Mind Prey

insanity. He’d put on a suit, but he wore white gym shoes and a discolored T-shirt that said “Logan Septic Service: Satisfaction Guaranteed or Double Your Shit Back.”
    Loring was the prize. He was very large—fat—with a head the size and shape of a pumpkin, and eyes set so deep they were almost invisible. He hadn’t shaved, and his beard was as thick and dangerous as a blackberry bramble. Sitting on top of the fat of his face, the beard shook like a bowl of cactus jelly. With his pale lavender suit and piss-yellow shirt, he looked crazier than Franklin.
    Sloan simply looked worn out.
    And all four were worried.
    “You’re talking about our ass,” Franklin said. They were all standing, jammed into Lucas’s office, the desk dwarfed by the bulk of the five large bodies.
    “I can cover it,” Lucas insisted. “You’re just taking orders and there’s no time to argue about it. You argue about it, those two are gonna be dead.”
    Del nodded. “I’ll do it.”
    Franklin growled, “Yeah, you’re Lucas’s pal. But shit…” He looked at Loring. “What do you think?”
    Loring shrugged, then sighed. “Fuck, what can they do to us?”
    “Fire us, take our pensions away, put us in jail, and these chicks could sue us for every dime we got.”
    After a moment of silence, Loring said, “What else?”
    Franklin and Del started laughing, and Lucas knew he had them.
     
    L ESTER STUCK HIS head in the office. “I just saw a gang of your buddies running across the street. What’s going on?”
    Shit. “What’re you doing here, Frank?” Lucas asked.
    Lester straightened, frowned. “What do you mean?”
    “Frank, you don’t want to be here. Not for an hour or so.”
    “Why not?”
    “You just don’t.”
    Lester stepped inside, pushed the door shut with his foot. “Cut the bullshit, Lucas. Tell me what’s happening.”
    “On your head,” Lucas said.
    “I’m willing to lie about it,” Lester said. “I was never here.”
    Lucas said, “Somebody is feeding information to Mail. I’m sure of it.”
    “Who?”
    “I don’t know—but I’m fairly sure it’s either Nancy Wolfe or Helen Manette. None of the other people were around for both the sessions that Mail got information from.”
    “But which?”
    “I don’t know,” Lucas said. “There just isn’t any way to tell. They’ve both got motives—money, emotional problems, or both. In fact, it could have been Tower Manette or Dunn, but they didn’t feel right, and when I talked to Mail, he said it was a she. So now I think it’s got to be either Manette or Wolfe.”
    “So what’re you going to do?”
    “I’m arresting both of them,” Lucas said. “I’m gonna have them dragged down here, searched, I’m gonna give them jail smocks and have them stuck in separate rooms, and I’m gonna have Franklin and Loring and Del and Sloan yell at them, until one of them cracks.”
    “Jesus Christ.” Lester stared at him. “What about the innocent one?”
    “I’m gonna apologize,” Lucas said.
    “You’re fuckin’ crazy,” Lester said.
    “Mail’s on his way to kill those people. You heard the tapes. But he was a long way out, up north, and we’ve got cars tangling up traffic all over the south side of the Metro area. It’ll take him a while to get there—but he will get there, and when he does, he’s gonna kill them. That’s how much time we’ve got.”
    “Does Roux know about this?” Lester asked.
    “She’s outa touch…”
    “So am I,” Lester said. He pulled open the door. “I never talked to you.”
    And he was gone. Lucas felt peculiarly alone, standing in his empty office. Nothing to do now except wait for the women to arrive. Then he heard footsteps outside, and Lester was back.
    “How are you gonna cover it?” Lester demanded. “You got anything?”
    Lucas shook his head. “Moral appeals. We were doing the only thing we could to save Manette’s life, and the kid, if she’s still alive.”
    Lester turned in a circle and said, “Christ, twenty-four years on the force.” He ran a hand through his hair and said, “I gotta go do some paperwork.”
    Lucas said, “Frank: could you get us a helicopter in here? Across the street on the government center plaza?”
    Lester thought for a second, then gave a quick nod. “Yeah, I can do that.” And he was gone again.
     
    N ANCY W OLFE CAME in screaming. Helen Manette came in weeping.
    Helen Manette arrived first, wrapped in a nightgown, with Tower Manette six