Deadly Visions Part 34

Joe and Howe climbed out of the car and stared into the darkness. "It's the biggest thing on the lake," Howe said."Shouldn't we see it?"

Joe nodded."Unless it's running without lights."

Howe glanced around the empty parking lot. "I don't like this."

"Me neither." Joe gestured toward the dock, where several small motorboats were moored. "Let's go find it."

They quickly surveyed the crafts before climbing into the only one without a lock. The small open boat reeked of dead fish and marijuana. Joe started the engine in three yanks of the ripcord, and they set out for the middle of the lake.

Howe turned on a battery lantern and aimed it into the void ahead. "Kind of a lame getaway, if that's what this is. We're landlocked, and once daylight hits, that boat is about as inconspicuous as an elephant in a broom closet."

"It's not a getaway," Joe said, staring at the cloud-like mist before them. "It's the end of the legend."

"What?" Howe asked.

"Unable to find a worthy man, Rakkan finally destroys himself in a magnificent funeral pyre in the Yellow Sea."

Howe pulled his jacket closer around him. "It's a nice ending, Bailey, but serial killers are rarely so obliging."

Joe moved the tiller."See anything?"

Howe shook his head. "No, and the fog isn't helping. We're in serious danger of running into something. Looks like we got a full moon on our side, but it's no good to us in this fog."

Joe reacted with a start. "A full moon."

"Yeah. Don't tell me you're choosing this moment to get superst.i.tious."

"No." Joe thought for a moment, then pointed ahead. "What's that?"

Howe aimed the lantern to reveal a large white hull three hundred yards away. It appeared to be dead in the water, drifting without engines or running lights.

"It's the Carlotta, Carlotta,"Joe said."I'll take us closer."

He steered toward the bow. Twenty yards away, he cut the motor. "Turn off your lantern," he whispered.

Howe switched off the light, and they sat still as waves lapped around them. No sign of movement on the Carlotta. Carlotta.Joe picked up an oar and sculled the boat around to the port side. He almost collided with a small powerboat tied to a deck cleat.A rope ladder dangled from the Carlotta Carlotta'slower railing.

Joe pointed to the rope ladder, and Howe nodded. They moved alongside. Joe held the ladder while Howe grabbed the lower rungs and pulled himself up.

Howe stood on the deck and leaned over the railing. "Just like being back at the academy," he whispered. "Never thought I'd actually have to climb one of these-"

Boom.

The Carlotta Carlottaexploded in a thunderous roar and a blinding flash of light.

Joe gripped the ladder as shock waves almost capsized his motorboat. He closed his eyes.

Let go, he told himself.

He couldn't. Not while Howe was up there.

Fiery splinters and debris rained down on him. His skin burned. His ears throbbed.

A low moan, and a splash in the water next to him.

Joe opened his eyes and peered into the dark water. Howe was motionless, lying face-up. Chunks of burning wreckage floated around him.

Joe looked up. The upper deck was on fire.

He jumped into the water. Holy s.h.i.+t. Fire and oil all around. Where in h.e.l.l was Howe? Just five seconds before, he was- Howe broke the surface and grabbed his arm. Joe lifted his head up."It's okay. Relax."

Howe squinted up at the burning boat."Jesus. Like a truck ramming into my back. I'm numb. I can hardly move."

"I've got you."

Joe looped his arm under Howe's armpit and swam back to the motorboat. Howe squinted up at the burning deck. "We were too late. Talman finished his tapestry."

Joe handed Howe a mooring rope and climbed into the motorboat. He leaned over and pulled Howe aboard.

"You're bleeding," Howe said.

Joe felt the cold stickiness at his forehead. "Gla.s.s from the windows. I'll be okay. You just lie back and we'll-"

A scream.

Deep within the bowels of the Carlotta. Carlotta.

Joe grabbed the rope ladder and turned uncertainly back toward Howe.

Howe squinted at him."You're not seriously thinking of going in there, are you?"

"That depends on you. How bad are you hurt?"

"I'll be fine. But, Bailey-"

Joe climbed the ladder."Call for backup!"

"Bailey!"

Joe threw his legs over the railing and ran past the smoke billowing from the downstairs dining room. The fire was confined to the aft section of the boat, but he knew it was only a matter of time before it spread.

Where had the scream come from?

Below. Somewhere below.

Joe drew his gun and bolted down the stairway. He peered through the gla.s.s doors of the cigar lounge. Empty.

Crew quarters. Galley. Bathrooms. All deserted.

He turned down a narrow hallway and almost stumbled over something. A body.

Joe knelt over him. Christ. Edward Talman dead, his chest oozing blood.

Footsteps pounded on the deck above.

Joe stood and ran for the stairs. He pulled himself up, listening as the roaring flames grew louder.

The earsplitting fire alarm kicked in. About d.a.m.ned time. Half the boat's gone, and now nowthe alarm sounds?

The footsteps again, coming toward him. Of course. The other way could only lead into the fire. He held up his gun.

Joe stepped from the stairway and a gunshot whistled past his head. He ducked behind a wood-paneled arch and stared into the decorative mirrors over the bar. There, reflected hundreds of times in the myriad designs, he saw the server's station on the other side of the archway. A man stood there, holding a handgun.

"Only one way out,"Joe shouted."It's over, Roth."

Barry Roth flattened himself in the server's station. He stared at Joe in the same mirrors. "It's getting warm, isn't it, Mr. Bailey?"

"You want to step outside and cool off?"

"You first."

"You didn't come here to kill yourself, Roth. Even if that's what the real Rakkan did."

"You've made the connection. I'm impressed."

"Kind of hard to miss after you carved the name into my dining room table."

"There's no evidence that I did that."

"Or of rigging Monica Gaines's robe to ignite?"

"Again, no proof."

"Then how did you know what was in the sketches in her closet?"

"What are you talking about?"

Joe steadied himself as the Carlotta Carlottalisted."On the television show, you gave us Monica's impressions of Ernest Franklin's murder scene. You said there was a full moon, but there wasn't. The only full moon was in Monica's preliminary sketch. She didn't show it to anybody, but you saw it, didn't you? You saw it in her closet when you were rigging her robe."

"That means nothing."

"Not by itself, but what if I looked in that file of your so-called triumphs? How many of those murders would fit the pattern of Rakkan's killings? I'd imagine it would be very easy to help the police on murders that you committed yourself. The only trick would be in not giving away too much information, right?"

"The fire's spreading belowdecks, Detective."

"You thought you'd be long gone by now, didn't you? But you saw us climbing aboard and you decided to set off the charges early and blow us to pieces. You figured you could still finish off Talman and make your escape before the boat burned itself out, am I right?"

Roth didn't reply.

"Forget it," Joe said. "My partner has already called for backup. The lake will be surrounded."

"It's a big lake."

Joe looked down. Smoke snaked up between the floorboards."Time's running out. Let's get the h.e.l.l out of here." Joe strained to see through the smoke. "You failed, Roth. You didn't have the guts to finish it right."

"Shut up!"

He'd hit a nerve. Good. "Face it, if you had the courage to destroy yourself the way Rakkan did, you would have already succeeded. Instead, you tried to frame someone else and let him die for it. You planted the panther sculpture and those origami figures."

"I didn't fail."

Joe raised his gun. Roth was still protective of his grand tapestry. "You knew I'd unravel your pathetic little scheme. You knew I'd expose you for the fraud that you are. You wanted to scare me off and thought you could use the memory of my wife to do it. It didn't work. You're an amateur, Roth."

"f.u.c.k you!" Roth fired twice at the wall between them. The wood panel splintered, but the bullets didn't penetrate.

Joe grabbed a railing to steady himself as the decks whined and groaned. He could keep pus.h.i.+ng Roth's b.u.t.tons, but it wouldn't do him any good if the boat went down with them inside. Black smoke poured from the vents. The alarms were almost deafening.

"Throw down your gun and let's get out of here!"

The aft deck collapsed. Burning cinders flew, and the entire boat shook.

Joe glimpsed the fireworks show through the bar's rear windows."The fuel tank is next, Roth."

The windows blew out, and bottles of alcohol lining the bar exploded.

Three shots rang out, shattering the mirrors across from them. Joe ducked as another bullet whizzed past him.

Footsteps. Roth was making his break.

Joe raised his gun and bolted around the corner.

Roth hurtled though the lounge, dodging the flaming rivers of alcohol. His jacket caught fire. He tore it off as he hurtled toward the doorway.

Joe took aim."Roth!"

Roth spun around, gun in hand. His lips curled into a twisted smile. He raised his gun.

Joe's finger tightened on the trigger, and ...

The burning floor opened up and swallowed Roth.

Joe stared in shock at the spot where Roth had disappeared. Half the lounge was gone.

Screams from the burning deck below. Roth. Horrible, frantic screams from a man who knew he was already dead.

Joe ran to the edge of the floor and stared down. Nothing but fire and Roth's screams.