Mostly Murder (25 page)

Several years passed before Malice was offered a really lucrative hit out in Colorado. The designated family lived in a small town outside Denver, and he was supposed to get rid of both the husband and the wife. That was a bit trickier than a single kill assignment so it required a lot more watching and double planning. But he was very good at that. In fact, it was his strong point.

So, on a snowy night in December, Christmas Eve, as a matter of fact, he drove down his victims' tree-lined street. There were lots of big houses with huge yards full of Christmas decorations, and all lit up with lots of expensive light displays. Neighbors were moving from house to house, giving and receiving gaily wrapped packages, big shopping bags full of presents. Nobody knew him. Nobody had a clue that Malice had invaded their exclusive neighborhood, ready, willing, and able to kill two of their own.

He had chosen the night before Christmas, because he knew full well that all the happy people he was watching would soon be snug in their warm fancy houses, tired and sated with food and drink and good cheer. And the local cops would be holiday staffed and slow to respond if somebody noticed him lurking around. He cased out the street and getaway routes several times, casually driving by the large Tudor house in the swanky subdivision. The family did all right, it appeared. The man he sought was a witness to a crime against an accused Chicago mobster who was now sitting in a jail cell awaiting trial. The organization wanted the witness to go away for good. His wife, too. She had been there when the guy had shot down his victim in cold blood just outside a steak house. They'd just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but they had agreed to testify and thereby signed their own death warrants. No skin off his nose. The more people he killed, the merrier, and the more he got paid. He was inching up now on fifty kills, and truly enjoying every single minute of it. It was easy and gratifying, now that he had his tactics down pat and rarely made mistakes. Disposing of troublesome people was a damn fine way to make a living. And he got to see the fear in their eyes sometimes, up close and personal.

As he parked his car under an isolated and thick stand of pine trees and climbed out, snow was still spiraling softly to the ground as it had been all day long. It was beautiful against the streetlights, very quiet and serene and magical. The inclement weather was a stroke of good fortune because it cut down on people getting out and going somewhere. It was bad luck in that he might leave footprints behind. But he had thought of that in advance and fixed the problem by strapping climbing spikes to the soles of his boots, which would be impossible to trace. It was very late now, well after midnight. The family had enjoyed a fun evening together inside by the fire, having a big dinner and playing games. Charades, it looked like, and then they'd opened an absolute ton of presents. They were wealthy, all right. They were getting another gift, too, one they wouldn't exclaim over with such delight.

The father of the family, his primary target, appeared rather nerdish in the photograph he'd been given, with horned-rim glasses and longish brown hair, which fit perfectly with his career, one of those pompous university philosophy professor types. The woman was well educated, a physicist even, but at the moment just a regular housewife, pretty as a picture, tall and slim and blond and sedately sexy. They had two little girls, three-year-old twins, and were they ever cute. He had spoken to one of them once when he was following the family through the Cherry Creek Mall. Just a casual smile and hello, and she had responded with a beatific little smile of her own that had made Malice want to scare her.

That's when he'd decided he was going to take the twins home with him. He hadn't abducted anybody for several years, and he had begun to kill and dispose of the ones he did abduct so they couldn't identify him. He craved that lovely release, the one he got when he saw people so terrified and panicked and trying to fight their way outside the maze. There was nothing like that to soothe his restless soul. He deserved some fun. He worked hard at both his jobs. And he'd grown a lot more careful during the last few years. He would never let another victim escape.

He had been damn lucky he hadn't been caught a couple of times in the past. But that was one reason he chose the little ones for his abduction victims. He could handle two tiny little twins just fine by himself, carry one under each arm if necessary, and he had duct tape in his pocket that would keep them quiet. They were very small for their age. They couldn't get away, even if they weren't too scared to try.

But there was one problem. A very big problem. There was another grown-up in the house. One he hadn't seen before that night and that hadn't shown up in his target dossier. The guy was very tall, very strong looking, and he would be hard to handle. He'd have to surprise him when he was least expecting trouble. He would probably have to kill him, too. But he had a suppressor on his weapon, which should do the trick. After all, they would all be asleep when he got to them. The children were already in bed, of course, and he'd watched the upstairs light come on in their room so he knew where to find them.

He settled back, concealed in some cedar trees in their backyard, glad that he had bundled up properly. He wasn't used to mountain weather; it rarely snowed in Louisiana. He watched through the window when the adults finally said their good-nights and hugged and kissed and wished each other Merry Christmas and trailed off upstairs after one full and exciting day of celebration. More bedroom lights came on, but the big stranger remained in the living room beside their Christmas tree, sprawled in a big recliner while he talked on the telephone. He was the last one to retire. He walked across the living room to the hallway, and then the downstairs lights died out, one by one.

Stamping his feet and chafing his hands together, Malice waited a bit longer, just to be on the safe side, and kept himself well hidden among the trees. The night stayed quiet, all the stars twinkling brightly above him, and it seemed such a peaceful place to live and raise a family. But that wouldn't last long, not for this particular family. It was almost time for him to make his move. But then he detected someone at the back door, and he quickly stepped farther back into the shadows. The big guy came out, all bundled up in a dark green fur-lined parka and gloves and hiking boots and carrying a red shopping bag. He walked quickly out to the street, where a large black SUV was sitting at the curb, got in, let it warm up a moment, and then drove away.

Smiling, Malice waited for the sound of the car to fade in the distance and continued watching the house, in case anybody else decided to leave. After about fifteen minutes, he decided the big guy was not coming back for a while, so he moved up the driveway, staying on the shoveled parts so he wouldn't leave any kind of trail. The back door's lock was easy to jimmy, and the big guy had obviously turned off the security system, which saved time.

Then he was inside, standing in the family's big modern red and white kitchen, the warm air feeling really wonderful against his cold face and hands. He kept on his ski mask and gloves and moved stealthily to the bottom of the back staircase, where he stood listening. There were no sounds from upstairs. He wondered where the big guy had gone so late at night. Maybe he didn't live there. Maybe he was just a good friend of the family, invited over for the festivities. Again, he waited, just to make certain. He had become quite cautious and careful, much more so than he had been in his early years. He rarely made mistakes anymore. That's why he was still alive and killing.

When he felt everything was optimal and everyone was asleep, he moved silently up the steps and down to the end of the second-floor hallway. Enough of the street light filtered through the sheer draperies for him to see the mommy and daddy asleep, snuggled close together in a giant king-sized sleigh bed, their door left open in order to hear their twins if they should cry out during the night, no doubt. He walked across the plush carpet to the bed, quickly fired a silenced slug once into each of their heads and then another straight into to their hearts, just to make sure. It had become one of his trademarks. He liked having trademarks, giving his victims or the police something to remember him by. Afterward, he moved quickly back out into the hall. He stopped there and listened again. Nothing. Silent as a grave.

The little girls were sleeping peacefully, too. There were two white canopy beds in their large bedroom but they were lying close together in one of them. There was a small ceramic Christmas tree between the beds that they used as a night light. He moved over to it and switched it off. He carefully folded down the big soft down comforter. They had on matching red Christmas nightgowns with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on the front. God, he was going to have some fun with the little darlings. Double the pleasure, double the fun, as they used to say in that old commercial. He hummed that old tune in his mind, and then he laughed to himself.

Watching them sleep for a moment more, he took out the chloroform bottle and poured a good dose of it on a hand towel and then pressed it against the first child's face. She barely struggled before she was totally out. Then the other kid, same thing with no problem whatsoever. It was a piece of cake, a lot easier than most of his abductions. Then he wrapped them both up together in a pink-and-white-flowered Disney Princess comforter and carried them out of the house and out to his panel van where it was parked down the street. He laid them carefully in the back, still wrapped up in the comforter. Then he got into the driver's seat and started the car and turned the heater on full blast.

Merry Christmas to me
, he thought as he drove off, very satisfied with his night's work. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. Then he laughed, more pleased with himself than he'd been in a very long time.