Blood Red

“How lovely to hear from you.” That accent of his still puzzled her. Somewhere in Europe was a guess, but beyond that, she had no idea. “Thank you for returning my call.”

“I was going to call you, actually. I’m finished with your project.”

A tall man with a military haircut stared at her as she walked past, and she felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise.

At exactly the same time as she caught the freak staring at her, she saw the first of the crows. They came in fast and hard and began landing on the edges of the building around her. Weird.

“That’s wonderful news, Maggie. You’ve made me a very happy man.”

“I’m glad I could help.” What else could she say?

“Do you have plans for tonight? I was thinking about discussing having you stay for the evening.”

“I think I can manage that, Jason.”

“Excellent. I shall make the arrangements with our mutual contact.” The tall man was still watching her. She could feel his eyes on her like oil on water: slick but not sticking, and definitely a little disgusting.

“Please do.” She had no desire whatsoever to speak with Tom. He was being a prick lately and she was thinking more and more of ending her business deals with him. Of course, he probably wouldn’t be thrilled about that. Okay, he might be homicidal.

“I shall see you around seven then?”

She checked her watch. That gave her three hours and spare change. “It sounds perfect, Jason. I’ll see you then.”

“Maggie?”

“Yes?”

“Wear something nice for me, please.”

“I will, just for you.”

VII

The conversation went on for what seemed like forever. Ben felt numb inside, but he did his best to answer the questions one last time.

Boyd pushed another cola at him as soon as the waitress brought it over. “Okay, Ben. I want to go over this last part, and then we’ll be done. Honest.”

“Hey. You bought me a burger and a lot of caffeine. It’s okay.”

Boyd smiled and nodded. “Okay, what happened to the files he dropped off?”

“I found the one I needed and burned the rest.”

Holdstedter looked at him, his broad Nordic face puzzled. “Why did you burn them?”

“Because, I didn’t want anyone to find out what those girls went through.”

“You didn’t even look through the files first? To see what was in them?”

“Look, I was trying to do someone a favor, okay? She was depressed and she was probably ready to have a meltdown and I wanted to see her happy again. Is that so hard to understand?”

Boyd answered for his partner. “Honestly? Yes, it is.”

“Why?”

“Do you have any idea what most people would have done in your situation?”

“No,” he shrugged. He hadn’t really given it much thought.

“My guess is a lot of guys would have used it to their advantage.”

“Jesus. I could never do that.”

Boyd looked at him hard and then his expression softened just a little. “Yeah. I believe you. But you’re the exception that proves the rule, Ben. I’ve dealt with a lot of kids your age who would have done all sorts of things with the information you had, but you’re the only one I can think of who would have burned the stuff.”

“Well, maybe that was my way of stopping myself from becoming a statistic.”

“Then good for you. For the record, you did break a lot of laws, and some of them would land you in prison with some damned mean characters. But even if I hadn’t made a promise to you, I wouldn’t press charges. You’re good people, Ben Kirby. Try to stay that way.”

The detective stood up and his partner did the same. Boyd handed him a business card. “You have any problems from Pardue, you give me a call.”

“Why did you tell him I was a suspect?”

“Because I saw you two knew each other. This way, when I come down on him, and I will come down on him, he won’t blame you.”

“What . . . what exactly does he do?”

“What doesn’t he do?” Boyd looked him up and down and then shrugged. “He deals dope, he works a few small protection rackets, and he pimps college girls.”

Something cold grew through the lining of Ben’s stomach.

Boyd watched him and got a strange expression on his face. It was strange, Ben suspected, because it seldom showed up on his features. It was pity.

Ben hated him a little for that, but he hid it. The detectives left, and Ben stayed where he was. He knew he’d have to move eventually, but he didn’t like the idea. He didn’t like much of anything at the moment.

Some truths hurt more than others.

This particular revelation hurt like hell.

VIII

Alan came home to absolute silence. He’d tried calling several times, but without much success. No one answered but the machine.

The sun was just setting by the time he opened the door to his house and stepped inside. He walked through the living room and then up the stairs, his emotions doing the exact same thing they had the day before. He should have been calm, but it wasn’t working out that way.

The stairs creaked, but he heard no other noises.