Cody had seen another predator and recognized him when the dark thing inside him heard the roar of a fellow monster, just as I had known others when my Passenger was at home. And this other had recognized Cody for what he was in exactly the same way. But why that should frighten Cody and Astor into hiding in the car—
“Did the man say anything to you?” I asked them.
“He gave me this,” Cody said. He held out a buff-colored business card and I took it from him.
On the card was a stylized picture of a bull’s head, exactly like the one I had just seen around the neck of Kurt’s body out on the island. And underneath it was a perfect copy of Kurt’s tattoo: mlk.
The front door of the car opened and Deborah hurled herself behind the wheel. “Let’s go,” she said. “Get in your seat.” She slammed the key into the ignition and had the car started before I could even inhale to speak.
“Wait a minute,” I said after I managed to find a little air to work with.
“I don’t have a goddamned minute,” she said. “Come on.”
“He was here, Debs,” I said.
“For Christ’s sake, Dex, who was here?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“Then how the fuck do you know he was here?”
I leaned forward and handed her the card. “He left this,” I said.
Deborah took the card, glanced at it, and then dropped it on the seat as if it was made out of cobra venom. “Shit,” she said. She turned off the car’s engine. “Where did he leave it?”
“With Cody,” I said.
She swiveled her head around and looked at the three of us, one after the other. “Why would he leave it with a kid?” she asked.
DEXTER IN THE DARK
257
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sp; “Because—” Astor said, and I put a hand on her mouth.
“Don’t interrupt, Astor,” I said, before she could say anything about seeing shadows.
She took a breath, but then she thought better of it and just sat there, unhappy at being muzzled but going along with it for the time being. We sat there for a moment, the four of us, one big unhappy extended family.
“Why not stick it on the windshield, or send it in the mail?”
Deborah said. “For that matter, why the hell give us the damn thing at all? Why even have it printed, for Christ’s sake?”
“He gave it to Cody to intimidate us,” I said. “He’s saying, ‘See?
I can get to you where you’re vulnerable.’ ”
“Showing off,” Deborah said.
“Yes,” I said. “I think so.”
“Well goddamn it, that’s the first thing he’s done that made any sense at all.” She slapped the heels of her hands on the steering wheel. “He wants to play catch-me-if-you-can like all the other psychos, then by God I can play that game, too. And I’ll catch the son of a bitch.” She looked back at me. “Put that card in an evidence bag,” she said, “and try to get a description from the kids.” She opened the car door, vaulted out, and went over to talk to the big cop, Suchinsky.
“Well,” I said to Cody and Astor, “can you remember what this man looked like?”
“Yes,” said Astor. “Are we really going to play with him like your sister said?”