Skip shone the beam around the kitchen then held it so that its glow dimly illuminated them both. With a shake of his head he harrumphed. “Best seat in the house, I guess.”
“Seems to be,” Constance replied.
“You sure you don’t want company? I’m happy to stay, or I can pull Slozar back in with you.”
Constance replied. “No offense, but I don’t think Deputy Slozar has the constitution for this.”
“Yeah,” he grunted. “She’s a good kid, but you’re right. Like I said though, I can stay.”
“I’ll be fine,” she told him.
“You’re sure?” He pressed.
Constance wondered why he seemed so intent on her not being alone in the house but decided not to ask. She had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn’t get a straight answer even if she did pose the question.
“Positive,” she expressed, adding a bit of sternness to her voice. “I’d really prefer you and your deputies keep everything covered from the outside.”
He waited a beat before saying anything, as if he were calculating a different approach. But when he finally spoke-though reluctance was still apparent in his tone-he stopped pushing.
“We always do,” he said. “And we always see the same thing, which is a whole lot of nothing.”
“The killer has to get in here somehow, Skip. So does the victim for that matter.”
“Yeah, that’s true. But I’ve said it before, I’ll be damned if I know how.”
“Hopefully I can figure that out,” she replied.
“Good luck with that,” he grunted. “No offense, but you aren’t the first Fed to say that to me.”
“Well, maybe I’ll be the last.”
He let out a patronizing half-chuckle. “Heard that one before too.”
“You have a better idea?” she snipped.
Skip shook his head. “No, Constance, I don’t. And don’t take what I said personally. I’m just not getting my hopes up. I’ve been let down too many times.”
She softened a bit. “Okay… Well then, it looks like I’m all set. I suppose everyone should get into position.”
“You realize it’s probably not even nine o’clock yet, right?”
Constance pushed back her coat sleeve and checked her watch. “You’re correct, it’s eight thirty-two.”
He snorted. “Okay, have it your way, sugar. But I’ll tell you the same thing I told all the other G-men. You’ve got a long damn night ahead of you. I speak from experience.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“I’m trying to tell you that this is gonna happen whether you sit here all night, or you walk in ten minutes before. Whether you’re quiet as a church mouse, or having a party. It always does.”
“I understood what you meant, Skip.”
He looked at her and absently combed his mustache before giving his head a shake. “Yep. Stubborn as all hell, just like my oldest.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Yeah… I kind of meant it that way…” he replied. “Okay… So, you’ve got your radio?”
“Yes,” she said, holding the device up in the light between them. “Already tested. We’ll do an hourly check-in unless something crops up in between. Sound good?”
“Yeah, it might keep you from getting too bored,” he said with a nod. Tilting his hand, he aimed the flashlight beam at the counter beside them and dipped his head toward it. The shaft of illumination fell across a brown paper bag and a gray metal thermos. “It’s not exactly catfish, Nehi, and RC, but there you go.”
“Excuse me… Not exactly what?”
“Yeah, I guess Brother Dave was a little before your time wasn’t he…” Skip said.
“I still don’t follow.”
“Forget it. Bad joke. Either way, what I was trying to say is there are a couple of egg salad sandwiches in the bag, and you’ve got coffee. Should hold you for a while.”
Constance reached over and snatched up the thermos bottle by its handle then held it out to him. “I appreciate the thought, but you’d better just go ahead and take the coffee with you.”
“You don’t want it?”
“Want it, yes, but it’s probably not a good idea,” she told him. “Like you said, it’s going to be a long night, and contrary to your metaphorical observations about me when we first met, I’m not really capable of writing my name in the snow.”
C HAPTER 24
12:04 A.M. – December 25, 2010
632 Evergreen Lane
Hulis Township – Northern Missouri
“Checking in,” Constance whispered. “All clear.”
She was holding the two-way close, with the microphone pickup just inches from her mouth. She knew she was probably being overly cautious, but so be it. There was an old saying about discretion, and while valor might not necessarily play a part in her current situation, in her mind stealth most certainly did.
She released the talk button and heard a quiet chirp, followed by a quick hiss of muted static. She had the volume on the device tweaked barely into the audible range, so she pushed it up closer to her ear and just listened since she was number one on this Hit Parade.
The ordered cascade for the hourly check-in began, and the reports burped from the speaker, just as they had three times before. Status was announced starting with her, then Deputy Johnson, then Deputy Broderick, and ending finally with Sheriff Carmichael. Each of the men outside relayed a message that echoed hers: “All clear.”
Although it was horribly dark, it wasn’t completely pitch-black on the main floor of the house. Not like it seemed in the basement. There were several now noticeable gaps in the boards covering the windows, so a small amount of light was seeping in here and there, coming from the not-too-distant streetlamps positioned along the lane outside. It wasn’t much light at all, but once her eyes had adjusted, it was enough that it allowed Constance to make out shadows and shapes. That was all she really needed to see for the moment. Of course, a pair of night vision goggles would have been nice under the circumstances, but you made do with what you had.
She gently settled the radio onto the counter next to her, close enough that she didn’t have to fumble for it. Then she folded her arms across her chest and cupped her hands around her elbows. Twisting slowly at the waist, first right, then left, she proceeded to tense her muscles then relax them through several slow repetitions as a way of stretching with an economy of movement. The last thing she needed was to stiffen up and get a muscle cramp.
Not quite four hours had passed since Skip had reluctantly left her alone here in the house. She still wasn’t exactly sure why he had seemed so nonplussed about the arrangement, but at least he had finally dropped the subject without too many objections. His pushing had certainly been enough to make her suspicious of his motive at the time, but the more she thought about it, the less she felt it was enough to elevate him to suspect status.
Especially after enduring those first two hours alone.
They had been the worst so far, at least where her nerves were concerned. Sitting by herself in the cold and dark wasn’t a completely new experience. She had worked surveillance under disagreeable conditions before, but the history behind this house wasn’t exactly your garden variety unpleasant. She knew her own imagination was responsible for the majority of the uneasiness, but she couldn’t help the feeling that Merrie had never really left this place. Maybe that was why Skip had wanted her to have company. He had to know those feelings and thoughts himself. After all, he had been dealing with this for far longer than she.
Constance felt a sudden involuntary contraction in the muscles of her jaw and knew immediately what was coming. She reached up with her hand and stifled the wide yawn as it began. While that first two hours might have been the worst on her nerves, each subsequent minute since then had been a bolus of pure boredom injected straight into her veins. Unfortunately, the tedium was building in her system, and that could easily allow her
