Soundkeeper by Michael Hervey Page B

little wider the door squeaked again. Blondie heard it too. She watched him rub his unshaven face and look around, trying to find the source of the noise.
    Gale gripped her feeble weapon tightly in her fingers and stepped back against the wall of the closet. As soon as his hand touched the door handle she would explode against the door and knock him to the floor. She would be two hundred yards away before he got back to his feet. When she gritted her teeth a painful reminder of this man’s brutality shot through her jaw.
    “Where did you come from?” Blondie asked.
    With that simple question Gale felt the strength begin to sag from her coiled legs and arms. How had he seen her? She didn’t care anymore. She would fight until it was over. As she steeled herself against the opening of the door she heard another sound that brought terror to her heart.
    The sick, mechanical sound of a switchblade opening was etched forever in her memory. She knew the man standing on the other side of the door had his knife in his hand again, and was ready to use it. She watched his shadow spill between the door and the doorframe and held her breath.
    “Maybe if you’d eat some of the damn mice around here you wouldn’t be so skinny.”
    Gale had to concentrate to keep from hyperventilating. The man who thought he had already killed her was standing less than two feet away, talking to the stray kitten.
    “C’mere, cat. I won’t hurt ya.”
    When the shadow moved away from the door Gale sank to her knees and peeked around the door frame. Blondie was near the middle of the building, trying to coax the kitten to come close to him. Much to her surprise, it went to the killer.
    With much curiosity Gale watched the violent man stroke the small animal with tenderness and rub its head between his ears. He carried it back to his chair, and held him in his lap. They sat there together until Blondie tried to light a cigarette. Blondie shrieked when the frightened kitten sank his claws into his groin. He danced around the room with the now terrified kitten clinging to his crotch. The sharp claws had easily gone through his khaki pants and were drawing blood. The switchblade flashed in his hand once again, and he swung it at the defenseless kitten.
    He misjudged the scrambling creature and Gale saw a seam of crimson flow from the tip of the knife across his leg. He finally managed to backhand the kitten off of him and it landed next to his lounge chair with a muffled thud, sounding like a shoe dropped on the floor. The kitten tried to stand and walk but he was woozy from spinning round and round with Blondie and teetered on unstable legs. Blondie picked up the kitten and stroked him a few times. Then he severed its head with his switchblade and squeezed it, watching the blood spurt from its neck and flow down over his hand.
    Gale sobbed and bit her hand to keep from being heard. She slumped to the floor and pulled the closet door shut when Blondie walked out of the building.

Chapter Nineteen
    His “formal” uniform, long-sleeved polyester shirt, clip-on tie and patent leather shoes, was much more uncomfortable than his everyday work uniform. Fortunately the courtroom was well air-conditioned and cool to the point of making his sweat-dampened shirt feel chilly. Hall had been here only once before, accompanying Jimmy when he met with the county solicitor to discuss a proposed plea bargain in an upcoming trial.
    He saw the deputy that had taken his prisoner to jail a few days ago and sat down next to him. Hall relaxed a little when the deputy told nothing was likely to happen since this was the defendant’s first appearance.
    “I’m sure his attorney will continue the case a few times, waiting for the time when you or the victim doesn’t show up. Then he’ll tell the judge that he’s ready to try the case, and the solicitor will have to dismiss, since there’s no witnesses present,” the deputy said.
    Hall looked around and saw the girl who