Bleeding Hearts Page 19

Jody moved away, going to stand in the open doorway. “It won’t help, will it?”

  “What?”

  “You’re going to kill him anyway, right?” He spoke flatly.

  “Sure. Have to. But not until Kowalski is here to watch. That’s the fun part.”

  Jody was staring out into the early night sky, watching the boiling clouds. “Then what?” he said.

  “What?”

  “After you’re all finished with Kowalski, then what the hell do we do next?”

  “Whatever we want.”

  “What if there’s nothing I want?”

  Tommy walked over and stood behind him. “You’re acting funny, Jody. Is anything wrong?”

  “Is anything wrong? Are you serious?” Jody felt a sudden sadness sweep over him. He shook his head. “I think it’s gonna rain any minute,” he said. “Hope to hell it cools things off.”

  “Yeah.” Tommy began to massage Jody’s back. “Hey, you’re all tense.” He laughed softly. “Bet I know how to untense you.”

  Jody jerked away. “Not now,” he said.

  “Okay, sure.” Tommy sounded surprised. His hands began to rub again. “Maybe you’re right. We’ll wait until this is all finished and then we’ll have a big party. We’ll find us a couple of nice kids and go to the beach. How about that?”

  Jody was still watching the approaching storm. It was very close now. He thought he saw some headlights way down the road, but then decided it was only lightning. He raised his eyes to the sky again. “Why did you kill Jerry?”

  The words were soft, said into the night, and he was surprised that they’d come from his mouth. He had been silently screaming the question ever since he’d found out. Now the words were said.

  Tommy’s hands stopped rubbing, but stayed where they were. “How’d you find out? Did that bastard in there tell you?”

  “It doesn’t matter how I found out. What difference does it make?” Jody turned to face his brother. “Why, that’s the question, why? Jerry was a good person. He loved me, that’s all, and for that you killed him.”

  Tommy slapped him across the face. “Shut up. I did what I had to do. What right do you have to question it?”

  Jody rubbed his cheek, staring at him. For the first time in his life, he didn’t like the feelings he was having toward Tommy. It scared him to feel this way. He couldn’t hate his brother, because Tommy was a part of him.

  But Tommy killed Jerry.

  Jody wanted just to turn and run into the darkness and hope that the storm would swallow him up. He wanted to disappear.

  But he didn’t.

  Tommy pulled him into a tight hug. “I’m sorry if I did the wrong thing. I didn’t mean to make you mad.” He spoke softly into Jody’s ear, the words falling like gentle touches. “I’m sorry.”

  Jody stood there for an endless moment and then he returned the hug. He did it because he felt like a man falling into a bottomless pit and he had to hold onto something.

  He held onto Tommy because Tommy was there.

  Spaceman left the car some distance from the park entrance. As he walked closer, he took the gun from its holster and held it loosely in one hand. The rain which had been threatening finally broke just as he reached the gate and slipped through. The skies opened up and let loose.

  Perfect, he thought. Just fucking perfect.

  So heavy was the rain that he couldn’t see more than a foot in any direction. He kept moving anyway, toward the dimly defined shapes ahead.

  He had a sudden flash of déjà vu: 1966. Nam. The fucking jungle in the rainy season. Some fun. A sharp crack of thunder made him jump, then he swore. Battle nerves. Killed a lot of grunts, nerves like that. Well, they weren’t going to kill Spaceman Kowalski.

  He wiped water from his eyes and peered straight ahead. Was that a light in the large building to the left? He decided it was, and moved in that direction. His hand, shoved into his jacket pocket now, was still wrapped around the gun.

  By the time he reached the side of the building and pressed himself against it, Spaceman felt as if he’d spent a month in the monsoon. He edged toward the door. Through the crack of the opening, he could see a narrow shaft of light.

  Spaceman stood very still for a moment, considering. He was going on a hunch, nothing more than that. Nothing less than that too, he reminded himself. Who the hell else would be out here in the middle of nowhere on a night like this?

  It had to be Hitchcock in there and now was the time for action. Act first, think about it later.

  He took a deep breath, said a prayer to whoever might be listening, and kicked the door open with his foot. He jumped in, landing on one knee, the gun raised. “Freeze,” he screamed.

  Spaceman’s vision blurred as he saw his own image come back at him dozens of times. Then a shot sounded, very close by, and one of the images shattered. Spaceman fell to the floor and rolled until he hit the wall. He tried to focus, but the room was still filled with wavery reflections, and he didn’t know where to fire. “Give it up, Hitchcock!” he yelled helplessly.

  “Fuck you!” came the reply. The words were followed by another shot and more glass shattering.

  Spaceman hugged the floor. He stayed there, trying to orient himself. Suddenly the light went out and he could hear the sound of fast-moving feet. After a moment, he started to crawl, hoping he was going in the right direction. Actually, he discovered that it was easier in the dark. The distorting mirrors no longer added their confusion.

  He bumped into a wall, angled off slightly and kept going.

  After only a couple of centuries of crawling, he made it to the door again. He pushed it open and slid down the wet ramp on his stomach. The rain had let up, and a sudden flash of lightning outlined three figures running across the compound. Actually, two were running and the third, bound hand and foot, was being dragged along.

  “Stop!” Spaceman yelled again, but the word was swallowed up by the wind and rain. He started after them, slipping and stumbling in the mud.

  They were already gone from sight, except for the pale glow of a flashlight. Then even that disappeared and Spaceman was alone.

  He stood still and waited, not even breathing, until another flash of lightning illuminated the three figures again. They weren’t running now, they were climbing. Already they were about halfway up the side of the ferris wheel, moving slowly from one car to the next, dragging Maguire behind.

  Spaceman headed that way. When he was right underneath them, he looked up. “You can’t get out that way, Hitchcock.”

  It sounded like Hitchcock said something in reply, but Spaceman couldn’t make out the words. He just stood, waiting.

  After threatening for so long and hitting so brutally, the storm seemed to have spent itself quickly. The rain just stopped and some light began to show through the clouds. Instead of cooling things off, however, all it seemed to have done was make the world steam. Everything took on a dirty yellow glow.

  Spaceman stepped back a little so he could see them better. They had climbed into a car. “This won’t help, Tom,” he said. In the sudden stillness, the words carried well. “Do you want to get yourself and your brother killed?”

  “We’re not scared. You make one move I don’t like, and your partner’ll do a swan dive. Comprendé?”

  “Killing a cop is dumb, Tom.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Spaceman peered up through the pale light. “Blue? You okay?”

  If there was an answer, he didn’t hear it.

  Spaceman tried another tactic. “Jody? Why don’t you quit this now before it’s too late? He killed Jerry, do you know that?”

  “He knows. He doesn’t care. Tell him that you don’t give a damn, Jody.”

  Jody didn’t say anything.

  “I talked to Lainie, Jody. She wants it to work out okay for you. She knows that you didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Jerry.”

  “Shut up!” Tom screamed suddenly. “Shut the fuck up, or I’ll push this
bastard over the side.” He shoved Blue a little and the tied man swung precariously out of the car, held only by the rope in Tom’s hand. Then he was yanked back into the seat.

  “Stop!” Jody seemed to have finally found his voice. “Stop, Tommy, please. No more dying. I can’t stand anymore dying.”

  “You siding with the pigs now, Jody? Turning against your own brother? You forgetting everything I’ve done for you?”

  “I just want it to end. Now.”

  “It’ll end when I say so.”

  Spaceman watched the small car move back and forth high in the air. “They’re burying Jerry tomorrow, Jody. I think he’d like to have you there.”

  Above there was only silence. He could make out Jody and Tom, staring at one another.

  “Frag the mutha’ fuckers!” Blue yelled suddenly. “Frag the slanty-eyed mutha’ fuckers!”

  Tom, startled by the unexpected noise, dropped the rope. Instantly, Blue moved. There was only one way to go and he went. Over the side. He climbed out of the car and dangled there, holding onto the side with both hands.

  “Hang on, Blue!” Spaceman yelled, stupidly.

  “What the fuck else can I do?” Blue sounded drunk.

  Tom was trying to pull Blue back into the car. Exasperated, he yanked out a gun and leaned over the side to press the barrel against Blue’s head. “You bastard.”

  Spaceman was watching Tom. He never saw Jody move. Neither did his brother until it was too late. It was such a quick moment, just a shove, and it was done.

  Tom screamed once sharply on the way down.

  He hit against the concrete piling at the bottom of the ferris wheel. Then he was still.

  Spaceman ran over and dropped to his knees beside the body, but there wasn’t a thing he could do for Thomas Hitchcock. His neck had snapped. Spaceman stared at him for a moment, feeling a certain sense of justice inside. One part of him knew he shouldn’t feel that way, but he did.

  He jumped up and moved back out to where he could see the car overhead again. While Blue struggled to climb back into the violently rocking metal box, Jody was standing, one leg slung over the restraining bar.

  Spaceman knew what was going to happen next. For one split moment, he wanted to let it just happen. That would make a nice tidy end to this whole mess. Everybody could be done with it, except of course, for those in mourning.

  But then he knew he couldn’t let it just happen. “Don’t jump, Jody. Please.” He was sick and tired of death, too.

  “Let me go,” Jody pleaded, as if someone were actually holding him back. “It doesn’t matter. Just let it be done.”

  “It matters to me. Enough, already. No more dead bodies.”

  Jody shook his head.

  Blue was still trying to pull himself back into the car. “Jody,” he said breathlessly. “Help me, please. I don’t think I can make it.”

  “Let me die.”

  “Help me.”

  After another moment, Jody pulled his leg back. Then he reached over the side and helped Blue up into the car. Spaceman was already on his way up. After several treacherous minutes on the rain-slippery metal, he reached the car and managed to squeeze in. Nobody was getting out of the thing without help.

  Blue was still dopey; his face was pale and his eyeballs kept disappearing. Still he managed a wobbly thumbs up.

  Jody was between them, crying. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

  Spaceman didn’t say anything. In the distance, he could hear the wail of sirens and see flashing lights. Lainie had come through.

  He relaxed into the gentle rocking of the car.

  Chapter 38

  “I should lift your shield,” McGannon said. “For being such a stupid asshole.”

  It was one of the milder things he had said in the last forty minutes. Spaceman, wearing a sweatsuit from his locker, just nodded. He’d been sitting across from the infamous desk, nodding, for a long time.

  McGannon seemed to run out of steam suddenly. “Get the hell out of here,” he said wearily. “Before I lose my temper.”

  Spaceman got up and shuffled to the door. It was already well into the next day and he hadn’t had any sleep.

  “Spaceman—”

  “Huh?”

  “Good work.”

  He lifted his hand a few inches in acknowledgement and left. He didn’t know whether he should turn right or left. He tossed a mental coin, dropped it, and went left. He stood outside the interrogation room. Through the oneway window, he could see Jody, his head resting on the table. With him was a broad from the public defender’s office. She wasn’t having any better luck with Jody than had Spaceman or the other detectives. He had just clammed up, withdrawn into his own private hell.

  Spaceman sighed and shook his head. Later for Jody. He turned in time to see Blue enter the room. Dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, Maguire was still white and his hands seemed to be shaking a little, but he smiled faintly in greeting.

  “You hanging tough?” Spaceman said.

  “Oh, sure.” He inclined his head toward the window. “Sad.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” Spaceman was tired of sad. “You sure that you don’t belong in the hospital?”

  “I’m sure. The doc cleared me. He suggested a cup of tea and bed. I suggested a couple drinks and bed. We compromised. One drink and bed.”

  “Okay. I’m buying.”

  They started out.

  “Kowalski!” It was McGannon’s voice.

  Spaceman sighed. “Shit, I thought he was done with me for a while.” He turned. “Yeah?”

  “Into my office.”

  They both started in. McGannon stopped Blue. “This is personal for Kowalski,” he said, not rudely.

  Blue and Spaceman glanced at each other. Spaceman shrugged. “Maguire’s okay,” he said.

  McGannon just nodded and went behind his desk. “It’s about your son,” he said.

  Spaceman’s stomach did a minor flip-flop; that was all he could manage at the moment. “What about him?”

  McGannon seemed fascinated by the grain of the wood in the top of his desk. “Kowalski, he was arrested this morning.”

  “Busted? What for?” Spaceman closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

  “Seems like he’s the one been setting the fires in the hills. Some county guys caught him in the act, and he apparently confessed to the whole thing. They’re holding him at Parker Center.”

  Spaceman didn’t say anything for several long moments. Then he stood. “Okay. Thanks for telling me. Come on, Maguire, I owe you a drink.”

  They walked out of the building and across the street without saying anything. Not until they were sitting in the back of the Lock-up, with drinks in front of them, did Spaceman break the silence. “What the fuck am I gonna do?” he said.

  Blue took a careful sip of the drink, testing the booze, or maybe his own ability to handle it. “What do you want to do?”

  “Something. Kill the little son of a bitch. Yell. Something.”

  “Yelling would be fine, I guess. A real fatherly thing to do.”

  Spaceman hit the table suddenly, with the palm of his hand. “Why the hell would he do something like this?”

  Blue felt way out of his depth; what did he know about trying to raise a kid? All he had to go by was the example of his own father. “I don’t know, Spaceman,” he said. “I suppose he felt like he had reasons.”

  “Reasons? What kind of reasons can there be for something like this? Shit.” Briefly, he was sullenly quiet. Then he said, “Well, it’s his mess, damn it. To hell with it. I’m tired. Let his mother do the handholding.”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “Don’t I?”

  “He’s your son. Give him a chance.”

  But Spaceman shook his head.

  Blue frowned, but kept his mouth shut.

  At last, Spaceman sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes. “I better haul my ass down to Parker,” he said. “See the boy.”r />
  “Yeah, I think that sounds like a good idea,” Blue said carefully.

  “You get home okay?”

  “No problem. I’ll see you later.”

  Spaceman glanced at his watch and seemed just barely able to make out the time. “The Potter funeral is at three. I want to make that.”

  “Any special reason?”

  He shook his head. “No good reason. I just want to be there. The sister might like to have somebody there.”

  Blue looked at him. “Okay. Pick me up. I’ll go along.”

  “Whatever.” Spaceman was quiet again for a moment. “Do me a favor,” he said then.

  “Sure.”

  “Call the Lompoc department and find out about the boy up there. I’d like to know who he was.” A fleeting smile crossed Spaceman’s face. “No good reason for that, either.” No matter what Karen said, he couldn’t seem to stop hurting, to stop bleeding. And no matter what she thought, he bled for his own son as much as all the others.

  “I’ll do it,” Blue said. “I’ll find out about the boy.”

  “Thanks.” Spaceman stood, and Blue waited, thinking the other man had more to say. But then he just shook his head a little and left the bar.

  When he finally did get home, Blue couldn’t sleep. He sat in front of the window, looking out over the city and drinking a glass of flat ginger ale. Behind him, the police radio chattered on softly. There wasn’t much going on, which suited him fine.

  The damned cat had returned, and was even deigning to keep him company for the moment. Pretty soon, he’d have to stir himself and get dressed for the funeral, but for right now, he was free to sit and do nothing.

  It wasn’t a bad way to spend some time.

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