Vicious (12 page)

“By the way, my parents are coming for dinner.” He winced. “I apologize for the short notice, but Mother only called a little while ago. I had to run to Publix for more steaks.”

Jess bit back a groan. “That’s nice.”
What a lie
. Nice and Katherine never, ever went together.

Dan gifted her with a lopsided grin. “I can see by your pained expression just how nice it is.”

She should be ashamed. These people were his parents. Daniel senior was terrific. It was the mother who drove Jess crazy. Nonetheless, she couldn’t expect Katherine to just stay away forever… no matter how appealing. “Sorry. I’m just tired. I was hoping to relax and,” she shrugged, “I don’t know, talk about things.”

Telling him the news tonight was out for sure now. They needed time to discuss the subject at length. She had no desire to just blurt the announcement and move on. The absolute last thing she wanted was for Katherine to waltz in here and sense something was wrong. She could not know about the pregnancy—at least not for a few more months.

Oh God. She was going to have a baby and Katherine was the grandmother.

Dan came around to her side of the island and lifted her off the stool. He settled her on the granite counter, put his arms around her and moved in close. “I know you’re exhausted and I appreciate your patience with my mother. I realize she doesn’t make it easy.”

Now there was the understatement of the century.

“It’s fine. Really. I’m glad they’re coming.”
She was going to hell for sure
.

He kissed her lips. “Thank you for being a good sport.”

Jess hugged him hard. She blinked back the tears that rose unbidden. How would she ever keep the evil chasing her away from this man and the child she carried?

9

10:24 p.m.

His heart beat faster and faster. He had to close his eyes or risk having the organ burst from his chest.

Too much beauty to take it all in at once
.

He inhaled deeply, relishing the scent of fresh, warm blood as it oozed forth, spilling across the flesh. He shivered.

“Isn’t it beautiful?”

He opened his eyes. His breath caught. Crimson trailed down her forearms as she reached out to him. The precious blood speckled her breasts… slipped down her smooth, pale skin.

“Almost as beautiful as you,” he murmured, emotion blurring his gaze.

She smiled. Holding the still warm heart in her palm, she danced around the room to the rise and fall of the music.

The other one joined her… dancing and bathing in the rich blood still teeming with life just as they did in paint as they created their works of art.

How long had he waited for this?
Decades
. Finally, the ultimate triumph was his for the taking. The consummate vengeance for the most agonizing of injuries was before him. She had taken everything from him, even the will to live.

She should have paid attention. Her selfishness was her ruin. Now she would know the pain and the emptiness. She would be devastated. She would scream and gnash her teeth and tear out her hair when she learned what he had done to her precious ones.

What a shame he wouldn’t be here to watch.

10

Dunbrooke Drive, Wednesday, August 25, 5:48 a.m.

A soft sound woke Jess.

She opened her eyes and blinked, tried to focus. The room was dark. Her pulse sputtered into a faster rhythm.

Dan’s house
.

His warm body was spooned against her backside. His arm tucked protectively around her waist. The idea that a few months from now they would be able to feel the baby move terrified her just a little. But it also made her wish she could stay right here in his arms all day and never leave the house. She could pretend the evil beyond these walls didn’t exist.

A pale glow flashed from the nightstand. Her phone vibrated again.

Damn. She wasn’t ready to face the day yet.

Dan’s parents had stayed through the ten o’clock news last night. Jess had humiliated herself by falling asleep on the sofa. Katherine would find a way to make being exhausted an etiquette felony.

Jess had never been good enough for Katherine Burnett’s only son. She hadn’t been twenty odd years ago and nothing had changed.
You are still not one of them, kid
.

Stifling a yawn, Jess kicked Corlew out of her head and reached for her cell. She checked the screen. Text message. The number wasn’t one from her contact list. Her heart started to pound. She hadn’t heard from Spears this week. Was he finally reaching out to her? Bastard. She snatched her glasses from the nightstand and slid them on as the text opened.

Video
.

Could be a proof of life on Rory Stinnett or a message related to her. Holding her breath, Jess tapped the play arrow.

A young man, early to mid twenties, stared into the camera. Classical music played in the background. It was something familiar, Beethoven maybe?

“I will not take off my clothes on camera.” The guy in the video laughed. “No way.”

Dan roused. He peeked over Jess’s shoulder, squinted at the screen. “Who called?”

Jess sat up, Dan’s arm and the covers falling away from her. “It’s a video.” Not about Stinnett and maybe not from Spears. Jess didn’t know whether to be relieved about that or not. She watched as the handsome young man with the rich chestnut colored hair and glittering brown eyes shook his head again.

The symphony in the background grew louder. He grinned. “Still not doing it,” he shouted above the concerto of strings, brass and percussion swelling around him. He wore a University of Auburn t-shirt. He stared directly into the camera. “Not unless you take yours off, too.”

The video went silent, his smiling face frozen on the screen.

“What the devil was that all about?” Dan wanted to know.

He sat beside Jess now. His hair was mussed and every bare inch of him above the waistband of his boxers made her want to throw her phone across the room and put those earlier thoughts about staying right here into action. Her heart constricted at the idea that, unless it was a mistake, the man—boy really—was in danger. Why the hell else would she receive the video?

Maybe the sender entered the number wrong. In her heart she knew that wasn’t the case.

“I don’t know.” She played the video again. The wall behind the young man was white. There was the occasional glimpse of a bed, the linens tousled, behind him.

Her cell rang. She jumped, almost dropped the damned thing. An image of Chet Harper appeared on the screen.

Dan cursed under his breath. “I’ll go make coffee.”

They both knew what a call from Harper at this hour meant.

Jess cleared her throat and steadied herself. “Good morning, Sergeant.” She stood and headed for the closet. Might as well get dressed. She had a feeling she was going to miss breakfast with Dan today.

“Morning, ma’am. We have another homicide. The heart was taken from this one, too. Vic’s name is Logan Thomas. Twenty-four. Bioengineer. I notified Lieutenant Hayes. Detective Wells is en route to pick you up. Officer Cook is already here, knocking on doors.”

Jess stilled, her hand on the closet door. It took every ounce of courage she owned to ask the next question. “The victim,” her blood went a little cold with certainty, “does he have dark hair and eyes? An Auburn t-shirt?”

The hesitation gave Jess the answer before Harper spoke.

“Yes, ma’am. How did you know?”

Fury started to smolder deep in her belly as she grabbed something to wear from the closet. “I’ll explain when I get there. Is the crime scene unit on the way?”

“Yes, ma’am. Officer Cook called Dr. Baron and she’s also en route.”

Cook made that call? Really? Jess was going to have to keep an eye on him. Maybe she should speak to him about Sylvia. Then again, maybe she was making too much of the sparks she’d seen flying at the morgue yesterday.

“I’ll be there soon, Sergeant,” she promised before ending the call. Braced against the closet door she watched the video again. Was this someone else Spears had invited to play games with her? Though she had not one single piece of tangible evidence to corroborate her theory, she was certain he’d resurrected the Man in the Moon to taunt her.

We have to go outside where he can see
.

Fergus Cagle, aka the Man in the Moon, had said that to her. Then, his last words before being shot were about his daughter. Obviously he’d gone over the edge. The fact was, nothing he said was reliable. Still, in her gut, she sensed the Man in the Moon had started sending those remains to her because of Spears. Otherwise, how would Spears have known the location of the rest of the victims? But that alone wasn’t proof he’d directed Fergus Cagle’s actions. It only proved Spears had been watching.

Whatever it showed, Jess had a feeling the Man in the Moon and, after seeing that video, this case were somehow related to Spears. She stared at her cell phone. If that was true, it meant three people had been viciously murdered just so Spears could send her a message.

Hot, bitter bile rushed into Jess’s throat, and it was all she could do to avoid throwing up on Dan’s expensive carpet before she made it to the toilet.

Another sign that nothing about her future was going to be easy.

First Avenue North, 6:50 a.m.

Jess stared at the building. Her stomach had only just settled down, and now it was threatening another rebellion. “This is the address?”

It wasn’t like the two official vehicles and the crime scene unit van parked at the curb wasn’t a dead giveaway.

Couldn’t be
.

“This is it,” Lori assured her.

It had to be a coincidence. The building was the one where Dan had lived ten years ago when they’d run into each other on Christmas Eve. Birmingham was a relatively large city, the biggest in the state of Alabama, but the downtown area was a small world. There was bound to be crime in places she and Dan had frequented in the past.

“You ready?”

Jess reached for the door handle. “As ready as humanly possible with only one cup of coffee.” She faked a smile.

Lori studied her a second too long, but kept whatever she was thinking to herself. Jess readied to face what would no doubt be another horrific murder scene.
Logan Thomas
. His image, big smile and eyes twinkling with mischief, kept playing in her head.

The officer shadowing Jess’s every move this shift was propped against the side of his cruiser watching the official chaos.

For a change, she was thankful for the added precaution. Distraction was a dangerous enemy, and lately distraction had been her constant companion.

“There’s a security camera in the lobby,” Lori said. “A representative from the company that maintains the building is on his way.”

“Maybe if we’re lucky the killer didn’t notice the camera.” Most criminals missed the little details. Though she had to admit, a surveillance camera was a considerably major item to miss.

The uniform at the building’s entrance opened the door that, under normal circumstances, would have required a code for entry. Security measures wouldn’t have stopped this killer. Judging by the video she received, Logan’s killer had been his guest.

Inside the small lobby was another uniform, this one monitoring the stairs and elevator. Between the elevator and the door leading to the stairwell was a wall of mailboxes. Above the mailboxes was a surveillance camera.

Jess distinctly remembered this lobby from ten years ago. The camera hadn’t been there then. Otherwise, the place looked the same. Not that she’d paid much attention that long ago night. She’d been caught up in something that refused to let go. Desire, need, and the desperation to feel alive after the case she’d just solved.

“Eighth floor.” Lori hesitated. “Elevator or stairs, Chief?”

Jess dragged her head out of the past. “Did you say the eighth floor?”

Lori nodded, a frown forming across her brow.

Another of those little shots of adrenaline fired through Jess. This just got creepier and creepier. Dan’s apartment had been on the eighth floor. She swallowed, trying to loosen the emotion caught in her throat. “Let’s take the elevator.”

Why was it nothing in her life came about in a routine manner? Just when she’d reached a major pinnacle in her career, a serial killer latched onto her like a bad rash and refused to go away. She couldn’t marry and have children the way her sister had. Was she forever destined to have the unusual and the bizarre crammed into her existence at the most inopportune times?

Maybe this was fate’s way of showing her who was in charge.

Closing her eyes, Jess leaned against the back wall of the elevator as it bumped into upward motion. She tried her very best to ignore the queasy feeling in the pit of her belly. Maybe the stairs would have been the better bet. Hopefully the feeling would pass. Soon.

“I don’t mean to push,” Lori said quietly.

Jess opened her eyes and turned to her.

“But I’m here when you’re ready.”

Lori was a good friend as well as a great detective, and they did need to talk. “I appreciate that.”

Thankfully the elevator jolted to a stop at their destination. Jess pushed aside her personal worries and stepped into cop mode. Nature was taking care of the rest for now. Pregnant women all over the world went about their lives without freaking out or falling apart, she reminded herself.

Lori led the way, taking a right out of the elevator. Jess followed. The carpet along the corridor softened their steps, lessening the likelihood of disturbing residents. Four apartments, two on each side, lined the corridor in this direction. Another uniform waited at the door where a young man’s life had ended.

Jess stalled a few yards away.

Apartment thirty-One
.

“This is it.” Dan grinned at her as he shoved the key into the lock. “It’s not where I hope to be in a couple of years but it’s home for now.”

“This was Dan’s apartment.”