A Flicker of Doubt - Tim Myers [73]
“It’s the safest place I know. The only access is through my bedroom closet.”
“Then lead the way.”
“I’ll grab your papers and come back down,” I said as I showed him the scuttle.
“I don’t think so. For all I know you have a telephone up there. I’m coming with you.”
“Come on, what am I going to do? Jeanie can’t climb up, not with her hands tied.”
I was hoping that if he untied her, we might have a better chance against him than we did at the moment. I didn’t know if she was as guilty as Runion claimed, but Jeanie was the only one I had on my side who might be able to help me out of this jam.
Runion considered it a few seconds, then said, “No, I can’t watch both of you when you’re up there.” Runion grabbed Jeanie as she shot me a look of disbelief. “It’s okay,” I told her.
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” Runion said. “Just stand right there, and don’t try anything stupid.” He led her to the bathroom, shoved her roughly inside, then I watched helplessly as he duct-taped her to the towel bar. Too bad the builder had imbedded it in concrete. The bathroom was industrial, and I doubted she’d ever be able to pull herself free. To be on the safe side, Runion took a chair and jammed it under the doorknob once he locked her in, yanking on it to see if it would hold.
I was going to have get out of this without Jeanie’s help.
Runion nudged me with the gun and said, “Let’s go, I don’t have all night”
I started climbing the scuttle steps, unbolted the hatch, then threw it open. I figured I’d have five seconds before Runion could join me up there, but as I scrambled for something, some kind of weapon to use against him, he popped his head up, the revolver pointed right at my gut.
“Stand over there,” he commanded. “Don’t you have any lights up here?”
“I never come up at night,” I lied. I was hoping he’d missed the flashlight I kept inside.
He did. At least that was something. Once Runion joined me up there, he said, “So where are they? I hate being up high.”
I started going for the storage box, thinking I might be able to use the umbrella to knock the gun out of his hand, but then I thought better of it. If I was going to die, it wasn’t going to be defending myself with an umbrella.
Maybe I could use his fear of heights to my advantage. I veered away from the storage bin and walked toward the edge of the roof without slowing down. Thankfully there was a new moon, giving barely enough light to see the sky with. The roof was dark and I was having trouble seeing the edge, but I knew if we stayed up there much longer, both of us would start to get our night vision and my newly formed plan wouldn’t work.
“Hey, that’s far enough,” he said.
“Why don’t you wait right here and I’ll grab the papers, if you’re scared.”
Runion made a short bark of a laugh. “I’ m not afraid of anything, candle man.”
I got as close to the edge as I could, trying to see some discernable line where the building ended and the air started. There, I caught a glimpse of it at the last second. It was time to act. If I got shot, at least I would die trying to save myself.
Runion was too close behind to stop as I whirled, grabbed his gun arm and swung him around. Two shots went off, and I felt one of them whisper past my cheek. I let him go, more out of reaction than plan, and Runion’s foot missed the edge. He fell thirty feet screaming, and the noise stopped only after he hit the ground.
I didn’t know if he was alive or dead, and at the moment, I didn’t care.
I hurried down the scuttle steps, thought about freeing Jeanie, but decided to check on Runion first. Not without reinforcements, though. I banged on Markum’s door, and to my relief, he answered.
“I’m on the phone,” he snapped, until he saw my face. He said, “I’ll have to call you back.” After he hung up, Markum said, “What happened? Were those gunshots I heard? Are you bleeding?”
“Come on. I need your help. Bring your phone, too.”
I was in no mood to explain myself, and Markum accepted it We hurried down the stairs, and I worried that Runion would be gone,