MIchael Prescott - The Shadow hunter

Abby pulled out of the gas station and headed back to the Gainford Arms, driving fast.

The copy store rented computer use by the hour.

Hickle paid in advance and seated himself at the machine farthest from the counter, where he was least likely to be observed.

There was little activity in the shop. The tile floor and white countertops glowed under fluorescent lights. Folk music played on overhead speakers, drowned out when the big photocopy machines started to whir and drone.

Hickle focused on the desktop computer in front of him, which brought up a browser frame when he connected to the Internet. He found Zoom Mail home page and typed Jackbquick and his password. There was one message in his Inbox. The sender was Jackbnimble. The title was one word in capitals: URGENT.

Hickle felt a prickle of dread at the back of his neck.

He opened the message. The first two lines appeared in the message window.

Your enemies are closer than you know. TPS is playing hardball.

They've hired a spy.

The hard, rhythmic chugging in Hickle's ears was the beat of his heart.

"A spy," he whispered.

One of the clerks at the counter glanced at him.

Hickle realized he'd spoken aloud. Nervously he cleared his throat.

There was more to the message, but he would have to scroll down to see it. For a moment he did nothing, merely stared at the screen, unwilling to read further.

A kind of superstitious fear held him paralyzed. If he learned nothing more, then maybe the news would not be real. Maybe he could pretend he'd never come here. Maybe he could go back to his apartment, carry on with his daily routine, have dinner with Abby again-And then of course he knew.

His new neighbor, so friendly, always bumping into him, first in the hall, then in the laundry room.

The bottom seemed to drop out of his stomach, and he felt a wave of some indescribable feeling that was almost physical pain.

Numbly he read the rest of the message.

She moved in next door to you yesterday. Her job is to get close to men like yourself, learn their secrets, and report what she finds. She works alone, without backup.

She is a threat to you and indirectly to me also. I hope you understand the gravity of what I am telling you.

The words ran together. Hickle couldn't concentrate.

He was thinking that the story about her unfaithful fiance had been a lie to win his empathy. He was thinking that she had never regarded him as a nice guy or somebody to have dinner with.

He shut his eyes, shoulders slumping. The computer hummed. Behind the counter one of the copy machines shut off, and the background music became audible again, Joan Baez singing about the night they drove old Dixie down.

His date tonight… the questions she'd asked… the things he'd told her. What had he said, exactly?

Malibu-he'd mentioned how he liked it there. And he'd said he was going to be famous. How much could she determine from those clues?

Enough to guess his intentions? Was she reporting to TPS now, telling Kris everything she'd learned?

He looked at the clock. Quarter past nine. Abby couldn't be meeting with Kris. Kris was still at KPTI preparing for the ten o'clock newscast. She would leave Burbank at eleven-thirty, arrive home soon after midnight.

He could get to Malibu well before then. The shotgun was already in his car. All he had to do was crawl through the drainage pipe, conceal himself near the beach house, and when Kris's car pulled into the driveway-A pump of the shotgun, a spatter of brains and skull fragments.

The copy machine drummed again, churning out paper, and Joan Baez was lost in its noise.

He could do it. Do it tonight. Kill Kris-but first, detour back to the Gainford Arms and take care of Abby.

Jack had said she worked without backup. There would be no one to save her when he caught her by surprise and snapped her neck.

It would be easy. Almost too easy… "Too easy," he whispered slowly.

No one heard him. The clatter of the copy machine swallowed every other sound.

He read the message twice more. He could be certain of this much-Jack knew that a woman had moved into apartment 418. Perhaps he even knew that Hickle had gone out with her tonight. He might have watched the building and seen them leave together.

For weeks he had been goading Hickle to strike.

Had he decided to try a more subtle approach, convince Hickle that his new neighbor was part of a conspiracy against him, launch him into a homicidal rage?

Or was the information genuine? Was she really a spy?

He didn't know. His head hurt. He clutched his scalp and blinked at the light, which was suddenly too bright.

There was no one he could trust. Jack claimed to be a friend, but his identity and motives were unknown.

Abby presented herself as a young woman fleeing a bad breakup, but how much did he know about her?

She might be a TPS spy probing his secrets. Or maybe it was Jack who was the real TPS agent, playing mind games to push him over the edge and get him arrested.

Or were they both in it together?

He read the message again. The words made no sense anymore. They spilled together and fell apart.

Abby a spy? Ridiculous.

On impulse he clicked the Reply link, then typed a furious declaration:

But he didn't send it. He stared at the crisp, explosive words, then deleted the text with a sweep of his mouse.

He couldn't assume Jack was lying. That was as foolish as blindly assuming he told the truth. He typed a new reply:

Are you friend or foe?

This was no good either. What was Jack supposed to say? What more could he say to establish his bona fides? He had already pointed Hickle to the drainage pipe and the agents in the cottage and the chauffeur who carried a gun.

He erased the second reply and stared at the screen.

What was going on exactly? Was it simply that he didn't want to believe in Abby's betrayal? Maybe so.

He had pursued Jill Dahlbeck, only to be rebuffed and humiliated and finally confronted by police officers warning him to back off. He had tried to reach Kris Barwood by every means available to him, but she would not meet with him or even acknowledge the reality of his feelings for her.

But with Abby, things had been different. She was not like Jill or Kris. She was kind to him. She treated him like a human being. She made him feel like a man.

But if it was all an act? If she was the enemy?

Pounding violence filled his skull. He wanted to scream and smash things. He lowered his head. Had to think. Jack could be telling the truth or lying. Abby could be what she was or a fraud. There was no way for him to gauge Jack's honesty directly. As for Abby… He knew her. She lived right next door. She was not merely a made-up name on a computer screen, a collection of pixels that mocked him. She was real and close, and he could learn the truth about her.

He typed a third reply.

I'll check out your story and see for myself.

This was the right thing to say. He clicked Send.

He had no plan, but he would come up with one. He was smart. He would work something out. And if she had indeed deceived him… He'd kill her. Yes.

First her, then Kris.

If she had deceived him. If.

Hickle clung to that word as he deleted Jack's email message and signed off.

If.

Such a little word, but Abby's life hung on it. ** Abby climbed onto the fire escape and stepped across the narrow landing to Hickle's bedroom window.

The lights in his apartment were on, but because the blinds were drawn she couldn't see in. A glance at his empty parking space reassured her that he had not returned.

Although his window was open, the screen was still in place. From outside, it proved difficult to remove.