She needed to save Jarocki, for her sake as well as his. Her only chance was to fight the Tally Man on his own terms. “It’s not about my right and wrong. It’s about yours. You chose Laurie Hernandez, Holli, and me for a reason.”
“Don’t do this, Zo?,” Jarocki said before the Tally Man pressed the blade even deeper.
“We broke the rules, your rules, and we paid the price. Dr. Jarocki hasn’t broken your rules. He’s a good man who helps people, and he doesn’t deserve to die. If you kill him, everything you’ve ever done will be tainted. You’ll be just as bad as me and all the others.”
The Tally Man paused. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking behind that mask, while Jarocki had no mask to hide his emotions. His expression was clearly one of stunned amazement.
“What do you want?” the Tally Man asked.
“I want to make a bargain. You let him go, and I’ll go with you. No questions. No games. No more fighting. It’s about time we finished this thing. I’m tired of looking over my shoulder. Tired of you hounding me. I just want an end to this.”
Her proclamation had started as a line she was selling the Tally Man, but there was a lot of truth in it by the time she finished saying it. Her life was a train wreck and had been for over a year. She’d escaped a horrible situation only to live in another, one which had intensified since the Tally Man had rediscovered her. How much longer was she expected to exist like this, not knowing when he was going to pop up next, not knowing if the police would track him down so she could stop looking over her shoulder? At least if she surrendered herself to him now, it might sate his desire to add another woman to his tally for a while. Her sacrifice might be the thing that would get him caught, which would at least bring him to justice. Something bordering on a sense of relief washed through her.
“OK,” the Tally Man said, “but betray me and he’ll pay the price.”
She wouldn’t have another death on her conscience. “I won’t.”
“Zo?, no.”
The Tally Man reached into his pocket and tossed her a Ziploc bag with a cloth inside. She picked it up. Drops of moisture clung to the inside of the bag.
“It’s chloroform. Take the rag out and hold it to your nose and mouth.”
“Let him go first.”
“There’s no negotiation here, Zo?. We play by my rules.”
“I need to know you won’t hurt him.”
“Like you said, he hasn’t broken any rules, so I won’t hurt him, but I can’t very well have him running down the street, screaming for help. We need to finish our business.”
She wanted to believe him. As bizarre as it seemed, she did believe him. He had a code, a twisted code, but a code all the same. Jarocki was outside it. The doctor was safe as long as she gave the Tally Man what he wanted.
“Please don’t do this, Zo?. Not for me,” Jarocki pleaded.
The Tally Man jerked the knife back and smacked the butt of it across Jarocki’s temple. He released the doctor. He fell to all fours, sucking in ragged breaths.
“OK, OK. I’m doing it,” Zo? said, opening the bag and pulling the damp cloth free.
She stared at the rag in her hand, her heart thumping in her chest. Was she really about to do this? She wasn’t ready, but she never would be, so she raised the cloth to her face and inhaled.
She expected a sharp, chemical smell like bleach, but the chloroform smelled very sweet, floral even. The smell reminded her of dryer sheets, until she realized her hands and feet were going numb.
She kept breathing in. The numbness traveled up her arms and the strength left her legs as the peculiar feeling spread to her core.
The Tally Man pulled off his mask and smiled at her.
She recognized the Tally Man instantly, and she couldn’t believe it. It was Brad Ellis, the man from the mall. She’d gotten his iPhone back and disarmed a knife-wielding thief to do it. She’d been face-to-face with him, and she hadn’t recognized him. How could I have been so stupid? She tried to confront him but could barely string together her thoughts. All she managed was, “You. Mall. Phone thief.”
As his grinning face melted into a blur, her hand holding the cloth dropped. Then she was falling.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Greening slewed to a halt a half block from David Jarocki’s house. Napa police cars and an ambulance prevented him from getting closer. The report from Napa PD had been brief. Jarocki had phoned in a 911 call forty minutes earlier. The Tally Man had broken in, clubbed him, and snatched Zo?. Greening couldn’t believe it had all gone sideways and couldn’t imagine the fallout they’d be facing if Zo? turned up dead. Should that happen, they deserved any backlash they got. They should have done more to ensure her safety. That was what the cops were there for. Bounding across Jarocki’s front yard, he bottled the self-recriminations. Zo? needed him on the ball. He flashed his creds to get past the uniform on the door.
Inside the house, paramedics had Jarocki propped up on the sofa. Two Napa PD detectives were hovering around him, asking questions.