John Saul - Black Lightning

Except for the clerk behind the counter, it was empty. Still, someone might be outside, maybe watching from a car.

He abandoned the magazine rack — better to buy them at the QFC when he got the paper — and went to the counter. He picked up a roll of Clorets and paid for them. By the time he emerged from the front door, he was busy unwrapping the cylinder of mints, and anyone who might be observing him wouldn’t know he was actually checking out every car in the area.

All of them were empty except for one black Cadillac he was pretty sure belonged to a drug dealer. Anyway, he’d seen it in the neighborhood a lot, and judging by the people who hung around it, it sure wasn’t a police car. Popping one of the mints into his mouth, he crossed the street against the light and started up the east side of Fifteenth to the QFC. He picked up a basket as he went inside, then found the soup section, where he took three cans of Chunky Chicken Noodle. Then he headed for the checkout counter. Sure enough, there was a stack of the Herald, and when he picked one up, his hands weren’t trembling much at all. He flopped it down on the counter along an Enquirer, a Globe, the Post-Intelligencer, and the three cans of soup. He was just reaching into his pocket for his wallet when the checker spoke.

“You hear about the murder?” The man’s heart raced. He felt his hands turn cold and clammy.

“Murder?” he echoed. What should he say? Should he already know about it? But it had been on the radio all day yesterday, and the TV news last night. “Oh, you mean the body they found up in Volunteer Park yesterday?” he asked. That had been good. His voice had sounded just right — interested; but not too interested.

“She was in here night before last,” the checker said.

The man felt his knees weaken. When he pulled his wallet out, his trembling fingers lost their grip on it and it fell to the floor. “Aah, shit,” he groaned as he bent down to pick it up. But that was all right, too. At least it gave him a couple of seconds to try to come up with a response. Then he had it. When he straightened up again, his eyes were wide. “You mean here?” he asked. “She was right here?”

The checker nodded eagerly. As soon as he spoke again, the man began to relax — it sounded like the guy had already told the story a dozen times. “Ms. Cottrell,” the checker said. “She came in here practically every night for a latte on her way home.”

“You mean you knew her?” the Butcher asked, giving just enough emphasis to the word “knew” to let the clerk know he was impressed.

“Well, I didn’t really know her,” the clerk said quickly, his own eyes now darting around the store as if he had suddenly realized that anyone who might have known the murdered woman would now be considered a possible suspect. “I mean, not any better than anybody else here did, you know?”

His own nerves calming as the clerk turned edgy, the Butcher handed him a twenty dollar bill, waited for his change, then picked up the bag into which the checker had put his papers and the cans of soup. Barely able to restrain himself, he started home, willing himself to leave the Herald in the bag until he was safely back in his apartment. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t keep his pace at the slow amble he was attempting, and finally he gave it up in favor of a purposeful stride down the street, as if he were late for an appointment. After three minutes that seemed to him like an hour, he at last closed his door behind him and yanked the paper out of the bag, letting the chicken soup cans roll unnoticed to the floor. Unfolding the paper, he scanned the front page, then scanned it again.

It wasn’t possible! It had to be on the front page.

But there was nothing. Nothing! Nothing but some crap about the park the city wanted to build between downtown and Lake Union.

Who the fuck cared about that?

Moving to the battered Formica-topped table that served as both a desk and a dining table, he flipped through the newspaper, his frustration mounting as he turned page after page and found nothing.

Then, on the third page of the second section, he finally found it.

And almost exploded with rage.

They’d buried it!

Bad enough they hadn’t put it on the front page, or even the second page of the first section!

He began reading the article, and with every word his rage increased.

Woman Found Slain Near Volunteer

Park Reservoir

The nude body of a woman was found in Volunteer Park early this morning. The victim, identified as Ms. Joyce Cottrell, 57, was a receptionist in the emergency room at the Group Health facility on Capitol Hill.

According to police sources, the victim, who was single and lived alone, was slain in her Capitol Hill home sometime between 11:00 P.M. and 4:00 A.M. yesterday morning. The body appears to have been placed near the reservoir in Volunteer Park shortly before dawn, where it was discovered by jogger Anne Jeffers (a staff reporter for this paper).

While the investigation is not yet complete, police sources stressed that there appears to be no connection between the deaths of Ms. Cottrell and of Shawnelle Davis, whose body was discovered last week in her rented apartment.

As he finished the article, the Butcher’s fingers tightened on the flimsy paper until it was crumpled into a wad.

No connection?

How could they say that? Hadn’t they even looked at what he’d done?

The two killings had been alike! Exactly alike! And he’d done it even better on Joyce Cottrell than he had on Shawnelle Davis!

Well, next time it wouldn’t be like this. Next time they would know what they were dealing with.

His anger erupting, he hurled the ruined newspaper to the floor. Maybe he should go out right now and do it again! That would show them — maybe he should just go out and find someone, and follow her home, and—

No!

That wasn’t the way to do it at all! He had to be smart! He had to be careful, and calm.

No matter what happened, he couldn’t let himself get angry.

Breathing deeply, he struggled to get himself under control. He reached down and picked up the crumpled newspaper. Spreading it out again, he smoothed the pages as best he could, then carefully tore out the article that had so offended him. Taking it to the dresser that served not only to hold his clothes, but to support his television as well, he opened the top drawer and added the article to the folder in which he’d already placed everything that had been written about Shawnelle Davis.

Tomorrow, or maybe even later on today, he’d buy an album and start putting the clippings in order.

And the next time he killed, it wouldn’t be a woman, even though murdering Joyce Cottrell had given him more pleasure than he’d ever felt before in his life.

He couldn’t let himself give in to the lure of that pleasure.

After all, that wasn’t why he was killing.

He was killing to please his mother.

It was the killing that counted, not the pleasure.

So better not to let himself be tempted. Next time he killed, it wouldn’t be a woman at all.

It would be some other kind of person.

In fact, from now on he’d kill all kinds of people.

Maybe later on, when he went out to buy an album, that wouldn’t be all he did.

Maybe he would go hunting, too.

Anne had no memory of having slept at all the night before, though she knew she must have since her eyes didn’t have the awful gritty feel that had always resulted from her staying awake all night. But she had clear memories of lying in bed, wide-awake, staring at the ceiling as she tried to figure out the source of the briefly flashing note that had appeared on her computer when she’d turned it on.