She Can Scream (30 page)

He opened his social media application and scrolled through updates.

There she was. How interesting. Someone had a new boyfriend.

With a crack of his knuckles, he went to work hacking the young man’s account. This was going to be the best night ever.

Natalie was dead, and it was Brooke’s fault.

Numbness spread through Brooke’s body, the shock of her student’s death flowing through her veins like a morphine drip. Luke picked her up and carried her into the conference room. He lowered her into a chair. Sitting across from her, he took both her hands in his and held them without speaking.

She lifted her head. The room tilted. “Two women are dead because of me.”

His brow creased. “Wait. Two?”

“Natalie and Karen.”

“Karen was your roommate.”

“Yes.”

“She was killed by her ex-boyfriend.” Luke rubbed her hands. “How can that be your fault?”

Her gaze locked on the files spread across the conference room table. The words poured out, the secret she’d kept since that awful night breaking free. “I found her. Karen went down to do laundry a little before midnight. She was a night owl and the machines were always empty at that hour. I’ve always been a morning person. I used to get up early before work and run four or five miles. By midnight, I could barely keep my eyes open. I fell asleep on the couch after she left. By the time I woke up, it was 3:00 a.m. I knew right away that something was wrong.
Karen always shook me and sent me to bed when I dozed off in front of the TV.”

She paused for a wavering breath but couldn’t look at Luke. “Her bedroom was empty. No Karen. No laundry. I went downstairs. At first I thought the basement was empty…” The vision intruded, every detail clear as a high-resolution photo. She stopped to steady herself. “I went in and looked around. Karen’s clothes were scattered on the floor, her laundry basket upside down, her sheets piled in the corner. Karen was under the sheets. The police said she’d been dead for three to four hours.”

Brooke’s voice failed.

Luke squeezed her fingers. “Look at me.”

But she couldn’t. She tightened her grip on his hands, holding onto to him as she blurted out the rest. “The basement always smelled like mold. We used to prop the window open. I was the one who forgot to close it earlier that day when I went down to do my wash. If I had remembered to close the window, Karen would still be alive.”

“Or he would’ve simply broken the window. I’d say you shouldn’t blame yourself for what happened, but I know that’s not possible.” Luke exhaled. “I still blame myself for Sherry’s death. I know it’s not rational, but I feel like there must have been something I could have done to save her.”

Luke lifted her chin with his forefinger. His eyes reflected the despair compressed inside her own rib cage, the pressure constricting around her, tightening until she could barely breathe. “I won’t tell you to let go of the guilt because I have no idea how to do that. I guess we just have to learn to live with it.”

She thought of Natalie’s family. How could they learn to live without their daughter? Brooke’s suffering was nothing compared
to what they were enduring. Her eyes filled with tears. A few escaped to roll down her cheek and drop from her jaw. Sadness clogged her throat. A lone sob burst through.

Luke pulled her forward and wrapped his arms around her. Her head fell onto his chest, and tears spilled onto his shirt. She recovered her breath with a full-body shudder. He tucked her under his chin. One warm hand rubbed a slow circle in the center of her back. Brooke had no idea how much time passed as she drew strength from Luke’s quiet presence.

A knock sounded on the door. It opened. Chief O’Connell came into the room, his crutches banging on the metal doorframe. He produced a pack of crackers and a can of ginger ale from his pocket and set them on the table. “Luke, can I talk to you for a few minutes?”

Brooke lifted her head. She wiped her face with a hand. “You don’t need to leave the room.”

Mike gave her a quick appraisal. “We have the account information and permission from Maddie and from Natalie’s parents to access their online accounts.”

“How sure are you that it’s Natalie?” Her voice cracked.

The answer was in the chief’s pale blue eyes. “Dental records confirmed her identity a few minutes ago.”

Another wave of grief crashed over Brooke. Poor Natalie. “She was targeted because she attended my class.”

Chief O’Connell shifted on his crutches. “We don’t know that.”

Brooke stared him down.

“But it’s a strong possibility.” The chief’s face tightened. “I have to interview her family and friends. He handed Luke a piece of paper. “Here are the girls’ accounts, log-in information,
passwords, etcetera. See what you can do with it. I’ve sent it to the state police too, but it’s not their only case.”

“I’ll get on it right away.” Luke pocketed the list.

“Let me know if you come up with anything.” O’Connell turned to Brooke. “Is there anything you can tell me about Maddie or Natalie that might tie them together?”

“I didn’t even know Maddie before this week.” Brooke rubbed her forehead. “Natalie and her sister attended my last women’s self-defense course, which obviously didn’t help much.” What else could she have taught Natalie to keep her safe? How had she failed?

“Brooke.” The chief leveled a serious gaze at her. “Natalie’s Mini Cooper was found on the side of the road on her route home from work. Her bumper was mangled. Both rear tires were flat. He didn’t just run her off the road. He rammed her car with his. There weren’t any houses or businesses in sight. Nowhere for her to run for help. The driver’s side window was smashed. She probably locked the door to try and keep him out. She tried to contact the police on her cell, but the signal out there was weak. The call didn’t go through. There were injuries to her hands and forearms that suggest she fought.” His voice trailed off. “But he was bigger and stronger.”

Brooke’s lungs expanded in a painful, shaking breath.

“This was not the work of an amateur. He knew what he was doing. The fact that Natalie couldn’t fight him off is not your fault.”

“But if it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have been his target.” And thinking about targets, Brooke pulled out her phone. “Excuse me for a minute. I want to check on the kids, and I have to let Ian know what’s going on.”

She knew her kids were safe at Ian’s high-security apartment building, but a mother’s worries weren’t always about being rational. Fear for her kids was pure instinct.

Drizzle hit Brooke’s face as they walked from the police station to the car. “Where are we going?”

“I booked us into a hotel about twenty minutes from here.”

“I want to go home.”

“I know, but this is safer.” Luke steered her with a hand on the small of her back.

“For who?” Brooke protested. “I’d rather have him find me than take out his anger on another innocent young woman.”

“Brooke, I’m not going to let this guy have you no matter what.” Luke waited until she met his gaze. “And do you really think he would stop if he got you?”

“No.” Brooke settled into the passenger seat. “I’m out of clothes. If we’re going to be hiding for an indeterminate length of time, I’d like to pick up my computer. And I left my phone charger on my nightstand, and my phone is almost dead. It’s broad daylight. All this guy’s activity has been at night. How about we go back to my house for a few hours now and check into a hotel later?”

He considered her compromise for a few seconds. “All right.” He drove back to her house and parked out front. “Wait here with the doors locked. If you see anyone but me, drive away and call the police.”

Brooke stared at the house while Luke went inside. He didn’t return for ten long minutes.

“OK. Coast is clear.” He carried their bags into the kitchen. “I’ll heat up some soup.”

“I’m not hungry.” She dumped her purse on the table.

“You should eat anyway.” He set up his laptop on the table. He plugged in and booted up, then poured some soup into a saucepan. He turned on the burner under it.

Unable to sit, Brooke paced the kitchen. Good thing her knee had improved. She couldn’t contemplate being still with this much turmoil churning through her. Natalie’s face kept popping into her head, Brooke’s imagination battering it beyond recognition.

Standing at the stove, stirring soup, Luke frowned over his shoulder. “I’m going to work on identifying parallels in social media activity between the two women. With multiple sites and profiles, just downloading all the information will likely take a while. Why don’t you access Natalie’s accounts, read through them, and see if anything jumps out at you?”

She grabbed her laptop from her office and opened it next to Luke’s computer. He placed a bowl of chicken soup on the table at her other elbow, then brought her crackers. The scent wafted to her nose. She picked up a spoon. It hovered over the bowl as guilt rolled through her. How could she be hungry when a young woman was dead because of her? How could she eat when Natalie’s family was making funeral arrangements?

Luke sat down with his own late lunch. “You need to eat, Brooke. Making yourself sick serves no purpose. Helping the police find the killer is the best use of all that guilt and anger right now.”

Could he read her mind? She switched her computer on and ate a few spoonfuls while the laptop warmed up. Her stomach protested, then settled as the warm broth soothed her. Brooke managed to eat half the bowl while she checked her e-mail. Same old, same old from school. Pushing the bowl away, she
braced herself and started surfing through Natalie’s social media profiles.

Natalie was active online, but she didn’t announce her minute-to-minute activities as Maddie had done. Brooke scrolled. Natalie subscribed to updates from Forever Fitness and the Coopersfield High School alumni page. Brooke moved to the photos section and stared at the pictures of the beautiful smiling girl whose ruined body was lying in a stainless-steel morgue drawer. Brooke’s stomach cramped. She breathed through her nose and fought the rise of nausea. Her emotions were not helping. Natalie’s killer had to be stopped, and Brooke needed to lock down her guilt if she was going to contribute.

Brooke scrolled through two years of pictures and stopped on a shot of Natalie’s high school soccer team. She opened a second window, signed on to Maddie’s account, and clicked the
PHOTOS
tab. Maddie’s field hockey team pictures popped up in the first few screens. Something clicked in Brooke’s brain. She went back to Natalie’s team picture. The photos were similar, which made sense because all the athletic team yearbook pictures looked alike. She arranged the windows to view the images side by side. Tiny words ran vertically up the left edge of both photos. Photographer’s credit? She enlarged the pictures until she could read the letters.

“Luke.”

“Did you find something?” He shifted his position.

“Maybe.” She angled the computer so he could see the screen. “Look at these pictures.”

Luke leaned in. “We know both girls were high school athletes. Why would having their team pictures on their profiles be unusual?”

Brooke pointed to the name on both images.

O
WEN
Z
IMMERMAN
P
HOTOGRAPHY.

“Coincidence?” Luke scratched his chin. “How many schools use the same photographer?”

“I don’t know.” Brooke sighed. “We’ve used Owen for years. He gives us a great package. You’re right. It could be the same for all the local schools.”

“It’s worth passing that on to Chief O’Connell.”

Brooke picked up her cell and dialed. She was instructed to dial 911 only if the call was an emergency. The line switched to voice mail. She left a message for the chief to call her back.

“The only two things that jump out between the girls’ accounts are Forever Fitness and the team pictures.” Brooke couldn’t let go of either. “Let’s take a ride to Owen’s studio. It’s right in town.”

“Brooke, we are assisting the police, not acting in their place.”

But the police were working on their own theories, and Brooke’s connections were spiderweb thin. “Whoever he is, he could be planning another murder right now.”

“And visiting Owen will accomplish what?”

“I just want to get a look inside his studio.”

“Why? I doubt a killer would leave evidence out in the open.”

“Then it won’t hurt to stop by. I’ll just say I want information on getting some family portraits done. Nothing suspicious about that. Besides, you said it yourself. The link between Owen and the girls is tenuous. Maybe I can find out where he was last night and eliminate him from our list.” Brooke jumped up, the thought of doing something active to help energizing her. She headed for the hall at a brisk pace. “Grab some workout clothes. I’m in the mood to try out some exercise equipment on the way back.”

“Damn it, Brooke!” Luke yelled from the kitchen. “We cannot go looking for a killer. What if you tip him off?”

“We’ll be very casual. I can’t just sit here. He could be hurting another woman right now.” Ignoring his expletive, she darted up the stairs. She found a pair of yoga pants in decent condition at the bottom of a drawer and tugged them on. What did she hope to find at Owen’s studio or Forever Fitness? Did she think she’d recognize Natalie’s killer?