Desperate Measures

23

Instead, surprising himself, Pittman reached into his pants pocket and took out his keys and the tool knife-similar to a Swiss army knife-that he kept on his key ring. He removed two pieces of metal from the end of the knife. He was fully prepared to shoot himself to death in eight days. But there was no way he was going to stay put and watch while someone else died-or run before it happened and try to convince himself that he didn’t have a choice. Millgate was about to go into a crisis, and on the face of it, the most obvious way to try to prevent that crisis was to reattach his IV lines and put the oxygen prongs back into his nostrils.

Maybe I’m wrong and he’ll die anyhow. But by God, if he does, it won’t be because I didn’t try. Millgate’s death won’t be my responsibility.

Thinking of the.45 in the box at the diner, Pittman thought, What have I got to lose?

He stepped to the French doors and hesitated only briefly before he put the two metal prongs into the lock. The tool knife from which he had taken the prongs had been a gift from a man about whom Pittman had once written an article. The man, a veteran burglar named Sean O’Reilly, had been paroled from a ten-year prison sentence, one of the conditions being that he participate in a public-awareness program to show homeowners and apartment dwellers how to avoid being burglarized. Sean had the slight build of a jockey, the accent of an Irish Spring commercial, and the mischievously glinting eyes of a leprechaun. His three television spots had been so effective that he’d become a New York City celebrity. That was before he went back to prison for burglarizing the home of his attorney.

When he had interviewed him at the height of his fame, Pittman had suspected that Sean would end up back in prison. In elaborate detail, Sean had explained various ways to break into a house. Pittman’s enthusiasm for information had prompted Sean to elaborate and dramatize. The interview had lasted two hours. At its end, Sean had presented Pittman with a gift-the tool knife he still carried. “I give these to people who really understand what an art it is to be a burglar,” Sean had said. What made the knife especially useful, he explained, was that at the end of the handle, past miniature pliers, screwdrivers, and wire cutters, there were slots for two metal prongs: lock-picking tools. With glee, Sean had taught Pittman how to use them.

The lesson had stuck.

Now Pittman worked the prongs into the lock. It was sturdy-a dead bolt. It didn’t matter. One prong was used to free the pins in the cylinder, Sean had explained. The other was used to apply leverage and pressure. Once you did it a couple of times, the simple operation wasn’t hard to master. With practice and Sean watching, Pittman had learned how to enter a locked room within fifteen seconds.

As he freed one pin and shoved the first prong farther into the cylinder to free the next, Pittman stared frantically through the French door toward Millgate’s agonized struggle to breathe.

Pittman increased his concentration, working harder. He had worried that when he opened the door, he would trigger an alarm. But his worry had vanished when he’d noticed a security-system number pad on the wall next to the opposite entrance to the room. From his interview with the Bugmaster, Pittman remembered that owners of large homes often had their security company install several number pads throughout their homes. These pads armed and disarmed the system, and it made sense to have a pad not just at the front door but at all the principal exits from the dwelling.

But in this case, the security company had installed the pad in the wrong place-within view of anyone who might be trying to break in through the French doors. From Pittman’s vantage point, as he freed another pin in the cylinder of the lock, he could see that the illuminated indicator on the number pad said READY TO ARM. Because so many visitors had been coming and going, the system had not yet been activated.

Pittman felt the final pin disengage. Turning the second metal prong, he pivoted the cylinder, and the lock was released. In a rush, he turned the latch and pulled the door open.

The opposite door was closed. No one could hear Pittman as he hurried into the dusky room. Millgate was losing strength, his effort to breathe less strenuous. Pittman reached him and eased the prongs for the oxygen tube into Millgate’s nostrils.

The effect was almost magical. Within seconds, Millgate’s color had begun to be less flushed. His agitation lessened. A few more seconds and the rise and fall of Millgate’s chest became more regular, less frenzied. Throughout, Pittman was in motion. He grabbed the IV tubes that Millgate had inadvertently jerked from the needles in his arms. As Pittman inserted the tubes back onto the base of each needle, he noticed that liquid from the tubes had trickled onto the floor. How would the nurse account for that when she came back into the room? he wondered. Then he noticed the water tracks that he had brought in from the rain, the moisture dripping off his overcoat.

I have to get out of here.

A final look at the monitors showed him that Millgate’s blood pressure, respiration rate, and heartbeat were becoming less extreme. The old guy’s going to make it a while longer, Pittman thought. Relieved, anxious, he turned to leave the room.

But he was shocked as an aged clawlike hand grabbed his right wrist, making him gasp. Pittman swung in alarm and saw Millgate’s anguished eyes staring at him.

Pittman clutched the old man’s fingers and worked to pry them off, surprised by the ferocity of the old man’s grip.

Jesus, if he yells…

“Duncan.” The old man spoke with effort, his voice thin and crackly, like cellophane being crumpled.

He’s delirious. He doesn’t know who he’s talking to.

“Duncan.” The old man seemed to plead.

He thinks I’m somebody else. I’ve been in here too long. I have to get out.

“Duncan.” The old man’s voice thickened, now sounding like crusted mud being stepped upon. “The snow.”

Pittman released the old man’s fingers.

“Grollier.” The old man’s throat filled with phlegm, making a grotesque imitation of the sound of gargling.

To hell with this, Pittman thought, then swung toward the French doors.

He was suddenly caught in a column of light. The entrance to the room had been opened. Illumination from the hall spilled in, silhouetting the nurse. She stood, paralyzed for a moment. Abruptly she dropped a tray. A teapot and cup crashed onto the floor. She screamed.

And Pittman ran.