“ Wait here until we've had a chance to check out the yacht,” said Sorrento, urging Jessica into the boathouse. The two of them climbed aboard Swantor's craft.
“ We've got to locate Potter. If he's still alive, we can get him medical assistance on the cutter,” she said.
“ And if he's dead, it's my damned fault. If only I could’ve gotten him to listen to me!” complained Sorrento.
“ Yeah, if the old fool had only listened to you.”
Sorrento insisted on leading the way down into the yacht. The rainwater dripping from their slickers puddled and ran down the steps ahead of them.
His gun in the ready position, Sorrento lost his footing, going to his back and sliding down the final stair and into the living room area. Jessica was blocked by his body. If someone should come from the control room the other side of the stairs, Sorrento was a dead man. She leapt over him and turned, her gun pointed into the control room.
“ Nobody here,” she told Sorrento.
Mike made it to his feet, his gun still held firm. Jessica looked about the room they stood in, filled with computer equipment and two screens she remembered well from Florida. Splashed across one screen were the remains of the Skull-digger's second-to-last victim, Selese Montoya. Jessica gasped anew at the sight and shut the screen off.
“ Oh, Christ… look at this,” said Sorrento, staring at the second screen.
Jessica gazed at the prone body in a yellow rain slicker with the letters that spelled out SHERIFF in black. The man's head was smeared with blood and bone that had caked his hair. Potter lay on his stomach, the back of his head splayed open, the wound obviously the work of the Skull-digger's bone cutter. “Sonofabitch,” Jessica muttered.
“ Was the old fool deaf? Why didn't he listen to me? Why'd he go near Kenyon?”
Sorrento went deeper into the bowels of the ship, kicking open each cabin door, his gun pointed and ready. Jessica sensed that no one but the dead were aboard. She held back, waiting for Sorrento.
When he was satisfied that there was no one else aboard, Mike relaxed his grip on the gun, put it away and returned to her.
“ Both Swantor and Kenyon must be up at the house. Potter must have helped Kenyon to get free, and that”- he indicated the screen displaying Potter's body-”that's what Potter got for his trouble. Damned old man. Why didn't he stop talking long enough to listen to reason?”
“ Shut it off,” Jessica said of the screen, but Mike continued to stare at Potter's body.
“ It's not your fault, Mike.” Jessica cut off the image on the second screen.
“ Tell that to my priest.”
“ You couldn't have predicted this. All you asked of the man was to give you a phone number. He wanted to play hero, get her off the island. You begged him to wait until we got here, and you tried to tell him to stay away from Kenyon.”
“ Let's get up to the house before these butchers kill someone else.”
“ Shoot to kill,” she told him.
He took a deep breath and nodded. “Count on it.”
Jessica and Sorrento made their way topside and off the death ship. Stepping out of the boathouse, Jessica and Sorrento found themselves in a renewed, vigorous downpour and alone. Konrath had taken his men up toward the house.
They rushed up the rain-slicked cypress boards of the stairs leading to the mansion. Jessica stared up at the house as she went. The place was cloaked in a kind of ethereal green darkness from all the ivy on its walls and the foliage all around the structure. All the lights were out except for one that appeared on the third floor. Ahead of them, they saw the cautious Coast Guard men inching ever closer to the house.
“ Wish we knew the lay of this place,” said Jessica, near breathless. She slipped but caught the handrail and continued. Sorrento had gotten twenty yards ahead of her. He stopped and turned, asking if she were OK.
“ Keep moving. I'm fine,” she called back softly. Looks like G.I. Joe Konrath intends a frontal assault on the place.”
“ He should've waited for us like we asked.” “Everyone wants to be a hero, bring down the Skull-digger.”
SEVENTEEN
And then it started like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons.
Inside the house, Jervis Swantor inched his way toward the master bedroom and bath, and looking into the bathroom, he found Lara, her head on a satin pillow and her eyes closed in a bubble-filled tub. “How's the water, sweetheart?” he asked in a chillingly calm voice.
“ Jervis, my God!” she replied, her eyes coming open in shock. “I
… I didn't expect to see you here tonight.” She recalled yesterday's visit from Sheriff Potter, asking after Jervis's whereabouts, and she'd thought then of vacating the place, but then she had James to protect her. “What do you fucking want, Jervis? What are you doing in my house?”
“ I have someone I want you to meet. We're all going for a nice cruise to Cancun.”
“ You're mad.”
“ I know. Now get up and come with me.” He jabbed her cheek with the barrel of his gun. “I said get up from there, you cunt!” he ordered.
She took in a deep breath of air, wondering if he'd harmed James and left him bleeding somewhere in the house. “Jervis, what the hell are you doing? What more can you possibly want from me?”
“ Only a little more, sweetheart. Now stand up and step out of there!”
She stood before him, clothed only in tumbling bubbles, still wondering what condition James might be in. She gasped again at the sight of the gun.
Outside the wind howled about, and she could feel a scream welling up from inside her, but she controlled it.
“ I'm surprised to find you alone. I thought you'd have had another man by now.”
“ What nonsense are you planning, Jervis? I always knew you were insane, but killing me? Everyone is going to know you were behind it.”
“ At this point, Lara dear, I really don't care who fucking knows that I had you killed. It's the way in which you're going to die that interests me.”
She reached for a towel and wrapped it about her body. “Don't tell me, you're going to make good on all those times you threatened to feed me to the alligators.”
“ Better… much better than that. I have a guest on the yacht I'd like you to meet.”
“ A guest… the yacht?” She unconsciously clutched at the towel she'd wrapped herself in. He yanked it off.
“ Down at the boathouse. We're going to go down there, you and me, just as we are. My guest won't mind.”
“ I mind! It's cold and wet out, and-”
He slapped her hard across the face, sending her to her knees, pushing the gun against the nape of her neck. “You never could follow simple orders, Lara. Do you want to die here, like this? Now, just do as I say!”
While on her knees, she saw a shadow of movement near the darkened doorway leading out into the hallway. She dared believe that James had come back to save her. But now Swantor pulled her to a standing position and ushered her ahead of him, the gun held to her back, coldly kissing it here and there. As they exited the bathroom, and went through the bedroom, she sensed it was true, that the shadow must mean that James was nearby.
“ I'm sure you've heard of the now infamous Skull-digger, sweetheart, haven't you? The serial killer who carves out people's brains and consumes them?”
“ What's that got to do with me?”
“ I told you… I have someone down at the boat who wants badly to meet you, sugar.”
“ What are you saying, Jervis?”
He urged her forward. “I intend feeding you to him, darling, and filming it when he carves open your head for that useless brain of yours. I'm going to film it, so that I can watch it over and over again.”