from a six-inch distance. The startle was all the delay the man needed, and he raised the steel spear and jammed it with all of his force through Harter’s throat. The gun discharged over Harter’s head and the bullet smashed through a series of lab bottles.
The spear went through one side of Harter’s throat and came out the other end. He spun around, his face a horrible mask of pain as blood curdled out of his mouth and throat. In the window was the redheaded face of Howard Rheinhart.
A smell rose in the room and I didn’t want to hang around for the chemistry lesson. I opened the door and scooped up Al, who was still barking himself hoarse, stepped over Harter, and stuffed Al through the window on the other side. I climbed through the window to see Howard and Billy waiting for me. Billy had a pile of rocks in front of him.
“Let’s go! It’s going to blow!” I screamed and the four of us ran as hard and as fast as we could to the marsh. In less than thirty seconds we had made it a couple of hundred yards when the series of cascading explosions started. There were four or five little ones that ripped into a final big one, and the whole steel compound blew up in a fiery greenish-yellow ball.
The night lit up with a series of fireworks and the air was filled with a putrid stench.
“Fellas, this is going to be one of the biggest understatements you’ll ever hear,” I said. “Thanks.”
I took turns hugging the two of them while Al howled in song.
Howard smiled for the first time ever in my presence.
“It’s nice to know I still got it,” he said.
The three of us laughed so hard it hurt.
43
It wasn’t long after the fireworks that the police came… and the FBI… and the U.S. Marshals. Then, within seconds, it was the news and the media with satellite trucks and reporters and camera people. There was crime- scene tape, there were detectives with notepads, there were crime-scene investigators-you name it. If they had a badge, a pen, or a camera, they were there. Thank God, Kelley pulled up in his cruiser.
They got Mitchell off the tree Billy taped him to and took him away in a paddy wagon, and they interviewed the three of us, first separately and then together. We talked to federal guys, state guys, and the local guys. Kelley stayed with us during each of the interviews and helped with the questions. For a short period of time, they had Howard in cuffs and were reading him his rights, but after a lot of explaining and, I mean a lot of explaining, they uncuffed him and told him to stay in town and check in with parole later that day.
The blown-apart laboratory, the weapons, the dead pit bull, Mitchell’s arrest, and the chemical and blood tracings left in Abadon’s vehicles stacked the evidence, and it was pretty clear we were the heroes not the villains. When there was a break in all the interviewing and interrogating, there was a moment when it was just Kelley and the three of us.
“Fellas, you mind if I have a word alone with Duff?” Kelley said.
We walked about fifteen feet away and out of earshot, at least temporarily, from everyone else.
“You’re fuckin’ nuts, you know that?” he said.
“Yeah,” I said.
“This shit’s going to hit you hard eventually, you know.”
“Yeah, I realize that.”
“You going to be all right?”
“Nothing that a Schlitz and the love of a fine basset hound won’t cure.”
Kelley just shook his head and walked back to his cruiser.
Late that afternoon they let us go. I had told everything I knew and how if it wasn’t for Billy Cramer and Howard Rheinhart, I’d be dead. Billy’s mom came and got him at the police station. She was crying and all disheveled and sick with worry. She looked at me, taking me for the lunatic that I am, and went to hurry Billy away. I broke away from whatever cop was processing my paperwork at that moment and ran to catch up with them.
“Whoa, whoa… just a second, Mrs. Cramer,” I said.
“Please, let us go home,” she said.
“Just a second.” I stopped and looked Billy right in the eye. “Kid, you saved my life,” I extended my hand and he shook it. It wasn’t enough though, and I pulled him to me and hugged him.
“It was a pleasure, sir,” Billy said.
“Oh God, we have to go-,” Billy’s mom said, and she ran down the corridor with him.
That left me and Howard and Al, and we left together with Kelley as an escort. The reporters were waiting for us outside and they crowded us and shouted questions, but we forced past them and got in Kelley’s cruiser and headed home. The three of us were in the back seat with Al sitting on my lap, and I believe the complete exhaustion hit us. We were silent for most of the ride to Howard’s halfway house and Kelley pulled into his driveway. Howard had his hand on the door to get out, but he stopped and put his head down.
“Duff,” he said. “Why?”
“Why what?” I said.
“Why did you come for me? Even after Abadon made me confess, you still kept after me. With my history, why would you do that?”
“I guess everyone deserves a second chance, Howard.”
Howard nodded, though I’m not sure he believed me. He got out and headed toward his front door. Kelley threw it in reverse and started to back down the driveway when I asked him to stop. I lowered the window.
“Hey, Howard,” I said, and he turned.
“You saved my life, you know,” I said. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” he said and then headed inside.
Kelley dropped Al and me off, and I grabbed a beer and filled Al’s dish. The beer went down easy, as did the next four or five and maybe more. I’m not sure because I went to sleep and slept hard for I don’t know how long.
The deadness of the sleep was overtaken by a vivid image of a huge Abadon head with rivers of blood pouring out of every hole in his head and all over me. I awoke and I felt cold, and when my head cleared I noticed I was trembling all over. The last mess I stuck my head into gave me nightmares for a long time. Here we go again, I thought to myself.
The idea of sleep didn’t much appeal to me, though it didn’t seem to lose its appeal at all with Al. He was on his back with all four legs pointing straight up and his head cocked to one side, both ears acting as an eye mask. Pain in the ass that he was, I couldn’t imagine a better friend.
I made coffee and flipped on the TV, but stayed far away from any channel that could have possibly reported any news. I didn’t read the paper but I sat down to watch a Classic SportsCentury feature on Greg Louganis. I was exhausted and found myself unable to think of anything.
An hour or so later Al stirred, shook the drool out of his mouth and onto my bedspread, and joined me on the couch. We sat for a while but I was really struggling with just sitting, so I threw Al in the car and headed for the park. It made sense to give Al a chance to unwind and for both of us to head someplace outside of the walls of the Blue.
We took a leisurely stroll through the park, and I noticed that the cuts and scratches all over my body stung as my body moved. We came up on the dog park and I wanted to sit and stop the stinging. The snooty brunette and her Corgi were there though at first I didn’t see them because she was on her back on her yoga mat with headphones. The Corgi was sitting alone in the fenced-in dog run.
Al took notice and started to pull hard on the leash. I struggled to keep him under control because I didn’t really want to take shit from the blue-blooded, uppity yogi. Al looked up at me and it dawned on me that with what I’d been through and what Al had been through, who was I to worry about a snooty chick, especially one with headphones on with her eyes closed.
I put my hand over my lips to shush Al and it worked. It never had before, but to Al the stakes were probably
