Endless Night Part 58

She seemed to be firing as fast as she could pull the trigger.

The brown stump shook and pieces flew off as the storm of slugs tore into it. Every shot seemed to chew off a hunk, then speed on and blast the hillside and throw a plume of yellow dust into the air.

Dad wasn't watching the target. His eyes were on Sharon.

Jody checked; that's where Andy was staring, too.

Watching her there, NRA cap turned backward so its bill stuck out behind her, the rifle jumping with each shot and throwing out flashes of bra.s.s as its muzzle spat fire and white smoke, her whole body absorbing the recoils that hit her with quick hard jolts and shook her shirt and made her thighs vibrate even though Jody knew her legs must be almost as solid as wood.

She does look great, Jody thought. No wonder the guys are staring like a couple of nuts. They're probably wishing they were on the other side so they could watch what the recoils are doing to her b.o.o.bs.

The shooting stopped. The silence sounded huge. Sharon lowered her rifle and frowned into the distance.

"We're gonna have to call you Rambo," Dad said.

"I guess I nailed it pretty good."

"You destroyed it!" Andy blurted. He sounded very excited. "Can 1 try it?"

"Maybe later," Sharon told him. "Right now you need to practice with the pistol."

"One step at a time," Dad added.

"But I want to really blast something."

Jody shook her head. "We've created a monster."

Chapter Thirty-nine.

Jack came back from the pay phone at the Arco station on the outskirts of Blythe. He climbed into the driver's seat. Pulling the shoulder harness across his body, he looked over at Sharon. "Nothing."

"Nothing at all?"

"Did you get through to Nick?" Jody asked from the back seat.

"Yup. Got him at home. He said to tell you hi."

"They don't have any leads?" Sharon asked.

"They're checking out the components of the fire bomb that the shooter left behind in the Zoller house. Doesn't look promising, though. A mayonnaise jar full of gas, with one of those timers you can buy for turning on your lamps when you're on vacation. Common stuff. Zero chance of making any headway trying to trace stuff like that. There were also some shoe prints. The shooter stepped in blood and tracked it around the house. He's probably about six-foot-two."

"Six-two and bald," Jody said.

"Yeah," Andy said. "They were all bald."

Dad nodded. "If the shooter was one of the men from your house..."

"He had to be one of the guys from Andy's, didn't he?" Jody asked. "Why else would he try to kill me?"

"He almost had to be one of them," Sharon agreed.

"It's not a hundred percent, though," Dad said.

"And it's not for sure that he runs around bald all the time," Sharon added.

"Yeah," Andy said. "Maybe he wears a wig all day, and only just takes it off when he gets together with the gang to go out and ma.s.sacre people."

"Anyway," Dad continued, "the shoes are a fairly good indicator of his size, at least. But they were a garden variety of Nikes you can buy in every mall in the country, so they're basically a dead end as far as making the guy."

Sharon raised her eyebrows. "If we do find him and get our hands on the actual shoes ..."

"Yep. If we find him, we've got him." Dad started the car. Before putting it into gear, he looked over his shoulder at Andy, then Jody. "Keep your eyes open for a decent motel," he said. Then he drove out of the filling station. After turning right onto the road, he glanced at Sharon. "There were some fluids, too. You know."

"Oh?" Her expression changed from surprise to revulsion. "Oh," she muttered. "Yeah, I know."

"Based on that alone, we're almost sure to get a conviction, but ..."

"No idea who he might be."

"None."

"What about witnesses?"

"n.o.body saw anything. Most of the neighbors were at a big barbecue at a house down the block when the guy tried to cap us. Get this one. The victims were invited."

"You're kidding," Sharon said.

"They RSVPd their regrets a few days before the party, claimed they had a previous commitment. The way it looks, though, there wasn't any previous commitment. The people giving the party have a German shepherd that apparently jumps up and s...o...b..rs all over everybody, and it's well known around the neighborhood that the wife-the gal who ended up dead-couldn't stand the dog. The party started at three in the afternoon, so if they'd gone ..."

"Oh, wow," Andy said.

"They wouldn't have been home when the shooter showed up."

"The woman was pregnant," Sharon pointed out. "You can't really blame her if she didn't want to get mauled by somebody's pet."

"It's just the irony."

"Yeah," Sharon said. "Good old irony. The controlling force of the universe."

"What?"

"Irony. The controlling ..."

"I'd hate to think so."

"Me, too. I can't help but wonder, though."

"What are they talking about?" Andy whispered.

"Irony. Like G.o.d pulling nasty tricks all the time."

"With everybody except the dog haters at this d.a.m.n party," Sharon said, "how come the b.a.s.t.a.r.d didn't break into an empty house?"

"Maybe he didn't know who was home and who wasn't," Dad told her. "It had to be a rush job-choosing which house, anyway. Once he was in it, he had plenty of time on his hands. They think he was ... with the woman ... for at least a couple of hours after he got there."

"She was alive all that time?" Sharon asked.

"Maybe not the whole time."

"I suppose n.o.body heard her scream for the same reasons n.o.body saw or heard ..."

"He stuffed something in her mouth."

There was something about the way Dad said that. And there was something about the way Sharon looked at him.

"What was it?" Andy asked. "What'd he use to gag her with?"

Dad shook his head.

Sharon twisted her head around and said, "It doesn't matter."

"Wow. It must've been something really gross."

"Just drop it," Jody told him.

"Do you know?"

"No, and I don't want to."

"Let's just drop it," Dad said.

Andy grimaced and sank lower in his seat.

Jody asked, "Did Nick say anything about ... have they found out anything about the ones from Friday night?"

"You and Andy are still our best sources on that. Nothing new has turned up. Basically, we've got little or nothing to go on."

"So what're we gonna do?" Jody asked. "Just keep driving around and staying in motels forever?"

"It won't be forever," Dad said. "There's bound to be a break in the case before long."

"I kind of like it," Andy said.

"What if there isn't?" Jody asked. "A break. What if they never figure out who did this stuff?"

"Let's just take things a day at a time, okay?"

"Speaking of a day at a time," Sharon said. She cast an annoyed or frustrated look at Jack. "Did you ask Nick about extending my time off?"

Dad nodded. "They won't go for it. They're stretched so thin..."

"d.a.m.n it."

"What's going on?" Andy asked.

Sharon frowned over her shoulder at him. "I'm afraid I'll have to take off, tomorrow."

"No!"

"She has to get back to work," Jody explained.

"No! She has to stay with us!"

"I wish I could," Sharon said. "But look, I don't need to leave until tomorrow afternoon. So let's not worry about it, right now. We should make the most of the time that's left. How about it?"

Andy looked as if he were about to start bawling again.

"How will you get back?" Jody asked.

"Rent a car, probably. I hope this town has a car rental place."

"I hope it doesn't," Andy blurted. "I hope you can't ever go back till we do."

"Thanks, pal."

"I want you to stay with us, too," Jody told her. "But I don't want you getting fired, either."

Dad looked at Sharon.

"Keep your eyes on the road, Dad."

He returned his attention to the road. "Everybody should just cheer up," he said. "n.o.body wants Sharon to go back without the rest of us. But she has a job to do, and ... anyway, maybe there'll be some sort of major break in the case and we'll all be able to go back tomorrow."

"Fat chance," Andy muttered.

"You never know," said Jody.

"That'd sure be nice," Sharon said. "But I think we'd better not hold our breath. Let's just have the best time we can tonight, and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow."

"You can at least phone Nick again tomorrow, Dad. Before Sharon goes and rents a car. At least call him and make sure we have to keep hiding out."

"Good as done, honey. In fact, I'll be phoning him every day till this is over."