Scorpio (Zodiac Killers Book 12)

by W L Knightly

  He was online for an hour before he knew it, and suddenly, he heard another noise in the house.

  “What the fuck?” He turned his head and looked toward the bedroom. “It’s just your imagination. Quit fucking with me, Ghost of Nona. It’s not funny.” He gave a little chuckle and then looked back at the screen in time to see a notification. “Yes!”

  The email was in, so he quickly went to open it and download the photo. As he waited, he thought he saw something move in front of him. There was movement in the window, but that didn’t make sense. Each window had blinds inside the glass, and that meant he’d seen a reflection.

  From inside.

  Another sound came from behind him, and then the computer screen changed to reveal the photo. He was torn as to where to look, but another glare off the computer screen told him that whatever he had heard was real and right behind him.

  The knife went into his neck as the girl’s face appeared on his screen. Lane froze with shock. As he slumped forward, the reflection of the woman behind him superimposed itself over the photo of her younger self.

  She was the last thing he’d ever see.

  Chapter 19

  Darek

  Darek couldn’t wait to get to work to see Lizzy, but as usual, because of her long hours, she was in a terrible mood.

  “Here,” she said, pushing a folder at him as she hurried past his desk and dropped her bag in her chair. She didn’t miss a beat as she went to the coffee bar across the room to pour herself a cup.

  “Good morning to you too,” he said, opening the folder. “You should make that one black, like your mood.” The hard look she had on her face was enough to tell him that she had a long night.

  “I worked on those damn reports until three-thirty,” she said. “The last time I looked at the clock before I fell asleep, it was nearly four. So, forgive me if I’m a bit grouchy.”

  “Why did it take you so long?” he asked.

  “I wanted to make sure I covered all the bases, and then I had to do this.” She walked over with her coffee and put it on the desk. After digging in her bag, she pulled out another paper. This one had Lane’s statement about Otis Gough, a word for word account of the false story.

  “I thought we weren’t going to reveal that yet.” He looked over his shoulder. “We were supposed to be biding time until we found Mia.”

  “Pardon my French, but screw that. I don’t want to wait to go to him with this. We need to get it out in the open, shake him up a bit. Then maybe he’ll spill his guts about where Mia is.”

  “I’m not going to agree with you.” He was so close to having everything, including his new job at the FBI, and he wasn’t going to rock the boat and ruin things now. Max was just waiting to blab to Lizzy and anyone else who would listen, and the only reason he hadn’t was to keep himself safe. As soon as he felt threatened, he was going to talk, and when he did, it would all be over.

  “I can’t keep this stuff from Reed forever.” She downed her coffee and then dropped the empty cup in the trash. “I’m going to the little girl’s room, and when I get back, you and I are going to have to find a way to see eye to eye.”

  As soon as she was gone, he pulled out his phone and tried to call Lane. He didn’t answer, but it was probably a good thing because Lizzy was back before he knew it. “Who are you calling now?” she asked. “We have to get down to the interrogation room, Darek.”

  “Wait,” he said. He put his phone in his pocket, and his heart raced as Lizzy got her desk phone and called down the hall to the guards.

  “Could you have Maxwell Smith ready in room four in ten minutes, please?” She hung up the phone and spun around to face Darek.

  “Are you serious? I think you should go home and lie down. You’re clearly delusional. We talked about this. You said we’d wait until the time was right. We still have a missing girl out there, and I want to find her. You start in with him about his father, and he’s going to flip out. He’s going to clam up, and we’re going to get zip!”

  “Newsflash, Darek. We’re already getting zip. I thought a lot about it last night. It’s not getting us anywhere. It’s time!”

  Normally he’d agree with her, but he was supposed to be buying Bay time. With Lila in the hospital, Bay’s focus had gone from avenging Mia to taking care of his wife and kid. Darek couldn’t blame him, and while he’d been an asshole to him, he didn’t wish anything bad on him, especially going to prison when he should be welcoming his child. Darek had a lot to lose too, and with one wrong move, Max would make it all go away.

  “I agree to talk to him, but let’s keep that in our pocket until the right time.” He felt the pit of his gut turning inside out. Bile was creeping up the back of his throat, and he couldn’t see any way around giving Lizzy her way. “Let’s see what we can get and use that as a last resort. Please? Before we throw a wrench in everything, and he wants to talk to the press.” He hated to beg her, but she rolled her eyes and reluctantly agreed.

  Lizzy was frazzled, and the wild look in his eyes told him that she wasn’t thinking rationally anyway. “Fine. Whatever. I’ll go along with that. But if he doesn’t want to talk, I’m going to have to tell him. The man thinks his father was innocent. He did all of this because he was thumbing his nose at the system. He should know what he’s done. That what he did to avenge her was done for nothing! I say we wipe the smile off his smug face.” She looked pissed off, and Darek understood why. She’d had faith that Otis Gough was innocent, but that wasn’t the case. He had made her look like a fool.

  He got up and walked over to take her into his arms. “Hey, I know you’re upset. Let’s not go in there guns blazing, baby.”

  “Get off of me,” she said, pushing him away. “You’re going to get us in trouble.”

  Darek held up his hands and backed away.

  “Shit,” said Lizzy. “I’m sorry, Darek.”

  He had rarely heard her use swear words, but when he did, he knew she was running on empty. “You should really get some rest. Call them and tell them never mind. We can go tomorrow. I think it’s best.”

  “No, we’ll go. I’m going to have another cup of coffee, and I’ll be fine.” She took a deep breath and scrubbed her face with her palms. “I’m sorry.” She reached out and hugged him. “I know better than to let this job get to me.” She quickly turned him loose and then closed her eyes to take a deep breath. “Let’s go. I want to get this over with.”

  “It’s taking a toll on all of us. It’s okay to be upset about Max.”

  “You’re not,” she said. “Yet, I’m a mess. And not just about Max, but Gough. What the hell was I thinking, buying into that man’s story when someone as nice as Lane was abused by him?”

  Darek couldn’t believe how she had taken to Lane’s story, but he was the perfect person to deliver the lie. His nerves had played into the realism of his lie, and the fact that he was an all-around good guy. “Lots of people believed him.”

  She nodded and went to the door. Darek followed, wishing he could get out of it, but there was no way he was going to let her go alone. If Max said anything, he had to be there to dispute it. Which he would. They were more likely to take the word of two men, both upstanding members of the law enforcement community, than a man who had lied about who he was and used the badge to commit horrible crimes.

  After going down to the unit where Max was being held, Darek tried not to show his emotions as they walked down the hall to the interrogation room. Lizzy had asked for room four, and Darek wondered if that was because it didn’t have any recording devices, except their own.

  Max waited with a blank look on his face. When Lizzy walked in ahead of Darek, Max smiled and blew her a kiss. “You miss me, sweetheart?”

  “That hasn’t worked for you yet,” said Lizzy. “Maybe you should give up.”

  “No, way. I know that deep down, you want me.” He chuckled, and Lizzy took a seat across from him.

  “Come on, Darek. Sit down. We can arm wrestle f
or her.” He looked down at his cuffs. “Well, shit, I’ll have to take a raincheck on that one.”

  “I’m glad you’re in a talkative mood,” Darek said. “Maybe you want to tell us about Mia.”

  Max shrugged. “She’s a tiny little thing. Fucking her made me feel kind of dirty, but knowing she was of age, I did it anyway.”

  “Stop it,” Lizzy said. Then her phone rang, and she got up and stepped away, leaving Darek and Max alone.

  “She figured you out yet?” Max asked.

  “Why don’t you just tell us where Mia is? It’s gone on long enough. We know she’s dead.”

  “Well, I didn’t kill her.” Max put his hands on the table and leaned in closer. “I fucked her good, but she was alive when I left her. I promise. I swear it on my badge.” He gave a huge grin.

  “Yeah, that doesn’t mean much. And before you think you’ll get away with anything, you’ll still be responsible for her life.”

  “Do you have any proof that it was me? You know, solid evidence?”

  “You said you took her, you said you fucked her, which I’m sure you did again, but the medical examiners can tell us that.”

  “You’re so sure she’s dead?” Max asked. “It’s sad really. I wondered how many days it would take for you to give up on that poor girl. Less than a week.” He shook his head and laughed. “How’s her family taking it?”

  Darek didn’t want to go into it with him. Max didn’t need the satisfaction of knowing he was responsible for Lila being in the hospital. Knowing Bay’s child was in danger just might make him keep the secret of Mia’s location to himself even longer.

  He looked over his shoulder, wondering where Lizzy had gone. When she returned, she had a confused look on her face. “We’re done here,” she said, which shocked Darek. She hadn’t even gotten to talk to Max. “We’ll talk later.”

  The guards came in, and Max glared at them. “What the fuck is the problem? I wanted to have a little chit-chat.”

  “Not now,” said Lizzy. “Later.” When he was finally gone, she grabbed Darek’s arm.

  He was so relieved that they weren’t going to talk to Max, he didn’t even ask what was going on. “Well, that’s that,” he said.

  “I just got a strange call. They gave me this address, and then they hung up.” She showed him the paper she’d written it on. “That’s the storage units across town.”

  They weren’t Benny’s, but they were in the same area. “Shit. This could be where she is.”

  “Go ahead and call Bay,” said Lizzy. “We’ll go and check it out before we alert anyone else. It could just be a false alarm. Make sure you tell him that. I don’t want him to come if he’s going to be all pissed off at a dead end.” She had seen Bay’s temper before.

  “Okay, I’ll let him know.” Darek breathed a sigh of relief and prayed that this would be Mia. Knowing Max had taken her so many days earlier, there was a good chance this was a body recovery, even though he had said otherwise.

  Darek took out his phone and dialed Bay’s number. He knew there was no way the man wasn’t going to want to come along for the ride.

  Chapter 20

  Bay

  As the morning came, Lila continued to sleep, and Rose Marie sat quietly by the window reading a book. Everything had been eerily quiet since coming home from the hospital, and he was thankful they had gotten her settled in her bed.

  Bay stood at the window, sipping his morning coffee and quietly looking out across the lawn.

  Suddenly, Rose Marie sat forward. “Bay,” she said, putting the book in her lap.

  Before he could ask what was wrong, his phone rang. “It’s Darek,” he said. “Give me a minute?” She nodded and had a hopeless look as he answered the phone. “Hello?”

  “Hey, we might have a lead on Mia,” Darek said. “An anonymous tip came in. Lizzy and I don’t even know if it’s her, but we’re going to check it out before alerting anyone else. Lizzy thought you might want to know.

  “I want to go with you.” He could see Rose Marie stand to her feet in his peripheral.

  “Lizzy thought you might want to, but look, you can’t flip out on us if it turns out to be nothing. So, if you’re going to have an attitude, just stay put.”

  “You’re the one who goes apeshit and throws people against walls,” Bay said.

  “Yeah, well, don’t make me do it again.”

  Bay rolled his eyes and let the comment slide. “Give me the address. I’ll meet you there.” He tried to keep his voice low because of Lila’s rest, but his temper was making it difficult.

  “Fine, but you’re closer, so you need to promise you won’t go in ahead of me. I don’t want anything to fuck up our investigation. We’re looking at this as a recovery, not a rescue.”

  “I hear you loud and clear.” He didn’t think Mia had made it this long, either. Not with Max behind bars. She’d most likely died a week ago. He couldn’t bear to think of the condition she’d be in. Cremation was the only option for his angel. He hung up the phone, and Rose Marie followed him as he walked out of the room.

  “Don’t tell her where I went if she wakes up,” Bay told Rose Marie. “But I think we have a lead, and I’m going to go along with the detectives.” Even though Lizzy was going to be with him, he still wanted to go for Mia’s sake. He owed her that much.

  “I’ll take care of her, Bay.” Her eyes were full of worry. “But I need to tell you. I don’t like this, Bay. Something bad is going to happen. I saw something. It was unclear. Fast movement and then a dreadful feeling. I can’t place what it is. But I have the worst feeling in my gut.” She held her middle just below her breasts. “Be careful, son.”

  Rose Marie looked a bit ashen, and Bay feared for her health. “Are you okay?”

  “I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about you going off like this. Promise me you’ll take care.”

  “I will,” he said.

  Her hard stare penetrated him. “Don’t do anything in haste, Bay.” With that, she gave him a pat on the back and walked back into the room with Lila. She had stayed by her and the baby’s side all night and would likely be there when the baby came.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said to himself. She worried him when she became so troubled, but he had no way of knowing what her vision had meant. She just knew things. Sometimes, it was more specific than others, but Bay knew her gifts were special.

  He headed out, and when he got in his car, he looked at his phone for the address Darek sent him. The place was across town, but Bay would still make it there a few minutes before the cops, even though he’d taken time for Rose Marie’s warning. And putting his pedal down just might get him there quicker.

  Bay got hung up behind an overturned car on the expressway, so when he got to the storage place, he was actually a few minutes behind the detectives. They were about to head in without him when he pulled up.

  “What kept you?” asked Darek as Bay got out of the car. Lizzy was standing near the front of her car, and she had a smug look on her face. Bay knew there was no love lost between them, but he’d never liked her type.

  “Traffic,” Bay said. “Overturned car. I’m guessing you heard the call out?”

  Darek nodded. “I did. Just didn’t think it was on your way. Was it bad?”

  “I didn’t care to look. Glad I got here when I did, though.” He gave Lizzy a pointed look. “Agent McNamara, thank you for the invite. Can we get this rolling? I have a distraught wife at home, and I’d like to give her a bit of closure when she wakes up.”

  “Sure thing,” Lizzy said. “I hope she’s okay. Darek had just told me she had to be rushed to the hospital.”

  “Yes,” he answered as they walked toward the door of the storage unit. “She and the baby are perfect. Just needed some rest.”

  “It must be horrible, worrying about someone you love in such a delicate state. Let’s hope that everything works out for your family.” She seemed sincere enough, but Bay didn’t like her tone very much. It was som
ewhere between sympathy and pity. He had no use for either.

  “I’m sure they’ll appreciate your concern,” he said.

  The door to the unit opened up. It was much like the unit at Benny’s, only it didn’t smell of rotting blood and it was also three times bigger. Lights dimly lit their path. Boxes were stacked everywhere, and this time, it looked like some kind of fixtures and plumbing parts.

  “Was this a contractor’s unit?” asked Lizzy.

  “At some point in time,” said Bay. “Looks like this place hasn’t been used in a while, though. Look at the dust and the cobwebs.”

  Suddenly, a noise stopped them in their tracks. It was a tiny squeal that almost sounded like a mouse.

  “Shit, there’s rats in here,” said Darek.

  “Let’s keep quiet, and keep moving,” Lizzy said. “We might hear it again.”

  As they moved on, the sound of something sliding across the floor stopped them again. Lizzy held her hand up for them to stop walking, and they all listened as the sound continued and stopped. She took her gun out of its holster, and Darek, who had already pulled his, readied his weapon to continue.

  Bay strained his ears, and when he heard the sound again, it was all too familiar. “Mia. That’s Mia.”

  He started to move forward, but Lizzy put a hand on his shoulder, and Darek held him back.

  “It’s probably just a rat,” said Lizzy.

  “Can we step it up?” Bay asked. “I’m not moving at a goddamned snail’s pace here. I’m almost certain that’s a person I hear. If anyone knows Mia’s squeals, it’s me.”

  Darek shook his head. “I’d like to believe that too, and I know how much imagination can play tricks when we really want something to be true.”

  That not only insulted Bay, but it had his temper flaring. “To hell with both of you.” He pushed Lizzy out of the way and started forward, but Darek stopped him.

  “She’s right. We’re going, but we’re not going to trample evidence if she’s in there. Look. She’s been here a while, Bay, if she is. Let me go first. You don’t want to see her like that. Especially if there are rats.”