“I’m Vaughn Spencer,” the man said.
“Why would you tell me your name?”
“You’re Bryson Wilde.”
“How do you know that?”
“I have my ways.”
“If the woman’s dead, I’m going to kill you,” Wilde said.
“You’re going to try,” Spencer said.
“There was no word try in what I just said.”
Spencer smiled.
“You got some balls Wilde, I’ll give you that.”
They walked past the warehouse Wilde had just come from and into a similar one a half block down. “Don’t tell me you have her in there,” Wilde said.
“Either that or I’m taking you in there to kill you,” Spencer said.
Wilde didn’t break stride.
The building was windowless.
In the back, a steel door was chained shut. Spencer pulled a key out of his pocket, got a padlock off and pushed through the opening.
“River killed your little assistant,” he said.
Wilde stopped.
“What’d you just say?”
“You heard me,” he said. “He spotted her up there on the roof and sent his little tattoo shit of a girlfriend up there. The woman killed her. They threw her in the trunk of a car, to dump her would be my guess. I saw the whole thing.”
Wilde pictured it.
He could hear the thump of Alabama’s body dropping into the trunk. He could see the back end of the car dipping.
“How do I know you didn’t kill her,” he said. “How do I know you didn’t see her over here, figure she was after you, and killed her yourself.”
Spencer grinned.
“Now that’s something I hadn’t thought of,” he said. “You’re right. You don’t know. Maybe it happened just like that for all you know. It’s a bitch isn’t it?” He held out the key and dropped it into Wilde’s hand. “The woman’s up on the top floor.”
He turned to leave.
He stopped and said over his shoulder, “Be sure she understands that she’s not to go to the police. You too, for that matter. If that happens, I’ll know. I always know.”
He walked away.
Wilde pulled his gun.
“Hey, Spencer.”
The man stopped and turned.
Wilde raised the barrel and pointed it at Spencer’s chest.
“Why’d you tell me about Alabama? Just to watch me squirm?”
Spencer shook his head.
“My job is to kill River,” he said. “Now I don’t have to because you’re going to do it. Have a nice life.”
He turned and walked away.
“Hey, Spencer,” Wilde shouted.
The man stopped again.
He turned.
“Why didn’t you kill Alexa? You thought you had the real map-”
“That was going to happen this afternoon, right after I killed River,” he said. “I was going to plant Alexa at River’s place and make it look like he did it.”
He turned and walked.
“What about London?” Wilde said.
Spencer stopped.
He tilted his head as if in thought.
“Tell her it’s her lucky day. She’s off the hook,” he said. “You too for that matter. Anything else?”
“No.”
Wilde headed into the building. It was windowless and the only light was the little bit that trickled through the door. That was enough to get him oriented to the stairway.
He headed over and felt his way up.
At the second floor, the light from the first floor disappeared altogether.
He continued up.
“Alexa Blank. Are you in here?”
There was no response.
He shouted louder.
“Alexa? Are you here?”
A muffled sound came from an upper floor, barely audible but recognizable as a voice, a female voice.
Wilde increased his speed.
“Alexa!”
“I’m up here!”
“I’m coming. I’m a friend-”
“Help me!”
“I’m coming. Just hold on.”
“Please! Help me-”
130
Thursday night after dark the heavens let loose with a storm to end all storms. Mean heavy rain pummeled the earth with a monstrous rage. Lightning raked across the sky, one bolt after another, pushing explosive cracks of thunder across the world. Waverly took what cover she could with her back against a scraggly pinion pine, the same as she had for the past hour. She was at the upper turnout on the Lookout Mountain switchbacks west of Denver. Normally the million lights of the city played to the senses and brought the lovers here. Tonight not a single flicker cut through the weather. All the lovers were somewhere else, somewhere saner.
Tucked in her belt was a Smith amp; Wesson.
She put her hand under her T-shirt and ran her fingers over the handle.
The grip was rough, slip resistant.
Su-Moon’s words rang in her ears.
“Don’t do this. If you do it you can’t undo it. It’s forever.”
That’s what the woman said before she headed for the airport. That and “I don’t want any part of this. I’ll never tell anyone, you don’t have to worry about that, but I won’t be a part of it. You better be damn sure you have the right person, too. If you ask me, you should be taking a good hard look at Emmanuelle.”
She got in the car.
