Chapter 97

T amilla, are you awake?’! said in a low, tense voice. I felt a shudder¹ | run through me. It couldn’t get any worse than this. I still had my eye on Kyle. He was definitely watching Jamilla’s building. Goddamn him to hell.
‘I am now. No, I was awake. Where are you, Alex? Don’t tell me you’re still outside? Please don’t tell me that. Alex, what the hell is going on?’
‘Listen to me. The Mastermind is outside your place. I can see him.  I think he’ll try to get inside soon. I want to come up there and I don’t want him to see me. Is there a back way?’ Then I told her who the killer² was.
She exploded with anger, most of it directed at Kyle.’I knew there was something seriously wrong with him - but not this wrong. We have to stop that sonofabitch. I don’t care how smart he’s supposed to be.’
She told me where to look for a service entrance and then a fire escape that would take me to her floor. I hurried around in the shadows. I didn’t think that Kyle had seen me. I hoped not. But then - he was the Mastermind.
He was smart, as clever as anyone I’d ever worked against.
He knew about surveillance, probably a lot more than I did.
He didn’t make mistakes, at least not until now.  I found the back entrance of her building easily, and I hurried up the stairs. I tried not to make a sound. I had no way of knowing where Kyle was right now.
When I got to her apartment the door was open. My stomach dropped, and I felt sick. ‘Jamilla?’
She immediately peeked³ out through the doorway⁴. ‘Come inside.
I’m fine, Alex. We’ve got him now, not the other way around.’ I hurried inside the apartment, and we kept all the lights off. I could still see most of the living room and kitchen, the doorway to a small terrace. A bay window with bench seating. Her home. The place where he wanted to violate her. I snuck a look outside -1 didn’t see Kyle on the street. He was on the move.
Jamilla didn’t look frightened, just perplexed⁵, and angry. She had her service revolver out. She was ready for whatever might happen.  I don’t think that I had fully⁶ taken in what had just happened.  Everything felt unreal; my vision was tunneled. My nerves were shredded⁷ and raw. Kyle Craig had been my friend. We had worked a half-dozen cases together.
‘Why is he outside, Alex?’Jamilla finally asked.’Why is he coming after me? I don’t understand that asshole. What did I do to him?’ I stared into her eyes, hesitated a second or two, then finally spoke⁸. ‘He’s not really here to get you, at least I don’t think so. It’s about me - it’s about Kyle and me. I’ve become part of his fantasy, the story he tells himself every day. He’s proving how much better than me he is. He has to prove that he really is the Mastermind.’

1 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 peeked   

v.很快地看( peek的过去式和过去分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• She peeked over the top of her menu. 她从菜单上往外偷看。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• On two occasions she had peeked at him through a crack in the wall. 她曾两次透过墙缝窥视他。 来自辞典例句

4 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

5 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 shredded   

shred的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Serve the fish on a bed of shredded lettuce. 先铺一层碎生菜叶，再把鱼放上，就可以上桌了。
• I think Mapo beancurd and shredded meat in chilli sauce are quite special. 我觉得麻婆豆腐和鱼香肉丝味道不错。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。