Bleeding Hearts Read online

  Blue didn’t speak until the sandwich was half-gone. He took a sip of the sweet drink. “Did you ask him why?” he said.

  Jody blinked. “What?”

  “Tom. Did you ask him why he killed Jerry?”

  “No.” It was a whisper. “I didn’t say anything about it.”

  “Why? Are you afraid of him?”

  “Tommy wouldn’t ever hurt me.”

  Blue crunched a stale chip thoughtfully. “You say Tommy wouldn’t hurt you. What the hell was he doing when he stabbed Jerry Potter to death? Doesn’t that hurt you?”

  Jody was chewing on a fingernail. He nodded.

  “Doesn’t that hurt even more than if he’d put the knife in you?”

  “Yes.” He bent forward suddenly, clutching at his stomach.

  “Well, then, don’t you want to know why?”

  “I can’t ask him. He’s my brother.”

  “Is that why you helped him kill the others?”

  “I guess so. Maybe. Who knows. It was just something I got caught up in. The … excitement. It just sort of took me over.” He shook his head. “Probably you can’t understand that.”

  Blue felt a little dizzy suddenly. The past intruded upon him with a fierce vengeance. The dirty little villages, one after another, the sound of gunfire, the smell of blood. He could remember the vicious surge of adrenaline that filled him, that kept his finger on the trigger of the damned M-16.

  “Maybe I understand more than you think,” he said.

  “Well, then.” Jody made a helpless gesture with one hand, then went back to chewing on the nail. “Besides, I owe him.”

  “Why?”

  “Because … because it was all my fault.” He ducked his head. “It was because of me he killed them. They deserved to die. Those people should not have been allowed to bring children into the world.”

  “Tom did what he did. You’re not at fault for the deaths of your parents.”

  Jody shook his head again. “I was the one who told the police. I told them Tommy did it and they locked him up.” He smiled bitterly. “They should have given him a fucking medal for wasting those two, but they called him crazy and locked him up.”

  “But what about the boys?”

  “I feel bad about them. I felt bad all along.” He was quiet for a moment. “I feel worse now.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it hurts so much. The ones who died must have had people who cared about them.”

  “Like you cared about Jerry.”

  “Yes. And it hurts.” He shrugged.

  “Jody, it’s not to late to stop this. We can get Tom back into the hospital where he belongs. You can still make a life for yourself.”

  He smiled faintly. “You think so? When the hell did they start teaching cops to bullshit?”

  “I’m not trying to bullshit you. It wouldn’t be the life you had before, but you could make something of it.”

  “I already started life over again,” Jody said. “Twice. Once when I was thirteen and then again when I met Jerry. I’m too tired to try again.”

  “Christ, man, you’re only twenty-three years old.”

  “Yeah, I know. Hell of a thing, isn’t it?”

  They were quiet for a moment. Blue finished off the last of the Kool-Aid. “Would you like to know something?”

  “What?”

  “The last thing Jerry said to us. That we should be sure to call him when we found you. He knew that you would need his help. He said that you two were a real family, and that he was willing to fight for what you had.”

  Jody shook his head, as if willing him to shut up.

  “It was probably about five minutes after he said that when Tom came in. And killed him. Jerry never had a chance.”

  “Enough. Please. For god’s sake, give me a break. Are you finished eating?”

  “Yeah. But I need to take a leak.”

  “Use the cup.”

  Blue shrugged. “Forget it then.”

  “Up to you.” Jody crossed the room and bent down to retie the rope around Blue’s wrists.

  Blue didn’t let the opportunity go; as his old man always said, a chance might come by just once, so you damned well better grab for it. That philosophy had made Maguire senior a very rich man. Blue hoped that the same kind of thinking might now save his life.

  He crashed an elbow into the side of Jody’s head, sending him sprawling. Before Jody could regain his balance, Blue butted him in the stomach. As Jody fell, his head struck the wall and he was still.

  Blue instantly began to work on the knot at his feet, cursing his still awkward fingers. At last, though, he managed to get free. He tried to stand, but his legs just wouldn’t work, so he crawled to the entranceway and peered into the next room. He could see Hitchcock stretched out on top of a sleeping bag, apparently asleep.

  Blue edged out into the hallway. The floor seemed to tilt suddenly and he scrabbled for a hold. His reflection bounced around the hall. He stopped to take a deep, steadying breath. Fun house, shit, this was a torture chamber.

  Once when he was just a kid, maybe four, the old man took him to a carnival with a place like this. All mirrors and slanting floors. Blue could remember the feeling of utter panic that seized him then, as he ran in helpless circles, crying and trying to find his way out.

  Finally one of the attendants came in and rescued him. Outside, the whole crowd, except for his father, was laughing. The old bastard just shook his head and took him home. Blue knew, even then, that he’d failed somehow to be what he should have been.

  He tightened his lips. This time he couldn’t let himself fail. Besides, it was easy to find the way out, because the door had been left propped open, probably in an attempt to catch whatever stray breeze might appear. Blue headed for that open door. He moved slowly, both to cut down on the chance of noise, and because his body just wouldn’t go any faster.

  It seemed to take forever, but at last he reached the exit. Half-crawling and half-rolling, he made it down the slight ramp that led into the building. The ramp had a metal handbar running its length, where eager customers must have once lined up to gain admittance. Using that bar, he managed to get himself pulled into a standing position.

  He rested for just a few seconds, breathing heavily from the effort, and wondering just how long Jody would be out. The blow to the head hadn’t been that hard. As he started across the compound toward the entrance of the park, the thought came to him that maybe Jody hadn’t been unconscious at all, but only faking it. Maybe Jody wanted him to get away.

  When Blue got closer to the gate, he could see the phone booth just beyond. His cramped legs eased and his gait speeded up. He reached the booth and leaned against it as a hand lifted the receiver.

  Only then did it occur to him that he needed a dime; this wasn’t one of those up-to-date models that you could get the operator with, even without money. Blue searched his pockets quickly. Nothing, not a damned thing. He closed his eyes for a moment. Shit.

  “Need a dime?” The voice was mocking.

  He opened his eyes and stared into the face of Tom Hitchcock. “Yeah. Will you lend me one? I’m good for it.”

  “You’re a real bastard, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, maybe so. But I’m fun at parties.” He looked beyond Tom and saw Jody standing there, rubbing his head. There was no way of telling if the look of pain he wore was real or faked.

  Hitchcock pulled him out of the booth, twisting both arms behind him again. Blue thought, fleetingly, about putting up a fight, but his better judgement prevailed. “Don’t be no hero,” his old sergeant used to say.

  Tom dragged him back across the compound and into the building, where he threw Blue down like something he was getting very tired of. “Tie him again,” he ordered in an angry voice. “And try to do it right this time.”

  As Jody started to work on the ropes again, Tom pulled the needle out of his pocket. “I’m gonna be sure you don’t give us no more trouble. This is some very s
pecial stuff that I’ve been saving. This stuff used to give me dreams all in color.”

  “I always dream in color,” Blue said tightly. “So I’ll pass, if you don’t mind.”

  “I do mind, in fact. You’ve got no choice.”

  Jody didn’t skimp on the knots this time. When he was finished, he stepped back as Tom bent down and jabbed Blue’s arm with the needle. He depressed the plunger all the way. “Sweet dreams, piggie,” he whispered, his lips right next to Blue’s ear.

  Blue tried to pull away. Tom laughed softly.

  When they were gone, Blue didn’t even try to struggle. He just rested there on the floor and let whatever Tom had shot him full of take over. It was so easy to do, lazy, and not bad. The slow curtain of darkness that was descending seemed almost comforting.

  Dimly, coming from the other room, but seeming to be from another planet, Blue could hear their voices.

  “I’m sorry about messing up, Tommy.”

  “Never mind. It happens, and no harm was done.”

  “How long is this going to last?”

  “I don’t know. As long as it takes. Why? Are you still in a hurry to get home?”

  “No. I don’t want to go back there. Ever.”

  “Good. You’d rather stay with me, right?”

  “Whatever.”

  “You okay? You seem kinda down.”

  “I’m all right.”

  “Maybe we could have a little party, just you and me. Come here … isn’t that better? Feels good, huh?”

  “Sure. It feels fine.”

  Blue tried to stop listening, but the sounds from the next room got all mixed up with the dreams in his mind. He couldn’t tell which was real and which fantasy. It didn’t seem to matter much anyway.

  Chapter 36

  “Shit.”

  Spaceman folded the map and pushed it aside. Joe refilled the coffee cup. “Problem?”

  “I was trying to follow up on something. A hunch. But I guess it’s a bust.” He added sugar and milk to the coffee, hoping that this third cup would give him a burst of energy.

  “What?” Joe pressed. “I know this city, this whole area, better than anybody else you’re likely to meet.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Spaceman muttered. After a moment, when he realized that he had no idea, not one, about where to go next or what to do, he said again, “Shit.”

  Joe was still standing there, polishing some glasses.

  “Somebody mentioned an amusement park,” Spaceman said finally, half-angrily. “The perp went there a couple years ago, and I just thought that might be where they’re hiding now. But that’s stupid. Who could hide in the middle of an amusement park?”

  Joe frowned. “Unless it ain’t open anymore.”

  “I thought of that. But nothing seems to fill the bill, not anywhere within a reasonable distance of the city.”

  Joe finished with the glasses and tucked the polishing rag into his belt loop. “Holly Point,” he said succinctly.

  “What?”

  “Holly Point Park. Used to take my kids out there, years ago. Heard it closed down.”

  “It’s not on my map.”

  “Hell, it was just a small place. And if it’s a new map, it wouldn’t be there anyway.” Joe opened the map again, searched for a moment, then pointed. “Right there is where Holly Point used to be.”

  Spaceman looked. It was a couple hours from the city, close to where Potter and Jody had lived. “You say it’s closed down now?”

  “For a couple years, I think.”

  “I wonder …” Spaceman folded the map again, quickly this time. “Thanks, Joe. Catch me on the coffee later.”

  “Forget it. Good luck, Kowalski.”

  He went back to the office and shoved the map back into the drawer, at the same time taking out some extra rounds for his gun. Then he picked up the phone and dialed, but Potter’s number was busy. To hell with it, he decided, just as easy to stop there and check with her in person. Besides, it would give him a chance to see what she looked like.

  Spaceman realized that he was excited, the way he sometimes felt when a big case took the right turn. Holly Point was a long shot, but at least it was a shot, and better than anything else he’d come up with so far. Until now, Hitchcock had made things go all his way. But not now.

  He was operating on the thesis that Maguire was still alive. What would be served by killing him this early in the game? Alive, he could at least serve as some sort of bargaining chip. Dead, he was just so much baggage.

  Such thinking made sense to Spaceman.

  Of course, he wasn’t a homicidal maniac and maybe if he were, he’d figure things differently. But a man had to have hope.

  McGannon passed him in the hallway. “What’s up?”

  “Probably nothing,” he hedged.

  The lieutenant eyed him. “You will let the rest of us in on it, won’t you? If it turns into something?”

  “Sure,” he said.

  Which was a lie, of course.

  Too many people had died already because of him. All they had to do now was hit the place with a SWAT team, or half the damned department, and Maguire would be a dead man before anybody got close. Maybe he didn’t like the idea of having a partner, damn it, but he did have one and no bastard like Tom Hitchcock was going to kill him.

  Like old Sam Spade said: “When a man’s partner is killed, he’s supposed to do something about it.” Except that Spaceman was going to do something beforehand. And he was going to do it alone.

  This was a one man show and he was the fucking star.

  Lainie Potter had the same coloring and slender form as her brother. She was about thirty-five, with a few lines around her soft eyes. A real grown-up woman that Spaceman thought might be worth knowing.

  She answered the door wearing tight jeans and a man’s shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Her hair was tucked under an old baseball cap and she was surprised to find another cop at her door.

  She showed him into the living room, where boxes were sitting everywhere, half-filled. “Sit down, please. I’ve just been … sorting through things. Mostly just killing time.” She grimaced. “That’s a horrible phrase, isn’t it? Anyway, the funeral is tomorrow, and I’m sort of at loose ends. No more family left.” She looked around the room, almost as if to keep from looking at him. “This was always such a nice place.”

  “Miss Potter, does the name Holly Point mean anything to you?”

  “Lainie, please.” She sat cross-legged on a large leather hassock. “Sure. Now I remember. Holly Point is the place we had the picnic. We all piled into Jody’s old truck and drove out there. Spent the whole day acting like a bunch of kids. It was all very dumb and very wonderful.” She laughed softly at the memory and her eyes seemed lighter. “What a day. When Jody called before, he said it was such a good day. I think Jerry probably felt the same way. I never saw him smile so much.” Her fist clenched suddenly, and she pounded it against the arm of the chair. “Why do things have to get so horrible?”

  “I don’t know, Lainie.”

  Without warning, she was crying. “He was so good. So sweet. I don’t understand why this had to happen to Jerry.”

  He sat awkwardly for a moment, then moved to put a careful arm around her, not saying anything, but just holding on.

  After several minutes, the quiet crying ended. She pulled a wadded Kleenex out of her pocket and used it. “Damn. Sorry about that.”

  “You’re entitled.” He glanced at his watch. “Lainie, I’m going out to Holly Point now. I think that may be where Jody and his brother are.”

  “You’re going alone?”

  “Yes.” He moved away again, sitting on the couch edge. “I’m just so damned tired of the dying. This whole thing is between Tom Hitchcock and me, and it’s going to end now. Now, damn it.”

  “You’re taking a dangerous chance.”

  He shook his head. “Not such a chance. Surprise is on my side. And besides, I won’t be all on my own. I’ve go
t a back-up.”

  “Where?”

  “Right here.”

  She looked around. “What?”

  “You. At nine o’clock, if I haven’t been in touch, call headquarters and ask for Lieutenant McGannon. Tell him where I’ve gone and why. Will you do that? I know damned well I’ve got no right to ask, but it would help.”

  “Of course I’ll do it. I’m glad to know that the hero is alive and well in America.”

  He shook his head. “If you want heroes, watch television. I’m just a tired cop.”

  She walked to the door with him. “You’ll be careful, won’t you, Detective Kowalski?”

  “Spaceman,” he corrected. “And I’m always careful.”

  Chapter 37

  Blue dreamed that he fell through a time warp.

  He fell and when he stopped falling, he was back in the camp in Nam. The end of it all, the coming home, the being a cop and all the rest he’d thought was real was nothing but fantasy.

  The fucking VC guards came to look at him occasionally, once brought him food, but he couldn’t eat. He just huddled in the corner and tried to stay sane. Sometimes he made faces at himself, wondering as he did when the hell they’d put mirrors all over the hut. Didn’t make much sense, but he could dig it.

  Suddenly, without warning, there was the crash of artillery fire very near by. The guards were all gone, probably in the shelter, and he was left all alone. There was another, even closer explosion.

  Blue began to scream.

  “What the hell is wrong with him?” Tommy complained. “He scared of a little thunder?”

  Jody had soaked a handkerchief in the bottled water and he rubbed it on his face in an effort to cool off. “I think he’s out of it. Whatever you gave him in the last shot.”

  “Yeah, maybe so.” Tommy smiled and ruffled Jody’s hair. “Almost over now. First thing in the morning I call Kowalski and set up a meet.”

  “How do you know he’ll come?”

  “He’ll show. You think he wants his partner dead? If the pig thinks he can save Maguire by doing what I say, he’ll do it. Kowalski is right in the palm of my hand.” Tommy crushed the beercan he was holding.