“Then who?” Janus asked.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Exactly,” he said. “But if you beat the Horseman, you have powers, right? Who is to say you don’t know who the killer is then? Who’s to say you don’t know where he is hiding? You get the upper hand, for once. He thinks you are harmless Kate and Quinn, but no, you’re the fucking Prince of Sanheim. You’re a legend.”
Kate thought about what he was saying. When they had initially heard about the trial, Quinn had been confident they could win it, but she hadn’t been so sure. She had convinced him they had to wait. Deal with Lord Halloween, then wait until next year to face this trial. If they could even delay it. But they were no closer to figuring that out. But Janus had a good point, the one that Quinn had made himself. It was an all or nothing bet. If they couldn’t beat the Horseman, they were dead anyway. But if they could…
But Kate thought of the man in Quinn’s dream. That was what the man wanted. Something told her that whatever he wanted, it wasn’t good. What if it really had been the Devil?
(He’s not the devil.) Quinn thought.
(You don’t know that)
“I can see you are hearing voices again,” Janus said. “Tell Quinn I said hi. Look, just think about what I said, okay? I’ve got to run.”
Janus turned and walked up the street toward his car.
“Be careful,” she called after him.
Janus stuck his arm in the air and flashed the V-sign.
(I think he is flicking you off.) Quinn said.
Kate laughed and turned to walk back toward the paper.
Lord Halloween could not believe what he was hearing. He had been so close, so close to dealing with Kate. He had been watching her for over an hour go into various shops, being a reporter. He had liked watching her move. She was very good looking. And he was enjoying the hunt. There were two more bodies the police hadn’t found and he was already moving on to body number three.
And then that little fucker had gotten in the way. He had been close enough to hear them-there was an abandoned shop nearby-but he hadn’t understood a word. Instead of being afraid of him, Kate was talking about the Horseman. Who the fuck was the Horseman? He briefly considered that there was some rival serial killer, but if there were, it was news to him. And what was this about the Prince of Sanheim?
I must have driven her insane, he thought.
It was the only explanation and it did nothing to soothe his spirit. If she were crazy, it seemed Janus and Quinn were too. They should be worried about him. In fact, Kate and Quinn should be dead already. But Lord Halloween knew he could not have gotten through Quinn’s door without waking them up. He had decided to wait.
Now it appeared something else was going on and he didn’t like that one bit.
He was keenly aware every minute he stood there was a risk. What bothered him more than anything was that whatever they were talking about seemed to be connected to Halloween. And Halloween was his day-his day. Look at this place, he thought. Shops are closed, people have fled. Because of one man. Because of him. Halloween was all about fear-dressing up as the thing you are afraid of-and he ruled it.
But Kate and Quinn didn’t seem afraid. He had almost been close enough to kill them both and they were worried about people on fucking horses. Kate was meant to be his great comeback story-one that would have even brought CNN to town. Not only had that failed, but she didn’t even seem worried about him.
Kate and Quinn would regret their distractions, he thought as he watched Janus walk down the street. If they had forgotten about him, then he would just have to remind them.
There were just a few days to Halloween and he planned to use them well. Long enough to do what he wanted. Long enough to make Kate and Quinn pay.
Chapter 22
Friday, Oct. 27
Quinn was considering turning off the video when he saw it. He had concluded the entire process was a waste of time. Lord Halloween was too careful to simply walk past a security camera. But for some reason he kept coming back to it. In the hospital room, he had been out of it, but he had felt sure he had seen something.
Now he was sure he saw it again. It had been quick, just out of the corner of his eye, something like a flash of metal. It could have been a watch, but Quinn didn’t think so. He rewound the tape and paused. It was the arm of a jacket-nothing more. He couldn’t see the man or woman it was attached to. The jacket was olive green and Quinn thought the shade looked familiar. Like he had seen it before. Like he knew who the jacket belonged to.
It felt like a song that he couldn’t place. He knew who that jacket belonged to, but he couldn’t place it. It was just on the tip of his tongue. Work backward, he thought. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He was mentally flipping through the people he knew like old photographs when it came to him.
The piece of metal he was looking at was a medal-from the Vietnam War. He only knew one person who wore such a thing. He pictured it sitting on the chair at the Loudoun Chronicle. How many days had he seen it just lying there? And yet he didn’t recognize it when it was out of place.
Dear God, he thought, the jacket. It belongs to Buzz. He had been in the hotel just before Kate’s room was ransacked.
“Jesus,” Quinn said.
(Where was Janus headed?) he asked Kate.
Kate had stopped in mid-interview when he had figured out who the jacket belonged to.
(Buzz. He was going to see Buzz.)
(We have to get there. Now. He’s in trouble.)
Janus drove to the end of the cul-de-sac in Ashburn, parked the car on the curb and got out. He sighed. Every time Janus saw Buzz’s house, it looked like a run-down mess. Buzz had inherited it from his mother, who had died only about four years ago. But he did not seem to inherit the ability to keep it up.
The grass was long, at least three of the shutters hung at slightly crooked angles. If he didn’t know better, Janus might think a crazy person lived there. Only he supposed one did. Buzz was the most paranoid person he had ever met-he had been worried about Lord Halloween way before it was fashionable.
How long had Buzz worked for the paper? As long as Janus knew about, that was for sure. And all that time, Buzz talked about sinister conspiracies concerning county supervisors or the police and when Laurence had transferred him to the business beat, Buzz had relentlessly pursued some bank in Waterford, claiming there was some check kiting scheme.
Holden and Buzz had never gotten along. Rebecca tolerated Buzz’s eccentricities because he produced good copy. He showed up at odd hours, but he did consistently deliver good stories for the paper.
Janus glanced at the house. For a second, he felt a twinge of anxiety, but he brushed it away. The killings, the telepathic twins back at the office and Laurence’s general attitude of panic had put Janus on edge.
He walked up the front steps and rang the doorbell. It sounded deep through the house and Janus jumped a little.
Jesus, he thought, I’m way too skittish. He rang the bell again and listened to it echo through the house. But he did not hear anything else.
Maybe Buzz blew town, like he had figured. Buzz had told Laurence he was staying indoors, but that could have been a lie. It was possible Buzz was out shopping, getting supplies. But honestly, Janus thought Buzz seemed like the kind of guy that had supplies stockpiled in the basement. He would be prepared for this.
Of course, Buzz could be ignoring the door. That made sense, since Buzz might believe the killer would actually show up and ring the doorbell.
Or Janus thought Buzz could be in some kind of danger. Maybe he was hurt, or…
He didn’t let himself complete the last line of thought.
I should get out of here, a voice in his head said. The neighborhood was oddly quiet and it wasn’t hard to guess why. Everyone was either gone or had locked themselves in. Four days to go before Halloween and people would not come out if they could help it.