“Is Jonas home?”
Just as he spoke, he heard the sound of a car in the drive. He turned around. Jonas parked and got out of his car. Aidan noted that his suit was crisp and perfectly clean, but he looked anxious.
“Matty, do you mind?” Aidan asked. “I need to speak with Jonas for a few minutes about a case.”
“Of course.” She looked at her husband suspiciously as he came up the walk, but she didn’t protest as he kissed her cheek.
“Can I get you two anything? Iced tea, something stronger?” Matty asked.
“Nothing, thanks, Matty,” Aidan said.
“We can talk in the den,” Jonas said. He didn’t seem surprised that Aidan was there.
Once the door was closed, Aidan didn’t hesitate. He took the wallet out of his vest pocket and tossed it to Jonas.
Jonas caught it, looked at it and flushed. He sat behind the desk and sighed. “All right, what did Matty do, hire you? My own friend. I should have gotten that thing right back to Sheila, but we’d just broken it off a couple of days before I found it in the car. I swear to you, Aidan, we had broken it off. It was just…stupid. On both our parts. I tried to give her the wallet back before she left. I drove out to her place to give it to her. Her car was there, but she didn’t open the door, so I just figured she’d gone out with someone. I guess she got everything replaced before she left the country, because I never heard from her about it. Maybe she didn’t even realize she’d left it in my car. But that was it, Aidan. Oh, I flirt in bars. Hell, everyone flirts in bars. But Sheila was the only one it went any further with, and we broke it off. You can ask her. She’ll tell you that every word I’ve said is true.”
“No one will be asking Sheila anything,” Aidan said. “Sheila is dead.”
He watched his friend’s face. Jonas was capable of subterfuge on the job. But now his cheeks drained of color and his gasp sounded real. “What?”
“All right, I don’t know for a fact that she’s dead. But she’s missing. She didn’t check into her hotel, and she hasn’t returned to work.”
Jonas actually looked as if he were going to cry. He shook his head. “She…she extended her vacation. She chose another hotel.”
“Sure. Those are possibilities. But I think she’s dead, just like Jenny Trent, and I don’t know how many others. At least nine.” He leaned over the desk. “There’s a serial killer on the loose, Jonas. An organized killer who plans his every move with exceptional care.”
Jonas stared back at him. “We have no bodies.”
“We have bones—or had them, anyway. The bones I found. Jonas, I’m going to let you explain it all to Matty. And tomorrow you’re going to give that wallet to the police and explain everything to them.”
Jonas still looked drained. “I’m going to lose my wife and maybe my job,” he said.
“Jonas, you won’t lose your job because of an affair, but if you withhold evidence, you might. And if you want to save your marriage, you’ll do what’s right.”
They were in there, in the apartment. So very close, yet so very far away.
He’d almost made a mistake tonight, so he’d let it go, let her go.
He’d already made one foolish mistake with Sheila. Silly little Sheila, so full of herself and such a flirt—except with him. He’d had to really work at it to get her out there, though his ruse had worked in the end. Still, it had been wrong, not something a genius should have to do.
But so what? They would look for Sheila, but they wouldn’t find her.
And even if they eventually did, what could they prove? Nothing.
He felt so restless, though, watching the house now, and he knew that he had to calm down, because anxiety led to mistakes.
Kendall would be a mistake; people would miss her.
But he had no choice, because she was already a mistake, one that had to be rectified. She heard things, knew things. She could read the future.
No, that was impossible. Even so, she was dangerous and he was going to have to take the risk and get rid of her.
She wasn’t alone, though. Not tonight. He would have to be extremely smart to deal with her. Which should be easy, of course, since he was a genius. He had to bide his time, but not too much time. He kept hearing about her, about her abilities, and he couldn’t give her a chance to use them.
There was nothing he could do tonight, though, and just standing there, even in the shadows, was dangerous. If he was seen, how would he explain himself?
They would never catch him here, though, and even if they did, he would come up with an answer. Tonight, though…
He wouldn’t be able to touch her tonight.
Soon, he promised himself. Very soon.
She had to die.
Before she saw.
“I know you think I’m crazy,” Kendall told Jeremy.