Stay in Touch
Chapter 28
Dr. Holtzman smiles indulgently at Rick and tolerantly at Kate. "It is fortunate that I had an opening in my schedule. Your project sounds interesting, Mr. Castle. And I welcome Officer Beckett as your consultant. You claim this is a story about a psychopathic killer whose hunting grounds are rural areas and say you're creating a psychiatrist character who is treating this murderer. How can I help you?"
"In a book, for a killer to hold the reader's interest, he can't just go out and shoot or stab someone. He has to have characteristics that let the reader delve into the way his mind works. For example, I was considering having him wear a mask, something like this." Rick holds up a sketch of the demon mask.
Holtzman's face is passive, but his pupils widen, and the rasp in his voice becomes more pronounced. "Very creative."
Rick uses every bit of self-control he possesses to keep from grabbing Holtzman by the throat. "My question, Doctor, is how to justify that particular plot point. Why would a killer wear a mask? His dead victims could never reveal his identity."
"Perhaps, Holtzman suggests, your killer thinks of the mask as his true self, and the face he shows to the world as a mask. When he claims his victims, he wants them to know who is taking their lives."
Castle scribbles in a notebook. "That's very helpful, Doctor. I'm quite pleased we've consulted you. Now, one more thing. This killer goes undetected for years, decades actually. He picks victims who have no family to report them missing. They have no regular workplace to notice their absence. How could he vet them?"
The tiniest hint of a smirk tweaks Holtzman's lips. "As a writer, I would think you could figure that out, Mr. Castle. The easiest way to get a woman to let her guard down is to find her in a difficult situation and offer your help. That could be assisting with a stalled vehicle or offering to guide her if she's lost in an unfamiliar area. Under stress, she will very quickly confide a great deal to a guardian angel."
"And the mask will then reveal the angel to be a demon." Rick finishes. "It's intriguing that you pegged the victims as women, Doctor. I hadn't decided one way or another."
"Women are more likely to discuss their problems, don't you think, Mr. Castle? A sign of the weaker sex?"
Rick can see Kate's eyes narrow and her body tense. "In my experience, Doctor, that very much depends on the woman. I wouldn't want to bet my life on defeating Officer Beckett. Would you?"
"An interesting question, Mr. Castle." Holtzman makes a show of looking at his watch. "This conversation has been - fascinating. But I have a patient arriving in a few minutes, and I must prepare. I'm sure you understand."
Rick and Kate rise from the leather couch where they've been sitting. Rick forces himself to extend his arm. "Thank you for the insights, Doctor."
Rick shakes his hand back and forth as he and Kate return to the car. "I need to wash this, about twenty times. Maybe thirty. Kate, the monster practically confessed. He laid out his whole modus operandi."
"He was playing with us, trying to figure out what we know. It was cat and mouse, and he thinks he's the cat."
"He's not going to be, is he? Not this time. But how do we spring the trap on him?"
"I'm willing to bet that he goes to his parents' farm to make sure that whatever secrets he has hidden there are secure. When he leaves, we follow him. And I don't believe we'll have to wait long."
Kate's guess is on the money. In less than twenty minutes, Holtzman gets into the BMW parked in his prominently marked space in his clinic's lot and drives off. Kate mentally counts to thirty before starting Rick's car and following the doctor. With only one route between Sagetown and Curryville, she is able to remain far enough behind to keep Holtzman from spotting his tail.
Holtzman passes the gravel drive to the house, almost causing Kate to lose him, and turns into a paved one leading to a large barn, a quarter of a mile beyond it. Kate parks in a spot off the road where the car will be shielded from Holtzman's view by pine trees.
Rick grabs a pair of binoculars from the glove compartment and leaves the car, peering out from cover, with Kate behind him. "He's unlocking a padlock and going in. Kate, I can't see much inside. There's something that looks like it might be Kirsten's truck, but there's a tarp over it."
"And there would be nothing strange about having a truck on a farm anyway," Kate notes. "We need a closer look, but as a cop, anything I see on my own without a warrant could be thrown out in court. And any evidence that flowed from it would be fruit of the poison tree. You're a civilian. The cops here could charge you with trespassing, but it would only be a misdemeanor. And whatever you see would be admissible. But Babe, you don't know what he might have in there. He could have a knife or a gun. If you go in, I can stay on the road to back you up. We can keep our cell phones open so that I can hear you - but if anything happens, I might not be able to make it to you in time."
"Kate, Holtzman has been killing me piece by piece ever since that day in Hollander's Woods. I need to put an end to this, and we might not get another chance. I'm willing to count on you being there for me like we've been for each other ever since that day at the bookstore. I'm going to see what's beneath that tarp."
To shield himself from view as much as he can, Rick stays behind the brush and shrubbery growing along the drive. There's no cover near the entrance, and he tries to make his footsteps on the asphalt as quiet as possible. The vehicle is right inside the large double doors of the building. Squatting on the concrete floor, he lifts the edge of the truck's canvas covering. Even without comparing the number on the license plate to the one burned into his memory, the expired tags and "Gardens Groove" bumper sticker, shout Kirsten.
Rick hears the chilling rasp and feels the bite of a knife at his neck as he's getting to his feet. "That will be the last thing you'll ever see."
Even as Kate charges in at a dead run, raising her off-duty weapon, she can see Rick trying to wrestle the knife from Holtzman. Rick is younger and more massive, but Holtzman has a strength born of madness. "Let him go, or I drop you where you stand."
Holtzman is distracted just enough for Rick to get a knee in his groin and drive his fist into the killer's jaw. As Kate stands over the killer, her gun in both hands, she sees Rick sink to the ground, rivulets of blood staining his collar. "Babe!"
"Just shoot him if he even twitches. I'll be fine." Rick presses one hand against his neck and thumbs 911 with the other.
After an eternity, sirens scream in the distance.
