QR Code Killer (18 page)

“What, exactly, are you making?”

“A breakfast casserole. I think even I can
make it without setting anything aflame.” Maddie looked up from the
table and smiled at Erik, her heart warmed by his presence and the
admiring glow in his honey-colored eyes.

“You continue to amaze me, Maddie,” Erik
said, pulling her into his embrace. “I think you can do anything
you set your mind to, even learning to cook.”

Maddie didn’t put up any resistance to his
arms around her. Instead she breathed in his unique scent of soap,
shaving lotion and all man. Sliding her arms around his back, she
rejoiced in quiet, pleasant moments like this that kept her from
being consumed by the dark and twisted world her job pulled her
into.

“Did you make any progress with the photos or
the information?” Erik asked as held Maddie close, enjoying their
few moments alone before everyone else wandered into the
kitchen.

“No, I didn’t, but something keeps niggling
at the back of my mind. There is something here I’m missing. I just
don’t know what it could be.”

“You’ll figure it out. That’s why they call
you Mad Dog isn’t it? You never let go of the bone until you’ve
gnawed it completely.”

“Well, that paints quite a pretty and
flattering picture of me, Mr. Moore,” Maddie said, slapping
playfully at Erik.

He laughed and rubbed his hands up and down
her arms. “Do you need a pretty picture?”

“Maybe I do,” Maddie said, trying to look
indignant.

“When I think of you as Madelyn, your hair
falls in soft golden waves around your lovely face, your cheeks are
kissed by pink summer roses and your eyes, those big beautiful blue
orbs, are warm and inviting. They make me want to dive right in and
spend forever there. Your lips are rosy and enticing, your laughter
stirs my heart and the sound of you saying my name makes me want to
hold you in my arms and kiss you until there is nothing except the
two of us. How’s that? Is that a better picture?”

“That was wonderful, Farmer Man,” Maddie
said, her eyes soft as her love for Erik flooded her being. “I
think you might have a poet’s heart beating beneath that John Deere
T-shirt you’re wearing.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Erik teased.
Putting a hand to her head, he let it linger in a gentle caress
before looking around the kitchen. “So what else do we need to make
to go with your casserole?”

“I could make muffins,” Maddie said. When
Erik looked at her doubtfully, she held up a boxed mix.

“Sounds good. I can help.”

By the time the casserole and muffins were
done, Zach, Danny and Aubrey wandered into the kitchen. After
breakfast was over, they all sat looking at the photos. Danny
agreed there was something they were missing, but they couldn’t
quite grasp the elusive thought that would bring them clarity.

“Let’s take a break and come back to these,”
Aubrey suggested. “I’d love to see the farm. I don’t get to spend
much time in the country and it is absolutely beautiful here.”

“Go on and show her around, Danny,” Maddie
urged. “Take one of the four-wheelers.”

“Thanks. We won’t be gone too long,” Danny
said, leading Aubrey outside.

Zach and Erik went out to do the morning
irrigating while Maddie cleaned up the breakfast dishes. She was
just putting the last dish in the dishwasher when her old cell
phone rang. Snatching it off the table, she steeled herself for
whatever was going to happen next.

“Maddie, dear, up and about early this
morning, aren’t we? Such a beautiful day, too. Looks like you’ve
got company. And here I thought you might have a thing for the
cowboy and he’s had a girl all along. Hope she isn’t too jealous of
all the time you fawned over him this summer. I didn’t realize you
were such a playful flirt.”

Maddie interrupted him. “What do you want,
Zeus? Why don’t you quit playing games and cut to the chase.”

“You want to cut to the chase, Maddie, dear?
You mean you don’t like conversing with me?”

“Not particularly,” Maddie said, trying to
sound bored.

“You wound me deeply, Maddie, dear,” Zeus’
voice took on a hard edge and his accent slowly faded. “I don’t
like people snooping in my belongings. That’s why they are mine.
That’s why I go to great lengths to keep them private.”

“If you want to keep things private, maybe
you shouldn’t create a need for them to become the subject of
speculation,” Maddie suggested. “Besides, you don’t seem to have a
problem snooping through other people’s belongings, do you? How
dare you invade my privacy like that? What gives you the right to
be so intrusive in my private life?”

“Because I’m Zeus, that’s what,” he said,
growing agitated.

“You are a little man with a very large ego,
not a god,” Maddie said, trying to goad him.

“I’ve warned you plenty of times to back off,
hon, and you seem to have a problem listening,” Zeus growled into
the phone, his irritation had completely obliterated his accent and
something triggered in Maddie’s mind. That voice was one she knew,
one that tickled the edges of her memory, but she couldn’t at that
moment figure out why. “Just to make it perfectly clear, I’m
sending you another reminder. Hope you said bye-bye to brother
dearest this morning.”

Maddie threw down the phone and bolted out
the door. Erik was just walking out of the shop and Zach had one
foot on the four-wheeler, ready to start it.

Running for all she was worth toward Zach,
she screamed, “Zach! No, get back!”

He took a step back, startled, and bumped the
ignition. The four-wheeler exploded, knocking Zach on his back
several feet away. Maddie and Erik both rushed to him. He had burns
and cuts, but he was still breathing. Maddie called John.

“John, he just tried to kill Zach. I want him
to think he’s dead. Can you get an ambulance out here and make it
look good?”

“I’m on my way, sit tight,” John said.

Leaning over Zach, Maddie didn’t want to move
him in case he had broken bones or internal injuries. Looking at
Erik she whispered, “I want Zeus to think Zach is dead. I’m going
to send him to Seattle, but as far as anyone knows, Zach died
today. So we are going to make this look good. I’m going to fall
all to pieces in a minute and you are going to comfort me until
John shows up. We’ll have them take Zach to the hospital and get
him out of here. We’ve got to convince Zeus that he’s dead.
Okay?”

“Okay,” Erik said, not convinced Maddie
wasn’t far from the mark. Zach was still breathing, but he looked
to be in pretty bad shape.

Maddie leaned farther over Zach, careful not
to touch him, but close enough she could whisper in his ear. “Zach,
you are going to be just fine. Help is on the way. I won’t let him
hurt you anymore, but you’ve got to pretend to be dead. Can you do
that?”

Zach didn’t respond.

“Zach, can you hear me? Please let me know
you can hear me,” Maddie begged. Zach wiggled one of his pinky
fingers and Maddie kissed his cheek. “Good job, big brother. I’m
about to get all hysterical, so you just rest until John gets
here.”

Flinging herself away from Zach, Maddie
started sobbing and crying, screaming Zach’s name over and over.
Danny and Aubrey arrived on the other four-wheeler and took in the
scene quickly. Rushing over to Zach, Danny started to call out
something but Erik shook his head. Aubrey walked up to where Erik
held Maddie and put her hand on Maddie’s back. While Maddie
continued to sob, Erik quietly whispered what they were doing and
why. Aubrey nodded and knelt beside Danny and repeated the
information. In just a few moments, John pulled up, and the
ambulance wasn’t far behind.

Danny walked up to John. “We’ve got to make
this look good. Zeus has to believe without a doubt that Zach is
dead.”

“We’ll convince him. I’ve got two deputies in
the ambulance, one used to be an EMT. Zach will be in good
hands.”

When the supposed EMTs arrived and went to
Zach, they went through the motions of checking for a pulse,
shaking their heads and offering their condolences before pulling a
sheet over his head and loading him onto a gurney.

“He’ll be flown to Seattle and admitted to
the hospital there under a false name,” John said as the ambulance
pulled away. “I’ll keep you all posted, but I better get
moving.”

Maddie wondered how Zeus managed to sneak
past the officer who kept an eye on the place at night. Come to
think of it, he usually let them know when he was leaving in the
morning and no one had seen him yet today.

“Where’s Greg?” Maddie suddenly whispered.
“He should have seen Zeus tampering with the four-wheeler last
night.

“Now that you mention it, I didn’t see his
car when we were out earlier,” Danny said. “I think I better go
look for him.”

“Not by yourself, you’re not,” Aubrey said,
climbing on behind Danny.

While they took off to look for the missing
officer, Erik walked Maddie back to the house. “That was close. Do
you think Zach will be okay?”

“Yes, I do.” Maddie looked at the smoldering
heap of four-wheeler. “The force of the explosion carried him more
than the explosives. I think he’s probably got mostly surface
wounds, but we’ll know for sure when he gets to the hospital. He’ll
be fine, though.”

Erik and Maddie went back in the house where
she called Tom and asked him to meet Zach and his entourage at the
hospital. Tom said they were making more strides in capturing Zeus.
With the passports, Tom had been able to get a few people to
identify some of Zeus’ many personalities. He had tracked down
several business listings under false names. It was just a matter
of time until they had all the info they needed to finally identify
Zeus and put him away once and for all. Maddie knew she was going
to be the bait that drew him out of hiding when they did.

“What do we do now?” Erik asked, watching
Maddie as she carefully went through the files on the table again.
“I’m not too good at the sit and wait game.”

“So I noticed,” Maddie said, shooting him a
grin. “You’ve nearly worn a groove into the kitchen floor from your
pacing.”

“Sorry,” Erik said, sinking down into a chair
and running his hand through his hair. “I just don’t like to feel
useless or helpless.”

“Of which you are neither,” Maddie said,
pulling out a file and reading the contents intently. She laid it
down on the table and sat back, thinking. Picking it up again, she
repeated the process.

“What is it? What are you thinking?”

Maddie sighed. “It may be nothing, but I keep
wondering how Zeus knows things about me no one else knows.
Personal things. How did he find out about them?”

“What kind of things?” Erik asked, reaching
for the file only to have Maddie snatch it out of his hand. Her
cheeks blushed pink.

“Personal things.”

Erik held out his hand and raised an eyebrow
her direction. “Seriously, Maddie? Come on, hand it over. You know
Tom and everyone in your department studied these in detail.”

“I know, and that doesn’t make it any better
or easier.”

“Let me see.”

Reluctantly, Maddie handed over the file.
Erik took a moment to read through it. When he finished he handed
it back to her then turned to the fridge and got out a pitcher of
tea. He poured them both a glass without saying a word, handed her
the drink, and leaned back against the counter studying her.

“Well, say something,” Maddie finally said,
squirming under his perusal.

Erik grinned. “What do you want me to
say?”

“Something,” Maddie said, feeling ashamed and
embarrassed. She didn’t know why Erik knowing what half the Seattle
police force probably knew by now bothered her so, but it did.

“Come here,” Erik said, pulling her to him
and kissing her on top of the head. She could feel a chuckle rumble
in his chest, where her cheek rested. “Do you really sing show
tunes in the shower?”

Maddie sighed. This was going to be
torturous. “Sometimes. Maybe.”

“And you always paint your toenails the same
shade of pink? What was it? Cotton Candy?”

“Hmph.” Maddie wouldn’t even dignify that
question, no matter how accurate the information, with a reply.

“And the birthmark,” Erik said, pushing her
back so he could look down into her face. “That one, I admit, has
me quite curious. Want to let me see it?”

“Absolutely not!” Maddie jerked away from him
and stepped back into the opposite counter. “What kind of girl do
you think I am?”

Erik crossed the space in one step and had
her back in his arms. He leaned down and placed his mouth next to
her ear. “A very strong, very beautiful, very desirable one.”

Maddie shivered in response. Erik stirred her
feelings in a way she was fairly certain were better left alone
right now. It made it too hard to concentrate, to focus, to
breathe.

“Are you sure I can’t see that birthmark?”
Erik growled in her ear.

“No,” Maddie whispered.

“No you aren’t sure, or no I can’t see
it?”

“No viewing,” Maddie said, tugging on her
shirt in an unconscious effort at hiding the little tear-drop
shaped spot that rested low on her back. So low, in fact, she
couldn’t fathom how Zeus would even know it was there. No one did
except her family and none of them would have made it public
knowledge. As Maddie’s face took on a contemplative look, Erik
placed a hand on her arm.

“Maddie, I’m sorry. I was just teasing you,
but I know how much this bothers you. I just don’t understand how
he could know so many intimate things about you. Things I certainly
don’t know and I…” Erik cut himself off before he said more than he
meant to.

“You what?” Maddie said, wondering what Erik
didn’t say.

“I would like to.”

“Erik,” Maddie breathed his name like it was
a prayer, leaning into the warmth and love he offered.