“Nothing. Why?”
Drewe looks back at me, her face pale. I motion for her to keep winging it while I dial Killen’s number.
“I shouldn’t be stressed?” she says. “After all you’ve told me about my husband?”
“Wes Killen.”
“This is Harper Cole! I need you! Berkmann’s alive!”
“I just got off the phone with Baxter,” Killen says. “I’m running to my car right now. You know Mike Mayeux? New Orleans cop?”
“Yes.”
“He’s out there. At your place. Right now.”
“He never thought Berkmann died in the crash. He took a couple of days off to watch your place. He didn’t want you to know. Wanted you to act natural.”
“Thank God! Look, there are two guys headed out to Erin’s grave. Family. Don’t get panicky if you see lights.”
“I see lights now. Are you armed, Cole?”
“I’ve got a thirty-eight revolver and a twenty-five auto.” Through the phone I hear Killen’s car engine firing up.
“Get into a bedroom,” he says. “Cut off the lights, put your wife under the bed, and get low in a corner with the thirty-eight. Make sure your hall light’s on. If Berkmann opens the door, you’ll have him in silhouette. Easiest shot in the world. Blow him down.”
“Just hurry!”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Drewe is speaking too rapidly now, her voice like a fraying cable. With the news about Mayeux pumping through me like amphetamines, I dial Sheriff Buckner’s office. As the phone rings, I peer out at the parked cruiser.
“Sheriff’s department.”
“This is Harper Cole. Give me Sheriff Buckner right now. It’s life or death.”
“Who is this again, please?”
“I SAID NOW GODDAMN IT!”
A match flares in the deputy’s car. It glows steadily, flickers, then disappears. The tiny orange ember of a cigarette takes its place. I touch the grip of the.38 at my belt, wondering whether I should fire through the window. One shot would bring both the deputy and Mayeux running, but Berkmann could be anywhere. He might be in a position to ambush both men without even breathing hard.
“This is Sheriff Buckner. Who the hell’s this?”
“Harper Cole! You’ve got to get somebody out here!”
“Cole? I’ve already got somebody out there.”
“The killer’s here, damn it! Maybe outside my house!”
“Radio the deputy you have here! But he’s got to be careful. Berkmann could be-”
There is no sound so dead as a dead telephone. Very slowly, not wanting to believe it, I put down the cordless.
Drewe is still speaking into the headset. I watch her trail off, then wait for Berkmann’s response.
There is none.
Drawing the.38 from my holster, I walk over and say softly in her ear: “Berkmann’s outside. He just cut the phone lines.”
She closes her eyes like someone who’s just been read a death sentence. I gently pull the headset off her and drop it beside the keyboard. Strangely, the modem still shows a live connection. Maybe Berkmann left the phone line to the EROS computer open. Hitting the space bar just in case, I ask Drewe where her gun is.
“In my purse,” she replies.
“Where’s your purse?”
“In the bedroom.”
“Did you reload it?”
“Yes.” She grips my forearm hard enough to cause pain and looks up with terror in her eyes. “Harper, let’s run! Get your keys and we’ll run for the Explorer.”
“He’s expecting that.” I lay an open hand against her cheek. “We wouldn’t have a chance.”
At the sound of Berkmann’s voice, Drewe’s eyes go blank as a stroke victim’s. “He left the data line connected,” I tell her, squeezing her shoulders. “There are two cops outside. Answer him. If you can keep him occupied, we’ll be okay.”
Moving like a zombie, she dons the headset again. “I’m thinking,” she says in a cracked voice.
“Everything you’ve said.”
She hits the space bar again. “For God’s sake, Harper! We’ve got to run!”
“We can’t. He could be anywhere. We’re safer in here. You’ve got to keep talking. Give Mayeux a chance.”
She shakes her head. “We’re sitting ducks in here! I feel it.” Wild hope flashes in her eyes. “You said he didn’t actually kill the EROS women! And we both have guns!”
“Listen to me, Drewe. I know he has a tranquilizer pistol. He’d probably shoot me with a dart to get me out of the way, then take you with him.”
Her mouth drops open as the enormity of the danger sinks in. “But… but what if we risk that? If he takes me, I could pretend to go along, then shoot him when I got a chance.”
“What if he shoots me with a forty-four Magnum instead of a dart? We don’t know what he’s got out there, Drewe.”
“We can’t just sit here and wait for him!”
I squeeze her shoulders again, trying to reassure her. “We’ve got no choice.”
She jumps up from the chair and pulls away from me. “God, why did you bring him here? How could you be so stupid?”
“Why isn’t he talking?” I ask, turning to the EROS screen.
At that instant the muffled crack of a gunshot bounces off the front of the house.
Drewe screams. Snatching her arm, I run for the door, praying that shot came from Mike Mayeux’s gun.
“Could the deputy have shot him?” she asks.
As my hand touches the doorknob, Berkmann’s digital voice says:
I tear open the door and pull Drewe after me, up the dark hall and into the kitchen. We stare dumbfounded at the two-by-six planks I nailed across the pantry door yesterday. I start to break for the back door, then stop. The gunshot came from the front of the house, but I can’t be sure who fired it. It’s fifty feet from our back door to the edge of the cotton field. Fifty feet without cover. Handing Drewe the.38, I try to tear one of the planks down from the pantry door, but it doesn’t budge. I plant my right foot against the door frame and yank again, but Drewe stops me.
“What is it?” I shout.
“He knows about the tunnel! Remember he talked about you hoarding your gold like Midas? He could be in there right now!”
I hesitate. “If he is, the gunshot doesn’t make sense. I think that crack was just a figure of speech.”
“You want to bet our lives on that?” she asks, trying to pull me away from the door. “Harper, listen to me! I’m sorry I lost it back there. You were right. We’ve got to stay. If we run, we might get away,
