and she’ll have no clue as to why she was taken.”
“So that’s it,” I said. “You’ll leave us alone now.”
Uretsky laughed.
“No, John,” he said. “Far from it. You still haven’t won my game. You still have to prove that you’ve got what it takes to be a real criminal. But I am curious about one thing.”
“I don’t have to answer your questions,” I said.
“Did you think Giovanni was going to attack you?”
“I said I don’t have to answer you.”
Uretsky wagged a finger in front of the camera. “Uh-uh,” he said. “I make up the rules, and I can change the rules. Life isn’t fair that way. So you’ll answer my question, or you’ll watch this woman die. Got it?”
The room warmed to the heat of a sauna. “I got it,” I said, swallowing hard.
“Good. Glad we’ve cleared the air. So tell me, did you think Giovanni would attack you?”
“I had no idea, but I didn’t rob him with a loaded gun.”
“You got rid of the bullets?” Uretsky said, his surprised voice rising in pitch. “Very trusting of you, John. I wouldn’t have done that, but it’s interesting that when you entered into a life-threatening situation, you chose to leave yourself vulnerable.”
“Is that what this was really about?” I asked. “Are you monitoring how I’ll behave under certain conditions?”
“No, John. We’re playing a game,” Uretsky said. “It’s really quite fascinating to watch. You see, I knew Giovanni would attack you. In fact, I picked that store because he’s been robbed in the past and he always fights back. What would it have taken for you to keep the bullets in the gun? Would you have gone in armed had you known he was a rattlesnake and not to be messed with?”
“I never would.”
“Ah! Never say never.”
I expected he’d say that. I decided to change the subject. “I’m going to track you down,” I said.
“Remember my warning about involving the police. I’ll know if they’re looking for me.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll find you on my own,” I said. “And when I do, I’ll have no trouble keeping bullets in the gun.”
Maybe I wouldn’t toss it in the river, after all.
“Oh, I think you’ll be surprised at what you find,” he said.
“What do you want from us? What do you want?” I tried to keep from shouting but had a hard time controlling my anger.
“Easy, tiger,” Uretsky said. “You’ll know soon enough. But take some advice from me. Rest up. You’re going to need your strength.”
“What the hell are you planning?”
“Surprises. In two days you’ll know. Two days, my friend.”
“I’m not your friend.”
“No. You’re my parasite, living off my name. But if you insist on a hint of what’s coming your way, I’ll tell you this. The snake and lotus flower are gripped in Qetesh’s hands.”
“What?”
The screen went black.
Ruby and I stared at the black rectangle a few moments. I was half expecting Uretsky to reemerge and yell, “Boo!” If he had, I would have jumped, that’s for sure. Thankfully for us, the rectangle stayed black.
“You saved her, John,” Ruby said, rubbing her hand between my shoulder blades while she kissed my head. “You saved Dr. Adams’s life.”
“We think,” I said.
“No,” Ruby said. “I know it. He’s not going to kill her.”
“Two days,” I said. “What do you think is going to happen in two days?”
“I don’t know,” Ruby said. “I wish I did. What did he mean by the snake and lotus flower thing?”
“Who did he say? Kesha?”
“Isn’t she a pop star?”
“It was something else,” I said. “It sounded like it began with a Q. Qatash or something.”
Ruby launched a Web browser on the laptop and did a search for “Qatash,” “Lotus Flower,” and “Snake.” Only four results returned. If I had to guess, we were misspelling the most important word. Ruby did another search, this time for the words “Somerville,” “armed robbery,” and “choking.” The results page returned a bunch of links with five videos listed as a top hit. The videos were of my robbery.
“How did these get up here?” Ruby asked.
“There’s a button on the Boston.com video to share it to YouTube,” I said.
“John, look at this,” Ruby said, indicating the screen. “The view counter says twenty-five thousand.”
I groaned. “Twenty-five thousand views in less than an hour. Shit.” “What?” she asked.
“Not only did I just commit a crime, but the video’s gone viral.”
“What are we going to do?”
“About the video?”
“No, not about the stupid video,” Ruby snapped at me. “Uretsky. Two days. The snake and the lotus flower. Quidditch, or