Jack watched Lacey on her cell. He’d been eavesdropping on her phone conversation and could tell she was worried about a friend. Who were Chris and Kelly? Hell, he didn’t know her friends at all except for the reporter at the end of the room. He hardly knew anything about Lacey Campbell and that needed to change. But every time they were together something freaky happened. They were going in the right direction last night until her overprotective bodyguard decided to spout off, and Jack had lost his cool.
Yeah, he owned a condo in Mount Junction. So what? He skied. His sister skied too. Melody probably used the place ten times as much as he did. Their father had bought it years ago for family ski trips, but Brody had twisted it into a black mark against him.
Now the new murders were being tied to old cases in Mount Junction. He shot a sideways glance at Brody. He was following Lacey’s phone call intently. Brody probably knew who she was talking about. He probably knew every finite detail about her that Jack craved to know. Like what’s her favorite ice cream? What kind of music does she listen to?
As he watched, Callahan grabbed her cell and started speaking. Lacey wobbled and started to collapse. Jack leaped from his chair, lunging for her. The detective grabbed her arms before she hit the floor, but her cell phone slipped out of his hands and shattered. Pieces of phone and the battery skidded across the floor as Jack grabbed her around the shoulders and knees, lifting her effortlessly. Brody had leaped at the same time but was an instant too late. He reached out to take her, but Jack stopped him with a cold glare.
“Stop it. Put me down.” Her quiet voice concerned Jack even more.
“What happened?” Jack looked at Callahan, who’d moved to the lobby desk and was snapping out orders at the officer. “What’d you say to her?”
“Nothing.” Callahan finished his instructions and barely glanced at Jack. “She’s got a friend missing who’s probably been nabbed by our man.” Callahan turned his back and started punching his cell phone.
Jack nearly dropped her. “What? Who?” He let Lacey’s legs slide down to the floor and turned her firmly to face him. He tilted her chin up, searching her eyes. “What’s happened? Who’s gone?”
Her face was white. Lack of sleep and shock showed in the dark half-moons under her eyes. “It’s Kelly. She’s missing. That was her husband. He can’t find her and she’s been gone since last night.” Her eyes filled. “Kelly testified in the trial but it didn’t mean much. All she could tell them was how she found me,” she whispered.
“Found you? Found you when?” Jack shook her shoulders. Lacey’s eyes weren’t focusing quite right.
“After.” She didn’t elaborate.
“Kelly was the gymnast who found Lacey after Suzanne was nabbed,” Brody answered quietly. He was picking up the pieces of cell phone, deftly reassembling it, wisely not putting his hands on Lacey in front of Jack.
“This other girl was there that night?” Another DeCosta witness was gone?
“Kelly didn’t see anything. Just Lacey on the ground. Bleeding,” Brody added.
Lacey had told him. Her broken leg, her beat-up face, bleeding.
Looking about for support, Jack saw the anger in Brody’s eyes as he glared from the reassembled phone to Lacey’s white face. Brody had come to the same conclusion: Lacey was truly in deep danger. Brody looked ready to haul Lacey down the hall and lock her in a cell.
Good. Maybe she’d listen if both of them got on her case.
Jack’s gaze widened. Fuck. He’d just aligned himself with the competition. Of course, at this stage he’d align himself with a terrorist if it meant keeping her safe.
Callahan caught Jack’s eye and jerked his head.
Jack sat Lacey in a chair and kneeled before her, rubbing her icy hands. “I’ll be right back. I need to talk to Callahan.” She nodded silently as he stood, and Michael sat in the chair next to her, seamlessly taking over. Jack couldn’t worry about the reporter now. If he couldn’t be her warden, Brody seemed an acceptable alternative.
“What’s going on?” Jack didn’t like the look on Callahan’s face.
Callahan moved the two of them down the hall, out of hearing range of Michael and Lacey. “I was just about to show her something I’d gotten off the janitor kid when she fell apart.” Callahan pulled a clear plastic bag out of his pocket and handed it to Jack. “I don’t think this is a good time to show it to her. She’s had enough shock.”
Jack smoothed the small bag, trying to read the card and small envelope through the plastic. The envelope simply said “Lacey” on the front in block lettering. A delicate bouquet of blue and yellow flowers decorated the card, reminding him of the colors in her kitchen.
“Thinking of you...” was imprinted below the flowers. He frowned and maneuvered the card open inside the bag and read: “I have a special party planned for you and me. In two days, we will commiserate over his anniversary, together.”
Jack’s lips thinned and his knuckles blanched white as he gripped the plastic. “His anniversary? Whose anniversary is he talking about?”
“In two days is the anniversary of DeCosta’s conviction,” Callahan stated.
“You got this from Sean?”
“Yeah, Sean claims he was waiting outside her home because he was worried about her. The attack up at the school really upset him. In the interview he kept going on and on about how Dr. Campbell was in danger.” Callahan shook his head, eyes grim. “He got seriously agitated when I told him Frank Stevenson wasn’t in jail anymore. Was a struggle to calm him down again.”
“Sean said she was in danger?” Jack saw red. Lacey had befriended this kid and now it appeared he was a primary element of her trouble.
The detective nodded. “He said a man gave him that card as he waited outside Dr. Campbell’s house. The man asked Sean to make sure she received it and then warned him to be very careful because a bad man might hurt the dentist again.”
Jack’s head jerked up to meet Callahan’s eyes. “You think Sean’s telling the truth?” Sean wasn’t their man?
Callahan inhaled and pressed his lips together. “If he’s not, then he’s a damned good actor. He can’t have much of an IQ. Seems honest and truly scared for Dr. Campbell.”
Jack sucked in a deep breath. The threat to Lacey was still walking the streets.
“Could he describe the guy?”
“Yeah. A man.”
“That’s it?” Jack scanned Callahan’s face, incredulous. They had an eyewitness, and that was the best description?
“A man with a hat.”
“Aw, shit.” Jack looked at the card. It seemed so innocent on the outside, but deadly inside. “You printed this already?”
“It’s clean. Just the kid’s prints on the envelope.”
“I don’t think he’s a kid.”
“He’s not. I’d estimate him to be around twenty-seven or eight. Just seems young.”
“I don’t like the message written inside.” Jack took a deep breath and calmed the urge to rip up the card and bag. “This asshole’s got a big finale planned in two days. With Lacey at the center.” Jack met the detective’s eyes, sensing the anger boiling just under the cop’s cool surface.
“I know. What I don’t understand is why he’s telling us his next move.”
“Could be a decoy.”
“Could be. Might not be.” The detective looked at him pointedly. “You want to wait around to find out?”
“She needs to disappear.”
“I’m with you a hundred percent. Make it happen.”
Jack couldn’t bring himself to tell Lacey about the card.
He stood twenty feet away in the police station lobby, silently watching Lacey tell Brody good-bye. Surprisingly, his chest didn’t tighten as Brody kissed her on the forehead and hugged her tight for five long seconds. The message in the card had desensitized Jack’s jealousy. He was too angry to be concerned with Brody.
With that note, the killer had confirmed that Lacey was on his list. God damn, the man was getting cocky. Jack shook his head. No. The killer had been cocky from the beginning. The psycho had broken into Lacey’s house and stolen her ring. Then had taken the chance to drop Suzanne’s ring in Lacey’s coat pocket at work. The man was getting overconfident, arrogant.
Hubris could trip him up.
Jack knew he should tell Lacey about the message. But surely, the situation with Kelly showed her how much danger she was in. If she couldn’t see that, then she was blind.
He wasn’t taking her back to her house. If she needed something, he’d buy it for her. He’d call one of those animal sitting services to look after her cat. Lacey wasn’t getting out of his sight.
Now if she’d just agree.
And the chances of that? He shook his head.
Brody was going back to Mount Junction. He had more digging he wanted to do. He’d seen the card, and Callahan had to yank the plastic bag out of Brody’s hands before it ripped. He told Jack and Callahan what he’d discovered about the Stevenson land and the circumstances around Amy Smith’s death. No one liked the coincidence about Stevenson, and Brody wanted to meet with Amy’s parents. Privately Jack and Brody had discussed what to do with Lacey. She’d be furious if she knew Jack planned to stick to her like glue for the next few days. Or weeks. However long it took for the creep to be caught.
Jack watched the reporter step away from Lacey after a final hug. Brody gave him a long silent stare as he moved through the police station door and out into the snow. Jack evenly met his eyes.
Brody was handing off a costly treasure and Jack silently swore it wouldn’t be damaged on his watch.