Blood Score (24 page)

“
I didn’t say he committed suicide.” Cronan got her attention. What he said shut her up, and she looked as if she’d been gut punched. Bryce looked pale and sat down.

“
You said that you’re looking for those recordings now. Where?” she demanded. “If he didn’t keep them at his home, where else are you looking? We have a right to know.”

“
We respect your concern over what this could mean for your client,” he said. “But we have to do our job.”

“
I might be blind, but that doesn’t make me invisible. I’m still here.” Chandler tossed back another jolt of liquor. “Unfortunately.”

“
Look, I can say that we’re running down a lead that McFarland had property on Lake Zurich, a house that he got from an inheritance. Detective Ramirez is heading up there to do a little recon later this afternoon.”

“
Why is she the Lone Ranger? Isn’t this important enough?” Rachel crossed her arms.

“
It’s a timing thing. I’ve got other leads in town to tie up on McFarland, and the chief wants a report.” Cronan shrugged. “If she finds something worthwhile tonight, I’ll bring the crime scene techs up there tomorrow. We think it’s likely that he kept his residence in the city clean of his illegal activities, since his surveillance gear was well hidden, but if he had digitals, they’d probably be at his lake house. If we find anything, we’ll give you a courtesy call, but any recordings will have to be viewed and may become evidence, depending on how the medical examiner rules on the McFarland death.”

“
Will she be the one viewing the evidence?” Rachel asked. “Or will we have to worry about the whole police department having access to potentially sensitive material?”

“
If she finds any video at his lake house, she’ll look at them first before I bring in a team,” he said. “But I can’t make any promises if it turns out they pertain to McFarland’s death or Olivia’s murder.”

“
But if Ethan’s neighbor committed suicide, there’d be no need to bring these videos up,” Rachel said. “They wouldn’t be relevant, right?”

“
In theory, but we won’t know what we’ve got until we view them. And if his death is ruled by the medical examiner to be suspicious, all bets are off. Either way, guess you’ll have to trust our discretion.”

“
Oh, brother,” the publicist said. When Rachel rolled her eyes, Cronan raised an eyebrow.

“
That puts me at the mercy of your judgment, Detectives.” Chandler poured another glass. “Please don’t let the press sensationalize this more than they already have, but if it helps find whoever killed Livie, I understand.”

From the expression on Rachel’s face, she didn’t feel the same generosity toward Olivia as her celebrity client. If looks could kill, Olivia Davenport would have died twice.

***

An hour later

Angel made a quick trip home to pack an overnight bag and get into comfortable traveling clothes. She slipped into her
“work” jeans—pants with a leg cut loose enough to accommodate her Sig Sauer P239 worn in an ankle holster—and shrugged into a navy blue CPD T-shirt and put on a pair of running shoes.

Gabe had given her the lake house address, and she’d plugged it into her phone’s GPS. She was heading out the door when her cell rang. She thought it would be Gabe, but when she looked on her display, she recognized the number.

“Angelica? It’s me, Ethan.”

“
I’m on my way out of town, Ethan. Can this wait?”

“
I wish I didn’t have to make this call at all.”

Angel put her bag down and went to her sofa to sit. Whatever reason Ethan had called, it didn’t sound as if he’d made the decision easily.

“What’s wrong? Tell me.”

“
If that man recorded me in my home, I have a pretty good idea what will be on the recordings. Rachel is right. It will ruin my career….my life.”

“
Do you have any reason to believe that these recordings will have something to do with Olivia’s murder…or the death of your neighbor?”

“
No. I mean, I have no idea about that, but…” he hesitated, and she heard him take a deep breath. “I lied to you…about the sex.”

“
Lied about what exactly?”

Seconds ticked by and the longer he stayed silent, the worse her imagination turned over what he might have lied about, but Angel didn’t interrupt him.

“I was the one that introduced Olivia to the role play sex. Being blind, I like…different sensations. I like not knowing whose hands are on me…or who I’m touching. It’s like that for me anyway. A fantasy isn’t much of a stretch. Unless you’ve been open to it, you have no idea what a rush it can be for someone…like me.”

“
Why are you telling me this now, Ethan?”

“
Because if the recordings exist, you’ll find out soon enough, and I’m tired of the secrets. I wanted you to hear it from me first, but Rachel is right. If any recordings at my home got out, it could be devastating to my career…to my life.”

“
Did Rachel ask you to call me?” Angel pictured the publicists’ s smug face, and she clenched her jaw.

“
As far as I know, Rachel and Bryce don’t know about that part of my life.” He sighed. “This is so damned personal. I can’t believe I have to talk about this. Olivia only knew because she got into it.
Really
into it, but I didn’t lie about the feeling that she cheated on me. I just never wanted to find out for sure. I’m beyond pathetic.”

When he said Rachel and Bryce didn’t know, it surprised her. After she and Gabe revealed the possible existence of McFarland’s video collection in front of Ethan and his inner circle, she expected they’d been closer acquaintances. Her partner had gambled on it.

“I’m sorry, Ethan. I wish things had turned out differently for you.”

“
The only good thing in all this…is that you are on the team investigating.” He cleared his throat, and she waited for him to say more. “I have no right to ask this, but…”

Angel held her breath and shut her eyes. She knew what he would say next and she prayed he wouldn’t.

“…please take me with you when you search for those recordings. I have to know what you find. This is…killing me. I won’t be able to sleep…until I know what I’ll have to deal with.”

“
Ethan, I’m a cop on duty, and this is an investigation.”

“
I know I’m asking a lot. I just thought you’d understand. And it’s not like I can tell anyone where we go or what we find. I’d have to rely on you to tell me, but maybe I can give context to what you might…see. Please don’t say no. Please.”

Her partner had been right about one of them having enough to lose that it would draw them out. She didn’t think that person would be Ethan.

“Just so you know, if I let you come, you have to do everything I say, and you can’t influence me on what I deem as evidence,” she said.

“
How can I influence you when I can’t ‘see’ it, unless you explain it to me? I won’t interfere and I
do
want to find out who killed Livie. I would hope we could both get what we want without obliterating my life in the process.”

Angel clutched her phone too tight and let out a frayed breath until he spoke again.

“No one deserves to have their privacy invaded, not in their own home,” he said. “Put yourself in my position, Angelica. Imagine recordings of you in your bedroom and shower having the potential to become public. What would you do?”

Angel knew what she should have done—what Gabe would want her to do—but she couldn’t help feel a personal connection to Ethan that made her decision tougher than it should’ve been. In the end she had to trust her instinct about the violinist.

“Pack an overnight bag. I’ll meet you in an hour where I dropped you off the other night, near your building. No media.”

“
I’ll do my best.” Ethan said, but before he hung up, he had something else to say. “Angelica?”

“
Yeah?”

“
Thank you for understanding,” he whispered.

Ethan acted as if she’d done him a favor. Angel knew better.

Chapter 15

An hour later

Outside Chicago

Angel had picked up Ethan Chandler near a back alley that was a discreet distance from his residence where the media were still camped out. With a knapsack over his shoulder, he looked like a college student dressed in jeans, a black T-shirt, hiking boots, and an oversized blue plaid shirt worn tail out.

On the drive to Lake Zurich, Ethan had been preoccupied and quiet. He carried on polite conversation whenever she instigated it, but as usual, his facial expressions gave insight into the darkness cast over his life. The long bouts of silence felt comfortable between them. Angel understood what it meant to lose someone special, but Ethan had a great deal more to lose if he had a personal connection to the killer. That dark turn was still to come.

She got off the freeway and pulled into a gas station that had a convenience store.

“
I have to fill up my tank. Do you need anything from the store?”

“
Yeah, see if they have a jumbo bag of good judgment,” he said. “I could use that. Make it two.”

“
With or without salt?”

When he smiled, and his cheeks blushed with color, she couldn’t help but return his grin even though she knew he wouldn’t see it.

Ethan had an unusual way of drawing her in. His good looks were part of it, but he had an intimacy to his voice and a way he moved that made her want to touch him. Maybe with him being blind, she felt the urge to communicate in a different way.

Had Olivia felt the same with him in bed? Angel hadn’t thought about what it would mean to make love to a man who didn’t have his eyesight…or for him to love a woman without the benefit of his sight. She could see how easily fantasy played into it. It would be like using a blindfold that never came off.

“I’ll be right back,” she told him.

After getting out of her vehicle, Angel set up the gas pump to top off her tank, but the real reason she needed to stop had been for privacy. She had to call Gabe, and she didn’t want Ethan to overhear. Her partner answered his cell on the third ring.

“Are you sitting down?” she asked.

Angel told her partner about Ethan’s call and how she now had a hitchhiker onboard.

“What? Why is he with you?” Gabe asked. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”

“
I didn’t expect this either, but I’ve had time to think about it. He came clean and admitted that he’d lied about who had instigated the fantasy sex, and he said there might be something personally damning in these recordings.”

“
Anything to do with Olivia’s murder?” he asked.

“
He said no. Just the sex, but he didn’t have to admit anything, Gabe. I think he’s being straight with me.”

“
Go on.”

“
If we believe Ethan is at the center of the killer’s world, it seemed like a reasonable idea to have him with me. I trust my gut that he’s not the one who pulled off Olivia’s murder and staged McFarland’s death to look like a suicide. Even if he ordered it, in a murder for hire scheme, he didn’t do the actual killing.”

“
Oh, yeah. That makes me feel a lot better. Thanks.”

“
I figure this’d be a ‘
keep your enemy close
’ kind of deal.”

“
Is that how you look at him now…the enemy?”

She hadn’t expected that question from Gabe. Even though it bordered the edge of their professional relationship and crossed the line into her private feelings, she felt a tight bond with her partner that didn’t make the question out of bounds for them.

“It doesn’t matter what I think of him. He
is
involved in this, Gabe, whether he’s aware of it or not.”

The phone went silent. For a second, Angel thought she’d lost the connection until she heard Gabe’s voice again.

“If he admitted there could be something McFarland caught on video, I’m convinced we’ll uncover it at the lake house.”

“
Yeah, agreed.”

“
And look, Angel. I know he’s blind, but please don’t let that rub off on you,” he said. “Eyes behind your back, partner. Stick to the plan.”

“
Will do.”

***

Lake Zurich

Evening

The last few turns of the GPS app on Angel’s phone took her down Rand Road Highway 12 across Main Street of the quaint village of Lake Zurich. She headed along Paulus Park and made a right that led onto a private drive nestled tight to the northwest side of the lake.

When Angel saw the cottage on the water, it looked like a picturesque Thomas Kinkade painting. It had a wrap-around deck, large picture windows on the backside that looked out onto a cove, and was surrounded by tall trees.

“
Wow. Perfect,” she whispered as she turned off the engine and got out of the vehicle.

“
What is?” Ethan asked as he opened his passenger door.

“
It’s beautiful here.”

McFarland had inherited the lakefront property. He’d been a lucky man until his good fortune ran out.

“Describe it to me.” Ethan stood near her vehicle and moved his head as if he was guided by sound and the warmth of the sunset.

Angel felt heat rush to her cheeks. She didn’t know what to say that would do justice to the pristine property, but Ethan waited for her to find the words.

“The lake looks like a mirror to the sky. It’s dusk. The sun is an orange fireball on the horizon, about to dip over the edge of the world. The water is glistening, reflecting the color of the sun, like it’s on fire. The forest and the water remind me of the camping trips I took with my family growing up.”

“
That’s beautiful.” He breathed in the evening air and said, “Shall I tell you how it feels?”

She smiled.
“Yes. Please.”

“
Close your eyes.”

Angel shut her eyes to listen to him and to feel what he felt.

“Listen to the lapping water on the shoreline. It has a rhythm that’s calm and forgiving,” he said. “The night’s chill is winning a battle with the sun. Can you feel the fading warmth?”

Angel smiled and didn’t answer.

“I smell wood burning from a fireplace or a campfire,” he said. “The crickets have started their evening chorus, and one is slightly off key. Wind is whispering through the tree branches, a sound I never tire of. And I love the feel of the breeze on my face and in my hair, don’t you?”

It amazed Angel how she had used her eyes to paint a picture for him, but Ethan had used what senses he had to describe the same thing. The tone of his voice had a hypnotic feel. It sounded like music. When she opened her eyes, she saw Ethan’s handsome face bathed in the pale orange of the sun and his long dark hair tousled in the breeze. For a brief moment, he looked happy, until his expression changed, and the misery returned.

“The only thing that makes this trip tolerable…is you,” he said. “Being blind makes it hard to block bad memories. Those are always with me. I can’t distract my mind from them. This place belonged to the man who violated my privacy and insinuated himself into my life like a vile disease. If he had something to do with Olivia’s death, I don’t know if I could forgive myself. I can’t help feeling that I betrayed her somehow, but if coming here brings closure to what happened to her, it’s the right thing to do…even if it’s hard on me.”

Ethan reminded Angel that she had come with him for a reason. Even if she and Gabe had other motives for doing it, Ethan had a personal stake that would change his life. She had to remember every murder had a devastating and lasting ripple effect that radiated out to affect many others.

Being a cop working the case didn’t make her immune either.

“
We’ll find who killed Olivia, Ethan. Count on it.”

Angel usually refrained from making promises on the outcome to an investigation, but in this case she was determined to make it happen. It didn’t matter if Olivia had deserved Ethan’s love. That wasn’t for her or anyone else to say. What mattered was that a girl had been murdered and her life taken. Ethan had deserved to be loved, and someone had destroyed what he had for their own cruel reasons. They took Olivia’s life as if she meant nothing, except a means to an end they had yet to figure out.

Gabe had been right. There were too many players with motive to risk a clever killer getting away with murder. They had to give the killer not only a good reason to come to Lake Zurich, but they also had to make it look easy, as if they’d let their guard down. Gabe had set things in motion.

He’d contacted the property management company that kept the place rented for McFarland during certain times of the year. A company rep promised to leave a key under the front doormat for her. Gabe had also given the Lake Zurich PD a heads up that they had an operation in the area and that the location would be a stake out. When they offered assistance, her partner asked for one patrol car to discreetly monitor the road that led to the property and serve as back up.

Angel had a search to conduct, with Gabe watching her back.

Even if she hadn’t told Ethan their whole motive for coming to McFarland’s place, Angel felt justified in doing whatever it took to expose whoever had butchered a young girl and find justice for Ethan and Olivia.

***

Angel had Ethan take her arm, and she led him toward the front door. He had his rucksack on his shoulder, and he carried her overnight bag, too. The key was under the welcome mat as promised. After she opened the door, Ethan squeezed her elbow.

“Does it look as nice as it smells?” he asked. “I smell pine cones…and something floral.”

“
It’s beautiful in here, too. Real cozy.”

She described the place to him. The lake house cottage had a large stone hearth that dominated the main living area. The wood burning fireplace had been set up, ready for a match to get a warm blaze going. An inviting leather sectional surrounded the hearth and looked comfortable, with a beautiful view of the lake through floor to ceiling windows that spanned one wall. A staircase led to a second floor where the bedrooms were. With warm paint colors, designer touches, and a chef’s kitchen, the bungalow looked spotless and homey without being pretentious.

“Looks like the bedrooms are upstairs. Let’s check them out, and you can get settled and freshen up,” she said. “How does pizza sound? I saw a place as we drove in. A sign said they delivered.”

“
I never say no to pizza. Order what you like on it. I’m not picky.”

Angel gave Ethan the largest bedroom with the en suite master bath, and she took the farthest bedroom away from him. She wouldn’t sleep tonight anyway, but imagining him next door would’ve made things worse. After they settled in, she ordered a pizza to be delivered from DiPiero’s Ristorante on Main Street. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast and once the pie came, the enticing aroma of the combo pizza triggered her hunger, even when she thought she couldn’t eat.

While they ate, Angel kept her eyes alert, looking for the possible places McFarland would’ve hidden his surveillance stash. Gabe had told her how the man had hidden his gear in his home and she had a good idea where to look in his lake house. After she targeted her first locations to search, she let her mind wander to Gabe.

She knew what the game plan was, but something about not having Gabe with her had put her on edge. The idea had been for him to watch her back from a discreet distance, to draw the killer out. Local cops were asked to stay clear unless they were called in, but she didn’t like anyone else covering Gabe’s sweet backside except for her.

“Are you okay?” Ethan asked.

Angel had to smile. For someone without his eyesight, the guy could be damned perceptive.

“Yeah, I’ve just got a lot on my mind. It’s quiet here. I like it, but it’s different than the city, you know?”

“
I hate that this place belonged to McFarland, but I love being here…with you,” he said. “Olivia would’ve hated it. The quiet would have driven her crazy, I’m afraid.”

He finished his last slice of pizza and wiped his mouth with a paper napkin.

“Has the sun gone down?” he asked. “I hear an owl outside…and the temperature has dropped a little.”

“
Yeah, it’s dark out now. The moon looks beautiful over the lake,” she said. “After I clean up, you should sit on the deck…while I search. You might want to wear a jacket, if you brought one. I’ll let you know when I find something.”

Ethan’s expression took on shadows after she’d reminded him why they’d come.

“With you here, I suddenly feel ashamed of what you might see on those recordings,” he told her. “I’m not embarrassed over what I find erotic. There were other women before Olivia. They didn’t judge me. They taught me what pleased a woman…and I learned how to ask for what I needed, too. It can be a beautiful experience.”