The Bait

by Carol Ericson

  “I agree.” Castillo leveled a finger at Jake. “You just need to watch out. You don’t want this killer getting obsessed with you.”

  Jake chewed on his bottom lip. Kyra had implied that Copycat Three was already halfway to obsession and that’s why he’d contacted him.

  Lifting his shoulders, Jake said, “If that’s what it takes.”

  “Have you thought about the best way to handle communication? Newspapers don’t have the readership they once did. There’s no guarantee this guy even picks up a paper.”

  “Kyra had an idea about that, too. Are you familiar with the LA Confidential blog?”

  A flush crept beneath Castillo’s brown skin. “Sean Hughes? He outed one of our undercover vice officers.”

  “I know that, but he has the readers we need—the number and the type. If Copycat Three is on the Websleuths site, and we think he is, he probably follows LA Confidential.”

  Castillo smirked. “Copycat Three? Sounds like a Dr. Seuss book. Our boy won’t like that at all.”

  “Exactly.” Jake winked. He didn’t want to tell Castillo that was Kyra’s idea, too. The captain would start wondering who was running the task force. “Can I count on your stamp of approval to reply and do it through LA Confidential?”

  “I think that’s the way to go.” Castillo cocked his head and said, “And I think you should consult with Kyra about the response, but you won’t have a problem with that now, will you?”

  “Aren’t you happy about that? She was your hire, after all.”

  “When we formed this task force and I brought her on, you weren’t too happy about it. I think you’ve come to recognize her...value.”

  Jake smacked his hand on the desk. “I’ve come to recognize a lot of things about Kyra Chase. I’ll get on the reply once I take care of a few other tasks—one of which is looking through Websleuths. I got caught up in the content yesterday without taking a hard look at the posters.”

  “Only a few people know that the first two killers were trolling on that website. I want to keep it that way. We can’t have everyone and his brother slogging through posts looking for a killer.”

  As Kyra could do no wrong according to Castillo, should he tell the captain that he’d let that Websleuths info slip to her?

  Placing his hand on the phone, Castillo asked, “Anything else?”

  “No. I’ll be holding the briefing later this afternoon.”

  As Jake reached the door of Castillo’s office, the captain’s voice stopped him. “I have every confidence in you and Billy to stop this one, too, J-Mac.”

  “Did we really stop the other two? Cannon chose suicide by cop and Fisher offed himself with a cyanide tablet. The more I think about it, the stranger that seems to me. Most serial killers give up without a fight. They’re almost relieved to get caught. Those two seemed to have...marching orders. Like they’re following some kind of playbook.”

  Castillo shook his head. “The last thing we need is an instruction book for killers.”

  Jake wandered back to the task force room and stopped at Kyra’s desk. “Castillo’s onboard for Sean Hughes. Can you set that up, since you know him?”

  Her blue eyes flashed. “I’ve talked to him once or twice. I don’t exactly know him personally, but I will absolutely set that up. When do you want me to help you compose a response?”

  He leaned in closer. “Fiona is going to visit her friend this afternoon, and she mentioned a sleepover. Would I be a bad father if I approved the sleepover to have a sleepover of my own?”

  Her lips curved into a sexy smile. “You would only be a bad father if it’s a sleepover you never would’ve allowed under other circumstances.”

  “Whew.” He swept some imaginary sweat from his brow. “I’ll keep you posted.”

  “You do that. I need to follow up with Carmella’s family.”

  He left Kyra to her work and parked himself in front of his desk and opened his email. He’d barely gotten through the first one when Billy scooted his chair next to his.

  “Heard the note was a bust for Forensics.”

  “It was, but not for other things.”

  “Damn right. Our boy’s thirsty. He wants some attention.”

  “And we’re gonna give it to him. I’m going to use that crime blog LA Confidential to respond to him.” Jake tensed his muscles, waiting for the inevitable pushback.

  Billy stroked his chin. “That Sean Hughes guy, huh?”

  “I know he’s not LAPD’s biggest fan, but I think he’ll do this for the publicity. It’s not like he’s on the side of the bad guys.”

  “I think it’s a good idea. Megan’s always talking about the blog. Her station actually gets story ideas by reading Hughes.”

  “Are you and Megan still seeing each other?”

  Billy had an on-and-off dating relationship with Megan Wright, a reporter for a local TV station and one of Kyra’s friends. Jake might believe that Megan’s reason for going out with Billy was for information purposes, but Billy didn’t need that lure. His partner had more women at his beck and call than he could handle—almost. That fact hadn’t helped Billy’s marriage.

  “Megan’s a...friend. Do you need her to put a word in with Hughes? I think she knows the guy.”

  “So does Kyra. She’s going to handle it. She may have even met Hughes through Megan.” Jake’s personal cell phone buzzed and he felt a jolt of guilt. He’d meant to check on Fiona to make sure she was up and about, and now it was almost noon.

  He snatched up the phone, and Billy wheeled back to his own desk. “So, you got up.”

  “Ages ago.”

  The yawn in Fiona’s voice made him suspicious. “Did you get your schoolwork done?”

  “Not yet. It’s not even lunchtime.” Jake heard the clink of dishes in the sink, and he could pretty much guarantee they were the breakfast dishes. “Lyric and her mother want to know if I can spend the night at their house when I go over this afternoon. I asked you before.”

  “You can’t go at all until your schoolwork is done. Remember, it’s online, and your teachers sent me a list of your assignments and the link to the portal so I can check that you’ve turned in everything.”

  Fiona heaved a sigh. “They’ll be done, Dad. Can I sleep over at Lyric’s?”

  “Text me Lyric’s mother’s number, so I can check with her.”

  “Really?” Fiona’s voice rose to an outraged squeak at the end, and he pulled the phone away from his ear.

  “You know Mrs. Becker.”

  “It’s been years since you were nine years old and playing with Lyric. Get your work done, text me the number, and when I check out everything you can have your sleepover.” His gaze shifted to Kyra, hunched over her laptop. Was he giving in too easily?

  “Okay, okay. I’ll let you know when the work is done so you can check up on me.”

  Fiona ended the call without a proper goodbye.

  Jake placed his personal cell on one side of his laptop and his work phone on the other and launched into Websleuths. IT had given him a history of Cannon’s and Fisher’s posts to the site and he tracked back through those. They had both been regular posters almost a year ago—mostly writing messages containing theories about missing people or suspects, Cannon occasionally devolving into juvenile black humor.

  What had drawn those two together? What had clued them in that they shared the same evil proclivities? After almost an hour perusing their posts, nothing jumped out at Jake. He noticed their posts dwindled to almost none in the past four to five months. They must’ve been communicating privately by that time, and the police didn’t have access to those private messages.

  Copycat Three had to be on here somewhere, or maybe he’d already moved his discourse to private messaging. The killers did have one preference in common—they confined their posts to threads on missing or
murdered young women. No surprise there.

  Jake scrolled through the message boards and favorited a few of those boards. He already knew Cannon and Fisher were killers. He had to find the current one.

  He took a peek into a discussion about the missing college student in Alabama. That one would be prime for them. As he scrolled through the post, taking in the usernames, one grabbed him by the throat and his heart slammed against his chest.

  Billy plunked a can of soda on Jake’s desk. “Figured you might need this to gear up for the briefing.”

  “Thanks.” Jake snapped the tab on the can and took a swig, ignoring the bubbles that tickled his nose while he clicked on a message posted by someone calling himself or herself Laprey. “I haven’t been working on anything I can bring up in the briefing.”

  “Still looking at that true crime website, huh? Discover anything?”

  Jake eyed the innocuous newbie post by Laprey and bookmarked the page. “Nothing yet. I’d turn it all over to Computer Forensics, except they’d be missing the instincts. You know what I mean?”

  “I hear you, brother.” Billy took a quick glance over his shoulder and lowered his voice. “Between you and me, those guys are brilliant but they’re the first ones who’d get scammed by some lovely lady on an internet dating site. You know what I mean?”

  “No street smarts. I feel you.” Jake clicked off Websleuths and onto his notes for the task force briefing. “Now, you’d better brief me on what you’re briefing at the briefing.”

  * * *

  BY THE TIME Jake got home from work, Fiona had cleared out, taking her laptop with her. She’d completed her schoolwork, and he’d talked to Mrs. Becker, who assured him she’d be ordering sushi for the girls and they’d be staying in and binge watching some TV show about vampires. Not optimal, but he could live with that.

  He showered, changed into jeans and ordered sushi for himself and teriyaki chicken for Kyra. By the time she arrived, he’d poured two glasses of chardonnay and had his laptop open to LA Confidential.

  As she took the chilled wine from him, she wrinkled her nose at the bags from Mikado’s. “You remembered I don’t like sushi, right?”

  He dug her container of teriyaki from the bag, set it on the counter and flipped it open. “Would I forget something like that? My daughter’s having sushi tonight and it gave me a craving, but Mikado’s has great teriyaki and I know you like that.”

  “I do.” She touched her glass to his and the wine shimmered in her glass. “Am I allowed to kiss you in here now that Fiona has moved in?”

  “Do you think she has me on security cam or something?” He took a sip of wine, and then touched his lips to hers. “I’ve never really dated anyone with Fiona around, but she’ll get used to it. Hell, her mother is remarried and Fiona lives with her stepfather. I’m pretty sure Tess and Brock share a bedroom.”

  She swirled the golden liquid in her glass. “I don’t want to push you, but it would be nice if I got to know her a little on this visit.”

  “I agree. We’ll work something out.” He handed her two plates. “I feel guilty about canceling last night’s plans, so let’s make this more like a date than a work function and eat at the table with glass and silverware, or chopsticks, instead of hunched over the computer with disposable containers and plastic.”

  “I concur, but you don’t need to feel guilty about putting your daughter first.”

  “But you are a close, close second.” He grabbed her and spun her into his arms. He pressed another kiss on her, this one deep and passionate, the kind of kiss that marked her as his own.

  She feathered her fingertips across his face and said breathlessly, “If that’s second, I’ll take it.”

  As they ate, the conversation turned to the case, and he wondered again if he should bring up that username on Websleuths. Someone by the name of Laprey had been tormenting Kyra about her past. If this was the same person and he was involved in the current murders, Jake wanted to protect Kyra from that knowledge. He also knew Kyra would rather know all the facts—good or bad.

  He’d investigate more first and tell her later. Although she was on the task force, he didn’t owe her every detail of the case. Some of the officers on the task force didn’t know what he and Billy knew.

  “Are you thinking about your reply?”

  Jake blinked. “What?”

  “You’re pinching that disgusting piece of sushi between your chopsticks and staring off into space. I thought you might be forming your response to Copycat Three.”

  He dropped the sushi onto his plate. “You still haven’t heard back from Sean Hughes?”

  “No, but I didn’t tell him why I was calling, either. I probably should’ve dropped a hint. He would’ve gotten back to me immediately. He loves scoops and this’ll be a big one for him. In the meantime—” she collected dishes from the table “—let’s work out what you’re going to say to a killer.”

  “I know what I’d like to say.” He lifted her empty wineglass. “Another?”

  “That depends.” She scooted back her chair, carried the dishes to the sink and glanced over her shoulder with a flirtatious look. “Am I spending the night or not?”

  “That’s up to you. Fiona’s friend doesn’t have school tomorrow, so the mom is going to drop them off at the mall. Fiona won’t be home until later.”

  “Pour the wine, baby.” Kyra rinsed the dishes and stuck them in the dishwasher while Jake filled her glass and cleared the rest of the table.

  She dried her hands and reached for her phone on the counter. She scrunched up her face as she stared at it. “I don’t know why Sean’s not calling me back. I think I need to set him straight. The sooner you get your word out, the better.”

  She perched on a stool at the counter and placed the phone in front of her. She tapped the display, and the sound of Sean’s ringing phone filled the kitchen.

  Sean picked up after the first ring. “Hi, Kyra. I suppose I can’t avoid you any longer.”

  Kyra shot Jake a puzzled look. “Avoid me? Why would you want to avoid me? I have a proposition for you.”

  “I don’t work that way, Kyra. I’m sorry.”

  Jake lifted his brows, and Kyra shrugged as she answered Sean. “Work what way? You don’t even know what I’m offering, yet.”

  “I’m not going to agree to kill a story in exchange for another one.”

  “Sean, we need to back up. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I called you earlier about an opportunity I know will interest you. I don’t know anything about some other story.”

  Sean mumbled something unintelligible and then swore under his breath. “So, you don’t know about the story I’m going to post about you on tomorrow’s blog?”

  “Me? You’re posting a story about me?”

  Jake had been moving toward Kyra with every one of Sean’s words and now stood before her, his eyes on her pale face.

  “I thought that’s why you were calling, Kyra. I’m going public with your past as the daughter of one of The Player’s victims...and the killer of your foster father.”

  Chapter Six

  Kyra almost dropped the phone as the blood in her veins turned to ice water, but she didn’t have to hold on to the phone as Jake snatched it from her hand.

  Even though the phone was on speaker, Jake yelled into it. “Listen to me, you slimy SOB. If you publish that story about Kyra, I will personally come out there and...”

  Kyra put a steadying hand on Jake’s arm. He could not be making threats against journalists.

  Sean choked and sputtered. “Who is this? Is this Detective Jake McAllister?”

  Kyra held a finger to her lips. “Where’d you get that information, Sean?”

  Sean cleared his throat. “I’m not going to reveal my sources, Kyra. Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t pass this up, especially with you on the
copycat killers task force and your...uh, relationship with the lead detective on the task force.”

  An ominous sound emanated from the back of Jake’s throat, and Kyra squeezed his arm.

  Sean continued his self-justification for exposing her very private life to the greedy masses. “I mean, it’s not really going to hurt you personally. You...um, killed Buck Harmon in self-defense when you were a minor. It won’t hurt you professionally. Hell, I think it might bring you more business. Anyway, I—I have to run with it. It’s already written and scheduled to post tomorrow morning.”

  Kyra sighed. “You do what you have to do.”

  “Now that that’s settled.” Sean’s tone grew crisp. “What is the opportunity you have for me?”

  Jake answered him. “There’s no way in hell you’re getting that now, buddy.”

  “Actually, once Sean posts the story about me, it makes even more sense for you to work with him.”

  The tips of Jake’s ears turned so red Kyra expected steam to start pouring out of them. “I’m not working with this guy.”

  “Sean, I’ll call you back later.”

  “I’m intrigued...and I really am sorry, Kyra.”

  She ended the call before Jake could spew any more vitriol over the phone. Then she grabbed her glass of wine and downed half of it in one gulp.

  “Don’t you get it? After he posts that story about me and my connection to the case, he’ll have even more readers for your response.”

  “At what price?” Jake placed his hands on her shoulders. “I don’t want to see you hurt. You went through a lot of trouble changing your identity and moving away from your traumatic past. He has no right to bring it all crashing down on your head. I can make it stop. I can make him stop.”

  “No, you can’t, but I love you for wanting to try.” She cupped his strong, fierce jaw with one hand. “Maybe it’s for the best. If it had all been out in the open, I never would’ve lied to you about my past. Once the prurient interest dies down, people will move on to another story.”

  “There’s gonna be talk at the station.” He turned his head to kiss her palm. “I don’t like the thought of you being the object of...”