The Border Part Four Read Online Free PDF Page B

late for her to feel anything. Her dead eyes stared at the door, unblinking as the breeze ruffled her hair.
    Above her, a dirty, blood-stained hand held her still-warm heart, letting blood drip down onto the floor.
    ***
    “Fine, bitch,” Katie muttered, tossing her phone onto her bed. “ Don’t pick up.”

III
     
    “Yeah, I remember him,” the woman said as she took the phone from Jack’s hands for a moment. She squinted a little as she stared at the photo. “He stayed here for a few nights last week. Nice guy. Friendly, but kept himself to himself most of the time.”
    “You’re certain?” Jack replied, standing in the lobby of the Hermitage House hostel, way out on the southern edge of town. “His name is Ben Freeman.”
    “Yeah, Ben.” She passed the phone back to him. “Why, are you a cop? Did he do something wrong?”
    “No,” Jack said, forcing a smile as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, “I’m not a cop, I just…” He paused, imagining his brother walking through the lobby. “Thank you,” he said finally. “You’ve been really helpful.”
    ***
    “I don’t want people thinking I’m weird,” Alex said, as he cut open the package that had just arrived for him at the police station, “so I was thinking I could shave my head bald and then start wearing an aluminum-lined wig.”
    Reaching into the package, he pulled out a ball of hair that was vaguely similar to his own in terms of both color and style, although the resemblance didn’t improve much as he tried to neaten it out. Turning it around, he pulled the edge up to reveal the aluminum lining.
    “Clever, huh?”
    Watching him from her chair, Jane seemed genuinely lost for words.
    “I bought it online, of course,” Alex continued, getting to his feet and grabbing a comb from among his pot of pens. “Made in China, from real hair that they, I don’t know, harvest from orphans or something. It grows back for them, so what’s the problem? Nice was for them to make a little money. Now that’s what I call a globalized economy. It’s a miracle, really.” He made his way past his desk, heading to the far end of the office. “I’ll be in the bathroom. Gotta try this baby on. If it looks good, I’ll get the clippers out tonight.”
    Jane watched in stunned silence as Alex headed through the door, and then she sat in silence for a moment.
    “What the hell?” she said out loud, finally. “What the actual -”
    “There’s been another one,” a voice said suddenly.
    Turning, she saw Caitlin Somers standing over by the window, her usual smile replaced by an intense stare.
    “What do you mean?” Jane asked.
    “What do you think I mean? I warned you, I told you to get this thing resolved before it was too late, and now…” The dead girl paused. “It’s not too late, exactly, but there’s been another murder. The body hasn’t been found yet, but it’s out there.”
    “How do you know?” Jane replied, getting to her feet and heading to the window.
    “How do you know, you mean,” Caitlin continued, keeping her eyes fixed on Jane. “After all, if I’m just an extension of your consciousness, then I’m merely vocalizing a realization that has occurred to you. We agreed that’s how it works, didn’t we?”
    “But I don’t know that there’s been another murder,” Jane pointed out, using two fingers to part the blinds for a moment as she peered out at the town square. Rain had begun to fall, and there’d been a few rumbles of thunder a few minutes earlier. “Everything seems calm.”
    “I told you, the body hasn’t been found yet.”
    “Then how do you know? I mean, how do I know? I mean…”
    “Confusing, isn’t it?”
    “We’ve still got time,” Jane continued. “I know we do. If there’d been another murder, we’d know by now.”
    “Not if the body’s out of sight,” Caitlin replied. “For example, in an old warehouse somewhere, or an abandoned building. There are plenty of places it could