“No. Why should I put him out of his misery? I wanted Colonel Handler to live with his cowardice and shame. Now go. We are finished.”
“Who killed Handler?”
“Who knows? Perhaps there is a fourth blind mouse.”
I got up to leave and the guards came into the cell. I could see they were afraid of Luu, and I wondered what he had done in his time here. He was a scary and complicated man, a Ghost Shadow. He had plotted several murders of revenge.
“There's something else,” he finally said. Then he smiled. The smile was horrible a grimace no joy or mirth in it. “Kyle Craig says hello. The two of us talk. We even talk about you sometimes. Kyle says that you should stop us while you can. He says that you should put us both down.” Luu laughed as he was led from the cell. “You should stop us, Detective.”
“Be careful of Kyle,” I offered some advice. “He isn't anybody's friend.”
“Nor am I,” saidTranVan Luu.
Alex Cross 8 - Four Blind Mice
Chapter One Hundred and Eight
As soon as Luu was taken away, Kyle Craig was brought into the interview room in the isolation unit on death row. I was waiting for him. With bells on.
“I expected you'd stop by and visit, Alex,” he said as he was escorted inside by three armed guards. “You don't disappoint. Never, ever.”
“Always one step ahead, isn't that right, Kyle?”I asked.
He laughed, but without a trace of mirth as he looked around at the cell, the guards. “Apparently not. Not anymore.”
Kyle sat across from me. He was so incredibly gaunt and seemed to have lost even more weight since I'd seen him last. I sensed that his mind was going a mile a minute inside that bony skull.
“You were caught because you wanted to be caught,” I said. “That's obvious.”
“Oh Christ, spare me the psycho-babble. If you've come as Dr. Cross, the psychologist, you can rum around and leave right now. You'll bore me to tears.”
“I was talking as a homicide detective,” I said.
“That's a little better, I suppose. I can stomach you as a sanctimonious cop. You're not much of a shrink, but then again it's not much of a profession. Never did anything for me. I have my own philosophy: Kill them all, let God sort'm out. Analyze that.”
I didn't say anything. Kyle had always liked to hear himself talk. If he asked questions, he often wanted to ridicule whatever you said in response. He lived to bait and taunt. I doubted that anything had changed with him.
Finally, he smiled. “Oh, Alex, you are the clever one, aren't you? Sometimes I have the terrifying thought that you're the one who's always a step ahead.”
I didn't take my eyes away from his.
“I don't think so, Kyle.”
“But you're persistent as an attack dog from hell. Relentless. Isn't that right?”
“I don't think about it much. If you say so, I probably am.”
His eyes narrowed. “Now you're being condescending. I don't like that.”
“Who cares what you like anymore?”
“Hmmm. Point taken. I must remember that.”
“I asked before if you could help me with Tran Van Luu, the murders he's involved in. Have you changed your mind? I suspect there's still one murderer out there.”
Kyle shook his head. His eyes narrowed. “I'm not the Foot Soldier. I'm not the one trying to help you. Some mysteries just never get solved. Don't you know that yet?”
I shook my head. “You're right,” I said. “I am relentless. I'm going to try to solve this one, too.”
Then Kyle slowly clapped his hands, making a hollow popping sound. “That's our boy. You're just perfect, Alex. What a fool you are. Go find your murderer.”
Alex Cross 8 - Four Blind Mice
Chapter One Hundred and Nine
Sampson was recuperating on the Jersey shore with Billie Houston, his own private nurse. I called him just about every day, but I didn't tell John what I'd heard about Sergeant Ellis Cooper and the others.
I also called Jamilla every day, sometimes a couple of times a day, or she'd call or e-mail me. The distance
