Read Online Alien Hunter (Flynn Carroll) by Whitley Strieber - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Whitley Strieber
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To be certain that he was right about the Hoffmans, he went through the house checking bedrooms, closets, bathrooms, even under the beds.
He pulled down the attic door. As soon as the stairs unfolded, though, he knew they weren’t up there. Nobody had trod on these dusty steps in a long while. Still, he shone his light up. “Doctor Hoffman, police! Miss Hoffman!”
No reply.
He climbed the old steps, feeling the slanted ladder give under his weight. “Doctor Hoffman, I’m a police officer. I’m here to help you.”
If he was wrong and they were up there, he might be about to get his head blown off. “Doctor Hoffman!”
Shining his light ahead of him, he went up two more rungs. He spotted a couple of cardboard boxes, but mostly the space was filled with loose insulation. Turning, he shone his light to the far end. The house had two wings, but there was no point in crawling any deeper. Anybody coming up here would have disturbed this insulation.
He backed down and closed the stairs, then spent some time in the master suite. The bed had been slept in, but it was cold now. The master bath revealed that this had been Doctor Hoffman’s room. It also revealed missing items. There was no toothbrush in the holder and a shelf of the medicine cabinet was empty.
There were too many clothes in the closet to tell if any were missing, but the way that the hangars had been pushed back, it looked possible. He observed no luggage, so that was another question.
He went down the hall to Gail’s room and found a similar situation. The bed was undisturbed, but there was evidence that cosmetics had been removed from the bathroom.
In the hallway, he found a closet that held luggage, but it was unclear if any had been taken.
Still, the evidence was sufficient to at least suggest that these people had left of their own accord. Nobody was going to believe that, though, because their cars were still going to be in the garage and there were no tracks around the house.
He knew damn well what had happened here. The Hoffmans had been taken. No question, it was exactly the same as all the other cases. So the kidnapper had managed to take the third sister right out from under the noses of a stakeout team, which was damn well amazing.
That most criminals were stupid was part of the shorthand of police work. The vast majority of them were going to be too dumb to get away, but also too dumb not to shoot. Catching the average crook was like herding a bull—dangerous, but not exactly what you’d call an intellectual challenge.
What they had here was a lurid genius with a bizarre imagination. To even think of training a big cat the way he had was extraordinary. To succeed was phenomenal.
He went downstairs and looked out the back door. He needed to locate the remaining members of the team. He observed the snow-packed back garden carefully, but saw no sign of any human presence. But he wouldn’t, not from here. They’d be back in the tree line.
That damn cat was probably still out there, but he had to do this. He unlocked the kitchen door and drew it open.
The wind-driven snow slammed him so hard that he lurched off balance and had to grab the doorframe to keep from being swept backward.
There were major gusts in this thing, fifty, sixty miles an hour.
Lowering his head, he pushed his way out into the storm.
CHAPTER NINE
The brief shafts of moonlight that had helped him earlier were now gone, replaced by scudding clouds and a literal wall of snow being driven directly in his face by the brutal wind. Out much more than five feet, he was blind. So what about the cat? Was it blind, too?
Despite this, the perp had come in here and taken his victims. Flynn knew when, too. It had happened just after Gail had stopped playing the piano and just before he’d entered the house—when Flynn had been dealing with the puma. It had disappeared because the kidnap had been accomplished and the perp had called it back.
The whole thing
To be certain that he was right about the Hoffmans, he went through the house checking bedrooms, closets, bathrooms, even under the beds.
He pulled down the attic door. As soon as the stairs unfolded, though, he knew they weren’t up there. Nobody had trod on these dusty steps in a long while. Still, he shone his light up. “Doctor Hoffman, police! Miss Hoffman!”
No reply.
He climbed the old steps, feeling the slanted ladder give under his weight. “Doctor Hoffman, I’m a police officer. I’m here to help you.”
If he was wrong and they were up there, he might be about to get his head blown off. “Doctor Hoffman!”
Shining his light ahead of him, he went up two more rungs. He spotted a couple of cardboard boxes, but mostly the space was filled with loose insulation. Turning, he shone his light to the far end. The house had two wings, but there was no point in crawling any deeper. Anybody coming up here would have disturbed this insulation.
He backed down and closed the stairs, then spent some time in the master suite. The bed had been slept in, but it was cold now. The master bath revealed that this had been Doctor Hoffman’s room. It also revealed missing items. There was no toothbrush in the holder and a shelf of the medicine cabinet was empty.
There were too many clothes in the closet to tell if any were missing, but the way that the hangars had been pushed back, it looked possible. He observed no luggage, so that was another question.
He went down the hall to Gail’s room and found a similar situation. The bed was undisturbed, but there was evidence that cosmetics had been removed from the bathroom.
In the hallway, he found a closet that held luggage, but it was unclear if any had been taken.
Still, the evidence was sufficient to at least suggest that these people had left of their own accord. Nobody was going to believe that, though, because their cars were still going to be in the garage and there were no tracks around the house.
He knew damn well what had happened here. The Hoffmans had been taken. No question, it was exactly the same as all the other cases. So the kidnapper had managed to take the third sister right out from under the noses of a stakeout team, which was damn well amazing.
That most criminals were stupid was part of the shorthand of police work. The vast majority of them were going to be too dumb to get away, but also too dumb not to shoot. Catching the average crook was like herding a bull—dangerous, but not exactly what you’d call an intellectual challenge.
What they had here was a lurid genius with a bizarre imagination. To even think of training a big cat the way he had was extraordinary. To succeed was phenomenal.
He went downstairs and looked out the back door. He needed to locate the remaining members of the team. He observed the snow-packed back garden carefully, but saw no sign of any human presence. But he wouldn’t, not from here. They’d be back in the tree line.
That damn cat was probably still out there, but he had to do this. He unlocked the kitchen door and drew it open.
The wind-driven snow slammed him so hard that he lurched off balance and had to grab the doorframe to keep from being swept backward.
There were major gusts in this thing, fifty, sixty miles an hour.
Lowering his head, he pushed his way out into the storm.
CHAPTER NINE
The brief shafts of moonlight that had helped him earlier were now gone, replaced by scudding clouds and a literal wall of snow being driven directly in his face by the brutal wind. Out much more than five feet, he was blind. So what about the cat? Was it blind, too?
Despite this, the perp had come in here and taken his victims. Flynn knew when, too. It had happened just after Gail had stopped playing the piano and just before he’d entered the house—when Flynn had been dealing with the puma. It had disappeared because the kidnap had been accomplished and the perp had called it back.
The whole thing
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