Evil Never Dies (The Lizzy Gardner Series Book 6) (7 page)

CHAPTER TWELVE

Standing outside the door to her office downtown, fishing around inside her bag for the keys, Lizzy heard someone call her name and glanced over her shoulder. It was Jessica Pleiss, her very first employee, now ex-employee and rookie FBI agent, running toward her.

“What are you doing here?”

“I just flew in an hour ago,” Jessica said, catching her breath. “I rented a car and came straight here. I have a meeting in an hour, so I thought I’d see if you were here. After I didn’t see your car, I decided to get a coffee, but then I saw you and here I am.”

They embraced, and then Jessica pointed to the coffee shop up the street. “I’ll go get us both a coffee. I’ll be right back.”

“Nothing for me,” Lizzy said. “My stomach has been acting up.”

“Have you had a checkup recently?”

Lizzy gave her a don’t-mother-me look. “Go get your coffee,” she said, shooing her away. “I’ll put away my things and heat the place up so we can talk and you can tell me why you’re here in Sacramento before you run off.”

“Sounds good.”

Lizzy used to stop to admire the etched sign on the door:
L
IZZY
G
ARDNER
I
NVESTIGATIONS
. But not any longer. The sign, the business, everything about the place left a bad taste in her mouth. She would sell the business today if she didn’t need it as a cover for their extracurricular activities.

Hurrying inside, she dropped her purse in the bottom desk drawer, then put away any files or notes that might raise a red flag. Jessica had no idea what she, Kitally, and Hayley were up to, and Lizzy planned to keep it that way. Jessica was a law-abiding citizen, a straight shooter who happened to work for the FBI.

Jessica returned five minutes later, coffee in hand. “Did you know that the Bernsteins sold the coffee shop?”

Lizzy shook her head.

“According to the new owner, they were robbed. Twice. They couldn’t take it any longer and they moved away. Clear across the country.”

“I can’t blame them.”

“What? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of moving.”

“I’m just taking it one day at a time.”

Jessica sank into the seat in front of Lizzy’s desk. “How are you doing, Lizzy? How are you holding up?”

“I don’t want to talk about me. Tell me why you’re here.”

Jessica’s gaze roamed over Lizzy’s face as if she was searching for answers. Finally, she exhaled and said, “I’m sure you’ve heard about Mark Kiel’s daughter. Killed while taking a run through the park.”

Lizzy nodded.

“I can’t say too much, but there are at least two other homicides that occurred in the past few months that are being reexamined for connections.”

“And they wanted you on the case because . . . ?”

“Because the FBI is getting involved and Jimmy Martin asked me to help him out. It will be good for me to get some early exposure to these sorts of crimes.”

“What about Quantico?”

“I still have a few weeks of training left. I’ll be flying back and forth.”

Lizzy nodded. “Good for you.”

“There’s more. Another body was found during my flight over here this morning.”

“Where?”

“Right off of the American River trail. Not too far from Kital
ly’s house in Carmichael.”

Lizzy stiffened.

“With Brittany getting into Sac State and with you taking your morning and/or evening runs, I thought you should know.”

“I appreciate it.” Lizzy rubbed her chin. “How did you know about Brittany getting into Sac State?”

“She called me.”

Silence.

“Your niece is worried about you. You should call her.”

“I will. Do you have a place to stay?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

When Lizzy arrived home at six o’clock, she found Salma sitting at the dining room table, playing solitaire. “There’s some vegetarian biryani in the refrigerator if you’re hungry.”

“What is it?”

“A classic Indian dish with basmati rice, potatoes, carrots, peas, and lots of spices.”

Lizzy plopped her purse on the table. “Thanks. I’ll give it a try. Where’s everyone else?”

“Kitally is in her bedroom, and I haven’t seen Hayley all day.”

Lizzy wrinkled her nose as she walked toward the family room. “What’s that smell? It’s not your yani dish, is it?”

“It most certainly is not. And it’s called biryani, not yani.” Salma sniffed the air. “It does smell in here, though. Kind of smells like seafood, doesn’t it?”

Lizzy walked around the main room, trying to find the source of the smell. “Yes, that’s it. Smells like rotted fish. Makes me want to gag.”

“I mentioned it to Kitally, but she couldn’t smell it. I thought maybe I was going crazy.”

Lizzy gave up on finding the source of the smell. As she walked back toward the kitchen, she said, “I’m sorry about the other day. I haven’t been myself lately.”

“Don’t worry about it. It wouldn’t feel like home if everyone walked around with smiles on their faces.”

Lizzy forced a smile, and then opened the refrigerator and pulled out the container holding the dish Salma had made. She popped the lid and gave it a precautionary sniff. Nope, that wasn’t the smell. If the rotting-fish stench didn’t go away soon, she was going to start opening windows. She put the container in the microwave and pushed a few buttons to heat it up. “I have a friend coming here to stay for a few nights. She should arrive any time now.”

“Oh. I can move out of the bedroom and give her some privacy.”

“She can sleep on the couch. She’ll be fine.”

The quiet settled between them while Lizzy waited for dinner to heat up and Salma played her card game.

“If you need any help with anything, let me know,” Salma said.

“I will. So, what’s the deal with you anyhow? Do you have family in the area?”

The girl nodded. “I do. Not that you’d know it. Since they found out I’m pregnant they’re not talking to me.”

“What about the father of the baby?”

“He’s around.”

When Salma grew quiet, Lizzy went to the table and took a seat across from her. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

Lizzy didn’t believe her. “You look much younger.”

“That’s what everyone says.”

“Are you a runaway?”

She rubbed her swollen belly. “No.”

“Do your parents know where you are?”

She shrugged.

“If you tell me where you live or give me a number, I could call and talk to them.”

“Listen, this isn’t something you can just jump in and fix. My father is not happy with my choices—that’s a nice way to put it. The cultural differences between my boyfriend and me make it impossible for my family to accept him. My brother can be a hothead. If they find out where I am, who knows what could happen? So no, no phone calls. If you don’t want me to stay, I’ll leave. I didn’t ask to come here. Your friends dragged me here against my will.”

Lizzy didn’t like the ultimatum. She also didn’t like the idea of the young girl roaming the streets. She needed to think things through and figure out what to do with the girl. With a baby on the way, she couldn’t stay here indefinitely.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Annie Shepard staggered out of the doctor’s office. Her cell phone was inside her purse, and she could feel it vibrating against her thigh. It was probably her husband, calling from work to find out the results of the latest test.

A tear ran down her cheek.

Standing in the hallway, her only thought was,
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

She wasn’t ready to talk to her husband. Not yet. She just needed a moment to herself to take it all in. She’d never felt so damned happy in her life.

Deliriously happy.

After all these months of staying strong, refusing to cry or show emotions, she was a wreck. Her heart pounded inside her chest. Her hands felt clammy; her legs wobbled beneath her bony frame. It boggled her mind to discover she’d never really seen this coming. It was a miracle. And she knew it.

As she followed the carpeted hallway, making a left and then a right, she recalled taking this same walk through these same hallways two years ago, almost to the day.

She’d been given an upsetting diagnosis that day—told she had ovarian cancer. One year to live was the most they could promise her. Tops.

She’d spent the last twenty-four months of her life doing everything she could to reverse the cancer that had dared to invade her body and turn her life upside down. After getting a second and third opinion, each diagnosis grimmer than the last, she’d had surgery, and then chemotherapy followed by radiation. Not to mention a radical change in her diet. Despite the weakness in her arms and legs, she began to exercise, which consisted mostly of stretching and taking long walks. Every day. When she wasn’t exercising, she was reading self-help books. All very inspiring and positive books:
No Fear for the Fearless
.
You Can Beat the Odds
.
Don’t Look Back, Moving Forward
.

Not once had she allowed herself a pity party. In fact, the minute she had walked out of this same building two years ago, she had refused to accept the verdict. She would not go out without a fight.

And today, she’d learned she had won.

Her cancer was in full-blown remission.

She would live long enough to see her children grow, marry, have children of their own.

She stopped right there in the middle of the hallway and let out a “
Yippee!
” She blushed when an elderly couple passed by, gawking at her. After they disappeared inside the elevator at the end of the hallway, she let out another whoop, and then she laughed out loud.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed—a real honest-to-goodness laugh that made her insides thrum like this.

Things were going to change, she decided as she continued toward the stairwell at the end of the hallway. She needed to try new things. Live a little.

She spared a quick glance at the elevator as she walked by.

By nature, she’d always been a scaredy-cat. There were quite a few things, in fact, that scared the bejesus out of her, and the top two on her list were bridges and elevators.

After turning away from the door to the stairwell, she turned back toward the elevator. As she bit down on her bottom lip, she looked at the shiny metallic doors in a new light. She’d lost track of the number of times someone or another told her that the elevator was the most used transportation on earth. Elevators required regular inspections and maintenance, they would tell her. Elevators were perfectly safe. Accidents only happened in the movies or on TV. If there was an emergency, there were call buttons for just that reason.

She reached out and hit the red Down button.

Then she waited.

Since he still had plenty of time before his meeting, he’d taken the first empty parking space he could find on the side of the road and decided to head for Capitol Mall to do some people watching. Once his meeting was over, he planned to visit the Crocker Art Museum, one of his favorite places in Sacramento. The new wing was nice, light and spacious, but he treasured the original Crocker with its elaborately carved wood, dark colors, and stained glass. He always felt at home when he visited.

As he’d walked along the sidewalk, he watched various people pass him by without a second glance. With his neatly trimmed hair and casual suit, he was one of them. Everyone was rushing to work or perhaps to lunch.

After he’d noticed an elderly couple exit an underground parking garage, something possessed him to head that way. It was almost as if he were being pulled by some magnetic force. There were very few cars parked within the garage, and despite it being daytime, the area was dark. Bits of trash were scattered about. No security whatsoever. A black hole in the middle of a bustling city.

The elevator doors to his left opened, startling him. Before the doors could shut again, he rushed over and used his right foot to hold the doors open while he stepped inside. He had no idea where he was going or what sort of building this was, but it was such an odd little hole in the wall, he couldn’t resist.

There appeared to be three floors. A short ride, no matter which button he pressed. He pushed the button with the number 3, hoping to feel a jolt before takeoff.

No jolt. No fun. Not until the doors parted and he found a tiny bird of a woman waiting to get on the elevator. Her eyes were twinkling until she saw him frowning.

“I’m afraid I’m lost,” he told her, bedazzling her with one of his wide grins.

“Are you here to see Dr. Roth?”

“Yes, Dr. Roth. Am I on the right track?”

Her frown bloomed into a smile that made her eyes sparkle again. She pointed to her left. “It’s a bit of a maze, but his office is that way,” she said.

He stepped off the elevator, holding the door for the woman to get on.

“Thank you,” she said after she’d stepped inside.

“Anything for such a lovely woman.”

He let go of the door, saw her blush as the doors slowly moved toward each other. Before the doors met, though, he grabbed hold of the edge of a door and squeezed his way back inside the elevator. “I forgot something,” he said.

Five seconds passed before the doors began to close again.

“It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?” he asked her.

How fitting, Annie had thought, that the elevator doors would open and such a handsome and distinguished-looking man would be standing before her. Her day kept getting better and better.

After she’d pointed him in the direction of Dr. Roth’s office, she’d stepped into the elevator and felt a ripple of anticipation rush through her body. Instead of being afraid, she’d felt a thrill she couldn’t explain if she tried.

When the man turned and stopped the elevator doors from shutting so he could step back inside, a moment of trepidation had fallen over her, but any worry was short-lived. He had simply forgotten something.

“It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?”

He had a rich and pleasing voice. He asked the question in such a way that made her feel as if he knew she’d just been handed a second chance to live life. His eyes were so blue, his smile so bright, she had a difficult time looking away. “Today is the best day of my life,” she said cheerily.

He smiled again and said, “You have no idea how happy that makes me.”

Their space was limited, but he stepped closer, all the while looking at her with a fiery intensity.

Her pulse raced.

He lifted his hands, and for a moment she actually thought he was going in for a kiss.

“I’m a married woman,” she said as his fingers brushed over her throat, her eyes never leaving his.

“Even better,” he said. And then his hands clamped hard around her neck and he began to squeeze. It was then she noticed not only his crooked nose but four faint lines across his cheek. Scratch marks he’d tried to cover up.

This wasn’t his first time. He’d killed before. And he would kill again.

Today was not the first day of the rest of her life, after all.

It was her last.

If only I’d taken the stairs
, she thought as the elevator lurched to a stop and her legs crumpled beneath her.