“Just impressed.”
“Really? With what? My non-existent superpowers?”
His eyes crinkled at the corners with his smile. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Get real.” She shook her head. “What he’s not telling us is the real story.”
“I agree.”
“What did Knight call you?”
“A half-light.”
“And this thing’s a Dark Bearer.” She thrummed her fingers on the tabletop. “Light and dark, yin and yang, life and death.”
“Opposite sides of the same coin.”
“Exactly. Neither can exist without the other, nor be in the presence of the other.”
“Bad news for me, partner, ’cause that thing’s a hell of a lot stronger than I am. No wonder Knight said I’d get us both killed.” He paused. “Look at me, batting five hundred.”
She saw the angst in his expression. “It’s not your fault. She called you.”
“About Gomez. Not Miller. Knight said she knew where she was.”
“Why the coeds?”
“Why indeed, Detective Dare?”
They both turned toward Parker, standing in the kitchen doorway.
“That was the director,” he said. “I’ve been authorized to tell you whatever necessary to ensure the senator’s daughter’s safety.”
“That’s big of him,” Micki muttered. “Good thing Miller’s in such good company. Otherwise she’d be screwed.”
He ignored her sarcasm. “Zach, the ‘thing’ you saw murder Knight is not what abducted the young women. You’re looking for a flesh and blood being. A male, we’re certain. In his twenties. Good looking.”
“Yes,” Micki said. This, she understood. This, she could wrap her arms around. “The male—he’s how that thing attracts the young women. He picks them up while they’re out partying. The clubs and bars in the Quarter.”
“Whoa,” Zach said. “Back up. The energy links the scenes. I saw it, that Dark Bearer, kill Knight.”
“The perpetrator is being manipulated by the Dark Bearer. They’re both feeding on the girls’ pain, suffering, and fear. There’s more. Gomez isn’t a part of this. Neither was Brite Knight.”
“That can’t be right.” Zach drew his eyebrows together. “Gomez disappeared on her birthday. The same energy from the Miller and Putnam scene clung to her ID.”
“Her path did cross the Dark Bearer’s. We’re not sure when or how. Knight was murdered, perhaps because of Gomez. Or simply because that’s what Dark Bearers do.”
“Kill people like us.”
“Yes.”
Micki sifted through the things Parker had shared, piecing them together. She stopped on something he’d said moments ago. “You said the perpetrator, our twenty something male, is feeding on Miller and Putnam’s fear. Present tense. You believe the girls are alive?”
“For now.”
“How much longer?”
“We’re not sure, but we think until the last Saturday of the month.”
“Why then?”
“Neither the Dark Bearer nor his puppet will need them anymore.”
Micki’s thoughts raced. She voiced them. “July, the seventh month of the year. Saturday, the seventh day of the week. Four Saturdays in July. Four girls.” Her heart sank. She met Parker’s gaze. “Two more girls are going to be abducted.”
It wasn’t a question, but he answered anyway. “We believe so. Unless you can locate and stop him.”
Zach had been quiet. He suddenly spoke up. “You say ‘he won’t need the coeds anymore.’ How do you know?”
“The seven left at each scene. The divine number of completion.”
“What will be complete?”
“The transformation of the puppet, Detective. A new, full blown Dark Bearer will be born.”
“Another one?” Zach dragged a hand through his hair. It trembled slightly. “Not good.”
“Not good, indeed,” Parker said.
Micki leaned in. “Can we stop the transformation from becoming complete?”
“Yes. Up to the stroke of midnight that final Saturday.”
“And the girls? We can save them?”
“Sunday, July twenty-seventh they’ll all be dead. Until then, they have a chance.”
“Give us something,” Micki said, feeling the urgency thrumming in her blood. “Something that will help us locate him.”
“You work as a team. Dare, you use your investigative skills. Harris, you’re tracking the Dark Bearer’s energy.” Parker took a sip of his scotch. “It’s going to be more difficult for our UNSUB to attract girls. The transformation is painful, excruciating at the end.”
“He’s losing it,” Zach said.
“Yes. Mind and body. Desperation clings to him. The charm is now surface only. Look into his eyes, they will be flat, dead.”
“Like a shark.” Zach looked at Micki. “A hunter.”
“The process,” she said, “is painful. Excruciating. I don’t understand. Is he dying?”
“Physically? No.”
“Then, what—”
“His soul, Detective Dare, for the lack of a more concrete explanation, is being stolen from him.”
Chapter Thirty-eight
Wednesday, July 17
11:45 A.M.