Undercover Hunter (17 page)

“Well, that remark you made about me resembling the victims. It wouldn’t leave me alone.”

He shook his head slightly. “The resemblance is slight. It bothered me for a minute there. But—”

DeeJay interrupted him. “Lew, the FBI profiler, found what appear to be two female victims of the same killer. He’s been traveling the country, and he left a trail. But the women interested me. Serial killers often have a problem with their mothers. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say he’s continuing what was done to him by his mother with these boys. He internalized whatever she was using as a reason. But every so often he goes after his mother. Not surprising the female vics would resemble her if he does. And I resemble his known victims.”

Gage gave up on eating. DeeJay hadn’t even started, and Cade was making only minor inroads on his food.

“I can leap to conclusions,” Gage said finally. “Are you proposing to dangle yourself out there? I don’t know if I can agree to that. This guy is clearly dangerous. He might not be as easy on you as the boys because you’re a bigger threat. Besides, we’ve got a little time before this guy strikes again, right?”

Cade spoke at last. “These types accelerate. From what Lew said, he did some accelerating while he was away from here. You had five boys over nearly two years the first time. After he left, he started averaging five a year, and the last year in Boston, he really sped up, finally reaching once every couple of weeks. And since he came back, while three isn’t a great sampling, he’s taking them closer than he did here before. There’s no guarantee we have any time at all.”

Gage closed his eyes and remained still for a few minutes. “I don’t like this. What are you planning?”

“No plan yet,” DeeJay admitted. “I’m just hoping that I’ll get an approach that seems a little out of line. Someone trying to lure me in some way. At least then we’ll have a direction to look.”

After a few minutes, Gage started eating again. DeeJay finally started her own sandwich but discovered her coffee was cooling. She went to get the pot and bring it to the table.

“I need to think about this,” Gage said. “We should hash it out. You
do
somewhat resemble his preferred type, and you may be right about this thing with his mother. Little surprises me anymore. But we have to do this in a way that keeps you safe.”

“I’m not getting in a truck with anyone,” DeeJay protested.

“No,” said Gage, “but what if he hits you with this paralytic you theorize before you can stop him? There’s being bait and there’s being a fool.”

DeeJay’s stomach knotted, and she once again put down her sandwich. “You’re right. But this is about the boys, isn’t it? All about them.”

“No,” said Gage, “it’s about stopping a killer before he hurts someone else.
Anyone
else. I’d like you to keep that in mind.”

Chapter 10

T
wo days later, the county was back to near normal, with everyone talking about the severity of the winter storm. And the boys. They had begun to surface frequently in conversations with DeeJay and Cade, as if people were beginning to trust them.

“I’m getting an itch,” DeeJay said. They’d finally received all the data and photos from Lew and had devoured them, then read them again. At the same time, she was acutely aware that Cade hadn’t tried to make love to her again. Disappointment seared her, and she wondered if she was that bad in bed. Or if he was waiting for her to make a move. How the hell would she know?

“What kind of itch?” he asked. Another morning spent worrying over puzzle pieces that didn’t exactly fit into a finished picture.

“You read how he accelerated when he was away from here. I’m not sure he can leash himself for much longer. Something’s going to happen and I am so freaking angry that we’ve got so little to go on.”

“I hear you.”

She looked at him, finally. She’d been trying to avoid that since he had stopped expressing personal interest in her. Maybe that was the real problem between them. Or maybe it was a problem with her. Every time she looked at him, longing blossomed deep within her. Under other circumstances she might have tumbled into bed with him and not emerged for a week. Assuming he wanted her.

She told herself to cut it out. They had to be professional. They had a job to do, and everything else needed to be safely on a back burner, most especially her feelings about Cade, feelings she was afraid to deal with.

“We should wander around separately today,” she announced.

“Gage won’t like it. He doesn’t like this whole idea.”

“He can stuff it. I get that he has to be worried about everybody, but catching this guy before he kills another boy is the most important thing. It could happen anytime now. Sooner or later he’s going to speed up again.”

She noticed he didn’t argue with her. Mainly because she was right. Lew’s file had shown that he’d taken some of his victims only two weeks apart in the past.

She continued, “Just because he seems to have sense enough to realize that moving too fast in such an underpopulated place might somehow give him away doesn’t mean he’ll be able to maintain that control indefinitely. These guys tend to get full of themselves. You know that. With every kill they get a little bolder. Feel a bit more invincible.”

Again, he didn’t argue with her, and she knew he couldn’t. One of the scariest things about these killers was the way they seemed to grow in confidence, the way their compulsions drove them harder, possibly escaping any ability to control them.

“I look something like those women,” she said, not for the first time that morning. “They were even tall like me. And don’t tell me you don’t see it.”

“I see it,” he said heavily.

“Tell me what else we’re supposed to do. We have every bit of information we can get. And none of it points to any particular person. No one has seen anything or suspected anything. Not one whisper. In a town this size, if he’d done something weird, it would have come out.”

“Maybe.”

She sighed. “I figure he’s the ultimate normal as far as most people are concerned. Nice, attractive, pleasant, friendly. He’d be among the last people who would be suspected. He’s back in town, but nobody finds that unusual, so he has roots here. Nobody noticed him five years ago, after all. He must do a really good job of blending. People like him. Maybe they instinctively trust him or have a reason to. They don’t imagine him capable of anything approaching these acts.”

“Obviously.”

“All right, I’m beating a dead horse. But the fact is, we’re supposed to find a way to be proactive. Definition of the job. Sitting on our hands is a long way from proactive, and we can’t hope he’s just going to turn himself in. I have to get out there, Cade. Make myself available. Since I know what we’re looking for, I might even be able to point us in a direction before he does anything at all. It’s a slim hope, but it’s the only one we have right now. If he tries to cozy up to me in any way, I’ll smell it in an instant. Trust me.”

He’d been almost like carved stone until that moment, but now his voice took on an edge. “I trust you, DeeJay. I believe you’re capable of looking after yourself. I figure the army taught you lots of useful defensive and martial skills, and you’ve probably used them often enough to know what you’re capable of when it comes to protecting yourself or taking some creep down.”

“But?”

“But I don’t want anything to happen to you. If I could find a better way...”

She knew she had him then. There was no better way. None, not yet. And until it turned up, she had to at least attempt this.

“I’ll take us into town,” he said finally, reluctantly. “We’ll head in different directions, pop into shops, chat up people. But don’t you dare leave the downtown no matter what. Let’s see if this works first.”

She’d won. Why, then, did her mouth taste like ashes?

* * *

By six that evening, she figured her first stab at this was turning into a bust. Not one person had seemed the least untoward, no one had tried to be more than ordinarily friendly. She was supposed to meet Cade at the diner soon, and it was beginning to sound really good. Going into various stores and bars had been like taking saunas followed by cold plunges all day. When she was inside, she perspired even though she unzipped her jacket. Back outside, the cold found that dampness and froze her.

When she got back to the city center, near the courthouse square, she faced the sheriff’s office. Too bad she couldn’t go in there and chat. Or maybe she could.

On approach, she saw Gage Dalton emerge, zipping his jacket. He caught sight of her and stopped. She crossed the street to him while he waited. The traffic light had turned to blinking red for the night.

“Let me guess,” he said when he reached her.

“You’d guess right.”

He shook his head. “You don’t listen well.”

“Not when it’s important.”

From a storefront just up the street, facing the square and just behind the sheriff’s office, she saw a man peer out from a window. She hadn’t been up there yet. Keeping up the pretense, she waved. He didn’t wave back.

Gage turned to look. “That’s our crisis hotline office,” he said.

“I wouldn’t have expected to find one here. Part of your department?”

“We started it when the semiconductor plant came. A lot of new people, and the move wasn’t easy for them. Then it turned out to be more useful than we could have thought. Grants keep it going, and, yes, the staff are under my purview, but the hotline has its own director. I mostly stay out of the way.”

She hesitated. “I don’t suppose I have a legitimate reason to go in there.”

“They keep the doors locked. When you’re dealing with a family dispute, there’s plenty of reason to fear backlash, even later. But I can give you an excuse. Come on.”

She noted again his limp, but it didn’t seem to slow him down much. They covered the distance quickly, and he knocked on the door, then stood back so they could see through the window. The only window in town that had bars on the inside.

The door opened, and a middle-aged woman with graying hair looked out, smiling. “Sheriff. What can we do for you?”

“Hi, Dory. I was just bragging to Ms. Denton here about you all, and I thought I could show you off. You’re high point in this town.”

“Well, that’s nice to hear. We’re quiet tonight, so it’s okay to bring Ms. Denton in.”

“Just call me DeeJay.” DeeJay smiled, pulling off one glove to offer her hand. “I promise not to keep you long.”

* * *

Calvin watched from his console, headset firmly in place. When he’d looked out the window earlier and seen DeeJay, he’d immediately started wondering if he should hurry out for coffee in the hopes of running into her.

Now he could stay put and meet her anyway. As she entered, he saw the brilliant light around her, the light that meant she was chosen. His mouth grew a little dry from excitement.

Dory introduced her with a smile. “The sheriff is bragging about us, Calvin. Maybe you can get your picture in a magazine.”

DeeJay spread her hands, one with a glove on and one off. “Sorry, didn’t bring a camera. We’re going to be limited mostly to scenic pictures, though, so don’t take offense. I’ve seen you before, haven’t I? At the diner?”

“I think so. Everyone meets there.” He had risen to his feet, as a gentleman should, and smiled at her, trying to contain his rising excitement. She had come to him. They always came to him. He could almost feel the Fates pushing them together.

He shook her hand and noticed its warmth. It wouldn’t be warm for long, he thought. Soon she’d be as icy as his boys, and as pure. Well, as pure as he could make her.

Dory laid a hand on his shoulder. While he usually hated to be touched, Dory was different somehow. In no way did she remind him of his mother, and she was always nice to him.

“These folks do a tough job,” the sheriff was saying. “They do it well.”

DeeJay was smiling. “It must be a hard one. I can’t imagine all the grief and despair you must deal with.”

“Actually,” said Calvin, “it makes me feel good to help people.”

Her dark eyes, so like his mother’s, settled on him. “Then you’re a remarkable person, Mr. Sweet.”

“Calvin, please. We’re not too busy tonight. Would you like me to show you around?”

She agreed. Of course she did. She was drawn to him the way most people were. In his role as savior and saint, he ushered her around the small office, explaining that the phones were manned around the clock, but they tended to get busiest at night and when the winter deepened. “Cabin fever isn’t a great thing for people who are alone or who are in so-so marriages.”

“I wouldn’t think so,” she agreed. “Did the storm we just had cause any problems?”

“I can’t say,” he admitted honestly. “We were sent home and the calls were transferred to the sheriff’s department.”

“Purely for safety reasons,” Gage said from his position by the door. “No point in having people camp out in this office when we were going to be working anyway.”

Calvin smiled at him. “Of course not.”

“So did you grow up here?” DeeJay asked him as they returned to his console. The computer screen remained blank as no calls were happening right now.

“I did,” Calvin said. “Born and bred. I have a small ranch outside of town, but I don’t work it. I was away for a while, and my mother died. I came back as soon as I could, and I still haven’t decided what I want to do with it.”

DeeJay nodded, listening to him. “It would be a hard decision,” she said. “I come from a town even smaller than this.”

He looked at her, wondering about her. But it didn’t matter. She was still glowing, still drawing him. “Why’d you leave?”

“Too small for me.” She gave a little laugh. “I wanted more travel and excitement. How about you?”

“I had this crazy idea I’d like the big city better.”

He noticed the way her gaze suddenly focused on him. “Which city?”

“Oh, a few of them.” For some reason he felt reluctant to name them. “But I did this kind of work there and I loved it. I’m glad I could do it when I came home.”

She nodded, her gaze drifting away. “That was a great break. I recently lived in Houston,” she added. “You been there?”

“On a visit,” he said vaguely. “I lived in Boston for a brief while.”

She nodded, but he could tell he was losing her. That offended him somehow. He sought a way to get her attention back. “If you’re after scenic pictures, you should come to my ranch. Fantastic view of the mountains.”

She returned those dark eyes to him, and he felt soothed. She was interested. He could see it. “I’d like that. We usually send a photographer out, though. A pro. But I could take some pictures to give him ideas.”

“Cool! Not all your photos should be from the top of the mountains.”

Just then the phone line rang. He cursed it because it was for him and he was next on the rotation. But he couldn’t let her see that he didn’t want to answer, that she had become more important.

Another friendly smile. “Excuse me.” He touched his headset and walked toward the console. “Crisis hotline, this is Calvin. What can I help you with tonight?”

DeeJay moved toward the door, spoke a few words with Dory, then turned to wave at him. He had her, he thought as he waved back and continued to listen to the woman sobbing on the line. DeeJay would come to the ranch. He just had to make sure she didn’t bring the guy with her. Of course, if necessary he could deal with the man, too. In fact, it might make things cleaner. Folks would just think they had finished their job and left, rather than have her husband raise a ruckus. Yeah, that would work better.

Gage opened the door, letting her exit ahead of him, and Dory locked it behind them.

Later, when he was done with his call and they were waiting for the next, Dory remarked, “That was odd.”

His attention pricked. “Why?”

“I just can’t imagine why a travel writer would be interested in us.”

He could. She had been summoned. But even as he thought that, a warning sounded in the back of his head. Maybe she had another motive. Maybe he should watch her carefully before he made his move. Spiders, after all, waited until their prey was truly tangled and even tired before they approached to sting it.

Spiders were so smart, but he was smarter.

* * *

“I want everything you’ve got on Calvin Sweet,” DeeJay told Gage when they reached the corner and were about to part ways.

“Why? Houston and Boston?”

“That and an invitation to his ranch.”

Gage shook his head a little. “There’s probably not much. He’s never been in trouble with the law, but I’ll see what I can get, starting with his job application. Really, do you think a serial killer would be working at a crisis hotline?”

“Ted Bundy did. By all accounts, he was good at it, too.”

She took some satisfaction from seeing his eyes widen. “Hell,” he muttered.

“It’s a long shot, but right now it’s the only one we have. And I’m late meeting Cade at the diner. By now he’s probably wondering if I got myself abducted.”