He waited until the young man had settled in for the evening before he started.
By the time he rang Jared Hartung’s doorbell, he’d already spent several hours in the man’s house, preparing for the events to come. But none of that planning diminished the excitement of this moment.
It had been years since he’d engaged in a true hunt. For the last two decades, he’d been reduced to the occasional use of the homeless to sate himself, but no longer. After seeing Jessie Hunt, the protégé of his long-time nemesis, Garland Moses, on the news, he’d been inspired. He was ready to resume his work.
“Yes?” Jared said when he opened the door, barefoot and wearing a UCLA T-shirt and sweatpants.
“I’m so sorry to trouble you, young man,” he replied, playing up his hunched back and raspy voice. “My car conked out on the street just over there and my cell phone seems to have died as well. I was hoping I might borrow your phone to call the auto club.”
Jared seemed torn between civic duty and the desire not to be bothered when he was trying to relax.
“Um—” he started.
“I promise not to be a nuisance. After I call for assistance, I’ll wait in the car. I don’t want to disrupt your evening.”
That reassurance seemed to persuade Jared.
“Sure,” Jared said. “The phone’s in the kitchen.”
He stepped inside, and Jared closed and locked the door.
The old man smiled. That was one less thing for him to take care of later. He followed Jared into the kitchen, delicately removing the syringe from his jacket pocket when the younger man looked the other way. In the other hand, he held his wallet at the ready.
“There you go,” Jared said, pointing at the phone.
“Thank you so much,” the old man said as his wallet dropped from his hand onto the floor between them. “Oh dear, I’ll get that.”
He started to bend over, moving as slowly as he could. Jared only let a moment go by before he caved.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got it,” he said, bending over.
The second he did, the old man plunged the syringe into Jared’s exposed neck and took a step back. Jared popped back up immediately, a confused, angry look on his face.
“What the hell?” he demanded.
“I saw it,” the old man said with concern. “I think it was a wasp. Did it sting you?”
“A wasp?” Jared repeated, already looking slightly unsteady.
“Yes,” the old man assured him. “Are you all right? Maybe you should sit down for a minute.”
He pulled out a breakfast room chair for Jared, who nodded and took an uncertain step in that direction. The old man knew that if Jared fell to the floor, he’d have a devil of a time getting him back up, so he offered a hand, which Jared took. Once the young man took another step toward the table, everything clicked into place.
The old man used Jared’s own momentum and pulled hard on his arm. Jared banged into the table and collapsed onto it face first. As he moaned, the old man lifted his legs up on the table and, with much effort, rolled him onto his back.
Then, as Jared watched with terrified eyes, he moved over to the cabinet and removed the toolbox he’d left there earlier that afternoon. He placed it on the table beside Jared, who couldn’t move a muscle but could see clearly.
The old man opened his box and removed an X-Acto knife, which he used to carefully slice open Jared’s T-shirt. He studied the young man’s chest. It was hairier than he preferred but that could be rectified.
“Whahhhoo?” Jared managed to groan, an impressive feat considering that he shouldn’t have been able to make any sound at all at this point.
“So many questions,” the old man said sympathetically. “I promise, very soon you’ll have all the answers.”
He put down the knife so that he could slide his gloves on. Then he selected his preferred tool and looked back at Jared.
“It’s time to begin,” he said.
And with that, the Night Hunter got to work.
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
THE PERFECT FACADE
(A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book Twelve)
“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.”
--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone)