F Paul Wilson - Secret History 02 (45 page)

           
Move his finger…

           
Rob didn't know who the hell that
had been on the phone, but it was somebody in extremis. He called Doyle and
told him to get a radio car over to the address, then headed for his own car.

           
He hadn't been able to tell if the
voice was male or female, but its owner was surely dying. He prayed it wasn't
Kara.

           
If Bannion had harmed her in any way…

           
He screeched to a halt before
Bannion's apartment building. A blue and white radio car was already there, its
red lights flashing. He ran inside. The vestibule door was open,
Bannion
was listed on the fifth floor.
He found two uniforms waiting outside 5-A.

           
"You Harris?" said the
older-looking one with the thick black mustache. "I'm Grosso. You the one
who called this in?"

           
Rob nodded. "No answer?"

           
"Nothing."

           
"Let's break it in."

           
"Ay, I don't know—"

           
"The guy on the phone said he
was dying. That's reason enough. Come on."

           
The two uniforms glanced at each
other, then shrugged. The three of them hit the door at once. That was enough.

           
Rob leaped into the apartment with
his service revolver drawn, his eyes darting about the neat, spacious, well-lit
living room.

           
"Kara! Kara, you here?"

           
Silence. He checked out the dining
room and kitchen, then moved to the bathroom. He heard Grosso's voice call from
the bedroom.

           
"Yo! Harris! Here he is!"

           
Rob rushed to the bedroom. Grosso
was squatting next to a naked prone male body, his index and middle finger on
the throat. There was a huge amount of blood on the floor, pooling out from
under the corpse.

           
Rob looked closer. It was Ed
Bannion, the man he had been trying to find all night.

           
"Ain't even cold yet,"
Grosso said.

           
Rob had only met Bannion twice, but
seeing him murdered like this got to him. He'd seen hundreds of murder victims
but this was the first one he had ever known. He felt queasy. And angry. Now he
might never know what went on in Kelly's room at the Plaza that night.

           
He was about to turn away when he
noticed the way the blood was smeared near Bannion's right hand, almost like—

           
"Is that writing over there by
his hand?" Rob asked and moved to the far side of the corpse.

           
Grosso bent for a closer look.
"Shit, yeah, I think it is!"

           
Rob knelt on the throw rug next to
Bannion's body. There were letters traced in blood on the polished wood:

 
 

           
The rest was smeared.

           
" 'Gates?' " said Grosso.
"He talking about the Pearly Gates?"

           
The sudden burst of excitement in
Rob was almost unbearable.

           
"I don't think so," he
said. "I think he named his killer."

           
He rose to his feet and motioned
Grosso away.

           
"Don't touch a thing! Don't
touch a goddamn thing until Forensics gets here and photos and prints
everything."

           
He stepped back and stared at the
body. The uneasiness rose up in him again. Bannion was here dead, but where was
Kara? Where the
hell
was Kara?

           
Kara awoke with a start. There were
sounds in the outer room, footsteps, rustlings.

           
Someone's
here!

           
She leaped from the bed. She was
weaponless, defenseless. And terrified. As she lifted the phone and prepared to
dial 911, she peaked through the open door. The breath clogged in her throat. A
man there. In a bomber jacket. He looked like—

           
"Rob?"

           
He whirled, his features tight with
shock at first, then they relaxed with relief.

           
"Kara! You're here!"

           
"Of course I'm here. I've been
sleeping here all week as you well know! But what are
you
doing here? And how on earth did you get in?"

           
He rushed forward and grabbed her
shoulders— gently, but there was no escaping his grasp.

           
"Where have you been all
night?"

           
"Right here. Where else?"

           
"No. You weren't here.
I
was here, but
you
weren't!"

           
Something in his eyes was starting
to frighten her.

           
"Rob, what are you talking
about?"

           
"I called here a couple of
hours ago but got no answer."

           
"I talked to you—"

           
"No. After that. I got worried
so I got Kelly's key from the effects bag and let myself in. The place was
empty. I used your phone for I don't know how long." He let go of her
shoulders and pointed past her. "Look. The phone book's right where I left
it."

           
Kara looked and felt terror begin to
crawl through her. She hadn't had the phone book out all week. She pushed past
Rob and ran for the oven. The key was still there, and the strand of her hair
was still wrapped around it. She looked at Rob.

           
"Rob, I couldn't have left
here. The key's right where I put it."

           
She watched him shake his head
slowly and knew with sinking certainty that he was telling the truth. He had
been here and she had not.

           
How
?
She wanted to scream it.
HOW
?

           
He came over and led her to the
couch. He eased her down and then sat next to her. Close.

           
"There's something else you
should know, Kara." His eyes were locked on hers. "Ed Bannion is
dead. He was murdered an hour or so ago."

           
"Ed? Oh, God! Ed?"

           
For a moment the room spun about
her, but she willed it to stop. But she couldn't stop the tears.

           
"Poor Ed! What a horrible way
to die!"

           
She felt Rob stiffen beside her.

           
"What way, Kara?"

           
"Stabbed to death. How
awful!"

           
"How did you know he was
stabbed?"

           
Know? God, how
did
she know?

           
"I… I don't know! Didn't you
tell me? Please say you told me!"

           
Rob's headshake was slow and
deliberate.

           
"My God, what's happening to my
life, Rob? Everything's going crazy around me and I can't seem to do anything
about it! What's happening?"

           
He held her gently and said, "I
don't know, Kara." He said, "I don't know," over and over.

 
 

           
"I HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR RDO,
ROB," AUGIE MANETTI said as he dropped a stack of papers on Rob's desk.

           
Sunday was Rob's regular day off,
and he had spent most of it with Kara and Jill. He had been itching to stay on
the Bannion killing but he felt Kara needed him around until she got used to
the idea that someone she knew had been murdered. So he had stayed away from
the precinct house all day. Besides, Manetti was his partner and was familiar
with the Kelly Wade file. Rob had filled him in on all the details of the
Bannion case. Officially, it was out of Midtown North's area, but because Rob
had said it tied in with the Wade death the case had been assigned to Midtown
North. Rob expected to be called into Mooney's office any minute.