Evil at Heart (37 page)

           
around the car, searching for something that would help her get inside.

           
To break into a car you need a rubber doorstop, a wire hanger, and a rubber band. You straighten the hanger, and bend a ninety-degree angle about a half-inch from one end. Wrap the rubber band around the tip. Jam the doorstop into the gap where the car door meets the body, so you have room to slide the wire in. If the doorstop doesn’t seem to work—jam a smaller plastic wedge in first, and then the doorstop. Insert the wire and use the rubber tip to hit the unlock button inside the door.

           
You learned a lot writing features for a newspaper.

           
Most of it was useless.

           
Susan picked up a piece of an angle-parking curb that had broken off and hurled it through her car’s passenger-side window.

           
The window shattered, sending beads of auto glass all over the inside of the car. Susan reached in, unlocked the car, opened the glove box, and got out the phone that Jack Reynolds had given Archie.

           
She called 911.

           
And she called Henry.

           
This time she didn’t call the paper.

           
C H A P T E R 42

           
Susan sank down low in the driver’s seat of her car, and waited, like Henry had told her to. She had cleared most of the glass off her seat, and shaken a few stray pieces off the front of her shirt. It was dark under the bridge. Susan wished she’d parked near a streetlight. The car shook as trucks passed overhead. She was almost grateful for the wailing of approaching sirens. It turns out that when you call 911 for help in the middle of the night they get anxious and go all Hill Street Blues.

           
Susan peeked her head up. Cops were descending on the warehouse like Black Friday shoppers at a Wal-Mart. They went in through every door.

           
She sank back down until her face was next to the gearshift. There was an old Burgerville napkin that had been on her car floor for two weeks and she grabbed it and held it to her cheek. It smelled like ketchup.

           
More sirens were arriving. Her rearview mirror reflected the red, white, and blue lights, filling the car with stutters of color.

           
“Go to your car and stay there until I get there,” Henry had said. “Promise me.”

           
Susan fiddled with the door handle.

           
But all those cops didn’t know where Archie was. She did.

           
So what? She just runs up and explains the whole thing? She tried to imagine the scenario. It ended with both her and Archie getting arrested for trespassing. What if Archie had ended up cutting the guy? How would they explain that?

           
Fuck.

           
She glanced down at the phone in her hands. She had called the cops from a phone that Archie had gotten from a drug dealer.

           
Maybe not the smartest move.

           
She reached back over to the glove box and dug out the other phone she’d seen Archie stow in there.

           
Its red message light was blinking. Why did Archie need two phones? Maybe it wasn’t Archie’s. Maybe he was holding it for someone. She was always accidentally stealing people’s phones. There were probably three or four phones floating around the backseat. There were probably old rotary phones in her backseat. It had been that long since she’d cleaned out her car.

           
She hit the phone’s answer button and a text message sprang up.

           
“

           
HOW ARE YOU FEELING, DARLING?”

           
Susan’s throat tightened.

           
She could barely steady her thumb enough to scroll down through the text history.

           
There were hundreds of texts. All from the same number.All the same message.

           
“

           
HOW ARE YOU FEELING, DARLING?”

           
“

           
HOW ARE YOU FEELING, DARLING?”

           
“

           
HOW ARE YOU FEELING, DARLING?”

           
Darling. That’s what Gretchen called Archie.

           
She was trying to contact him.

           
She looked at the call log. There was an outgoing call to the number that had sent the texts. He had called her.

           
There was a tap on the car window and Susan almost dropped the phone. She looked up to see Henry.

           
She slipped the phone into her pocket.

           
“I waited in the car,” Susan said.

           
“Show me where he is,” Henry said.

           
Susan got out of the car and slammed the door behind her. Henry was already five steps ahead of her and she had to catch up as they headed toward the warehouse. The streets in the Produce District were wide and scarred with old train tracks. Another patrol car zoomed up and skidded to a halt at an angle.

           
“When you call nine-one-one, they really send in the army,” Susan said.

           
“I called in backup,” Henry said. “Not to disillusion you, but the nine-one-one operator who took your call did not consider your report of a crazed masked piercer very reliable.”

           
It had been a poor choice of words. But she’d been panicked. “Oh.”

           
Claire came jogging up. “They’ve searched the basement,” she said. “Couldn’t find anyone. But they found this.” She held up an evidence bag with a gun in it. “And this.” She held up Susan’s red purse.

           
Susan took the purse.

           
Henry slid her a suspicious look. “You seen that gun before?” he asked.

           
It was the gun Archie had gotten from Jack Reynolds. Susan was certain of it. “I don’t know a lot about guns,” she said. She turned to Claire. “What do you mean they couldn’t find anyone?”

           
“They found the gun in the room you said to go to—the old boiler room,” Claire said. “But there’s no one in there. They’re continuing

           
to search the basement. Then we’ll take it floor by floor. We’ve sealed off the building so if anyone’s still in there, they’re not getting out.”

           
“You see anyone leave?” Henry asked Susan.

           
“I was hiding in my car,” she said. She was furious with herself. She should have kept an eye on the building. Henry had said to wait in her car—he didn’t say to cower in the car. Gretchen’s sicko fans knew she was going to go for help. Of course they ran.

           
“Susan,” Henry said. He took her by the shoulders. “This is important.” She could see him trying to formulate the right words. “Did he go off with them?” he said finally. “Or did they take him?”

           
It was a fair question. Archie had a history of going off with lunatics. But he’d gotten her out of there. He knew they were dangerous. “I don’t know,” Susan said. She didn’t know what Archie was capable of anymore.

           
“Either way,” Henry said, “I’m keeping Archie out of this for now.”

           
“He might have gone with them,” Susan said. “If they’d said they’d take him to Jeremy.”

           
“Jeremy?” Henry said.

           
“Jeremy Reynolds,” Susan said.