The body freezes at a time like this, but the spirit soars because it wants to get away. He was all around me. His ground, his air, his smell, his shade. I’d never been this close to the essence of him — not even in Brittany Elder’s bedroom — and I wasn’t prepared for it. He wasn’t like anything. I had nothing to compare him to. But I could feel all the power of his need, and all the secret, cunning efficiency of his will.
He wasn’t escalating. He’d already been where he was going. At least once. Right here.
Grantley had moved half a continent away, and found The Horridus waiting.
An hour later, I was pretty sure I had the Grantley son’s first name: Gene. The neighbors weren’t positive. And they were even less sure of his last name because Wanda had married “a bunch.” Some said Webb, or Webster, one of those. Some said Vonn. Some said Grantley. Most said they had no idea. But none of the surnames matched my lists from Bright Tomorrows or Dawn Christie; none had listed homes with detached units for sale in Orange County; none of them connected with any names we’d come up with in the Horridus investigation so far.
But the Hopkin neighbors agreed in their assessment of him: late twenties, maybe early thirties; long hair and beard, but neatly trimmed; a well-groomed fella; very quiet; didn’t seem to have a steady job; kept to himself. Ever notice how neighbors always say the same thing about these shitbaskets? They said his mother, Wanda, was small, tense and unfriendly. The young man had a van. Wanda had an older model Lincoln Town Car and the neighbors had often seen her peering under the curve of the steering wheel as she made her occasional low-speed runs through town.
One of them said the sketch from Steven Wicks’s memory was “kinda like him, all right.” The one from Brittany Elder “ain’t him.”
I found a pay phone outside a liquor store and called Johnny. Just his message tape. I tried Louis — same thing. But I got Frances at her desk.
“Frances, this is Terry.”
Her catch of breath reminded me of all the hideous suspicion now clinging to my own name, in my own department.
“I need you to listen to me for a minute—”
“—I—”
“Goddamnit Frances, listen to me!”
I told her to track the names Gene Vonn, Webb, Webster and Grantley through all our sources — county and state criminal files, DMV, TRW, the assessor’s office, tax rolls, voters’ lists, even the phone books if she had to. Triple-check it against the treasurer’s property tax rolls and the realtors’ multiple listings. I wanted his ass covered and I wanted it covered now.
“This guy killed a girl in Texas,” I said. “And I’m betting my badge he’s our man.”
There was a moment of hesitation as the ludicrousness of my statement hit us both.
“You know what I mean, Frances.”
She was silent for a moment. “You’re not where you’re supposed to be.”
“I couldn’t watch soaps all day, Frances. Look... go ahead and think what you have to think. Believe what you have to believe. But also know that those pictures were doctored, and I didn’t do what they show. You can hate me or fear me or loathe me, Frances, but I want you to know the truth. Don’t hate me so much we can’t work together when I get back in there where I belong. We’re still going to need you on the team. I guess I’m sounding, at this point, fairly ridiculous, aren’t I?”
“You went to Wichita Falls.”
“I shouldn’t say, Frances. You don’t need to know that. But you do need to know that this Gene creep abducted a six-year-old girl and killed her. Amanda’s first sketch, with the beard and glasses, got positive reviews from the neighbors. I think he’s our guy. Go find him, will you? Arrest The Horridus, will you?”
She was silent for a moment. “Johnny finished the multiple listings yesterday. None of them worked out. There wasn’t a Gene on it, either.”
“Then get on the women.”
“Oh, for Chrissakes, Terry. There’s no Webb, Vonn or Grantley on the list, I can tell you that right now.”
“What about Webster?”
“No”
I thought of Gene’s older “trashy” sisters.
“What if he’s living in a house owned by—”
“—Terry? Terry? You are not my boss right now. And, just for the record, I want you to know how absolutely disgusted I am by what I saw. Disgusted, betrayed. And basically really goddamned pissed off at you.”
“Fine. Now, what’s the latest on Stefanic, he’s the park ranger who—”
“—Goddamn you, Naughton, get a lawyer!” she whispered, and hung up.
I tried Louis and Johnny again, but they were still gone. I left Johnny the names Gene Vonn, Webb, Webster and Grantley. I left them for Louis, too.
Then I called Jim Wade and told his secretary who I was. A moment later he was on the line.
“You’ve violated our agreement,” he said.
“I’m sorry, sir. But I’ve got the gold.”
I told him what I’d found and where I’d found it. I begged him to assign some more deputies to CAY and scour the county for Gene Vonn/Webb/Webster/Grantley and Wanda Grantley. He actually listened to what I was saying, and I heard his pencil scratching on paper.
“Is that actually possible? For a snake to eat a human?”
“I’ll be talking to—”
“—No, you won’t, Terry. This is what you’re going to do. You’re going to board the first plane back to Orange County that you can get. And you’re going to be in my office thirty minutes after that plane lands. Clear?”
“Sir — there’s so much work to—”
“—I can have an arrest warrant issued by phone in about ten minutes. I’ll do it.”
I watched the treetops swaying and thought of Mary Lou Kidder’s end in a heap of dung in Gene Somebody’s backyard. I couldn’t help but see those pictures of myself again; they were following me wherever I went, unshakable and determined as bloodhounds. I wanted a drink quite badly. And I realized something about myself in that moment: I was willing to sacrifice almost anything to get The Horridus. At least, that’s what I was doing. I felt so close. But how could Frances and Wade feel it? They hadn’t seen what I’d seen. They hadn’t smelled the smell and felt the feel.
“Let me work the rest of the day here,” I said. “I’ll take the first flight out tomorrow morning.”
“Isn’t there one tonight?”
“No, sir,” I lied.
“Where are you staying?”
“I’d rather not, uh... well... the Holiday Inn in Wichita Falls.”
“Call me when you get back there. And stay there until you leave in the morning. Those are direct orders.”
I told him I believed it was time to go public with the Brittany Elder description and the drawing by Amanda. I thought we should bring the water under him up to a boil. But Sheriff Wade must have had bigger things to think about, because he hung up.
Next I called Sam Welborn. I told him to get out to the old Grantley place in Hopkin, and gave him the address. “You’re going to need someone for prints and photos and video,” I said. “You’re going to need the coroner, sooner or later. I’ll be waiting for you.”
“Be damned,” he said quietly. “ ’Mon my way.”
It was easy to get the reptile expert at the Fort Worth Zoo. The zoo receptionist was quite pleasant and she put me right through. His name was Joseph Dee and I identified myself as an Orange County Sheriff investigator working a kidnapping and sexual assault case that had led me to Texas. I asked him if it was possible for a very large snake to eat a small person. He said nothing for a moment, then: