The Third Victim Part 49

Charlie's answer was more forthcoming.

"She was hot! Jesus, fed, did you look at her? Whoa, mama."

"You ever approach her?"

"Sure, I tried." He shrugged, his hands digging into his pockets. He was definitely self-conscious without his jacket.

"She, uh, was intimidated by my good looks. Besides, I heard later I violated her age rules. Avalon had a geezer fetish."

"Was she a kindred spirit?"

"What d'you mean? Oh, was she angry? I don't know. Didn't seem angry to me. You should ask Danny. He was the one spending so much time with her."

"Did he ever mention his feelings for Miss Avalon to you?"

"Didn't have to. The boy was lovesick for her. You could see it all over his face."

"Did Avalon know this?"

"Probably. I don't think puppy crushes were new to her."

"How did she treat Danny?"

"I don't know. I hung around the school grounds, not the freaking computer lab."

"Did Danny know about her "geezer fetish"?"

"Sure, I told him. What, you guys think Danny killed her in a jealous rage? Nah, you don't get it." Charlie shook his head, sounding honest for the first time.

"Danny's smarter than you think. He knew he liked her, but h.e.l.l, she was a teacher. He understood what that meant. Worship from afar, end of story. He wasn't imagining white picket fences or the mother of his children. The kid's thirteen, for chrissakes."

"What about the other two girls?" Rainie asked.

"Sally and Alice?"

"Couldn't pick them out of a lineup if I tried."

"Are you going to go to the funerals, Charlie?"

He shrugged.

"The old man's making me."

"Do you think it's sad that they're dead?"

"Don't know them. Don't care."

"You're a real hard-a.s.s, aren't you, Charlie Kenyon?"

"You're the one threatening my jacket."

"Did you ever talk to Danny about killing people?"

"We talked about lots of stuff."

"Charlie." She held up the switchblade, then his jacket.

Charlie's jaw hardened. She thought he was going to freeze up on her.

Then she moved the blade closer to the collar and he surrendered again.

"Yeah. Sure. You wanna know? Sometimes I dream of blowing this whole freaking town off the map. I dream of getting my hands on a big motherf.u.c.king nuke and saying sayonara, babe. You know, plant life grows back bigger and stronger after a nuclear holocaust. Maybe that's what this town needs."

"You told all this to a thirteen-year-old boy?"

"Only after he told me he wanted to hack his father into twenty different pieces and run him through a blender."

Rainie stared at him. A muscle worked in her jaw. She said with more anger than she wanted to give away, "A child tells you he fantasizes about murdering his own father, and you didn't think to go to the police?"

"Who am I going to go to? Shep, his dad? Or, better yet, you?"

Charlie chuckled unkindly.

"Isn't that a pretty picture? Half this town still talks about what you did to your mother. What would you have done with Danny? Mail him a shotgun?"

"I never harmed my mother," Rainie said hotly.

"And if I had done such a thing, I'd be in prison where I'd belong, not standing here talking to you."

But Charlie had that sly look back on his face. "I know, I know," he said with a conspirator's wink.

"The fed's here. You don't want to blow your cover. That's all right.

But you don't have to lie to me, babe. I'm telling you, I can see these things. And you're a member of the cool-kids club too. h.e.l.l, around here, you're probably the charter member."

"One last question," Quincy interjected quickly, because the shotgun comment had pushed Rainie to the brink and they all knew it.

"Did Danny ever mention an on-line friend to you? Someone named No Lava?"

"Computer geek? Yeah, maybe. Danny was always into something. I didn't know how one person could spend so much time staring at a screen."

"Did you ever see any of the emails?"

"What the h.e.l.l would I want with them?"

"Danny really liked No Lava. Maybe you were jealous."

"Look, I've never even heard of this No Lava, and frankly, the name sounds like an impotent dude to me. Danny liked mail, okay? Six months ago, eight months ago, I don't remember, he was all excited about someone he'd met on-line. He was always having to go check his frigging e-mail. That's all I know."

"You encouraged him," Rainie said softly.

"Danny was troubled and you helped push him over the edge. Now three people are dead, and some of that's on your head, Charlie. You're going to have to live with that."