Banner opened her mouth to say something, then bit her tongue. She glanced at Blake, who locked eye contact and gave her a barely perceptible headshake. Edwards stared at her, daring her to protest. When she didn’t, he nodded.
“Don’t worry. You can help with the cleanup after we get Wardell. Good night, Banner.” He turned and strode away. “Don’t let me see you again, Blake,” he called without looking back.
51
Edwards had been right about one thing, Banner thought: She had to take a step back. Even without the enforced leave of absence, she needed time to think, to take stock. She didn’t need to ask Blake if he was still in; the look in his eyes said he was down for the long haul, and fuck the paycheck. She thought about that. What was still in it for him? She wondered if he pursued all of his subjects with this kind of relentlessness, or if there was something special about Wardell, something that he hadn’t told them.
She had found them a pair of rooms at a motel on the outskirts of Rapid City. They made the first half of the short journey in silence, Banner driving again. The rain had let up, finally, and a bitter, wintry cold had rushed in to fill its place.
“So, where to tomorrow?” Blake asked.
Banner took her eyes off the dark road for a second to glance at him in mock astonishment. “You mean you don’t know?”
“I don’t know,” Blake said. “I have a few ideas.”
“I thought you might.”
“He’s hurt, thanks to you,” Blake said. “That might buy us a little time.”
“First Nolan, then Hatcher,” Banner mused. “You were right about him targeting his enemies. Who’s next, logically? I’d expect him to go for Stewart, the detective who brought him in, but—”
“It definitely won’t be Stewart, because he’s already dead.”
“You really did do your homework. So who’s next? Where’s next?”
Blake turned his head to look out at the dark landscape as he thought about it. “Who? I think he’ll want to hit somebody important. But he’ll want to do it somewhere where he can take out lots of other people, too.”
“Why so sure?”
“Because of something I said. Or rather, because of his reaction to something I said.”
“What was that?” Blake had given her the gist of their conversation in the graveyard — all the stuff about Juba, but not the specific details.
“Basically, I was just trying to keep him talking, because as long as he was talking he wasn’t putting a bullet in my head. At one point I pushed his buttons about needing two shots for the delivery guy. I knew right away I’d pushed him too far.”
“And then?”
“And then I just said the first thing that came into my head, to make him hesitate. I asked him about the red van. About the fact somebody’s been helping him, the thin man.”
“And what did he say?”
“He let slip that he didn’t know any more about it than we do. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that the diversions were nothing to do with him until that moment, but that reaction convinced me. Then he said he didn’t care if somebody wanted to help him out. Like it made no difference to him. And that’s when I said it.”
“Said what?”
“It hadn’t occurred to me before. I don’t think I really meant anything by it; I was just trying to throw him off. Screw with his head.”
Banner slowed the car abruptly, steered right, and brought the car to a sharp halt at the side of the road. She just looked at Blake, waiting for him to get to the point, not sure whether he was being deliberately infuriating or if he couldn’t help it. She realized the irony: This was probably exactly how he’d made Caleb Wardell feel earlier that night.
“I said whoever it was wasn’t helping him; they were using him.”
“And?”
“And that did the job, really threw him off his stride. He’s so arrogant, it was probably the first time it had even occurred to him. And he looked pissed.”
“So what does that all mean?”
“I think it means he’ll go for another specific target this time. A high-value target. To prove he’s his own man. To prove he can do whatever he likes.”
“He pretty much did that tonight,” Banner said grimly, thinking about the carnage back at the lake house.
“But he only got Hatcher because ‘Agent Edgar’ set it up. Castle would have gotten him out otherwise. That’s going to eat away at him; trust me. He’ll go for someone important. He’s going to take this personally.” Blake stopped and looked ahead through the windshield. A dull red neon glow emanated from a building a mile down the road: the motel. “Earlier, you asked me who and where. I can’t get specific on who yet, but I think I know where.”
“Have you ever thought about getting straight to the point?”
Blake put his hands up in apology. “Sorry. I tend to talk in circles when I’m thinking. Chicago. I think he’s headed back to Chicago.”
52
Banner stared back at Blake. Just when she’d thought she had a handle on him, he’d pulled a complete one eighty. He was agreeing with the profilers now?
“What makes you think that?” she asked. “What changed your mind?”
Blake shook his head. “I haven’t changed my mind. I always thought he’d aim to end up there. It’s home turf, and he’ll want to reassert himself. Especially if he’s leading up to his big finish. I’m betting being hurt and the fact somebody’s muscling in on his show might make him accelerate his timetable.”
Banner looked away and cursed. Her first reaction was as a mother: The monster was coming home. Living in Chicago during Wardell’s first spree, she’d felt the same anxiety as everyone else. But it was different now: Annie was no longer a baby, no longer safe and secure in her bassinette.
With an effort of will, she forced herself to snap into professional mode, running through the logistics in her head. “He can’t make Chicago tomorrow. It’ll take well over a day by road. At least.”
“Two days from now will be Tuesday. Tuesday is…”
“Election day,” Banner said, finishing the thought.
“That certainly suggests some interesting targets, doesn’t it?”
Banner put the car into drive and pulled out on the highway again, running through this new scenario, trying to figure out what Castle would have done and what Edwards would now do.
“Like I said,” Blake continued, “I was just talking, trying to get under his skin. But…”
“What?”
“I think I might have been right. I think somebody’s using him. It’s the only explanation.”
“For what?”
“For why somebody would help him out without him knowing about it.”
“But that makes no kind of sense at all.”
Blake just raised his eyebrows, as if to say, But there it is.
Banner pulled up in front of the motel and parked.
“I booked us two rooms,” Banner said, and then immediately delivered herself a mental kick. Why the hell had she said that? She felt herself flush.
Blake smiled slowly. “That’s for the best. We’re both going to need the sleep. We need to be on the road early tomorrow.”
She opened her mouth to respond — to explain that she hadn’t meant anything by that, or to make a joke about it, or maybe to ask just what the hell he meant by “that’s for the best.”
Instead, she composed herself and said, “Tomorrow? Where are we going tomorrow?”
“New York City.”
She fought the abrupt urge to slap Blake. She counted to five and spoke slowly, unable to mask the annoyance in her tone. “You said Wardell was going to Chicago.”