Three Days to Never: A Novel by Powers Tim

Author:Powers, Tim [Powers, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, thriller, Horror
ISBN: 9780061806711
Amazon: 0061806714
Goodreads: 10133219
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Published: 2006-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

Sturm and Drang had driven Bennett to the Bank of America on California Street and led him inside, and there they really had given him six cashier’s checks, each for $8,333; Bennett had tucked the envelope into his inner jacket pocket, feeling dizzy and anxious. The bank happened to be only a couple of blocks from Grammar Marrity’s house.

Then they had driven out of that neighborhood, north to the cedar-shaded parking lot at the Holiday Inn by the Civic Auditorium. Sturm had parked next to a big brown Dodge van with a sliding door in the side, which had rolled open when Sturm got out of the car and knocked on it. From the passenger seat of the idling car, Bennett had been able to see three burly young men and a dark-haired woman in sunglasses in the van; white-haired Sturm had conferred with them for a few moments, then had got back into the car and driven out of the lot, eyeing the rearview mirror to make sure the van was following. The air-conditioning was uncomfortably cold, and somehow the car smelled of burnt fabric.

“Where are we going?” Sturm asked now, without looking sideways at Bennett.

“Uh, 204 Batsford,” said Bennett. “It’s two blocks south of the bank we were just at. What burned in here?”

In the backseat, Drang lifted a shoe box from beside him and held it forward, lifting the cardboard lid.

Bennett hitched around in his seat to look, then recoiled from the little blackened figure inside. “What the hell is that?” he barked. The burnt smell was gagging him now.

“Your niece’s teddy bear, we assume,” said Drang, clearly pleased with Bennett’s reaction. He put the lid back on the box and set it down on the floor by his feet. “It was buried in Marrity’s yard. She apparently burned it up.”

“When we get there,” Sturm went on, “don’t mention any of this about the sale of the grandmother’s property. Just get Marrity and his daughter, both, to come to the van. Tell them you’ve got a bicycle for the girl or something.”

From the backseat, Drang said cheerfully, “We can take them from there.”

Sturm glanced at Drang in the rearview mirror. “When we get there,” he told the fat man, “you go back and wait in the van.”

Drang raised his eyebrows. “You think I look alarming?”

“Better that they see only one stranger.”

Bennett shifted uncomfortably under the front seat’s shoulder strap, wishing he could lean forward and put his face into the cold air coming from the dashboard blowers. “Why did you bring the, the burned-up teddy bear?”

Sturm scowled, as if he wished Drang had not shown Bennett the bear. “It might mean something to the girl,” he said.

Bennett realized he was nodding, and he made himself stop it. “You could just let me go—I mean, I can get a cab to get back to my car, then. After.” He rubbed his hand over his mouth, feeling sweat in his mustache. “When you’ve—”

“Okay,” said Sturm.

It occurred to Bennett that

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