As he crossed the curb, holding hands with Sandra, a TV floodlight was suddenly switched on, and this was instantly followed by a barrage of camera flashes.
353
Somebody called out, "Hey—it's Robert E. Lee! I swear to God, it's Robert E. Lee!"
Hicks turned to him and grinned, even though his left shoulder was soaked in blood. "They still love you, General Lee."
As they were surrounded by reporters and police and paramedics, a woman's voice began to sing "Dixie," and one by one, others joined in, and as Decker stood in the middle of the crowd, there was nothing he could do but nod and smile and lift his hat in the same respectful way that Robert E. Lee had lifted his hat to his defeated army.
The crowd didn't sing the popular words about the cotton fields, but the rousing battle hymn written by Albert Pike.
Southrons, hear your country call you! Up, lest worse than death befall you! To arms! To arms! To arms! In Dixie!
Lo! All the beacon fires are lighted! Let all hearts be now united!
To arms! To arms! To arms! In Dixie!
Advance the flag of Dixie!
Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Dixie's land we take our stand, And live or die for Dixie!
Cab arrived and climbed out of his car. It was obvious by his stripy collar that he had hurriedly pulled his big red sweater over his pajamas. "What happened here, Decker? Why the hell are you dressed up like that?"
Decker gritted his teeth and slowly tugged off his beard. "Long story, Captain."
354
Cab looked up at the fire. A turntable ladder was being swiveled around toward the side of the apartment block, and there was a fine spray of water in the wind.
Decker said, "We got him, Captain. You can call up the chief and tell her it's a wrap."
Cab sniffed, and then he sneezed. He didn't have a handkerchief, so Eunice Plummer had to hand him a crumpled tissue. "You're a good detective, Decker, but don't ever tell me how you do it. I think I'd come out in hives."
Three days later, on his first day back to the office, Decker's phone rang.
"Decker? This is Captain Morello."
"Well, well, and a very good morning to you, sir." "You're a general now, sir. You don't have to call me `sir." "You saw the news, then. I was going to call you and
thank you for everything you did."
"Lunch would be a very welcome thank-you."
"So long as you don't mind making it a threesome. I have another young lady that I have to thank."
"Should I be jealous?"
Decker thought about it, and smiled, and looked across at Sandra, who was drawing a picture of Chang() on the back of a crime-report sheet.
"Yes," he said. "I think you should."
Before he took Sandra and Toni Morello for lunch, he stopped off at the cemetery and stood in front of Cathy's grave, with an armful of white camellias. The breeze blew across the ruffled surface of the James River and made the trees whisper.
"I don't know where you are now," he told Cathy, as he laid the flowers on the red marble plaque. "But thanks, sweetheart. Thanks for everything."
355
GRAHAM
MASTERTON
THE DOORKEEPERS
Julia Winward has been missing in England for nearly a year. When her mutilated body is finally found floating in the Thames, her brother, Josh, is determined to find out what happened to his sister and exactly who—or what—killed her.
But nothing Josh discovers makes any sense. Julia had been working for a company that went out of business sixty years ago, and living at an address that hasn't existed since World War II. The only one who might help Josh is a strange woman with psychic abilities. But the doors she can open with her mind are far better left closed. For behind these doors lie secrets too horrible to imagine.
Dorchester Wishing Co., Inc.
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SPIRIT
GRAHAM
MASTERTON
Peggy Buchanan is such an adorable little girl, all blond curls and sweetness. Then comes the tragic day when her family finds Peggy floating in the icy water of their swimming pool, dead, her white dress billowing around her. Her sisters, Laura and Elizabeth, can't imagine life without Peggy. They know from that day forward their lives will be changed forever. But they can't know the nightmare that waits for them. Peggy may be dead–but she hasn't left them. As the sisters grow up, a string of inexplicable deaths threatens to shatter their lives. No matter how warm the weather, each corpse shows signs of severe frostbite ... and each victim's dying moments are tortured by a merciless little girl in a white dress, whose icy kiss is colder than death.
4935-X $5.99 US/$6.99 CAN
Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
P.O. Box 6640
Wayne, PA 19087-8640
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THE WIND
R D. CACEK
Listen to the leaves rustling. Hear the wind building. These could be the first signs that Gideon Berlander has found you. They could be the last sounds you hear. Gideon hasn't been the same since that terrifying night in the cave, the night he changed forever—the night he became a Wind Caller. But the power to call upon and control the unimaginable force of the wind in all its fury has warped him, twisted his mind, and unleashed a virtually unstoppable monster. Those who oppose Gideon are destroyed . . . horribly. No one can escape the wind. And no one—not even Gideon—knows what nightmarish secrets wait in its swirling grasp.
Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
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Please add 52.50 for shipping and handling for the first book and $.75 for each additional book. NY and PA residents, add appropriate sales tax. No cash, stamps, or CODs. Canadian orders require on extra $2.00 for shipping and handling and must be paid in U.S. dollars. Prices and availability subject to change. Payment must accompany all orders.