Cat People by Gary Brandner Read Free Book Online Page B

trying to remember the events of the evening."
    Eddie said, "I am telling you everything I know. It beats the shit out of me how that animal got in here."
    "You're sure he didn't come up the stairs and slip past you?" said one of the policemen.
    "Are you kidding? I may not have the eyes of an eagle, but there is no way, no way I am not going to see a fucking black panther stroll up my stairs, past my counter, and go into one of my rooms."
    "Leopard," Oliver said.
    Eddie looked at him for the first time. "What?"
    "Black leopard is the correct name for the animal. Not black panther."
    "Leopard, panther, what the fuck difference does it make? I know it ain't no chipmunk. Who are you?"
    Oliver introduced himself. "Is there a back door to this place?"
    "Yeah, but it's always double-locked. It was locked all night. I checked."
    "Fire escape?"
    "There isn't any." Eddie glanced nervously at Sergeant Brant. "I know I was supposed to put one in, but I was going to apply to the Safety Commission for an extension."
    "I don't care about that," Brant told him.
    Oliver said, "Do you suppose we could have a look at the cat?"
    As though in response to his words, a rumbling growl sounded down the hall from behind the door to room 12.
    "Jee zus !" Joe Creigh said. "I don't like the sound of that."
    "Do you think I do?" Eddie complained. "And what about the john who was in the room? He must of been so shook up he took off stark-naked during all the uproar."
    Eddie led the party down the hall to a narrow unnumbered room next to room 12. Along both side walls were rows of fish-eye peepholes, separated by shallow plywood partitions to give a semblance of privacy.
    "What's this, the voyeur room?" Alice asked.
    "It takes all kinds, lady. Some people get their rocks watching somebody else doing it. I make no judgments."
    Oliver, Joe, Alice, and Sergeant Brant each put an eye to one of the peepholes on the wall adjacent to room 12. There was a splashy trail of blood in there, from the bed to the door, and some kind of mess on the bed. No animal was in sight.
    "Where is he?" Joe asked.
    "Under the bed, maybe," Eddie suggested.
    "Is it possible he got out the window?" Oliver asked.
    "No way. Them bars would hold King Kong."
    "What's outside it?"
    "Back alley."
    Suddenly the bed seemed to explode into the air. A huge black shape sprang at the wall with the concealed viewers. The leopard slashed at it with bloody claws, as though he knew he was being watched from the other side. Reflexively all four of the people at the viewers jerked back from the wall.
    "Holy ahit!" said Joe.
    "He's enormous!" Alice said.
    Eddie Mays stood back with his arms folded and looked smug. "What'd I tell you?"
    Oliver and Sergeant Brant returned to the viewers.
    "He must go hundred seventy, hundred eighty pounds," the detective said.
    "Closer to two hundred," Oliver said. "He is a beauty. A real beauty."
    "If you can call a nightmare beautiful," Alice remarked.
    "So how about getting him the hell out of my place?" Eddie said.
    Oliver turned to Alice and Joe. "I'll need some equipment from the truck."
    "How about the Winchester twelve-gauge with Mag shells of double-0 pellets?" Joe suggested.
    "I want to capture the cat, Joe," Oliver said patiently, "not blow him to pieces. Bring up the tranquilizer rifle."
    "What kind of a load?" Alice asked.
    "We'll go with the ketamine straight. Two thousand milligrams. That ought to knock him down fairly quickly so we can get him in the squeeze cage. Better be ready to intubate him too, to keep him breathing."
    Alice and Joe hurried out of the room. Their footsteps could be heard clumping down the stairs to the street. Sergeant Brant took another look through the viewer and tumed to Oliver.
    "Where do you plan to shoot him from?"
    "I don't want any holes chopped in my walls," Eddie said. The detective gave him a heavy look, and he fell silent.
    "I think the window is our best bet," Oliver said. "Have you got a ladder available?"
    "They'll have