Let Me Go (37 page)

Archie surveyed the rest of the room.

When his eyes returned to Susan he saw that she was staring at the bloodstain on his shirt. “I'm fine,” he said quickly.

“It's real?” Susan said. “I thought it was fake.” She glanced at Gretchen. “From touching her.”

Gretchen laughed. “Don't fret, pigeon,” she said. “Archie doesn't feel like himself if he's not bleeding just a little bit.”

The room went dark. It was sudden and complete, a blind, enveloping nothingness. Susan cried out.

“Gretchen?” Archie called, frozen.

She didn't respond. Susan hiccupped.

“Get on the floor,” Archie said to Susan. He didn't know what was happening, but whatever it was, he wanted Susan out of the line of fire. The hinges on the door creaked. “Gretchen?” Archie called again into the black. “I'm coming toward the door,” he said. He stumbled forward in the dark, hands groping the air in front of him. As he made his way to the door, he half expected to feel the plunge of a blade into his flesh.

But then his hand touched concrete. He'd made it across the room. He fumbled along the wall until his fingers found the light switch.

He turned it on and light filled the room again. Archie glanced back at Susan, who was looking up at him from where she'd dropped to the floor. They didn't speak. The room was deathly quiet, but Archie could just make out something on the edge of the silence. He listened carefully, craning his head toward the door. The noise was growing louder, more distinct. It was the sound of footsteps approaching. Gretchen was coming back.

“Get behind me,” he whispered to Susan. Susan had just started to get up as the doorknob turned. Archie backed up toward her to get between her and whatever was on the other side of the door. The door creaked opened. Karim and Cooper and two of the buzz cuts stood on the other side. Cooper had a gun leveled at them. Karim held a flashlight. They looked as surprised to see Archie as he was to see them.

“Well,” Karim said in his clipped British accent. “What do we have here?”

“Oh, thank God!” Susan said, brushing whatever had been on the floor off her pants. “You don't even know what we've been through. We need to get out of here, now, before she comes back.”

But Cooper didn't lower his gun.

Karim swept into the room, and the buzz cuts trotted in after him like trained Rottweilers.

Archie took a step backward, toward Susan. “I don't think they're here to rescue us,” Archie said.

 

CHAPTER

41

 

Archie knew it
would sound insane, but it was only now that he was realizing how truly insane it sounded.

“Gretchen Lowell is in my basement?” Jack repeated, delighted. He was leaning against the front edge of his office desk, his face flushed with amusement. He had been asleep. His usually neat hair was flattened on one side. The sweatpants, cashmere sweater, and leather slippers he was wearing looked like something that had been chosen hastily. The windows behind him looked out into darkness.

“Yes,” Archie said. He looked at his watch. It was just past four
A.M.
Gretchen had probably made it off the island by now, and instead of going after her, he was sitting here trying to explain himself to a crime boss. He had cobwebs in his hair, dust and dirt and blood on his clothes, and a three-inch-deep penetrating wound in his abdomen. “We're wasting time,” Archie said.

But no one moved.

Susan fidgeted in the chair next to him, chewing on her cuticles. Cooper was standing near the wall to Archie's left, his weapon held loosely at his side, his face impassive. Razor Burn was just behind Susan, arms crossed, his eyes on his boss. Archie twisted around to look at Karim, wincing as his wound stung. Karim was perched on the gold-striped settee in the center of the room, reading a copy of
Town & Country
magazine, seemingly unaware that Archie had spoken at all.

Archie gingerly turned back to Jack. The landline on Jack's desk was almost within reach. Archie could lunge for it, start dialing, maybe, but there was no way he would be able to get a call made before Cooper stopped him. He had to get Jack to understand. Jack was a businessman. He knew how to make informed decisions. Archie just had to make the argument sound reasonable. “We need to call in the task force,” Archie said. “While she's still in the area. Get Leo, Jack. Please. He'll believe me. He'll tell you I'm not crazy. If we call for backup now, we might still be able to catch her.” Jack's eyes were still bright, the grin still frozen on his face. Archie knew he had to go further. “She killed Isabel, Jack. And you're letting her get away.”

Jack looked at him for a full minute. Archie could hear a clock ticking and the sound of Karim turning magazine pages. “Are you high?” Jack asked, finally.

Razor Burn laughed. It was a forced short bark, like a dog's.

Archie sighed and rubbed his face with his hands.
Fine
. They wanted him to go through it again, he would go through it again. He would go through it a thousand times. However many times it took to get them to understand. “Gretchen kidnapped Susan,” he said. “She used her to get me to follow her down into the tunnels. She was in that room until moments before your men arrived.” He indicated the bloody hole in his shirt. “She stabbed me with a scalpel. You need to let me call for backup before it's too late.”

“With a scalpel,” Jack said, his face a picture of merriment.

Archie shook his head. It did sound incredible. “It gets better,” he said. “She's wearing a blood-spattered nurse costume.”

Jack blinked at Archie.

“It's Halloween,” Archie said.

A grin spread across Jack's lips and he punched a finger in Archie's direction. “You've finally cracked up, haven't you?”

“He's telling the truth,” Susan groaned. “She brought us both here. You need to let Archie call for help. Or he'll arrest you for hindering the investigation. He needs a doctor.”

“
Obstructing
the investigation,” Archie said, correcting her. “But, yeah.”

Razor Burn gave Susan a push on the back of her head. “You don't get to tell Jack what to do,” he said.

Susan lifted a hand to her scalp and twisted around, her face crimson. “Don't touch me,” she hissed. Razor Burn's iron-man façade wavered. Archie reached across and set a cautioning hand on Susan's elbow, but she jerked it away. Archie could see the color building on Razor Burn's cheeks, as his blood vessels filled with rage. His eyes were on Jack, clearly looking for a green light to teach Susan a lesson.

Archie's entire body tensed, his muscles coiled, ready to throw himself at Razor Burn. In that instant, his wound didn't hurt at all. Out of the corner of Archie's eye, he saw Cooper step forward from the wall.

The smile on Jack's face had finally faded. “Easy,” he cautioned Razor Burn.

Archie heard another magazine page turn. “Did you know that Christie Brinkley remodeled her home in the Hamptons?” Karim called from the couch.

Razor Burn looked confused. Susan exhaled dramatically and crossed her arms. “I've had a really bad day,” she said to Jack. “Your party sucked. I think my boyfriend and I are breaking up. I got taken hostage by a serial killer. I have spiders in my hair. And you're being a pigheaded asshole. I'm telling you,” she added, with a glance over her shoulder at Razor Burn, “if someone points a gun at me again, or threatens me in any way, I'm going to lose it.”

Archie couldn't help but smile. She was something else. Jack raised his eyebrows at Archie. Archie shrugged. Jack turned back to Susan. “A pigheaded asshole?” he said.

“Think about it, Jack,” Archie said, seeing his opportunity. “Gretchen was here Saturday night. Why is it so hard to believe she'd come back?”

Jack frowned. He pulled at one of his earlobes. Then his eyes moved uncertainly to Cooper.

“We didn't see anyone else down there,” Cooper said.

“She must have heard you coming and run down the opposite hall,” Archie said.

Cooper frowned. “It's a labyrinth,” he said to Jack. “There are tunnels no one's been down since the thirties.”

Cooper had opened a door. Jack pulled at his ear some more, thinking.

Archie heard the magazine snap shut and looked around at Karim, who had stood up from the couch. Karim walked over to Archie and Susan and extended the
Town & Country
between them. “Would you like some reading material?” he asked.

“I've read it,” Susan said.

Karim turned to Archie.

“No, thanks,” Archie said.

“Well, then, since we won't be enjoying magazines, may I ask you a question?”

Jack looked on with interest.

Archie had a bad feeling about where this was headed.

Karim went for his jacket pocket. At first Archie thought he was going for his gun. The pocket of his gray suit was cut deep—custom—large enough to stow a couple of 45s if you didn't mind what the bulge did to the cut of the suit. But instead Karim withdrew some sort of camera. He held it between Susan and Archie. “What's this, then?” Karim asked.

Archie glanced at Susan. Her eyes were on the device.

The camera was the size of a pool ball and mounted on what looked like a pedal with an antenna on it. “I have no idea,” Archie answered.

“It's a webcam,” Susan said quietly.

“It's a webcam!” Karim said triumphantly. “Yes, that's right. Brilliant.” Everyone leaned in to get a closer look. “It transmits footage wirelessly,” Karim continued, now talking more to Jack than to Archie. “It was in the room where we found them.”

Archie could feel the mood in the room blacken.

“Gretchen set that up so she could spy on me,” Susan said. “She held me in that room, and she monitored me with that thing.”

Karim was turning the webcam over in his hands, studying it.

“You're tampering with evidence,” Archie pointed out.

Karim's face registered no emotion. He had stopped listening to Archie. This was entirely for Jack. “He was setting up surveillance,” Karim explained to Jack. He handed Jack the webcam and then stood up fluidly and brushed the wrinkles from his slacks. “Sheridan is a cop,” he added. “He wasn't down there chasing serial killers. He was down there installing surveillance as part of an ongoing investigation into your activities. We're all aware that you're being watched. We're aware that they're building a case. Obviously, Detective Sheridan is participating in that effort.”

Jack was frowning at Archie, his knuckles white around the webcam in his hand. Archie tried to look trustworthy but his exasperation was making it difficult.

“Are we all familiar with the principle of Occam's razor?” Karim asked the room.

Razor Burn coughed.

Susan sighed. “When you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better,” Susan said.

“That's not helping us,” Archie said to Susan.

“What?” she said. “I took philosophy.”

Jack's face reddened and he hurled the webcam hard against the wall. It hit a framed photograph of a boat and then scattered on the floor in pieces.

Everyone flinched except Karim.

“I don't have my badge,” Archie said emphatically, “or my gun or my phone or a walkie-talkie.” He glanced at Susan. “I'm here with a civilian. Without backup. You don't use those tunnels. Why would I want to monitor them?” He pointed at the remnants of the webcam. “That's not mine.”

Jack turned to Cooper, and for a moment Archie thought Jack might draw his finger across his throat and Cooper would shoot Archie in the back of the head.

“If I were here as a cop,” Archie said, “I'd be asking you to explain the bloodstains in your basement.”

Jack looked back at Archie. Archie had, for the first time, his full attention. The room was quiet.

“They didn't tell you?” Archie asked.

Karim and Cooper had spent ten minutes alone with Jack when they'd all first come up the stairs from the tunnels. Susan had insisted on peeing, and Razor Burn had insisted on standing outside the bathroom with a gun while she did, and Archie had insisted on staying with Razor Burn, to ensure Susan's safety. Then Susan had slurped down about fifteen cupped hands' worth of water from the bathroom sink, and had to pee again. It was enough time, Archie figured, to get Jack pretty up to date.

Judging by the perplexed expression on Jack's face, apparently not.

“What's he talking about?” Jack asked Cooper. Karim was standing next to Jack, but Jack didn't ask him.

“There were some stains on a mattress on the floor,” Cooper said matter-of-factly. “And spatter on the walls. It could have been blood.”

“Lisa Watson was murdered down there,” Susan said. “And she's not the only one.”

They all turned to look at her. She had her feet on the chair and her knees lifted to her chest with her
WORST
HALLOWEEN
COSTUME
EVER
T-shirt pulled over them. Mud scarred the chair's upholstery from her dirty sneakers. She wasn't hiccupping anymore, Archie realized.

“The girl from the dock?” Jack said slowly.

Razor Burn rocked back nervously on his heels. “So the Beauty Killer's been taking people out down there?” he said. He looked questioningly at Karim. “We can't get in trouble for that, right?”

“Don't be a fool,” Karim said.

Archie didn't think that Gretchen had killed anyone down there. But he kept that to himself. He was finally getting through to them. Jack was boring a hole in the floor, clearly deep in thought. Archie didn't want to risk confusing the issue. He exchanged a look with Susan. She gave him a little nod.

“Every second that we sit here talking,” Susan said to Jack, “Gretchen gets that much farther away.”