"Huh?"
"It's metal shiny."
"Like a ... like what? Shiny like a knife blade?"
"Yeah, shiny."
"You've got knives, Gary. Is it like a knife you own?"
"Not a knife."
"Not a knife?"
"He chopped her up. Chopped her with a .. . a hatchet."
Downes's heart leaped. "What kind of hatchet?"
"I can't see the blade, but it seems like a hatchet."
There was a drawer in the long interrogation table. In it were pens, paper and a ruler. Downes took the picture of Sandy from Gary's right hand and replaced it with the ruler.
"Take hold of this ruler."
Gary did as he was told.
"Gary, you are unbelievable. I've never seen anyone with your powers. Now, to me, this is a ruler, but with your supernatural mind, you can use 'projection transfer' to transfer this ruler to the hatchet. Do you have it?
Can you feel the shiny, silver hatchet?"
Gary nodded.
"All right. Here's where you do your thing. I'm gonna stand and so are you. I'm gonna be Sandy, so I'll squat down some, and you're gonna let that hatchet lead you to strike like the killer did, so we can see how Sandy was killed.
"Okay, stand up and keep your eyes closed. I'm right in front of you. Only now I'm Sandy. Are you read y?
Gary nodded.
"Let it flow, Gary. First hit. Where was it?"
Gary brought his arm up sluggishly. "Top of the head," he said, as his arm slowly descended.
"This is great. Then what?"
Gary saw It all. His arm swung sideways.
"Another to the right side," he said. "And another."
Blood was spraying from Sandy's face as the blade sliced into it. Gary's arm rose and fell. Her face was breaking up as she fell back, flying away like shards from a fractured mirror. Gary stopped.
"What's the matter?" Downes asked.
"I don't like her face like this."
"What do you mean?"
"The blood."
"You can see her face chopped up?"
I I I "Yes.
"Where is the killer, Gary?"
"Over her."
"Can you see his face?"
"No."
"Try hard, Gary."
"I can't see it."
"Okay, guy. You're doing fantastic. Hang in there.
I've never met anyone with powers like yours. So, let's use those powers. Let them flow through Sandy's medallion. Let God help you see that hatchet. Can you see It?"
"Yes."
"Okay. The killer took the hatchet away. Where is it now?"
"He ... he threw it away."
"Where, Gary?"
"He threw it 'cause of the blood. He didn't want to see all that blood."
"But where did he throw it? Help us find it. Project yourself into that hatchet."
Gary's head wobbled. He wet his lips.
"He's running to a dark place because he's scared."
"Someplace dark? But where?"
"Just dark. I don't know."
"Come on, Gary. Don't let me down now. Use your special powers."
"I'm trying, Sergeant, but he's too far from Sandy to see him."
"You mean he's out of the park?"
"Yeah. She can't see him."
"Where is Sandy?"
"By the well."
"How did she get there?"
"She ... she ran."
"Okay."
"Then, after he chopped her, she was by the well."
"You saw that?"
"Yeah."
"Is there much blood on the killer?"
"Yes."
"Did the killer clean off that blood?"
"I can't see. He's too far away."
"Okay. One last try at something. Why did the killer murder Sandy? Do you know why he did it?"
Gary thought about the girl at the dorm and the girl at the Stallion and how he wanted them to love him.
Maybe the killer asked Sandy to be his girl and she said no, like the girl at the bar.
"He wanted Sandy to be nice to him, but she said no."
"To be nice?"
"To love him, but she wouldn't love him and he got mad."
"Like you got mad at Karen Nix?"
"Yeah." Downes should have been exhausted, but he was so elated he did not feel the fatigue.
"Did I help you?" Gary asked .
"Oh, yeah. You've been a big help."
"Can I go home now?"
"Not just yet."
"Why?"
"Gary, I'm gonna be honest with you. We have a problem here."
"What problem?"
"The problem of how you know so much about Sandy's murder."
"I seen it with my powers."
"Well, that's probably it, but that wouldn't explain one thing. Bob Patrick told me what he saw on your hands."
Gary's eyes widened.
"What did you see, Gary?"
"B ... blood."
"Why do you think you saw the blood?"
"I don't know."
"Blood doesn't just appear on someone's hands.
Where did it come from?"
Gary understood what Downes was suggesting and he started to squirm on his chair.
"Oh no, Sergeant. I couldn't of done that."
"Do you know what you just said, Gary? You said couldn't." You didn't say "I did not kill that girl." Why didn't you say, flat out, that you did not kill Sandy?"
I .. . I don't know."
"You were drunk that night, weren't you?"
"Yeah."
"And you told me that you don't remember everything clearly because you had too much to drink."
Gary nodded.
"Think about it. Why did you say 'couldn't' instead of 'didn't'?"
Gary looked at Downes with pleading eyes and asked, "Do ... do you think I killed that girl?"
"I don't know, Gary. I wasn't there. Only Sandy and her killer were there. But you'd know in your heart, if you did it. Even if you couldn't remember with your conscious mind, because you were so drunk, your subconscious mind would know."
"I . I don't remember killing anyone, Sergeant.
Honest. If ... if I did, I don't remember."
Gary licked his lips. Could he have killed Sandy and forgotten? Could he have done the things he saw on the movie screen?
"Well, Gary?"
"I ... I couldn't have done that," Gary said, desperately. "No, no, I couldn't. Could 1?"
"I don't know, Gary. Why don't we talk about that?"
PART FOUR THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME
Chapter ELEVEN.
Peter was so depressed that he did not fall asleep until two-thirty in the morning, giving him a grand total of two hours sack time before he was wrenched out of bed by the ringing of the phone.
"Hello," he rasped as he squinted at the clock.
"Pete, it's Steve Mancini."
"Steve? Aren't you on your honeymoon?"
"I was. Donna and I are on our way back to Whitaker. Gary's been arrested."
"He didn't get arrested for peeping again?" asked Peter. He had told Steve about Gary's arrest and Steve had saved Gary's job. He had also decided to keep the information about the arrest from Donna and Gary's parents.
"Gary is charged with murder, Pete. It's that girl at the wishing well."
"Holy shit!"
"I won't be back in Whitaker until eleven or so. He needs a lawyer, right away. The cops will make minceeat out of him if they get Gary alone."
"Steve, I'm very sympathetic. I mean, Gary seems like a nice guy, and I was glad to help him out, but I'm not your man. I've been handling criminal cases for what? Two months? The only case I tried by myself was a suspended license charge, and I lost it."
"I'm not asking you to take the case. I just want you to make certain that Gary doesn't do anything stupid before I talk to him."
1. "Why don't you call Amos or someone else with more experience?"
"No offense, but I doubt Geary is sober at this hour and the attorneys who practice criminal law in Whitaker make Bozo the Clown look like Perry Mason. You're the only one I can trust to do this the right way."Peter had met some of the other lawyers who practiced in the Whitaker criminal courts. Mancini was right. They weren't all that swift. And Steve only wanted Peter to baby-sit with his brother-in-law until he got back to town. It was the least he could do for one of the few people in Whitaker he could call a friend.