Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [114]
“Jesus. Doesn’t anybody get it? Jeffreys didn’t kill all three—” He stopped when he saw Christine standing in the doorway.
“Relax, Nick. I’m not here as a reporter.” She hesitated, then came in. Her hair was a tangled mess, her eyes red, her face tear-stained, her trench coat unevenly buttoned. She looked like hell.
“I need to do something. You have to let me help.”
“Can I get you some coffee, Christine?” Hal asked.
“Yes, thanks. That would be nice.”
Hal glanced back at Nick as if looking to be excused, then left.
“Come, sit down,” Nick said, resisting the urge to go to her and help her walk across the room. It unnerved him to see her this way. She was his big sister. He was the one always screwing up. She was the one who always held it together. Even when Bruce left. Now she reminded him of Laura Alverez—that unsettling quiet.
“Corby gave me a temporary leave of absence with pay from the newspaper. Of course, that was only after he made sure The Journal would have the exclusive on whatever happens.”
She struggled out of her coat, tossing it carelessly onto a chair in the corner and only staring at it when it slid to the floor. Then she paced in front of his desk, though she didn’t seem to have the energy to even stand.
“Any luck tracking down Bruce?” She avoided his eyes, but he already knew it was a touchy subject that his sister had no clue as to where her ex-husband was.
“Not yet, but maybe he’ll hear about Timmy on the news and get in touch with us.”
She grimaced. “I need to do something, Nick. I can’t just sit at home and wait. What are you doing with that?” She pointed at the grocery list of items, which he’d turned over so that the strange schedule with its bizarre codes faced up.
“You know what this is?”
“Sure, it’s a bundle label.”
“A what?”
“A bundle label. The carriers get one each day with their newspapers. See, it shows the route number, the carrier’s code number, how many papers there are to deliver, what inserts—if any—and the starts and stops.”
Nick jumped out of his chair and came around to her side of the desk.
“Can you tell whose it is and what day it’s for?”
“It looks like it was for Sunday, October 19. The carrier’s code is ALV0436. From the addresses listed on the starts and stops, it looks like…” The realization swept over her face. She looked up at Nick with wide eyes. “This is Danny Alverez’s route. It’s for the Sunday he disappeared. Where did you find this, Nick?”
CHAPTER 68
When darkness came, it came quickly. Despite Timmy’s efforts to remain calm, the inevitable prospect of the long, dark night ahead destroyed his defenses.
He had spent the day trying to come up with an escape plan or at least a way to send a distress signal. It certainly wasn’t as easy as they made it look in the movies. Still, that helped him stay focused. He thought of Batman and Luke Skywalker. And Han Solo, who was his favorite.
The stranger had brought him Flash Gordon and Superman comic books. Yet, even equipped with the knowledge and secrets of all those superheroes, Timmy still couldn’t escape. After all, he was a small, skinny ten-year-old. But on the soccer field, he had learned to use his smallness to his advantage, sneaking under and through other players. Maybe strength wasn’t what he needed.
It was too hard to think with the dark swallowing up corners of the room. He could see that the lantern had very little kerosene left, so he needed to hold off lighting it for as long as possible. But already the panic crawled over him in shivers.
He considered the kerosene heater. Perhaps he could drain kerosene from it for the lantern. Gusts of wind still knocked at the boarded window, rattling slats and sneaking through the cracks. Without the heater he might freeze before morning. No, as much as he hated to admit it, he needed the heater more than he needed the light.
He replayed scenes from Star Wars in his mind, repeating dialogue out loud to keep himself occupied. He squeezed the lighter, reminding himself that he did have control over the darkness. Every once in a while