The Shadowkiller (35 page)

T
y was preparing to spend his second night at the Red Lion, two doors down from Ben. As they planned their next move, Mac and Ben observed that Ty seemed to take his banishment well, not exactly upbeat but certainly not as depressed as he should be considering the circumstances. Ty admitted to Ben he had been using OxyContin, but he swore he was off it. Ben watched Ty furiously hammering the keyboard of his laptop and thought if there was ever a time Ty needed the stuff, it was probably now.

Mac looked at his watch. It was almost five thirty. “You guys hungry? Why don't we get an early dinner. Or we could just knock off for the day, get some rest, regroup tomorrow. Unless you want to wait till the day after Christmas.”

Now that he had been tossed out of his house, Christmas was just another day for Ty.

“No, if it's all right with you, let's keep at it,” he said. “But I am up for some dinner.”

Ben slowly pulled himself out of the chair. “You two eat. I'm gonna rest a little.”

As soon as Ben left, Mac turned to Ty. “You think he's okay? I mean he looked like he was about to code up there on the trail.”

“Yeah, I agree,” said Ty. “He's not going in the field anymore. If he wants to point us in a direction, fine, but we can handle it without him.”

Despite their past conflicts and the fact they had only had that day to get to know each other, Mac already deeply respected Ty's brains, humor, and perhaps most of all, his humanity. In that short time Ty had impressed him as a man of great character, regardless of the torment he was in.

“You okay?” he asked.

Ty looked away, shuffled some files, and stacked them on the round dining table.

“I'm fine. We need to go back to that trail, the one Ben and I gave up on the other day. If the guy at the bike store says the trail continues, then it may be up there. Like Ben said, it likes mountaintops, difficult access. We need to check it out. I'd say tomorrow. We'll give Ben Christmas day off. Let's go eat.”

Mac opened the door to the hallway. “Sounds like a plan.”

Down the corridor in the television room, Greta heard voices that weren't issuing from a program. She wandered past the kitchen and overheard Ronnie talking to the kids.

“…so he'll be gone for just a little while, but he still loves you both very much. We both do,” said Ronnie. “We'll have a big Christmas sometime after the first of the year.”

Little Meredith seemed confused. “So how come Daddy isn't here anymore?”

“Because…,” Ronnie began, then ran out of words. She really didn't know how to explain it to herself, let alone to her children.

“Dad has to go away and figure some stuff out,” Christopher said to his sister. “But he'll be back soon,” he added, then looked to his mother for confirmation. “Won't he?”

“Yes, of course he'll be back, soon,” Ronnie answered, knowing Chris was aware of what was going on. At nine he was pretty damn smart. Just like his father.

Greta came around the corner. “Hey.”

Ronnie looked up. “Greta, listen, I'm going to run an errand. Can you take over for a bit? When I get back, you can take my Lexus and drive over to Everett, maybe see a movie. I think you need to get out of the house.”

Greta eyes widened. “Oh yeah, Ronnie, that would be great, thanks.”

Kris got back from her afternoon report by six to begin planning the live report on Skip Caldwell for the eleven. After roughing out her copy for the voice-over, Kris went to the production department to assemble the footage and lay in the voice tracks. By ten forty she planned to be in place in the mountains. At five after eleven, the tape she was now assembling would roll, making what they called a doughnut to her live intro and live close.

After her audio dub session, Kris assembled her crew. Jess was an adequate soundman who she was pretty sure had a crush on her. Gwen, her twentyish sorority girl intern from the University of Washington, was along to keep track of everything from paperwork and cables to makeup and hair. Gary was the guy Kris had her eye on, a cute, sandy-haired cameraman only a few years her senior. She told them to meet her on the Eastside at nine.

The phone jarred Ben from a pleasant, dreamless slumber. It was his agent, Jay, wending his way west on Sunset to his home in the Palisades.

“Ben,” said Jay,“the production company saw the piece they did on you on
Extra.
What the hell are you doing? Tell me you aren't really chasing some ape around Seattle? Is this Greenwood fella involved in these killings? Are you nuts?” Jay didn't even wait for Ben to respond. “Anyway, they're replacing you on the picture if you're not back the week after Christmas. I had to work my ass off to get them to make that concession, given all this crazy press on you. They're on break now, but they're pissed you lied. So am I. You lied to me.”

“Sorry, Jay,” Ben said.

Even over all the cellular relays and the twelve hundred miles between them, Jay heard Ben's sincerity and suddenly felt a twinge of remorse for landing so hard on an old man.

“Well, listen, I don't know what you're doing, it's your business. I'll try to run interference with them for a little while if you need more time. Truth is, they have to replace the DP. He's got back problems or something. Anyway, that might buy us a little more time. When are you coming back?”

“I really can't say. I gotta see this through,” Ben said.

“Okay, just, uh, just take care, buddy, you hear me?”

“Yeah, I hear you. Thanks.”

They hung up and Ben put on his shoes and wandered down to Ty's room. Ty left it cracked in case Ben needed to get in. Ben tapped on the door and Ty shouted for him to enter. Ty was at his computer, the screen glowing with a page from an Internet search engine.

“Find anything?” Ben asked.

“I'm just looking up some stuff on the missing artist. Ronnie and I have one of his pieces in the dining room.”

“Maybe we should go up there tomorrow and look around,” Ben said.

“Let's break tomorrow. It's Christmas. I've got things to do and so does Mac,” Ty said offhandedly.

Ben knew they had planned something without him because they were worried about his condition. He appreciated their compassion but his mission was as important as theirs. Taking the expression “face your fears” literally, Ben knew he couldn't do that in a hotel room in Bellevue, Washington. But right now he was concerned about Ty. The man had accepted being thrown out of his house far too easily.

“You wanna talk about anything?” he asked Ty. “Like yesterday? Movin' out?”

Ty clacked the keyboard, pretending not to hear Ben's question.

Ben persisted. “You know, you got everything you could ever need right there.”

Ty knew he couldn't avoid Ben's concern but he didn't want to discuss it.

“Right where?” he said, knowing perfectly well what Ben meant.

“Your home,” said Ben.

“I know that,” said Ty. “I do.”

“Do you? You're like a man playin' the fiddle while the house is burnin'. Your family needs you. Go home and make up, get your family back.”

“I'm working on it.”

“Are you really?”

“Yes, trust me. Now let's leave the subject.”

“Runnin' away won't help,” Ben persisted.

“Oh, so that's what I'm doing?” asked Ty, his irritation rising. “Running away?”

“Yup.”

There was a very long pause but Ben wouldn't let it go. “They need you.”

Ty slammed his palms hard on the desk on either side of his laptop. “I know they goddamn need me! I know! I know! Don't you fucking get it? That's why I'm doing this!”

Ty jumped up fuming. He glared at Ben and walked past him. He kicked the wall. Ben said nothing. After a few moments of hyperventilation, Ty turned back to Ben. “My family is fine. I just need some time, that's all.”

“You're kiddin' yourself.”

“Oh Christ, Ben, nobody understands, not Ronnie, not even you apparently.”

“And what will make it better?” asked Ben. “When you catch this thing? Kill it? That may be harder than we think. We may be lookin' for years. It could hide from us. We could try and get it to come to us, but how would we do that? The point I'm makin' is we may never find it. That's a real good possibility.”

Ty paced, frustrated. “Well then, what the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Go home. Mac and I can find it. More or less he and I got nothin' to lose.”

“Yeah, right,” said Ty. “I just found out you're in deep shit over our little project here. You split from a movie and the producers are pissed. I read they're even talking about suing you. Who's got nothing to lose?”

Ben smiled, impressed Ty had found out. “They're not gonna sue me. Don't believe everything you read. Anyway, I'm tired of actin'. And if I don't figure some way to get outta these bad dreams, I'll probably die of sleep deprivation,” he said, punctuating his comment with a slight chuckle to take the curse off, but Ty knew it was no joke.

“Well,” Ty added,“on top of all that, you're in no shape to be running around in the mountains. Mac and I are worried about you.”

Ben shrugged. “I'll be fine. I'm a tough old Indian. It'll take a helluva lot more than traipsin' around some little hills to get me down.”

Not wanting to argue anymore, Ty fell into his chair. His emotions were right on the surface, partly owing to his having to face reality stone-cold sober. He wanted a drink and a handful of pills but struggled to stay strong. He sighed deeply.

“You don't need that,” Ben said, reading Ty's craving. “You need the love of your children and your woman next to you in your bed. Don't lose that.”

Ty bolted from the chair, once again infuriated that Ben was right. He stalked around the room for a moment, seething at Ben for bringing it up but understanding that Ben was just the stand-in: Ty was really angry at himself. He kicked the trash basket, ricocheting it off the wall. Then he went to the window and stared, seeing only the whirlwind of his thoughts. He took deep, measured breaths to contain his emotions. He wanted Ben to leave but knew Ben wasn't going anywhere.

When Ben felt Ty had calmed a bit, he took something from his pocket. “Here. I want you to have this.”

Ty turned slowly to see what Ben wanted to give him. It was an old cigarette lighter, adorned with two enameled bathing beauties in glamour poses, one on each side. Ty approached Ben, disarmed of his rage. He took the lighter. Its kitsch style amused him.

“It's a symbol of addiction,” said Ben. “I got it in 'Frisco the day I hit shore comin' back from the South Pacific. I've used it to light 'bout a million cigarettes, I'd guess. It doesn't always light each time, but it's yours.”

Ty sank into the chair and examined the worn old firemaker. Looking to Ben, he smiled softly.

“So what's this? Like the tribal elder passing down the amulet of knowledge?”

Ben nodded. “Yup. Just like that.”

Ty was tired. He couldn't live in a hotel for long if he was to keep his family together. He knew Ben was right.

“Okay, I'll give it till the first. Then I'll bankroll you and Mac, that is, if you want to continue.”

Ben looked hard into Ty's eyes. “I half believe you. You promise you'll quit?”

Ty leaned forward, his voice filled with enthusiasm. “Look, I have a plan. I already put out feelers on the Net looking for sightings, evidence, anything. What I need to do is convince Ronnie. I just need to make it sound rational to her and I think I can do that. We have Mac's foot casting and whatever else we can put together. With all these disappearances, there's bound to be more physical evidence. You found a footprint too, so there's got to be others. Maybe even hair or stool samples. We'll look for a few more days, like I said, through New Year's. If we get nothing, I'll propose to Ronnie that I hire a team to go after this thing. I just need a little more evidence, that's all. If we find something tangible in the next week, I can make the sale.”

Ben worried that Ty's plan sounded almost reasonable but depended upon a lot of ifs. He didn't want Ty to make the same mistake he'd made so long ago, only for Ben the obsession had been a movie career, not devils in the forest. He got up and laid a hand on Ty's shoulder.

“I'm goin' to bed, gonna try and read a bit. Your plan's okay, just don't leave it open-ended. Be with your wife and kids for the new year. They're what count. Look at that lighter once in a while and think about an old man who missed out on so much. 'Night, Ty.”

“Good night, Ben.”

Ben closed the door and Ty replayed his words. Maybe Ben was right. Maybe he was putting unrealistic conditions on dropping the quest. His head started playing the tape
but we're so close, we're so close…