“Where are you, you gutless
son of a bitch
?” he yelled. “
You’re a damned c
oward! Come get me.”
S
ilence ruled the night until he heard the footsteps
racing
from the ship along the path of the security fence. Manny turned back to the body
. A
note
was
pinned to the blue lapel of the dead cop’s shirt. He pulled it off and read the perfectly printed block letters:
EXCELLENT
TO SEE YOU
,
DETECTIVE. GLAD YOU MADE IT. AS YOU CAN SEE, I’M STILL
AHEAD
IN THE GAME
,
BUT WE’LL GET TOGETHER SOON.
P
.
S. EVER NOTICE HOW PEOPLE DIE AROUND YOU?
Chapter
-17
“We’re searching everywhere, but we haven’t located
Argyle
,” said Josh, rubbing his eyes with
the heel of his hand
.
Manny looked up from his seat in the
ship’s
swank conference room. “Yeah. They won’t find him. He’s had this planned for weeks. The question is
,
what’s he going to do next?” He gazed
at the note Argyle had written. It continued to
burn in his hand
.
T
he
all
-
too
-
familiar guilt
ran
roughshod through
the empty hole where his heart
should be
. These latest murders, these invitations to the party, were mostly for show, for Manny.
The inner voices
argued. One
whispered
it wasn’t his fault, that Argyle killed without warrant and nothing could prevent that.
The other
voice
blamed him for
every
hurt, every death. H
is dad used to say,
“
knowing and believing are two entirely different matters.
”
Manny let out a slow breath and fought to ignore the persecution the inner accuser wanted to keep vividly alive. His dad was right, but it wouldn’t do any good to throw a full-blown pity party. Maybe later, most assuredly later. But for now, he needed to focus on the living
—
that meant Argyle.
Alex, Sophie, Chloe, and Max sat with
him
at the dark mahogany table. Each appeared tired and defeated. Manny was sure he mirrored their collective conditions.
“Well
,
one thing’s for sure
. T
he locals are going to need more help. Alex and I can’t process three, maybe four
,
different crime scenes. Not that it’s going to do much good,”
said
Max. “We found nothing in the room where the reporter was killed that Argyle didn’t want us to find. We bagged what we could, but by the time we ID any particulates
or fibers
that could help us know where he might have been, he’ll be long gone.”
“He might already be,” added Alex.
“Count on it,” answered Manny. “He’s like
the
freaking invisible man.”
“They can only lock down the island for a few hours, or maybe a day, before they have to get back to normal,” said Sophie, drumming her fingers on the table. “People need to make a living and tourism is their main thing.”
“He knows it too,” said Chloe. She leaned against the table, frowning. “So why the change?”
“In his MO?” responded Manny.
Chloe nodded
, n
ot taking her eyes from
his
face.
“I’m not sure. I think he
’
s changed, but he may think it’s intentional. He is always looking to confuse us
and wants to hide
the
real purpose for doing what he does.” He sipped from his coffee cup. “His profile is odd because serial killers aren’t typically motivated by revenge.”
“Except for women serial killers,” corrected Chloe.
“Right. The thing is we know he wants to settle the score, as he sees it, with anyone from Lansing who he believes crossed him. But these murders, the decapitations, indicate more anger, more frustration. Like he can’t control it anymore
,
and victimology doesn’t matter.” Manny shrugged. “But he is forever bright and seems too organized to make a mistake that will get him caught.”
“So it’s about the game. About winning,” said Chloe.
“I think it has been all along. But like I said, I don’t think he realizes totally that he is devolving
and
driven more by rage than ever
. A
nd that could be good for us.”
“Ppfftt.Yeah. If we live through it,” snorted Sophie.
Josh’s cell phone rang
,
and he moved away from the table, finger in his ear. Manny watched the FBI agent slump just a little more as he flip
ped
his phone shut
and
moved
back to the table.
“They
’ve
located the rest of the young woman’s remains behind a clump of
p
alms and
b
ougainvillea bushes
near
the old Butterfly Farm. She
was
a passenger on the other ship in port. Argyle must have recently met her. Maybe up at Blackbeard’s Castle. There was a brochure in her pocket from there.” He
plopped down
.
“What
,
Josh?” asked Manny.
He
shook his head in disgust
. “She was raped and bitten. She was so ravaged that it was almost hard to believe she was human.”
“Even worse than what he did to the women on the cruise?”
asked
Alex.
“Sounds like it.”
“My God.
How could it be
worse?” whispered Manny. A question he knew no one
could answer
, not even Argyle.
Josh stood and clapped his hands. “
Al
l
right
. Here’s the deal. It’s 2 a.m. and we’re all beat. The ship has a few rooms left, so we’ll sack out here.” He smiled a tired smile. “Apparently hurricane season is less than peak vacation time for cruise lines.”
“The ship leaves
later this morning
at 9
o’clock
. We’ll meet on the dock at 8:30
and
see what the locals c
a
me up with
.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Alex.
“I’m willing to sacrifice my room and bunk with Josh, for the good of the team,” said Sophie.
“You’re such a team player,” smiled Manny.
“Just trying to do my part
.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll be fine
.”
As they began to trudge out of the room, Manny grabbed the condemning letter and stuffed it in his pocket.
“It’s not your fault
. Y
ou know that, right?”
Without looking up, he answered Sophie. “I know, at least my head does. The soul is still coming around. I’ll get there.”
She put her hand on his shoulder. “There’s nothing you,
or any of us, could’ve
done.”
“
I know you’re right
. . .
it still stings. W
e have to get ahead of him soon. He looks like he’s heading for a spree. Hell, maybe he’s already
riding that train
. Three
murders in ten hours
qualify
, I guess.” He patted her hand. “I should ha
ve sent you to the fence, naked
—
with Josh
. Could’ve worked
.”
S
ophie rolled her eyes and laughed. “Or scared the passengers and cops away. Maybe even sen
t
them streaking for the other ship for safety. Get that? Streaking?”
“Yeah, it’s late, but I got
—
” His thoughts suddenly focused on something Chloe had said that Sophie’s joking brought into focus. He called to the others before they
moved
too far down the aisle.
“What?”
asked
Josh
.
“Remember what Chloe said about not being able to book the same cruise ship at the same time?”
“Yes. It would be impossible to check in more than once
because of the imagery software
,”
agreed
Josh.
“But it’s not impossible to book two different cruises with different cruise lines at the same time. Some ships pick up passengers
at different
port
s along the
ir
itinerary
and then eventually return them to their
original
embarkation port.
This ship will sail from St.Thomas to Dominica, where it will pick up more passengers.
”
“So he could be on the
Sea Fantasy
, the other ship
in this port
,
because the itineraries cross
?” Sophie asked, doubt
tracking
through her voice.
“Think about it. How is he going to get off this island without being caught? Everyone’s looking for him. He can’t leave by air. The Harbor Patrol is on every boat or yacht like white on rice. He sure as hell isn’t going to walk away. And he’s not going to hide
under a damn rock.
”
“Because he’s started this spree, this
‘
look
at
me
thing?
’
” asked Chloe.
Manny
spoke
. “I keep coming back to what
I
would do. I’
d try to get out where I was
n’
t noticed obviously
, but still throw it in law enforcement’s face.
Who would suspect
that he was
leaving
on
the other ship
with
5
,
200
others
?
It’s a perfect hiding place.
”
The room grew quiet.
Josh pinned his eyes on Manny. “You were right with the police patrol scenario, and if you’re right here, we have him.”
Chloe frowned. “If
your theory is true
, how do we find him? If we do a door-to-door, especially this late, he might
catch wind of
what’s happening and disappear.”
“You’re right. We’ll just have to take
—
” Manny felt his heart jump
,
and he rose from the table. “He’ll want to out
-
clever us, to mock us
with that unhinged sense of humor
.” He turned to Josh. “How fast can we get a passenger/crew list from the other ship?”
“I don’t know. Let’s find out.”
Fifteen minutes later, the first officer, Anthony Amalia, hurried into the room lugging a large
laptop
, put it on the table, and fired it up.
“We cross
-
referenced our database with theirs and came up with no matches
for Decker or any other alias you gave us.
But I think there is something you should see.”
He quickly opened a PDF file and
,
running the curs
o
r down the list
,
stopped
and
point
ed his shaking finger
at
a
name and cabin assignment.
The collective surprise was almost palpable as they gathered around the twenty-two
-
inch screen.
“Well kiss
my skinny ass
and
whistle
Dixie,” whispered Max Tucker.
It appeared that Detective Manfred R. Williams was leaving St. Thomas in room 7880 of the
Sea Fantasy
.
Chapter
-18
“It’s done. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. You know, after all those years together?” Stella Crosby shifted the cell phone to her other hand, its small
,
square screen the only light emanating from the darkened study in the Crosby home
, t
he one she and Gavin had shared for thirty-
four
years
.