WAY OF THE SHADOWS (10 page)

When the sheriff didn’t speak, Noelle glanced his way. He was watching her with a hooded gaze. “Sheriff?”

“Locking him up won’t stop that girl’s nightmares.” His hand rasped over his stubble-covered jaw. “You and I both know that, don’t we?”

Her head tilted as she studied him.

“Camden was a quiet town before all this mess started.” His lips pressed together and formed a grim line. “But Los Angeles, well, it had more than its share of crime.”

So there was more to the sheriff than met the eye. Wasn’t that the story with everyone? “You came up here to get away.”

“I got tired of arriving too late.”

She knew exactly what that was like.

“You’re not FBI.”

Noelle didn’t so much as blink. “My ID says otherwise.”

He laughed, but the sound was grim. “This ain’t my first rodeo, and I know FBI agents when I see them. They’re stiff, by the book, and they sure as hell don’t race through fire without so much as twitching.” He pointed at her. “It was the other agent who gave things away. Military. Covert, I’m betting.”

“The past few days have been very stressful,” she said carefully. “I think—”

“That bigwig who flew in on his
own
chopper, he isn’t FBI. I don’t know what organization you all work for, but I do need to know this.” He exhaled on a rough breath. “Is my town safe? Or will more people be hurt soon?”

Watch what you say.
“We are going to catch the man who’s behind Jenny’s abduction.”

“Yeah, but are you and that team of yours going to do it before or
after
I have to clean up more bodies?”

* * *

T
HE
SNOW
WAS
RED
.

Thomas stopped instantly when he caught sight of the red drops. He lifted his hand, an old habit, as he signaled to Aaron.

Aaron bent low and gazed at the blood and at the faint trail that led across the street. The trail ended right at the door of an old pharmacy.

The lights were out in that pharmacy. Odd, since power had come back to the city an hour ago.

“Cover me,” Thomas said flatly. He advanced toward the building, aware of Aaron following him. Thomas had his gun out, and he was more than ready to use it on the man who’d nearly killed Noelle the night before.

There were more droplets at the door, as if the guy had paused for a moment before he’d gone inside. Thomas reached for the knob. It twisted easily in his grasp. He shoved open that door and rushed inside.

Aaron was right on his heels.

Drops of crimson dotted the aisle. He followed them, then saw the heavy, blood-soaked cloths on the counter.

A quick search showed no one was in the pharmacy. The back door was unlocked. Just like the front.

“Looks like the guy got away again.” Aaron shook his head. “But we had to be close.”

Thomas studied the discarded bandages—and the bullet that had been left behind.

“He dug it out, huh?” Aaron whistled. “I had to do that once. Thought I’d pass out before the bullet came out of my stomach.”

Thomas’s gaze swept the scene once more. “He didn’t dig it out himself.” That just made things so much worse.

“What? How do you know?”

Thomas grabbed the purse that had fallen on the ground near the red-stained counter.

“Hell,” Aaron muttered.

Thomas pulled out the ID inside. Sarah Finway. A Sarah Finway who was most definitely
not
there any longer.

“He’s got another victim,” Thomas said.

* * *

N
OELLE
STARED
AT
the photos on the wall. All of those girls. Scared. Blindfolded. So alone.

But you weren’t really alone, were you?
Because their abductor had been the one to take the photos.

“I’ve got more men coming in,” Mercer said.

She nearly jumped at his voice. She’d been so intent on those girls Noelle hadn’t even heard him enter the little office.

“They’ll be here in two hours.”

Right. When Mercer said jump, people flew.

“They’ll search every inch of the senator’s house, and if there’s more evidence to find,” he nodded and said, “we’ll have it.”

Her phone rang. Noelle glanced down, saw it was Thomas, and she answered immediately. “Did you find him?”

“He’s got another victim.”

Her fingers tightened around the instrument.

“A woman who worked at the pharmacy, Sarah Finway. The guy’s blood is here, but he’s not and neither is she.”

Her heart thundered in her chest. “We can use his blood for DNA. If he’s in the system, we’ll have an ID.”

“But we won’t have
her.
” Frustration boiled in Thomas’s voice. “The guy knows this area. He’ll stash her, and then he’ll kill her, all while we’re running down DNA.”

Thomas wasn’t used to this part of the business. EOD agents were men and women of action. They didn’t run DNA checks. They didn’t stalk after criminals. They went in. They attacked. They completed their missions.

And Thomas was right. By the time they got a DNA hit on the perp, Sarah Finway could be dead.

“I’m going to keep searching with Aaron. If we find anything, I’ll call you.”

“He knows this area. Be careful because you don’t want to walk into another of his traps.”

“I want to find the guy,” Thomas fired back. “If he wants to hunt someone, if that’s the way he likes to play, then he needs to come hunt me, not some innocent civilian.”

When the call ended, Noelle kept holding the phone and staring at those pictures. “I need to talk with the sheriff,” she said, not looking over her shoulder at Mercer. “And then I want to head back to the senator’s place and talk with Paula Quill.” Because Paula had been the senator’s confidant. If there had been someone in and out of the senator’s life for the past fifteen years, then Paula should know.

Mercer’s footsteps padded out of the office. She knew he’d pull the sheriff in, one way or another. No one said no to Mercer. At least, not for long.

She put the phone down on the desk and let her gaze trek from image to image. They’d gotten names for the girls. Dates of their disappearances. She’d put the images in order based on those dates, and her focus shifted to the first girl who’d vanished.

Emma Jane Rogers. Age sixteen. She’d lived in Charleston.

“The first kill is the one that matters most,” Noelle whispered as she leaned toward the image. There had to be something in the picture that could help her. Why had the killer begun with Emma Jane? Why her?

Had all of the others girls been taken because they
looked
like Emma?

Her finger pressed against the photograph. Emma Jane was wearing a necklace. They’d blown up the photo, and Noelle could see it appeared to be half of a heart. The kind of necklace young couples often wore. The girl would have one part, and the boy would have the other.

There were two images of Emma Jane. In one of the images, that necklace around her neck was clear.

In the other image, it was gone. Blood dripped over her neck, as if she’d been sliced with a knife.

As if someone had sliced the necklace off her?

Noelle quickly checked the other snapshots. None of the others were wearing any sort of jewelry. Their necks also didn’t show any signs of having been cut. There were no injuries on those girls in the other photos at all.

These are the before shots.

Were there after shots someplace? Images that showed what had happened to the girls after the hunt was complete?

Noelle knew that there must be.

“Here’s the sheriff.”

Noelle turned at Mercer’s flat words. He had a tight grip on the sheriff’s arm. Hodges was glaring at him.

“I was in the middle of a briefing with my men!” Hodges sputtered. “You don’t just drag a sheriff away—”

Mercer laughed. “I drag anyone away.” He pointed toward Noelle. “Now, answer her questions because if anyone can figure out this guy, it’s her.”

She already had puzzle pieces flying through her mind. “He’s a local, Sheriff. Someone who knows this area extremely well. He’d keep to himself. He’s a male...probably in his late thirties, close to Senator Duncan’s age. He’s ex-navy, so he might be sporting some tattoos that he got during the service.”

Hodges shook his head. “This is a town of barely a thousand people. I know everyone.”

“And that’s why you know
him.
He might come in and out, drifting in when Senator Duncan is in the area. He won’t stay all year, but he
knows this place.
He’d be the best hunter in the area. He’d have to be. So think of someone who’s gone after big game. Someone who—”

The sheriff stiffened.

“You know who it is,” Mercer growled.

“There
is
a guy like that. His name’s Patrick, Patrick Porter.” Hodges shook his head. “He’s the best hunter in the area. He comes through the area because he likes to go after bears.” His gaze darted to the photos on the wall. “Lot of hunters come through here because they want to go after the big game, but Porter... He comes back each year. And he always gets his prey.”

Her heart raced in her chest. “Is he here now?”

“I don’t know.” Hodges ran a hand over his face. “But he usually stays at the old Burrows cabin. It’s about four miles north of the senator’s place.”

A perfect fit.

“Get your men out there,” Mercer snapped. “Now.”

Noelle yanked out her phone as the sheriff rushed away. She had Thomas back on the line seconds later. “We have a target. His name’s Patrick Porter, and the sheriff said he’s at a cabin about four miles north of the senator’s home.” That would sure put the guy in close enough proximity to kill. “The sheriff is heading there now.”

“You know he probably has a few cabins out there, Noelle,” Thomas said. “Places to hide his victims.”

Yes, she knew that. “But he might have left us something we could use at the Burrows place.” Or maybe the guy wasn’t thinking clearly because of his injuries. She’d seen plenty of perps slip up over the years. “Get back to the station, and we’ll go after him with the sheriff.” Because she planned to be on the scene.

She pushed the phone into her pocket and spun back around. She marched for the door, but Mercer put up his hand, blocking her. “You need to be careful.”

His words had her pausing. Since when did the EOD director worry his agents couldn’t do their jobs?

Her eyes narrowed on him. “I might not have military experience, but I survived just fine as an FBI agent. If you don’t think I can do this, then you never should’ve brought me on the team.”

“I know you can do any job.” He shut the door, sealing them inside.

Noelle gave a frantic shake of her head. “Thomas is on his way. I need to get directions for that cabin. I should—”

“Thomas briefed me on what happened last night.”

For an instant, her cheeks burned. No
way
was he talking about what she suspected. There were sure some things the boss didn’t need to know.

“You nearly died. If you’d been alone, do you think you would have made it out of that water?”

“You might be surprised,” Noelle said as she lifted her chin. “I’m a lot stronger than you give me credit for being.”

He laughed at that, the sound low and rough. “Oh, I know you’re plenty strong. All of my agents are. I didn’t keep the truth from you because I thought you were weak.” His head tilted. “Is that what you think?”

She didn’t know what to think.

“You changed Thomas on that mission. He was still young, a new agent, but he was focused totally on the job. Until you. He tried to go back for you—twice—even though we told him that you’d been taken in by the local cops.”

Her lashes lowered to shield her eyes.

“He was undercover. He saved your life, but by staying on his mission, he saved the lives of hundreds of other people, too.”

Noelle swallowed.

“Don’t blame him. If you’re furious, and you’ve got a right to be, blame me.”

Her lashes lifted. “I do.”

He nodded. “Fair enough.”

She didn’t see where a whole lot was fair right then. “I don’t have time for this now. Sarah Finway is out there, and she needs help.” She pushed past him and grabbed for the doorknob.

“That’s why you’re an EOD agent. Because you put others first. It’s what our job is about. We have to give up the things that we want most, in order to get the mission accomplished.”

There was a note of pain in his voice, which pulled at her. She glanced back.

“You didn’t have the clearance to know about Thomas’s actions. Not until you joined the EOD.”

“That’s why you pushed for me to join the division.”

He inclined his head.

“And this particular mission? Did you know about the link to my past?” The guy seemed to know
everything,
while Noelle felt as if she were floundering around in the dark.

“I knew that Senator Duncan was connected to the destruction of the EOD office. I’d been recently looking into his past, and I was noticing connections that alarmed me. Enemies who were vanishing... I was putting all of those dots together and getting a picture of a man who was a national-security threat.” His eyes narrowed. “I sent you on this mission because I knew you could figure him out. I paired you with Thomas...because I knew it was time for you to understand the past.”

“You should have
told
me.”

His eyes glinted. “Every day I make decisions that impact thousands of lives. The jobs my agents do... They’re dangerous. They’re deadly. They are jobs most people will never even know about.” He heaved out a hard breath. “I have to make judgments. I do the best that I can.” He backed away from her. “You’re alive, Agent Evers, because one of my operatives saved your life. Now it’s your job to save the lives of others.”

Mercer had never seemed quite so human to her as he did in that moment. There was pain in his voice, and she’d caught the faint tremble of his hands.

“This case is personal to you,” Noelle noted quietly.

“Senator Duncan almost took out dozens of agents who were in the EOD building. Damn straight it’s personal.” He pinned her with his stare. “So we’re closing this case. We’re bringing down this Patrick Porter. We’re going to learn everything about him and his connection to Duncan. No one messes with my agents.” His eyes sharpened on her. “Not any of them.”