Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

Author:Chelsea Cain
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery, Horror, Suspense, Adult, Thriller
ISBN: 9780312368470
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2007-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

31

Charlene Wood sat with her knees together and crossed her feet at the ankles, facing Archie and Buddy, who now sat side by side on the sofa. Buddy had put on his suit jacket. Two young crewmembers wearing KGW caps had erected a background screen behind them, to disguise the location from the few viewers who might recognize the Arlington Founders Suite.

“Are you ready?” Charlene asked. She looked thinner than she did on television, and hungrier.

“Absolutely,” Buddy answered before Archie could open his mouth. Buddy had been caked and powdered and sprayed and now Archie saw him lick his top teeth. It was a trick Buddy had taught him when Archie had taken over leadership of the task force all those years ago, so your lip wouldn’t stick to your teeth when you talked on camera. Archie had thought Buddy had been kidding.

“We’re going to go live,” Charlene said.

Archie looked down at his hands. The swelling had gone down a little bit. But his side still throbbed, despite the four Vi-codin and the two more he’d just taken. He wanted to be higher. He needed to look like he was sick. He was sick.

Now he needed to sell it.

Charlene turned to the camera, tilted her chin down thoughtfully, and lowered her voice. “Thanks, Jim. I’m here with Mayor Bud Anderson and Gretchen Lowell’s so-called last victim, her former pursuer, Detective Archie Sheridan.” She turned to Archie and reached out and touched him lightly on the knee. “Detective, can you tell us what went through your mind when you heard that the Beauty Killer had escaped?”

Archie kept his face composed, irrespective of the ludicrous-ness of the question. “I was sick,” Archie said. “I felt concern for the community.” He wanted to do something with his hands, and settled on folding them in his lap. “Gretchen is very dangerous. She should not be approached. It’s important that she be returned— alive—into state custody so we can finish our work identifying her victims.”

“I just want to reiterate,” Buddy said, “that we are doing everything in our power to apprehend Gretchen Lowell. We will catch her.”

Charlene reached out and touched Archie’s knee again. Debbie was standing behind her, out of camera range, and Archie thought he saw her roll her eyes.

“How are your children after yesterday’s trauma?” Charlene asked.

“They’re well,” Archie said. “Considering. But,” Archie added, and he felt Buddy shift a little beside him, “I’m saddened that this is distracting me from my work investigating who is responsible for the murders in Forest Park.” He looked up, directly into the camera. “If anyone out there knows of a blond woman who has been missing for two to three years, please call your local police precinct.”

Charlene’s eyebrows quirked quizzically at the change of subject, but she was enough of a journalist to at least ask the obvious follow-up. “And the first body?”

“We’ve identified her,” Archie said. The pain in his side had grown to a fire. “Her name is Molly Palmer.”

Archie had called Molly’s parents from the bedroom after his shower.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.