Read Online Rhymes With Prey by Jeffery Deaver - Free Book Online Page B

some back-and-forth, Lily went out on the stoop, told them that she would make one statement for the record, and that would be it.
    â€œI have some very clear ideas of how this may have happened,” she began.
    â€œAre you guilty?” somebody shouted.
    â€œOf course I’m not guilty,” Lily said. “I’m not guilty of anything except trying to track down a torture-killer. But the possibilities now are quite few: the logical possibilities. I’ll knock them down one at a time, and when I’m finished, we’ll have this madman. Within the next day or two. I’m confident of that.”
    The press conference lasted for another two or three minutes, then she said she would not talk anymore about it, and went back inside. The news crews dispersed, with the exception of a radio reporter. The rubberneckers went with them.
    An hour later, Lucas stuck his head out the door. “If you’re waiting for Lily, she went out the back a half hour ago.”
    At ten o’clock that night, Lucas and Lily headed over to the West Side, in the Thirties west of Ninth Avenue. They were tracked by two other cars, each with two cops in them, including Amelia.
    Lily took a call, and then said to Lucas, “He’s on the way. He’ll get off at Penn Station and then walk over, unless he’s going somewhere else.”
    â€œI’m worried,” Lucas said. “He’s nuts. If he goes off on you, I mean he could just—”
    â€œHe works at a hospital. He’s unlikely to be carrying a gun. And the stuff I’m wearing is stab-resistant.”
    â€œNothing is stab-proof, though,” Lucas said. “What we really need to do is slow down.”
    â€œI disagree,” Lily said. “This is hot, right now. He’s got to befeeling the street. If he has too much time to think about it, he can start covering it up. If he really thinks about it, he’d know that I’d never approach him alone. We can’t let him think.”
    Andy Pitt lived in a dark brownstone building that would take at least fifty yuppies and a couple of generations to gentrify, Lucas thought. They sat a block away, and the few people on the sidewalks either crossed the street or moved to the far edge of the sidewalk when they realized that there were people in the parked cars. A couple went by, and then a too-happy guy with a white dog.
    Lily took a call on a police handset. “He’s on the sidewalk. He’s coming this way.”
    â€œWire is good,” Lucas said. Lily was wearing a wire over her vest, which made her look a little paunchy; but paunchy was okay, considering the alternative.
    They took a call from Amelia, who was with three other cops, concealed down some cellar steps at a building on the other side of the street. “We’re set here.”
    A minute later she took another call: “He’s across Ninth, still coming on. He’s got a grocery sack.”
    Another two minutes: “He’s two blocks out.”
    Lily said, “Let’s go.”
    Lily went to the stoop that led into the apartment building. The doors were locked, but the rake opened them in a moment, and Lucas stepped into the entry hall. There was a weak bare-bulb light inside, and he reached up and unscrewed it, a quarter inch at a time, because of the heat. When it went out, he unscrewed it another quarter inch, then pulled his gun, cocked it, and leaned against the wall. Lily was facing him through the glass, five inches away, and he could hear her radio. “He’ll turn the corner in ten seconds. Nine. Eight.”
    Lily opened the door, turned off the radio, and handed it to Lucas. They were both counting. Seven. Six. Five. Four.
    Andy turned the corner. Lucas was looking past Lily’s head, and he said, just loud enough for her to hear, “He’s seen you. Bang on the door.”
    She banged on the door.
    Lucas said, “He’s coming up. He’s a