Greg Iles - The Devils Punchbowl

Caitlin swallows hard, and her eyes soften. Then she sighs, composes herself, and clicks the button on the trackball.

On the screen, Sarah and Annie and I fade to black. Then Annie

appears again, alone this time. She can’t be more than ten months old, and she’s sitting on the steps of our house in Houston. She looks into the lens, then reaches for someone outside the frame. When no one takes her, her eyes fill with confusion and she begins to cry. Just as Sarah’s hands enter the frame to take her, the sound of maddened dogs bursts from the speakers. The savage cacophony hurls me thirty years back in time, to the night Tim and I pedaled for our lives in the cemetery. From the sound, five or six dogs are fighting over something, but then the snarls and snapping teeth are punctuated by a sound that freezes my blood. It’s a man screaming—first like a man, then like a little boy being torn apart by wolves. Male voices shout in the background, but I can’t make out distinct words. The screams become shrieks, rising in pitch and volume until they'’re suddenly cut off. What follows can only be the sound of animals fighting over meat. As we stare in stunned horror, the screen goes blue.

“That'’s the worst thing I’'ve ever heard,” Caitlin says. “Do you think the disc has fingerprints on it?”

“Yours,” I say. “These guys don'’t make that kind of mistake.”

“Who

are

these people? That wasn'’t dogfighting.”

“That was a snuff tape,” Kelly says, a strange awe in his voice. “I'’ll bet they have video too. They just couldn'’t risk showing it to us.”

“You think it shows them?” I ask.

“Maybe. I'’ll bet we could ID the victim from it.”

“Ben Li?” I suggest.

Kelly shrugs. He’s already read Linda’s note and listened to the tape of Tim’s car chase. “Could have been. This guy sounded older to me when he first screamed, though. Late thirties, forties maybe.”

“Jesus,”

says Caitlin. “You can guess people’s ages by their screaming?”

The Delta veteran shrugs again. “Occupational hazard.”

She turns to me and starts to speak, then steps close. “Penn? I’'ve never seen you look like that. Except maybe…after Ruby was in the fire.”

“Sands got what he wanted, right?” I say too loudly. “He found his missing disc. So why go to all this trouble? Why keep

fucking

with me?”

“Because they'’re still vulnerable,” Kelly says. “They don'’t have all

the variables locked down. The USB drive copy may still be out there. And now we find out this Ben Li kid may have kept some kind of insurance. Sands means to keep you on the hook for that stuff too. That'’s what he’s saying with this.”

“Surely if they found the DVD, they found the other stuff long ago. They’ve known about Ben Li from the beginning.”

“I doubt they hired the kid because he was stupid.”

The screen saver has started on the Mac’s display; pastoral scenes of the four seasons fade in and out, providing jarring visual counterpoint to what we just heard.

“What do we do now?” Caitlin asks.

“I'm tempted to call Sands,” I say. “Tell him that as far as I'm concerned, everything is settled. He’s got his DVD, and I'm going back to normal life.”

Kelly shakes his head. “That won'’t accomplish anything. Not unless you’re really backing off. Is that what you’re doing?”

Caitlin looks at me expectantly.

“You mean tonight?” I ask. “The kayaks? The photo op?”

Kelly nods. “They probably feel more secure right now than they have since the night Jessup died.”

I close my eyes, trying to see the larger picture.

“Look at it this way,” Kelly says. “Do you feel good about bringing Annie back to town as things stand?”

“No.”

“There you go.”

“How did Sands find that DVD?” I ask. “Even if he somehow heard Tim’s message—if Shad Johnson played it for him—he couldn'’t have understood Tim’s clues.”

“Who knows?” says Kelly. “Metal detector, maybe. He’s probably had flunkies searching that cemetery ever since Jessup died. Don’t worry about it.”

An insistent buzzing starts in the room.

“Is that your cell phone?” Caitlin asks Kelly.

Kelly reaches into his pocket and silences the phone. “There’s only one way to get these guys out of your life. Send them to prison or kill them. We can put an end to this thing tonight. Three good photos and you'’ve got them on felony charges. Then you can take backbearings and fill in the missing pieces. Linda Church. The USB

drive. Ben Li. The freaking ‘bird’ thing, whatever that is. What do you say, boss?”

“I'’ll get the boats. Are Danny and Carl on line for it?”

“What do you think?” Kelly smiles at Caitlin. “Why don'’t you make a few copies of Linda’s note? It wouldn'’t hurt to dub Tim’s voice memo either, and make some backups of the last part of that DVD.”

She nods excitedly, glad for something to do.

Kelly looks at me. “Are you going to share any of this with Chief Logan?”

I don'’t answer immediately, but I know what my gut is telling me. “I don'’t think we can risk anyone finding out that Linda Church is alive.”

Kelly nods in agreement. “Logan didn't tell you about the voice memo, did he? Even though it was meant for you.”

This hadn'’t struck me until now. “I wonder if he knows about it. Maybe Shad Johnson took the phone the night of the murder, and Logan never saw anything but the texts. When I asked him at the station if he had the phone, he wouldn'’t tell me.”

“So we’re definitely not showing the DA anything?”

I actually laugh at the absurdity of this idea, then sit back on the chair, suddenly drained by the release of tension. When Kelly takes out his phone to check his message, it’s instantly obvious that something is wrong. Before I can ask him what, he hands me the phone. There’s a text message on the screen, short and to the point:

Cease all inquiry re Jonathan Sands immediately. Conflict of interest. The assets will be protected, but you’re to stand down in Mississippi soonest. TOC Kabul 48 hours. Burton. PS Don’t push this.

“Daniel?” I say, handing the phone to Caitlin. “Are Annie and my mother the ‘assets’?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, no,” Caitlin says. “This is crazy.”

“Are they truly safe, Kelly?”

“Absolutely. I’'ve checked on them twice today.”

“It looks like things are changing fast.”

Kelly squats beside me, his eyes intense. “Personal protection is what Blackhawk was founded on. They’ve never lost a client, and they can’t afford to now. Especially people related to someone who can make as much noise as you can.”

“I don'’t feel reassured.”

“Me either,” says Caitlin.

Kelly squeezes my shoulder. “I know the guys guarding them, Penn. Both shifts. Even if someone at the company gave out information, these guys would take out anybody who made a move.”

“What if Blackhawk people showed up at the door?”

Kelly licks his lips, then seems to take a silent decision. “Look, they'’re not even where the company thinks they are, okay? Not anymore. As soon as I got the call about that bounceback on the Sands query, I told the guys to move them.”

My heart begins to race. “So you

are

worried.”

“No. I just don'’t take chances. Annie’s fine, man. I told you how to make her truly safe. Stick to the plan. When you get this deep in, only one thing can get you out. Leverage.”

“You made that plan before you got the text message.”

“The message changes nothing.”

“

What?

You’re ready to lose your job over this?”

Kelly’s blue eyes are as steady as a man’s can be. “I took that risk the minute I moved Annie and your mother. I don'’t know who’s protecting Jonathan Sands, but I know this: They’re on the wrong fucking side.”