Page 137 of Never Flinch

5

1:55 PM.

Holly has just downloaded an article to her laptop when there’s a light knock on her door. It’s Kate. “No press conference this afternoon. I’m holding my fire for tonight. What are you up to?”

“Backgrounding Christopher Stewart. And his church. It may help.”

“Background leads to foreground? Is that it?”

“Something like that. Do you need me?”

“No. I’m going to put the DO NOT DISTURB on my door and take a power nap. Corrie’s still out shopping. Poor girl can use a break. I’ve been running her ass off.”

Not exactly the way Holly would have put it, but accurate enough. “Do you want me to give you a wake-up?”

“No need, I’ll set my phone.” She bends over Holly’s shoulder to look at the screen. “Is that them? The Church of One Hundred Per Cent Jesus, or whatever they call themselves?”

“Yes. This one’s from theLakeland Times, in Minocqua, Wisconsin.”

The headline reads, BARABOO JUNCTION CHURCH HOLDS PRAYER VIGIL AT NORMA KLEINFELD CLINIC. The accompanying photo shows two dozen people kneeling in the rain. Lined upbehind them on the sidewalk are placards showing bloody fetuses and slogans like I ONLY WANTED TO LIVE and WHY DID YOU KILL ME?

Holly taps the screen. “This is Christopher Stewart, your stalker. The man next to him is the one I talked to while you were swimming. Andrew Fallowes. I don’t know for sure if he wound Stewart up like a little clockwork toy, but I think he did.”

She turns and is surprised to see tears in Kate’s eyes.

“No one wants to kill babies.” Kate’s voice is hoarse and unsteady. “No one in their right mind, anyway.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to put a hold on your appearances until Stewart is caught?”

Kate shakes her head. “We keep on.” She wipes her eyes in a fast, angry gesture. “And you didn’t see that.”

“See what?”

Kate grins and gives Holly’s shoulder a light squeeze. “That’s the right attitude. Hold onto it. I’ll be up by four-thirty. Five at the latest.”

“All right.” Holly turns back to her laptop.Background leads to foreground. She likes that.

“Holly?”

She turns. Kate is in the doorway.

“It’s not easy being the bad bitch. The devil-dog. Do you know that?”

“Yes,” Holly says.

Kate goes out.

6

2:15 PM.

Sportcoat Man returns. He brings in another one, also young and barely conscious.

Once he’s in the arena, Chrissy returns to the doorway. She knows it’s dangerous, but she has to see. She watches as Sportcoat Man bindsthe new one to the penalty box’s other post. He then takes a picture of Corrie Anderson with one phone and the new arrival with another. When he straightens up, pocketing the phones and saying something to the new one, Chrissy catfoots back to her hiding place behind the snackbar.

Once Chrissy is sure Sportcoat Man is gone, she walks into the arena and goes to one knee in front of the new one.

“I have nothing against you. I want you to know that.”

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