Authors: Richard Laymon
Neal jerked his head sideways and stared at his telephone.
His answering machine.
From where he sat, he couldn’t see the tiny red dash that might be blinking to indicate new messages. He stood up and stepped toward the phone.
And saw the blinking red light.
He tapped the panel marked, ‘New Messages.’
‘Neal?’ Marta’s voice. ‘It’s me. Are you back yet? Hello? Guess not. Anyway, I just thought I’d give you a call. I was hoping you might get back before I had to head off for work. Did you decide to stay another night, or something? Anyway, I miss you. Let me know as soon as you get back, okay? This is Wednesday night, elevenish. Love you. Bye.’
The machine beeped.
No more messages.
Neal blew out a long breath. Then he saw Sue staring at him. ‘I was afraid she might say her name,’ he explained. ‘Then Rasp could’ve looked her up in my address book and gone over to pay her a visit.’
‘Ya think she’s okay?’ Sue asked.
‘Well, she was fine when she made the call. Elevenish. She should’ve left for work pretty soon after that. So unless . . .’ Neal shook his head. ‘I’m sure she must be fine.’
‘Yer not, either. We better make sure.’
How? Neal wondered. A quick visit to her apartment, either by car or bracelet, wouldn’t prove much.
Unless she’s there. Dead. Or captured by the bastard
.
Maybe he’s working on her, torturing her, trying to make her talk
. . .
Has her tied up naked
. . .
Cutting her
. . .
‘I’d better get over there,’ Neal said, and started for the door.
‘Use the bracelet,’ Sue said. ‘It’ll be quicker.’
He shook his head. ‘Have to go in person.’
‘Wait for me,’ Sue called. She hurried after him and switched off the light.
Out on the balcony, Neal paused long enough to watch her shut the door.
In the car, he said, ‘She’s probably fine.’ He backed out of the parking space and sped up the alley. ‘It’s just that I can’t go by bracelet. If the bastard’s got her, I’d be useless. I found that out the hard way.’
‘How far away does she live?’ Sue asked.
‘Just a couple of blocks. Keep an eye on things, okay? Make sure we aren’t being followed.’
‘Roger dodger.’
‘She’s probably fine,’ he said again. ‘I mean, she was okay when she made the call, and she should’ve taken off for work right after that. She didn’t give her name, either. Even if Rasp was in my place and
listening
, he wouldn’t have known where to find her.’
‘Maybe he picked up the phone and talked to her.’
‘
What?
’
‘After she gets done leavin her message, maybe he picks up and
says, “Ah! Don’t hang up! I’m here.” Pretendin to be you.’
The suggestion made Neal squirm inside. ‘Marta’s too smart to fall for a lame trick like that,’ he said, and hoped so. ‘For one thing, she’d recognize my voice.’
Unless the guy’s really good
.
‘Or maybe he tells her he’s a cop . . .’
Neal grimaced at Sue.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered.
He reached over and rubbed the back of her neck.
‘I sure hope she’s okay,’ Sue told him.
‘Me, too.’
Moments later, he swung around a corner and Marta’s apartment building came into sight. He sped closer. Her parking space was empty. No sign of her Jeep.
Neal blew a long breath. ‘She must’ve gotten away all right. Her car’s gone.’
‘Ya better check inside her place, anyhow.’
‘Yeah.’ He drove nearly to the end of the block before finding an open stretch of curb. After parking, he faced Sue. ‘Let’s take our stuff up. I’ve got a set of keys. We’ll stay there tonight.’
‘In
Marta’s
?’
‘It’ll be safer for everyone. We won’t have to worry about Rasputin popping in on us.’
‘Won’t have to worry about
catchin
him, either.’
‘We’ll get him. We’ll figure out a way. The thing is, I want
us
to end up on top. I’m just afraid he’ll nail us if we stay at my place.’
‘Okay. But ya don’t s’pose Marta’s gonna mind?’
‘We’ll see. Come on.’
As they unloaded the car and walked back toward Marta’s building with their bags, Neal turned his head constantly, on the lookout for approaching cars.
‘I don’t think we got followed,’ Sue told him.
‘Probably not,’ Neal said.
‘This ain’t the movies, ya know.’ She grinned at him.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Yer sayin how we might get killed, as this here’s real life? Well, Rasputin, he’s real life, too. Works both ways, is what I’m sayin.’
‘I’m still not sure . . .’
‘He’s not a
movie
monster. Even if ya
did
hang a funny name on him, he ain’t . . . he
isn’t
Freddy Krueger or Jason or that
Hallowe’en
guy, whatever his name was.’
‘Michael Myers.’
‘Yeah, him.
Those
guys, they show up anywhere and everywhere for no reason at all. I mean, they’re chasin after ya one second. Then the next, they pop up in
front
of ya. They always turn up in places where they got no reason to be. But that’s the
movies
. Rasputin’s real, so he’s not gonna turn up where he shouldn’t be. See what I mean?’
‘I think so.’
‘If he
was
at yer place, only he didn’t hop in a car and chase after us, then he isn’t gonna turn up here. Not just yet, anyhow.’
Unlocking the gate, Neal grinned at her. ‘You’re absolutely right.’ He held the gate open, then followed her into the courtyard.
She looked over her shoulder at him. ‘He
doesn’t
have a hitchin bracelet, does he?’
‘A hitchin bracelet? No. I don’t think so.’
‘’Cause if he did, he might be inside you or me right this very second.’
‘There’s only one, as far as I know.’ He patted his pocket, and felt the shape of the thick, coiled snake.
‘A thing like that,’ Sue said, ‘it’d be dangerous in the wrong hands.’
‘It’s dangerous in
any
hands, if you ask me.’
‘Gosh, look at
this
swimmin pool. They keep gettin bigger and better. S’pose we’d get in trouble if we took a dip?’
‘At this hour? They’d probably shoot us.’
‘Only if we woke ’em up.’
Neal, smiling, shook his head. ‘I don’t think it would be a good idea.’
‘Chicken.’
‘That’s me.’
He led the way up the stairs to the balcony. In front of Marta’s door, he set down his suitcase. He pulled the pistol out of his pocket. Holding it ready in his right hand, he quietly unlocked the door with the key in his left.
Her apartment was dark.
Neal reached inside and found a light switch.
Everything looked okay.
In a hushed voice, he called Marta’s name a couple of times. Then he turned to Sue. ‘I’ll take a look around,’ he whispered.
‘Make sure and look in the john.’
He did.
He found nothing in the toilet bowl except clean water.
He found nothing in any of the rooms to suggest that a stranger had visited.
‘Everything’s fine,’ he told Sue. Then he shut the door and latched its deadbolt.
In his wallet, he found the scrap of paper on which Marta, months ago, had scribbled her home and work numbers. He took it over to her phone.
‘Gonna call her up?’
‘Yeah, I’d better.’
‘Good idea.’
He tapped in the work number.
‘Hope she’s there,’ Sue muttered.
‘Hoffburg Travel,’ said the man at the other end.
‘Yes,’ Neal said. ‘I’d like to speak to one of your agents, Marta Wheaton.’
‘Who may I say is calling?’
‘Neal Darden.’
‘Just a moment please, I’ll page her.’
He met Sue’s eyes. ‘I think she’s in.’
Sue looked relieved.
‘They’re paging her. Might take a while.’
‘Gonna tell her I’m here?’
‘I guess so. She’ll find out, anyway, when she comes home in the morning.’
‘I could be gone by then.’
‘It’ll be all right.’
‘Neal?’ Marta asked.
‘Hi, yeah, it’s me. I’m back. Sorry I had to bother you at work.’
‘No problem.’
‘I got your message.’
‘Good. I was a little worried about you, that’s all. I thought you’d be getting back earlier.’
‘We had a late start,’ he explained.
‘We, huh?’
‘Sue and I.’
‘That’s the girl you were telling me about? Sue?’
‘Yeah.’
‘I thought you said she’s a pain in the ass and you were going to get rid of her.’
‘Well . . . I couldn’t.’
‘Terrific.’ Marta sounded only slightly annoyed. ‘Now you’ve brought her back with you?’
‘Yeah, but . . .’
‘Terrific.’
‘She’s going to help us get the reward.’
‘Do we need her help?’
‘I don’t know,’ Neal said. ‘She might be useful. Besides, going for the reward – it was sort of her idea in the first place. We really do need to keep her in on it.’
‘Hmm. Well. It’s up to you.’
‘The main thing is, I had a visitor.’
‘
What?
’
‘Our friend.’
‘Rasputin?’
‘Yeah.’
‘What happened? Are you all right?’
‘Yeah, we’re fine. He was gone by the time we arrived.’
‘Thank God for that. What did he do? Did he break into your
apartment
?’
‘He got in somehow. Nothing seemed to be broken. Maybe he picked the lock, or got himself a key that fits?’ Neal shook his head. ‘We wouldn’t have even known he’d been here, but he left some bloody bandages in the toilet.’
Marta was silent for a few moments. Then she said, ‘You’d better get out. Go on over to my place. You have the keys, don’t you?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Okay. Go on over. Right away. And be careful. He might be hanging around, waiting for you, you know?’
‘I know.’
‘You’ve got your gun?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Okay, good. Jeez. So I guess he
did
find your business card.’
‘Looks that way.’
‘Bad news.’
‘Well, we sort of expected it.’
‘You’d better get the hell out of there,’ she said.
‘Sue’s here, too.’
‘I know.’
‘Okay if I take her with me?’
‘No, leave her behind at your place so Rasputin can take
her
apart. Of
course
take her along. Are you nuts?’
‘Just wanted to make sure it was all right with you.’
‘It’s fine. It’s dandy.’
‘Okay. That’s great. We’ll go on over.’
‘I’ll give you a call in ten minutes to make sure you got there all right.’
‘What if we haven’t?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe I’ll call the cops.’
‘Shouldn’t be necessary. Ten minutes oughta be plenty of time.’
‘Okay. Get going. And watch out.’
‘Okay. Thanks.’
‘Bye.’ She hung up.
Neal hung up and smiled at Sue. ‘That worked out nicely. She invited us over.’
‘Yer a tricky fella.’
‘She just assumed I was calling her from my own apartment, and I . . . chose not to disabuse her of the notion. Anyway, we’re now her official guests. She’s going to call back in a while to make sure we arrived safely.’
‘Hope we do.’
Exactly ten minutes after hanging up, Marta called back.
‘You made it,’ she said.
‘No problem.’
‘Thank God. I was afraid he might . . . you know, jump you on the way to your car.’
‘No sign of him so far.’
‘Thank God,’ she said, her voice breaking.
Neal suddenly felt a hot flood of guilt. ‘Everything’s fine,’ he told her.
Sounding shaky, Marta said, ‘Anyway. Be careful. There’s no guarantee that he won’t show up at my place. I mean, who knows? So keep your eyes open.’