“Margot, we have to go!” her dad said to the child, and to Katie, “Please! We don’t mean to be unhelpful, but...please! She’s just a child!” he begged.
“Yes, get Margot to school and...um, lock your doors. Be careful!” she warned. “Day and night now,” she added.
Katie turned back to the Dean house, pulling out her phone.
In the middle of the crowd, she found that Axel was coming after her.
“Katie! Oh, my God, what—”
“I know who another of their number is, Axel. The Axeman was a picked up by a sleigh, or a fancy sports car. I was just in such a car, Axel. It belongs to Carly Britton, the casting agent on the movie George was just working. Axel, you’ve got to bring her in! She put on an act you wouldn’t believe, but she’s with him. She just aided and abetted the attacker, the big man, the head of this murder ring!”
Axel frowned and said, “Katie, how... Why—”
“Mabel. Mabel overheard the child talking and came to me.”
“And you ran off, when you’re supposed to be under protection?”
“Axel! We need to get Carly Britton!”
“Yes, right. Come on. Andre is getting the car. I’ll let Ryder know. We’ll grab Dan on the way. He just called after he reached the hospital.” He looked at her exasperated and then smiled. “Well, Dan would take an axe to me if something happened to you. But good work!”
She smiled weakly. “Let’s get her,” she said.
She turned her head away; she didn’t want him to see her shiver.
She had just driven in that car with Carly Britton...to keep Carly safe!
Andre pulled Axel’s Bureau car carefully through the crowd, and they slipped in while Axel put a call through to Ryder to let him know where they were going and to have him put out an APB on the woman.
A few minutes later, they picked Dan up on the street and then headed for Carly Britton’s office. Ryder was going to get backup and head to her home.
As Dan climbed into the car, he looked at Katie as if quickly assuring himself she was alive and well. Then he turned to Axel. “Was there anything on the computer?”
“The computer?” Katie asked.
“Andy Dean had his computer open. He was about to log in to a remote meeting, and his camera was on. We have people analyzing the data,” Axel said.
“I bet all we’ll see is a big man in black,” Dan said wearily. “We have nothing on the face yet, we just know that it’s a big man in black. Ashley Dean was able to talk. She saw him, but that’s what she says, too. A big man in black. Slouch hat, floor-length trench coat... But who found out about Carly Britton? Are we sure?”
“A little girl saw the Axeman get picked up on the street,” Axel explained, glancing at Katie. “He had a getaway driver.”
“She said a sleigh at first, a flashy red sleigh,” Katie said.
“You talked to her?” Dan asked Katie.
“Mabel clued me in,” Katie told him.
“But you—”
She smiled. “Axel was right behind me,” she assured him.
Thankfully, Axel didn’t correct her. He glanced back at them. “There’s one more thing.”
“And that is?” Dan asked.
“The scene investigators found a strange hair. It’s being analyzed. May be nothing. Maybe someone was petting a dog or a cat or...who knows? But it was out of place at the Dean residence. Lab techs have it. We’ll know soon.”
They reached the CBD. Andre parked on the street, and they all jumped out.
Dan looked at Katie, and she knew he was wondering if she would be in danger if he brought her in, or if it would be worse to leave her outside.
“Let’s go!” she told him.
They went into the office building. Katie and Dan took the elevator, while Axel and Andre dashed up the stairs. They arrived within seconds of each other at the suite where Carly Britton had her casting-agency office.
The door was ajar.
Dan stretched an arm back to keep Katie behind him, drawing his weapon as Axel and Andre did the same.
He pushed open the door.
Katie didn’t scream, but she did let out a gasp.
There was no missing the violence that had gone on. Blood spattered the walls and the desk and covered the woman who lay on the floor, limbs at oddly broken, slashed angles, her head nearly severed from her body.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The city was in a state of sheer panic.
Dan gave another press conference, and in it, he referred to the situation that had occurred in the French Quarter, and he reported he was happy to say some recent victims of an attack were alive. The cunning bravery of a young girl had caused the killer to flee. They believed two of the victims found had been part of the killer’s crew, and the mastermind behind numerous killings was now moving with desperation because they were close on his heels. Again, he asked for help from the community and thanked those who had come forward with bits of knowledge or suspicion.
One reporter asked if a forensic team had come up with anything.
Dan could only answer they were working diligently and wouldn’t stop.
He gave the citizens of the city and surrounding areas advice again: to make sure homes were locked, to not travel alone, and to avoid dark alleys, parking garages and other isolated spaces. Most importantly, to be careful in their own homes and report anything suspicious immediately.
“And like a brave teenager, keep your cell phones on you. Law enforcement is ready to move quickly in any direction. Know how to speed dial 9-1-1.”
“Aren’t you asking for a lot of unnecessary panic by implying people aren’t safe in their own homes?” a reporter asked.
“We’d rather be a step ahead than a step behind,” Dan said.
At last, he was able to excuse himself.
He joined Katie, Axel, Ryder and Andre in Axel’s makeshift office at the NOLA bureau.
“Have they found Carly Britton’s husband yet?” he asked Axel as he fell into a chair. It had been a long day.
“No. Not at home. There’s an APB out for him,” Axel said.
“The man works at home, something with stocks, so there’s no office to try,” Andre said. “We’ve asked neighbors and others if they know any of his habits, places he goes, but apparently he and his wife were not friendly neighbors. They stayed in, and most people thought it was because they were snobs.”
Dan nodded.
Katie cleared her throat and spoke up.
“I keep thinking about the six. If we’re right on this... The real Brian and Aubrey might have been two of the six, with Neil and Jennie being another two. We know there is a head man, the big man who is copying the Axeman in his clothing and attacks. And now Carly aided and abetted the big man, and he killed her for her efforts. We don’t know if her husband is involved or not. The others are dead. They tried to recruit Dan’s client, Nathan Lawrence, but we don’t believe they succeeded. That means—unless they did fill their ranks—that only two remain alive. The big man and Neil Browne. And Neil Browne is in custody. The big man, the mastermind, whatever, is possibly out there alone.”
“Should we take another crack at him?” Axel asked Dan.
Dan looked at Ryder. “Do you want to talk to him? He’s being arraigned in the morning on the charges ensuing from the other night. Now might be a good time for him to bargain. With nothing but circumstantial evidence, attorneys from the state and the federal government are still working on how they want to press charges when it comes to the murders.”
“I would think they could get him on Brian and Aubrey and Jennie. Since there is written proof they were using their identities,” Katie said. “And I am happy to swear in any court of law they were on the boat the day my parents and Anita were murdered.”
Axel’s phone buzzed, and he excused himself to a
nswer it.
He stood and stepped a few feet away to listen, then returned and sat down again.
“We have something to work with,” he said. “Angela has been combing the country and beyond, and the problem has been that Neil Browne has switched identities a dozen times. She managed to trace everything back. Dr. Neil Browne is really Sonny Hartfield, born in New Orleans and, according to records, died in New Orleans during the storm.”
“So that’s when he ditched his real identity!” Katie said.
“After the storm,” Dan said, “there must have been chaos I can only imagine. Say Sonny Hartfield was with the group your father went after, when he was protecting others during the storm, Katie. And Hartfield was already with the big man, and they were already working on becoming the super six, immortal beings in the vein of the Axeman and Allan Pierce. They would have been the core, and they would have added others in. Now that we know his real name...”
“You want me to go in?” Andre asked. “He doesn’t know me yet. He’s very defensive toward Ryder, Axel and you, Dan.”
Dan glanced over at Katie. “He might realize he’s in real trouble and could possibly save his supposed mortal shell if he was to turn in evidence now.” He took a breath. He really didn’t want to say this next bit. “What if we send Katie in? Katie looking right at him will either give him tremendous pleasure...or it could shake him. But, Katie, I don’t know if it’s something you want to do or can do. I don’t want to put you in a bad situation.”
Katie stared back at him, firm resolution in her green eyes.
“Yes. I can, and I will.”
* * *
With Special Agent Andre Broussard at her side, Katie faced the man she had known as Neil Browne and now knew to be Sonny Hartfield.
He wasn’t alone; he now had a public defender at his side, a Mr. Rutger.
“Your questions will come through me,” Rutger said. “And anything you have to say at all will come through me.”
“Fine,” Katie said before Andre could speak. “Sonny Hartfield, you piece of scum! In the middle of disaster and tragedy, you went after people who were already down and beaten!”
Hartfield’s eyes darted to his attorney.
The public defender was young. He had a blank expression, a miserable expression. He probably wasn’t happy about his job, being brought in to represent such a man.
He would still do it to the best of his ability.
“Was that a question?” Rutger asked Katie.
She looked at him. “That man murdered my parents, and I know that he did.”
“That’s not a question. It’s an allegation.”
Andre spoke up, smiling. “A public defender, huh? No offense, sir, but...well, we all thought Hartfield here had real power. That he was part of a superpowered group of six people who looked out for each other. One would think someone out there had money. Fake identities, travel...enough money to buy the best attorneys out there. Again, no offense meant, Mr. Rutger.”
“Again, is there a question anywhere in there, or are we wasting time?” Rutger asked.
“How do I word this in a question?” Andre mused. “All right. Brian Denholm and Aubrey Freehold were murdered. You and Jennie became them. They were part of your six. You were ordered to kill Jennie, and that hurt you, I believe. You loved her, in your sick way. And you believe in some twisted way that you’re immortal. But you’re not. You and Jennie easily got jobs on the movie because Carly Britton was one of you. She told law enforcement the truth because she knew we would find out soon enough. And so...it was established that you had worked under assumed identities. Like you, she was totally loyal to the big man, the guy out there who really wants to be the Axeman. But here’s something you might not know yet. The Axeman, or the Axeman’s Protégé, as they’re calling this killer, went out and attacked people today who didn’t die. They’re not well, but they’re not dead. Carly Britton was his getaway girl, and you know what he did for her in return? He killed her. Hacked her to pieces in her office. Now, you’re about to go to jail, and we all know jails and prisons can be dangerous places. I’m going to suggest that, if you want to keep this mortal shell you have and not gamble on getting a new one, you tell us who the big man is, the man who ordered you to kill Lou and Virginia Delaney and Anita Calabria, who ordered you to kill again in Orlando, and then started doing the killing here himself with you all obeying his every command, right down to killing one another.” He took a breath, then continued. “So here’s my question... What can you tell us?”
Katie thought Sonny Hartfield turned a bit white. He wasn’t smiling.
He turned to his attorney. She also thought his voice had changed, was wavering.
“I don’t want to see these people. They can gather their evidence. They can ask me anything they want, in a court of law.”
Rutger looked at the two of them unhappily. He probably didn’t want a deranged killer out there, either. He probably had family himself or even worried for his own life. But he did his duty.
“You heard him. Interview is over,” he said.
Katie and Andre stood to leave. In the outer offices, they met up with Dan, Axel and Ryder.
“What do we do now?” Katie asked.
“We wait. I believe our Axeman is cleaning house,” Dan said, looking at Axel.
“And we’re ready,” Axel said.
Katie frowned.
Dan explained. “The Axeman’s Protégé is trying to tie up loose ends. It’s harder to reach Sonny Hartfield when he’s being held, but we think he’ll make a try at it. And when he does, Sonny might realize that he lived by the axe...and will die by it if he doesn’t speak up and get assistance.”
Axel, Ryder and Andre nodded at her.
“Time,” Dan said. “It’s just a matter of time.”
“And with that, I’m hitting the hay,” Axel said. “I suggest you all do the same. My phone will ring the second anyone has anything. And you’re all on speed dial.”
“Katie?” Dan asked.
She smiled at him. “Yep. I could go to bed,” she agreed, and then she lowered her head. That could mean two things.
And it did.
The team parted ways. Dan drove back to Katie’s house.
In the yard, the dogs greeted them happily.
Dan pet the dogs, but he did so absently, looking at the house.
He knew Katie was watching him. “Well, here’s the good. No one has come near your place. The cameras are still recording, and their input is seen back at headquarters.”
“That must be very boring for someone,” Katie said. She also bent to greet the dogs.
“I imagine.”
He smiled, looking at her. “Sex first—or food first?” he asked.
“Uh...”
“I’d usually opt for sex. But I’m tired. We’re both tired. And we haven’t eaten much today, but...last night you were so sound asleep...”
“I didn’t mean to be.”
“Katie, I’m teasing. You needed the sleep, and I’m glad you were able to. But the days aren’t going to get any better. So, how about we go with food, sex and sleep. In that order.” He cast his head at an angle, grinning. “I have no real commitment to food. Any old food will do.”
She flushed. “I just meant—”
“I know what you meant,” he said softly.
“I still mean it. You don’t owe me anything, not even a morning-after phone call.”
“You know, I don’t think either of us has fared well in the relationship department. Busy lives, memories of the past...being haunted. You know. In many ways.”
She grinned. “It’s good that you met Mabel. She’s been great.”
“She is great, though she rather turned my world upside down.”
“But in a good way, I hope.”
“Yeah, I g
uess. Axel has suggested I join the Krewe. I have the background...”
“You’d be perfect,” she said. “You should. I know you weren’t happy chasing after errant husbands.”
“That would mean I’d have to go to Quantico.”
“Yes, I guess so.”
“Katie, relationships aren’t about anyone owing anyone anything. I want to call you because I want to hear your voice. I want to be with you because... I love being with you. I think I care about you more than I’ve cared about another woman ever.” He gave her a wry smile. “Well, there was Wanda Sterns in high school, and I did have a crush on her, but it fell flat pretty quickly.”
“High-school crushes can be crushing,” she murmured.
“Katie, I want to see where this goes. I think I’m falling in love with you.”
She suddenly felt like she was just made of hot liquid, and she’d melt away...
But in an amazed and grateful way.
“Really?” she whispered.
“I won’t ask you for any commitment at this moment,” he said. “But...would you think about leaving NOLA for a while, coming with me, living in the DC area?”
“I—I—I’d love to, but... I need to figure out the house, leaving... Oh, I’d have to tell Monty, and he’s been the best boss ever. He’ll need to replace me. I think he’s out with a carriage now, but he doesn’t like being a full-time guide.”
“If you’ll just think about it, that’s all I need,” he said softly. “I just want to be with you.”
She smiled. She would have kissed him right there, fallen into his arms...
But Mitch nudged into her side, tail wagging in his urgency to let her know something.
“Let’s get inside,” Dan suggested.
The dogs followed them to the porch, whining.
“They’re acting hungry. I’m pretty sure Monty was out today with Sarah and the carriage that I use. I’m going to feed them.”
“Sounds good. Do you have food?”
Katie laughed. “Dog food? Yes.”
“I meant people food—for us.”
“Yes, I keep food. Look around and see what you’d like. I’m not exactly a gourmet, but I can whip together a few things. Thing is, meat is in the freezer, but we can defrost it quickly.”
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