Cold Touch (38 page)

silenced gunshot in the dark while his prey was sleeping. He didn’t take

pleasure in kil ing; he preferred to just do it and be done.

No, no. That’ll be too easy. You just leave it to me. ’Cause I do take

pleasure in it.

He’d heard the voice more clearly that time and didn’t confuse it for a

buzzing insect or a passerby on the street. His mind cleared, came into focus,

and he acknowledged that he was hearing the whispers of his old friend, his

secret, invisible friend, who always seemed to show up when things was real y

bad for Johnny. Like when he was bein’ hurt, or beat, or when those evil

people who’d taken him in as a kid did their nasty things to him and al the

other foster kids they was getting paid to take care of . . . like his own little

baby cousin. His one remaining connection to his old life.

Everything’s gonna be just fine.

Yes, he thought it would. Because it appeared that tonight, like always, his

secret friend would take care of everything.

Armed with a search warrant, which had been easy to procure, given the human remains already found, as wel as the ownership of the property, Gabe had gone back out to the woods early Monday to hook up with the search crews. He hadn’t

even gone in to the precinct, having met with someone from the DA’s office who’d obtained the warrant, then with the team

leader, who was bringing out the dogs and the ground-penetrating radar.

They wouldn’t real y need either one. He knew where the remaining two bodies were buried. But he had to keep up

appearances, pretend he didn’t have the information.

It was damned frustrating, a waste of time, and he intended to keep steering the search to make sure the bodies were

found quickly. He wasn’t going to spend another whole day in the woods, not when there was a child to find. He wanted the

graves exhumed and the remains delivered to the coroner so they could try to find out who these victims had been.

Learning their identities was the first step in finding out who’d kil ed them. They just needed one break, one single, tiny

break—a suspect the police had never charged, a name that popped up in more than one investigation.

Please, God, just give me one break here
.

He wanted to finish this with real investigative police work. Nothing supernatural. Not that he didn’t appreciate the help of

the eXtreme Investigations group. In fact, they had proved invaluable. Thing was, he couldn’t very wel say, “Sure, y’al come on

and give us a hand . . . uh, except you, Liv, you’re not al owed.”

Worrying about her, wanting to protect her, was a lover’s prerogative. After last night, he had definitely earned the title of

lover. Damn, had he ever earned it—in a night he wouldn’t forget as long as he lived.

Stil , he’d seen her face when he’d refused her help last night; he knew she’d agreed to mol ify him. But if this case stayed

cold and he didn’t get something going fast, not only Olivia but also al the rest of her people would probably be bugging him

to change his mind.

“Forget it,” he mumbled as he watched the search crews running the GPR over the wooded ground about ten yards from

where he knew they were gonna hit pay dirt.

Knowing things were about to get a lot busier, he grabbed his phone and dialed the precinct. He hadn’t spoken to Ty since

yesterday, when his partner had dropped Mick off outside the eXtreme Investigations office.

Gabe had been so busy throughout the evening, then so distracted by what happened with Olivia, that he hadn’t even checked his messages. So he hadn’t realized until this morning that his partner had cal ed last night. Sounding excited, Ty

said he thought he’d found a major lead to the identity of little Zachary and would be in touch with more information as soon as

he had it.

Equal y as excited, especial y since the victim pool was widening and they should soon have other names to tie to

Zachary’s, he’d been trying to reach the man al morning. Ty hadn’t been answering his cel or the phone on his desk. Being

pretty busy himself, Gabe hadn’t been too worried about it, but now it was going on nine thirty, and it just wasn’t like his partner

to stay out of touch. Especial y when they were working a major case.

Final y deciding to try a little harder, Gabe dialed not Ty’s direct line or the central operator but the phone number of Bil

Waczinski, one of the other detectives on the squad.

“Hey, it’s Cooper,” Gabe said as soon as the other man answered. “Have you seen Wal ace this morning?”

“What’sa matter, Coop, you lose your rookie partner?”

“I caught that case out in the woods, where the remains were found. Ty’s been working on something else.”

“Yeah, I know I saw him yesterday. He was trying to ID the kid from last week’s fire.”

“When did you see him?”

“About five, right before I left. He was stil at his desk.”

Hearing a few shouts, Gabe realized the guy holding the radar equipment had just spotted something. He covered his free

ear, wanting to finish the conversation, already knowing things were about to get a lot busier on site. “What about this morning?”

“Not hide nor hair,” Waczinski said. “Usual y the kid’s the first one here, putting the coffee on—you got him wel trained. I had

to make it myself when I got in. Hold on a second.” He heard the big man’s footsteps. Then the detective came back on the

line. “Nope, I think you’ve got an AWOL partner: His desk is cleared, computer off, chair pushed in. I don’t think he’s been here

since last night.”

Gabe had been just a little concerned before he’d cal ed in. Now his tension went up a notch. The muscles in the back of his

neck tightened, his skin prickled. He thought frantical y, wondering if Ty had said anything about an appointment or anything

else. He could think of nothing. “Okay, thanks Waczinski. I’l try him at home. Maybe he’s sick or something.”

Or maybe he ended up going to find Brooke Wainwright last night, just to make sure she was okay after the altercation with

Buckman. And maybe the two of them got carried away? Hel , stranger things had happened. Though he didn’t like the idea of

his friend getting mixed up between a woman and her fiancé, he couldn’t help hoping it was something like that rather than

anything . . . else.

Ending the cal , he saw the searchers converging on the spot where body number two, the woman, if Morgan was to be

believed—and so far, he hadn’t been wrong—would be located. But rather than joining them, he made another cal . He knew

he wouldn’t be able to concentrate until he found out where Ty was.

He tried his house and got the machine. Tried both cal ing and texting the cel . He considered cal ing Olivia. He wanted to

say good morning to her, anyway, since he’d had to get up and leave her bed at a little after dawn so he could go home and

get fresh clothes. But what was he gonna say:
Hey, do you think your sister cheated on her fiancé last night and might be

shacked up in a hotel somewhere with my partner right now?

Having another idea, another possible explanation, he dialed Julia Harrington. Maybe Ty had contacted her about the case

and she’d given him some other lead this morning.

“Morning, Cooper,” the woman said as soon as she answered. “How’s it going out there?”

“Pretty wel ,” he told her. “Looks like they’ve found the second victim. Listen, have you heard from my partner this morning?”

“Detective Wal ace? No, not a word.”

That tension started again, but he didn’t give it too much power over his imagination. Ty could have woken up this morning

with a toothache and gone to the dentist. He could right now be numb with Novocain, with a dril boring at him. Or he could be

with Brooke—and could be the one doing the dril ing. Crass, perhaps, but those explanations were better than some of the

alternatives that were flashing in his mind. He suddenly wondered if this was how parents felt when their teenager was late

coming home or stayed out al night.

“Do you want me to ask Olivia or her sister if they’ve seen him?”

His heart skipped a beat. “Her sister?”

“Yes, she came in a little while ago. She’s with Liv in her office.”

“Shit.”
The dentist then. Or car trouble. Or phone trouble
.
Or maybe he had been with Brooke and had gone home to

get cleaned up.

“What’s wrong?” Julia asked.

“I haven’t heard a word from Ty since yesterday,” he admitted. “He’s not answering any of his phones, didn’t show up at

work. It’s not like him.”

“
Hmm,
no, that doesn’t sound like him,” she said. She didn’t real y know him, but anybody who’d spent even a few hours

with Ty would realize the young man was earnest and hardworking, not the type to blow off his responsibilities.

“Hey, Cooper, you’d better come over here,” the leader of the search team yel ed. “We’ve got something!”

Julia apparently heard. “Sounds like you’re about to get pretty busy. Listen, let me see what I can find out, and I’l get back to

you, okay?”

“Okay, thanks,” he said. “But do it discreetly, would you?” He didn’t want Olivia or her sister thinking he suspected Brooke of

stepping out on her future husband.

“You bet, a covert operation al the way.”

Gabe disconnected the cal , then strode the twenty yards to the search team, who were staring at a radar screen, talking

excitedly, like a bunch of treasure hunters who’d spotted a sunken gal eon ful of gold. Hel , he guessed in their line of work this

was like hitting a jackpot. Finding a human body buried in the middle of nowhere was a good day for them. He had to concede, in this case, Julia and Morgan’s way had been a little more effective timewise.

Giving the team his ful attention, he watched as they slowly unearthed the plastic-wrapped skeleton that Julia had said had

been under the ground for at least fourteen years. It took a while; forensics was on-site, photographing and taking notes every

step of the way. The dirt had to be cleared off layer by layer, saved to be sifted through later. Though he’d always thought that

side of police work would be pretty dul , he couldn’t deny being interested by al the steps they took to preserve the evidence.

Any residual evidence might be wel and good down the line, but he needed information now, today. Because if this psycho

had a child, and his days were numbered, Gabe couldn’t wait around to find out whether this woman had been shot or stabbed. He wanted the name. Just the name.

“Any ID on her?” he asked, once the entire skeleton had been brought aboveground.

“Nah, nothing,” one of the technicians replied. Then, his brow furrowed, he asked, “How do you know it’s a her? You been

taking nighttime anatomy classes?”

Gabe felt his face redden. He was so not cut out for this clandestine crap. “No, just a fifty-fifty guess.”

He was saved from having to answer any more questions by the ringing of his phone, which was hooked to his hip.

Grabbing it, he saw Julia’s name in the cal er ID box and immediately walked away to answer it, his eyes down so he could

watch the uneven ground for any obstacles. “Have you heard anything?” he asked. His tension had grown in the hour he’d

been waiting for her cal .

“Cooper. . . .” A woman’s voice, Julia’s, but low, broken. Her hitchy breaths were audible over the phone lines. “Oh, God,

Cooper, I’m so sorry. It’s bad.”

He froze midstride, jerking his head straight up, like a puppet being yanked by the string. The hot, sunny day seemed to

grow forty degrees colder as a chil washed over him, making him shudder. “Don’t,” he ordered, his mind not working, denial

the only reaction he could muster up. “Don’t you fucking say it, Julia.”

Don’t you dare. You’re wrong. It’s impossible
.

“I found Ty’s address and sent Morgan to check on him,” she whispered, her voice so thick with tears and emotion, it was

hard to make out her words.

“Don’t, don’t,” he kept repeating, unable to say anything else. His throat was closing up. The ground started to spin beneath

his feet. A shadow seemed to have crossed the entire sky, darkening the world, and a deep wel of panic and horror began to

build inside him. He grabbed the trunk of the nearest tree, his fingers digging into the bark so hard he thought they might

snap.

“Someone must have broken in. Morgan says it looks like there was a fight. Ty’s on the floor.”

Jesus Christ. His partner down, attacked in his own home? Could this real y be happening? Could he accept it, believe it,

based on some damn psychic and her doubly-damned ghost?

No, he absolutely could not. He had to see for himself. If something had happened, then his partner needed him. Gabe

threw off the shocked lethargy and started to run toward his car, the phone at his face. “I’m on my way,” he snapped.

She said something else, something low, three words that didn’t sink into his brain. Gabe snapped the phone shut, barking

an excuse of an emergency to one of the other officers as he dashed by. He threw himself into the driver’s seat and started the

car, mental y calculating the fastest way to Ty’s house.

“Hold on, partner. Hold on,” he mumbled as he flew down the dirt path, taking each turn as fast as he could, skidding on dirt

and taking out a few smal trees as he went.

When he’d been a kid and the old man had been in one of his beating moods, Gabe used to sneak out of the house and