about. No, what he liked about it was that the wine was different from what it appeared to be, kind of like him. He held up the glass, swirling the wine around the edges, and he smiled, wondering how much this bottle would set his wife back.
His cell phone started ringing. He glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner. It was too late to be anyone he wanted to talk to. He didn't recognize the caller ID number. He knew he should just shut off the phone and let the voice-messaging service pick it up. He took another sip before setting the glass down and deciding to answer the stupid phone.
'This is Max Kramer.'
'Are you alone?'
He recognized the voice but still insisted on making him tell him. 'Who is this?'
'Who do you fucking think this is? Can you talk? Is there anyone else there?'
'I'm alone. Go ahead,' he said while thinking, yes, go ahead and tell me why the fuck I should even listen to what you have to say?
'We're gonna need some new IDs. Make them driver's licenses.' Jared Barnett was taking charge. 'And cash. Don't get funny with the cash. Keep it small bills. We'll probably need about twenty-five thousand dollars.'
'Hold on. Where the hell do you think I'm going to get three new IDs?' And twenty-five thousand dollars? Max wanted to slam the phone against the wall. How the hell did this get so turned around? He wanted to tell Jared Barnett that he owed him. That he still owed him.
'You're a resourceful guy, Max. You figure it out.'
'I think you should turn yourself in.'
'What are you, fucking crazy?'
'No, now listen. I can get you off.' Max stood up, staring past his reflection in the window out at the full orange moon. He wondered what a liar's moon looked like as he said, 'I did it before, I can do it again.'
'Yeah, well, I'm not waiting in prison for five more fucking years while you do it. Besides, I thought you were pissed. You sounded pissed. How can I trust a fucking lawyer who's pissed?'
'I was surprised. That's all.' Max kept his cool. This bastard could ruin everything. He needed to convince him he was on his side, 'You can't blame me for being surprised. I never expected things to get so screwed up, to go so badly. That's all. What the hell happened?'
There was silence, and for a few seconds Max thought he had lost him.
'One false move,' he mumbled.
'What's that?'
'Isn't that what they say? That ajl it takes is one fucking wrong move to change everything? It doesn't matter. Not now. How soon can you get the IDs and money?'
'How am I supposed to get them to you?'
'Don't worry about that. Just get it. I'll call back tomorrow.'
'If you tell me-' But he heard the click.
Max stayed at the window, wondering how the hell he'd take care of this. How the hell he'd fix this. One little favor- that's all he had asked from Barnett to pay off his attorney fee. Who could have predicted it'd get this fucked up.
CHAPTER 57
10:32 p.m.
Andrew leaned against the wall of the shower and let the warm water massage his wounded head. The throbbing wouldn't stop. Nor would the image of that Gas N' Shop clerk, her small body scurrying back and forth from one task to the other. Full of life, and now she was dead because he had tried something stupid. Thanks to Jared, Andrew felt like an accessory to the farmer's murder. But he felt completely responsible for that poor clerk.
There had to be something he could do to get out of this. It was clear Jared wasn't going to ever let him go. Eventually, he'd have to kill him. At first, that realization paralyzed as much as it panicked Andrew. But at the moment, he was too exhausted to be either. Especially after examining the bathroom's contents and being disappointed to find only the miniature shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash and soap. The shower had a Plexiglas door instead of a rod and curtain, not that he had had much success with the rod he had found at the cabin. He had even checked out the in-sides of the toilet tank, only to find that almost all of the mechanical guts were made of plastic. He wasn't sure what he'd expected. He knew hotel rooms didn't provide razors or nail files. He had spent enough time in the best of them over the course of the last two years, traveling to promote one of his books or do research for the next.
Research. All the research, all the interviews about murder and killers that he had done and yet, what good was it to him now? He had gathered all that knowledge, but without the experience of dealing with the real thing, he wasn't sure what he could do. Although, he wondered if anything could have prepared him for this.
He wished he could rip off the harness from his shoulder and arm. He wished he had full use of it. Then he would, at least, be on an equal footing with Jared. But, as it was, he couldn't even wash up under his damn armpit without experiencing a shooting pain. In the beginning, when he hadn't even dared to lift his arm enough to fit a sponge under it because of the pain, he worried about body odor. A Nebraska summer, with its heat and humidity was not a good time to break a collarbone. Now he scrubbed all over, ignoring the pain and practically rubbing his skin raw, feeling a bit like Lady Macbeth.
His father would tell him it served him right. Of this, Andrew was certain. He heard his voice in the back corners of his throbbing head: 'All your fucking book learn-in' can't get you out of this one, can it?' It reminded him of the reprimands he had endured as a kid when his father found him reading instead of doing some chore like shoveling the crap from the chicken coop, a task that hadn't even been on Andrew's to-do list until he was discovered with a book. It was almost as if his father had hoped to drain him, so that he wouldn't have the energy to read. At the end of the day, Andrew's young body would be physically exhausted and aching, but there was nothing his father could do to turn off his curiosity, his desire to read and learn and dream beyond the borders of his family's farm. And that made his father even more angry. He seemed to be forever disappointing the man. John Kane wanted a son to take over the farm when he was gone and instead he got one who couldn't wait to leave.
That's when he remembered Charlie with the comic books, quiet and innocent. And then he thought about Charlie's explosive reaction when he saw that waitress's face on TV. Andrew had believed that Melanie was the weakest link, but now he realized he might be wrong. His mind started reeling, accessing what he knew about the psychological effects of murder. If Andrew was feeling this responsible and guilty about the gas station clerk when he hadn't even pulled the trigger, what must Charlie be feeling? And suddenly Andrew wondered what it might take to get Charlie on his side.
CHAPTER 58
11:17 p.m.
Melanie couldn't sleep. Charlie, in spite of his outburst, was curled up on the bed and snoring. So much for his guilty conscience, and yet, she was relieved. She didn't like seeing him like that. She didn't like thinking he had anything to feel guilty about.
Andrew Kane had given in and stretched out on the other side of Charlie, but Jared had insisted on tying together the author's feet and wrists, cutting in half and using the cord from the hotel's phone. Of course, he didn't care about the phone. He still had Andrew's cell phone. She wondered if that was why he'd left the room. Did he need to call his outside contact? And who the hell was it? He was being secretive, when they couldn't afford to
