Page 67 of End of Days

She poured a glass of wine and sagged back, checking the time.

She had about an hour before the two showed up. Unbidden, the investigation began running through her mind, an endless reel she just couldn’t stop. An unwanted feature of her job.

The guy was a killer who’d been extremely careless in the first three murders, but in the last, he’d been very, very careful. Like it was a setup for something. If in fact the last murder was his.

She began to do the same circle of analysis she’d done since the first murder.What if? What if? What if?She couldn’t be locked into a certain frame of thought, because if she did, she’d miss the killer. In point of fact, she couldn’t assume the final one was connected, even if the Israeli said it was. Although that woman seemed to have some knowledge, she did not, which is why she’d agreed to meet them.

Garrett parked his car down the street from Lia’s Trastevere apartment and surveyed the neighborhood. It looked like a bunch of students or other malcontents. It most definitely wasn’t an area of wealthy people that would remember his presence.

He exited and walked a couple of blocks to the gate of the complex, seeing several youths on the curb and a guard in the shack. Heapproached and, taking a risk, he said, “I’m here for Lia Vairo. She’s expecting me.”

The guard made no attempt to check the validity of his claim, instead looking at a computer and saying, “Apartment 2 F.”

He said, “Thanks,” and entered the complex. He went up one flight of stairs and saw a group of young men lounging. They muttered under their breath about him, and one actually rose up, as if he was going to challenge his ability to continue.

He saw Garrett’s eyes, and did not. Garrett started up, and then had a thought. These stairs ended at only one apartment. The inspector’s. He returned to the men and said, “Hey, you guys want to make a little money tonight?”

The one who’d thought about challenging him said, “Like, how?”

“I’m seeing my ex-wife tonight, and her new boyfriend might show up. I don’t want that to happen.”

He pulled out a wad of euros and said, “You keep anyone from coming up these stairs for an hour, and this is yours.”

The man said, “Give it to us now, and we’ll do it.”

Garrett peeled off some bills and said, “This is half. When I leave here, you get the other half.”

The man took it and, like he was in charge, said, “Okay. Nobody up. Nobody down. You got an hour.”

Garrett smiled and said, “If you fuck me, I’ll kill you.”

The man saw the evil in his eyes and realized he’d made a deal with the devil. He nodded and said, “I got it, I got it. We’ll be here. I promise.”

Garrett went up the final steps, the landing ending at a single apartment. He rang the bell and waited, a pistol hidden under his jacket.

The door opened and he saw Lia Vairo in her street clothes, but theshirt untucked and not wearing a bra, her nipples prominent in the button-up shear blouse.

He showed his gun and said, “Inside. Inside.”

She didn’t show the fear he wanted, but she complied, backpedaling barefoot into her flat.

He sat her in a chair, the gun still on her. She said, “You’re the one, aren’t you?”

He waved the gun about and said, “Yes, I am. I’m the one you’re looking for, but you and I are connected, in more ways than one.”

He saw her confusion. She asked, “How?”

“You understood the red cord. You know what I’m trying to do.”

She shook her head and said, “I have no idea what you’re trying to do.”

He chuckled, saying, “Initially, I was just going to kill you to throw off the investigation, but I realized you could help me. Even if you didn’t want to.”

He heard a buzzing on the counter and turned toward it. He saw a phone about to vibrate itself off the table. He caught it, looked, and said, “Who is this?”

She said, “I don’t know. I’m a police officer. It could be anyone.”

“Answer it and tell them to get lost.”

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