[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Finally,reason had to prevail.This had to stop.With conviction, I said to myself, This ends now.I dug Lieutenant Griggs s card out of my wallet and sat downon my couch, grabbing my cell phone from the side table.My handsshook as I punched in the numbers." 181 "RUSS GREGORYA female voice answered. Austin PD, Homicide. I need to speak with Lieutenant Griggs. Can I tell him who is calling?I told her my name.Griggs came on the line almost instantly. Hello? Matt? It sounded like a question. Lieutenant, I have something to tell you.He waited while I gathered my thoughts. I have a& friend. I cringed at the word.Thatcher had becomeso much more to me. The other day I was at his house and he hasa Bushmaster.223.Silence filled the connection; Griggs waited for me to continue.The pause was very uncomfortable.A knot began building in mythroat before I spoke again.When I finally gave him the details myvoice sounded higher and less confident.I told him about discovering Thatcher s gun and mentioned thatThatcher swam with our team and that he knew Marco.I told himabout seeing Thatcher in the pool parking lot the night of Marco smurder.I told him about my trip to Thatcher s place two days beforeand the confused condition that I found there.I told him my fearsthat Thatcher was mentally unraveling.I paused and told Griggs Iwas afraid Thatcher might be the shooter.I waited for his response.Griggs waited before he said, So you think this guy, thisThatcher Keeney& you believe he may be the shooter?With my voice wavering, I said, Yes. After anotheruncomfortable pause I added, God, I truly want to be wrong,Lieutenant.But it just& it just makes too much sense.Griggs asked me for more, and I gave it to him in spades.Itold him about finding the stack of newspaper articles coveringthe shootings stuffed in Thatcher s desk drawer.I explained how Ibecame suspicious after seeing Thatcher try to hide them from mewhen I showed up unannounced that afternoon.I could tell Griggs was becoming excited about the possibility.By the time I finished, I sensed he couldn t wait to get me off theline." 182 "BLUEBefore he hung up, he warned me to stay away from Thatcherand asked me to keep him informed of my whereabouts over thenext few days.My head began to pound and my stomach began to churn.Finally, I bolted to the bathroom.For the second time in two days Ithrew up.V' So tell me again why this guy& what s his name again? Bell, Matt Bell. The guy who IDed the body?Griggs nodded. Why does Mr.Bell think Keeney s the killer? Dorothywas sitting in her temporary office.The mid-morning sun shinedsurreally bright through the windowpane.Griggs squinted into the glare and said, Several things.Thegun, for one, and he also noticed a change, you know, in Keeney sbehavior.At least that s what Bell says.And the articles, Bell said hesaw Keeney hiding articles about the shootings.What do you makeof that?Dorothy looked at him. What do you think? I don t know.It s complicated. How is it complicated? Dorothy moved around to the front ofher desk so Griggs wouldn t have to squint into the sunshine. Keeney s connected to the investigation.Dorothy raised her eyebrows, surprised, and waited. He s a friend of one of the early victims. Griggs quicklyscanned his notes. A& Adam Malloy, the second no, wait thefirst survivor.They lived Dorothy held up her hand. Wait a minute.Are you sayingKeeney lived with one of the survivors? Do you mean they werelovers? I don t know for sure but& yeah, I guess so.Looks that wayanyway." 183 "RUSS GREGORYDorothy pulled a notebook from the top drawer in her deskand snatched a yellow pencil from the tray on her desk.She beganfrantically scribbling on a page. Go on. So like I said, they lived together, Keeney and Malloy.WhenI tried to reach Malloy& Dorothy stopped writing. You tried to reach Malloy? Yeah, I promised all the survivors when the trail went cold, Iwould let them know if the investigation ever heated up again.Dorothy sat motionless, examining Sam s face.He looked tiredmostly, but beneath that she saw concern for the victims.The moreshe knew about this guy, the more she liked him.She looked downat her notes and said, Go on. Like I said, when I tried to contact Adam Malloy, this Keeneyguy answered the phone.He told me that Malloy had died. How? AIDS.He said it was AIDS.Dorothy made a notation and idly twisted her hair.An ideastarted to form on the periphery of her consciousness.Quickly sheflipped back in the notepad scanning the pages.When she locatedwhat she was looking for, she carefully read the entire page beforeasking, Did you ask when Malloy died? No, is it important? Everything s important, Sam. I know, he said. There s something else. What, Sam, what aren t you telling me? This Bell guy? Yeah. So, he s the one who called. That s what you said, so? So he s one of the survivors too.Dorothy sat back and exhaled loudly, tossing her pencil ontothe table.V' This is Danny.After the beep, tell me who you are." 184 "BLUEI hung up without leaving a message and stared at my phone.Four days had passed since Marco s death, two days since I d calledGriggs about Thatcher and still I hadn t heard from Danny.Marco sfuneral service was set for tomorrow, and I d left countless messagesat Danny s home number and cell phone.Reluctantly, I grabbed my keys and trudged out to my car; thetime had come to track him down.The afternoon had been sunnyand mild, and the shadows were starting to lengthen as I drove upDuval to Forty-fifth.The traffic was light and five minutes later Ipulled into the drugstore parking lot
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]