The cares of their private world had become just some hazy recollection that reality would
n’t
reveal
until
they all returned home.
F
or now, the pure ambiance of a baseball game, America’s pastime, was sufficient to send folks halfway up the steps of
H
eaven.
He wasn’t sure why a game like baseball had that kind of mystic effect on the masses, but he was glad it did.
Maybe it was the smell of freshly mown grass or the intoxicating aroma of a well-grilled Italian sausage. Whatever it was, the game experience was akin to a family reunion on a nuclear scale.
The umpires came out, the Tigers ran onto the field, and Jen slipped her hand into his and squeezed. The perfect day had begun.
The game was a slaughter. Detroit hit three home runs in the first inning, and the rout was on. By the time the seventh inning ended, the Tigers were up 16-0, a perfect score as far as Manny was concerned.
Louise stood. “I’m going to the powder room.”
“Me too,” said Jen
.
“I’ll go with you.”
“No. Just stay here. We’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure
?
”
“Hey. You can’t go in with us anyway.”
He pondered the edge in Louise’s voice. She was telling him to leave the cop thing out of this. No reminders of Argyle or any other case allowed.
Damn workaholic
demon
.
No
-
brainer here. “Okay. Hurry back. We still have two more innings to go.”
The girls left. He watched until they were out of si
ght
, fighting an irresistible urge to follow. He waited three minutes
,
then stood up, craning his neck to see if they were on their way back. He knew it wasn’t nearly enough time, especially to get through the line in the women’s
rest
room, but his anxiety was
winning
the battle.
He glanced back to the field as the crowd cheered a great play and
then
was suddenly hurtling
in midair
over the empty seat
s
in front of him. The sharp blow to his back registered as he landed on the seat’s armrest full on his left ribs
,
while his arm and thigh tangled with the underbelly of the seat. The pain caused him to see red
, b
ut adrenaline
pulsed
through his body as he struggled to free himself.
A burly man two seats over helped him to his feet. “You okay?” he rumbled.
The pain in his side was brilliant, but Manny was already searching for the source of the blow that had sent him reeling.
Ten
rows from the top, he saw him. The tall man in the Panama hat and white suit was taking the steps two at a time.
He’d recognize
the man’s build
anywhere.
Argyle.
Chapter-71
Manny rushed up the steps holding his ribs and trying to catch his breath. The pain was intense, but he didn’t care. Argyle was all that he saw. He reached the top of
the
concrete
stairs
, clutching the handrail,
and
scanned
the direction he thought Argyle had gone. Nothing. He turned the other way and saw the hat
,
as Argyle
disappeared
around the curve
of the concourse
.
Manny
raced another twenty steps and bent over, pain and
labored
breath
ing
causing bright mo
te
s of flashing lights to dance in front of his eyes.
Not this time, you son of a bitch.
He gritted his teeth and took off, running harder than before. He passed a security guard and slammed on the brakes. He pulled his wallet, showed the guard his badge, told him what Argyle was, and what he was wearing.
The guard’s eyes grew as large as Chinaware. “Seriously? A serial killer? Here in the Park?”
“Yes. And if you keep talking to me, he’s going to get away.”
The guard reached for his radio.
After catching his breath, he took off again. He
d
odged several fans, and a couple of
hotdog and souvenir
vend
o
rs, and almost caused a
n already-
happy patron to drop the two beers in his hands
.
Just when he didn’t think he could go another step, he saw them. Four guards had Argyle
pinned
on the concrete
, c
uffed and restrained as two more guards arrived.
The pain vanished. Argyle had finally screwed up. The cruise ship capture was by design but this one, well this one
. . .
Damn.
Manny felt the wind leave his sails. It
became painfully obvious to
him that this was another part of the game. There
was
no way Argyle would get himself into this kind of situation. His plans always left a way out, always. He’d let Jenkins die on the ship, just a pawn in
Argyle’s twisted, fantasy
world
. He’d
used his death as a diversion
from
the truth. Manny had th
at
same feeling
of revelation
now.
Argyle was arrogant
,
but too smart to let this happen.
Manny limped up to the man in white and motioned to the guards.
“I’m Detective Williams,” he labored. “Roll his ass over.”
By now there was a huge audience of bystanders, despite the efforts of security to get them to move on. Manny motioned again. The guards turned
their captive
.
Shit. This
is
getting real old, real fast.
The man was similar in height and build to Argyle, but that was about it.
He was balding and maybe five
years older. His beaked nose and protruding chin gave him an Ichabod Crane look. There were fresh wounds on both and not from the scuffle with the guards.
He peered into the man’s close-set eyes and saw fear, wild fear.
“My name’s Al Forester. You got to let me go. He said he’d kill them if I didn’t get back in
thirty
minutes.”
“Whoa. Easy. Who will kill who?”
“The man who has my
wife and mother
.”
Manny felt sick.
Would Argyle kill
them
?
He hated the answer to that one.
“H
e . . .
he said
,
if I got caught, to have Detective Williams call the number in my coat pocket.”
Manny reached for the pocket and fell back on his haunches as the pain ripped up his left side.
“I’ll get it,” said the voice behind him.
He
turned to see h
is wife and daughter
standing beside Sophie.
Sophie shrugged. “
Randy really wanted that cotton candy. And t
here was no way I was going to let you come here without
us
.”
“I know.
I would’ve done the same thing.
Where’s Alex?”
“He’ll be here in a minute. He’s calling the Feds.”
“
We’ll talk later. Get me th
at
phone
number
.”
Sophie
reached into Forester’s pocket and handed the piece of paper to Manny without speaking.
He glanced at his wife. She was burning holes in the concrete floor
,
but said nothing. That was worse than chewing his ass.
Another family trip gone to
hell
in a handbasket because of what he did for a living, and what
his profession
meant to men like Dr. Fredrick Argyle.
Manny started to dial the number when Forester interrupted him
.
“
Detective. He said to use my phone.” Forester started to cry. “Will he kill them?”
Manny didn’t answer
, b
ut he knew that Argyle already had. The psycho bastard never
intended to let
them live. Argyle
counted on
Forester
getting
caught. Another way to show he had control.
Sophie got Forester’s phone
,
and Manny di
al
ed
the number.
T
he pain in his side could
never
match the pain in his
soul
.
The phone rang once
,
and he felt the silent evil on the other end. “Argyle?”
“Detective Williams. You are two minutes faster than I thought you’d be
,
and you are speaking like you’re in pain. I’m so sorry; you were supposed to be on the way to a hospital.”
“Yeah. I’m full of surprises.
How did you know where’d we’d be?
”
“Calculated certainty. I saw the tickets on the refrigerator when Louise and I had our
. . .
date
. . .
and
I
surmised your guilt would lead you
t
here. You’re not as full of surprises as you think.
”
Manny ran
a hand
through his hair.
He hated how the
G
ood
D
octor sounded so confident.
“Why this? Why more innocent people?”
Forester released a horrible wail.
“My dear detective, there is no such thing as innocent. Only strong and weak. You know that. Or are you just a slow learner?”
“Just say I’m wrong.”
“But you already know you aren’t. The wife was good sport. I especially
enjoyed
her neck. I saved her for last. If it’s any consolation to you, the
old woman
felt no pain.”
Manny grew quiet. “I’m going to
kill you and bring flowers to your damned funeral
. Do you understand?”
The insane cackle exploded in his ear. “Temper, temper.” The doctor’s voice hardened. “You have a rather high opinion of yourself. And who knows the future? But you’ll not see me until I’ve squeezed every ounce of sanity from your mind. Just imagine what
that means
. . .
and what I enjoy the most.
”
The phone went dead and so did another
fraction
of Manny’s heart.
Chapter-72
Midnight found Manny sitting at the kitchen table in the
semi
-
dark. His mind
was
never a quiet place
, but tonight was as bad as it got for him
.
Talk about all dressed up with no place to go
.
Thoughts
continued to
ransack his psyche and spied on his sanity like a
n expert
voyeur hoping to get an invite. He had come dangerously close to allowing
insanity to visit
. But he didn’t, couldn’t. He had a wife and daughter to take care of.
Today should have been a perfect day, especially given the incredible start.
But perfect days and he were fast becoming mortal enemies, thanks to this job
. . .
and Argyle.
Hell, even Sophie and Alex
had known
the
baseball
game was a bad idea. But he didn’t listen.
He gritted his teeth in frustration. His pride could have killed his family. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Shifting in his chair, the pain in his side bolted both directions and caused him to gasp like he’
d
stepped into a cold shower. The emergency room doctor had said there was nothing truly broken. He had a tiny hairline fracture in the fourth rib and a large contusion that would disappear in a few days. Still
,
there would be no elephant
-
lifting contests for the next couple of weeks.
Sampson
huffed and changed positions as he lay a few feet to Manny’s right. The dog
almost never went
to bed until Manny did.