One by One (Роберт Хантер 5 Поодиночке) - Carter Chris (2) - Страница 47

The truth was anyone walking down that street could be the next victim. Hunter and Garcia had no way of knowing.

The man with the thick mustache moved right, stepping out of the way.

Inside Hunter’s office, the world stopped moving.

Standing in a direct line with the camera, about ten feet away, Hunter and Garcia finally saw who the killer was talking about.

Sixty

There were two of them walking together. Two friends enjoying a day out, window-shopping somewhere in Los Angeles, completely unaware of the evil that’d been following them. Their backs were toward the camera, but the one on the left didn’t need to turn around for Garcia to recognize her.

‘Jesus Christ!’ Garcia’s voice croaked.

‘Anna,’ Hunter whispered, also recognizing Garcia’s wife. His gaze shot toward his partner as a thousand butterflies came alive inside his stomach.

For a moment Garcia seemed unable to move, to speak, to blink. And then he exploded.

‘You motherfucker . . . I swear to God . . . if you touch her . . . if you come close to her, I’m going to find you, and I’m going to kill you. You hear me? I’m going to kill you. Screw the badge. Screw being a cop. I will bring hell and all its demons to your doorstep, no matter what.’

Garcia was now shaking. Adrenaline fueling every inch of his body.

The caller laughed once again. ‘She’s beautiful, isn’t she?’

‘Fuck you, you sick freak. You have no idea what I will do to you if . . .’ Garcia reached for his cellphone.

‘Let me tell you how this is going to work, Detective,’ the caller cut in, predicting Garcia’s next move. ‘If you call her now to ask her where she is. If I see her reaching for her phone and turning around to look at me, I promise you you’ll never see her alive again. The two previous victims will look like Christmas morning compared to what I’ll do to her. And you know I mean it. Trust me. You can’t get here fast enough.’

Garcia’s desperate stare moved from his phone to the monitor on his desk and then to Hunter.

Hunter lifted his right hand, signaling Garcia not to dial. ‘Do you know where she is?’ he mouthed the words. ‘Did Anna tell you where she was going today?’

Garcia shook his head. ‘I didn’t even know she was going out,’ he mouthed back.

‘Do you know what intrigues me?’ the caller proceeded. ‘Both of you keep saying that you’ll find me. That you will catch me. Detective Hunter said that last time we talked. Do you remember it?’

No reply.

‘Do you remember it, Detective Hunter?’

‘Yes.’

‘But the truth is that you aren’t even close to getting to me, are you?’

Silence.

‘Meanwhile, as you can see, I can get to people close to you, and if I so see fit, take them away from your lives. It’s my choice, not yours, or theirs. I can even get to you if I want to. I can be anywhere, and everywhere. But all you have are empty threats.’

‘It’s not a threat, you sack o’ shit.’ Garcia’s voice was still trembling with rage. ‘It’s a promise. If you touch her, nothing else matters. Not even the law will matter. There isn’t a hole under a rock on this earth that will be safe for you to hide in. Do you understand what I’m saying?’

‘I do,’ the caller said, as calm as a priest in a confessionary. ‘Would it make a difference if I took your wife’s friend instead?’

Hunter and Garcia tensed once again.

The caller didn’t wait for an answer. ‘But of course it would. Then it wouldn’t be personal, and your reaction wouldn’t have been the same, isn’t that right, Detective Garcia? As you said, when it’s someone close to us, nothing else matters. We will even forget who we are. Maybe even become a monster in the process.’ The caller let out a heavy breath, and for the first time his voice got a little harsher. ‘You know, most people believe that we, as humans, always have a choice, no matter what situation we find ourselves in. Well, I’d like to contest that theory. I’d like to suggest that we don’t always have a choice. Sometimes choices are made for us by others, and there’s nothing we, as humans, can do about it, except react. For example, if I decide to take your wife from you right now, Detective Garcia, my choice, not yours, will change your life forever.’

Garcia didn’t know what to say.

‘But anger and emotional pain are good things,’ the caller moved on after a silent moment. ‘They show that we’re still alive. That we still care. That other people still matter to us. Is my psychology correct, Detective Hunter?’

Hunter looked deep in thought for a split second. ‘Yes,’ he replied.

‘You should be proud, Detective Garcia, you did well. I like your reaction. A reaction of a man who cares.’ The caller chuckled. ‘Well, I guess my work here is done. But we’ll be talking again soon – that is a promise.’

The line went dead.

The images disappeared from their computer screens.

The website went offline.

Sixty-One

Silence ruled the room for only a couple of seconds before Hunter turned to Garcia.

‘Call Anna,’ he said. ‘Find out where she is. Tell her to find a busy place, like a coffee shop, and stay there until we get there.’

Garcia looked at Hunter as if he were from outer space. ‘Are you kidding? You heard what he said, right? If he saw Anna reaching for her phone . . .’ He wasn’t able to finish the sentence.

‘He’s not going to do anything, Carlos,’ Hunter said. ‘It was a bluff. He wanted to get a reaction.’

‘What?’

‘It was a bluff. Trust me. There were signs all throughout his telephone conversation with you. I’ll explain in the car. Right now you need to get Anna on the phone and find out where she is so we can get to her.’ Hunter had already grabbed his jacket. ‘Let’s move.’ He dashed for the door. ‘Call her.’

‘Woah, hold the fuck on, Robert,’ Garcia said in an unsteady voice, lifting his hands. ‘We’ve been partners for over five years. There’s no one alive I trust more than you, you know that, but we’re talking about the sickest, most sadistic and psychopathic killer this department has ever faced, and at this precise moment he’s following my wife. As he said, we can’t get there in time, even if we knew where she was. If I make this call and you’re wrong, he’ll take her, you know he will.’

Hunter paused by the door and faced his partner. ‘I’m not wrong, Carlos. He will not take Anna.’ Hunter’s conviction was absolute, Garcia could see that, but still he didn’t move.

Hunter checked his watch. He wanted to gain time, but right now they were doing exactly the opposite. ‘Carlos, whatever agenda this killer has, Anna just doesn’t fit in.’

‘How so?’

‘OK, one possibility we’re facing is that the killer picks his victims at random from the general public, right? Well, if that really is the case, Anna isn’t a random pick. She’s your wife, and he knows it. There’s no random factor there, which, in that case, would be a detachment from his MO. If he’s after his victims for some other reason, like revenge or something else, again, I can’t see how Anna would fit.’

Garcia scratched his chin.

‘He went after Anna for one reason, and one reason only.’

‘Because she’s my wife.’

‘Exactly. He did it to get under our skin. To prove a point. Not to satisfy whatever agenda he has.’

‘And what point would that be? That he can get to anyone he wants? That he can hurt us?’