Chapter 7
It was a gamble, a desperate gamble. An he had to go through with it.
No one knew what he was going to do. Not George. Not Willie. Least of all, Julia. He did not want them to try to dissuade him of it.
It was the best plan he could come up with. He recognized bitterly that planning was not his strong point. He was not like Megan, not even Derek, in that respect.
But he would do his best.
Jessica King realized that it was late. She had let time slip by reading those files, and now she was alone in the building.
Quickly, realizing that Zeb must be worrying about her, she got up and began dialing his office.
But Barnabas stepped in before she could finish, and under his eyes, she reflexively cut off the communication.
"Oh, it is you, Mr. Collins." she smiled at him, a bit nervous "You gave me quite a start."
Barnabas stared at her, saying nothing.
"Anything wrong?"
He almost answered, but he didn't. He did not want to dispel her fear. No now. He needed that fear for what would come.
"Mr. Collins?" Jessica insisted.
He grabbed her roughly by the wrists and pushed her against the wall. Jessica opened her mouth to scream, but found herself caught in his hypnotic hold.
Jessica still struggled feebly when he opened his mouth. She gasped and he knew that she had seen enough.
He drank slowly while she kept her ineffectual struggle. Then the struggle ended and she was hanging limply in his arms.
He laid her down, making sure that she rested on the carpet, so that she would not catch cold. He wounds were closed, except for a little trickle of blood still remaining on her throat.
Soon Zeb would come for her, worried because he had not heard from her. That, and her reaction when she awoke would start the game.
He looked at Jessica again. She looked so weak, so vulnerable. He had to fight his desire to comfort her. Not now.
But he covered her with his coat while he waited for Zeb to come and take her away.
Eventually Zeb's footsteps came, and he was free to retrieve his coat and disappear.
"And your wife remembers nothing?" George tried to sound calm and professional.
"No." Zeb said. "And that makes me think."
"Makes you think?"
"I talked to Patterson on the phone and he assured me that all the girls that had been attacked when he was the sheriff, none of them remembered anything. Not even Maggie Evans. I think that it is the same one."
It took George quite an effort not to show his shock...
He was going to have a serious talk with Barnabas at dusk.
Why had he bought that box of matches? He didn't need them. Not even for smoking.
Yet he had put on a coat and gone out just to buy matches. And now he was lighting them...
Not cigarettes, David thought. It was matches that he wanted.
George looked very angry. And Barnabas didn't fault him for it. Yet, he felt mischievous about it.
"So you are throwing a temper tantrum again?"
"A temper tantrum?" George yelled, lifting his arms to the sky as taking it to witness on Barnabas' unreasonableness. "After what you did to Jessica, with the result of getting Zeb on your back, more determined than ever?"
"Yes, the way it is supposed to happen."
"The way it is supposed to happen? Are you crazy?"
"I am not." Barnabas sobered up. "Zeb would not believe my warnings. We were headed for a confrontation, him and I."
"And this will prevent it?
"This will make it sure that the confrontation will be on my terms, when I am in control of the situation."
"You think that doing this will keep him from finding out what happened to Dave?"
"I don't expect that anymore. He will hear the truth and make a decision about it. But I will make sure that I will be the one involved."
George paused, understanding what Barnabas intended.
"You can't do that." he pleaded.
"Why not?"
"It is crazy. It makes no sense."
"It does make sense. It probably the only thing that works. I know the risks and do not take them lightly."
"You can get killed very easily."
"Yes. I don't want it to happen " he looked at George sadly "Not until I have held Willie's child in my arms. But if that is what it take, I will do it."
George's words of protest died in his mouth. He could see what Barnabas intended and why it was the right thing to do.
But Barnabas could get killed. and he did not want to lose him, not the way he had lost Dave...
Yet it might be necessary.
"Now, I am waiting for a phone call.."
"A phone call?"
"Yes. From Maggie. I called her a few minutes ago, and told her what is happening around here."
"Are you crazy? Do you know what she can do to Zeb?"
"Only too well. That's what I am trying to prevent. I let her know some and hinted about more. She will probably now call me from this telephone that she knows has not been tapped.." he looked wistfully at his own phone "she seemed genuinely pleased to hear from me. And even regretful that Iris left me... I wonder, if in some way, she might be fond of me."
"I wouldn't count too much on any fondness of her part to save your neck."
"Neither do I. But I wonder if she hates me, or likes me or..."
"She uses you, and is fond of you when she does." George grumbled, "and gets rid of you when you inconvenienced her. That's when she remembers she hates you."
In the telephone booth Maggie twisted the cord nervously. What had Barnabas meant by telling her all about Zeb and his relationship with Woodard, and that Zeb had been talking about old times? Then of course, a veiled hint that maybe Zeb wanted something from her, in DC, but Barnabas thought that it could handled at the local level...
Barnabas had not been talking about political favors, even if that was what it sounded like.
Between Barnabas and Zeb King they could sink her. And Barnabas did not sound like he had forgiven her for his exile in Parallel Time.
She waited for the voice at the other end of the line, wondering what to expect.
"Barnabas? This is Maggie."
"I have been expecting your call." Barnabas said amiably, no trace of the bitterness that had been there in the previous call.
"This Zeb King, are you sure that he's Woodard's nephew? I don't think that he had any relatives named King."
"His sister remarried and her new husband adopted the child."
"I see. So he's the genuine article? Not something you have dreamed up to make me lose sleep?"
She sounded angry enough. At Zeb King for threatening her, even inadvertently, at Barnabas for causing it all, at herself for not having seen it coming.
"No, But if you want proof, I will give it to you."
"All right. I believe you." she breathed deeply "I would like to let you stew out this one, but I can't afford it. I'll send Sabrina to see what can be done."
"Not Sabrina."
"Look, she didn't really hurt you, did she? And you had been asking for it."
"Not Sabrina. Not anyone from your dirty tricks division."
Maggie laughed bitterly "Will you handle him as you handled his uncle?"
"I will not hurt him. And I will not let you hurt him. Maggie, when was the last time I threatened you?"
"It's been a while but I remember each and every time."
"Well, I hoped I would never have to do it again. But I guess I must." he closed his eyes, in pain "Hurt Zeb in any way, threaten him, or even let Sabrina or any of your staff get too close to Collinsport while I am handling is and you'll regret it. I'll make sure that several things come out. Enough of them so that you'd never be able to run for any office, not even for dogcatcher."
Maggie smiled superiorly "You would not dare. It might cost me my future. But it might cost you worse. Like a stake through the heart. That is, provided I haven't caught you first and fed you to the sharks."
"Maggie, I am already laying my life on the line, so there is nothing you can threaten me with. No, Maggie, accept it. Keep away from this and I'll make sure that Zeb never crosses your path."
"If he does, you know what I'll do to you."
"I know."
Maggie considered it for a few moments. "All right. He's all yours. And whatever plans you have, they better work, or I'll take it out of Julia's hide."
"You won't need to."
He hung up, disturbed by those last words.
"Well, did it work?" George asked him.
"Yes and no. She is willing to let me handle it. But if I fail it will be bad news for everybody."
"Not if I can help it." George touched his gun.
