Game (21 page)

“Could be.” Without being asked or invited, Jazz slid into one of the chairs across from G. William’s desk.

“In all seriousness, though,” G. William said, leaning forward, “I should tell you about a couple of things been going on in town.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. We had three cars parked in no-parking zones yesterday. And Erickson pulled over the Gunnarson girl for texting while driving.”

“And…?”

“Not a goddamn serial killer among ’em!” G. William guffawed, slapping a meaty palm on his desk. “Not a murder, not a maiming, not a missing person! It’s almost like being the sheriff of a small town!”

Jazz allowed himself a tiny grin. “You’re positively giddy.”

“I think I’m entitled. Don’t you?”

It was true. For a small-town sheriff to go after two serial killers in one career was unprecedented, as far as Jazz knew. A return to the petty, mundane crimes of Lobo’s Nod should be celebrated, and G. William had every right to do so.

“I’m glad for you. I really am. But I need—”

“You need something so big and important that you called my cell half a dozen times and then scared the poop outta Lana and then barreled in here like you were on fire. Jazz, you’re seriously gonna give yourself a stroke.”

“Please listen to me,” Jazz said, and then quickly explained Connie’s discovery in New York, along with the acrostic he’d uncovered in the Impressionist’s pocket.

G. William listened, occasionally sipping at his coffee.

“It could be the world’s most incredible coincidence,” he said.

“You don’t believe that for a minute.”

The sheriff shook his head. “I want nothing more in this world than to believe that. I want to believe that there’s no connection between the guy in lockup waiting to be transported to court and the guy killing people in New York. Mostly ’cause that would probably mean there’s a connection to your
daddy, too. So, yeah, I want to believe it’s all a coincidence, but I’m not as dumb as I look, which is a hell of a good thing.” He heaved himself out of his chair. “Let’s go.”

Jazz rose to follow him. “Don’t we have to check with his lawyer first?”

“Usually, yeah. But the Impressionist has made it clear that he’s always available to see you. As long as there’s no cops present, you can talk to him whenever and however long you want. You just can’t report it to us or tell us about it, ’cause then it’d be off-limits in court. But hell—he’ll talk to
you
all day long, if you want.”

“Lucky me,” Jazz muttered.

G. William led him back to the holding cells, which were empty except for the one farthest from the door, in which sat Frederick Thurber, the Impressionist.

He’d been in the Lobo’s Nod jail since his arrest before Halloween. Lawyers from the Nod were fighting with lawyers from just over the state line—where the Impressionist had murdered a woman named Carla O’Donnelly—over which state got to try him first. And then there was a district attorney in Oklahoma who claimed that the Impressionist had also killed someone in Enid, long before taking on his Billy Dent–inspired sobriquet and modus operandi. Fortunately, the federal government was staying out of it—for now—preferring to let the states waste their time and resources. All three jurisdictions in question had the death penalty, so Thurber was heading for Death Row one way or the other, the feds figured.

The whole thing was a snarl of legalese and lawyerly posturing,
the upshot of which was that Thurber remained in Lobo’s Nod until everyone could agree who would get the first pound of flesh from him.

Thurber glanced up as the door to the holding cells opened, then sat up straight when Jazz came through the door. Jazz thought maybe there was a small smile playing across his lips, but who knew what it looked like when a madman like the Impressionist smiled? Jazz kept his face impassive, his spine stiff, as he approached the Impressionist’s cell. The Impressionist stood and turned to the front of the cage, staring as though the bars didn’t exist and he could walk right up to Jazz if he wanted.

“Now, I can’t stick around, so I’m just leavin’ you with a warning,” G. William said sternly. “Don’t even think about hurting him.”

“I won’t get close enough to the bars for him to touch me,” Jazz assured him.

“I wasn’t talking to
him
,” G. William said wearily, and left.

Alone, Jazz didn’t get the chance to speak before the Impressionist said, in a voice oddly high and thin from disuse, “Jasper Dent. Princeling of Murder. Heir to the Croaking.”

The
Croaking
? Was this crap for real? He’d almost forgotten how completely delusional the Impressionist was. Thurber thought that Billy Dent was a god, that Jazz was destined to the same divinity.

“Come to learn the truth?” the Impressionist asked.
“Come to accept your destiny? It’s not too late. It’s never too late. Jackdaw!”

The man was babbling. He was falling apart, Jazz realized. That made no sense. He should have been doing well. Serial killers tended to thrive in rigid, institutional settings. He’d read all sorts of case studies on guys like Richard Macek, who had turned into a model prisoner once incarcerated. When given limited options and no freedom, sociopaths tended to default to a sort of relaxed ennui. But the Impressionist was blowing the curve for the rest of the class. His eyes were glassy and possessed.

Well, there’s an exception to every rule. And you just met him.
Jazz almost felt sorry for the man, but he thought of Helen Myerson and he thought of blowing air into Ginny Davis’s lungs, his hands slick with her blood. He thought of Howie, near death in an alley, slashed open by the Impressionist.

“I want to know about Ugly J,” Jazz said firmly.

Sociopaths never revealed anything; they were masters at concealing their emotions or of feigning emotions to cover when they knew a lack of affect would draw attention to them. He’d expected either a calm, savvy, knowing grin or a flat, reactionless glare.

Instead, the Impressionist actually took a step back; his hands twitched as though he would bring them up to shield himself, to ward something off. If Jazz didn’t know better, he would say the Impressionist was actually… afraid.

“Ugly J…” the man whispered. “No. No. Oh, no. Not Ugly J. We won’t talk about
that
. You’re not ready for
that.
Even
I
know that. I defied for you. I touched when I was told not to. But not Ugly J. I won’t.”

Jazz stepped closer to the bars. “Talk to me. What is Ugly J? What does it mean? Or is it a person? Is it a serial killer? Is it what Billy calls himself now?”

The Impressionist shook his head, mute. Jazz came right up to the bars, aware that the Impressionist could make a lunge and grab him.

“Tell me! Tell me about Ugly J!”

“Not ugly!” the Impressionist screamed.
“Beautiful!”
Considering what the Impressionist thought to be beautiful, that could mean a lot. “Beautiful,” he said again. “But the way you
die
is so ugly…! So ugly, Jasper!”

Ugly, Jasper. Ugly
… “Am
I
Ugly J? Is that it? Talk to me. Tell me what you know. Who sent you that letter? Who gave you the list? You’re working with whoever helped Billy escape. I know that. You know things. You know things. You know things!”

“Jasper!” G. William shouted. When had
he
come back? He cried out Jazz’s name again, and Jazz realized it had been a long time—more than four years, the night G. William had arrested Billy and nearly shot Jazz—since he’d heard such panic in the big man’s voice. “Get the hell away from there!”

The Impressionist and Jazz both jumped back from the cell door at the same time. So close. He’d been right on top of the Impressionist.
What could I have done to him? Reached right through the bars? What else, if G. William hadn’t showed up?
The Impressionist now cowered near his bunk, shaking his head over and over like one of the deluded, driven-mad
homeless people Jazz had seen in New York.
What did I do to him? It’s like the idea of Ugly J flipped a switch
—

“Goddamn it, Jazz!” G. William growled as he grabbed Jazz by the elbow and jerked him farther away from the cell. “I warned you, didn’t I? Didn’t I tell you?”

“Look at him. Look. He’s not a danger to me. He’s—”

The Impressionist chose that moment to make a liar out of Jazz, bellowing with rage and flinging himself at the bars of the cell with such force that Jazz flinched at the sickening thudding sound it made. The Impressionist staggered backward, groaning, his nose spurting blood. “Corvus!” he cried. “Corvidae!”

“Jesus H. Christ,” G. William swore. He hauled Jazz back into the station proper and barked into his shoulder mic for a deputy with a medical bag to the holding cells. “… and have an ambulance sent over, too, just in case. Got that?”

“Got it,” Lana’s voice came from the mic. “Is, um, is everyone okay?”

Snorting with disgust, G. William said, “The boy prince is just fine, Lana. Get back to work.”

Moments later, they were back in the sheriff’s office, Jazz leaning against the wall as G. William railed. “—told you to stay away from the cell! He’s dangerous! Just because you
think
you’re invincible doesn’t mean you
are
invincible—”

“G. William,” Jazz said calmly, “why did you come in there in the first place?”

The sheriff paused mid-rant and blinked. “What?”

“Why did you even come into the holding cells? You weren’t supposed to be there.”

G. William’s mouth opened and closed, opened and closed, and then he gasped. “Oh, crap. I forgot! There was a call for you!” He grabbed up the receiver on his desk and punched a blinking light. “Are you still—Okay. Thanks. Sorry. We had a situation. Hang on.” He held the phone out to Jazz. “For you. FBI looking for you.”

“Uh-uh.” A shake of the head. “I don’t want to talk to them anymore. I’m tired of the feds.”

“This one says she knows you. Morales?”

Jazz’s curiosity got the better of him. Taking the phone, he answered, “Hello?”

“Dent? That you?” Morales’s breath came fast, her words stumbling on their way out. “I need your cell number. Now. Quick. I have to send you something.”

Jazz gave her the number, and a moment later his cell tickled his thigh.

“You have to see it to believe it,” Morales went on. “This changes things.”

He flicked on the phone and opened the text message from Morales. A photo was attached.

“… dumped last night, but as best we can tell,” she went on, “she was killed
before
the media started talking about you being here in New York….”

It was a crime scene. A body. Easy enough. Young woman. Brown hair. Naked. Gutted. The usual.

Written in lipstick over the sagging, dead lumps of her breasts was:

Connie’s grounding wouldn’t last until she was eighty, but it would probably feel like it. She knew she’d been grounded for a good, long time, no matter what clever lies or stories she conjured for her parents. Once school started on Monday, it would be school, then home. Period. When play practice started for the spring musical, she would be allowed to attend rehearsals, but that was it.

All in all, she thought, it wasn’t a bad deal. Sneak off to New York, have a lusty bout of almost-sex with your hot boyfriend, get grounded. There were worse things to get grounded for. And fortunately her parents hadn’t decided to take away her phone. It rang now, TLC’s “Waterfalls” blaring out too loud. Connie’s mom loved that old song, sang it around the house all the time, until it was ingrained in Connie’s brain. She wasn’t sure if she loved the song or not, but she was obsessed with it just from hearing it all the time.

“Don’t go chasing…”

She turned down the volume on her phone. It would suck
if her parents heard the ringtone and thought,
Oh, yeah, we should confiscate her phone, too.

Caller ID said
BLOCKED
.

“Don’t go chasing…”

Connie answered. It was Jazz.

“I’m calling from the sheriff’s office,” he explained when she asked why the number was blocked. “You’re not going to believe what just happened.”

In rushed, run-on sentences, he told her all of it: the possible connection between her Ugly J discovery and the Impressionist, then about the phone call from Morales, followed by the photo.

“… so I’m headed back to New York, and this time it’s official. I’m going to help them nail the Hat-Dog Killer to the wall.”

“But, Jazz…” Connie protested. “This isn’t just about Hat-Dog anymore. If the Ugly J stuff is connected—”

“I know,” he said. “There’s a chance this all ties into the Impressionist somehow.”

“More than that. It ties into the guy
behind
the Impressionist. Your dad.”

Jazz went silent for a moment. “Yeah. I know.”

“What if your dad
is
Hat-Dog? What if he’s doing all of this to draw you out? So that he can”—
torture maim kill
—“hurt you?”