'Yes, sir. Three twenty-one. Would you like to leave a message?'
'No, thanks.'
I sat up and turned on the light. I turned on the television with the remote and flipped back and forth for a few minutes, not really watching. I tried her number again and still no answer.
Getting dressed, I told myself I wanted a Coke. I took change off the bureau and my key and went down the hall to the alcove where the vending machines were. On my way back I stopped by 321 and listened at the door. I heard nothing. I lightly knocked and waited, knocked again. She didn't answer.
At my door I fumbled to use the key and turn the knob while holding the can of Coke. Finally, I put the can down on the rug and was opening the door when I heard footsteps and turned to see a man coming down the hallway toward me. The hall lights were dimmed because of the hour and the bright lights from the elevator alcove cast the approaching man in silhouette. He was a large man and in his hand I saw he carried something. A bag maybe. He was ten feet away.
'Hiya, sport.'
Thorson. His voice, though recognizable, spooked me and I think he saw it in my face. I heard him chuckle as he passed by me.
'Pleasant dreams.'
I said nothing. I picked up the can and moved into my room slowly, continuing to watch Thorson move down the hall. He passed by 321 without hesitation and stopped at a room further down the hallway. As he was opening it with a key he looked back down the hall at me. Our eyes locked for a moment, then I slipped wordlessly into my room.
28
Gladden wished he had asked Darlene where the remote control was before he had killed her. It annoyed him to have to get up to switch channels. Every one of the Los Angeles television channels had picked up on the Times story. He'd had to sit right in front of the box, though, and manually change the channel to try to catch all the reports. He had seen what Detective Thomas looked like. He had been interviewed by all of the channels.
He lay on the couch, now too excited to sleep. He wanted to change the channel to CNN but didn't want to get up again. He was on some cable channel on the nether reaches of the list. A woman with a French accent was preparing crepes filled with yogurt. Gladden didn't know whether it was a dessert or a breakfast but it was making him hungry and he considered opening another can of ravioli. He decided against it. He knew he had to conserve his supplies. Still four days to go.
'Where's the fucking remote, Darlene?' he called out.
He got up and switched the channel, then turned out the lights and returned to the couch. With the monologue of the CNN anchors as a calming background, he thought about the work ahead, his plans. They knew about him now and he had to be more careful than ever.
He fell into a doze, his eyes drooping and the TV noise lulling him finally to sleep. But just as he was about to drop off, his ears picked up on a report from Phoenix about the murder of a police detective. Gladden opened his eyes.
29
In the morning Rachel called me before I was out of bed. I squinted at the clock and saw it was seven-thirty. I didn't ask why she hadn't answered either the phone or her door the night before. I'd already spent a good part of the night brooding about it and decided she had probably been taking a shower during the times I phoned or knocked.
'You up?'
'I am now.'
'Good. Call your sister-in-law.'
'Right. I will.'
'You want to get coffee? How long till you're ready?'
'I have to make the call and get a shower. An hour?'
'You're on your own then, Jack.'
'Okay, a half hour. You've already been up?'
'No.'
'Well, don't you have to take a shower?'
'I don't take an hour to get ready, even on a day off.'
'Okay, okay. A half hour.'
As I got up I found the torn condom package on the floor. I picked it up and committed the brand to memory since it obviously was the one she preferred, then threw it in the bathroom trash can.
I was almost hoping Riley wouldn't be home because I didn't know exactly how to ask her to let people dig up her husband's body or how she would react. But I knew that at five till nine on a Sunday morning there wasn't much chance that she would be anywhere else. As far as I knew, her only appearances in church in recent years were at Sean's funeral and her wedding before that.
She answered on the second ring with a voice that seemed more cheerful than I'd heard in the last month. At first I wasn't even sure it was her.
'Riles?'
'Jack, where are you? I was worried.'
'I'm in Phoenix. Why are you worried?'
'Well, you know, I didn't know what was going on.'
'I'm sorry I didn't call. Everything's okay. I'm with the FBI. I can't say a lot but they are looking into Sean's death. His and some others.'
I looked out the window and saw the lines of a mountain on the horizon. The tourist pamphlet that came with the room said it was called Camelback Mountain and the name fit. I didn't know if I was saying too much. But it wasn't like Riley was going to go sell the story to the National Enquirer.
'Uh, something's come up on the case. They think there might've been some evidence missed on Sean… Uh, they want to… Riley, they need to take him out of the ground to look at him again.'
There was no response. I waited a long time.
'Riley?'
'Jack, why?'
'It will help the case. The investigation.'
'But what do they want? Are… are they going to cut him open again?'
She said the last part in a desperate whisper and I realized how I had bungled the job of telling her.
'Oh, no. Not at all. Uh, all they want to do is look at his hands. Nothing else. You have to give them permission. Otherwise, they have to go through courts and it's a long mess.'
'His hands? Why Jack?'
'It's a long story. I'm not really supposed to tell you but I'll tell you this. They think the guy… whoever did this, he tried to hypnotize Sean. They want to look at his hands to see if there are pinpricks, you know. That's the test somebody might have given to see if Sean was really hypnotized.'
There was more silence.
'There was something else,' I said. 'Did Sean have a cough or a cold? You know, back on the day it happened.'
'Yes,' she said after a moment's hesitation. 'He was sick and I told him not to go in that day. I was sick, too, and I told him to stay home with me. Jack, you know what?'
'What?'
