car.
We parked beside the sedan, and got out.
Williams said, 'Goddamn. It's hot as hell out here.'
We didn't make it to the front door. We were passing the big picture window when all three of us saw the body in the family room, and a cold sweat broke over my back and legs even in the awful desert heat.
'That's Joe.'
Williams said, 'She-it.'
Krantz fumbled out his gun. 'Jerome, radio back. TelFm we need cars right goddamned now. I don't care who. Tell 'm to send an ambulance.'
Williams ran back to the unit.
Two swerving blood trails led out of the living room through the family room and into the kitchen. I couldn't see any other bodies, but I thought it might be Paulette and Evelyn. Then I saw that the sliding back doors were open.
'I'm going in, Krantz.'
'Goddamnit, we gotta wait for backup. He might still be in there.'
'Those people might be bleeding to death. I'm going in.'
The front door was locked. I trotted around the side of the house, popping fast peeks through every window I came to, not seeing anything unusual until I found Paulette and Evelyn in the rear corner bedroom. They were taped to chairs with duct tape covering their wrists and ankles and mouths, and struggling to get free. I tapped on the glass, and their eyes went wide. Evelyn struggled harder, but Paulette stared at me. I made a calming gesture, then spread my hands, asking if Sobek was in the house.
Paulette nodded.
I mouthed, 'Where?'
Paulette shook her head. She didn't know.
I moved along the rear of the house to the glass doors, dropped into a push-up position, and peeked inside. Joe was slumped on his side, the back of his shirt damp with blood. I
356
ROBERT CRAIS
was trying to see if his chest was moving when I heard a voice. The two blood trails ran past Pike through the kitchen and into the laundry room; that's where the voice came from. I looked at Pike again, and this time the tears started and my nose clogged, but I made the tears stop.
Krantz came toward me from the opposite side of the house, stopping on the other side of the doors. He had his gun out, holding it with both hands. 'I've got units and paramedics on the way.'
'Paulette and her daughter are alive in the room at the end of the hall. I'm hearing something in the garage. You get them out of here, okay? Get them safe.'
'What are you going to do?'
'Someone's in the garage.'
Krantz swallowed, and I could see then that he heard the voice. 'Ah, maybe I should do that.'
I liked him then, for maybe the first time. 'I'm better, Harvey. I'll do it. Okay?'
He stared at me, and then he nodded.
'Just get them out of the house. Where's Williams?'
'Covering the front.'
'He got a radio?'
'Yeah.'
'Tell him we're going inside and not to shoot me, then get those women.'
I stepped through the doors. The smell of blood was thin, and raw, and the great black desert flies had already found their way into the house. Pike was out in the center of the floor, but I did not go to him. I stayed near the walls, trying to see as many doors as possible.
I whispered, 'Just us, buddy.'
The blood trails arced through the kitchen and into a laundry room, where they stopped at a closed door. The voice was behind the door. Maybe Sobek was sitting in the garage talking to the bodies. Lunatics do that.
Here's what you do: You open the door, or you walk away and wait for the Palm Springs PD. If you walk away, then
L.A. REQUIEM 357
whoever is in the garage bleeds to death and you have to live with that, and with knowing you didn't go in because you were scared. These are the choices.
I closed my eyes, and whispered, 'I don't want to get shot.'
Then I hammered back my pistol, took six fast breaths, and went in.
Sobek's red Cherokee was parked directly in front of me, the sheriff's car next to it, both engines ticking. The two deps were in the front seat of their car, the remains of their heads slumped together in death. The voice was coming from their radio. I looked under both cars, then glanced into their backseats. Sobek wasn't there.
I closed the utility door behind me, and went back into the kitchen. Krantz had freed Paulette and her daughter. They were behind him, just coming into the family room from the hall. I thought we were going to make it. I thought that we'd get them out of there, and safe, but that's when Jerome Williams shouted something from somewhere outside, and two fast shots cracked through the house.
Krantz shouted, 'Jerome!'
Laurence Sobek ran out of a doorway at the end of the hall and in that crazy moment might have been Joe Pike; large and powerful, and dressed as Pike used to dress, even down to the sunglasses. But not. This was a mutant Pike, an anti-Pike, distorted and swollen and ugly. He didn't look like Curtis Wood now; he looked more like the inbred villain in a slasher movie.
Paulette, Evelyn, and Krantz were in the line of fire between me and Sobek. I yelled, 'DOWN! GET DOWN!'
Krantz shoved Paulette out of the way, aimed past Evelyn, and fired twice, hitting Sobek in the big torso both times.
Sobek came off the wall firing blindly, his bullets hitting the floor and the ceiling. One of his rounds caught me under the right arm with a hard slap, knocked away my gun, and spun me into the refrigerator.
Paulette ran to her daughter, again blocking Krantz's line offire.
I yelled, 'Head shot, Krantz! The head! He's wearing a vest!'
358 ROBERT CRAIS
Sobek charged straight down the hall, and barreled into Paulette, wrapping her in his arms and knocking Evelyn aside. He was crying, and his eyes were hopping as if his brain was on fire. He put his gun to her head.
'I'm not done yet. I'm not done.'
Krantz yelled, 'Drop your gun! Put it down, Curtis!'
My arm felt wet and tingly, as if worms were crawling beneath the skin. I tried to pick up my gun, but the arm wouldn't work.
Sobek jammed his weapon harder into Paulette's neck. 'You drop your own fuckin' gun, Krantz! You put it down or I'll kill this bitch. I'll do it, you bastard. I'll do it right fuckin' now!'
Krantz backed up, his gun shaking so badly that if he fired he would as likely hit Paulette as Sobek. I think Krantz knew that, too.
I tried to pick up my gun with my left hand. Sobek didn't even seem to know I was there anymore. He was focused on Krantz.
'I MEAN IT GODDAMMIT KRANTZ I'M GONNA DO IT I'M GONNA DO IT RIGHT NOW BLOW HER BRAINS OUT AND
