Crimson Joy

CHAPTER 29

Susan cancelled her appointments again and sat with me in my office with Quirk, Belson, and Hawk.

"Best I can figure," Quirk said, "he went out a back window. There's a one-story addition on the back there and he must have dropped onto it and walked to the fire escape of the building next door. Then he went up, in the roof door, and down. There's a back door that leads out onto Cordis Street."

"Anything in the apartment?" I said.

"Would we search without a warrant?" Belson said.

"Yes," I said.

"Not a thing," Quirk said. "There's nothing there. A few clothes, a TV set, couple cans of tomato soup. Like no one really lived there."

"What will he do now?" I said to Susan.

"I don't know. Things will build in him. Pressure. There apy didn't stop him from murdering before, but .. She shook her head.

"Couldn't you have kept him in therapy until we nabbed him?" Quirk said.

"Been good if you hadn't lost him," Hawk said. He was leaning against the wall by my window.

Quirk snapped a look at him and held it and then nodded.

He said, to Susan, "Sorry, the question was out of line." Belson said,

"Lieutenant feels like a horse's ass, losing Felton. Me too."

Susan nodded.

"Might he go for you?" Quirk said.

"He might. I have mistreated him. He feels his mother mistreated him.

He would feel enormous rage. In the past when he felt it and couldn't express it directly, he would express it symbolically. How he would express his rage at me, I cannot say. Maybe he could do it directly, maybe he would have to deflect it onto something that symbolized me.

There's no way to know what the symbol would be."

"So we may have less handle on him than we did before," I said.

"Before, we could figure he'd try for a black woman in her forties. Now if it's you he's trying to punish…"

"I don't know," Susan said.

"His symbolism is private. He could attack me, he could…" She shook her head. "… anyone," she said.

"Okay," Quirk said. "We'll start looking for him. I'm still on vacation but I can reach a lot of cops who'll look for him too."

"You have a picture?" I said.

"Yeah, got it from the security firm."

"Susan's going to stay with me," I said. "He might turn up at her place."

"We'll cover that," Quirk said. "How about the ex wife I looked at Hawk.

"Be happy to watch her," Hawk said. "

"Less you want me for backup."

"No," I said. "I'll stay close to Susan."

Hawk looked at Susan. "You be careful," he said. "You need me, you call Henry." Susan smiled. "Yes," she said. "Thank you."

Hawk went out with Belson and Quirk.

My office was quiet.

"What do we do?" Susan said.

"Zee muzzer," I said. "We stake out zee muzzer."

"You think he'll go see his mother?" Susan said.

"Hadn't he transferred a lot of his feelings for her onto you?"

"Yes."

"So maybe if he deflects his rage, he'll deflect it at her. Possible?"

I said.

"Possible," Susan said.

"Besides," I said, "I'm pretty sure he won't come here."