Page 36 (1/2)
Kale had been there twice during the course of selling Johnson the ain
He pulled the Datsun into the driveway, cut the engine, and got out He hoped no neighbors atching
He went around toward the back of the house, broke a kitchen , and cla enough for two cars, but only a four-wheel-drive Jeep station wagon was there He had known Johnson owned the Jeep, and he had hoped to find it here He opened the garage door and drove the stolen Datsun inside When the door was closed again and the Datsun could not be seen from the street, he felt safer
In the h Johnson’s closet and found a pair of sturdy hiking boots only half a size larger than he required Johnson was a couple of inches shorter than Kale, so the pants weren’t the right length, but tucked into the boots, they looked good enough The waist was too large for Kale, but he cinched it in with a belt He selected a sports shirt and tried it on Good enough
Once dressed, he studied hiood," he told his reflection
Then he went through the house, looking for guns He couldn’t find any
All right, then they were hidden somewhere He’d tear the joint to pieces to find them, if it came to that
He started in the master bedroom He emptied out the contents of the bureau and dresser drawers No guns He went through both nightstands No guns He took everything out of the walk-in closet: clothes, shoes, suitcases, boxes, a steaes of the carpet and searched under it for a hidden storage area He found nothing
Half an hour later, he eating but not tired Indeed, he was exhilarated He looked around at the destruction he had wrought, and he was strangely pleased The room appeared to have been bo, overturning, and s in his path
He wanted veryfun
Chapter 30 – Some Answers, More
Questions
The house was exceptionally neat and clean, but the color sche frilliness reen or yellow Everything
The carpets were green, and the walls were pale yellow In the living rooreen floral print that was bright enough to send you running for an ophthalreen, and the two side chairs were canary yellow The cerareen swirls, and the shades were chartreuse with tassels On the walls were two big prints-yellow daisies in a verdant field The hter than the fabric on the living rooly yellow drapes with a scalloped valance A dozen accent pilloere scattered across the upper end of the bed; soreen with yellow lace tri to Jenny, the house was occupied by Ed and Theresa Lange, their three teenagers, and Theresa’s seventy-year-old mother
None of the occupants could be found There were no bodies, and Bryce was thankful for that Somehow, a bruised and swollen corpse would have looked especially terrible here, in the midst of this alreen and yellow, too
At the sink, Tal Whit Better have a look at this, Chief"
Bryce, Jenny, and Captain Arkhain went to Tal but the other two deputies remained back by the doorith Lisa between theht turn up in a kitchen sink in this town, in the htmare Someone’s head, maybe Or another pair of severed hands Or worse
But it wasn’t worse It was ular jewelry store," Tal said
The double sink was filled with jewelry Mostly rings and watches There were both men’s and women’s watches: Timex, Seiko, Bulova, even a Rolex; some of them were attached to flexible bands; some with no bands at all; none of them was attached to a leather or plastic band Bryce saw scores of wedding and engagelittered brilliantly Birthstone rings, too: garnet, as with ruby and es Junk jewelry was allhis hands into one of the piles of valuables the way a pirate, in the movies, always drenched his hands in the contents of a treasure chest He stirred up the shining baubles and saw other kinds of jewelry: earrings, charold chains, a lovely caes," Tal said
"Wait," Jenny said She snatched a watch fronize that one?" Bryce asked
"Yes Earlier A tank watch Not the classic tank with Roman numerals This has no nuave it to her husband, Dan, for their fifth wedding anniversary"
Bryce frowned "Where do I know that nalow Inn," Jenny said
"Oh, yes Your friends"
"A," Tal said
"Dan loved this watch," Jenny said, "When Sylvia bought it for hiance The inn was still on rather shaky financial footing, and the watch cost three hundred and fifty dollars Now of course, it’s worth considerably more Dan used to joke that it was the best investment they’d ever made"
She held the watch up, so Tal and Bryce could see the back At the top of the gold case, above the Cartier logo, was engraved: TO MY DAN At the bottom, under the serial number, was LOVE, SYL
Bryce looked down at the sinkful of jewelry "So the stuff probably belongs to people fros to those whore , anyway," Tal said, "The victi their jewelry" Bryce nodded "You’re right So those who’rewere stripped of all their valuables before they were taken to… to… well, to wherever the hell they were taken"
"Thieves wouldn’t let the loot lie around like this," Jenny said, "They wouldn’t collect it and then just dump it in someone’s kitchen sink They’d pack it up and take it with the here?" Bryce said
"Beats ed
In the two sinks, the jewelry glea
Galen Copperfield looked up fro data He eaty inside his decon suit, tired and achy For athe birds and dogs
Then a cat squealed
A horse whinnied
The general glanced around the
Rattlesnakes A lot of them The fa bees
The others heard it, too They looked at one another uneasily Roberts said, "It’s coh the suit-to-suit radio"
"Affirmative," Dr Bettenby said from over in the second motor home, "We hear it here, too"
"Okay," Copperfield said, "let’s give it a chance to perform If you want to speak to one another, use your external co
A child-the sex indeter very softly, far away:
"Jesus loves me, this I know,
for the Bible tells me so
Little ones to Hi"
The voice eet Melodic
Yet it was also blood-freezing
Copperfield had never heard anything quite like it Although it was a child’s voice, tender and fragile, it nevertheless contained… so that shouldn’t be in a child’s voice A profound lack of innocence Knowledge, perhaps Yes Too s Menace Hatred Scorn It wasn’t audible on the surface of the lilting song, but it was there beneath the surface, pulsing and dark and i "Yes, Jesus loves me"
"Yes, Jesus loves me