The Cold Moon

they had any particularly difficult targets and if the money was right.
    A knock on the door.
    Duncan was right on time.
    Laughing, Charlotte strode to the door and flung it open. “You did it! I—”
    But her words stopped short, the smile vanished. The policeman, in black helmet and combat outfit, pushed inside. With him was Amelia Sachs, a large black pistol in her hand, her face furious, eyes squinting as she scanned the room.
    A half dozen other cops streamed in behind them. “Police! Freeze, freeze!”
    “No!” Charlotte wailed. She twisted away but got only one step before they tackled her hard.

    In the bedroom, Bud Allerton gasped in shock as he heard his wife scream, the harsh voices and the stomping of feet. He slammed the door shut and pulled an automatic pistol from his suitcase, worked the slide to put a round in the chamber.
    “No!” his stepdaughter cried, dropping her book and scrabbling for the door.
    “Quiet,” he whispered viciously. He grabbed her by the arm. She screamed as he flung her onto the bed. Her head hit the wall and she lay stunned. Bud had never liked the girl, didn’t like her attitude, didn’t like her sarcasm and her rebelliousness. Children were put on earth to obey—girls especially—or suffer the consequences if they didn’t.
    He listened at the door. It sounded like a dozen officers were in the living room of the suite. Bud didn’t have much time for a prayer but those through whom God speaks can be moved to communicate with Him as circumstances allow.
    My dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, thank you for the glory you’ve bestowed upon us, the true believers. Please give me the strength to end my life and hasten my journey to you. And let me send to hell as many of those as I can who have come here to transgress against you.
    There were fifteen bullets in the clip of his pistol. He could take plenty of the police with him, if he remained steady and if God gave him the strength to ignore the wounds he’d receive. But still they’d have a lot of firepower. He needed some advantage.
    Bud turned toward his sobbing stepdaughter, who was clutching her bleeding head. He added a coda to the prayer, with a kindness that he thought was particularly generous under the circumstances.
    And when you receive this child into heaven, please forgive her her sins against you. She knew not what she did.
    He rose, walked over to his stepdaughter and grabbed her by the hair.

    “Is Allerton in there?” Amelia Sachs shouted to Charlotte, nodding at the closed bedroom door.
    She said nothing.
    “The girl?”
    Downstairs, the desk manager explained what suite Charlotte and Bud Allerton, along with their daughter, were staying in and the layout of the place. He was pretty sure they were upstairs now. The clerk recognized the picture of the Watchmaker and said that the man had been here several times but hadn’t been back today, as far as he knew.
    “Where’s Allerton?” Sachs now snapped. She wanted to grab the woman and shake her.
    Charlotte remained silent, glaring up at the detective.
    “Bathroom clear,” one ESU officer called.
    “Second bedroom clear.”
    “Closet clear,” called Ron Pulaski, the slim officer looking nearly comical in the bulky flak jacket and helmet.
    Only the bedroom with the closed door remained. Sachs approached it, stood to the side and motioned the other officers out of the line of fire. “You, inside the bedroom, listen! I’m a police officer. Open the door!”
    No response.
    Sachs tested the knob. The door was unlocked. A deep breath, gun up.
    She opened the door fast and dropped into a combat shooting position. Sachs saw the girl—the same one who’d been in Charlotte’s car at the Watchmaker’s first crime scene. The girl’s hands were tied together and adhesive tape was over her mouth and nose. Her skin was blue and she thrashed on the bed, desperate for oxygen. It was a matter of seconds until she suffocated.
    Ron Pulaski shouted, “Look, the window’s open.” Nodding toward the bedroom window. “Guy’s getting away.”
    He started forward.
    Sachs grabbed him by the flak jacket.
    “What?” he asked.
    “It’s not secure yet,” she snapped. She nodded to the living room. “Check the fire escape from there. See if he’s outside. And be careful. He might be targeting the window.”
    The rookie ran to the front of the room and looked out fast. He called, “Nope. Might’ve gotten away.” He radioed ESU outside to check the