What Have You Done(54)
A noise had woken him, but in his dreamy state, he couldn’t place it. It was beeping. Something was beeping. He knew the sound. He’d heard it before. In the fogginess of near sleep he tried to make the connection.
Beep… beep… beep…
It was so familiar.
Beep… beep… beep…
What was it?
Beep… beep… beep…
His alarm.
Guzio scrambled to his feet as both fear and anger caught him off guard. His head whirled when he straightened up, the bathroom tilting slightly to the left, then the right, then back to center. The pain tried to overtake him, but he fought through it. He turned off the shower and listened.
Beep… beep… beep…
Footsteps now. He could hear them bending the wood of the stair treads, climbing to the second floor. The alarm counted down the final seconds before it would activate the siren and automatically notify the police. In the background, behind the footsteps and the alarm, the radio played on.
Beep… beep… beep…
“Who’s there!” He stepped from the tub and bent to grab his towel from the floor. He wrapped it around his belly and walked to the edge of the bathroom. “Who the hell is that? You better turn around and leave before you get an ass kicking! I’m not fooling around!”
The footsteps continued. Almost to the top now. The alarm and eventuality of the siren did not cause the intruder to move any faster. The slow, methodical footsteps carried on.
Beep… beep… beep…
Guzio poked his head out into the hallway in time to see the shadowy figure reach the top landing and turn toward him. “Get out of here!” he cried, but his voice cracked and gave away the fear he tried to keep hidden. He backed into the bathroom and frantically looked for something to defend himself with. If only he hadn’t been asleep when the alarm was initially tripped, he would’ve had time to get to the bedroom, where his .38 sat in the top drawer of his nightstand. He had nothing where he was now. The figure kept coming.
Beep… beep… beep…
Guzio stopped when he saw the person standing before him. He was confused. What was happening?
Then he saw the gun.
The siren began to sound, screaming through the house.
The visitor held up one gloved finger. “First thing we need to do is shut off that alarm. After that, the police are going to call. You’re going to tell them you didn’t make it to the code panel on time and that everything’s fine. They’re going to ask for your password, and you’ll give it to them. You got that?”
Guzio nodded.
“Let’s go.”
Guzio and his visitor made it back to the first floor, siren blaring. Shaking hands fumbled with the keypad, fat fingers punching the numbers until the house was silent again.
The phone rang.
“Showtime,” the visitor said. “Password and an excuse. Then we need to talk.”
41
Sean and Don sat in front of what remained of a bucket of wings and a handful of beers. The Hard Rock was packed. Every table was taken, and the bar itself was two rows deep. The Sixers were playing the Cavs, and it seemed tonight was as good a night as any to catch LeBron in action.
“You take the last one,” Sean said, pointing to the remaining wing among the bones of its brethren.
Don shook his head. “That’s all right. I’ve had enough. It’s all you.”
Sean grabbed the wing and drowned it in blue cheese. Don watched him as he ate, his thoughts elsewhere as the night drifted on. There was a part of him that wanted to come clean about having made that second copy of Kerri’s computer files and the fact that Rocco was hacking into them, but it seemed secrets and distrust was the way things were playing out lately, so he swallowed his guilt and put on his best poker face. If there was information to share after Rocco broke into the files, it would be easier to apologize then.
“So you ready?” Sean asked, the corners of his mouth a combination of dressing and hot sauce. “Back on the big board tomorrow.”
“Never stopped being ready. Had to wait for your trigger-happy ass.”
Sean laughed. “Yeah, this one’s definitely on me.”
“You think you can still keep on top of things with Liam when we’ll have our own caseload to handle?”
“I have no doubt. Being on the inside is much easier than poking my way around when I’m not on duty. I’ll keep an eye on things, and I won’t let our load slip either. I figure Heckle and Keenan have about two or three more dead ends to follow up on in the next week before they can file the case away unsolved. That’s all I want. Let’s get this thing filed away, and then we can get to the bottom of what really happened. If Liam is being framed, I’ll find the son of a bitch that’s doing it. But if my brother really did have something to do with Kerri’s homicide, I’ll get him the help he needs.”
“Have you even had a chance to mourn Kerri?” Don asked. “I mean, she was your friend and a huge part of Liam’s life, and it seems like all you’re doing is trying to make her go away. Have you even stopped for a second to mourn her?”
“I think I have,” Sean replied. “In my own way.”
Don fell back against his seat. “It’s tough even being out here drinking and eating with all this mess going on.”