Sparkle (38 page)

“Stop here,” he said. “Please.” He pulled the envelope of cash from his bag that he’d taken from Joe’s top drawer. He peeled off a few bills and handed them to the driver. “Wait, please.”

“How long?”

Eddie thumbed through more bills. He looked at the driver as he did it. As soon as the man’s face relaxed, Eddie handed him the bills he had separated from the wad. It was still a challenge—but these cab rides were getting a little easier every time.

“Take your time,” the driver said.

Eddie got out of the cab, carrying his bag. He stood up straight and felt his muscles stretch and relax.

It was a beautiful day. He took a deep breath of zoo air. Rich, earthy life. He felt grateful to be alive. He walked to his bench, sprayed it with Shiny Gold, and sat down. It occurred to him that he might not have needed to do that.

The bench had been pretty clean already.

Chapter 56

The Killer had come to a decision, but there was no wave of chilly electric pleasure that usually accompanied the determination to do harm. When Eddie the janitor rattled the dressing room door at the Goodwill, the end was predetermined and unavoidable.

Mark sat in his office with the door closed, unable to work. He was in an epic bad mood. He had to redo everyone’s schedule to make up for Jolie’s absence, but he couldn’t focus on the paper in front of him. He needed to figure out all over again how to get to her, and what, if anything, he should do about Eddie. He had his own life to consider. Who should stay and who should go? And the clock was ticking.

One of the zoo guides knocked and stuck his head in. “Sorry to bother you, Mark, but there’s a call you might want to take.”

“Yeah?” Mark said, trying to sound as normal as possible. He wanted to scream at the guy to get the hell out of his office.

“It’s…sort of about Jolie. You want to take it?’

Mark panicked slightly as he picked up his extension. Was it the police? He waved the guide out impatiently, and then took a deep breath. “This is Mark Bender,” he said, in his most casual professional voice. “What can I do for you?”

“This is Joe Jones,” a strangled-sounding voice said. “My b-bbrother Eddie usually gets taken around the zoo every Saturday. B-b-by Jolie. Jolie Walker”

“Oh, yes. Sure.” Mark blew out a sigh of relief. “Has, um, anybody talked to you about Jolie?”

“I know all about it. I already heard. I j-j-just need to know, is my brother by any chance at the zoo?”

“I wish,” Mark muttered.

“What?”

“Not that I know of, but let me ask around. Can you hold?” Mark got up and looked out the window toward the benches in front.

There was Eddie, sitting calmly, looking straight ahead.

“Oh, my God.” Mark shook his head. He went back to the phone and took a few deep breaths before risking speech. “Sorry, no. No one’s seen him.”

“Oh. Fuck.”

Joe hung up. Mark put his phone away and rubbed his eyes.
Think. Think.

He looked at his desk. A baseball sat on it—the one Eddie had left for Jolie.

Joe hung up the phone and promptly ran a four-way stop sign. He didn’t even see it. A cop turned on her lights and set out after him.

Joe saw the lights in his rearview mirror, cursed, and slowed down to pull over. Then he changed his mind and sped up. He had to get to the zoo. Fast.

Every once in a while, he knew exactly what Eddie was going to say or do before Eddie himself did—even on the rare occasions when it was something unpredictable. Regardless of what the guy on the phone had said, Joe felt certain Eddie was going to the zoo. The feeling was like an irresistible magnet, and, frazzled as he was, it was pulling Joe hard. He didn’t know what it was yet, but he had a feeling his brother had a damn good reason for everything he’d done this week. When he found him, Joe might finally get some answers.

And this time, he was going to get there in time.

Whatever it was, it had to be big. Because when Eddie really set himself to something, he wouldn’t stop at anything—probably not even if it killed him—until he’d achieved whatever it was he was trying to get done. If Joe got another nasty ticket, it was pretty much a piss in the ocean at this point. At least he could make sure that Eddie wasn’t going to get hurt—or hurt somebody else.

Eddie closed his eyes and let his face be bathed by the sun, enjoying the soft breeze that carried the zoo’s tangled, intense smells to him. He believed he could almost single out certain animals by their scent. He imagined what it would be like to come here again when Jolie was well and everything was back to normal. He had a feeling things were going to change a lot.

“Can you hear me?”

Eddie slowly opened his eyes. It was Mark.

“Your brother called.”

Eddie stood, took off his sunglasses. He usually wore short sleeve shirts, and his muscular forearms and large gentle hands hung loosely at his sides. He looked Mark calmly in the eye. Eddie was only slightly over six feet, but that was a good three inches taller than Mark.

“He’s worried about you,” Mark said, backing away slightly. All of a sudden he felt a bit off balance, and it took him a minute to remember who he was dealing with. His voice hardened again, and he lowered it to a harsh whisper. “Why are you here? What do you possibly expect to accomplish? Haven’t you made enough trouble already?”

Eddie didn’t answer.

“Do you even understand a word I’m saying?” Mark was leaning forward. His face was tense and ugly. A family walked by and looked at them curiously. Mark straightened up and smiled at them.

“Hey, folks. Have a great day.” He watched them go through the gate, then turned on Eddie. “Jolie’s not going to make it, one way or another. She’s not going to make it. You understand? And it’s your fault. You were there. I know what you did. You’re the prime suspect. You see this?”

Mark pulled the baseball out of his pocket. Eddie’s jaw tightened. “You do recognize it, don’t you?” Mark went on. “I got it at Jolie’s house the night before she got shot. You broke into her house, didn’t you? I should call 911 right now.”

“It’s…Jolie’s,” Eddie said, staring at the ball.

“No, it’s not. Jolie gave it to me. She didn’t want it. She thought it was stupid.”

Eddie’s expression didn’t change, but there was an effort involved.

“She laughed at you, Eddie. And she was scared of you. She said you were a bad person. You broke into her house. You’re responsible for her getting hurt. And if she dies, you’ll be responsible for that. And you know what? You’re going to jail.”

A suddenly agitated part of Eddie wanted to grab the ball from Mark and bash his head in with it. He let the disturbing sensation float through his consciousness and away.

Just let go.

“I’ll…trade you,” he said, concentrating hard to form the unfamiliar words before he spoke. But it was getting easier. Letting go of his mom had unstuck something that had been stuck almost forever. He could almost feel the new pathways blooming in his head, forming tender delicate bridges between thought and speech.

“I guarantee you don’t have anything I want,” Mark said.

“You never know.”

Mark’s radio squealed. He took it off his belt and put it to his mouth. “Mark here.”

“Can you come to the office for a second?” a crackly voice on the other end said. “Sorry to bother you, but it’s kind of important.”

“I’ll be right there,” Mark said, trying to mask his irritation. He glared at Eddie. “You stay put. I’m not done with you.” He walked away.

Eddie turned and waved to the cab driver. The driver waved back.

Chapter 57

When Louis got to Eddie’s hospital room, he wasn’t particularly surprised to see that Eddie was gone. Joe had told him that Eddie was going to have a brain scan. He needed to check in on Jolie Walker, anyway. When he got to her room, several nurses and a doctor were clustered around her bed.

“Excuse me,” Louis asked. “I’m a police officer. Can I ask what’s going on?”

“And you are?” the doctor asked.

Louis identified himself.

“I see,” the doctor said. “Well, she seems to have made a breakthrough. She opened her eyes, and she’s been partially responsive for the past half-hour. We’re going to try taking her off the respirator. If you want to check back in another half-hour or so— “

“I’ll just wait here,” Louis interrupted.

“You’d be more comfortable in the waiting area down the hall.”

“That’s okay.” Louis settled himself into the chair near the door. “I won’t get in the way. This might be the only chance we get to hear her side of the story.”

Louis’s phone rang. The caller ID told him it was Joe. When he noticed the doctor giving him an irritated look, he decided he’d call Joe back in a little while. He switched the phone to vibrate and put it back in his pocket.

Louis could see Jolie trying to open her eyes. She was moving her head from side to side as if she were looking for something. After the doctor removed the respirator, she began breathing on her own.

The big cop watched the doctor and nurses bustling around Jolie’s bed, feeling small and insignificant. It all looked mysterious and slightly intimidating. Louis had never liked hospitals, and he was glad he hadn’t spent much time in them. But this was a special case. If Jolie Walker had anything to say, he was willing to go to just about any lengths to hear it. She continued to stir uncomfortably, as if she were trying— weakly—to shake something off.

Then she opened her eyes. She tried to speak, but Louis couldn’t hear any words. The doctor shone a light in her eyes and asked her a few questions, and she nodded and shook her head. She even gave a weak thumbs-up on request.

The doctor stood up and nodded at the nurse significantly. Louis stood and moved as close to the bed as possible.

“You’re a very lucky young lady,” the doctor said.

“Yeah,” Jolie whispered. Her throat was raw.

“I want someone with her at all times,” the doctor told a nurse. “If there’s any change in her condition, I want you to page me immediately.”

“I need to ask her a couple of questions,” Louis said.

“Not possible,” the doctor said.

“It’s life and death.”

The doctor looked at him appraisingly. “Then keep it short,” he said, as he turned and left the room.

Louis moved to Jolie’s side and leaned in close. “Who did this to you? Was it Eddie?”

Jolie tried to speak, but only a faint croak came out. It sounded as though she were asking for water.

“Did Eddie do this?” Louis said. He wasn’t going to miss this chance.

It looked like Jolie shook her head, although it was hard to tell. What really got him was the look in her eyes. Intelligent. Pleading. Trying to communicate…but what?

“Who?” Louis said. “Who was it?”

Jolie’s eyes rolled upward, her head lolled, and a monitor started to beep.

The nurses brushed Louis out of the way. Had she said Eddie didn’t do it? If she’d only stayed with him a few seconds longer…his phone vibrated, and he took it out of his pocket. Joe again. He’d call back when things calmed down. Whether Eddie had done it or not, the Walker girl regaining consciousness would be good news for Joe. If she survived, at very least Eddie wouldn’t get popped for murder.

Chapter 58

The cop followed Joe for several blocks with just her lights on. Then she sounded a couple of short blasts on her siren. She was patient. The guy wasn’t speeding, didn’t seem to be trying to get away. He was simply refusing to stop. He also had a burned-out taillight, and his driving was a bit erratic. Maybe he was drunk or high. Then again, he might be off his rocker. If he didn’t pull over soon, she was going to call for backup, just to be on the safe side.

Joe didn’t have time to be pulled over. He couldn’t even think straight. Was he delirious? The pain in his neck was bad, but the pounding in his head was so intense that he could hardly breathe. And he was utterly exhausted, moving on nothing but panic-fueled adrenaline

Despite the pain, Joe felt simultaneously affected and detached from everything, as if he was moving through a nightmare. For a fuzzy, weird moment he almost believed he was asleep and dreaming—and the hope that he might wake up somewhere else felt wonderful for the briefest second. Then the thought entered his head that he wasn’t smoking. Didn’t feel like it. It made him laugh. The whole thing seemed like a druggy, cosmic joke. With his driving record, would he get yanked out of the van and hauled off to jail just for failing to pull over?

No way.

After all he and Eddie had done for the cops, they owed him a break. Joe’s vision seemed to be going in and out of focus. Why the hell wouldn’t Louis call him back?

What was it he wanted to do? Save Eddie? From what? The truth was that he felt frighteningly alone. He missed his brother. He missed everybody in the whole stupid world.

Except maybe his dad.

The cop blasted her siren again. Joe fumbled for his phone.

“Damn it!” he said, as he got Louis’s voice mail again. “Eddie’s going to the zoo!” he shouted into the phone. “I don’t know how I know, I just know. I’m going there, and there’s a cop chasing me. Screw it! Just c-c-call me!”

Joe hung up. He snapped into something like focus for a moment and tried to get a cigarette going. His ears rang and his head hurt so bad he had to squint.

“U-u-useless idiot.”

He wasn’t sure whether he was talking about Louis, the cop following him, Eddie, or himself.

Joe had held on for dear life for a long time. Now he was losing it. It felt like falling. There was nothing to do but keep going until he hit.

He started to cry. The tears made his driving even worse. His sinuses clogged and it was hard to breathe. He gripped the wheel as tightly as he could.

It kept his hands from shaking.

Eddie waited patiently until he saw Mark coming back toward him. Then he walked briskly to the waiting cab. He climbed in, shut the door, and locked it.

Mark hurried up to the car door.

Eddie rolled his window down slightly. “I’ll trade you,” he said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mark turned to the driver. “Do you know this passenger is—” Mark stopped short.