Fear the Night

43

“We got trouble,” Melbourne said.

He was standing behind his desk in his spacious office. The desk was a slate-topped, massive mahogany affair he’d paid for himself. There was a bank of file cabinets along one wall, and a smaller desk nearby on which sat a closed notebook computer and a neat stack of green file folders. The other walls were festooned with photographs, framed news items, commendations, trophies, and personal letters from celebrities. The rewards of ambition and political acumen.

Repetto sat in one of the burgundy leather chairs facing the desk, his legs extended and his ankles crossed. His heels were dug into the plush carpet. “I guess by that you mean more trouble.”

“We should never have clued in the media on the nursery rhyme thing.”

“We had no choice,” Repetto told him. “They would have caught on to it anyway. Besides, would you want to take the heat if people were killed and we might have warned them?”

Melbourne ignored the question. He glared at Repetto from beneath eyebrows his barber had obviously forgotten to trim; then he leaned forward and supported himself with the knuckles of both hands on the desk, the way an alpha gorilla might stand. “The Night Sniper chose one hell of a victim last time out.”

“The thief,” Repetto said.

“So all the morning papers tell me. But Libby Newland wasn’t your ordinary thief. She was a scene stealer. The public loves-loved-her. The public is pissed off. That piss gets on the pols, who pressure the department higher-ups-”

“You,” Repetto interrupted.

“Me. Who, in turn, diverts all that piss and pressure to?”

“Me?”

“Uh-huh. The downhill theory.”

“More than a theory,” Repetto said.

“Right you are, there at the base of the hill. The stakes have been raised. We have to nail this guy, Vin.”

“Or I re-retire?”

That seemed to sober Melbourne. “No, no. . But I need something for the wolves that are snapping at me, so they can play show-and-tell with the others. Some meat to throw them.”

“Like the Night Sniper himself.”

“That’d be prime steak. Are you any closer?”

“With every victim,” Repetto said, “but it’s a hell of a way to gain ground.”

“Why couldn’t you figure out he might kill somebody in a Broadway show with Burglar in the title?”

“Because in the past he only used theater and play references to give us clues so we could find his messages.” Repetto uncrossed his legs. He stared at the photographs of Melbourne receiving awards, Melbourne posing with NYPD elites and the city’s top political figures. Not a stupid man, Melbourne. “You ask a good question, though,” Repetto said. “He took a chance killing such a famous thief, gambling that we wouldn’t anticipate it and be ready for him.”

“You haven’t figured out how he thinks,” Melbourne said, “but he’s figured out how you don’t think. He’s inside your mind, and at this point you’re supposed to be inside his.”

“I am to an extent,” Repetto said. “He’s not the sort to take that kind of chance.”

“But Libby Newland’s dead. She had no police protection, and the Sniper’s escaped as usual.”

“I don’t buy that knows how we don’t think premise of yours,” Repetto said, “but at the same time, I agree with you. It’s as if he knew we weren’t thinking along those lines. As if he could be confident there wouldn’t be any sort of trap if he tried for Libby Newland.”

Melbourne straightened up, then sat down hard in his padded desk chair and stared hard at Repetto. “You saying what I think I hear?”

“I don’t know. But maybe the Sniper has police contacts, knows somebody in the department, has at least some inkling of how we’re playing the game.”

“That word again.”

“That’s how he sees it-a game. And it’s one that, right now, he’s winning.”

Melbourne let out a long breath. “I won’t tell you the NYPD doesn’t leak. Do you have any facts to base your theory-”

“Not even a theory.”

“-your notion on?”

“No.”

“Then don’t let it get outside this office. I-we have enough pressure. Libby Newland was one of the most popular celebrities in New York, a city that worships celebrities. Media and political pressure have intensified like water trying to reach a boil. There’s growing economic pressure here, too, Vin.”

“I’ll bet.”

“They think business is bad now, it’s gonna grind to almost a dead stop after dark. The city at night belongs to the Sniper.”

To sudden, random death, Repetto thought.

Melbourne stood up again behind his desk, so Repetto stood also.

“We’ll take back the city,” Repetto said flatly.

Melbourne gave him a crooked smile, like the one in all the wall photos. “I’ll tell the mayor that when I see him.”

“Quote me,” Repetto said, and left the office.

Zoe Brady was asleep when she should have been showering and getting ready to go to her office. Her latest produce department conquest lay beside her and listened to her breathing. He was an expert on the breathing of sleepers; he’d crept out of dozens of apartments while women lay sleeping. And he had lain beside them weeping as they slept.

He wasn’t leaving this apartment. Not yet.

He looked over at Zoe’s relaxed features, her slightly open mouth near the top of the thin sheet, as if she were about to nibble at the linen. Her rhythmic breathing made the edge of the sheet near her lower lip flutter in time to her exhalations. Besides the three glasses of wine she’d had for dinner, Zoe had consumed, in the plastic bottle of diet cola he’d brought her after sex, two powdered Ambiens that he’d crushed between two spoons. He thought it would be at least ten o’clock before she woke up on her own.

Confidently but quietly, he eased onto his side, then swiveled his nude body so he was sitting on the edge of the mattress. The slight stirring of air brought scents and memories of last night. The woman was perspiring slightly and still smelled of sex. She moaned softly in her sleep as if sharing his recollection.

He stood up slowly and moved away from the bed, then padded barefoot into the living room. Zoe kept her laptop computer on her desk that was concealed behind a four-panel Chinese screen. During his last visit he’d discovered her ISP password, along with various Web site passwords, written on a piece of paper hidden beneath the base of the brass desk lamp. So many of them hid passwords beneath nearby lamps.

He booted up the small but powerful Toshiba computer and within a few minutes was online and had access to all of Zoe’s files.

Her document files were informative. They included working notes as well as personal letters, and summaries of conversations concerning the Night Sniper. He simply scanned the documents, then plugged the zip drive he’d brought into the computer’s USB port and copied them. He would peruse them later in his apartment, along with several other files that were encrypted. He was confident he’d soon be able to break the encryption and read all of Zoe’s secrets. If he couldn’t solve the puzzle of encryption, he’d have to steal the computer and delve deeper into its system. There was always a way, though often it was time-consuming.

But that was a problem for the future, if it came up at all. Right now, a cursory look and a later, more careful examination of what he’d copied, would do for a start.

He was pleased to find Zoe’s links to NYPD databases. Pleased also that she had extensive clearance. It took only a few mouse clicks to see there was plenty of information on the Night Sniper case. Intrigued, he spent almost an hour linking to various NYPD sites.

When he was finished, he removed the zip drive and shut down the computer. The drive was small enough to fit into its slim leather case and be concealed in the inside pocket of his suit coat that was draped over a living room chair.

He rearranged the carefully folded coat, then went back behind the screen and closed the computer’s lid.

Back in the bedroom, he stood by the bed and studied the sleeping Zoe. Her left arm was still slung carelessly above her mussed red hair. One pale leg protruded from beneath the even paler white sheet. She was still breathing evenly. She hadn’t moved. She still smelled of recent and vigorous sex.

He lowered his weight gently onto the mattress, listening to the muted ping of bedsprings, then gradually moved his nude body so it was pressing lightly against hers. The slight contact with her seemed to ignite dreams.

Zoe shifted her hips in her sleep, sighed, and turned to face away from him. As he wedged up against her he could feel himself getting erect, but he decided to ignore the temptation. He slid a hand around her, over her smooth, rounded belly, and up to gently cup one of her breasts. His mouth was near her ear.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” he whispered. “Time for us to get up and you to go to work.” He kissed her ear gently, then flicked it with the tip of his tongue.

She opened her eyes, smiled, and turned her head so she could kiss him back.

Her warm body jerked and he knew she’d noticed the clock on her side of the bed.

“Damn! If I don’t get moving I’m gonna be late.”

“Told you so.”

“So you did.”

He kissed the nape of her neck. “Maybe we should share a shower, save water, save time.”

“I’m not so sure we’d save time,” she said. She wriggled out of his clutches, then sat up and winced. “God!”

“Headache?”

“Whole ache. And I feel like I could sleep another eight hours.”

“I warned you about drinking too much wine at dinner.”

“Did you? I don’t remember.”

He grinned. “Bad sign.”

Zoe stood up and held a hand to her forehead. “Ouch! You must have been right about that wine.” She began massaging her temples with her fingertips.

He got out of bed nimbly and moved to stand next to her, supporting her.

“I’m not gonna fall down,” she assured him, giving up on her temples and dropping her arms.

“You never know,” he said. “Could be dangerous. You shouldn’t be in the shower alone. C’mon.” He began leading her gently toward the bathroom.

“No funny stuff in the shower,” she said.

He laughed. “Do I have to promise?”

“Of course. I can’t be late. I really can’t.”

“I know. You’re working on an important case.”

“Nutcase who’s shooting people,” she said. A hint of irritation had crept into her sleep-thickened voice, either at the killer or at being unable to speak or think coherently so soon after waking.

Now that she was up, he didn’t want her to suspect anything. Best if she came all the way alert as soon as possible. “We’ll take a shower,” he said. “Then I’ll call for my car and driver so you won’t be late for work.”

She stopped moving and stared up at him, impressed as she often was by this man she barely knew. “You can do that?”

He gave her his perfect smile.

“For you,” he said, “I can do that.”