When a Heart Stops (20 page)

And she took a deep breath.

Was someone hiding in the spacious area?

Inside the boat under the tarp?

In the backseat of her car?

If so, she couldn't have this package on her.

As the blood thrummed through her veins, she whirled and fumbled with her keys, finally getting the lock open, then the door. Then she slammed it shut, twisting the dead bolt as her keys fell to the floor with a clank.

With dread in her stomach, she grabbed her cell phone. Should she call the police?

911?

Dominic?

The cop sitting outside watching her house?

As she watched out the window, her nerves started to calm. There was no one there. She was being silly.

“There's no one out there,” she whispered aloud. “Get in the car and go. Camille might need you.”

But the thought of opening the door and walking out of the house terrified her.

And some small part of her realized what was happening. He was gaining control of her life, her thoughts, her actions—and she was allowing it.

Oh Lord, help me. I don't want to let fear rule me.

For another few minutes, she just stood at the door, looking out into the garage. Nothing moved.

“Get in the car, Serena,” she told herself. Putting the package back where she thought it would be safe, she thought about her nerves and the fact that the killer had done everything in his power to keep her off balance and constantly on guard. No doubt, a tactic meant to exhaust her and make her careless.

With determination, she unlocked the kitchen door dead bolt and stepped back into the garage. With jerky movements, she opened the SUV door and shot her gaze to the passenger seat.

She was almost surprised to find it empty. She slid into the driver's seat and slammed the door, locking it in one quick motion. She pressed the button on the garage door remote.

As the door behind her rose, her phone rang and she grabbed it from the cup holder. “Hello?”

“Hey, pretty lady. How are you this morning?”

Dominic. She backed from the garage, her heart picking up even more speed. She smiled, although she couldn't help the nervous glance at the covered boat.

“I'm doing great. I actually slept last night.” Should she say anything about her nervousness? About the feeling that someone was in her garage?

Before she closed the garage, she waited at the end of her driveway for one last, long look.

Still, nothing moved.

“You feel like going to a meeting with me?” Dominic asked.

“Nate?” she guessed.

“Yep. I'm meeting him at 11:00. I know this is your day off, but—”

“No, I want to go.” She tapped the steering wheel. “I need to go see Camille first at the girls' home, but I can meet you there.”

“Okay.” He paused. “You sound funny. You sure you're all right?”

She breathed a laugh. “I'm fine. Just my imagination working overtime.”

“Are you sure it's your imagination?”

Serena bit her lip. Was she? “Probably.”

“You don't sound so sure.”

“Yeah. I know. Never mind. I'm just jumpy.”

“With good reason. Is your shadow with you?”

She glanced in her rearview mirror. “Yes, he's there.”

“Great.”

Serena pulled up to the four-way stop and pressed the brakes. Her shadow hugged her bumper. A car to her right seemed to be traveling fast as it approached the stop sign, so she waited to be sure the driver planned to stop. When it seemed like the vehicle slowed, she pressed the gas.

But she was wrong. Heart in her throat, she realized too late that the driver planned to run the stop sign. The other vehicle plowed into her passenger door.

FRIDAY, 10:15 A.M.

Dominic heard the screech of metal crunching metal, Serena's terrified scream. The roar of a motorcycle.

Then seconds later, the sound of a gunshot.

“Serena!” Panic clawed at his throat, helplessness spinning his mind. “Serena! Answer me!”

Dead silence echoed back to him.

Was she dead? Terror streaked through him as he pressed the gas pedal.
Oh God, please no.

Where was the officer who was supposed to be protecting her?

Heart thudding, he spun the wheel of his car to race back toward Serena's house. They hadn't been talking long, so she couldn't be very far from her home.

His adrenaline flowed, free and easy. He took in a deep breath and forced himself into cop mode, emergency response instinct. It terrified him that the person involved was Serena, but emotions had no place in his response.

He realized he still had the phone pressed against his ear, but no sound penetrated. He looked at the screen and saw the call had been disconnected. He pressed redial.

No answer.

He dialed the officer who was supposed to be watching out for her.

No answer.

His gut tightened and sweat broke out on his forehead.

If he knew her location, he'd call for backup.

But he didn't.

Quickly, he called in the wreck, giving what information he had—which wasn't near enough.

He just prayed he could find her before he was too late.

Serena groaned and pressed a hand to her aching head. She'd whiplashed, the impact jerking her head toward the car that hit her, then slamming back against the driver's window. A motorcycle rumbled. She heard what sounded like a car backfiring twice, then someone cursing behind her, followed by an angry “What are you doing here? Why'd you shoot that cop?”

She lifted her head to see two figures, blurry and distorted. She closed her eyes, pressed her finger to the lids, tried to gather her scattered thoughts. When a hand reached in to grab her by the upper arm, she looked over, thankful for the officer who'd been behind her.

But her eyes didn't land on the officer.

A black masked face stared down at her. A scream bubbled in her throat even as dizziness made her head spin.

“Where is it?” the low voice hissed.

“What?” Serena blinked against the dark spots swirling before her eyes.

The hand on her bicep tightened and gave her a shake. “The package from Jillian. We know you have it. Where is it?”

Where was the officer who'd been following her?

She squinted through the throbbing pain and ignored her attacker.

Then the person leaned over and snatched Serena's briefcase from the passenger seat and brought a gun to her head.

“Is it in here?”

Serena brought her hand up in a quick defensive move, knocking the gun to the ground. Her attacker let loose a string of curses. A fist connected with her already aching head. From the corner of her eye, she saw him bend down. As she fought the encroaching darkness, she heard the other person say, “I'll see you soon.” A low chuckle sounded. “And I shot the cop because I couldn't let the game end before it's even begun, could I?”

A gunshot sounded, then all went black.

Through the windshield, Dominic saw the figure leaning over Serena and at first thought it was the officer who'd volunteered to protect her. Then he saw the man on the ground beside the unmarked Escape. Dominic recognized the officer as the one who'd been following Serena and grief stabbed him as he wondered if the man was dead.

As his mind pieced together the scene at mach speed, the person near Serena turned at Dominic's approach, lifted his right hand, and fired a shot.

Dominic swerved as the bullet slammed into the side of the car. Keeping his head low, he yanked his weapon from his holster and grabbed his radio. “Officer needs help! Intersection of Dove Park and Spring Ridge at the four-way stop sign.” He tossed the radio down after receiving notification that help was on the way. Dominic noticed a bag clutched in the person's left hand.

The killer bolted toward the car parked behind Serena's, leaped over the officer, and dove into the driver's seat.

Through the open window, Dominic aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger. The bullet shattered the windshield, but the person slammed the Escape into reverse, whipped the steering wheel around, then sped off.

Dominic pulled his vehicle in as close as possible to Serena's
and climbed out, keeping low. Into his radio, he said, “Suspect is going east on Spring Ridge in a Blue Ford Escape. License plate Delta-William-Victor Zero-Two-Four.”

Hating his inability to be in two places at once, Dominic abandoned the idea of giving chase and turned to check Serena's pulse.

It pounded beneath his fingers strong and steady.

He went to Officer MacDougall, who lay on his back, eyes wide and staring. Blank. Dominic checked on him even though he knew the man was already gone. No pulse.

And a bullet to the center of his forehead.

Nausea rolled. The loss of life. A good man with two children in their teens. Teens who needed their dad. Fury grappled with grief as the ambulance and other law enforcement arrived on the scene.

Dominic held up his badge.

Hunter and Katie bolted from their vehicles, worry stamped on their features.

“Serena?” Hunter asked as another ambulance pulled up behind the unmarked car.

“Alive, but unconscious.”

Paramedics headed toward them and Dominic waved them over to Serena. There was nothing they could do for the dead officer. Katie was already next to the body. The other officers shut down the intersection, rerouting traffic.

Dominic watched paramedics work on Serena. Anxious, he tried not to hover, but from the slanted looks the younger one kept shooting him, Dominic had a feeling he wasn't doing a very good job of staying back.

As they placed her on the gurney, her eyes fluttered and a moan slipped from her lips. “Dominic?”

He stepped forward and snagged her hand. “Right here, Serena.”

“What happened?”

“You got hit.”

“It was him, wasn't it?” she whispered.

Dominic nodded. “Yeah.”

“The officer behind me . . .”

“Dead.”

Grief flashed. “I'm so sorry.”

“Me too.” Dominic clenched his jaw against the fury that raged in him.

She tried to sit up and he eased her back. “Go to the hospital and get checked out.”

“I'm all right.”

“Don't argue.” He hadn't meant to sound so harsh.

She flinched. “Right.” Serena lay back and licked her lips.

The fact that she
didn't
argue worried him. “Sorry, I'm not upset with you.”

“I know,” she whispered.

“You have an escort to the hospital. I'll be there as soon as I can.” He paused. “Anyone you want me to call?”

“Yeah. I want my mom.” She gave him the number and his heart clenched when a tear slid down her cheek to disappear into the delicate shell of her ear. He leaned over her and looked into her eyes. “You're going to be okay.”

She sniffed. “I know.” But Dominic didn't see any belief in the statement.

One of the paramedics nudged him and Dominic stepped back. “See you soon.”

“Wait!” She winced and held a hand to her head. The paramedics paused again. “He stole my briefcase.”

So that's what the guy had been holding.

“What was in it?”

“Just work stuff.”

“Go get checked out. We'll worry about that later.”

The paramedics rolled her away and loaded her into the back of the ambulance. Dominic made sure Hunter and Katie were on its tail.

The coroner's vehicle pulled up followed by a black SUV. A man Dominic had never seen before stepped out of the SUV just as his phone rang.

He heard the man introduce himself as Ralph Newton, the medical examiner on call. Dominic punched the green button to answer. “Hello?”

“Colton here.”

“I'm kind of in the middle of something, can I call you back?”

“This is important. Hunter just texted me and said he didn't have time to talk to you at the scene. If you can spare me a couple of minutes, I think you need to know this.”

Dominic watched Ralph Newton lean over the body of Officer MacDougall. “Sure, what is it?”

Colton said, “We've uncovered some things related to the Doll Maker Killer copycat.”

“Go on.”

“We've got a possible for the latest dead girl. Kelsey Nicholson. Her prints were in the system when she applied to be a day care worker. But she was picked up on a shoplifting charge a couple of years ago. We're waiting on the parents to come ID her and talk to us.”

“All right. Keep me posted. Serena's on her way to the hospital to get checked out and I want to be there for her.”

“I'll check with Alexia and see if she remembers Kelsey.”

The ME said something to the officer standing next to him, and the officer cursed and turned away to gain control of his emotions.

Dominic said goodbye and walked over to see what the commotion was. “I'm Special Agent Dominic Allen. What's the problem?”

Ralph Newton gently turned the officer onto his side and pointed at a bloody area on the man's upper right torso beneath the shoulder blade. Dominic blinked as he realized what that meant. He looked at the ME. “He was shot in the back?”

“Yep. That's an entry wound. No exit wound.”

Dominic felt his stomach churn. “So our serial killer had some help. The only way MacDougall could have been shot in the back is if he were going to help Serena. One drove the car into Serena's, the other waited until the officer got out of his car and shot him.” He dropped his head for a brief moment of dread. When he looked up, he said, “There are two of them working together, which means our workload just doubled.”

1:20 P.M.

“She's in the hospital? I thought you were going to kill her,” Frank said.

“Not this way. I still need her alive for a little while longer.”

“That makes no sense! She's already had Alexia spend the night. What if she's talking to her?”

“Alexia doesn't know anything,” the voice said. “I've already established that. Besides, she's so busy looking for her father, she doesn't have time to worry about anything else. Regardless, Serena's not talking to her. That doesn't mean we're not still keeping tabs on her, but Serena's the one with the package.”

“A package she's keeping secret even from her closest friend, Alexia?” Frank couldn't help the sarcasm.

The voice on the other end of the line went silent, then came back a good fifty degrees cooler. “Exactly. Because she knows if she tells Alexia what's in the package, that will mean Alexia's death for certain. Serena's not the type of person to risk that.”

Frank thought about that. “How do you know this? You seem so certain.”