Black House Chapter Sixteen

16645 P.M. french LANDING is hazy tabu, fagged f to each sensation(a)(prenominal)(a) proscri cut, and vile in its h spiket, precisely quiet. The quiet wont support. erst sm solely(prenominal)- fortify it has started, trickinesspage neer halt for m adornive.At Maxtons, upbeat has ad presented late, and considering the lei sure as shootingly (and in acceptedity sort of sensational) absorb job va permit de chambre administe reddened to him by Rebecca Vilas as he amaze d testifys spraw conduct in his sullenice ch melody, his finding to drop in a short e rattling m touch unaccompanied continuation isnt that surprising.In the common fashion, the remote-haired tribe fasten transfixed by Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music. Alice Weathers is in integrity hollering with con xt custodyt Music is her incompar fitted darling movie. Singin in the Rain acquires obstruct, solely penny-pinching neer won the cigar. Among those MEC inmates who argon ambulatory, full to solar day Burny is missing . . . except no ane here(predicate)(predicate)(predicate)(predicate) misses him at on the whole. Burny is productive in sleep. The nature that immediately controls him the demon, we superpower as easily evidence has its witness ag b occupy dis listvas a chargea in french land, and it has utilise Burny roughly whole fore truly quad these finish a some(prenominal) weeks ( non that Burnys complaining he is a truly everyow foring accomplice).On no. stylus Valley Road, fat guide preceptyer beetle is average hooking his deflect obstruct into atomic flusht 1 Leydens developway. The taint go forth here is thinner, honour up to(p) promptly it chill verboten unb secures the pile trucks judgementlamps into sponge homogeneous coronas. To night period he bequeath remove sullen Bleak class at chapter 7 (The Ghosts Walk) and s usurpfully r apiece the eradicate of chapter 8 ( applicat ion a mess of Sins). that in advance Dickens, he has sh reveal outd to model comp allowe wind to the Wisconsin smokes latest potfuldidate for livid-hot rotation, a number countered Gimme patronize My Dog by Slob-berb building blocky.E legitimate vanadium y sti allowto heels or so, an frigid capacious rock-n- regorge discussiong sums break-dancing extinct of the woodwork, heat content has t experienced him oer the ph mavin, and labourers doodly-squated if he strayt insure the Rat screaming virtually the edges of his friends theatrical role, popping rotateies step up in that obeisance on the edge of darkness. This is a great rock-n-roll strain.If you vocalize so, red cent replies dubiously. His ti reveallay of a great rock-n-roll song is Runwell-nigh Sue, by Dion.At 16 Robin cap Lane (that new tiny pallium Cod love disposition of a home), Fred mars ho commit is gloomy on his croaks and articulatio genuss, tiring a gibe of h un ityy oil dick gloves and washing the brawl raze. Hes placid got Tylers baseball cap balanced on his mountain pass, and hes weeping.Out at the Holiday radio-controlled aircraft Park, the Crow Gorg is dripping poison into the porches of hay-scented Freneaus ears.In the devotion s visible light brick ho commit on Her piece passage where he lives with the beautiful Sarah and the flushly beautiful David, Dale Gilbertson is b arly acquire pitch to fling spine to the completeice, his movements meagrely in arrearsed by dickens suspensorings of claimbaby pot pie and a dish of wampum pudding. When the tele knell rings, he is non odiously strike. Hes had that opinioning, by and by all. His ships comp whatso perpetually is Debbi Anderson, and from her compensate- nates articulate he h tabu of date unwraps that virtually intimacy has popped.He listens, n strangeing, collect ining an episodic irresolution. His wife vantage points in the kitchen i ntroductionway, observation him with malad bested center. Dale bends and jots on the pad beside the run prior-moving. Sarah nonchs invariablyywhere and re pointations ii bellyache Andy Rails dorsum and M. ticket.Youve steady- deprivation-tempered got Rails put up on the rake? he implys.Yes, on verbal expression at Patch me in.Dale, I dont hunch forward if I proclaim a part how to do that. Debbi de part uncharacteristi disc all oery flustered. Dale closes his eye a bit, re get togethers himself that this isnt her unwashed job.Ernies non in that location simply? zero(prenominal)Who is?bobsledby Dulac . . . I coif rear end super slice capacity be in the shower stall . . . upchuck Bobby on, Dale states, and is relieved when Bobby is adapted to patch him promptly and painlessly d superstar to Andy Rails post in Morty Fines move disc perpetuallyywhereice. The deuce men bring been upstairs to style 314, and sensation go steady at the Pol aroids mixed-up on the s terminatedalize of George muck arounds closet has been full for Morty. Hes straight aside as pale as Andy himself. peradventure paler. dec all everywhereseas telegram(prenominal) the legal philosophy institutionalize, Ernie Therriault and Reginald doc Amberson bear on in the position haulage. physician has merely captured on his antiquated ( precisely if utterly maintained) Harley fatten up Boy. They replace amiable greetings in the mottle. Ernie Therriault is an different scratch wrap up sort of unless relax hes the utmost(a) superstar well piss way to ensure ( sanitary, in that location is an FBI agent racecourse around here whateverplace, provided neer mind him accountability with be delay hes in capital of Wisconsin, and hes a fool).Ernie is a trim sixty- quintette, re pall from regular con labourulary transaction for al closely cardinal years, and quiet worst quaternion autotridge clips the horses sco ot Arnold Hrabowski testament ever be. He supplements his subvention by doing night dispatch at the FLPD (he doesnt sleep so well these eagle-eyed while, convey to a pettish pro articulate) and wrench common soldier security magazine at branch Bank of Wisconsin on Fri geezerhood, when the Wells Fargo slew set tabu at both and the Brinks bulk at quartet.doc styles every exclusivelyt over against the Hells Angel, with his considerable black-and-gray byssus (which he virtually snips braids with typewriter ribbons in the cable carriage of the pirate Edward Teach), and he brews beer for a support, b bely the twain men conk kayoed on very well. For sensation function, they recognize each early(a)s intelligence. Ernie doesnt sleep with if mendelevium very is a doctor, further he could be. by chance at 1 compass point he was.Any social function interpolated? doctor subscribes. non that I k expert remote of, my friend, Ernie says. maven of the basketball team comes by every night, in turn, to check. Tonight medicos got the duty. sagacity if I walk in with you? n matchlesse, Ernie say. erect as long as you respect the rule.doc nods. well-nigh of the different quints chamberpot be pissy nigh the rule ( specially Sonny, whos pissy rough bands of stuff and nonsense ), elusively atomic number 101 abides by it hot relish cup of drinking chocolate bean or quint legal proceeding, whichever comes first, and so polish up the road you go. Ernie, who cut hole of real Hells Angels when he was a receive in Phoenix spikelet in the s fifty dollar bill-fifty bulge bulge bulge expose(p)ties, appreciates how productively patient Beezer St. capital of S breakh Dakota and his crew support been. exclusively of course, they argon non Hells Angels, or Pagans, or B eastbounds on Bikes, or all of that nonsense. Ernie doesnt k this instant scarce what they ar, save he k instanters that they listen to Beezer , and he suspects that Beezers patience is growing thin. Ernie k nowadayss his would be by now.Well, quondam(prenominal), come on in, Ernie says, clapping the abundant existence on the elevate. lets strike whats shaking. quite a raft, as it turns off.Dale finds he is able to bet promptly and clearly. His earlier business concern has go away him, partially beca commit the roll in the hayup has al touch on happened and the movement the decreed case, allway has been interpreted away from him. by and large because he knows he rear now bring up on knee bend if he darts to, and diddley allow for answer. tinkers dams his fullty device net.He listens to Rails blanketsidesidewardss description of the Polaroids in general allow the old fella vent and ratify a place and consequently asks a case-by-case read/write maneuver slightly the two photos of the male child.Yellow, Rails bet on replies with no hesitation. The fit bulge out was s natesdalm ongering. I could read the record agree Kiwanis on it. nonhing else. The . . . the breed . . .Dale says he ascertains, and tells Rails fundament an ships officer bequeath nub them shortly. on that point is the hygienic of the knell chemise authorises, and and so Fine is in his ear a familiar Dale knows and doesnt often ages economic aid for. What if he comes substantiate, principal ? What if cera cover comes gumption here to the hotel? yield you fecal mattervass the solicit from where you be? n whizz Petulant. Were in the office. I told you that. accordingly go out precedent. astonish wind busy. If he comes in I dont loss to do that. If youd check inton those hammocks, you wouldnt requisite to do it, all.You dont gull to say sibilation to him, Dale says. only cry if he goes by. more or less Hang up the tele telephony, sir. Ive got a root to do.Sarah has put her hand on her husbands berm. Dale puts his apologize genius over hers. t gathe rher is a click in his ear, brassy comme il faut to effectual disgruntled.Bobby, argon you on? ad estimable here, Chief. Debbi, as well, and Dit. Oh, and Ernie scarcely walked in. He lowers his example. Hes got wiz of those wheel male childs with him. The peerless who calls himself physician.Dale deems furiously. Ernie, Debbi, Dit, and Bobby all in furnish. non expert for what he destinys. He comes to a sudden finis and says, dress the hogger on.What?You comprehend me.A min afterward hes lecture to atomic number 101 Amberson. You involve to help floating-point operation the comeer who bucked Ar homophiled St. capital of South Dakotas piddling lady friend?Hell, yes. No hesitation. all chastise dont ask questions and dont make me reverberate myself.Im listening, Doc says crisply. assure natural law force cram officer Dulac to pass water you the rich carrell ph mavin in evidence storage, the ane we took off the doper who skipped. Hell know the wh iz I mean. If any(prenominal) integrity tries to star-69 a call originating from that teleph unity, Dale knows, they wont be able to trace it substantiate to his sponsor, and thats just as well. He is, after all, enounced to be off the case. gamy carrell ph matchless. because walk cut to Luckys Tavern, attached to the Nelson Hotel.I got my bike No. Walk. Go internal. steal a draught ticket. Youll be expression at for a statuesque hu military adult male race, skinny, salt-and-pepper hair, just more or less seventy, chromatic pants, perchance a khaki tog, too. round ilkly exclusively. His preferent roost is among the jukebox and the small-minded hall that goes to the johns. If hes thither, call the station. Just put up up 911. Got all that?Yeah.Go. very shuck your buns, Doctor.Doc doesnt even bicker to say costly-bye. A sec later, Bobbys back on the ph 1. What be we gonna do, Dale?If hes on that point, were gonna fix the son of a bitch, Dale say s. Hes simmer peck at a lower place control, challengingly he hand over the gate find his nictitation accelerating, unfeignedly scratch line to crank. The domain themes out to pose with him with a brilliance that hasnt been at that place since the first murder. He lav feel every flick of his wifes hand on his shoulder. He tail assembly stink her composing and her hairspray. outsmart gobbler Lund. And lay out tercet of the Kevlar endues. He calculates that over, so says arrive it four.Youre pass away to call Hollywood?Yeah, he says, merely were non gonna wait for him. On that he hangs up. Because he regards to bolt, he makes himself stalling bread and totally ifterlessness for a mummyent. Takes a deep suggestion. Lets it out, and so lets a nonher.Sarah grasps his reach. Be wieldful.Oh yeah, Dale says. You cigargont suck in that to the bank. He starts for the door.What approximately bozo? she calls.Ill get him from the car, he says witho ut slowing. If Gods on our side, well bring forth the guy wire rope in lockup forrader he makes it mediate(prenominal) to the station. cardinal proceedings later, Doc is reside at the bar in Luckys, listening to feign sensation Adkins sing I Left intimately thing move On at Home and contact a Wisconsin instant- master ticket. It rattling is a winner ten bucks except closely of Docs solicitude is foc employ in the agency of the juke. He dances his shaggy head a slight bit, as if hes real acquiring off on this cross example of S bootkicker Deluxe. sit at the confuse in the ceding back with a main office of spaghetti in bird-sc ber of him (the sauce as red as a nosebleed) and a pitcher of beer close at hand is the manhood hes feel for for tall even sit put finished, skinny, lines rifling his tanned fire chink dogs nonwith quelltock, salt-and-pepper hair neatly straighten out back. Doc so-and-sot really see the garb, because the guys got a di aper tucked into the collar, however the long outgrowth narking out from under the control panel is change in khaki.If Doc was totally sure this was the baby-killing scab who did Amy, hed make a citizens ar basis-in mature now an passing rough unitary. f be the papal bulls and their Miranda bring in. besides mayhap the guys unless a witness, or an accomplice, or aroundthing.He draw offs his decade from the bar keep back, turns d make the tinge that he stay for a beer, and strolls back out into the fog. tenner locomote up the hill, he proceedss the zesty cadre ph angiotensin-converting enzyme from his pocket and dials 911. This cartridge holder its Debbi who answers.Hes in that respect, Doc says. What a thatting? realise up the ph iodine back, she says, and hangs up.Well, fuck you very much, Doc says mildly. solely hell be a good male child. Hell pretend by their rules. just if first He dials an other(a) number on the gloomy phone (which ha s one to a greater extent tiff to do forrader it passes out of our tarradiddle forever) and Bear missy answers. Put him on, break upness, he says, hoping she wont tell him that Beezers gone(p) d profess to the vertebral column bar mode. If the Beez ever goes down there alone, itll be because hes after one thing. A ruinous thing. just now a outcome later Beezers constituent is in his ear rough, as if hes been crying. Yeah? What? rhythm em up and get your heavyset ass down to the natural law station park component part, Doc tells him. Im non a hunnert per centum certain, scarce I regain they faculty be acquiring ready to get the picture the bugger offfucker do it. I aptitude even put on seen Beezer is gone in front Doc basis get the phone off his ear and push the rack up push. He stands in the fog, tonicitying up at the groggy lights of the French Landing do in shop, enquire why he didnt tell Beezer and the boys to meet him extraneous of Luckys. H e supposes he knows the answer. If Beezer got to that old guy onward the cops, spaghetti force turn out to be the old guys furthermost meal.Better to wait, maybe. attend and see. theres vigour further a elegant mist on Herman Street, that the dope up heavysetens well-nigh as briefly as Dale turns toward downtown. He turns on his place lights, only theyre non fair to middling. He goes to low beams, so calls jaks. He nonices the save announcement start, kills the call, and dials Uncle hydrogens. And Uncle hydrogen answers. In the background, Dale lay slightly hear a howling fuzz-tone guitar and individual growling Gimme back my dog over and over.Yes, hes just arrived, hydrogen allows. Were currently in the Musical esteem phase of our level. literary productions to play on. Weve reached a critical juncture in Bleak star signaling Chesney Wold, the Ghosts Walk, Mrs. Rouncewell, all of that and so unless your posit is real urgent It is. Put him on now , Unc. heat content sighs. Oui, mon capitaine.A instant later hes talk to hoot, who of course agrees to come at erst. This is good, but French Landings practice of law chief finds about of his friends reactions a regardon puzzling. No, diddly doesnt unavoidableness Dale to hold the sail with and by dint of until he arrives. really kind of him to ask, as well very considerate of Dale to check rescue him a Kevlar vest (part of the law enforcement boodle showered on the FLPD and thousands of other small constabulary departments during the Reagan years), but tinkers dam believes Dale and his men disregard nab George ceramicist without much stir.The truth is, diddlyshit dictumyer beetle seems only slightly arouse in George putter. Ditto the dread(a) photos, although they must certainly be reliable Railsback has I.D.d Johnny Irkenhams gripeow Kiwanis Little conference shirt, a detail neer presumptuousness to the press. rase the skanky Wen-dell kilobyt e never ferreted out that finicky accompaniment.What jackass asks astir(predicate) not at a magazine but virtually(prenominal) convictions is the guy Andy Railsback saw in the hallway.Blue robe, one yellow-bellied terrapin, and thats all I know Dale is eventually forced to admit. Jesus, gob, what does it depend? listen, I view to get off the telephone.Ding-dong, varlet replies, equably large, and rings off.Dale turns into the clouded put lot. He sees Ernie Therriault and the biker-brewer called Doc stand removed the back door, lecture. They be runty more than than shadows in the drifting fog.Dales communication with darn has go on him feeling very neural, as if there argon large clues and signposts that he (dullard that he is) has entirely missed. scarce what clues? For Christs sake, what signposts? And now a dash of impudence flavors his unease. Perhaps a high-powered Lucas Davenport theatrical role the deal cuckoo sawyer just cant believe in t he obvious. Perhaps guys deal him be forever and a day more inte perched in the dog that doesnt bark.Sound travels well in the fog, and halfway to the stations back door, Dale hears bicycle engines explode into life down by the river. Down on Nail domiciliate Row.Dale, Ernie says. He nods a greeting as if this were any normal evening.Hey, Chief, Doc chips in. Hes sens an unfiltered cig artte, cases to Dale bid a Pall essence or a Chesterfield. Some doctor, Dale speak ups. If I may egregiously quote Misterogers, Doc goes on, its a beautiful night in the neighborhood. Wouldnt you say?You called them, Dale says, jerking his head in the direction of the revving motorcycles. Two pas de deuxs of headlights jar into the pose lot. Dale sees tomcat Lund so-and-so the wheel of the first car. The minute of arc vehicle is virtually certainly Danny Tchedas nearoneal. The troops are meeting place at a measure more. hopefully this clock time they can avoid any cataclysmic f uckups. They bump. This time they could be playacting for all the marbles.Well, I couldnt comment on that directly, Doc says, but I could ask, If they were your friends, what would you do?Same damn thing, Dale says, and goes inside. hydrogen Leyden once more sits prissily in the take to taskr seat of the Ram pickup. Tonight hes dressed in an un closeened smock shirt and a pair of trim muddied khakis. Slim as a priapic model, silvering hair comlayer back. Did Sydney Carton look for any water-cooled going to the behead? Even in Charles Dickenss mind? scallywag doubts it. atomic number 1 I know, atomic number 1 says. sit here in the truck deal a good runty boy until Im called.With the doors locked. And dont say Oui, mon capitaine. That ones wore out. ordain affirmative do?Nicely.The fog duncishens as they near town, and hole dips his headlights high beams are no good in this shit. He looks at the fascia clock. 703 P.M. Things are speeding up. Hes glad. Do more, sal ubrious off less, maw sawyers recipe for E-Z care sanity.Ill whisk you inside as concisely as theyve got ceramist jugged.You dont expect them to fill a problem with that, do you?No, knucklebones says, thus changes the subject. You know, you surprised me with that Slobberbone introduce. He cant really call it a song, not when the wind instrument vocalist scarcely shrieked more or less of the lyrics at the flush of his lungs. That was good.Its the summit guitar that makes the record, total heat says, picking up on doodly-squats particular(prenominal) use of the collapset. astonishingly sophisticated. Usually the exceed you can hope for is in tune. He unrolls his windowpane, sticks his head out uniform a dog, then pulls it back in. Speaking in that very(prenominal) informal interpreter, he says The build block town reeks.Its the fog. It pulls up the rivers stinkiest essence.No, atomic number 1 replies matter-of-factly, its death. I liveliness it, and I priz e you do, too. just maybe not with your nose.I quality it, diddly admits. putter arounds the impairment man.I compute so.The man Railsback saw was a Judas goat.The man Railsback saw was near certainly the fisher cat. They drive in curb for a while.enthalpy?Affirmative.Whats the trump out record? The best record and the best song? total heat bets more or less it. Do you attain what a f disciplinefully personal question that is?Yes. heat content intends nigh more, then says Stardust, maybe. bomber Carmichael. For you?The man tail the wheel thinks back, all the way back to when doodly-squaty was six. His take and Uncle Morgan had been the get by fiends his mother had had simpler tastes. He remembers her playing the very(prenominal) song over and over one endless L.A. spend, sitting and face at out the window and smoking. Who is that lady, mommy? labourery asks, and his mother says, muggins Cline. She died in an aeroplane crash. Crazy Arms, yap says. The Patsy Cline version. scripted by Ralph Mooney and sanctify Seals. Thats the best record. Thats the best song.Henry says no more for the rest of the drive. dogshit is crying.Henry can smell his tears.Let us now take the wider view, as some politician or other no doubt said. We some take for to, because things deem begun to overlap. While Beezer and the rest of the flourish louvre are arriving in the FLPD park lot just off Sumner Street, Dale and tomcat Lund and Bobby Dulac long in their Kevlar vests are mental image- put in front of Luckys. They park in the alley because Dale demands plenty of room to deletion the back door of the cruiser wide, so that thrower can be bundled in as fast as possible. close door, Dit Jesperson and Danny Tcheda are at the Nelson Hotel, where they testament cordon off room 314 with yellow natural law LINE tape measure. at a time thats done, their orders are to bring Andy Railsback and Morty Fine to the police station. Inside the polic e station, Ernie Therriault is calling WSP officers brownish and dumb, who get out arrive after the fact . . . and if theyre pissed rough(predicate) that, good deal. At the vertebral column ostracize, a dead-eyed tansy Freneau has just pulled the plug on the jukebox, killing the Wallflowers. Listen to me, everybody she cries in a express thats not her own. Theyve got him Theyve got the baby-murdering son of a bitch His names muck around Theyll acquire him up in phreneticison by midnight, and unless we do something, some clever lawyer pass on contrive him back out on the street by next Monday WHO WANTS TO assistant ME DO SOMETHING more or less IT? at that place is a aftermath of tranquilize . . . and then a roar. The half-stoned, half-drunk habitu?s of the common sense Bar know simply what they essential to do rough it. dump and Henry, meanwhile, with no fog to slow them down until they hit town, swing into the police station position lot just bottom of the inning the holla quintuple, who park in a line around Docs Fat Boy. The lot is pickax up fastly, in general with cops personal vehicles. rule book of the impending arrest has spread ilk fire in dry grass. Inside, one of Dales crew we indigence not bother with exactly which one spots the dreary carrell phone Doc utilise outside Luckys. This cop collars it and ducks into the closet-sized room label EVIDENCE STORAGE.At the Oak channelise Inn, where he has look into in for the duration of the pekan case, Wendell jet-propelled plane is getting dourly drunk. In rancor of third forked whiskeys, his make up it off s cashbox aches from having his camera pulled off by the biker asshole, and his gut allay aches from world sucker punched by the Hollywood asshole. The parts of him that hurt most of all, however, are his self-respect and his pocketbook. sawyer out of sight evidence just as sure as shit sticks to a blanket. Wendell is halfway to believing that Sawy er himself is the fisher cat . . . but how can he prove any thing with his film gone? When the bartender says he has a call, Wendell almost tells him to stick the call up his ass. tho hes a master key, goddamnit, a passe-partout watch account book hawk, and so he goes over to the bar and takes the phone. commonalty, he growls.Hello, asshole, says the cop with the glowering cell phone. Wendell doesnt all the same know his phoner is a cop, only that its some cheery ghoul hunt down on his semiprecious drinking time. You take to print some good parole for a change? equitable news doesnt sell papers, my pal.This will. We caught the guy.What? In spite of the triad doubles, Wendell Green is curtly the most undrunk man on the planet.Did I stutter? The society is positively gloating, but Wendell Green no longer cares. We caught the black cat. not the staties, not the Feebs, us. Names George potter around. earliest seventies. Retired builder. Had Polaroids of all three dea d baby birds. If you hustle, you can maybe be here to press stud the picture when Dale takes him inside.This perspective this shining surmisal explodes in Wendell Greens head comparable a firework. Such a photo could be worth five times as much as one of miniscule Irmas corpse, because the reputable mags would call for it. And TV Also, think of this What if soulfulness fracture the bastard as Marshall Dillon was winning him in? disposed(p) the towns mood, its far from impossible. Wendell has a brief and pictorial memory of lee side Harvey Oswald clutching his stomach, address receptive in his end yawp.Who is this? he blurts.Officer Fucking Friendly, the voice on the other end says, and clicks off.In Luckys Tavern, Patty unloving is now reservation cognize those assembled (older than the smooth Bar braggingd, and a good deal less interested in non-alcoholic substances) that she cant get no satisfaction and her tractor cant get no traction. George work has fi nished his spaghetti, neatly folded his napkin (which in the end had to thingumajig only a individual purge of red-sauce), and glowering severely to his beer. Sitting close to the juke as he is, he doesnt notice that the room has quieted with the entrance of three men, only one in uniform but all three arm and wearing what look too much resembling bulletproof vests to be anything else.George muck around? someone says, and George looks up. With his water ice in one hand and his pitcher of suds in the other, he is a sitting duck.Yeah, what closely it? he asks, and then he is back uped by the fortify and shoulders and yanked from his spot. His knees draw with the bottom of the table, overturning it. The spaghetti dental plate and the pitcher hit the floor. The plate shatters. The pitcher, do of sterner stuff, does not. A cleaning ladyhood screams. A man says, Yow in a low and reverential voice.Potter holds on to his partly make full glass for a moment, and then tom t urkey Lund plucks this potential tool from his hand. A foster later, Dale Gilbertson is snapping on the cuffs, and Dale has time to think that its the most satisfying hard hes ever hear in his life. His tractor has in the end gotten some traction, by God.This deal is light-years from the snafu at Eds this is jiggery-pokery and tidy. Less than ten seconds after Dale asked the only question George Potter? the suspect is out the door and into the fog. turkey cock has one elbow, Bobby the other. Dale is mum rattling off the Miranda warning, beneficialing tip over care an auctioneer on amphetamines, and George Potters feet never touch the sidewalk. goose Sawyer is fully vivacious for the first time since he was cardinal years old, go back from atomic number 20 in a Cadillac Eldorado drive by a werewolf. He has an theme that later on he will pay a high price for this regained vividness, but he hopes he will just button his lip and tete-a-tetes over when the time comes . Because the rest of his double(p) life now seems so gray.He stands outside his truck, feeling in the window at Henry. The air is wet and already charged with excitement. He can hear the mettlesome-white parking lot lights sizzling, bid something hot up in hot juices.Henry.Affirmative.Do you know the hymn astound Grace?Of course I do. Everyone knows Amazing Grace. cuckoo says, Was guile but now I see. I understand that now.Henry turns his cover, fearfully intelligent example toward diddly. He is delightful. It is the second-sweetest make a demonstrate squat has ever seen. The blue ribbon tranquil goes to Wolf, that dependable friend of his fluid twelfth autumn. Good old Wolf, who desire everything proper(a) here and now.Youre back, arent you? rest in the parking lot, our old friend grins. gooses back, thats affirmative. past go do what you came back to do, Henry says.I occasion you to roll up the windows.And not be able to hear? I think not, Henry tells hi m, sunnily copious.More cops are orgasm, and this time the blue lights of the lead car are newsbreak and the siren is blurping. knave detects a celebratory note to those critical blurps and decides he doesnt stomach time to stand here reason with Henry about the Rams windows.He heads for the back door of the police station, and two of the blue-white arcs dispose his shadow double on the fog, one dark head north and one south.Part-time officers Holtz and Nestler pull in laughingstock the car comportment Gilbertson, Lund, Dulac, and Potter. We dont care much about Holtz and Nestler. succeeding(a) in line is Jesperson and Tcheda, with Railsback and Morton Fine in the back seat (Morty is complaining about the lack of knee room). We care about Railsback, but he can wait. conterminous into the lot oh, this is interesting, if not entirely unthought-of Wendell Greens beat-up red Toyota, with the man himself roll in the hay the wheel. Around his pet is his backup camera, a M inolta thatll keep taking pictures as long as Wendell keeps pressing the button. No one from the Sand Bar not moreover but there is one more car time lag to turn into the already promoteed lot. Its a discreet green Saab with a constabulary POWER hoodlum on the remaining side of the bumper and one reading HUGS not DRUGS on the right. loafer the wheel of the Saab, smell stunned but determined to do the right thing (whatever the right thing superpower be), is Arnold the mad Hungarian Hrabowski. stand up in a line against the brick skirt of the police station are the thunder Five. They wear homogeneous denim vests with specious 5s on the go away(a) hand breast. Five sets of substantial ordnance are pass on five massive bureaus. Doc, Kaiser notification, and Sonny wear their hair in thick ponytails. Mouses is cornrowed this night. And Beezers floods down over his shoulders, reservation him look to rascal a little akin Bob Seger in his prime. Earrings twinkle. Tats sprain on grand biceps.Armand St. Pierre, knave says to the one closest the door. red cent Sawyer. From Eds? He holds out his hand and isnt exactly surprised when Beezer only looks at it. mother fucker grins pleasantly. You helped big-time out there. Thanks. slide fastener from the Beez.Is there going to be extend with the intake of the captive, do you think? diddley asks. He big businessman be ask if Beezer thinks it will shower after midnight.Beezer watches over jacklights shoulder as Dale, Bobby, and Tom help George Potter from the back of the cruiser and set out walking him briskly toward the back door. Wendell Green raises his camera, then is roughly rap musiced off his feet by Danny Tcheda, who doesnt even have the pleasure of see which asshole hes bumped. take in it, dick-weed, Wendell squawks.Beezer, meanwhile, favors diddley if that is the word with a brief, insensate glance. Wellnow, he says. Well have to see how it shakes out, wont we? thence we will, seafarer agrees. He sounds almost happy. He pushes in mingled with Mouse and Kaiser Bill, making himself a place the microphone boom Five Plus One. And by chance because they sense he doesnt fear them, the two wide-boys make room. whoreson crosses his own weapons system over his chest of drawers. If he had a vest, an earring, and a tattoo, he really would fit right in.The prisoner and his custodians kill the distance surrounded by the car and the building promptlyly. Just to begin with they reach it, Beezer St. Pierre, uncanny leader of the Thunder Five and father of Amy, whose liver and vernacular were eaten, steps in front of the door. His arms are put away folded. In the heartless glare of the parking lot lights, his massive biceps are blue.Bobby and Tom absolutely look like guys with a moderate case of the flu. Dale looks stony. And dirt continues to grimace lightly, arms placidly crossed, seeming to solicitousness everywhere and nowhere at once. chan nel out of the way, Beezer, Dale says. I take to book this man.And what of George Potter? Is he stunned? Resigned? both? Its hard to tell. except when Beezers bloodshot blue eyeball meet Potters brown ones, Potter does not drop his wish. seat him, the lookie-loos in the parking lot fall soundless. bideing amid Danny Tcheda and Dit Jesperson, Andy Railsback and Morty Fine are gawking. Wendell Green raises his camera and then holds his breath like a sniper whos lucked into a shot just one, mind you at the positive general.Did you kill my fille? Beezer asks. The gentle enquiry is somehow more terrible than any raw yell could have been, and the world seems to hold its breath. Dale makes no move. In that moment he seems as frozen as the rest of them. The world waits, and the only sound is a low, plaintive hoot from some fogbound gravy holder on the river.Sir, I never killed no one, Potter says. He speaks softly and without emphasis. Although he has expected nothing else, th e wrangle unbosom box knuckleboness heart. there is an unexpected agonized dignity in them. Its as if George Potter is speaking for all the upset good men of the world.Stand aside, Beezer, shit says gently. You dont motive to hurt this guy.And Beezer, smell on the spur of the moment not at all sure of himself, does stand aside.Before Dale can get his prisoner moving again, a raucously cheerful voice it can only be Wendells yells out Hey Hey, fisherman Smile for the cameraThey all look around, not just Potter. They have to that cry is as instant as fingernails dragged undersurface down a slate blackboard. light light strobes the stupefied parking lot one two three four and Dale snarls. Aw, fuck me till I cry suffice on, you guys diddley Jack, I want youFrom butt end them, one of the other cops calls, Dale You want me to grab this bootlick?Leave him alone Dale shouts, and bulls his way inside. Its not until the door is un blossom behind him and hes in the lower hall with Jack, Tom, and Bobby that Dale sympathises how certain he was that Beezer would simply snatch the old man away from him. And then crack his neck like a chicken bone.Dale? Debbi Anderson calls uncertainly from halfway down the stairs. Is everything all right?Dale looks at Jack, who steady has his arms crossed over his chest and is still smiling his little smiling. I think it is, Dale says. For now. xx minutes later, Jack and Henry (the latter(prenominal) gentleman retrieved from the truck and still reet- petty) sit in Dales office. beyond the closed door, the ready room roars with communion and laughter almost every cop on the FLPD force is out there, and it sounds like a god-damn pertly Years Eve party. There are effortless shouts and smacking sounds that can only be relieved boys (and little girls) in blue high-fiving each other. In a little while Dale will put a quit to that shit, but for now hes content to let them go ahead. He understands how they feel, even though he no longer feels that way himself.George Potter has been printed and stuck in a cell upstairs to think things over. embrown and disconsolate of the State constabulary are on their way. For now, that is enough. As for rejoicing . . . well, something about his friends grin and his faraway look have put triumph on hold.I didnt think you were going to produce Beezer his moment, Jack says. Its a good thing you did. There office have been trouble right here in River urban center if youd tried and true to face him down.I suppose I have a damp idea this night of how he feels, Dale replies. I lost train of my own kid tonight, and it scared the living shit out of me.David? Henry cries, contention forward. Is David okay?Yeah, Uncle Henry, Daves fine.Dale returns his discern to the man who now lives in his fathers house. Hes memory the first time Jack ever laid eye on Thornberg Kinderling. Dale had at that point cognize Jack only nine days long enough to form some favor able opinions, but not long enough to bring in how really droll Jack Sawyer was. That was the day Janna Massengale at the Taproom told Jack about the privy Kinderling did when he was getting squiffy, that little dissembling of pinching his nostrils shut with his palm tree turned out to the world.They had just arrived back at the police station from interviewing Janna, Dale in his personal unit that day, and hed touched Jack on the shoulder just as Jack was about to get out of the car. Speak a name, see the face it belongs to before s upper berthtime, thats what my mother used to say. He pointed down to secondly Street, where a robust bald feller had just come out of tidings n nonions, a newspaper under his arm and a fresh adorn of smokes in his hand. Thats Thornberg Kinderling, his very own self.Jack had bent forward without speaking, smell with the sharpest (and mayhap the most merciless) look Dale had ever seen in his life.Do you want to approach him? Dale had asked.N o. Hush.And Jack simply sat with one leg in Dales car and one out of it, not moving, look narrowed. So far as Dale could tell, he didnt even breathe. Jack watched Kinderling contribute his cigarettes, tap one out, put it in his mouth, and light it. He watched Kinderling glance at the headline of the predecessor and then prom to his own car, an all-wheel-drive Subaru. Watched him get in. Watched him drive away. And by that time, Dale realized he was dimension his own breath.Well? hed asked when the Kinderling- tintinnabulationile was gone. What do you think?And Jack had said, I think hes the guy. just now Dale had cognize better. Even then he had known better. Jack was apothegm I think only because he and Chief Dale Gilbertson of French Landing, Wisconsin, were still on short terms, getting-to-know-you, getting-to-work-with-you terms. What he had meant was I know. And although that was impossible, Dale had quite believed him. now, sitting in his office with Jack directly acro ss the desk from him his reluctant but scarily ingenious deputy Dale asks, What do you think? Did he do it?Come on, Dale, how can I Dont waste my time, Jack, because those assholes from WSP are going to be here any minute and theyll take Potter heigh-ho over the hills. You knew it was Kinderling the second you looked at him, and you were halfway down the block. You were close enough to Potter when I brought him in to count the hairs in his nose. So what do you think?Jack is fast, at least spares him the distrust and just administers the chop. No, he says. Not Potter. Potters not the pekan.Dale has known that Jack believes this knew it from his face outside but earshot it is still an discontented thump. He sits back, disappointed. synthetic sentiment or intelligence? Henry asks.Both, Jack says. And stop feel like I plugged your mother, Dale. You may still have the key to this thing.Railsback?Jack makes a seesawing intercommunicate with one hand maybe, maybe not, it say s. Railsback in all probability saw what the Fisherman wanted him to see . . . although the single slipper is intriguing, and I want to ask Rails-back about it. but if Mr. One-Slipper was the Fisherman, why would he lead Railsback and us to Potter?To get us off his trail, Dale says.Oh, have we been on it? Jack asks politely, and when n each of them answers But say he thinks were on his trail. I can almost buy that, especially if he just remembered some clown he mightiness have make. energy back to date on the 7-Eleven phone one way or the other, if thats what youre thinking of, Dale tells him.Jack appears to give notice this. His look gaze off into the middle distance. That little smile is back on his face. Dale looks at Henry and sees Henry looking at Jack. Uncs smile is easier to read replacement and delight. opinion at that, Dale thinks. Hes doing what he was make to do. By God, even a art man can see it. wherefore Potter? Jack finally repeats. wherefore not one of the Thunder Five, or the Hindu at the 7-Eleven, or Ardis baby carriage down at the bait shop? Why not Reverend Hovdahl? What motive usually surfaces when you bring on a put together job?Dale thinks it over. Payback, he says at last. Revenge.In the ready room, a phone rings. turf out up, shut up Ernie bellows to the others. Lets testify to act professional here for cardinal seconds or soJack, meanwhile, is nodding at Dale. I think I wishing to question Potter, and quite an closely.Dale looks alarmed. therefore you better get on it right away, before Brown and sable He comes to a halt, frowning, with his head cocked. A muttering sound has impinged on his attention. Its low, but rising. Uncle Henry, whats that?Motors, Henry says promptly. A lot of them. Theyre east of here, but coming this way. Edge of town. And I dont know if youve spy this, but it sounds like the party next door is like, over, dude.As if this were a cue, Ernie Therriaults distressed cry comes through t he door. Ohhhh, shit.Dit Jesperson Whats Ernie Get the chief. Aw, never mind, Ill There is a single perfunctory belt ammunition and then Ernies looking in at the brain trust. Hes as collected and martial(a) as ever, but his cheeks have paled easily beneath his summer tan, and a stain is pulsing in the middle of his forehead.Chief, I just took a call on the 911, twenty dollar bill was the Sand Bar?That hole, Dale mutters. troupe-out was the bartender. Says about litre to seventy the great unwashed are on their way. By now the sound of plan of attack engines is very loud. It sounds to Henry like the Indy euchre just before the pace car runs for dear life and the checkered signalise drops.Dont tell me, Dale says. What do I gather up to make my day complete? Let me think. Theyre coming to take my prisoner.Umm, yes, sir, thats what the caller said, Ernie agrees. Behind him, the other cops are silent. In that moment they dont look like cops at all to Dale. They look like nothi ng but dismayed faces inexpertly drawn on a cardinal or so white balloons (also two black ones cant swallow up Pam Stevens and Bob Holtz). The sound of the engines continues to grow. Also might want to know one other thing the caller said?Christ, what?state the, um . . . Ernie explorees for a word that isnt plurality. The protest group was organism led by the Freneau girls mom?Oh . . . my . . . Christ, Dale says. He gives Jack a look of sick little terror and utter frustration the look of a man who knows he is dreaming but cant seem to fire up no matter how hard he tries. If I lose Potter, Jack, French Landing is going to be the lead story on CNN tomorrow morning.Jack opens his mouth to reply, and the cell phone in his pocket picks that moment to start up its annoying tweet.Henry Leyden immediately crosses his arms and tucks his detention into his armpits. Dont hand it to me, he says. carrell phones give you cancer. We concur on that.Dale, meanwhile, has odd the room. As Jack digs for the cell phone (thinking someone has picked a cataclysmically stinky time to ask him about his entanglement television preferences), Henry follows his nephew, walking briskly with his hands now held slightly out, fingers gently fluttering the air, seeming to read the currents for obstacles. Jack hears Dale motto that if he sees a single drawn weapon, the person who drew it will join Arnie Hrabowski on the suspension list. Jack is thinking exactly one thing no one is taking Potter anywhere until Jack Sawyer has had time to put a few pointed questions. No way.He flicks the cell phone open and says, Not now, whoever you are. Weve got Hidey-ho, Travelin Jack, says the voice from the phone, and for Jack Sawyer the years once more roll away. fast?The very one, quick says. wherefore the drawl is gone. The voice becomes brisk and businesslike. And as one coppiceman to some other, son, I think you ought to avenge Chief Gilbertsons private keister. Right now.Outside, th ere are enough vehicles arriving to shake the building. Jack has a corked feeling about this has since he comprehend Ernie say who was direct the fools parade. prompt, I dont exactly have the time to visit the facilities right n You havent got time to visit anyplace else, Speedy replies coldly. still now hes the other one. The hard boy named Parkus. What youre gonna find there you can use twice. But if you dont use it almighty quick the first time, you wont need it the second time. Because that man is gonna be up a lamppost.And just like that, Speedy is gone.When golden buttons leads the voluntary patrons into the Sand Bars parking lot, there is none of the carnival raucousness that was the restorative of the cluster fuck at Eds chow & Dawgs. Although most of the folks we met at Eds have been spending the evening in the Bar, getting moderately to poorly tanked, they are quiet, even funereal, as they follow scented fern out and fire up their cars and pickups. But its a sava ge funereality. She has interpreted something in from Gorg some stone sizable poison and passed it on to them.In the belt out of her slacks is a single crow feather.Doodles Sanger takes her arm and guides her sweet to shift Runklemans global Harvester pickup. When boulder fern heads for the truck bed (which already holds two men and one hefty young-bearing(prenominal) person in a white rayon waitresss uniform), Doodles steers her toward the cab. No, honey, Doodles says, you sit up there. Be comfy.Doodles wants that last place in the truck bed. Shes spotted something, and knows just what to do with it. Doodles is quick with her hands, always has been.The fog isnt thick this far from the river, but after two dozen cars and trucks have spun out of the Bars dirt parking lot, following shimmy Runklemans dented, one-taillight I.H., you can barely see the tavern. Inside, only half a dozen hatful are remaining these were somehow resistant to scented ferns eerily tidy voice. On e of them is crappy Cheese, the bartender. Stinky has a lot of smooth-spoken assets to protect out here and isnt going anywhere. When he calls 911 and speaks to Ernie Therriault, it will be mostly in the spirit of petulance. If he cant go along and savor the fun, by God, at least he can go against it for the rest of those monkeys. xx vehicles transmit the Sand Bar. By the time the power train passes Eds take in (the lane lead to it cordoned off by yellow tape) and the NO TRESPASSING sign alongside the transcend lane to that preposterous forgotten house (not cordoned off not even observe, for that matter), the caravan has grown to thirty. There are fifty cars and trucks rolling wave down both lanes of avenue 35 by the time the kinfolk reaches Goltzs, and by the time it passes the 7-Eleven, there must be cardinal vehicles or more, and maybe two c and fifty spate. attribute this unnaturally rapid swelling to the ubiquitous cell phone.Teddy Runkleman, oddly silent (he is , in fact, afeard(predicate) of the pallid charrhood sitting beside him her snarling mouth and her wide, unblinking eyes), brings his old truck to a halt in front of the FLPD parking lot entrance. Sumner Street is steep here, and he sets the parking brake. The other vehicles halt behind him, filling the street from side to side, rumbling through grey mufflers and blatting through depressed exhaust pipes. Misaligned headlights stab the fog like searchlight beams at a movie premiere. The nights dank wet-fish smell has been overlaid with odors of yearning gas, boiling oil, and cooking clutch lining. afterward a moment, doors begin to open and then clap shut. But there is no conversation. No yelling. No indecorous yee-haw whooping. Not tonight. The newcomers stand in clusters around the vehicles that brought them, reflexion as the lot in the back of Teddys truck either jump over the sides or slip off the end of the tailgate, watching as Teddy crosses to the rider door, at t his moment as attentive as a young man arriving with his date at the junior prom, watching as he helps down the tenuous young woman who has lost her daughter. The mist seems to outline her somehow, and give her a gonzo electric aura, the same blue of the sodium lights on Beezers upper arms. The displace gives out a corporal (and weirdly amorous) sigh when it sees her. She is what connects them. any her life, hay-scented Freneau has been the forgotten one even pigeonhole Freneau forgot her eventually, rail off to Green speak and leaving her here to work odd jobs and collect the ADC. besides Irma remembered her, only Irma cared, and now Irma is dead. Not here to see (unless shes looking down from heaven, Tansy thinks in some distant and ever-receding part of her mind) her mother suddenly idolized. Tansy Freneau has tonight become the loved subject of French Landings eye and heart. Not its mind, because its mind is temporarily gone (perhaps in search of its conscience), but certainly of its eye and heart, yes. And now, as finely as the girl she once was, Doodles Sanger approaches this woman of the hour. What Doodles spotted double-dealing on the floor of Teddys truck bed was an old aloofness of rope, dirty and saponaceous but thick enough to do the trick. Below Doodless petite fist hangs the trap that her clever hands have fashioned on the ride into town. She hands it to Tansy, who holds it up in the blurred light.The host lets out another sigh.trap raised, looking like a female Diogenes in search of an honest man rather than of a cannibal in need of kill, Tansy walks delicate herself in her jeans and bloodstained sweatshirt into the parking lot. Teddy, Doodles, and Freddy Saknessum walk behind her, and behind them come the rest. They move toward the police station like the tide.The Thunder Five are still standing with their backs to the brick wall and their arms folded. What the fuck do we do? Mouse asks.I dont know about you, Beezer says, but Im gonna stand here until they grab me, which they probably will. Hes looking at the woman with the upraise noose. Hes a big boy and hes been in a lot of hard corners, but this chick frightens him with her blank, wide eyes, like the eyes of a statue. And theres something stuck in her belt. Something black. Is it a knife? Some kind of spikelet? And Im not gonna fight, because it wont work.Theyll lock the door, right? Doc asks nervously. I mean, the copsll lock the door.I imagine, Beezer says, never taking his eyes from Tansy Freneau. But if these folks want Potter, theyll have him on the half shell. Look at em, for Christs sake. Theres a couple of hundred.Tansy s stand out, the noose still held up. sum up him out, she says. Her voice is louder than it should be, as if some doctor has cunningly hidden an amplifying contrivance in her throat. read him out. pop off us the slayerDoodles joins in. deal him outAnd Teddy. fuddle us the sea wolfAnd Freddy. remove him out rea ch out us the cause of deathAnd then the rest. It could almost be the sound running play of George Rathbuns pester Barrage, only sort of of embarrass that kick or On Wisconsin they are screaming, supply HIM knocked out(p) demo US THE slayerTheyre gonna take him, Beezer murmurs. He turns to his troops, his eyes both jolty and frightened. Sweat stands out on his across-the-board forehead in large faultless drops. When shes got em watched up to high, shell come and theyll be right on her ass. Dont run, dont even flower your arms. And when they grab you, let it happen. If you want to see daylight tomorrow, let it happen.The crowd stands shallow in fog like fail skim milk, expertnessen, BRING HIM OUT GIVE US THE KILLERWendell Green is chanting right along with them, but that doesnt keep him from continuing to take pictures.Because shit, this is the story of a lifetime.From the door behind Beezer, theres a click. Yeah, they locked it, he thinks. Thanks, you whores.But i ts the latch, not the lock. The door opens. Jack Sawyer steps out. He walks past Beezer without looking or reacting as Beez mutters, Hey, man, I wouldnt go near her.Jack advances late but not hesitatingly into the no-mans-land between the building and the mob with the woman standing at its head, noblewoman Liberty with the upraised hangmans noose instead of a blowlamp in her hand. In his simple gray collarless shirt and dark pants, Jack looks like a cavalier from some old amative tale pass on to propose marriage. The flowers he holds in his own hand add to this impression. These tiny white blooms are what Speedy left for him beside the throw off in Dales bathroom, a cluster of impossibly fragrant white blossoms.They are lilies of the vale, and they are from the Territories. Speedy left him no explanation about how to use them, but Jack needs none.The crowd falls silent. Only Tansy, lost in the world Gorg has made for her, continues to chant exact him out break in us the killer She doesnt stop until Jack is directly in front of her, and he doesnt kid himself that its his self-aggrandizing face or dashing soma that ends the too loud repetition. It is the smell of the flowers, their sweet and vibrant smell the exact opposite of the meaty stench that hung over Eds Eats.Her eyes clear . . . a little, at least. set about him out, she says to Jack. Almost a question.No, he says, and the word is filled with dangerous tenderness. No, dear.Behind them, Doodles Sanger suddenly thinks of her father for the first time in maybe twenty years and begins to weep. take up him out, Tansy pleads. Now her own eyes are filling. Bring out the nut who killed my pretty baby.If I had him, maybe I would, Jack says. Maybe I would at that. Although he knows better. But the guy weve gots not the guy you want. Hes not the one.But Gorg said Here is a word he knows. One of the words Judy Marshall tried to eat. Jack, not in the Territories but not entirely in this world right now ei ther, reaches forward and plucks the feather from her belt. Did Gorg give you this?Yes Jack lets it drop, then steps on it. For a moment he thinks knows that he feels it buzzing angrily beneath the sole of his shoe, like a half-crushed wasp. Then it stills. Gorg lies, Tansy. some(prenominal) Gorg is, he lies. The man in there is not the one.Tansy lets out a great roar and drops the rope. Behind her, the crowd sighs.Jack puts his arm around her and again he thinks of George Potters monstrous dignity he thinks of all the lost, try along without a single clean Territories dawn to light their way. He hugs her to him, perceive sweat and tribulation and madness and coffee brandy.In her ear, Jack whispers Ill catch him for you, Tansy.She stiffens. You . . .Yes.You . . . promise?Yes.Hes not the one?No, dear.You swear?Jack hands her the lilies and says, On my mothers name.She lowers her nose to the flowers and inhales deeply. When her head comes up again, Jack sees that the danger h as left her, but not the insanity. Shes one of the lost ones now. Something has gotten to her. Maybe if the Fisherman is caught, it will leave her. Jack would like to believe that. soulfulness needs to take this lady home, Jack says. He speaks in a mild, informal voice, but it still carries to the crowd. Shes very tired and full of sadness.Ill do it, Doodles says. Her cheeks gleam with tears. Ill take her in Teddys truck, and if he dont give me the keys, Ill knock him down. I And thats when the chant starts again, this time from back in the crowd Bring him out halt us the killer Give us the Fisherman Bring out the Fisherman For a moment its a solo job, and then a few other hesitant voices begin to join in and chip in harmony.Still standing with his back against the bricks, Beezer St. Pierre says Ah, shit. Here we go again.Jack forbade Dale to come out into the parking lot with him, saying that the sight of Dales uniform might set off the crowd. He didnt mention the little bouque t of flowers he was holding, and Dale barely noticed them he was too terrified of losing Potter to Wisconsins first lynching of the new millennium. He followed Jack downstairs, however, and has now commandeered the peephole in the door by right of seniority.The rest of the FLPD is still upstairs, looking out of the ready-room windows. Henry has ordered Bobby Dulac to give him a running play-by-play. Even in his current state of worry about Jack (Henry thinks theres at least a 40 portion chance the mob will either trample him or tear him apart), Henry is amused and flattered to realize that Bobby is doing George Rathbun without even realizing it.Okay, Hollywoods out there . . . he approaches the woman . . . no sign of fear . . . the rest of them are quiet . . . Jack and the woman appear to be talking . . . and holy jeezum, hes givin her a bouquet of flowers What a ploy ploy is one of George Rathbuns favorite sports terms, as in The Brew Crews hit-and-run(a) ploy failed yet again la st night at Miller Park.Shes turnin away Bobby yells jubilantly. He grabs Henrys shoulder and shakes it. Hot damn, I think its over I think Jack turned her offEven a blind man could see he turned her off, Henry says.Just in time, too, Bobby says. Heres manoeuvre Five and theres another truck with one of those big orange tree poles on it . . . Fox-Milwaukee, I think . . . and Bring him out a voice outside begins yelling. It sounds cheated and indignant. Give us the killer Give us the FishermanOh nooo Bobby says, even now sounding like George Rathbun, telling his morning-after reference how another Badger rally had started to fizzle. Not nowwww, not with the TV here Thats Bring out the FishermanHenry already knows who that is. Even through two layers of chicken-wire-reinforced glass, that high, yapping cry is impossible to geological fault.Wendell Green understands his job dont ever make the mistake of thinking he doesnt. His job is to sketch the news, to analyze the news, to s ometimes photojournalize the news. His job is not to make the news. But tonight he cant help it. This is the second time in the last twelve hours that a life story maker of a story has been all-encompassing to his grasping, pleading hands, only to be snatched away at the last second.Bring him out Wendell bawls. The raw strength in his voice surprises, then thrills him Give us the killer Give us the FishermanThe sound of other voices get together in with his provides an dumbfounding rush. It is, as his old college roommate used to say, a real zipper buster.Wendell takes a step forward, his chest swelling, his cheeks reddening, his confidence building. Hes mistily aware that the legal action News Five truck is rolling slowly toward him through the crowd. Soon there will be 10-ks and 5-ks shining through the fog soon there will be TV cameras rolling tape by their bitter light. So what? If the woman in the blood-spattered sweatshirt was in the end too chicken to stand up for her o wn kid, Wendell will do it for her Wendell Green, shining ideal of civic business Wendell Green, leader of the peopleHe begins to pump his camera up and down. Its exhilarating. Like being back in college At a Skynyrd concert hopped-up Its like There is a great flash in front of Wendell Greens eyes. Then the lights go out. All of them.ARNIE HIT HIM WITH HIS blowlamp Bobby is screaming.He grabs Dales blind uncle by the shoulders and whirls him in a unrestrained circle. A thick aroma of turquoise Velva descends toward Henry, who knows Bobbys going to snog him on both cheeks, French style, a second before Bobby actually does this. And when Bobbys thread resumes, he sounds as transported as George Rathbun on those rare cause when the local sports teams actually buck the betting odds and grab the gold. nates you believe it, the Mad Hungarian hit him with his ever-lovin flashlight and . . . GREENS low-spirited THE FUCKIN HUNGARIAN HAS cat EVERYONES FAVORITE breathlessness REPOR TER ON THE MAT direction TO GO, HRABOWSKIAll around them, cops are blessed at the tops of their lungs. Debbi Anderson starts chanting We are the Champions, and other voices cursorily lend support.These are strange days in French Landing, Henry thinks. He stands with his hands in his pockets, smiling, listening to the bedlam. Theres no lie in the smile hes happy. But hes also uneasy in his heart. terror-stricken for Jack.Afraid for all of them, really.That was good work, man, Beezer tells Jack. I mean, balls to the wall.Jack nods. Thanks.Im not going to ask you again if that was the guy. You say hes not, hes not. But anything we can do to help you find the right one, you just call us.The other members of the Thunder Five sound assent Kaiser Bill gives Jack a friendly bop on the shoulder. It will probably leave a bruise.Thanks, Jack says again.Before he can knock on the door, its opened. Dale grabs him and gives him a crushing embrace. When their chests touch, Jack can feel Dales heart shell hard and fast.You save my ass, Dale says into his ear. Anything I can do You can do something, all right, Jack says, pulling him inside. I saw another cop car behind the news trucks. Couldnt tell for sure, but I think this one was blue.Oh-oh, Dale says.Oh-oh is right. I need at least twenty minutes with Potter. It might not get us anything, but it might get us a lot. shadower you hold off Brown and Black for twenty minutes?Dale gives his friend a grim little smile. Ill see you get half an hour. Minimum.Thats great. And the 911 tape of the Fishermans call, do you still have that?It went with the rest of the evidence we were holding after Brown and Black took the case. A trooper picked it up this afternoon.Dale, noEasy, big boy. Ive got a cassette copy, safe in my desk.Jack pats his chest. Dont scare me that way.Sorry, Dale says, thinking, eyesight you out there, I wouldnt have guessed you were timid of anything.Halfway up the stairs, Jack remembers Speedy telling h im he could use what had been left in the bathroom twice . . . but he has attached the flowers to Tansy Freneau. Shit. Then he cups his hands over his nose, inhales, and smiles.Maybe he still has them after all.