No man.
Still, though,the sound of humming.
A flash ofsilver. She yelped, but realized, a second later, as she peered closer, that asmall recording device lay on the floor by the fridge.
She frowned,leaning in, then prickles erupted across her spine as there came the sound ofrushing footsteps from the complete opposite side of the kitchen. Adistraction. He’d been hiding beneath the table. She spun, weapon raised, andmanaged to glimpse a shadow bolt through the doorway, back out into the hall.
Adele cursed andspun from the recorder, racing toward the doorway as well. The man jerked outof the hall into the dining room. Adele didn’t move forward immediately,fearful of the man lurking just beyond the doorway again, waiting to ambushher.
She heard thesound of heavy footsteps above her now from upstairs.
“Adele?” Johnshouted.
“Downstairs!”she called back. “He’s armed. Knife!”
She circled, onestep at a time, trying to keep her weapon fixed on the dining room doorway. Butthe room was empty. Adele cursed, her weapon still raised—then her gaze settledon the window behind the table.
It was open,leading into the backyard.
She shouted, “Backyard!”
Adele hurried tothe window, gun raised. As she reached the sill and aimed into an empty grasslawn, she heard the sound of an engine firing; the red vehicle she’d spottedearlier jerked away from the garage, the tires squealing as it took off up thestreet.
Adele aimed,eyes narrowed, then squeezed—once, twice.
Two loud retortsechoed in the dead of night. The first bullet didn’t hit anything. But thesecond caught the front wheel.
A loudexplosion—and the car suddenly veered sharply. The vehicle slammed into a firehydrant, then rolled over it, sending a spray of water into the air.
Weapon in hand,Adele slithered through the window and sprinted across the backyard, racingtoward the vehicle. She heard the back door to the house slam, and the sound ofhurried feet as John made after her.
Adele reachedthe vehicle first.
A young man sat inthe front seat, wearing a yellow hat. He was shaking his head dazedly, a thintrickle of blood creeping down the side of his cheek, but he was looking overhis shoulder and talking to someone in the backseat.
“Get out of thevehicle!” Adele shouted. But the young man ignored her.
It was hard tomake out much through the tinted windows. But the front window was rolled downhalfway, and she could hear the words, “Hush now, Daddy… it’s going to be okay.It’s going to be fine. She’s a nice volunteer. We just have to reach anagreement. A very nice lady.”
Adele stared,stunned. “There’s two of them!” she shouted to John.
His heavyfootsteps reached her on the sidewalk. John circled the other side of the car,his gun raised toward the front seat, then swiveling to the back through thetinted glass.
“Hands up, or I’llspray your brains over the upholstery!” John shouted, his eyes wide asadrenaline coursed his body.
Adele kept herown eyes fixed on the young man behind the steering wheel, her gun leveled onhis head. Her fingers trembled as she prepared to squeeze off a shot at amoment’s notice.
The man glancedtoward her, blinking as if noticing her for the first time. He frowned andshook his head. “Thank you,” he said. He reached up, rubbing his eyes.
Adele grabbedthe door handle, yanking the front side open. “Drop your knife!” she demanded,retreating a couple of steps now that the door hung ajar, providing a betterview into the vehicle. The car was going nowhere from where it had stuck on theedge of a fire hydrant and jammed against a stone sidewalk barrier.
The young manglanced into the backseat once more. He began to whistle, soothingly, like amother trying to placate a young child.
Adele felt ashiver up the back of her spine. She heard the back door open as John flung itwide.
Then there camea sharp hiss and a horrified gasp. “Adele, get him out of the car. Now!”
Adele feltchills, but reacted with the barest of hesitations, clearing her throat andshouting, “Get out, now!”
The young manwas shaking his head, still looking confused. His eyes still had a vacantquality to them, but the more she shouted, the more alarmed he seemed tobecome.
“Get out of thecar! I’m not kidding. I’ll shoot!”
At last, theman, like he was moving in a dream, emerged from the vehicle, his hands raised,shifting uncomfortably, glancing between the two agents. “Don’t hurt him,” hesaid. “Please, don’t hurt him. He’s sick.”
Adele shoved theman sharply to the ground; as he lay on the pavement, she kicked hard once,twice at his right hand, which still gripped the knife. The blade clatteredfree beneath the car. Adele twisted the man’s arms behind his back, and inthree swift motions cuffed him. Then, keeping her eye on him, she stepped back,leaving the suspect handcuffed on the ground.
She circled thecar to where John stood, staring.
“Securing thesecond suspect?” she asked, breathing heavily.
But John wasjust peering grimly into the backseat, shaking his head from side to side, histeeth clenched.
At last, Adelecircled completely and stared into the back of the old red jalopy. Her gunlowered, and she felt bile rising in her throat.
A corpse was inthe backseat. It looked like the corpse of an old man, but it was hard to tell.The horrific stench assailed her the moment she circled the car and leaned intothe back.
The corpse hadshrunken eyes, the eyeballs milked over, the flesh putrid and decayed. Theghoulish, skeletal face leered out at her, and thin wisps of the final remnantsof hair circled the old man’s mottled scalp.
In the corpse’slap, there were three shriveled, decayed items.
Adele frowned,peering closer. “Oh, dear God,” she said.
“Think we foundthe kidneys,” John murmured.
The threekidneys, in different states of decay, were placed in the old man’s lap, hisskeletal fingers, still displaying some levels of flesh, arched over thekidneys like the talons of some bird of prey protecting its young.
“I’m going to besick,” Adele said, her voice strained.
“Don’t hurt him,”the young man kept repeating, pleading from where he lay on the ground. “Please,don’t hurt him.”
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Adele staredthrough the glass one-way mirror, watching the interrogation. John stood nextto her in the viewing room. They hadn’t been allowed in after the last time.Still, Adele studied the strange young man.
He was handsome,in a feminine sort of
