he already had.

“I’d need proof, Misty, and even then, last time I saw him, he’d hired someone to break my legs. Look, it’s a long shot he’ll go after Jenkins right now.”

She pursed her lips. “Unless he’s in a hurry because Colby Green is after him.”

“Who’s the detective, you or me? Fine, maybe it’s fifty-fifty, but all the more reason I’ve got to try to get to him fast.”

She shook her head. “You don’t even have a gun.”

“No, but I’ve got something else. It’s the reason I came back, other than seeing your pretty face, of course.” I nodded her into my office.

There, I pulled out the cash drawer, then checked the false bottom where I’d kept the Walther. I had something else in there, a little glass vial full of oily liquid as green as Nell Parker’s eyes. I held it up for Misty to see, but warned her not to get too close.

“What the hell is that?” she asked.

“VX, deadliest nerve agent on the planet. Last year, anyway—I’m sure they’ve got something worse by now.”

She took a few more steps back. “And that’s been here all along, while I sleep in the next room, you crazy bastard? Fuck, Hess, how’d you even get something like that?”

“I used to be a cop, remember? Anyway, one night we raided a big drug dealer and found out he was also dealing arms, guns so big you needed three men to pick them up, missile launchers, too—and this. I thought it was some new kind of drug. Shoved it in my pocket, thinking I’d look it up later; things came up; I forgot about it. It was still in my pocket the day I was arrested for Lenore’s murder. I handed it over along with my wallet and the clerk took it for perfume. I didn’t find out what it was until after I came back. Always meant to turn it in; never figured out how to do it without getting arrested.”

She kept shaking her head. “You’re an idiot alive or dead.”

I raised my hands in surrender. “Guilty as charged, but dead, I can drink the shit, no harm, no foul. One whiff would kill a liveblood, though. So, if I did run into Turgeon, all I’d have to do is put it in my mouth, get close enough, bite down on the glass, and blow. And I know how to blow.”

“What about everybody else in the city?”

“Far as I know, they’ll go on being a bunch of idiots.” I held up the vial and tilted it so she could see how slowly it flowed. “It’s not exactly a gas; it’s viscous, like an oil. Maybe it was just a sample or something they’d use in a spray gun. On top of that, it’s supposed to break up in the air after a few minutes. That’s why the trick is getting in close. So where’s Odell Jenkins doing his nine-to-five?”

“I’m going with you.”

“No way, Misty. Forget Turgeon; I don’t want you in the same car with this stuff.”

“I’m in the same room with it now, have been for months. How’re you going to keep it safe? What if you get into a fistfight?”

“Watch.” I shoved the vial into my mouth and used my tongue to push it into a pocket in my jawbone, below my right molars. I had some rot there once. When Misty cut it out for me, which wasn’t easy for either of us, it left a hole. I opened wide and lolled my tongue around. “I’m not saying I could keep a sandwich fresh in there, but it’s nice and snug and would stand up to a search if he decided to frisk me or check my teeth. Okay?”

“It’s crazy.”

“What isn’t? Where is he?”

“Everwing. The hospital complex.”

“Thanks, Misty. I need something, I’ll call you. Town center shouldn’t be too crowded this time of day.”

She frowned.

“Piece of food in my teeth?” I asked.

“Just to make your visit more fun, Jonesey’s rally is this afternoon. You’ll be heading right into it.”