Page 12 of Go Now
‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord,thy God, am a jealous God.’
Back at the car, he was drying his hands when the phone lit up.He wondered how come that always happened.As if The Man knew exactly where he was, and what he was doing.Once his hands were completely dry, he picked it up and looked at the message.It was a picture of the next one.She was quite beautiful, with dark curls, like the Roman women he’d seen at the museum.
But her beauty wouldn’t save her.
CHAPTER FIVE
They met on the landing outside their rooms, both looking as if they’d been in a bar-fight, and lost.
‘It’s the goddam bed,’ Marcus groaned, trying to massage his own neck.‘I’d have been better lying in the bath.’
‘Was it that bad?’Kate asked.She hadn’t even tried; sat up with pillows watching re-runs ofSeinfeld, afraid of what unconsciousness would bring.She must have dozed off at some point, though, because she didn’t feel terrible.Well, she felt terrible, but not from lack of sleep.
They followed the smell of bacon and waffles down the stairs, passing another, distinctly under-slept-looking couple on the way.Kate held back at the door of the ‘Breakfast Suite’.
‘I don’t think I can face it.Can we find a diner?Sorry.’
Marcus looked disappointed.He loved an ‘all-you-can-eat’ buffet breakfast.One time, on a case in Missouri, the staff had told him that he couldn’t, actually, eat as much as he wanted.But today, he nodded in consent to Kate’s request, and they headed out into a grey, blustery day.
‘It’s the way everyone whispers in those breakfast rooms,’ Kate said, as they crossed the street.‘And everyone’s staring at each other, trying to work out why everyone else is there.“They’re having an affair…” “He’s a travelling lingerie salesman…” “They’re the ones who were making all that bad sex noise last night”.’
Marcus chortled.‘You’ve got an overactive imagination.’
She looked at him.‘Sometimes the reality is worse than anything I could imagine.’
‘You mean the sculpture.’
‘He’s inflicting something truly dreadful on his victims. And he wants us to see it.He wants us to know. I think that’s the primary purpose for making the effigy.’
They’d stopped outside a diner with the unappetizing title ‘Cemetery Eats’.It looked busy, and the clientele were all, apparently, alive, so they went in.
‘You will stop the guy,’ Marcus carried on, as they found a window table.‘We will, together.Be sure of it.’
‘I just hope no-one else has to lose their life before we get there,’ Kate said.
They ordered coffee, bacon and scrambled eggs from a waitress who seemed to be about 13 and already bored of life. Marcus’ phone rang.
‘It’s Chen.I told her we’d meet her at the hotel for breakfast.’
‘Well, tell her where we are then,’ Kate said.
‘You’re sure?’
‘Why wouldn’t I be sure?’
‘I wasn’t sure if you liked her.’
‘Why wouldn’t I?And why would that matter?’
‘So you admit you don’t like her that much.’
She frowned at him.‘I’m not admitting anything.Stop being weird.’
‘I’m not being weird.It’s just… girls are weird.If one’s acting really nice to another one, it usually means you hate each other.’
The phone stopped ringing.
'I've never heard such crap in my life, Marcus.We're not all copies of one original girl blueprint, you know.I'm not the same as your fiancée.I'm an individual.'
