Big Three-Thriller Bundle Box Collection (97 page)

C
HAPTER 38

H
arold Burke’s heroic effort to save Tricia Carpenter had been much like a soldier jumping on a live hand grenade and produced similar results. The dogs had attacked the mailman, giving Tricia time to scamper behind the master bedroom door to temporary safety once again.

Tricia had sat up in her grandparents’ big bed with the covers pulled up to her nose as she listened to the savagery on the other side of the door. Soon after Burke’s blood oozed from the threshold, she heard more dogs join in. She heard their arguing growls as they fought over prime pieces. The growls seemed to diminish and she knew it was because they were dragging the mailman’s body away, down the hall and then down the steps. She heard the dogs, at least two of them that stayed behind, lap up the blood on the floor. She even saw their greedy tongues as they tried for every drop of spilled blood under the inch-and-a-half gap under the door.

Several hours passed. Tricia Carpenter now found safety in the master bedroom closet. She ran there after the dogs renewed their aggressive pursuit of the only living prey left in Sand Creek. The thin plywood panel in the lower half of the door had given in to repeated scratching. As soon as Tricia could see Dawg’s paw come through the panel, she streaked for the closet.

She huddled in the far corner of the closet, tired and hungry and thirsty, and needed to go to the bathroom. She had found a water glass beside Grammy’s side of the bed earlier and guzzled down the meager three gulps that it held but that wasn’t nearly enough.

Right now the most urgent matter was that she had to pee, real bad. After considerable thought, she crawled to the opposite corner of the closet and relieved herself.
How naughty
, she thought.
What would Grammy think?
But now, at least, she was only tired and hungry and thirsty.

A wood breaking, cracking noise came from the other side of the door. She heard the pounding paws of several excited dogs entering through the hole they had made in the bedroom door.

Tricia hugged herself, holding her knees close to her chin. She trembled with fear, but there were no tears. None were left.

The dogs sniffed and bounded around in their hunt. A dog sniffed very close to the closet door and a shadow passed underneath. Now the shadow came back and sniffed at the crack at the bottom. It pawed once. It sniffed. It pawed again. Suddenly, a lot of pawing and scratching erupted on the door. It rattled loosely in the jamb as if it were going to open.

Tricia wished she still had Raggedy Ann.

C
HAPTER 39

S
arah Hill sat, parked in front of the animal shelter, taking a moment’s breather. She watched as Tommy Chin pulled in beside her. It was a quarter till four, and Chin had just finished eight hours’ rest after pulling a double shift and was coming back for another one.

The rain stopped and the sun shot columns of bright gold through a sieve of gray and black thunderheads. As he pulled to a stop, Hill heard a news bulletin come over Chin’s car radio concerning the battle taking place at the Epic Center.

“Uh-oh!” Chin exclaimed. He bailed out of his light blue Honda Civic and ran for the office, without seeing Hill.

“Hey, Chin, what’s the rush?” she called out her open window.

“There are six mad Dobermans loose inside the Epic Center,” he panted.

“That’s old news. Slow down.”

Chin walked over to Hill as she slipped out of Parker’s Truck. “What happened?”

“A lot.” Hill clinched her teeth to hold back the tears. “Nothing good. Jack Simpson was killed. Tony’s been hurt, but he’s going to be okay. All the dogs are dead.”

“Damn, what…?”

“Look, Chin, I’ve had a tough afternoon. I’m going to call it a day. I’ll have to tell you the whole story later.”

They walked to the door together.

“Are you all right?” Chin asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just need some rest.”

“Tommy, a lady wants to talk to Tony. You want to take it?” one of the women officers behind the front counter asked as the two came through the door.

Chin nodded and reached for the phone.

“This is Officer Tommy Chin, ma’am. Mr. Parker is off duty right now, can I help?”

Hill turned in the Jimmy’s keys, grabbed her purse and started for the door to go home. On her way back by the counter, Chin took Hill by the arm. He nodded to her, one of those “hold up” sort of nods, and turned on the speakerphone for her to hear.

“Yes, Mrs. Crane, what can I do for you?”

“Well, Mr. Parker asked me to call him if I saw Jezebel.”

“You mean you saw her? When?”

“Last night. I’ve heard howling every night, but I never saw her. Last night I thought I saw a rabbit in my garden in the back yard, so I went outside. It was midnight. There wasn’t a rabbit, but I heard a noise coming from the side of the house, next to Mr. MacGreggor’s. When I looked through the fence, I saw Jezebel, and she was acting real strange.”

“How do you mean, ma’am?”

“Well, it was hard to see her very well in the dark but she was running back and forth and jumping. She had a stick in her mouth, like she was playing fetch—or maybe, remembering. She always loved to play fetch with Mr. MacGreggor.”

“So what happened, did she see you?”

“No, not at first. She just played for quite a while. Then, something came over her, and she just stopped dead still and dropped the stick out of her mouth. All of a sudden, she let out the most blood-curdling howl you ever heard. It surprised me so much that I screamed right along with her. She looked over and saw me. I was scared for a minute, but she just up and jumped over the fence on the other side of the yard and ran off.”

“Why didn’t you report this last night?”

“It was so much like a dream. I had to ask myself if it was really her. Anyway, she would have been long gone by the time anyone got here. Besides, I felt sorry for her.”

“And why did you call now?”

“I guess because I decided it was the right thing to do. I’d hate to think someone else got hurt and I could have prevented it.”

“How’s that, Mrs. Crane?”

“Well, you see, I think she’s been here every night. I’ve been leaving food and water next to the fence for her. I don’t think she’s taken much, if any, of it. It looks like she’s just nosed the dog food around. I’m thinking she climbs over the fence and goes in the house. At midnight—well, that’s when I hear the howl. There’s been a couple of officers in a police car out in front at night, but they come and go and probably couldn’t tell if she was there or not from the street. I don’t think they’ve heard her. Anyway, if I was a betting woman, and I’m not, I’d bet she’ll be over there tonight.”

“All right, Mrs. Crane. Thanks for the tip. We’ll check it out. You stay inside tonight, okay?” Chin turned off the speakerphone. “Well, what do you think?”

Hill blew out an exhausted breath, making her cheeks puff and lips vibrate. “I think I’d better go get some sleep and meet you at MacGreggor’s at eleven,” Hill said, her eyes half open.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll get one of the other guys.”

“No big deal, I’m pulling a double shift starting midnight, anyway. I just want to catch this big bitch and get it over with. We’ve rounded up all the other dogs that have had rabies shots from the bad batch. She’s the last one.”

Hill stepped toward the door but paused and turned back. “Hey, Tommy, how about getting a couple of people to take Tony’s truck back to his house? He won’t need it for a couple of days, but it’ll be there for him
when he does.”

“Sure, Sarah,” Chin said, “I’ll take care of it. You get home and get some sleep. See you tonight.”

*-*-*

Sometime before darkness seeped into the crack under the closet door, the dogs quit scratching, and Tricia Carpenter fell into a deep dark hole in her mind that had been a very frightening place many times before. It had been a place of monsters and ghosts and of parents arguing. This time the deep, dark, sometimes-scary place was a comfort. This time, sleep was a much better and safer place to be than reality.

Tricia woke to the darkness, unsure of where she was. Her back rested in a corner of some kind, but it was a poor clue. She touched her eyes to make sure they were open and then stretched out both arms, feeling for more clues. Her wrist complained, throbbing where Dawg had bitten it. She remembered he’d bitten her foot also, and the pain quickly followed the memory. She whimpered, still reaching. Her left hand struck something that sounded wooden, and the door rattled in its jamb.

Shoes lay in front of her. The black pumps Grammy said she had bought and worn only once, to Tricia’s baptism many years ago, were easy to recognize, smooth and soft. Grandy’s old brown work boots, with rough leather and cracks and holes worn through, were evident. Her hand batted the clothes hanging over her head as she reached up. No doubt, it was Grammy and Grandy’s closet.

She remembered everything now.

Tricia felt the closet door for holes to see if somehow, as she slept, the dogs might have ripped a hole in it, too, like the hole they had scratched through in the bedroom door. Maybe the dogs were in the closet with her. Maybe she would reach out and one of the dogs would bite her hand. It would be much safer to feel the door and not to blindly search the closet for intruders with her hands.

The door was fine. It was smooth and unblemished—from the inside. She put her ear up to the door to listen for sounds. It was quiet except for a hum she recognized as the old electric alarm clock Grammy kept on her side of the bed. She slipped her little fingers under the door and wriggled them, feeling the length of the crack. She didn’t know what she felt for or what she would do if she happened upon something. What if she felt a dog? What if a dog chomped off her fingers? The thought made her gasp and jerk her hand back.

The dogs must have left. The hunger and thirst grew more intense, now, and her wrist and foot ached. She had to go for help. The only phone in the house was broken. She remembered the wire pulling out as she ran from Dawg. But the Lawrences had a phone. She could go there and call Tony Parker. He would come and help. He would save her and make all the bad dogs go away. She couldn’t remember the number. She would have to go back through the living room to get his card. That is what she would do.

Tricia stood, but the pain in her right foot caused her to remember how deeply Dawg’s fangs had penetrated, and she took the weight off of it. She reached out and felt for the doorknob, finding it with a rattle. The mechanism clicked as she turned the knob carefully, and she pushed the door open.

She leaned into the door too far and lost her balance, falling against it, and came down hands first. The door opened only two feet before striking something. Her hands landed on something large and furry.

Dawg grunted.

C
HAPTER 40

D
r. White Cloud saw the TV bulletin about the tragedy at the Epic Center. He saw Tony come out of the building, walking on his own two feet, and was thankful Tony would be all right. He had to chuckle and clap when Hill put the hurts on Haskins. He had sobbed when they announced the death of his friend, Jack Simpson. He turned the TV off and sat in the dark for a moment, thinking. Patsy always turned in early and had long since gone to bed, and it was quiet in his modern, Spanish stucco home.

Something bothered him—something that happened earlier in the day back at the office. Patsy had told him she did not hear the outside phone bell ring before Truong came out with the news of the rabies tests.

The old vet got up from his chair and walked out to the garage. He would ask Truong a few questions.

All the clinic lights were out as he pulled up in the parking lot in his turquoise green Continental. Truong must have gone to bed. Doc sat in his car for a moment, wondering if he should bother him about something so silly that it was probably nothing. Most likely, the bell rang, and nobody noticed it. No one had paid any attention. Maybe there was a short in the line.

He decided to get out and at least see if Truong might still be awake.

A strange hoarse howl, no more than five hundred yards away, made Doc flinch.

He stood with the car door open, considering it. “When a dog howls, a man will die,” he said aloud, remembering the old superstition.

Something rustled in the bushes nearby.

“Who’s there?” Doc called out, straining to see.

Hearing the noise again, he asked, “Who’s there, I say?”

The bushes rustled again. Something came out.

He backed against the car door. “No, no, please. No!”

*-*-*

At eleven p.m. Sarah Hill pulled up to the MacGreggor house behind Tommy Chin’s van. She got out of her little green Geo Storm and walked to his open driver’s side window. The night air was thick and foggy. Droplets of moisture already formed and beaded up on the hood of the van.

“So, what’s the plan, Chin?”

“Hi, Sarah. Hey, I got us a wire from the guys in vice.”

“A wire?”

“Yeah, you know, a microphone.”

“How cool. What we really need is a bazooka. So what’s the
wire
for?”

“I thought one of us could go inside the house with it. That way, if she gets in, we’ll know it.”

“Shit, are you crazy? Did you get this plan from Tony, or does insanity come from being in charge?”

“Don’t worry, Sarah. I’ll go inside,” Chin said, seeming a little disappointed his plan wasn’t better received.

Hill thought for a moment. She looked at the house and frowned.

“No, I’ll do it. Give it to me,” she demanded.

“Are you sure, Sarah? It could be dangerous.”

“No shit, Sherlock. Tell me something I don’t know. Jezebel’s a female, a female with class like me. We have a lot in common. Besides, I’m the one with the zoology degree and countless hours of studying animal behavior. I’ve got to be the one.”

Chin handed the small microphone and the earplug receiver to her.

“It’s on. VOX, voice activated, so you don’t have to push any buttons or anything. Just put the microphone in your shirt pocket and the receiver in your ear. First thing, when either of us sees her, we’ll yell it out. And here, I brought an extra tranquilizer rifle,” Chin said, passing the rifle through the open window.

“What’s the range on this gadget?” Hill asked, placing the receiver in her ear.

“They said around two hundred yards, about a block and a half. But we’ll test it when you get inside.”

“All right, I guess I’m ready. Make sure you keep talking to me, or I’m liable to fall asleep. I’d hate to
miss
anything. And make sure you keep
your
eyes open. I want to know when this monster shows up. I don’t want any surprises.”

“You got it, Sarah. Here’s the key to the front door,” Chin said and tossed it to Hill’s open hand.

Hill walked across the street and unlocked the door. She glanced back at Chin before she went in. Chin waved.

“You hear me?” Hill asked, stepping cautiously over the threshold.

“Loud and clear. Everything all right in there?” the receiver cracked in Hill’s ear.

“Yeah, I’m going to check the place out before I settle down to my fox hole.”

“I just had a scary thought, Sarah. What if she’s already in there?”

“Uh-huh.” Hill’s eyes shifted around the room.

“You want me to come in with you?”

“No, that’s all right. You just keep watch out there and be ready to come running in when I cry wolf.”

Hill turned on the lights to every room before she entered. They had put a light bulb in the basement and she checked there, too. She was alone.

The house hadn’t changed much since she saw it last, except the bodies were gone and most of the blood. The recliner and carpet still showed stains. The air hadn’t lost any of its dog odor. Now, with the house being shut up for several days and cooking in the vicious August heat, it mixed with a very pungent stench. A kind of dead-animal smell. They hadn’t done a very good job of cleaning up. It wasn’t a pleasant job, anyway. Hill couldn’t blame them.

She opened the window next to the recliner and turned on the large box fan. It whirred to a high-pitched whine and then settled down to a normal drone. The dog-bone chew toy Haskins had picked up when they were there before lay on the seat of the chair. A wad of socks, knotted up into a ball that might have been used as a fetch toy, accompanied it. She hadn’t noticed it when she was there before. Maybe it had been under the chair or some of the other furniture. But she was sure it hadn’t been there and neither had the bone. Maybe one of the officers threw it there. Maybe Jezebel put it there, wishing her master would have life again and play with her.

“It’s like an oven in here. I’m going to get some cross ventilation in this dump,” she said, walking to the other side of the room.

“Oh, damn it!” she exclaimed, pounding and tugging on the large window on the opposite side.

“What’s wrong? You all right?” Chin questioned.

“Yeah, but this blasted window’s been painted shut. She hit the window frame one last time without results.

She walked back through the house, turning off all the lights, and waited. The house was black. The moon hid behind thick clouds, and the nearest streetlight was burned out. The only light came from the clock on old man MacGreggor’s CD player. It flashed twelve o’clock as it probably had since he got it.

Hill walked into the kitchen and stood, looking out the back door window just above the dog port.

“Okay, Jezebel, dog from hell, I’m ready. Come on in,” she said, watching wide eyed out the window with her rifle clenched in both
hands.

“Nothing out here,” Chin said.

“All right, stay alert. Don’t go to sleep on me.”

Time crept slowly around the numbers on Hill’s watch. She told herself it must have stopped several times and tapped it. Eleven forty, and still nothing. The long hours and stress wore on Hill, and her eyelids bounced closed and head bobbed. She jerked her head up and shook off the sleep that was slowly taking control of her weary body. The rifle was getting heavy, so she laid it down, leaning it against a kitchen cabinet near the door.

“Dispatcher to AC Two. Come in, Tommy,” came a squawk over the radio that startled Hill. She could hear Chin’s radio in the van clearly through her earpiece.

“This is AC Two. Go ahead,” Chin replied.

“Tommy, we have a Jezebel sighting at 934 Carnival Drive. Please respond.”

“Can’t you get anyone else?”

“All other units are tied up. Besides it
is
just six blocks from your location.”

“All right, we’ll respond,” Chin said. “Ah—Sarah, you’ll have to come out. We’ve got a call to respond to six blocks away. Probably another black cat.”

“I heard. Look, if it’s just six blocks away, go ahead. I’ll be okay.”

“No, you’d better come out. It’s almost midnight. She’ll be here soon.”

“What? You think this bitch can tell time? Go on, I’ll be all right. You won’t be gone all night, will you?”

“If you’re sure. I’ll make it quick. You be careful.”

“I’ll be okay. Just don’t forget me.”

Hill went to the front door and watched Chin’s van make a U-turn at the corner and head down the street. The headlights flashed in Hill’s face, momentarily blinding her. She winced. The light burned her already blood-shot, weary eyes.

A silent moment passed before a sound came from outside. The back yard. Scratching. Something was climbing over the fence.

The rifle. It was still next to the back door. Hill moved quickly toward the kitchen. As she made it to the hall, the dog port began to open. Hill stepped to the side, out of sight, before seeing what was coming through.

She trembled, backing up to the wall next to the large window that was painted shut. She could run for the door, but by the time she reached it, she’d be seen. No way out. Hide. Where? There was no place. Behind the sheer curtain, maybe. In the dark, she might not be seen if she was quiet and didn’t move.

She pulled the curtain around her. She could see through it, but it made the already dim room even dimmer. The blowing fan was the only noise. Nothing moved except the oscillating shadows of the fan blades beating the stale air through the room. The green flash of the clock on the CD player caused an eerie, strobing light.

A dark shape slowly emerged from the hallway and moved into the room. Large. Huge. Black.