"But Clarens...."
Chief Scott let the silence build while he lit a cigarette.
"But Clarens wants to be caught," Mosby said.
"He does?" Chief Scott pointed to the map. "General Mosby, you and I
both know that all he has to do is sit down on the curb underneath any
street light.
"Let me change that. We would have him ten minutes faster if he sat
down on the curb of any dark street.
"No, he doesn't want caught, except maybe those first couple of
minutes when he's almost human, those first couple of minutes after
he's killed somebody. And if you have to kill someone to have human
feelings yourself--that's not for most of us and that's why I hope he
fights back and I have to take him--dead."
Chief Scott turned back to the map of Harrisburg. His forefinger ran
down the river, pausing at each of the many bridges. Then he turned to
the generals.
"Maybe we've got him pinned. We've had the bridges sealed tight and if
Dr. Thornberry is right, he won't chase west because Pennsylvania
land, especially around here, is selling real high and that's still
very open country.
"And that's not for Clarens, he wants back into our little city, back
where things feel close and he feels _inside_."
Bennington found himself looking at Mosby, with the glance returned.
Mosby spoke, reluctantly. "He could be through us, Chief Scott."
"_How?_"
"The same way my men come back to camp and it's a natural way that's
rarely stopped."
"Clarens had no military experience!" Scott said.
"No, but he's read a lot--that came out at the trial--and he's under
pressure, so he'll remember what he read," Bennington said.
"Tell me this way you can walk invisible across a lighted bridge," and
Scott was still unconvinced.
"You don't walk over, you ride over," Mosby said. "I would work it
this way.
"I would stop in a bar and buy a drink that made me smell five feet
away. I would order and get rid of a couple more of them, very
quickly, then I would tip the bartender to call me a cab.
"And by the way, of course I wouldn't be drinking any after the first
one.
"But when the cabbie came, I'd offer him a drink, wave a big bill or
two that meant a good tip, and give him a good address--for instance,
the hotel that takes up the biggest space in the yellow pages of the
telephone book.
"I would get into the back seat of the cab still holding on to the
biggest bill or two out of those we took from the cleaning truck and I
would pretend to fall asleep.
"With that cab driver convinced that he's hauling a drunk just aching
to give away a big tip--and any normal human being perfectly sure that
a wanted killer would never walk into a bar, get loaded and order a
cab to take him to the biggest hotel in town--what are my chances,
Chief Scott?"
* * * * *
The chief did not answer directly. Instead, "And I'll bet he wins that
appeal he's got going, too."
"What did you say, Chief Scott?" Bennington asked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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