Sophie approached them in the hall. “Can I come back inside now?”
The girl moved nearer to Kate and she began to draw upon the comparison as they stood shoulder to shoulder. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
They studied the two of them, who were, in fact, nearly the same height. From a distance, it could work. She’d have to play down her figure, wear loose-fitting clothes. Change her hair color for sure, but as they continued to evaluate the possibility, it seemed they might have a decent chance and it was better than waiting.
“Yes, you can go back inside now, Sophie. Thank you for your patience.” Kate ushered the girl inside where her parents were immersed in conversation with the chief.
“Chief Deely, can you send someone to gather their things for them?” Kate began. “I don’t think we should risk a patrol car escorting the Curtis’ home.” She turned to Mrs. Curtis. “They can grab enough to last you a few days.”
SIXTEEN
T
he bathroom mirror
reflected a startling image; a blonde Kate, and as she studied this new look, she realized this color would never have suited her and was glad to be a brunette. Her skin had too much olive in it and her eyes, much too dark for such a fair shade. Nevertheless, the change succeeded in the one thing she desired—to appear younger. Not thirteen; not by any stretch of the imagination, but perhaps closer to twenty, rather than her early thirties, which had crept up on her with little notice.
Towel dried, she brushed her hair through and put a blow dryer to it for a few minutes. The time had come for her to make her big reveal. Kate opened the bathroom door where Dwight and Nick waited nearby. While the Curtis family stayed hidden in a safe house, the three federal agents were playing house in their residence.
Kate appeared to wide-eyes and gasps. “Do I look that bad?”
“No. Just—different.” Nick approached her and placed his hand on her hair, lifting a section of it to get a better look. “Just never pictured you as a blonde before.”
“I don’t like it, but then this isn’t a permanent change, right?” Dwight asked.
“No, definitely not.” Kate walked past them, toward a wall mirror that hung in the dining area. “Just long enough to catch Lyle Stroud.” She turned to them again. “So, how do we plan to do that?”
“I got the Curtis’ usual schedule from the wife.” Dwight sat down at the dining table where Kate waited. “Sophie has dance on Tuesday nights, soccer on Mondays and Wednesdays, and choir after school on Thursdays.”
“Geez, when does the kid sleep?” Nick pulled out the chair next to him.
“That’s the way they do things now. My kids do the same kind of thing. Unfortunately, I’m not around for most of it. So anyway, that means she’ll have soccer practice tonight from 4:30 to 6:00.”
“Who usually picks her up?” Kate asked.
“She hitches a ride with a teammate and they’re both picked up by Mrs. Curtis.”
“But how would Stroud know this?” Kate continued.
“I don’t think he would, unless he’s been watching her for a while. He’s got these kids’ pictures and is picking them off, but how he finds them, or why, we just don’t know yet.” Dwight turned to Nick. “Any ideas on where he might go to watch out for her?”
“Sophie was collecting a good Samaritan award at the retirement home. With everything else she does, when does she go there?”
“Sunday, after church,” Dwight replied.
“He won’t wait that long.” Nick appeared to consider their best option. “Sophie’s in the seventh grade. Either of you know how many middle schools there are in this town?”
Kate retrieved her tablet and began running a search. “Hang on.” She typed in a few more commands before the answer appeared. “Three. There’s three here and based on where the retirement home is, it would be fairly easy to discern that she wouldn’t travel too far from her community to volunteer. And the retirement home is five miles from here.” She looked to Nick. “It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out the nearest middle school would be where Sophie would attend.”
“But with security at schools these days, he wouldn’t be able to get very close without being noticed, especially now.”
“He’ll have no choice but to follow her from a distance,” Nick replied.
“Then that’s where I’ll come in.” Kate glanced at the time. “Do we know when school lets out?”
“3:15, according to Mrs. Curtis,” Dwight replied.
“That gives us two hours to get things in place. If we’re going to act, it has to be today and it has to be now. Because if we’re wrong, he’ll be on his way to the next victim.”
Nick reached for his cell phone. “I’ll have the chief’s people approach the school administrators about this. I’ll relay the plan and they’ll have to convey it to the school in such a manner that they don’t feel the need to go on lockdown.”
“That’s going to be tough. A killer on the loose who’s after one of their students,” Dwight said. “That’s a tough sell
not
to lock the place down. If the community gets wind of it, parents will be up in arms. It’ll be a media shit storm and we’ll lose Stroud.”
“We have to hope the chief will be able to keep a lid on it. We don’t have a choice here.” Nick rose from the chair and stepped away to make the call.
Kate watched him leave before returning her attention to Dwight. “What do you think? He was in pretty bad shape this morning.” She wouldn’t reveal his surprising declaration. “You think he’s up for this?”
“I wouldn’t put him in the line of fire if I didn’t. He needs this. This is what’s going to keep him on the straight and narrow. Finding and capturing Stroud is all that matters to him. What happened last night? That was a brief moment of recklessness, one I don’t believe he’ll repeat.” He cast a brief glance to Nick, who was still on the phone. “Don’t worry, Kate. He would never let you down and neither would I.”
“Okay, we’re set to go.” Nick returned to his seat. “Chief says he’ll go to the school himself and arrange it. We agreed that you would be allowed inside the school grounds, but only to the extent that you are making your way toward the exit. In other words, you’re not to enter any classrooms, the gym, or any other place where you would be near the students. He wants you out in the open and I agree.”
“I guess I’d better find some clothes to wear. Hopefully, I can squeeze into something of Sophie’s, or we’ll have to make a trip to a clothing store. I think I might stand out if I’m wearing my work clothes and high-heels.” Kate made her way toward Sophie’s room.
Inside, the young teenager’s room revealed that she was an awful lot like most other teenagers. Bright and colorful, her tastes bordered on eclectic with vintage pieces, and by vintage, she owned a record player and modern pieces like Bluetooth speakers and an ergonomic Swedish desk. Or perhaps this was her mother’s taste. The rest of the home seemed to be furnished in a similar manner.
But there was no denying the room belonged to a thirteen-year-old girl who had a love of all things boy-band. Kate didn’t know who the kids on the posters were. The latest rag-tag bunch of rapscallions Britain had to offer, no doubt. She had to smile because she recalled a time when her own room looked very much the same, except with NSync and not whoever these guys were.
Kate approached Sophie’s closet, pulling open the white louvered doors to reveal something akin to Armageddon inside. Clothes hung haphazardly or tossed onto the floor. Shoes were strewn about in mismatched pairs. “Looks about right.” She began to sift through them, looking for something she might be able to get into. Perhaps an oversized t-shirt and yoga pants.
Sure enough, she found plenty of those things. Kate slipped them on along with Sophie’s tennis shoes, which were half a size too big, and looked into the dresser mirror. With her fingers, she began to braid her now blonde hair over her shoulder, just as Sophie would have, and at completion, Kate studied her reflection. A sense of sorrow passed through her. Sophie’s life was in danger, and while the girl was safe at an undisclosed location with her family, she was still the target of a monster who would seek to do her harm. One of many Kate had come across in recent years. She pulled the hair back at her temple to reveal the fading scar left behind by just such a monster. But she had defeated him and the others. It was her job. She knew why Nick had begun to unravel. It wasn’t hard to figure out. Kate only hoped that the same would not happen to her one day, but how could it not? Now she had to not only capture this monster, but keep Nick from tumbling further down the rabbit hole.
Kate looked at a picture of Sophie and her friends, smiling and happy. That was why she was doing this job. A final tug on the braid and Kate left the bedroom to rejoin her colleagues. They had little over an hour and the strategy needed to be in place.
» » »
The time had come to rid himself of his grandmother’s Olds Cutlass. After the discovery of the bodies in her home, his truck parked and her missing car, they were obviously aware of what he was driving. Stroud was already en route to find the blonde girl; one of two on his list, and would arrive in just under an hour’s time. He needed to find an easy target. Some old woman’s car; a Buick maybe. Something that would throw the feds and the cops off his scent.
Stroud spotted a Walmart and pulled into the enormous parking lot. The place was packed and he needed to stay out of sight as best he could. The fringes were his best bet. The closer to the store he got, the better the chances were of surveillance cameras. He pulled alongside an older model Ford Focus. It was all he could find this far out and was probably an employee’s vehicle, which might be a better option. Whoever owned it wasn’t likely to come walking out anytime soon. Still, he had to be vigilant. There were five spaces between this car and the next, closer to the store, and so he pulled up on the opposite side.
He stepped out and casually approached, lifting the front passenger handle in the unlikely event it was unlocked. It wasn’t. Stroud lowered his hand to feel the underside of the wheel well. Nothing there either. Another casual glance for passersby and he continued toward the back of the car, feeling beneath the rear well; still nothing. “God damn it.”
Stroud was running out of options and risked being spotted if he took much more time. Most people probably couldn’t pick him out in a parking lot as the man they’d seen on TV, but it was a chance he couldn’t take. Around the car he moved, again in search of a spare key hitched on the underside of a fender, but still there was nothing. He was going to have to do this the hard way. He walked back to his car and retrieved a Slim Jim. It would get him inside, but then he’d have to kill the alarm—fast. He’d acquired a great many skills while behind bars and bypassing factory antitheft transponders was one of them. Time was all anyone had inside and a lot of them chose to spend it teaching their tricks of the trade and right now, he was glad he listened.
Within two minutes, he was inside and the alarm was off. His brow dripping with sweat, Stroud kept his eyes peeled for anyone looking to charge at him, but the few people who were around were far away and only cast a brief, unconcerned look in his direction when the alarm initially sounded. Because it was off quickly, they went back to their daily lives, unfazed by the event. The engine sputtered as he pressed down on the gas and reversed out of the spot. The fuel filter sounded clogged and he prayed the damn thing wouldn’t stall out on him.
Stroud was finally back out onto the road, feeling more confident than ever. He wasn’t sure he’d recall all the steps to boosting the car, but he’d managed with flying colors and felt rejuvenated—ready to take on the world; or maybe just the girl. He needed to keep his head right now if he stood any chance of succeeding. She would keep him occupied for a while, but he hadn’t worked out all the details yet, except where he would go. He had money now, but it wouldn’t last and he’d have to find another way. It was getting harder to pull off his goal. They were looking for him and he was just one step ahead, giving them a chance to catch up. Once he got her, he’d have to devise a plan better than the last. “One thing at a time,” he said.
Stroud continued on the drive and began to approach his final destination. He pulled onto the driveway behind another car and while he couldn’t be sure this was the precise location, he had to trust the two drug addicts and that in and of itself was risky. If this wasn’t the place, then he’d be screwed.
The afternoon sun was still high above and he still had time to do what needed to be done, but this was a necessary stop in preparation. He stepped out of the car and, with suspicious eyes, scanned the vicinity. No one was watching, at least, not from the outside.
The front porch was littered with newspapers, cigarette butts, and a few bottles of cheap beer. “This has got to be the place.” Stroud flicked his own cigarette onto the ground and tried to peer through the front window, but it was obscured by curtains, not to mention bars on the front. He moved toward the door and pulled open the heavy wrought iron screen and knocked.
If she was here, she’d be home, no doubt. He leaned his ear against the door for sounds of footsteps, but he heard none. He waited, but still nothing. “Son of a bitch.” This time, he knocked harder. “Shannon, open up! It’s me, Lyle.”
Moments later, he thought he picked up some movement inside. “Shannon?”
“I’m coming,” A rasping voice sounded on the other side and, finally, the door opened.
Lyle flinched with shock at the sight of his older sister. He hadn’t seen her since before he got out of prison and she looked like death warmed over. He knew then that her addiction was deep. “Shannon, it’s me, Lyle. Can I come in?”
She regarded him with apprehension. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”
“What? No, ‘hey bro, it’s good to see you? Where the hell you been?’”
“You been locked up and now you’re out. So what the fuck do you want?” she replied.
He realized she had no idea the cops were after him or what he’d done and that would make this much easier. “I wanted to see you. Can I come in or you just gonna make me stand out here like a punk?”
She pulled the door open and stepped aside but said nothing and Stroud walked in. He nearly gagged at the smell. A mixture of cat piss, sex, and pot. Leftover food, bongs, and a few beer bottles were scattered throughout the living room.