His face was unconcerned, almost serene. A day in the park for the vampire Lestat. I wondered if he might be high on some kind of drug.
He certainly knew about sophisticated tranquilizers.
Behind him on the community board were all sorts of messages. I could read them with the binoculars.
Missing Carolyn Eileen Devito Missing Robin Schwartz Missing Susan Pyle Women for Jim Hunt for Governor Women for It. Governor Laurie Gamier The Mind Sirens at the Cave All of a sudden, I had a possible answer. Messages! Casanova was sending out a cruel message for us for anyone who was watching him, anyone who dared to follow him.
I slammed my hand down hard against the dusty window-sill inside the small store.
“The son of a bitch is playing mind games!” I nearly shouted in the crowded shop where we were watching Wick Sachs. The elderly shopkeeper eyed me as if I were dangerous. I was dangerous.
“What's wrong?” Kate was suddenly peering over my shoulder, leaning her body against me, trying to see whatever it was that I saw up the street.
'It's the poster behind him. He's been standing under it for the past ten minutes. That's his message, Kate, to whoever's following him.
That bright orange-and-yellow poster says it all.'
I handed her the binoculars. One poster on the bulletin board was larger and more prominent than the others. Kate read it out loud.
“Women and children are starving ... as you walk by with loose change in your pocket. Please change your behavior now! You can actually save lives.”
Alex Cross 2 - Kiss the Girls
CHAPTER 83.
OH, JESUS, Alex,“ Kate spoke in a tense whisper. ”If he can't go out to the house they'll starve, and if he's followed he won't go out to the house. That's what he's telling us! Women are starving ... change your behavior now.'
I wanted to take out Wick Sachs right there. I knew there was nothing we could do to him. Nothing legal, anyway. Nothing sane.
“Alex, look.” Kate sounded an alarm. She handed me the glasses.
A woman had come up to Sachs. I squinted through the binoculars. The noonday sun was bright off shiny glass-and-metal surfaces up and down Franklin Street.
The woman was slender and attractive, but she was older than the women who had been abducted. She had on a black silky blouse, tight black leather slacks, black shoes. She was carrying a briefcase loaded with books and papers.
“She doesn't seem to fit his mold, his pattern,” I said to Kate. “She looks in her late thirties.” “I know her. I know who she is, Alex,” Kate whispered.
I looked at her. “Who, for God's sake, Kate?” “She's a professor in the English Department. Her name is Suzanne Wellsley. Some of the students call her “Runaround Sue.” There's a joke about Suzanne Wellsley throwing her underwear against the wall, and it sticks.”
“They could tell the same joke about Dr. Sachs,” I said. He had a nasty reputation as a rake on campus. He'd had the bad rep for years, but no disciplinary action was ever taken. More perfect crimes?
He and Ms. Suzanne Wellsley kissed in front of the “hunger” billboard.
A tongue kiss, I could see as I watched through the binoculars. A very hot embrace, too, with no apparent concern about the public venue.
I had second thoughts about the “message.” Maybe it was just a coincidence, only I didn't believe in coincidences anymore. Maybe Suzanne Wellsley was involved with the “house” that Sachs kept. There could be others, too. Maybe this whole thing involved some kind of adult sex cult. I knew they existed; even in our nation's capital they existed and flourished.
The two of them walked casually a short way down crowded Franklin Street. In no apparent hurry. They were headed in our direction. Then they stopped at the Varsity Theatre ticket booth. They were holding hands. Cute as could be.
“Damn him. He knows he's being watched,” I said. “What is his game?” “She's looking this way. Maybe she knows, too. Hello, Suzanne. What the hell are you up to, dragon lady?” They bought movie tickets, like any normal couple, and went inside. The theatre marquee advertised “Roberta Benigni is Johnny Stecchino riotous comedy.” I wondered how Sachs could be in the mood for an Italian comedy. Was Casanova that cool? Yes, he probably was. Especially if this was all part of some plan of his.
“Is the movie marquee a message, too? What is he telling us, Alex?” “That this is all a ' comedy' for him? It just might be,” I said.
“He does have a sense of humor, Alex. I can vouch for that. He was capable of laughing at his own bad jokes.” I called Kyle Craig from a pay phone in a nearby Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. I told him about the woman and children are starving poster. He allowed that it could be a message for us. Anything was possible with Casanova.
When I came out of the store, Sachs and Suzanne Wellsley were still inside the Varsity Theatre, presumably laughing riotously at the Italian actor Roberto Benigni. Or perhaps Sachs was laughing at us?
