orders and there would be no more money. The anger building inside him felt like razors moving through his blood, cutting him from inside. He decided to wire money out from Florida, then go shopping for another camera.
He went to the window and looked out at the cars slowly moving along Sunset. It was an endless moving parking lot. All that smoking steel, he thought. All that flesh. Where was it going? He wondered how many of them in those cars were like himself. How many had the urges and how many felt the razors? How many had the courage to follow through? Again the anger pushed through his thoughts. It was something palpable inside him now, a black flower spreading its petals in his throat, choking him.
He went to the phone and dialed the number Krasner had given him. Sweetzer picked up after four rings.
“Busy, Sweetzer?”
“Who’s this?”
“It’s me. How are the kids?”
“What—who is this?”
His instincts told Gladden to hang up right then. Don’t deal with their kind. But he was so curious.
“You have my camera,” he said.
There was a short moment of silence.
“Mr. Brisbane, and how are you?”
“Fine, Detective, thank you.”
“Yes, we have your camera and you are entitled to have that back since you require it to make a living. Do you want to make an appointment to pick it up?”
Gladden closed his eyes and squeezed the phone until he thought he would crush it. They knew. If they didn’t they would have told him to forget the camera. But they knew something. And they wanted him to come in. The question was how much did they know? Gladden wanted to scream but a higher thought was to keep cool with Sweetzer. No false moves, he told himself.
“I’ll have to think about that.”
“Well, it looks like a nice camera. I’m not sure how it works but I wouldn’t mind having it. It’s here if you want—”
“Fuck you, Sweetzer.”
The anger overtook him. Gladden spoke the words through a clenched jaw.
“Look, Brisbane, I was doing my job. If you got a problem with that come see me and we’ll do something about that. If you want your fucking camera then you can come and get that, too. But I’m not going to stay on the line while you—”
“You got kids, Sweetzer?”
The line was silent for a long moment but Gladden knew the detective was there.
“What did you say?”
“You heard me.”
“Are you threatening my family, you motherfucking son of a bitch?”
Now Gladden was silent for a moment. Then a low sound started deep in his throat and grew into a maniacal laugh. He let it out uncontrolled until it was all he could hear and think about. Then, suddenly, he slammed the receiver down on the phone and cut the laughter off like a knife in the throat. He had an ugly grimace across his face and he shouted to the empty room through clenched teeth.
“Fuck you!”
Gladden opened his laptop again and accessed the photo directory. The computer’s screen was state of the art for a laptop model but the graphics chip still wasn’t nearly the quality he’d have on a stationary PC. But the images were clear enough and he was able to make do. He went through the file photo by photo. It was a macabre collection of the dead and the living. Somehow, he was able to find solace in the photos, a sense that he had control over things in his life.
Still, he was saddened by what he saw before him and what he had done. These little sacrifices. Offered up so that he could salve his wounds. He knew how selfish it was, how grotesquely warped it was. And the fact that he turned these sacrifices into money tore away his comfort, turned it into the self-loathing and disgust that always came. Sweetzer and the others were right. He deserved to be hunted.
He rolled onto his back and looked at the water-stained ceiling. Tears filled his eyes. He closed them and tried to sleep, tried to forget. But his Best Pal was there in the darkness behind his eyelids. As always, he was there. His face set, a horrible slash for lips.
Gladden opened his eyes and looked at the door. There had been a knock. He quickly sat up as he heard the metal scrape of a key going into the outside knob. He realized his mistake. Sweetzer had had a trace on the line. They knew he would call!
The door to the room swung open.