You've Been Warned - James Patterson [32]
He tries to turn away, and I grab his shoulder. “Wait. What are you talking about?”
Silence from him now. What — have I offended Mr. ZZ Top?
“Tell me!” I insist.
He smiles, flashing a mouth of the most rotted, brown teeth I’ve ever seen. But I don’t back away.
“Do I know you?” I ask.
Reaching up, he removes his sunglasses, and I gasp. Now I back up a step. One of his eyes is missing. There’s nothing there but a dark hole that seems to disappear into his head. Is that possible? I almost expect worms or slimy white maggots to crawl out.
“Not yet,” he answers. “But soon you will. When you figure out your life.”
He puts his shades back on, nods, and then turns away.
Chapter 43
I’M TREMBLING AS the bearded, one-eyed joker walks off down the street. It’s officially a toss-up now. Where is it more surreal? Inside my apartment or out here?
Hailing a cab, I decide being in my apartment might not be so bad anymore. Perhaps a nice, quiet evening at home will help calm the nerves. Then maybe I can figure this out, though I seriously doubt it.
In fifteen minutes, I’m there.
I begin with a superhot bath, the kind you need to ease your body into an inch at a time. I even add some herbal salts that Connie gave me for my birthday last year. “Soothing Citrus,” says the label.
After lingering in the tub until I’m “Wrinkled Prune,” I towel off, climb into my comfy terry cloth robe, and force myself to dial up some Chinese — sesame chicken and vegetable fried rice, my standard order. No MSG, please. I am trying my very best to have a normal night at home, which is ridiculous, I know, but it’s the only idea I have at the moment.
On a full stomach, after the day I’ve had, I should be dead tired. Instead, I’m wide-awake. Restless. Wired.
I try not to think of the one-eyed man on the corner — How did he know my name? — but if it’s not his face I’m seeing in my mind, it’s another’s. Dakota’s.
“Miss Kristin?”
Her sweet voice echoing in my ears, I remember that I’ve got an entire roll of her and Sean in my camera, the two of them swimming and playing by the pool.
At last, something that might put me at ease.
My darkroom.
I literally roll up the sleeves of my robe and get busy. Almost immediately, I can feel my mind and body relaxing. I even crack a smile as I think of a great name for an exhibit. “Stakeout.” It would be strictly pictures I’ve taken while parked somewhere, hiding.
No, wait, I’ve got an even better name. “Bob and Me.”
This is more like it. Moving the negatives to the holding bath, I catch a glimpse of the first few shots from the roll.
“Oh, how cute!”
I actually say the words out loud. My two favorite kids in the world, splashing around and having so much fun. Even in the negative I can see their beautiful smiles.
It’s a little weird, though. I always make a point of showing Dakota and Sean every picture I take of them. But these they’ll never see.
Eventually, I get to the shot I snapped with Penley in it. So typical, her pointing and barking orders at the kids. She looks more like a warden than a mom.
I’m about to shift to the next picture when something makes me do a double take, and my stomach just about drops to the basement of the building. I grab the magnifying loupe, pulling the image of Penley right up to my face.
I stare in amazement.
Utter. Freakin’. Amazement.
Chapter 44
I QUICKLY CHECK the previous shots, the ones of only Dakota and Sean. Is it happening with them too?
No. No, it isn’t.
Everything looks fine. Better than fine, in fact.
I grab the shot of Penley again, staring, squinting hard, running my finger over it. The negative seems fine to me.
Her image, though. Not fine. Not good. Not possible.
It’s that same effect as with the body bags outside the Fálcon, subtle yet definitely there. Or, should I say, not there.
Transparent. Like I can see through her. Like she’s there but isn’t.
Penley’s thin, but she’s not that thin! How is this happening again? Why?
I flip on the light, spinning