In another hour or so, the early crew would be out. There wasn’t much of it. The docks would get busy quickly for the morning fishing charters, dive boats, snorkel boats and sightseeing trips. Restaurant personnel who worked breakfast venues would be struggling up, and the earliest coffee places would start to prepare for the day. Those on the night shift at the desks, bell men, bouncers, security workers and others would be bored, idling away their time in this strange in-between hour that came to Key West.
Time meant nothing to him, and everything. He embraced the darkness.
And yet, he enjoyed functioning, totally hidden within himself, in all the brilliance that the sun could possibly bring.
He stood for a moment, simply enjoying the time of the day. Enjoying where he stood, the sight, the memory, the scent.
He looked over at the house. His enjoyment faded, and he felt bitterness well inside him.
So now that prying bastard, Liam Beckett, was staying there, with her, in her room, sleeping with her.
It didn’t matter. He was protected, and they were all blind, and it was euphoria to watch them all, having no idea of all that went on that they didn’t see.
It was no matter, truly. The house was still his, and he needed Kelsey Donovan. There was no way that Beckett could be there all the time. Beckett was a cop. He had to go to work. He had to do things.
He smiled. He liked being in the house, and he would be in the house again. And it would be amusing because Beckett would be sleeping with her, and he’d changed the locks, and he was so self-confident, and he would never know.
Maybe something could happen to the cop.
He calmed himself. He inhaled.
And he inhaled the scent of death.
Ah, yes, different, but the expression was still there…. Of course, they were idiots. He’d thought they would have found the last victim by now.
He was too good at what he did.
It was more time to enjoy the expression on his victim’s face, more time to savor the kill….
More time to relish the scent of death that was like a teasing whisper on the air, mingling with the salt sea breeze. There and not there…
He inhaled deeply, and looked toward the house.
He would have his time with Kelsey Donovan.
6
“Kelsey, what do you want us doing about the packing crates and boxes?” Katie asked. “Some of them have been opened, but there’s packing stuff all over the place.”
“You should go through them all carefully,” Liam warned, making a face as he noted a pile of strawlike packing material sitting on top of a box. “Cutter might have had tiny things packed in with big things.”
“That’s true,” Kelsey said. She looked across the room at Liam. The Merlin house was alive as it hadn’t been in years. The cleaning party had arrived, and they were a dedicated crew. Heads had been dusted on the wall, floors had been swept and swabbed, carpets had been vacuumed and surfaces cleaned, shined, scrubbed and polished.
“Maybe we could just organize them all better,” she said, not sure what to do herself. She hadn’t had a chance yet to go through Cutter’s office and his desk, something that had been first on her agenda. But she’d felt obliged to join in with the cleaning crew. Katie was a whirlwind, while David and Sean followed her directives for moving heavy furniture. Ted and Jaden had taken it on themselves to work with the more delicate collectibles and art pieces in the house, dusting gently. Jonas and Clarinda had appointed themselves cleaners of the floors, and Liam had worked with Vanessa and Kelsey, trying to manage the organizational part of the work.
All of them were aware that Kelsey and Liam were acting like a couple, but no one said anything about it. They just all smiled to each other.
“How about if we move them all upstairs to the guest room?” Katie suggested. “There’s nothing up there but a bed and a dresser, and we can stack them around the walls. They’ll be out of the way, and then I can go through them one by one.”
Sean groaned softly and then laughed. “Up the stairs.”
“Oh!” Katie said. “That’s a bad idea.”
“No,” Liam told her firmly. “It’s a fine idea. Everyone will be very careful on the stairway. And it’s perfect. Most of them have a number or some kind of title on them. We can leave the identification sticking out, and you’ll know what’s in everything.”
“Yeah. I’ll dust up the packing down here,” David teased.
“Wait—the broom is in my hands at the moment, and I’ll be keeping it!” Vanessa said.
“I will follow around behind you to make sure nothing is dropped,” Jaden said.
“Works for me!” Ted told her.
“You’ll head right on over there and pick up those boxes, sir!” Jaden told him.
“Which box?” Ted asked Liam with a sigh.
“Let’s get started with the boxes and crates here, closest to the stairs. Then we can move on to the office,” Liam said.