The Tower

Jade nodded. "Wouldn't have gotten past the men if they hadn't checked him out," he said. He pointed to the black Oldsmobile across the street and the driver waved, then gave a frustrated shrug. "Not much they can do to stop them if they're clean."

Travers shook her head. "Only two kinds of people need getaway cars," she said. "Bank robbers and photographers."

Darby placed a hand on her chest to slow her breathing. "It's okay," she said. "Madonna and I, we're used to it."

Travers laughed. "Well, thanks for your time."

Darby looked up and caught Jade's eye. He was alone with her for an instant, alone in her private world. He could almost sense the depth of her pain in the slight wrinkles around her eyes.

She mustered her strength and smiled.

He smiled back.

Chapter 37

I N the afternoon, Allander's hunger pangs finally distracted him from his quiet reflections. Rising and stretching, he headed back to the main road. He whistled as he walked, enjoying the lightness of the sound and the freedom of the notes as they drifted on the wind.

As he rounded a bend in the road, a large field spread before him to his left. He hopped the mossy wooden slats of the fence and made his way slowly through the field, skimming an open hand on top of the waving yellow foxtails. His feet sank slightly in the rich ground with each step. The far end of the field sloped up to the top of a little hill, and a farm-style house sat at its peak.

Allander resumed whistling and headed for the house. He rapped the door with his knuckles. It was a large wooden door, with lines and ridges, worn with time and use. The sign posted along the country road had advertised a "learning school."

Allander imagined that the teacher lived and taught in the same house, for it had been described as a "residential school" on the map he had seen at the bus station. The door was opened by a homely, middle-aged woman who wore her hair pulled back neatly in a bun.

"Hello. My car broke down and I was wondering if you would do me the great favor of allowing me to use your telephone."

She glanced down at him. She was a rather sturdy woman, and she stood with her arms crossed, pushed out from her chest by enormous breasts outlined like boulders beneath her apron.

"Well, sure. I'm just getting dinner ready, but why don't you come in and use the phone right down that hallway there."

Allander made a half bow, placing one hand on his stomach and extending his other hand open from his side. He nodded his head slightly. The gesture was meant to convey "thank you" and "you can trust me" and "I'm charming" all at the same time.

The woman smiled in amusement and stepped back, opening the door the rest of the way to allow him to enter.

Once in the car, after leaving Thomas and Darby, Jade told Travers of his private discussion with Darby, and of her secret. Though she tried not to show it, Travers was shaken by the story of the rape. When they arrived back at Jade's house, they both began to read through the psychology books that Jade had taken out of the library.

Travers shot Jade a look of annoyance when he began to chew on an ice cube. He, of course, didn't notice.

"What was the deal with that promise?" she asked. "Why did Darby tap your chest?"

Jade shook his head dismissively.

Sensing she wouldn't get any more out of him, she turned back to Totem and Taboo, and they read in silence.

"The style and location of the house suited him, I can tell you that," Jade said after a while.

"The whole castle on a hill thing going on? Family as royalty?"

"That's what I'm thinking. I'm betting he chooses another elevated house. Set apart from the others. And there's all this"-Jade leaned closer, holding the book up to his nose-"errant prince-child complex shit."

"The prodigal son avenging himself upon the king and queen-"

"-or mother and father," they said together.

Jade's face clouded. "He's like a fuckin' plague descending on the house. Punishes the parents, then toys with the children like playthings."

"Do you think he'll always kill the parents?"

"If you'd like, you're welcome to join me for dinner. Earl and the kids are at a baseball game, so they won't be back until later. Earl always says there's nothing like baseball at dusk, but I think…" Her voice droned on incessantly in the background, carrying through the house to Allander.

He walked right past the antique phone on the little wooden table and began opening doors to the rooms off the hallway. He found the laundry room and leaned over the dryer to open a cabinet. A large iron sat back safely from the edge. Allander smiled as he removed it and began to wrap the cord around his wrist.

"I thank you so much for your hospitality," he called down the hallway as he walked toward the voice still emanating from the kitchen, the iron swinging freely at his side.

Jade paused for a second, biting his cheek pensively. He grimaced as he ran his thumb across his bottom lip. He had come to trust Travers with more and more information.