Backtracker (79 page)

"
I know how you feel right now,
"
continued Billy, standing at the top of the incline.
"
I guess I might want to do the same thing you
'
re talking about if I was in your shoes. I guess I
'
d probably be a little crazy, too.
"

Finishing the slope, Dave stepped onto the ledge at its base. From there, he extended a foot down to the flat block which was next in the climb.

"
I know where you
'
re coming from, okay
?
"
said Billy.
"
I just want you to think this through, though. I mean, you can
'
t just go charging after that guy.
"

Unwilling to show even a flicker of interest in what his partner was saying, Dave proceeded downward. He hopped from the stone block to the next step, the fat boulder which was also the last step.

"
He
'
s a
killer
, Dave,
"
said Billy.
"
I don
'
t want to see him do to you what he did to that
kid
, y
'
know?
"

Dave bent his knees slightly, then jumped from the boulder; he felt a mild impact when his feet came down on the soft dirt.

"
I
'
m just worried about you,
"
offered Billy, his voice tempered with concern.
"
I don
'
t want you to get hurt, all right?
"

Dave gazed at the clearing ahead of him; finally off the tragic rock, the site of so much mayhem and madness, he felt a swell of relief.

Taking a deep breath, he started across the clearing toward the woods.

"
I don
'
t want you to get
killed
,
"
hollered Billy.
"
Let
'
s just go get the cops, okay?
"

Dave kept walking.

"
He
isn
'
t
gonna
'
get your
family
,
"
shouted Billy.
"
He
'
ll probably get
you
if you
find
him, though!
"

Dave kept walking. Eyes roving the
tree line
, he spotted the gap from which he and Billy had first emerged, the mouth of the trail which would lead him through the woods and back to the Torino.

"
Come on,
Dave
!
"
Billy called from atop Wolf
'
s Rock.
"
Shit
!
"
he barked, and then he fell silent.

Dave kept walking. At the cessation of his comrade
'
s cajoling, he immediately started to worry, fret that the all
-
or
-
nothing tactic would fail to induce Billy to join him.

As he neared the mouth of the trail, he listened carefully for any sound from behind him, any sound of success. He heard nothing but the puff of his own footsteps in the grass; there was no rustle of Billy descending the formation, no patter of Billy running up to meet him.

When he got to the gap in the
tree line
, Dave hesitated, wondered if he ought to end the charade and abandon his foolhardy plan. If he left Billy alone, and Billy contacted the police, the plan would be kaput, anyway.

The trail beckoned. Gazing into the woods, Dave questioned what he was setting out to do, wondered if there was still a chance that Billy would come after him. Yet again, he wondered if Larry had told the truth at all, if he was indeed Billy Bristol or just a good liar.

Dave listened for any sound of his approaching friend. He heard nothing.

With a sigh, he stepped onto the path.

*****

Chapter
34

"
We need a gun,
"
Billy Bristol said for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"
First thing we do, we gotta
'
get my .38.
"

Nodding, Dave continued to walk along the gravel berm of Route 26. The whir of tires reached his ears, the sound of a car approaching from behind; he rotated and extended his thumb, stuck it prominently over the road.

"
We definitely need a gun,
"
said Billy, duplicating Dave
'
s movement, shucking his thumb in the air and turning to watch the latest traffic.
"
We oughtta
'
have a couple.
"

Dave
didn
'
t
reply.
He'd
already discussed the subject with Billy, had already agreed that they should carry a weapon; there
was nothing
more to say on the matter, though Billy kept returning to it obsessively.

Clearly, Billy was worried about the danger ahead, the peril to which
he'd
finally, reluctantly committed himself. Dave was worried, too, but had other concerns to occupy his thoughts.

For one thing, he was wondering how he could ever get to Larry in time to try to stop the next killing. In addition to his original head start, Larry had engineered an even greater lead by disabling Dave
'
s car; upon emerging from the woods, Dave and Billy had found the Torino incapacitated, paralyzed by four slashed tires. To say that the partners had been delayed would be a tremendous understatement; without the Torino, they now had to hitchhike the whole way from Horton State Park to Barton...and if they
weren
'
t
lucky enough to get a ride, they would have to walk for about an hour and a half. Reaching Barton, and Billy
'
s car, would only be half the battle; once they secured transportation, they would have to get to Larry Smith, a task which they still had no idea how to accomplish. By the time that they got to where Larry had gone
--
if
they ever got there
--
the killer might have already finished his work and evaporated, flown forever from their grasp.

As if his worries about reaching Larry in time
weren
'
t
enough, Dave was also concerned about Billy, how to handle him now that the situation had changed so drastically. Initially, Dave had planned to take Billy along for just the first phase of the pursuit, then ditch him somewhere so that he would be safe from any conflict with Larry. Now that the Torino was immobilized, however, the partners would have to use Billy
'
s car to seek out the killer...which meant that Billy would be driving and Dave would have more difficulty getting rid of him. Not only that, but with Billy at the wheel, Dave would have little control over the proceedings; once they got rolling, Billy could very well ignore Dave
'
s direction, race to the police instead of going after Larry Smith.

Of course, Dave
didn
'
t
know what he would do if he
did
shake Billy and get to Larry. That troubled him more than anything. He was terrified of Larry, mortified by the prospect of again encountering the killer; his fear was so great that he worried that he
wouldn
'
t
have the presence of mind to negotiate properly, that he
wouldn
'
t
even be able to force out a single word. He might get lucky and soon get a ride to Barton...he might ingeniously figure out how to find Larry...he might get Billy safely out of the way without any fuss...and yet, after all that, he might end up being too tongue
-
tied to do any good.

Dave
didn
'
t
want to think about what might happen if he fumbled the final confrontation. He tried instead to focus his attention on more immediate concerns, like hitchhiking and the name of the faceless kid.

"
Aw, c
'
mon, man,
"
muttered Billy, walking backward on the berm, wagging his thumb at the latest car to approach them.
"
Pick us up, huh
?
"
he said irritably, as if the driver of the car could hear him.
"
I swear, we aren
'
t a couple of mad killers, man. We just need a ride.
"
The car, like the parade of vehicles before it, refused to oblige; it swept up and past the hitchhikers without slowing.

"
Damnit anyway,
"
mumbled Billy, shaking his head.
"
What
'
s the matter with people these days?
"

"
Guess everybody
'
s scared,
"
replied Dave, facing forward since no other cars were in sight.
"
You just never know what somebody might try once they get in your car.
"

"
Yeah, that
'
s true,
"
sighed Billy.
"
I guess you never know when you might pick up a Larry Smith, man.
"

"
Seriously,
"
nodded Dave.
"
I just hope we get a ride soon. At the rate we
'
re going, we might
never
catch up with Larry.
"

"
Right,
"
Billy said unenthusiastically.
"
That
'
d be a real tragedy.
"

Dave chose to ignore the latest wisecrack, let it pass. Billy had been baiting him since they had left the woods, and no doubt would continue to do so; responding to his jibes would serve no useful purpose.

Instead of biting back, Dave decided to turn the conversation onto a more constructive course. The significance of the name still eluded him; perhaps, Billy could help him decode the cipher.

At the hum of approaching tires, Dave turned around and raised his thumb.
"
Here comes another one,
"
he said, walking backward, watching as a distant pick
-
up drew closer.

"
Yeah, yeah,
"
grumbled Billy, halfheartedly toting his own thumb just a little ways from his side. He continued to walk forward,
didn
'
t
even peek over his shoulder this time.

The pick
-
up shuttled rapidly toward the hikers, and Dave pumped his thumb vigorously in the air. His energetic signal went unheeded; the pick
-
up shot past and kept going.

"
Figures,
"
groused Billy, kicking a chunk of gravel onto the pavement.
"
We might as well hang it up, man.
"

"
We
'
ll get a ride eventually,
"
Dave said confidently, turning to face forward.
"
Anyway, we can use the time to figure out that clue I told you about.
"

"
So what
is
this fantastic clue
?
"
Billy asked snidely.

"
The kid
'
s name,
"
answered Dave.
"
I found it on his sweats.
"

"
Wait a minute,
"
said Billy.
"
You found it on his sweats?
"

"
Uh, yeah,
"
replied Dave, momentarily caught off
-
guard.
He'd
forgotten that he
hadn
'
t
yet told Billy of his visit with the corpse; he
hadn
'
t
realized that mentioning the incident would surprise his partner.

"
Shit
!
"
exclaimed Billy.
"
You mean you actually went
down
there and got
close
enough to read what was on his sweats?
"

"
Well, yeah, I was down there,
"
fumbled Dave.
"
I wanted to see if Larry had left anything behind, y
'
know? Like a clue.
"

Billy emitted a long, incredulous whistle.
"
Holy shit,
"
he said disbelievingly.
"
You really
are
a few bricks short of a load,
aren
'
t
ya
'
?
"

"
Larry didn
'
t leave anything anywhere else,
"
Dave explained with a shrug.
"
That was the only place left to look.
"

"
Boy,
"
drawled Billy.
"
That was a real
mess
down there.
"

"
It wasn
'
t much fun,
"
said Dave.
"
Anyway, like I said, there was a name on the kid
'
s sweats. It must be his name.
"

"
So what was it, then?
"

"
Frank,
"
said Dave, turning and ejecting his thumb when he heard the far
-
off whisk of tires.
"
Frank Hoffman.
"

"
Huh,
"
grunted Billy, refraining from raising his own thumb.
"
Frank Hoffman,
"
he said, carefully pronouncing the words.

"
Yeah,
"
nodded Dave.
"
It really sounds familiar to me, but I just can
'
t place it.
"

"
Frank Hoffman,
"
repeated Billy, frowning thoughtfully.
"
Doesn
'
t ring any bells.
"

"
There
'
s something
about
it, though,
"
insisted Dave.
"
I feel like there
'
s something I should
know
about it.
"

"
I
don
'
t know any Frank Hoffmans,
"
declared Billy.
"
None I can think of, anyway. I
'
m
sure
I didn
'
t know that kid.
"

Enthusiastically, Dave flagged the approaching car; it darted up and past, leaving only a breeze in its wake.
"
Maybe it
'
s like Steve Kimmel. Maybe his dad
'
s some big shot we
'
ve heard of.
"

"
Hoffman. Frank Hoffman,
"
mulled Billy, staring at the berm.
"
Man, I don
'
t know. I don
'
t
think
there are any bigwigs named Hoffman in town.
"

"
Doesn
'
t have to be in town, though,
"
qualified Dave, waving his thumb at another approaching car.
"
Larry told me his next victim lives somewhere
out
of town.
"

"
Which isn
'
t necessarily
true
, of course,
"
Billy said wryly.
"
Seems to me like he
'
d just
naturally
lie about
that
,
y
'
know?
"