The 5th Horseman - James Patterson [98]
She closed the door behind her and walked out of the shadows to the bed just as the patient began to gasp for breath.
Melinda Cane reached out to her, patting the air frantically with her hands.
“Something’s wrong, Luz,” she wheezed. “Help me. I can’t breathe. Please help me!”
The Night Walker took the woman’s hand and squeezed it gently. “It’s all right, lovey. Luz is right here with you.”
Melinda Cane strained desperately for air, the cords of her neck standing out, her hands clutching at the blue flannel blankets as the opiate paralyzed her central nervous system.
She looked up at the nurse with disbelief, tried to pull her hand away, to reach for the call button beside the bed.
The Night Walker moved the call button to the nightstand, but she stayed with Mrs. Cane the whole time, winding the lady’s blond ringlets around her fingers.
She steeled herself for the spasms when they came, and in just a few moments, Melinda Cane was still.
Luz Santiago had also been Marie St. Germaine, and before that, Yamilde Ruiz, and way before that, she’d been born and raised LaRaine Johnson of Pensacola, Florida.
It was truly a gift to have this power over life and death, and also to be invisible to everyone.
In a few minutes, the Night Walker straightened the woman’s body in her bed, arranged the bedding.
Then she reached into her pocket and took out a small black doll. She’d hidden the buttons there, inside the rough woolen strands.
She took the buttons out from between the threads of the doll, put one on each of the dead woman’s eyes. The caduceus, serpents around a winged staff, symbol of the medical profession.
“Good night, princess,” she said. “Good night.”
The Night Walker stepped out into the hallway—and saw the police waiting there for her. A half dozen officers, at least.
She even recognized one of them, the lieutenant from California.
The tap on her shoulder from behind surprised her even more than the police waiting in the hallway. She turned to see Melinda Cane. Melinda was very much alive, and she was holding a gun.
“Put your hands in the air, Luz. Or whatever your name is. You’re under arrest for attempted murder. I’m Detective Cane.” Then the Atlanta Homicide detective smiled. “You probably remember Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer from San Francisco. She’s the one who nailed you to the wall.”
About the Authors
JAMES PATTERSON is one of the best-known and best-selling writers of all time. He is the author of the two top-selling detective series of the past decade: the Alex Cross novels, including Mary, Mary; London Bridges; Kiss the Girls; and Along Came a Spider, and the Women’s Murder Club series, including 1st to Die, 2nd Chance, 3rd Degree, and 4th of July. He has written many other #1 bestsellers, including Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas, Lifeguard, and the International Thriller of 2005, Honeymoon. He lives in Florida.
MAXINE PAETRO is a novelist and journalist. She is the co-author for 4th of July. She lives with her husband in New York.