Slaughter

She seemed to run harder.

He tackled her, but as gently as possible, and they both were down on the edge of the water. What felt like gravel was only a few inches beneath them. Rocket thought it might have cut up his right knee.

The water lapped coldly at Marta, and she stopped struggling and began to tremble. Rocket held her close, saying over and over that she should take it easy, take it easy.

Marta calmed down somewhat and stared up at him. It gave him a jolt, how horrified she looked.

“Policia!” she said.

“Yeah,” he said, smiling at her to keep her calm. “Show me. If we need to, we’ll call the locals.” He held his grin. “What happened, Marta? you see a mouse?”

“Policia! . . .”

73

St. Louis, the present

St . Louis, Qui

Even before it soared over the riverfront, the famously beautiful and utterly useless Arch had its fans. People who might as well have had TOURIST stamped all over them were lined up to enter the nearest leg. New York Police Commissioner Harley Renz, in his gray Joseph Abboud suit, white shirt, and polished black wingtip shoes, didn’t seem to belong anywhere near this bunch.

But here he was, after a hurried flight from LaGuardia, following a lead on a New York killer. Might he gain national fame? He smiled. This was why he kept a suitcase packed.

Renz made his way toward the hotel entrance and air-conditioning. Qui

Qui

Qui

“There isn’t any question about these victims being the work of the Gremlin,” Qui

“Maybe,” Renz said. “This doesn’t seem at all unpla

Qui

“Sick, clever bastard,” he said under his breath.

Renz stared at him. “You really think he’s that smart? That he can move us around like chess pieces and commit murders without eventually being caught?”

Qui

“Well, we’re chess pieces that fight back,” Renz said. “Soon as we get some blood and fingerprints here, we’re go

“I think we better concentrate on what’s happening with Pearl and Weaver,” Qui

“I made sure there was plenty of protection at Faith Recovery,” Renz said.

Qui

The techs arrived with their white gloves and medical equipment. Five minutes later the ME, a Dr. Nicholson, who looked amazingly like Nift, showed up, with his black leather case and cheerful, crude tactics.

He got to work immediately.

Renz appeared in the bedroom doorway. “Something odd about the toilet bowl,” he said.

Qui

He stood in the bathroom, staring at the conventional-looking white toilet bowl. Qui

When Qui

It had flushed on its own. Must have been automatically and silently.

“Very impressive,” Renz said.

Qui

“Very, very impressive,” Renz said. “Can you do that with folding chairs?”

Qui

“It doesn’t work right,” Renz said. “Doesn’t turn itself off.”

Qui

Looking out the door into the bedroom, Renz pointed. “What the hell is that?” He was pointing to a metal object barely visible where the bed’s comforter met the carpet.

Qui

“Well?” Renz said, as they looked down at a strange metal contraption that faintly resembled an alligator with its mouth open wide.

“It’s a wine-cork puller,” Qui

“Gee,” Renz said. “Who do we know who’d do that?”

“Let’s hope somebody who left a fingerprint,” Qui

Renz wrestled his cell phone from his pocket and used it to check the time. 11:45. The murders here were hours old. How many people had come and gone in the room since then? “The way this place has been wiped down, even if somebody’s prints are on file from these murders, they probably won’t match.”

Qui

“What about it?” Renz asked.

“You tell me. You’ve had time to check on it.”

“You’re right. I used my iPhone.”

“And?”

“The commode isn’t broken—or if it is, the Gremlin broke it. It must have intrigued him because it doesn’t have a flush handle and it’s self cleaning.”

Qui

Almost no one.

“I’m informed that the so called auto-flush feature is in a lot of swank hotels,” Renz continued, “but none that our killer would have stayed in if he knew he wasn’t going to pay the bill. This one tickled his fancy and he couldn’t help taking it apart, or at least examining it to see how it worked. Gadgets are like porn for this guy. He couldn’t get the thing back together and make it work, and he got flustered and had to rush to finish up here. That’s why the place looks like it was given a once-over by a maid on speed.”