Show of Evil

'There's no place else left for him to go,' Vail said. 'He had this thing planned out perfectly. He sneaked out of the halfway house. His plan was to kill Jane and me while Rebecca killed Shoat. She sneaks back to her place, he sneaks back into the halfway house, and we would be his alibi.'

'How about Rebecca takin' off Shoat's head?'

'She collected trophies, remember?' said Flaherty. 'It's what serial killers do, just like hunters collect antlers or animal heads. That was her trophy, Harve. She was going to send it to Abel, the way she left the photo of Linda Balfour when she killed Alex Lincoln.'

'Stampler only made one mistake,' said Vail.

'The call to the hospital,' said Flaherty.

'Right,' agreed Vail. 'And he underestimated Jane Venable. When he couldn't kill her, he was on the run, his plan was blown. His face is on every TV station in the country by now. My guess is, he's playing head games with me now.'

'And he killed Molly Arrington -' Flaherty started to say.

'To goad me. He's finished and he knows it.' Vail finished the sentence. 'He's going to make catching him as tough as he can. Let's say he snatched the doctor's car at eleven, eleven-thirty. That put him in Shelbyville at around two A.M., about the time a waitress spotted the car parked in a handicapped zone. Winthrop's just outside the outskirts of Shelbyville. He could've walked to Arrington's house from there in, say, half an hour. That puts him at Arrington's at between two-thirty and three. An hour to do his dirty work and get out with her car. From there to Louisville is about a hundred miles, say another two hours.'

'So he was in Louisville maybe half an hour ago,' Hawk calculated.

'It's another one hundred and twenty miles to Crikside. If he gets through the weather he could be in Crikside, say, two and a half, three hours from now. With luck we may just catch him while he's still on the road.'

'We gotta stop and refuel,' Hawk said.

'Do it in Louisville,' said Vail.

'Mind if I ask a question?' Flaherty said.

'What's that?' Vail answered.

'We don't even have a warrant for Stampler. Is this legal?'

'I'm making a citizen's arrest,' said Vail.

'Citizen's arrest?'

'That's right. I'm arresting him for stealing Molly Arrington's car. We'll charge him with the rest of his sins when we get him back to Chicago.'

'Citizen's arrest.' St Claire laughed. 'You sound like Barney Fife.'

'Sounds like kidnapping to me,' grumbled Hawk.

'Well, keep that notion to yourself,' Vail said.

The radio squawked to life again. Harris's calm voice reported the latest developments. 'We've alerted the Kentucky state cops and the sheriff of the county, but they got traffic problems down there. They got themselves a spring snowstorm and a lot of traffic problems.'

'A snowstorm! I knew it. I knew it!' Hawk howled.

'Just keep flying,' said Vail.

'They aren't all steamed up over the possibility that he might have killed a woman and he might be on his way to Crikside,' Harris continued. They said they'll get somebody over to check it out by noon or one o'clock.

'Shit,' Vail snapped.

'I got some more bad news,' Harris went on. 'Indiana HP popped the trunk on that car. The doctor's body was inside. Broken neck.'

'That makes three so far he's personally killed,' Vail said bitterly.

'One other thing, Arrington's car is a '93 black Camaro two-door, licence: J32 576. Got that?'

'Got it.'

'And be careful, you're flying into the Cumberland Mountains down there. Good luck.'

'Thanks for the help, Buddy. Over and out.'

'Snow and mountains,' Hawk groaned.'Two of my favourite things. All