“It was a weekend seminar, okay? Realtors and lawyers, talking about property law and escrow and all that kind of stuff. George Woods hit on me from the moment I arrived, and he wouldn’t let me alone.”
“So what did you do?”
“I told him to back off, but he wouldn’t take any notice.”
She paused. Now her anger had given way to self-pity, and tears were sliding freely down her cheeks. “I told him to back off but he must have put something in my drink. Rohypnol, maybe. He never admitted it. I don’t remember him doing it, but he took me up to my room and he raped me.”
She took a deep breath, and then she said, “He raped me and he. abused me in every possible way you can think of. When I woke up the sheet was covered in blood. And he was still there, would you believe? He was still there, sitting on the end of my bed with a drink in his hand, smiling like the cat that got the cream.
“He had used a vodka bottle on me. Can you believe that?”
Sissy reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Sit down,” she said, gently. Jane Becker blinked at her for a moment as if she couldn’t understand what she was saying, but then she sat on the couch, and Sissy sat next to her.
“So there wasn’t any Red Mask, and there wasn’t any man of average height and average build?”
“No,” Jane Becker whispered.
“How did you do it? You managed to give yourself some pretty deep stabs in the back, didn’t you?”
“I saw it on some TV program once. It probably wouldn’t have worked with a really modern elevator, but the elevators in the Giley Building are so old and cranky.”
“So you stabbed George Woods, and then you fixed the knife between the elevator doors and stabbed yourself in the back three or four times, and when the elevator got down to the lobby the knife fell out from between the doors and nobody realized it was you?”
Jane Becker nodded. “I was so hyped up that it didn’t even hurt. In a funny way, I almost enjoyed it, stabbing myself. It was like I was punishing myself. Not for killing George — I didn’t deserve punishing for that. Killing George was justice. But I deserved to be punished for allowing George to do all those terrible things to me.”
“That wasn’t your fault,” Sissy told her. “How could you have stopped him? He drugged you!”
“No, I was stupid. I should have realized right from the very beginning what he was like. I allowed him to ruin my life. I allowed him to steal who I was. Look at me now! I’m nobody! I’m nothing!”
Sissy stood up again, and went over to Molly and Frank. “Do you know who she sounds like? She sounds exactly like Red Mask. That’s who Red Mask is. Jane Becker’s need for revenge, made flesh.”
Jane Becker blew her nose again. “What happens now?” she asked. “Are you going to arrest me?”
“Well, not necessarily,” said Frank. “Maybe we can come to some kind of arrangement. If you come along with us when we go hunting for Red Mask, we’ll see if we can’t suffer from collective amnesia as far as you and George Woods are concerned.”
“Are you for real? Can you actually do that?”
Frank rested a hand on her shoulder. “Ms. Becker, you’d be surprised. I can do anything and everything, and a couple of other things besides.”
At that moment, Molly’s cell rang.
“Red Mask?” asked Sissy.
Molly shook her head. “It’s Yvonne, from next door.” She listened, and then she said, “Oh, no! Oh my God. When?”
“What’s wrong?” Sissy asked her.
“It’s Victoria. Yvonne was bringing her home from school. She was getting out of the car, and some guy grabbed her.
“She said it all happened so fast that she didn’t get a very good look at him, but he was wearing a black suit and a red shirt, and he must have been strong, because he lifted her clear off the ground.”
“Oh, please,” said Sissy. “Not Red Mask.”
“Sounds like him, doesn’t it?” said Frank. “Did your friend call the police?”
“First thing. Oh please, God, don’t let him harm her.”
“Call the police department yourself,” Frank told Molly. “Tell them where you are and give them your cell number. Then call Trevor. Tell him we’ll meet him outside the Giley Building.”
“The Giley Building? Why there?”
“Because that’s Red Mask’s home territory. That’s his lair, if you like. And I’ll bet you anything you like that he’s taken Victoria there.”
“Then I should tell the police that.”
“No. It’s too risky. Even if the cops can find him, what are they going to do? Shoot him? You know that they can’t hurt him. But he might harm Victoria.”
“Oh God, Frank. No.”
Frank said, “He’s done this for a reason, Molly: to get his revenge on you. You created him, but now you’re trying to destroy him, and you’re the only person who can. You’ve betrayed him, so far as he’s concerned.”
He turned to Jane Becker. “Well, Ms. Becker. It looks like you’re going to be helping us sooner than we thought. How about getting yourself changed?”
“Are you serious?”
“Never more so,” Frank told her. “Red Mask obviously wants us to come looking for him, on his terms, the way he did with Detective Kunzel and those two SWAT teams. He wants a showdown. So let’s not disappoint him, shall we?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The Falling Girl
As they drove back into the city over the Roebling Suspension Bridge, Sissy borrowed Molly’s cell phone and called Detective Bellman. The bridge had a rumbling metal-grid floor, so she had to shout to make herself heard.
“Freddie? It’s Sissy Sawyer! We have a crisis.”
“Has Red Mask called you again?”
“Not since last night. But it looks like he’s abducted Molly’s little girl, Victoria.”
“What? Jesus! Have you called it in?”
“Molly’s neighbor did, as soon as it happened. That was about twenty minutes ago, from her home in Blue Ash. Molly’s called, too, and talked to a Sergeant Haskins.”
“Bella Haskins, yes, she’s terrific. And the FBI will come in on this, too. They always do, when it’s a child under twelve. Where do you think he might have taken her? Any ideas?”
“We believe he might be hiding her in the Giley Building. That’s the only place where he really feels real.”
“Okay, I’ll get some units round there right now.”
“Freddie — I’m asking you a huge, huge favor. I know you were pretty skeptical about what happened in the Giley Building yesterday.”
There was a crackling silence. Then Detective Bellman said, “In all honesty, Ms. Sawyer, I have to tell you that it did stretch my credibility to the universe and beyond. You know that I’m still trying to be open-minded here, and I saw for myself that something got burned on that office carpet — maybe even somebody.”
“It was Red Mask, Freddie. I swear to you.”
“Well, maybe. But I didn’t see no human remains, and I didn’t see no canine remains, neither. In fact, no material evidence to substantiate your story whatsoever.”
Sissy said, “Listen, Freddie — that Red Mask was nothing but an image. So was Frank. So was the scenting dog, too. They vanished. When a living image dies, it fades away. It simply disappears, like it never was. Even the original sheet of paper that it was drawn on is blank.”
“So, okay — what’s this huge, huge favor?” asked Detective Bellman. It was obvious that he wasn’t keen to get involved in any kind of existential argument.
“I want you to let us into the Giley Building, to look for Victoria. You can come with us if you want to, but I’d prefer it if it was just us. I think it’s our only chance of finding Red Mask and getting Victoria back unharmed.”