The lock clicked on the door downstairs. Lesley said, ‘I’m sorry, Daniel. It’s all my fault.’
‘Yes,’ he said.
3
He sat on the floor, back against the wall. The hard surfaces were best, when he was awake. She sat in one of the swivel chairs. She said, ‘You were going to hide up here until they were asleep and then go down and kill them, weren’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘How?’
‘Pillow for Carlson and Ross. Melander last, the big one, with a bullet. They’re in separate rooms.’
‘Are you strong enough to do that? With the pillow?’
‘I’m not going to find out,’ he said.
‘Because of me.’
‘Yes.’
‘If you weren’t strong enough, you’d use a knife?’
‘No. You can’t do a real job with a knife and stay clean. There’s tools in the kitchen. Hammers.’
‘Oh.’ She blinked, and licked her lips, and moved on away from that, saying, ‘If it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t have had any reason to come up here, and they wouldn’t have found you.’
‘That’s right.’
‘But why tell them I’m Claire? Is Claire your girlfriend?’
‘If they think you’re Claire,’ Parker said, ‘they’ll think I want to keep you alive, so you’re a bargaining chip in their favor. Keeps them calm.’
‘But you don’t care if I live or die,’ she said, ‘do you?’
‘I’d rather you were dead,’ he said.
She thought about that. ‘Are you going to kill me?’
‘No.’
‘Because of the bargaining chip.’
‘Yes.’
‘You’re a little more truthful than I’m ready for,’ she said.
He shrugged.
She said, ‘Is there a bathroom up here?’
He pointed at the door in the rear wall, to the left of the stairs. ‘No window, it’s vented.’
‘I wasn’t planning to call for help or anything,’ she said, and got to her feet and went away to the bathroom.
While she was gone, he thought it over. Should he wait until later, then try to get down through that door at the foot of the stairs? No; they knew he was here, and they didn’t trust him, and they’d have the door covered with all kinds of traps, things to make noise, alarms going off. On the other hand, every hour that he kept still his body improved a little more. In the morning, he’d be better able to deal with them.
But the original plan was dead. And Lesley, who’d been a help before this, was now no help at all. Now she was trouble.
She came back out of the bathroom and came over to sit in a chair near him. She looked very solemn, as though she’d made an oath of some kind in the bathroom. She said, ‘I’ve never been around anything like this before.’
‘I know that.’
‘The idea of killing somebody, that doesn’t bother you.’
He waited.
‘It does bother me,’ she said, ‘but that’s all right. I got us into a hard place, and I know I did. I don’t think they’ll just let me go.’
‘No.’
‘I think tomorrow,’ she said, ‘they’ll decide to kill us both, once they’ve talked it over together.’
‘Probably.’
‘If it was just me, I wouldn’t have a chance. If it was just you, without me, I think you would stand a chance.’
‘Maybe.’
‘I don’t want to get in the way anymore,’ she said. ‘Whatever you say to do, I’ll do. If it’s just sit down and shut up, I’ll sit down and shut up. If I can do anything to help, I’ll do it.’
He said, ‘That way, through that other door there, is the unfinished part of the attic. I didn’t get a chance to look it over. I want to know about windows, and I want something soft between me and the floor, so I can sleep
