Flesh

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Jake saw a blonde girl on a tricycle behind the chain link gate at the end of a house’s driveway. She wore a white blouse.

Kimmy?

He could only see her back.

What would she be doing here, riding a trike? Maybe this is a friend’s house. Barbara said she’d phoned all of…

The right front of the patrol car tipped upward. Jake forced his eyes away from the girl. He jammed the brake pedal down, but not in time, and the car slammed into the trunk of oak. The impact flung him forward. The safety harness locked, caught him across the shoulder and chest, and threw him back against his seat.

The girl, hearing the crash, looked over her shoulder.

She wasn’t Kimmy.

Smoke or steam began rolling out from under the hood. Jake turned off the engine. He released the harness latch. Trembling, he opened the door and got out to see what had happened. He shook his head. He couldn’t believe it.

Watching the girl, he’d let the car turn. Its right front tire had climbed the corner of the driveway and he’d smacked into a tree on the grassy stretch between the curb and the sidewalk.

He staggered to the front of the car. It was hissing. The white cloud pouring through the caved-in grill and around the edges of the hood smelled wet and rubbery. He didn’t need to open the hood to know what had happened: he’d ruptured the radiator.

Dropping onto the driver’s seat, he reached for the radio mike.

“Thanks for the lift,” he muttered, and climbed out of unit one.

“Grab some rest before you start looking again,” Danny suggested.

“Sure.” He swung the door shut. The cruiser pulled away.

Jake walked up the driveway toward his car, digging into a pocket for his keys. He felt exhausted and sick to his stomach. His head throbbed. He needed badly to urinate. On wobbly legs, he turned away from the driveway and crossed his lawn to the front door.

He let himself in. Though it was dusk outside, the house was dark. He turned on a light in the living room.

After using the toilet, he swallowed three aspirin. He rubbed the back of his stiff neck. In the medicine cabinet mirror, he looked as bad as he felt. His hair was mussed. His red eyes seemed strangely vacant. His face had a grayish pallor. Under his arms, his uniform blouse was stained with sweat.

He washed his face, then went to his bedroom. He started to take off his damp clothes.

You thought it was bad yesterday. You thought searching the Oakwood was bad.

You didn’t know the meaning of bad.

He peeled off his wet socks and underwear and left them on the floor. He took fresh ones, from his dresser, knew he would probably fall if he tried to step into them, sat down on his bed, put on the fresh underwear, then the socks. Groaning, he stood up again. He went to the closet for a clean shirt. He slipped into it, tried to fasten a button, and gave up. He took a pair of brown corduroy pants off their hanger and carried them to the bed. Sitting down, he pulled them up his legs.

Yesterday was nothing, he thought. Yesterday it was your goddamn imagination working overtime.

He remembered checking under his bed for the snakething and almost blasting Cookie Monster.

Me want cookie!

His eyes burned and tears blurred his vision.

He turned his head to the nightstand where he had placed Cookie after coming so close to putting a bullet between its bobbly eyes.

The doll was gone.

Jake knew he’d left it there.

He checked the floor around the nightstand. Then he was on his feet, all the weariness and pain washed away by a cleansing surge of hope, on his feet and pulling up his pants and rushing from his room and across the hall and hitting the light switch and finding Cookie Monster on Kimmy’s bed, snug against the side of Kimmy’s neck, held there by her tiny hand.

Then Jake was on his knees, his arm across her hot back, his face against her shoulder.

“Barbara, she’s here. She’s fine.”

“Oh, my God!” For a long time, Barbara said nothing more. Jake listened to her weeping. Finally, she found enough control to ask, “Where is she?”

“Here. At my house.”

“Where did you find her?”

“Right here, I came back to get the car, and—”

“That’s impossible. It’s miles.”

“A little more than three, I guess.”

“Oh, damn you! Why didn’t you look there first!”

“I thought about it, I just…it seemed…it’s so far. I didn’t even think she’d know the way, much less walk that far. I still can hardly believe it. But she’s here.”

“Do you have any idea the hell I’ve been going through?”

“It’s over now. She’s safe.”

“Let me talk to her.”

“She’s asleep.”

“Wake her up, goddamn it!”

“In a while.”

“Now!”

“Calm down. I have to call headquarters and get the search called off. Then I’ll wake her up. She’s probably starving. I’ll get her something to eat and bring her over to you in an hour or so. Have a drink or something. Get hold of yourself. I don’t want you all hysterical when she shows up.”

“Hysterical? Who’s hysterical? I had her dead in a ditch somewhere and all the time she’s off paying a fucking surprise visit to her fucking Daddy!”

“I have to call headquarters,” he repeated. “We’ll be along in a while.” Then he hung up.

When he was done with the second call, he returned to Kimmy’s room. She was still sleeping.

Jake knelt beside her and stroked her head. Her hair was damp. He put a hand on her back. Her skin was very hot through the fabric of her blouse. He felt the rise and fall of her breathing. She snored softly.

Jake tickled the rim of her ear. Without waking up, she rubbed the itch with Cookie Monster’s furry blue head.

He smiled. He had a lump in his throat, but he was better now. Earlier, he’d fallen completely apart. She had slept through all that, fortunately.

Hell, the kid could sleep through almost anything.

With a hand on her shoulder, he gently shook her. “Wake up, honey,” he said. He shook her again. “Hello. Anybody home? Kimmy?”

She moaned and rolled onto her side, her back to Jake.

“Armpit attack,” he said, and wiggled his fingers under her arm.

Twisting away, she buried her face in the pillow.

“Butt attack!”

She reached back and slapped his hand off her rump, then rolled and faced him. “That’s not nice,” she protested.

“So sorry. Want to go to Jack-in-the-Box?”

“Can I have nachos?”

“Sure. Let’s go.”

“You don’t have to rush me.”

“If we don’t get out of here fast, Mommy might show up and take you home, and you won’t get the nachos.”

Kimmy sat up. Searching under the pillow, she found Clew. “Is Mommy mad at me?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. We were both terribly worried about you. What you did was very dangerous.”

“I was very careful.”

“Come on.” He took her hand. She hopped down from the bed, looked back at Cookie Monster as if considering whether to bring him along as well, then let Jake lead her across the room.

“Can I stay here tonight?”

“I don’t think so. Mommy will want you at home.”

“Isn’t this my home, too?”

“Sure it is.”

“Don’t you want me to stay with you?”

“I’d love it. But this wouldn’t be a good night for it. Besides, I’m on a very important case.”

“Somebody toes up?” she asked, and grinned at him.

“That’s right.”

Outside, Jake lifted her into the car and strapped her into the child seat. He hurried to his side of the car, started the engine and turned on the headlights. As he backed out of the driveway, he told Kimmy, “We looked all over town for you. The whole police department was looking for you.”

“Does that mean I’m in trouble?”

“I don’t think we’ll put you in jail this time. First offense. If you ever do it again, though, I’m afraid it’ll be slammer time. Why’d you do it?”

“Mommy wasn’t being nice.”

“Because she wouldn’t let you have ice cream?”

“No, ‘cause she socked me.”

“What do you mean, socked you?”

“Gave me a knuckle sandwich. Right here.” She bumped Clew’s small gray head against her upper arm. “It really hurt. You’re not supposed to hit little girls, you know.”

“So you ran away because she hit you?”

“You never hit me.”

“That’s only because I know you’d pound me if I ever tried.” He smiled at her, but blood was seething through him.

Kimmy never lied.

That bitch had punched her.

Didn’t even have the guts to admit it.

“So you got mad because she hit you, and you decided to pay me a visit? How did you find my house?”

“Oh, I knew where it was.”

“And you walked all the way?”

“Sure. My foots got tired, though.”

“There were a lot of people looking for you. I’m really surprised that none of them found you.”

“Well, you see, I hid. I’m a good hider.”

“What did you do, duck into the bushes every time a car came along?”

“Sometimes there weren’t no bushes. I got behind trees and cars.”

“Very clever,” Jake said.

“Well, you see, I got scared about the man with the cat. He didn’t have a cat, for real, ‘cause it got smooshed, but he wanted to pet Clew and I ran away.”

“What?” Jake asked. My God, he thought, somebody had tried to pick her up.

“Daddy, you should’ve listened the first time. I do not repeat.”

“I was listening,” he assured her. “You said that a man wanted to pet Clew.”

“Only that was just a story. He was going to grab me and take me in his car.”

Jake’s heart pounded. “Did he tell you that?”

“No.”

“Then what makes you think he wanted to grab you?”

“You can’t fool She-Ra.”

“When did this happen?”

“Today.”

“After you left Mommy’s house?”

“Well, of course.”

“He was driving a car?”

“Yes.”

“And he stopped near you while you were on the way to my house?”

“Yes.”

“What did he say?”

“I already told you.”

“Press rewind.”

Kimmy made a buzzing sound. “Okay, all done.”

“What did the man say?”

“His cat got smooshed by a car and he felt sad. I don’t think it really did, though. Do you?”

“I don’t know.”

“I wouldn’t let him pet Clew. I ran away.”

“Did he drive after you?”

“Well, you see, I ran to a house.”

“That was very smart. And what did he do?”

“He drove away fast.”

“What did he look like?”

“Are you going to put him in jail?”

“I might.”

“Good.”

“But I need to know what he looks like, or I won’t be able to find him.”

“Maybe you should shoot him. I think that might be a good idea.”

“How old was he?”

“I don’t know.”

“Was he younger than me?”

“Yeah, but he was grown-up.”

“Did he look old enough to be a student at the college?”

Kimmy shrugged. “He was kind of the same as George.”

George was the boyfriend of Sandra Phillips, who used to babysit for Kimmy before the marriage broke up. At that time, George was a senior in high school.

“What did he look like?”

“Well, he didn’t have a shirt on.” In a sly voice, she added, “I saw his beeps.”

“Did you see his back?” And did his back have a bulge, Jake wondered, as if he had a snake under his skin?

Kimmy shook her head.

“What color was his hair?”

“Black.”

“How about the eyes?”

“I don’t know,” she said, sounding a bit impatient. “Are we almost to Jack-in-the-Box?”

“Just a couple more blocks. Was he skinny, fat?”

“Oh, skinny.”

“Did he wear glasses?”

“Nope.”

“Sunglasses?”

“Daaaaddy.” She sighed heavily. “I’m tired of this.”

“You want me to shoot him, don’t you?”

“Well…”

“What kind of car was he driving?”

“Oh, that’s easy. It was just like Mommy’s.”

“A Porsche?”

“What’s a Porsche?”

“Mommy’s car that Harold bought her.”

“Oh, that. Huh-uh. It was like her old car. Maybe it was her old car!”

“Was it exactly the same? The color and everything?”

“Yeah. Only it had a thing on it.”

“What kind of a thing?”

“A pointy flag.”

“What color was it?”

“Red-orange.”

“Like your red-orange crayon?”

“Well, of course.”

“Where was this flag? Was it glued to a window, or…”

“It was on that thing.” Kimmy pointed through the window at Jake’s radio antenna.

“That’s great, honey. That’ll be a real help. Anything else you can remember about the guy or his car?”

“I don’t think so. His cat’s name was Celia. Only I don’t think he really had a cat, do you? I think it was just a story to make me let him pet Clew and grab me. I bet he wanted to do something bad to me. Only I outsmarted him, didn’t I?”

“You sure did, honey.”

Moments later, Jake swung the car into the crowded lot of a 7-Eleven.

“Hey, you promised Jack-in-the-Box.”

“I need to make a call.” The parking spaces close to the public telephone were taken, so he had to settle for a spot near the far end.

“Are you going to call Mommy?”

“Nope. Want me to?”

“No!”

“I’m calling the police.” He unbuckled Kimmy. She scurried down from her high seat and followed Jake out the driver’s door. Taking hold of her small hand, he led her across the parking lot. “I’m going to tell Barney all about the creep in the Volkswagen.”

Kimmy’s eyes widened with excitement. “Really?”

“Yep. We’re gonna nail that guy.”

“Can we eat before we nail him? I’m starving.”

“We’ll eat as soon as I’m done calling.”

“Well, make it snappy, buster.”