'Charles.'
'And where do I know you from?'
She reaches out to hand him some coins. He snatches her wrist and yanks her to him, jabbing the needle home, hugging her close so to any casual observer it looks like an embrace.
She tries to twist, but he has sixty pounds on her and his hold has taken away her leverage. Leaving the syringe still sticking in her arm, he brings his hand up to the back of her head and crushes her face to his, drowning out the cry welling up inside her with a kiss.
He tastes fear. She has the nerve to try to bite him, and that gets him excited. He likes to bite too. He sinks his teeth into her lower lip, and then her body begins to relax.
Half pulling, half carrying, he gets her over to the truck. A cab rolls past, but doesn't slow down. Once she's in back, he handcuffs her to the metal bar he's bolted to his freezer. Then he removes the needle from her arm and puts it back in his pocket.
Theresa Metcalf shakes her head, as if she is trying to clear it. When she notices the handcuffs, she screams.
In the driver's seat, Charles flips on the music. A recorded pipe organ version of 'The Candyman' trumpets through the speakers at full volume. He checks his mirrors and carefully backs out of the alley. She screams again, but he's confident that he's her only audience.
'I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.' He giggles.
Quite a day. Quite a day indeed. And quite a night it will be as well.
He's bought three new videotapes. He's planning on filling them all.
'Wait till we get back to my place,' he tells T. Metcalf. 'Then you'll have something to scream about.'
She is too drowsy to hear him.
Chapter 8
HOW DID YOU KNOW,' HERB SAID, smacking his lips, 'that I was in the mood for candy?'
I glanced over at Benedict. He was clutching a bag of chocolate, eyes twinkling.
'Do you keep an emergency supply in your jacket?' I asked.
'Me? These are yours. They were on the seat.'
'Where?'
'In your car here, on the passenger seat.'
I started the Nova and frowned, puzzled.
'They're not mine. Was there a note?'
'Nope. Just candy. Maybe it was Don.'
I shook my head and pulled out of the parking lot.
'Don left.'
Benedict mulled it over, cradling the candy in his hand. 'How do you feel about it?'
'I don't know.'
'Did you love him?'
'I don't know.'
'Do you miss him?'
'I don't know. Yes. Maybe. I'm not sure. No.'
'Remind me never to get romantically involved with you.'
I turned left on Jackson and headed toward Mercy Hospital, where Herb had traced the Seconal prescription and where the late Dr. Booster had kept an office until the ninth of August. The Booster case was still listed as open, even though the investigation had gone cold. The detective in charge was a Palatine cop named Evens. Herb had left him a message, telling him to get in touch.
'So who gave you the candy?'
I shrugged. 'Haven't the slightest. Maybe someone put it in my car by accident.'
'Accidents like that never happen to me.'
'Have you checked your car? Maybe you have a bag too. Maybe your entire backseat is crammed full of chocolate products.'
'Stop it. You're getting me excited.'
I tried to think it through. My car was unlocked when we got in. Had I left it unlocked? I must have. How likely was it that someone broke into my car just to leave me candy? Especially in a police parking lot.
'Mind if I...?'
'Go right ahead.'
Benedict ripped open the plastic bag and withdrew a mini bar, holding it up to his nose.
'Smells okay. I don't think they're laced with arsenic.'
