The shape drew near and then squatted down next to him. Tony tried to see past the glare of the flashlight, but the shape held it so close that he couldn’t see anything.
“You’re hurt,” the shape said. The voice was flat. It was a statement, not a question.
“I…I’ve been…shot. ”
The shape reached out one massively muscled arm, grasped Tony’s shoulder, and carefully rolled him onto his back; then the shape sat back again. Tony grunted and coughed more blood. He was amazed that he still had any left to lose.
“I’ve been shot,” he said again.
“Uh-?huh. I can see that. ”
“Could you…help me?”
The shape said nothing for a few seconds, then murmured, “I could. Sure, I could help you. ” Still, he did not move. He just squatted there on his hams and appeared to wait.
It was getting very hard for Tony to think. Why did the guy just sit there? he wondered. “I need help,” he said again, raising a weak hand and trying to grab the man’s shirtfront. The strength in his arm failed and the hand fell away.
“Uh-?huh. ”
“Did you…” he began and then had to stop until another fierce coughing fit came and slowly passed. When he tried it again his voice was faint, even to his own ears, as if he were listening to it through an old plaster wall. “Did you come…to help me?”
“No,” said the shape, and reached for him.
2
Terry Wolfe stared at Ferro for a long time, trying to work out something to say. The mayor went to the coffee station and poured himself a cup, turning his back to give himself a moment to compose his face. He added sugar and cream, then sipped it to lubricate a throat that had gone completely dry. When he turned back to face the cops his face betrayed nothing, but he stared hard at Ferro for a long time.
Ferro waited it out, used to this kind of reaction, having already gotten it from Chief Bernhardt, his officers, and the two cops from the other towns. Everyone reacted like this: how could they not? The murders at the Cape May Lighthouse had made the papers across the country and throughout much of the world. Two books had already been written about them, and Jonathan Demme was already making a movie based on it starring Don Cheadle and Colin Farrell.
“How much of the story do you know?” asked Ferro, lighting up a Camel with a silver Zippo with the F. O. P. symbol engraved on it.
Terry’s throat was as dry as paste as he sipped the coffee. “Just what everyone else in the world knows,” he said. “Some madman tore up an entire group of senior citizens who were visiting the lighthouse in Cape May. Forced them all into the observation room of the lighthouse and then cut them to pieces and left bizarre messages on all the walls. Something like eighteen dead, though two were supposed to have actually been tortured to death before being cut to pieces. ”
“That’s the gist of it. ”
“I thought no one knew who did that. I mean…do you guys actually know who did that?”
Ferro looked grave and even a little secretive. “This is all South Jersey P. D. and the FBI, but some of it kind of spilled over into my backyard. I know that the investigative team has been looking at Karl Ruger for months now, but it’s one of those situations where they know more than they can prove. Most of it comes from hearsay—one ex-?con said this and a hooker from Atlantic City said the other—but lately a lot of people seem to know that Ruger did the job. It isn’t known if he did it alone, or if he masterminded it, or what. One theory is that someone hired it done with Ruger as the hitter. ”
Gus was appalled. “Why would anyone pay someone to do something like that?”
Ferro exhaled through his nose. “It’s complicated. I’m sure you’re aware of all the infighting among the families in Philly. The so-?called don died of lung cancer nineteen months ago and, since he didn’t have any sons, everyone who thinks he has a claim to the title is vying for it. Well, to make a long story short—”
Terry held up a hand. “Detective Ferro, as fascinating as this all would be to another police officer, I personally don’t care even a little bit about the dynamics of Philadelphia criminal politics. Just tell me how this is going to impact my town. ”
Ferro’s mouth snapped shut with a click and for the first time he looked off-?balance. Terry could see that he was used to always being in charge and probably enjoyed the scope and drama of the ongoing battle between cops and robbers, but right now Terry’s head was pounding and listening to what amounted to a recap of the last four seasons of The Sopranos was not going to help any.
LaMastra stepped in and summed up: “We think Ruger was hired to do a hit on relatives of one of the crime lords, and he overdid it. ”
“You don’t say,” Terry murmured. “So, Ruger gets the Hannibal Lecter award for head case of the decade. And…?”
Ferro pursed his lips, considering. “Well, the degree of rage demonstrated in those killings in Cape May, and what we saw on the surveillance video of the shoot-?out earlier today, clearly paint Ruger as both extremely dangerous and completely unstable. ”
“Mm, I’ve heard homicidal maniacs can be like that,” Terry said dryly.
Ignoring the mayor’s tone, Ferro said, “He’s on the run and under pressure and he has apparently stopped somewhere in your town. When he did the hit in New Jersey he killed a lot of innocent bystanders as well. ”
Terry nodded. “I take your point. So why is this guy walking the streets at all?”