Paradox (FBI Thriller 22)

Cindy shuddered and hung on to Sherlock. “My mom and dad were here. She yelled at me, said it was my fault for inviting a stranger to my apartment. We argued, and they stalked out. My older brother, Hank, he’s an army sergeant in Afghanistan. I know he would have come and hugged me like you’re doing. Even if he’d agreed with my folks, he would have stayed with me.” She hugged Sherlock tighter and started crying. She wheezed out, “It was my fault, really. I did flirt with him. He—Victor—was nice and polite, and I thought maybe he’d give me some of that huge bankroll he had. But then the second he got to my apartment, he turned into a monster.” Cindy put her face against Sherlock’s hair, tightened her arms around her, and wouldn’t let go.

Sherlock rocked her, whispered against her tangled hair. “You’re all right, Cindy. You survived and learned not to trust someone you don’t know well.” She eased her back to look at her face. “No matter what anyone says, you saved yourself from a very bad man. You did it, no one else. Now it’s time for you to get ahold of yourself and tell us exactly what happened so we can catch him, make sure he never tries this again.”

A lone tear streaked down Cindy’s pale cheek. Slowly, she nodded. “Yes, yes, I can do that.”

Sherlock said, “You said the photo the chief showed you was Victor, but he looked different. How?”

“His hair was dark brown, on the long side, and he had glasses, with black frames that made him look smart, you know? And he had this pathetic beard. He was so nice to me, so cute—he left a hundred-dollar bill, and his dinner was only twenty dollars. I saw him pull it out of a big rubber-banded roll of hundred-dollar bills. But it wasn’t all about the money—well, some of it wasn’t. I liked him, I really did. He was sweet and very respectful. And then he changed, so fast. He wanted to kill me.”

53

* * *

“I’m going to record this, Cindy, is that all right?”

Cindy had already described everything to Chief Pearly, answered his questions over and over. Now she realized why Chief Pearly had made her repeat things. He’d done it on purpose, to help her remember all the details. She could tell it all easily now, in logical order, thanks to him. She described how Victor had followed her to her apartment in a mud-brown Chrysler, described exactly where she’d been standing in her apartment when he’d come at her.

Sherlock said, “That first time you kicked him, you said you meant to kick him in the crotch, but you got him in the belly. He screamed at you that you’d kicked his staples?”

“Yes. But what staples? Had he just had surgery? He didn’t act like he’d been in pain at all, not until I kicked him. He bowed in on himself, and I could tell I’d really hurt him. He screamed at me, but it was strange. His voice was high-pitched, and he sounded crazy mad.”

Sherlock felt the saliva dry in her mouth. She looked over at Dillon. He didn’t look surprised.

Chief Pearly said, “Cindy, are you sure you heard him say ‘staples’?”

Cindy nodded. “We talked about this, Chief. It had to be surgical staples. I mean, what other kind could there be? Then he came at me again, and again, and I finally managed to kick him in the crotch. That sent him to his knees, howling. I ran to the front door, but it was really humid and the door stuck. He was screaming at me in that mad, crazy voice again. I looked back, saw he had a gun. I knew I couldn’t get the gun away from him.” Her voice hitched. “I kept pulling on the door, and it opened just as he fired. I swear I felt the heat of the bullet as it went past my head, and see? On my neck? The Band-Aid? When the bullet slammed into the door, splinters came flying out. I ran and ran all the way to Chief Pearly’s house on Gleason Road. He went back to my apartment, but Victor was gone.”

Chief Pearly said, “Cindy, you said he was driving a mud-brown Chrysler.”

She nodded. “Like I told you, Chief, it didn’t occur to me to look at the license plate number. I’m sorry.”

“Yes, but you remember the plate was white, which means the car’s registered in Virginia. Agent Savich, you said you think it could be headed to Fort Pessel, Virginia?” Chief Pearly pinned Savich with a look. “How do you know he’s headed to Fort Pessel?”

“It was a home of sorts to him for a while, but basically, it’s my gut talking.”

Savich knew Victor might already have been to the Smiley house and dug up the bank robbery money as soon as he’d escaped. He had shown off a thick roll of hundred-dollar bills to Cindy last night. Then why would he go back? If he already had all that money, not just a roll but a suitcase full, why was he still here? There had to be a reason, besides revenge. Savich already had agents camped out at the Smiley house in Fort Pessel, watching for any sign of Victor.

He studied Cindy’s pale, very pretty face. “Cindy, I’d like you to tell me as best you can exactly what Victor was like when he attacked you and you kicked him in the stomach.”

“It was sort of like that old movie about that weird guy who was two people—Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” She shrugged. “That sounds crazy, but really, all of a sudden, he looked like he wanted to rip off my face. I remember his eyes, they were darker, slitted, and mean, really mean. The change in him, it was scary, terrifying.” She swallowed. “Do you believe me?”

Savich said, “Yes, I believe you.”

Sherlock said, “So you were hoping this cute guy with his wad of bills could be your ticket out of Winslow?”

Cindy’s eyes fell to her flip-flops. “Well, yes, I guess.”

Sherlock looked at the girl who’d survived Victor Nesser. “How old are you, Cindy?”

Her eyes went to Sherlock’s face. “Twenty. On August twenty-ninth. I’m a Virgo.”

“Virgos with guts are really good at applying themselves, Cindy. Sounds like you could make a top-notch Virgo.”

“How?”

“First thing, figure out what interests you. If you don’t know, go online and look at some of the curriculums of the state schools in this area. You could take some required classes this fall. It would help you figure out what you want to do.”

Cindy looked at her in amazement. “You want me to go to college? Some dumb state school? My folks would laugh at me, tell me I’m wasting my time. My friends would laugh at me for trying to be a geek, and worse. As for my sister, she’d tell me to marry Jimmy Folks and have babies.” Cindy actually shuddered.