In the crack of a gunshot, he was back above himself, sprinting through the waving field of foxtails. He ran with quick, expert steps, leaping over furrows, weaving past dirt mounds and gopher holes. His arms pumped furiously at his sides, and the sun fell over his shoulders.
Catch a retard by the toe
He could barely make out the chanting of the children, but as his vision cut ahead and he saw his younger brother still holding dumbly on to the straw that he probably thought was a hand protruding from Mr. Hollow's sleeve…
Make him holler blow by blow
… the sound rose and his brother turned, remembering again the boys who had been chasing him, and terror crept back into his face. He heard him yelling, 'Jade! Jade!' over and over as the boys circled him…
Hurwitz, Gregg
The Tower (1999)
Eenie meenie minie moe
… and closed in, and Jade heard their voices now and remembered the rhyming lyrics that his brother would recite in his slurred voice as he stumbled home after school, crying, and they were his call to duty, his incitement to fists and swings. Jade ran faster through the high weeds when he heard his name shrieked; a foxtail caught him across the left cheek, cutting deeply, but he didn't notice, he just ran faster; but the four had closed in and one stepped firmly over his brother's foot…
Hurwitz, Gregg
The Tower (1999) by the toe
… and his fist reared back to strike above the loosely blubbering lower lip.
The clock struck the hour, breaking Jade from his vision. It tolled gloomily, filling the house. Jade slid the photograph of Allander from under the music box and lifted it to his eyes.
In the living room, the phone rang.
Chapter 46
'I enjoyed your little ruse earlier this evening. I can't believe they actually pay you for paltry efforts such as that. So obvious. Plus, Mother hates Orson Welles. Wouldn't be caught dead at one of his films. So to speak.'
Jade's entire body tightened when he heard the purring voice. His shoulders and neck tensed, his chest flexed, his stomach grew taut.
The voice sounded like two pieces of silk rubbing together. It was low, smooth, unrushed. Jade felt a tingling in his stomach as the voice calmly continued, the voice from the audiotapes and the videos, the voice he had heard rise from the written transcripts as if they were so many burning bushes. He sat down on the couch, slowing his descent by leaning on the cushion with one arm.
'I'm glad to see I caught you speechless. I've heard that's quite a feat. Are you enjoying having your miserable life falled with me? Pictures? Tapes? Files? You're consumed with me, Marlow. I've seen how you work. With my own eyes, in fact. I'd almost consider it flattering if you weren't such an amateur.' Allander chuckled. 'I must say, I find the title 'Tracker' a bit overblown. You're more like an errant chaser.'
'I'm getting to you.'
'Yes, you're just waiting at home to… what? Gather your strength?'
Jade strained to identify any background noises, but the line was quiet. He picked up the map of Woodside from the floor and glanced over it. 'Something like that.'
Another chuckle. 'Yes, yes, I see.'
Jade was desperately thinking of how to get a rise out of him, some way to make him angry so he'd slip up. Deny his individuality, he decided. 'You think you're smarter than the rest, but you work in patterns. You all do.'
'That's right, you keen little copper. Was the corpse's head covered? Were the bodies posed? Were they… violated?' He paused for a moment, and Jade could hear him breathing. 'I know the patterns so well I give them to you gift-wrapped. And you know the best part, Marlow? You still can't catch me.'
Bluff called. They both knew Allander was right.
'I turned your prison inside out and killed everyone in it,' he sneered.
'Not everyone.'
'Oh yes. Mustn't forget Claudius.'
Allander had lengthened Claude's name to Claudius. Jade caught the reference-Hamlet's uncle, who had murdered Hamlet's father and wed his mother. Another Oedipal figure, Hamlet's rival and the fulfiller of his desires.
'Well, before I go,' Allander continued, 'I was hoping you could allay my concerns about something.'
A beat of silence.
'I was wondering why a grown man with no children would keep a picture of a retarded boy. Couldn't help noticing when I was in your bedroom. You know, Jade-it is all right that I call you Jade, isn't it? — I detect a similarity in the eyes. Between you and the retard, that is. It's amazing what one can find out with a little research.'
Jade gripped the receiver so tightly that his entire hand was white. He was shaking all over.
'Just you push me, you fuck,' he growled. Not the conventional way to keep a suspect talking, but he knew that Allander would time the call out at fifty-nine seconds anyway.
'Funny, Marlow,' Allander replied. 'That's precisely what I thought I was doing.'
Jade heard him breathing on the other end of the line again, but he couldn't think of anything to say.
'Well, I had better let you get back to your case, hero. It seems you're a bit behind. But don't worry, I'm sure something will break soon.'
'Only you, Atlasia. Only you.'
Dial tone. Fifty-eight seconds.
Jade held the phone tightly to his ear even after the dial tone had faded to an automated recording. He rose from the couch and hurled the phone across the room. It smashed into a framed print, shattering the glass and bringing it crashing to the ground. The phone's cord snapped, its plastic plug still stuck in the jack.
Deep inhale. From the stomach to the rib cage to the chest. Exhale. Eyes closed. Jade imagined himself sprinting. Control, efficiency. He felt his shoulders loosen up. You never realize how tense you are until you relax, he thought. He walked his body slowly down a mental ladder, amazed at how many steps it took for his muscles to unclench. He was close to his end. The end of the fuse.
Allander had called him a 'hero.' The word rang through his head like a crash of cymbals. There are no fucking heroes, he thought. They're all dead and we've created playthings to fill the void.
The phone shrieked and Jade pivoted to his side, yanking his gun from the back of his pants and whipping it to aim at the door. His heart jerked in his chest. He couldn't remember ever feeling so jumpy.
On the second ring, he lowered his gun, walked over to the phone that lay among the broken shards of glass, and picked it up. Another ring as he realized he was holding the smashed receiver to an unconnected line. He shook his head and walked into the kitchen to pick up a functional phone.
'It's Darby. Bad time?'
Jade looked at the shattered picture frame and smashed phone lying at the base of the living room wall, and then at the gun that he was still gripping tightly. He let the gun clatter to the countertop. 'You could say that.'
'I was just calling to make sure you weren't wasting your energy and our time by sulking.'
'What gave you that idea?'
Darby laughed. 'I don't know. Motherly intuition. You can see how well it's served me in the past.'
Jade wanted to say something reassuring, but couldn't find the words.
'We don't hold you responsible, you know. Just keep doing your job and we'll keep doing ours.'
'I know,' Jade said. 'I am.'
'Good.'
'Get some sleep, huh?' Jade said.
