Lydia exhaled on the impression, checking for a ridge pattern. When Wade stepped back to give her light, he stepped on something. He could feel it under his shoe.
He looked down and flinched.
It was a beer cap.
He picked it up quickly, careful to conceal it from her. He knew it was tampering with evidence, but the cap provided a disturbing giveaway; he knew it at a glance. It was gold with a trademark: a malt shovel and the red Gothic letters “München Spaten Oktoberfest.”
««—»»
Tom poured back the rest of his Spaten Oktoberfest. Damn, it was good! Malty but not harsh. Smooth, and a pleasant aftertaste. Prime stuff, that was for sure.
Rebirth, he thought. The night was his home now, his sanctuary and his power. What more could a natural man ask for? Good beer, a good car, and…immortality. He drove the Camaro through quiet campus roads, looking around, seeing, feeling. Everything was new, and everything old was behind him. Forever.
Who are they? he wondered. Or what?
Tom laughed out loud. His laughter trumpeted, and cracked echoes into the night. It sounded like cannon fire.
“Rebirth!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
It didn’t matter who they were, really, or what.
Did it?
“Destiny!” Tom shouted.
He swigged his beer and opened another.
The Camaro roared off back to the sciences center.
—
CHAPTER 15
Jervis sat in darkness before the open window. The yellow quarter moon barely cleared the flat roof of the opposing eight-story dorm, Lillian Hall. Jervis smoked, drank, and waited.
Waiting for the truth, he pondered. It’ll be arriving soon.
Czanek’s phantom brand receiver came with the price. Jervis extended its antenna. To his left stood the telescope, already focused on the black second story window. It was a Bushnell 400x refractor; he bought it that afternoon for $220 at Best Buy.
Czanek’s bug would let him hear, and the telescope would let him see. A full window-shot at this distance only required the 40x eyepiece. Seeing was important to him. He needed to see, not as a voyeur, but as a seeker. Why did he want to hurt himself by witnessing what he already knew? Why did people do that? To see, he thought. To see the truth with his own eyes and be caressed by its finality.
Then he heard something. A spark of static. Voices?
He heard: “He’ll be here soon. Be patient.” A man’s voice.
Jervis held the small speaker to his ear. More: —We mustn’t waste time! We only have a few more days!
That was a woman’s voice, but clearly not Sarah’s. It sounded silly with excitement like a little girl’s. Then: “I’ll be going over these while you’re gone.” A second woman’s voice.
Jervis looked into the telescope. Sarah’s window was still dark, and there was no sign of Wilhelm’s love van in the parking lot. The dorm, clearly, was empty.
Then where were these voices coming from?
“Goddamn!” Jervis sputtered. He realized then that his receiver was picking up someone else’s bug. Czanek must’ve inadvertently planted another bug for another client in range of Jervis’ receiver.
The voices crackled on from the box. So far Jervis accounted for two women and one man. Then the first woman said, even more excitedly: —I can’t wait to begin! It’ll be so much fun!
And the man again: “I just hope it works out this time.”
Jervis shook his head in the dark. Just wait till he got hold of Czanek. He hadn’t paid six bills to hear someone else’s goddamn bug! Yet something distant bothered him. Something…
The man’s voice sounded familiar.
It sounded older, more mature than a student. But then he heard another man, a second man. What was this?
“Sorry I’m late, boss. I’m all ready.”
First man: “Excellent!”
Second woman: “Damn it, Dudley! I told you not to bring that thing in here!”
The first woman seemed to giggle.
First man again: “Bring the box to the car. Use your key. We’ll meet you at the labyrinth.”
That finished it. Only static followed. Labyrinth? Jervis puzzled. Key? And the second woman had said Dudley. Dudley Besser? That must be where the other bug was, in Besser’s office.
This bothered Jervis. But one thing bothered him more—the second man’s voice. It had sounded just like Tom.
Lights blared outside. Everything Jervis had heard cleared from his mind. Wilhelm’s white van pulled into the lot.
The truth had arrived. Jervis’ heart skittered. He smoked down the rest of his Carlton and waited. A minute, or an oblivion, later, Sarah’s window came alight. Jervis pressed his eye to the telescope.
They walked in clear as day. Sarah picked up the cat, named Frid, and cuddled it. Wilhelm was dressed in brown Euromod yuppie shit. His cropped blond head was equally plain, his broad neck, his sturdy arms and legs. He took a beer out of the fridge, a Kirin from a six pack Jervis had forgotten to reclaim after the breakup.
“Scheiss!” Wilhelm exclaimed. “Das bier?
“Oh, it’s something Jervis left,” Sarah apologized. “I forgot it was in there.”
Wilhelm put the rest of the six pack in the trash.
Next they were kissing. Wilhelm grabbed Frid by some scruff and lobbed the animal aside. As they embraced, Sarah’s hand went unhesitantly up the crack of Wilhelm’s ass, while his hand, frightfully larger, plowed down her pants front.
Wilhelm was pulling her toward the couch. Sarah was tee-heeing, feigning reluctance. Wilhelm peeled off his jacket and shirt. Then he peeled off all her clothes as impassively as skinning a piece of fruit. Jervis quailed.
Wilhelm had an upper torso like a Mr. Olympia contestant. He wore black briefs which bulged, and the size of the bulge was terrifying to contemplate. Sarah was rubbing against him, moaning. Frid watched from atop the end table, eyes wide as opals. Jervis felt corpse still as he peered on.
What happened after that seemed devil inspired, a mocking one act sex play that somehow knew Jervis was in attendance. This was the girl he loved more than anything on earth, giving herself aplomb to this egotistical German muscle-rack.
In a trance of sadness, Jervis continued to watch as Sarah lay back on the couch. Wilhelm stood feet apart, legs like corded, sculpted wood. He hauled down the tight briefs. Sarah’s eyes widened as Wilhelm posed for her appraisal. “Oh, Willy, it’s huge!”
“No,” Jervis pleaded. “Please, God. Don’t let me see this.”
Sarah leaned forward, lust glowing off her face. All Jervis could see was Wilhelm’s ass and Sarah’s hands kneading the muscled glutes. He could hear the awful sound of what she was doing to him. Lewd, wet smacking. Muffled sounds of delight. Thanks, God, Jervis thought. Thanks a heap.
He began to cry.
Soon Sarah finished with the oral warm up. She lay back again, woozy with lust, shiny around the mouth. “Willy! It’s just so big!”
“Mein stander? Ja? Das gute.” He turned to let her look at it again, offering a full side shot, which unfortunately offered a full side shot for Jervis too.
“My God,” Jervis uttered. “My God.” Then tears slipped off his cheeks as he continued to stare. Wilhelm pushed open Sarah’s legs and mounted her.