Valley of Lights

TWENTY-TWO

It was two whole days before he called me again, days that seemed to drag on forever. The city was quiet, although the fear was still everywhere; the sale in guard dogs was so heavy that animals were having to be trucked in from out of state, and gun shops couldn't keep up with the demand. One of the local radio stations took to playing Psycho Killer by Talking Heads until their board of management told them to stop, after which phone-in requests for the track increased tenfold. I read in the Phoenix Gazette that a small-time movie producer had taken a suite in the Hyatt and announced that he was going to step in and bid for the killer's story, as soon as he was caught. According to the paper his last movie had been Revenge of the Zombies and I sat there in the coffee shop, giggling and snorting helplessly and thinking Christ, if only he knew. Out on the streets, we had to cope with local vigilante groups who organised their own patrols and generally got in the way. We even had to break up a fight between two of them.

I was expecting him to hit again, and he probably knew it and was drawing me out as far as he could; but at least that way, nobody was dying.

Nobody that we were hearing about, anyway.

The next time he called, I had Winter's photograph – the one that I'd taken from his room – propped on the table by the phone. After making me wait for so long, at least he was punctual about the hour. I picked up the phone after two rings, and heard Winter's voice say, 'Me again.'

'Still sticking with the college boy, I see.'

'He's clean, no sign of any bad habits. But I only keep him for around the house, so don't expect to see him on the streets. I've got other faces for that.'

Winter looked back at me out of the photograph. A plain, ordinary, smiling kid. But only an instrument, now.

I said, 'How many faces do you have?'

'You really want to waste today's question on me?'

'I take it back.'

'That's better. Here's Georgina.'

He seemed to be in a playful mood today. And why not? He had everything under control, after all. I heard the phone being passed over, and Georgie came on the line and said, 'Hi, Alex.'

'Hello, Georgie,' I said. 'You know the rules we have to play by?'

'You get to ask me a question, and I have to answer it.'

Winter must have been right there with his ear up against the receiver, because without a break he cut in and said, 'Was that it? Hot very illuminating, I must say,' and put the phone down on me.

I sat there clutching the buzzing phone in disbelief, but it was already too late. I cradled it and paced the room in impotent fury, running my fingers through my hair and unable to decide what to do next.

But then the phone rang again, and I dashed over and snatched it up.

'Admit it,' Winter said happily, 'I had you worried.'

'Stop playing around,' I said. 'Put her back on.'

I could hear him laughing in the background as he handed over again. Georgie came on and said, 'He didn't mean that. He was only joking.'

'Yeah,' I said, 'he's a real comedian. Answer me this, Georgie. Are you scared?'

She thought about it for a moment. 'I was at first,' she said, 'but no so much now that he's explained some things to me. I've got my own room and a TV, and he brings me comic books and stuff. I asked for a bird in a cage, and he says he'll get me one. It's not like jail, or anything.'

'Does he lock you in?'

'Of course I lock her in,' Winter said unexpectedly, because this time the changeover at the far end had been quick and silent, 'but she understands why it has to be done. I wish I could say as much for you.'

'I got what I wanted.'

'You mean that was it? No catch-me-out question, just a welfare enquiry? Alex, does this mean you're beginning to trust me?'

'I'd trust Nixon before I'd trust you,' I said. 'I genuinely wanted to know.' And now that I knew, I liked the situation even less, impossible as that seemed. I didn't like the rapport that he and Georgie seemed to be building up – something entirely manufactured from his end, I didn't doubt, but Georgie couldn't see through that. I felt very much like the outsider butting in, here.

Winter said, 'Don't worry about her, Alex, she's getting everything she could possibly want. You think I don't know how to spoil a child?'

'Don't tempt me,' I said.

There was a moment's silence while I waited for his reaction, and then: 'A joke! You know, Alex, you may not believe this, but I've been getting to like you.'

'Just what I always wanted.'

'Poor, dull, unimaginative Alex. Thrust right into the middle of something that he can hardly believe, and he can't breathe a word about it to anybody because they won't believe him either. I feel for you, I really do.'

I said, 'If you like me so much, will you listen to a suggestion?'

'It costs me nothing to listen,' he said.

I wasn't looking at the photograph of Winter now, I was looking at the face that had formed in my mind; it was composite, ugly, a kind of soft clay that could boil and mutate but which retained the essence of evil in any shape that it took. Being on the phone made it easier to visualise; and visualising made it easier to say what I had to say next.

'Meet me one-to-one,' I said. 'You can be whoever you like as long as you wipe out all the reserves first. I'll meet you on equal terms and we'll see who walks away.'

He seemed amused by the proposal. 'What makes you think I'd agree to something like that?'

'Because you've already thought of it. Every time we meet up, you've got an escape hatch – which means that every time, it ends with you running away. But I'll bet you've wondered, what would happen if we both had to see it through to the finish?'

'You'd lose,' he said flatly. But was there just a small hint of uncertainty in there?

'Easy enough to say,' I persisted. 'Admit it, you're scared of me a little.'

'Scared of you? Why?'

'Because unless you've got me pinned down like you have now, you don't know where I'll be coming from next. And I think that's why you say you like me, as well, why you don't just break the chain and move on to some other town. I've put some spice into your life, and you'd forgotten what it can be like.'

I heard him sigh. 'You're an entertainment, Alex, I'll give you that,' he said. 'Listen, I'm going to do something for you. I can promise you something good this afternoon, and I'll try to make sure it's within your squad area. Watch for it, okay? This one's just for you.'

And with that friendly promise, he ended the call.