Robert Walker - Darkest Instinct

“ Marilee’s as strong a swimmer as ever I seen in a woman,” added Uncle Jake. “Then when you awoke, the motor was chugging?” asked Quincey. “He was taking the boat out of the Intra- coastal? What kind of boat was it? Was there anything special you recall about the boat?”

“ Big is all I know… and no, I don’t know where he was taking it, but we were moving, yes.”

“ Tell me, Marilee, and think hard now,” began Jessica, “when you were in the man’s cabin, did you see anything-anything-the slightest bit out of the ordinary?”

“ What do you mean?”

Jessica tried another tack, asking, “Can you tell me if you saw anything that might tell us something about this monster or his habits? What did you see lying around that cabin, on the bed, on the countertops?”

“ Place was full of instruments.”

“ Instruments?”

“ Computer stuff. A lot of blippin’ and mechanical stuff.”

“ State of the art, would you say?”

“ It was… seemed so, yes.”

“ Anything else catch your eye?” pressed Jessica.

“ Besides the knife? I thoughta using it on him. But jumpin’ for shore seemed the wisest choice I had.”

“ Did you notice anything else unusual before leaving the cabin?’’

“ Well, there were some sewing things.”

“ Sewing things?”

“ Like they use making nets, I think.”

“ Anything else?”

“ Some papers; you know, magazines and stuff like that.”

“ What kind of magazines and papers?”

“ I couldn’t tell you, but they all had to do with fishing and boating, I think.”

Uncle Jake prompted with, “Just try to remember, sugar.”

“ I was half crazed with wantin’ to get out of there. I didn’t look at no damn papers, so how’m I ‘spose to recall… something ‘bout…” She suddenly stopped, as if a flashbulb had just exploded on the horizon of her brain. “What is it, Marilee?” asked her uncle Jake. “Oh… oh, Lordy, God, yeah, he kept sayin’ I’m goin’ to mount you… goin’ to mount you… I took it he meant he was goin’ to rape me again, but… but…”

“ Try to remember,” Jessica encouraged. “It could save lives.”

“ Bastard… bastard… said he was going to stuff and prepare me for mountin’ on his wall, like I was some goddamned billfish or marlin. One of those papers was on how to prepare game fish for… for mounting. I… I guess I forgot ‘bout that part. Maybe, maybe I wanted to forget.”

“ Are you sure that’s what he said?” pressed Jessica, excited by this unsolicited corroboration.

“ I’m more than sure. He… he even said he had experience ‘cause he worked at a place once where trophy fish were done up.”

“ Are you sure he said that?”

“ Said they were turned into works of art, and asked me if I didn’t want to be a forever work of art as a sacrifice for his god, something like Thou or… Thor or something.”

“ Did he say where this place was, where he learned to mount trophy fish? Did he give you a name, anything?” Quincey pleaded.

“ No, nothin’.” Marilee had become too distraught over the memory to go on now, and Jessica felt they had gotten all they might from the young woman who-although far from robust since her encounter with the killer-fit the victim profile preferred by the Night Crawler. Jessica imagined her as having had natural good looks before all this had happened, but the debilitating aftermath of her encounter with this fiend had worked dramatic effects upon her appearance, as well as her self-esteem and confidence as a woman. Of this, Jessica had no doubt. They said their good-byes to Marilee and her uncle. Just outside the cabin, they said good-bye to Carl Wotten, the deputy, who wished them success. His final epitaph: “I hope you catch this sonofabitch and fry him several times over in the chair.”

The night sky was impenetrable, the ocean breeze a purring, sniffing cat, and Jessica, on first hearing the unmistakable sound of soaring tobacco spit thudding into dry leaves, now saw that Uncle Jake was leering out a window at her. She shivered and thought only of getting back to the blacktop safety of U.S. 1.

“ Let’s get to a motel, get some rest,” Quince suggested, his eye resting on Uncle Jake for a moment as well.

“ I’m with you.”

“ You-all don’t forget us now when it comes time to divvy up the money,” Jake called out after them.

Climbing into the car, Jessica said to Quincey, “We’ve got a long way to go to Naples, catch up with Eriq and your partner on the other coast.”

“ To hell with driving,” countered Quincey. “I’ve got a friend on the key who’s a charter captain.”

“ Really?”

“ Old war buddies. Toured in Nam together. He’d do anything for me, drop whatever he’s doing, if we meet his usual fees.”

“ What’re you suggesting, Quince?”

“ Why don’t we see if we can’t get into this creep’s wake, and then maybe his face.”

“ What have you got in mind, Quince?”

“ Elliot Anderson knows these waters. Since the last body washed up at Key Largo, and now our guy is in Naples, the bastard had to’ve taken to one of the channels. Teatable Key Channel is just north of here. Elliot could take us along that tack. It’s got to parallel the path the Night Crawler took in getting to Naples. Along the way, we can flash his picture. See what comes of it…”

She looked out at the darkness and the water lapping at the land. “All this water out here… Guess it is a waste not to use it. All right, you’re on. Quince.”

Quincey’s smile was wide and endearing. “Great choice. You won’t regret it. But tell me: Did you believe every word of our Junior Miss Clueless back there?”

“ She couldn’t have known about the mounting, the trophy fish business.”

“ I don’t know. These people have their own telegraph system, and Key Largo’s on the wire.”

Jessica bit her lip and asked, “You think that news is out already?”

“ If some of the doctors or cops up there at Largo are talking about the hook in that Jane Doe’s back-and I can’t see that Dr. Oliver being shy about talking it over with every Tom, Dick and Harry-well… it could’ve filtered down this way.”

“ But what would the girl gain by lying?” Stupid question, she told herself even as she spoke it.

“ Reward money and a moment on prime-time TV’s enough incentive for most.”

“ I don’t know… I didn’t get the impression Marilee was acting,” countered Jessica as Quince pulled away from the house, sending a sand and pebble cloud in their wake.

“ Maybe not…”

“ I tell you this much: I’m beginning to get a hell of a picture of our Night Crawler, Quince.”

“ Know what you mean.”

“ A picture of a guy who wants to create the perfect trophy for his wall.”

“ But why?” he asked as he located a broken-down sign for U.S. 1.

She didn’t skip a beat. “So that he will no longer have to go on killing.”

“ Really?”

“ Once he has the perfect prize, then there’s no use in continuing; at least that’s what he’s telling himself now.”

“ So, he thinks he’s getting closer with each new victim?”

“ That’s what I think he thinks. Remember, there is no new victim to him, because they’re all the same. That is, he thinks they’re all the same. Treats them all the same, as if they are the same object. They’ve all become objects of his obsession.”

“ How can a human mind get so freakin’ warped? And how can such a beautiful lady such as yourself think like such an animal?”

She slapped him on his considerable shoulder and said, “Quince, really… and you’ve known a few crazed and obsessed sportfishermen? And you can, if need be. think like them?” Quincey laughed a full, hearty laugh in response. “Damn, you’re something, Dr. Coran.”