“Then I showed up.”
“I knew you might be a problem, especially if you started asking questions. Louise has been a risk for years. Crazy and getting crazier by the day. By then I knew I no longer needed her, so I got rid of her, hoping that would be the end of the matter. I figured all I had to do after that was wait, because sooner or later you and Gwen would leave town and things would return to normal. But tonight I realized you weren’t going to give up and go away.”
“You’re the demon Louise Fuller feared,” Judson said. “The father of her only child.”
Buddy snorted. “She tried to use my own son to kill me.”
“Why not? Zander Taylor was a chip off the old block.”
“Except for the crazy gene,” Buddy said. “He got that from his mother.”
“Nah,” Judson said. “Like father, like son. Psychos, both of you.”
“Bullshit.” Fury flashed in Buddy’s eyes. “I’m a professional. I do it for the money. Zander was a gamer. I swear, he was obsessed. Once he got a taste of his kill-the-psychic game, he couldn’t control himself. Sooner or later, he would have been caught. I knew I’d have to get rid of him when he started killing right here in Wilby two years ago. But Gwen Frazier took care of the problem for me. Gotta tell you, that was convenient.”
“You went to the lab as soon as you heard that Taylor had gone over the falls. You found the camera. That must have been a big relief. You knew your secret was probably safe, but the incident left you with some unanswered questions, didn’t it?”
“I knew that Zander didn’t jump to his death, at least not intentionally. He lived for the game. All I could assume was that there was some kind of struggle and Gwen got lucky.” Buddy narrowed his eyes. “I don’t suppose you know how that happened, do you?”
“Sure,” Judson said. “I know exactly what happened. You’re right—your son was not a suicide. He attacked Gwen and she defended herself. Taylor lost the struggle and went over the falls.”
“Zander must have let the rush of the kill get to him at the critical moment.”
“Something like that,” Judson said.
“Like I said, it was only a matter of time before he screwed up, thanks to his mother. Louise had her uses, but she was not good genetic stock.”
“You brought her here to Wilby all those years ago because you wanted to keep her conveniently available. You needed her to tune the crystal weapon she made for you.”
“So you know about my own little gadget?” Buddy raised his brows. “I’ll admit I didn’t realize you’d gotten that far.”
“That gun sure as hell isn’t powered by a crystal.”
“No, the gun is standard issue,” Buddy said. “But it, too, has its uses. It tends to leave the kind of evidence that the police like. When this is finished, the scene will look like a drug deal gone bad. Who knew Nicole was dealing out of her back room and that you were here to buy some merchandise?”
“Why not use the crystal to kill both of us?”
“It’s not necessary.”
“You mean, you haven’t been able to get it retuned since you used it to murder Louise Fuller,” Judson said. “You want to preserve whatever energy is left in it because it may take quite a while to find a new crystal tuner. When did it occur to you that you might be able to use Ballinger’s records from her days at the Summerlight Academy to locate a replacement for Louise?”
“Son of a bitch.” Buddy whistled softly. “You really do know everything, don’t you?”
“I had a little help from my friends.”
“Sounds like I’ve got some more cleaning up to do after we’re finished here. I blame this mess on Zander. If he hadn’t come here to Wilby to find his dear old mom, none of this would have happened. I’ve been in this business for over a decade and no one has ever suspected me of anything more than selling wilted lettuce.”
“Was that when Louise made the first crystal weapon for you? A decade ago?”
“The witch was always fooling around with crystals. Thirty-four years ago, she created the first-generation stones. They weren’t nearly as powerful, but they could be used along with some psychoactive drugs to implant hypnotic suggestions.”
“You used them to run your profitable little cult in L.A.”
“Shit. You know that, too?” Buddy grunted. “What a mess. You’re right about the rocks. After I closed down the cult, I used them to make money in a variety of ways—blackmail, investment scams, that kind of thing. But ten years back, Louise came up with a version that could kill without a trace. I realized the possibilities immediately.”
“You moved here to Wilby and brought Louise here, as well,” Judson said. “You took on a new identity and went into the murder-for-hire business.”
“It all went well until Zander arrived looking for his mother. I wasn’t aware that he had found her at first. Didn’t know she gave him one of the crystals. He was operating on his own, playing his stupid game. Then he heard about the Ballinger Study. He just could not resist.”
“That’s when you found out that you had a son who had inherited some of your talent,” Judson said.
“Obviously, I’ll have to deal with Gwen Frazier,” Buddy said. “Who else knows what you do?”
“Seriously?” Judson smiled. “You think I’m going to give you a hit list?”
“Yes. Seriously. Because you’re wrong about my little gadget. Plenty of energy left in it. Let me show you.”
Buddy reached inside his shirt and took out the pendant he wore on the gold chain around his neck. The crystal was a teardrop shape. It was wrapped in a metal frame attached to the chain. The stone glittered darkly in the shadows.
“That answers one question,” Judson said. “It doesn’t need to be retuned after every kill. I did wonder about that.”
“It will work up to three times before it needs to be refocused. Louise retuned it just before I used it on her. I hate to waste a second firing on you, but you give me no choice. I warn you, you’re going to regret your decision. You see, this device can be used to kill very slowly when speed is not necessary. And the pain, I’m told, is excruciating—like being buried alive inside a glacier.”
The crystal flashed with dark ultraviolet radiation, but Judson was ready. He sent energy into his ring and got the response he was looking for. The amber stone burned with a searing radiance. The wavelengths collided with those of the dark pendant and sent them rebounding back toward the point of origin.