holding back her share.
'I guess everyone can listen, then,' he said.
'I don't want any trouble,' said the whore.
'Yeah, I got that message.'
'I mean, you know…'
He nodded curtly. He knew. She didn't want the Shad-owman coming after her. She'd tell him whatever he wanted to hear as long as he would keep the killer away.
He looked down at her. He felt suddenly weary. He was weary at the sight of her, skinny as some child on a charity poster, but with that fake blond hair and those fake tits hanging out as if she didn't give a damn. He could see how scared she was. Julie had warned her he was coming and had warned her about the killer trailing in his wake. She was scared as hell, and Weiss was using that to get her to talk. That made him feel weary too.
The killer's right, he thought. We make a good team.
'Olivia called you,' he said.
She nodded eagerly, her sharp ferret features going up and down fast. He wished she'd cover herself.
He tossed the bloody wipe back into the basket. 'Just tell me where Julie is and I'll get out of here.'
The hooker's shoulders came up around her ears. 'Christ, I don't know that. She doesn't tell me that. She just calls.'
'You mean she hasn't called since you talked to Olivia?'
'Right. Not since her sister. Right.'
'So that's why you had them set the muscle on me.'
'I didn't know what to do. Olivia told me you were coming, and I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I was scared if you came, then
… you know… he would come too…'
'So you didn't give Julie her sister's message.'
'She hasn't called,' the whore said again. She was almost pleading.
Weiss rubbed his eyes. Weary. 'She's gonna call you, though-right?'
The girl looked around as if she'd find the answer in the little room somewhere. 'I guess so. I guess. I don't know. How can I know? She always does.'
Weiss had his breath back finally. His heart was slowing down. 'All right. I get you. It's all right.'
'She just hasn't called. I'd tell you. I would.'
'All right. I get you. It's all right.' His eyes went around the room as he thought it over. 'I saw a motel on the way in,' he said. 'The Frontier.'
'Yeah, sure,' said the whore. 'I know the Frontier.'
'Call me there. When she calls you, you call me there.'
'Okay. Okay, I will, I swear.'
'And tell her what I said, what her sister told you. She can play it either way. She can stay or go.'
'I will. I'll tell her. And look, this guy…'
'He won't touch you. Just do what I tell you, you'll be fine.'
'I will. I'll call you as soon as I hear. I swear.' She was that afraid of the killer. She'd do anything Weiss told her.
'All right,' he said. He looked at her. He couldn't keep his eyes from going down to her naked tits. She responded with a gesture. It was just a small motion of her hand, but he knew she was offering herself to him. That's how scared she was. She'd do anything.
'Just tell her,' said Weiss. 'She can wait for me or not. Stay or go. Either way, this is the end of it.'
46.
A few minutes later, I felt his hand on my arm. He hauled me up out of the mud. He set me on my feet. I swayed there, blinking out through swollen eyes.
'Nice going, kid,' Weiss said. 'You held them. Nice going.'
I nodded stupidly. I swiped a handful of blood and snot off my upper lip. Threw it down onto Damnation Street.
Weiss snorted. 'You all right? Can you breathe?'
I tried it. I clutched my ribs. They hurt when I inhaled.
'Yeah,' I gasped.
'You're all right,' said Weiss.
I grunted. I massaged my jaw. It hurt when I tried to talk.
'You gonna be all right to drive?' he asked me.
I nodded again, wincing. I rubbed the back of my head. It hurt when I did nothing.
'All right,' said Weiss. 'Well, listen, drive the hell out of here. Don't stay in town. Head west, for Reno. Keep to the interstate. You gotta puke or pass out or something, pull over. First motel you see, go in and wash yourself up. Sleep it off. Go home.'
I clutched my ribs and then my face and then my ribs again. I began to shuffle slowly toward my car.
Weiss took my arm, held me up, helped me along. 'Don't worry,' he said. 'It'll feel much worse in the morning.'
I laughed-then cried out in pain.
He opened the Hyundai's door. He lowered me into the seat behind the wheel. I sat there, staring. After a while I turned on the ignition. Then I sat there, staring some more.
Finally, when I could, I turned. I looked up at Weiss. He looked in at me through the window.
'All right?' he said. 'Yeah,' I said.
'Nice going, kid,' he said again. 'Get out of here.'
I put the car in gear and drove away, heading for the interstate.
Weiss went on alone.
Part Six
The Midnight Nowhere
47.
He came to the middle of nowhere at midnight. He'd been driving for hours through the rain.
He'd spent a night and a day at the Frontier, the Union City motel, waiting for the hooker's call. Lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, staring at the water running down the windowpanes, staring at the TV news. It was a long night and a long day. He tried not to think about what was coming, but he did think about it. He thought about how it had felt to have the killer close to him in the airport. He thought about how they would be close again, soon.
Then the phone rang and it was the hooker from the House of Dreams, Kristy. It was sunset by then. Weiss sat on the edge of the bed. He held the phone to his ear. He watched the windows as the lifeless daylight went out of them and the streams of rain began to glitter in the beams of headlights passing on the main drag outside. He listened to the whore's instructions. There would be a house at the end of the drive, she said. Julie would come to him there. She wouldn't run away. She would stay, and that's where they would finish it.
Weiss put the phone back in the cradle. He sat and watched the blackness at the window, the glittering lines of water on the glass. Finally, he pushed off his knees and stood. He pulled his shoulder holster off the back of a chair, slipped it on, secured the. 38 beneath his arm. He pulled his trench coat on over it. He went out to his car.
