Collecting Cooper

chapter thirty-three

“They’re going to come here,” Cooper says.

“What? Who are you talking about?”

“The police. They’re going to come here. You need to let me out. We need to go into hiding,” Cooper says.

“We already are in hiding,” Adrian answers, disappointed at Cooper. He doesn’t want to play more of these games. Why can’t Cooper just like him? It would all go so much easier if he would. To be honest, he’s beginning to find it frustrating. So far he’s had a pretty good day-he dug up Theodore Tate’s cat and bought Cooper a newspaper and had a good breakfast and soon he’s going to sit down outside in the shade and start reading Cooper’s book. Why does Cooper have to ruin it with more lies?

Cooper holds the newspaper up. Watching his face on the other side of the small glass panel is like watching a small TV set. Actually, it’s more like watching the news where it’s one bad story after another.

“The police won’t come here,” Adrian says. “They have no reason to.”

“They have every reason to,” Cooper says, waving the newspaper back and forth. “You’ve given them every reason.”

“You’re lying.”

“No, Adrian, goddamn it, I am not lying. I can’t afford to be caught here covered in blood, and nor can you.”

“But. .”

“Listen to me. The paper,” he says, waving it again. “You’re on the front page.”

Adrian shakes his head. No, if he were on the front page he would have seen himself.

“Take a look,” he says, and holds the paper over the glass.

Adrian takes a look. The sketch he saw earlier stares back at him, but it doesn’t look like him, not really. Well, maybe a little.

“That’s not all,” Cooper says, pulling it away.

“It’s okay, nobody is going to. .”

“Shut the hell up,” Cooper says, and he bangs the door with his palm and Adrian jumps. He goes quiet, unsure what to do. “You need to listen,” Cooper says, carrying on. “We don’t have much time.”

“I. .”

Cooper bangs the door again. “I demand you listen to what I say.”

Adrian is scared now. He used to get spoken to like this all the time and he doesn’t like it now any more than back then, but he does as he’s told.

“It’s simple if you think about it. Just follow the dots,” Cooper says.

“What dots?” Adrian answers, confused as well as scared.

“The dots you’ve made.”

“I don’t make dots,” he says, shaking his head.

“You abducted me. You burned down my house. Somebody saw you, and somebody from Grover Hills will recognize you. And you burned down Nurse Deans’s house.”

“How do you know about that?”

“It’s on page bloody two!” Cooper says, turning the newspaper and pushing it against the glass again. “And let me guess, you burned down her house the same way you burned down mine.”

“It worked so well the first time,” Adrian says, talking at the newspaper now, “so yeah, but I burned them down in a different order and. .”

“And the police have made the connection,” Cooper says, pulling the paper away and folding it up.

“I don’t see how.”

“They will have,” Cooper says. “You killed Nurse Deans, didn’t you?”

“She called me a freak,” he says, clenching his fists, and damn it, he didn’t want to confess that to Cooper, not yet.

“Is there anything else you’ve done?”

“No,” he says, thinking about Theodore Tate. He killed Tate’s cat, and tonight he was going to go back to the house and knock on the door and shoot Tate with the Taser. He’s starting to think Tate will be an easier item to maintain.

“The police probably already know who you are,” Cooper says.

“No, no, they can’t.”

“They’re going to send somebody out here to look around.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s routine. Because they know I’ve been abducted by an ex-patient and they know that same ex-patient has to have taken me somewhere and they know this place is as good as any.”

“It doesn’t make sense. How will they know I’m an ex-patient?”

“You took my book off Theodore Tate. The police know about it. They’ll connect the dots.”

“Oh,” Adrian says, understanding what the dots are now. “Is that really what will happen?”

“They’re on their way, Adrian. They may only be five minutes away. Or five hours. But they’ll be here. Today. Trust me. And if you don’t trust me all you have to do is wait around and see for yourself. Then they’ll take away your collection.”

“I don’t want them to do that,” Adrian answers.

“And they’ll put us both in jail.”

“I’d rather kill you than lose you.”

Cooper goes quiet for a few seconds. “Let’s make sure it doesn’t come to that. First thing we need to do is figure out where we can go.”

“Go?”

“We can’t stay here, Adrian.”

“But this is my home.”

“Not anymore.”

He’s confused. “But. .”

“Listen, Adrian, if we stay here we’re both going to jail. We only need to find somewhere else for a few days. The police will come here and they’ll find nothing, and then they’ll move on and have no reason to come back. We can give it two days, three at the most, then come back here. It can still be your home.”

He thinks he understands, and he’s certainly keen to make Cooper think he understands everything. He’s completely divided. Part of him believes Cooper is right and the police may well be on their way, and just as equally he thinks Cooper may be trying to deceive him. It’s a huge risk. His instinct is to hide and see if the police come, but if they do they’ll take Cooper away and he meant what he said earlier, he’d rather kill Cooper than lose him.

“Where will we go?” he asks.

“I know a place,” Cooper says. “A couple of them actually. East-lake Home and. .”

“Sunnyview Shelter,” Adrian finishes. “That’s where you took Emma Green.”

“How. .”

“I’m not as stupid as you think,” Adrian says, enjoying this feeling of. . of what? He doesn’t know the name for it because he’s never felt it before. A word like super, but longer. And with a t in it somewhere.

“You were there? Is that how you knew about me?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Adrian answers, not wanting to tell Cooper how he had been following him for days before collecting him. “If I agree to take you there, how do I know you won’t try to escape?”

“You can do what you want to me,” Cooper says. “You can tie me up if you must, but please, Adrian, we must leave now. I cannot afford to be caught here.”

“Because you killed that girl.”

“Yes.”

“For two days,” Adrian says.

“Two days.”

“And then we come back.”

“And then we come back,” Cooper says. “I’ll pack up some stuff and hide everything away,” Adrian says. “Nobody will ever know we were here.”