Show of Evil

'Where should I be?' Vail asked.

'With her.'

'With who?'

' 'To die is a debt we must all pay.' '

The two patrolmen looked at each other quizzically. Meyer looked around the room. On a table near the door he saw a small tape recorder. It was caked with blood.

'Look here, ma'am, we know you're Rene Hutchinson. Wouldn't you like to tell us where Fox is?' He took a step towards her. 'We need to talk to you and Fox.'

'I taught him everything he knows,' she whispered suddenly and with pride.

'What was that?' St Claire asked.

'I taught him everything he knows.'

Meyer moved sideways to the table. He took out a pencil and punched the play button of the recorder.

'Stop that!' she shrieked.

'Order. Order in the courtroom.' The hollow sound of a gavel rapping. Then:

'The prince who keeps the world in awe;

 The judge whose dictates fix the law;

The rich, the poor, the great, the small,

Are levelled; death confounds them all.

Greetings from Daisyland, Judge.'

Vail immediately recognized the voice on the tape. It was Vulpes.

'Miss Hutchin - ' St Claire started to say, but the woman suddenly charged out of the darkness. She rushed straight towards Vail. The knife glittered in her hand.

St Claire moved quickly in front of him, aiming his gun at Hydra as she charged.

'Hold it!' he ordered, but she didn't stop.

The rookie cop panicked and shot her in the chest.

She screamed. The knife twirled from her hand and she was knocked backward, landing flat on her back on the floor. She lay there, gasping for breath, staring at the ceiling.

'Thank you,' she whispered. 'Thank you…'

The rookie lost it. He stared down at her in horror. 'Oh God! Oh sweet God, why didn't you stop when I told you?' he screamed at her.

'Shut up, Ritch. Call the medics.'

'She charged us with a knife,' the rookie babbled. 'I didn't… didn't…'

His cheeks suddenly ballooned. He clasped his hand over his nose and mouth and raced to the bathroom.

'I got eighteen years in, never fired my gun except on the range,' Bohane said disgustedly. 'He's on the street two months and shoots a woman.' He shook his head. 'I'll call an ambulance.'

'Use this,' Vail said, handing him the portable phone. The cop dialled 911.

St Claire kneeled down beside Hydra.

'Rene Hutchinson?' he asked.

'I am Hydra,' she said faintly.

'Who named you that?'

'Fox. Fox knows everything. But I taught him everything he knows.'

St Claire's 'kinda' nudge suddenly became a reality. He was remembering some notes he had read among the files on Stampler. Notes that Tommy Goodman had written ten years before after his return from a trip to Kentucky, to do background on Stampler.

'How did you meet him?' St Claire asked Hydra.

'I have known him forever.'

'You're Rebecca, aren't you?'