to use her car. He hadn't spoken more than a couple of words to her since they'd broken up five months ago. Calling her to use her car probably wouldn't go over too well.
Todd looked down at the man and felt a pang of guilt and sorrow. He had murdered another human being. He had not just prevented him from having other kids. He had taken the man away from his existing kids, the kids he had been supporting. They would now grow up fatherless because of Todd.
This isn't what I wanted. Things just got out of control. I'll be more careful next time.
And there would be a next time. Todd couldn't fool himself about that. He was fully committed now. Now that Heimlich was in prison, it was all up to him.
Todd picked up the scalpel from the floor and put it in his messenger bag. He grabbed the last two remaining rolls of duct tape from the four-pack he'd bought at the hardware store. He considered trying to roll Terrence over and retrieve the handcuffs but he couldn't think of any way to do it that wouldn't have gotten his clothes bloody, so instead he picked up the clamps and the stun gun where he'd left it by the couch in the living room and grabbed his bike from where it stood by the front door.
Locking the door behind him, Todd carried his bike down the stairs to the street. As he rode to work, passing cars locked in traffic, belching noxious fumes into the air and coffee shops and breakfast joints filled with chain- smoking consumers destroying the earth one Styrofoam cup and sausage and egg biscuit at a time, Todd's sense of urgency increased.
They have got to be stopped.
Chapter Ten
Todd had no stomach for the job today. The endless line of needy people had no concept of what real poverty was. In America, the average 'poor person' had a color TV, A DVD player, a microwave oven, and a car. People in Third World Countries, who lived without running water, refrigeration, heat or electricity, would be justifiably offended by the things Todd saw every day. His first applicant of the day had come in wearing diamond earrings and a platinum necklace. In six years Todd had still not gotten used to the astounding gall of some people.
He wasn't in the mood to fight it today. Todd was still exhausted and, despite taking a fistful of Extra- Strength Tylenol, his head still throbbed with a dull ache. Today, Todd rubber-stamped every application that came in with the exception of one or two obvious cases of fraud. He was too tired to argue with anyone. Then Nicolene came in.
She looked much the same as she had two days ago. Still pregnant. Still strung-out. Only now she was alone.
'Michael's dead. Some guy…a trick…picked him up yesterday and gave him some dope that was uncut. When Michael started convulsing, the guy dumped him in an alley. By the time someone noticed him back there and called the ambulance he was already dead.'
'I'm sorry to hear that.' Todd looked down at her belly. 'So, what are your plans now?'
'I'm not having an abortion. I just wanted to tell you that. I'm keeping my baby. And I'm not getting myself fixed either. I'm going to get clean. I signed up for one of those Narcotics Anonymous programs. I'm going to kick. I'm going to be a good mom.'
Todd was furious. He glared at her without saying a word.
'I need to get on welfare. You can't turn me down. I qualify.'
'Are you sure you want to do this? Most of the baby's brain and spine development happens in the first two trimesters.
That child might already be messed up.'
Nicolene tilted up her head defiantly. She rubbed her hands over her belly then looked down at it and smiled.
'I don't care. This is all I have left of Michael and I'm keeping it. And if you don't get me that assistance I'm going to tell everyone about how you tried to force me to have an abortion.'
Todd looked at the messenger bag sitting next to his filing cabinet.
'Very well then. Which address would you like it sent to?'
Nicolene smiled, satisfied. Todd smiled too. As high as she was, some latent self-preservation instinct still told her that there was something not quite right about that smile. It was perhaps an instinct she had picked up from her many months turning tricks on the streets. She had gotten good at spotting the bad ones and if Todd had pulled up beside her wearing a smile like that, there was no way she would have gotten into his car.
'The one on the application. That's where I live.'
'Good.'
Todd stamped the application approved and placed it in a pile on his desk.
'You can expect your first check in six to eight weeks.'
'Thank you.'
Nicolene backed slowly out of Todd's cubicle as if she were afraid to turn her back on him. Then she turned quickly and started to walk away.
'See you soon,' he whispered.
Nicolene turned back and looked at him. He was still wearing that creepy smile. She turned away and hurried out of the building.
Chapter Eleven
Todd had almost forgotten about Terrence's body as he rode home. He almost rode right past the hardware store until he remembered that he would need a hacksaw and an axe. He went into the store and felt as if all eyes were on him.
He didn't know a hell of a lot about serial killers so he didn't know if buying the axe would be suspicious. He decided not to risk it by including a bag of lye. Perhaps he could get that from some other store like Home Depot where everyone would be too busy to notice him. A mom and pop store like this would probably remember every last detail of his purchase, but Home Depot was another ten miles away and he was already tired. Plus, the longer he left Terrence's body in his apartment the more likely it was that it would start stinking and he'd be discovered. He'd just have to do without the lye.
When he walked up to the counter with the contractor grade trash bags, the axe, and the hacksaw, he was almost positive that the cashier would hit some type of alarm and have him arrested. He had to keep telling himself that it only seemed suspicious to him because he knew what he'd done. To anyone else, he was just a guy buying tools. People purchased axes and hacksaws everyday without using it to dismember corpses.
'Chopping down a tree?'
'Excuse me?'
The cashier, an old man in his sixties who probably owned the place, pointed at the axe.
'The axe. You got yourself a tree to chop down?'
Todd stared at the man, trying to figure out how to reply and realizing that each second he went without answering made him look more and more suspicious.
'Uh, no. I'm chopping firewood. I've got a wood stove.'
'Then you don't want that axe. I got a better one back there that'll split wood into kindling with one swing.'
'Th-this one will be fine.'
'It ain't much more expensive.'
'I'm on a budget.'
'A little hot out to be burning wood?'
'I've got a cabin up at Mammoth Mountain. I'm going there for the weekend.'
The old guy began ringing up Todd's order.
