“It’s all about having hope,” Patty said.
“It’s all about hope. So, you’re off the case?”
“Yup. The killing last night was the last straw. My CO felt a reorganization was called for. So in the beginning it was my case, and now I’m off it altogether even though I really haven’t done anything wrong, except maybe have two X chromosomes. Actually, I have my CO’s permission to stay available to Wayne Brasco, just in case he can’t read my writing on any of the three or four feet of reports, notes, and documents I’ve got to turn over to him tomorrow. Not that Brasco would be interested in anything I’ve generated.”
“You okay about this?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe it’s for the best. The thing I feel worst about is my father. He never wanted me to be a cop in the first place. I really wanted to be part of the team that nails this guy.”
“It’s hard. You’re playing the killer’s game by the killer’s rules, and he’s damn good at it.”
“I guess. I’m not good at dealing with failure, but I also know this isn’t some sort of contest. The blood all over that motel-room bed was quite real, and even though he was a philandering jerk, I feel awful about that surgeon. From what I can tell, he actually knew from our warning that there was potential danger last night, but apparently, seducing yet another trophy was more important to him than staying alive.”
“Do you think a woman killed him?”
“It’s certainly possible. If it was a man, Dr. Richard Leaf must have been one surprised puppy.”
They became aware of movement to their right and left a moment before three youths, two white, one black, stepped from behind trees on either side of the path. Two of them were built like football linemen. The third, considerably smaller, was wearing a Celtics jacket and a Red Sox cap. He stepped forward to confront them, his hands twitching excitedly at his sides. He had acne-scarred skin and emitted a dense aroma of marijuana. Had Will been alone, he would have spun around and taken off, but none of the three had a weapon that he could see, and Patty showed no inclination to run. Instead, she continued holding gently on to his arm. At one moment she tilted her head just enough to touch his shoulder. He could sense absolutely no tension in her.
“Well, well,” the teen said, “it appears we have visitors to our toll area. We hope you are prepared to pay.”
“What do you want?” Patty asked firmly.
“Well, that wicked hat of yours for starters, right, guys?”
“Right you are, dude.”
“And for seconds, oh. . um. . let me see. . how about. . your wallets.”
“Yeah, their wallets. Hey, good idea, dude. Good idea.”
Patty slipped her arm free of Will’s. She pinched her cap by the bill, took it off, and wearily wiped imaginary sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. Then she set the cap back in place.
“Actually, dude, it’s a terrible idea,” she said. “I have two other things you might want to see, dude, before we give you this cap and our wallets. Wanna guess what they are? Huh, dude? Wanna guess?” She grinned at him most menacingly. “Well, first there’s my badge, and second, perhaps a source of even more concern to you assholes, is my gun.”
She slipped her hand inside her jacket, but the silent vote had already been taken. In unison, the three youths whirled and bolted off into the woods. Patty watched them go, then slipped her hand back inside Will’s arm.
“Let’s see,” she said, “where were we?”
“Why didn’t you bust them?” he asked.
“And ruin a perfectly lovely romantic walk? I don’t think so. There are plenty of punks like those around, but evenings with a handsome, funny doctor are pretty tough to come by.”
“Is your gun really in there?”
“It was, before I locked it in the trunk of my car. I try not to be packing when I take romantic walks.”
“Me, too,” Will said. “Besides, the two big ones were all blubber. I could have handled them if I had to.”
“I know. I’ve read all about your temper, remember? They’ll never know how lucky they were. Now, where were we?”
He turned and, cradling her face between his hands, set his mouth on hers and rested it there until her lips parted. Their second kiss, with Will bracing his back against the trunk of a sprawling chestnut tree, lasted a minute or more.
“Now do you see why I let them go?” Patty whispered.
“‘I see,’ said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.”
“Ugh.”
“And I promise not to report you for dereliction of duty.”
Will put his arm around her, and for a time they just walked.
“You thinking about the case?” he asked finally.
“I guess there were reasons they demoted me to being Brasco’s assistant after it became apparent these were serial killings. But I haven’t done anything to deserve being dropped from the team. They needed a scapegoat.”
“Is there anything you can do about it? Can your father intervene?”
“I doubt he would, but I don’t want him to anyway. This is my gig.”
“I understand.”
“I’m not going to give up, though-especially as long as you’re our main connection to the killer. I’ll keep at it on my own time if I have to.”
“Any way I can help?”
“Just keep letting me vent. Will, I’ve looked at these murders from every angle I could think of, but I still can’t get past the feeling that there’s something I’m missing, or something I haven’t done.”
“Maybe it’s in those letters.”
“Maybe.”
“Speaking of which-”
“M and N,” she said, “tucked neatly beneath the hand that had removed countless brain tumors by day and, from what we’ve learned so far, stroked countless women’s bottoms by night. I don’t know why, but try as I might, I’m having trouble warming up to the guy.”
“That’s okay. He’s having trouble warming up at all. M and N, huh? Do you think after we finish here we could go back to my place and use my set to play a little homicide Scrabble?”
“Triple word. Double letter. I before E except after C.”
“Precisely. Okay, Sergeant, here’s the way this all shakes down for me. This is a family of killers at work, not just one. I mean family as in brothers and sisters-at least one of each, maybe more. I feel almost certain of it. The guy who’s calling me said ‘us’ over and over. It looks to me like some managed-care company just tried to cut corners with the wrong patient, and now it’s backfired on them all. Given their policies, it was only a matter of time before someone went postal on them. These killers are furious over the death of their mother, and they won’t stop until everyone everyplace knows what happened to her.”
“Then why haven’t they just gone right to the press?”
“In time they probably will. But at the moment, even though they’re smart and professional, they’re also insane and arrogant and imbued with a bitter, angry sense of irony. I think they want to involve me because having a doctor on their side validates what they’re doing. They’re grooming me to be their spokesman, just as I was for the Hippocrates Society.”
“But now you’ve fallen from grace.”
“Big time. I think if I don’t set things straight and get back to work soon, they’re going to lose interest in me. They’ve chosen me to present their case to the public, and unless I can get out from under the charges against me, they’ll have nothing. They’re either going to demand I find out who did this to me and get myself back on the staff at the hospital, or-”
“Or decide you’re not worth the energy and maybe pay you a little visit with a couple of more letters.”
RTERBECNMN
A phrase? A name? A clue?