D W St John See Night Run (pdf)

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Night thinks. You book him in?
I was off, but, let me see& She frowns, fingers working keys, eyes intent on the
screen.
You check the booking log? Derek suggests.
Keep your pants on, that s what I m doing. Ah, Doug was on. She calls a deputy
over. Night has seen him, short man, mustache, barrel chest. Doug, you book the
cop killer?
He nods, I did the maggot. How about that, huh? Saved the state a lot of time
and money.
Night s beginning to worry. How many more people is he drawing into this?
Linda waves him close to look at the screen. Rigo, right?
He leans over the counter and love handles fight to escape the confines of his belt.
The man is so ordinary, so matter of fact, Night can t help but be reassured. He must
be wrong. Things like this don t happen in Doug s world.
That ain t him.
Night s hope for normalcy crumbles as fast as it came. Another deputy is drawn to
the commotion. Doug spots him. Mike, you helped haul Rigo out, right?
I cut him down.
That him?
He looks. That s him. He turns away to greet a new arrival.
I ll be damned. Doug speaks in a whisper. They brought one in, took another
one out. His boyish face strains with thought. I don t get it.
Linda searches their faces. It s got to be a mixup, that s all.
Fear caustic at the base of his spine, Night decides. I changed my mind, Linda.
Never mind.
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D . W . S T . J O HN
Derek slaps him with a look. He ignores it. Night doesn t blame him for thinking
he is nuts. That he can live with having more good people hurt he can t. She keeps
working at the keyboard. Linda, look at me.
She glances up, then back to the screen, involved in her search. Yeah?
You listening?
Puzzled by the intensity of this voice, she looks up. I m listening.
I want you to forget it.
She laughs, Forget it? Why? It s a mistake, it s
Because I say so.
Seeing the look on his face, her smile fades. In its place comes a worried frown,
That s no reason. It s got to be straightened out.
Doug leans over to reach her keyboard and she slaps his hand away, Hands off.
Hey, you called me over, remember? Arms up, he stalks off.
Night sighs, worry heavy as a lead vest. You want a reason? Because everybody
that comes within a mile of this thing gets hurt.
Her eyes show she begins to understand. Warily, she glances at the woman in the
booking chair, and back at him. You don t think it s a mixup.
He shakes his head.
As it sinks in he can see her eyes change. If you say so.
I say so. Clear the screen, get his name out of there.
She does, looks up, face concerned. Voice barely above a whisper, she says, What
you messing with, Night?
Heart sick, he nearly laughs. You don t want to know. I don t want to know. He
shoves away from the counter, We ll see you.
They wait for the door to open to the outside. Neither speaks. Night looks up at
the monitor, knowing Elaine can see him, knowing he must look sick. He feels sick.
She has to notice. She always notices. The eyes, nerves, brain of the jail, she misses
nothing.
She pegged him the day he learned Rita dumped him. Caught the expression on
his face and emerged from her sanctum to lead him inside. There, in darkness bro-
ken only by strobing security cameras, she heard him out and sent him on his way
with a pat and a Lifesaver. He s never forgotten it.
You okay, Night? Her voice comes over the speaker in the ceiling. You want
talk?
He smiles at the black glass to his right, wishing he could tell her, wishing he could
tell everybody. Can t this time. Thanks, though.
Okay, see you guys.
The door rumbles ponderously on its rails. Hey&
Over the speaker comes her sharp-voiced benediction.
You be careful out there.
" " "
Back at the Electric Station the waitress sets two slabs of prime rib in front of
them.
Derek saws off a bite-size plank, holds it aloft on his fork, Julie smells meat on
my breath, she ll skin me.
Night enjoys his struggle.
Longingly, Derek regards the bite of rare beef, God, I miss it.
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S ee N ight R un
Go on, she ll never know.
Derek is shocked, What are you, the little white devil sits on my shoulder and
prompts me to evil?
That s me.
Derek thinks about it, inhales, moans, recovers, Nah. He drops the fork, slides
the plate away. I could have my teeth cleaned and she d know. She s like a geisha,
can smell it on my skin. I d be sleeping in the den for a week. Not worth it.
The pink beef on Night s plate might as well be wax. Through frustration, fear,
futility there is no room for hunger. Night sets his plate on top of Derek s. The
waitress checks on them, and Night has her bag them both.
Derek sighs. Neat, having him hang himself. He couldn t just disappear. Now
they ve got a body. Everything sewn up tight. Wonder who he was.
Never seen him. Some junkie sleeping under the overpass, wrong place, wrong
time.
Derek nods. So we got no perp. Where s that leave us?
Right where we started.
Nowhere.
Night nods.
Derek stares across the emptying restaurant. Seven men& eight counting
Compton.
Let s not.
Seven then.
They re dead, we re alive.
Derek leans close, whispers. We could go to the Register-Guard.
Head hanging, heart a stone under his ribs, Night has a long quiet laugh. You
still don t get it.
The Oregonian, then.
Night lets the laugh die, And do what? he snaps with more bitterness than he
intended.
Tell the truth.
The truth? His hands he clasps in front of his forehead hard enough to set his
knuckles popping. When he can speak he looks up. Give them a song and dance
about a government conspiracy? What did you think about conspiracies a couple
hours ago? Look at us. We couldn t get their attention if Sam did her routine on their
desk. Can t you guess how it would go? They d call to verify our credentials and
they d get what we got in Salem.
Within 24 hours some Peruvian illegal maid would find the four of us in a room
at The Blue Moon. I can see it now two drug cops, stripper and dealer in kinky sex
melange found overdosed in motel. Even dead we d be lucky to make A section.
Don t you get it? These are the guys you never want to meet, the guys JFK pissed off
before Dallas. They don t lose. And the beautiful thing, the sweet thing is, nobody
believes in them. Is that perfect, or what?
We could line up SWAT, set up a meet.
Night watches him, incredulous. You re suggesting we murder them? This is
coming out of your mouth?
Derek leans forward, They threaten Julie? They threaten Jade? I m suggesting we
take them, let them decide how. They start something, we finish it.
Night thinks it over. First we d never get the go ahead to call them out. I don t
know anybody over there any more, do you?
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D . W . S T . J O HN
Hutto does.
Second, if they were out-gunned, they d throw in the towel and walk away. They d
fade into the woodwork just like Rigo or whatever his name is. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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