by Lisa Olsen
“Alright, I’d like that very much,” Jax smiled, sending a blade of jealousy through Nick, but he kept his tight smile.
“Fine, I’m gonna split,” Ruby said, slipping on a pair of dark sunglasses. “I’m not supposed to be up this early or I’ll turn to dust. Call me later, bro. We should talk about the set list for the next show.”
“Yeah, I’ll catch you later, sis. Sorry to make you leave the coffin during daylight hours,” he quipped, kissing her cheek. Annaliese looked to Nick, challengingly as if she expected him to object, but he knew better this time.
“Just be careful,” Nick said, smiling for her alone.
“Thanks, I’ll call you after I take a hot shower and a nap. I love you.”
“And I love you.” To prove it, he pulled her into his arms for a deep kiss, staking his claim so it left no doubt. Annaliese had a slightly dazed look on her face when he let her go, her lips swollen and pink.
“I’ll keep her safe for you,” said Jax, extending a hand, which Nick took without hesitation. Maybe, just maybe, they were starting to understand each other.
“What the fuck, you’re letting him go?” Natalie strode in with steam coming out of her ears.
“We don’t have enough to charge him and you know it.”
“This is bullshit,” she hissed. “You saw him. He was out there wandering like a psycho all bloody…”
“With his own blood,” Annaliese pointed out and Natalie’s eyes narrowed, squaring off to blast her when Brady bounded up, his face bright with barely contained excitement.
“Guys, you’re gonna want to take a look at this. Remember all that video footage we had to look through? We hit the jackpot. I’ve got footage from the mini-mart across the street that catches the Southeast corner of the Sleepaway’s parking lot.”
A flare of excitement caught hold of Nick. “Hold tight a sec, I’ll be right there.” This was it, the make it or break it moment in the case and part of him wanted Jax to stick around for a few more minutes, just in case. He turned to Anna, lowering his voice with the most reasonable tone he could manage, given his level of anticipation. “Why don’t you guys go get a cup of coffee? Or snacks, there’s a vending machine right through there.” She nodded, leading Jax toward the break room and he went along without argument, though the singer did toss a worried look back over his shoulder before they disappeared inside.
Brady already had the video cued up on the monitor. “Take a look at this.” The footage was grainy at best, but clearly showed the victim shambling through the parking lot with another woman. Unfortunately, the suspect’s face was blocked by the victim’s head, but they could see her general height and form. The mystery woman had her arm around the vic’s waist, as if taking some of her weight.
“She’s already zonked, isn’t she?” Nick murmured, moving closer to the monitor. “Do we have the results on blood alcohol yet?”
“Not yet,” Park replied. “But I can check in on Libby.”
“Hold on, go back a bit, I want to see her again.”
The suspect had on dark jeans or slim fitting pants, and a large, shapeless coat that made it hard to determine her weight. Nick couldn’t tell if she wore heels or not, but the shoes definitely weren’t chunky. What was visible of her head was covered by a knit cap, completely obscuring her hair color. “Is this the best we can do? We can’t see what she looks like at all. What about when she leaves the motel?”
Brady shook his head. “Nope, I fast forwarded for that before I came to get you. This is the only shot we get of her. She must’ve left in a different direction.”
Natalie had remained silent during the viewing, but now backed up, a mulish cast to her face. “This doesn’t prove anything. That woman could’ve just been helping her to the room. Jax could’ve been waiting in the parking lot to jump her.”
Nick sidled up to the monitor, tapping the glass with the tip of his pen. “This, is a woman. We found tracks in the blood belonging to a woman. I’m betting my money on the fact that it’s a woman we’re after, not May. So that begs the question – how many women are there associated with Forsaken, and have we interviewed any of them?”
“There are several that travel with them, costuming, make-up, one of the sound technicians,” Brady said, picking up a folder from his desk and flipping through until he found the page he wanted. “We focused our interviews on the men on the list. It looks like we have… six subjects to choose from.”
“This is ridiculous. You know most serial killers prove to be men. What motive could a woman possibly have to kill off these girls?” Natalie shook her head, eyes squinting shut as she covered her ear with one hand, pressing tightly.
“Are you okay?” Nick asked, ignoring her question as she looked like she’d absorbed a stabbing blow to the head.
“Yeah, I’ve just got this damn ringing in my ears.” Giving it a last press, she let go, eyes opening, but there was a pinched look of discomfort about her.
Park addressed the topic of a female killer with her usual reserve. “It’s likely a female subject might have formed an attachment to May and is striking out at women she perceives as a threat. Particularly since May has been associated with two of them intimately.”
“That makes sense,” Brady agreed. “Especially if May has flirted with her in the past. She thinks she’s got a shot at the guy, but then some new blonde bimbo horns in on her territory and she strikes out. Given the use of GHB, a woman could easily manage the killings. It listens.”
Nick’s mind was spinning, trying to figure out what role the demonic symbol could play in the killings. Was it possible the band’s use of the symbol had led an unstable fan to believe in a kinship where none existed?”
“You guys are grasping at straws,” Natalie muttered in disgust. “I don’t…” She froze mid-sentence, a look of fear or maybe even panic flashing over her features before she unstuck and blinked. Before Nick could ask her about it, she picked up her purse. “I’m going home, it’s been a long fucking night.”
Nick looked around, but couldn’t see a cause for her distress. Maybe her getting some rest wouldn’t be the worst thing ever. “Fine, we’ll divvy up the list of women and give you a call if we find anything.”
She left without another word, prompting a snort from Brady. “Unbelievable. That chick is a Fed? No offense, Nick, but her professionalism stinks.”
There was no use denying it, but Nick couldn’t help sticking up for her, for old time’s sake. “She’s been under a lot of pressure. It can make anybody snap after a while. Listen, I’m going to go cut Annaliese and Jax loose, start putting together the list for us to tackle, I’ll be right back.”
Halfway to the break room, Nick was intercepted by a man and woman cloaked in authority that could only mean government employees. Even though it was only barely past dawn, they were dressed with precise care, creases sharp, not a hair out of place. The man’s receding hairline didn’t diminish the air of power he emanated, though that probably had more to do with the grim expression on his face.
The woman was no less severe in her stance. Her dark hair fell in a blunt cut just past the jaw, her blue eyes intense and piercing, making Nick nervous, despite the fact that he was on the right side of the law.
“Sergeant Gibson.” The man spoke; it wasn’t a question, merely a confirmation of what he already knew to be true.
“That’s me, what can I do for you?”
The pair pulled out their identification wallets in a perfect synchrony of movement, flashing their FBI credentials. “I’m Special Agent Pettijohn and this is Special Agent Perry. We’re here to ask you a few questions about your interest in an ongoing investigation of ours.”
“Huh, we’re getting a lot of federal cases our way lately,” Nick commented. “Sure, I can spare you a few minutes.” He caught sight of Annaliese’s questioning face in the doorway of the break room and gave her the briefest of shrugs.
Special Agent Perry took the lead now, her voice sharp a
nd nasal. “You recently requested a copy of some case files from Sergeant Hickford down in Los Angeles. May I ask why you didn’t contact the Bureau directly?”
Was that what this was about? Had he stepped on someone’s toes by going behind Natalie’s back? “Oh, well, I know your files are fairly thorough, but I thought if we had a copy of all of the original investigating officer’s notes, it might give us a broader picture. You know, some detail from the first officer on the scene seems inconsequential at the time and gets left out of the detective’s report, it happens all the time. I figured the more raw data we had, the better.”
“And why exactly would you try to circumvent our investigation?” Her head tilted to one side just as Nick’s tilted to the other.
There had to be a miscommunication somewhere. “I know you guys are technically in charge on this investigation, but we’re all working diligently to find the killer. We’re on the same side.”
“We’re more than technically in charge, Sergeant Gibson,” Pettijohn declared. “This is our pond, and we don’t take kindly to people muddying the waters.”
His attitude started to wear on Nick’s already strung out nerves and he stood his ground, refusing to be cowed. “Look, you’re the ones who agreed to a joint taskforce on this one. I don’t understand why you’re jumping up my butt about it all of a sudden.”
“A joint taskforce?” Perry interrupted the two men, her hand coming up. “What are you talking about?”
“The part where my office cooperated with your office to investigate the murders here and in California?”
It was Pettijohn’s turn to frown in confusion. “We’re not aware of any cooperation between your precinct and ours. We first became aware of your investigation last night.”
“What do you mean you aren’t familiar with our investigation? We’ve been working with you from even before the killings spread to Portland.”
“I’m sorry, you’ve been what now?” The older man blinked rapidly, as if he couldn’t have heard him correctly.
“Working this case, with the Feds. Special Agent Fox came up from L.A. and contacted me about the case once the Mays made their way up to Portland,” Nick began to say, and Perry cut him off.
“Special Agent Fox is no longer associated with this investigation.”
Nick stared at her in a shocked stupor. “Come again?”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Special Agent Fox is no longer associated with this case,” Perry repeated. “She’s on personal leave.”
“No, that’s impossible. I… We were… She…”
Pettijohn held out a hand to quell his babbling. “Maybe we’d better start this at the beginning.”
“The beginning, right,” Nick nodded, his mind going completely blank in the face of Natalie’s deception. Somehow he dug deep and clung to the facts, or what he’d perceived to be the facts at the time. “I, ah… well, Fox came to see me to solicit my help with a case she said she was working on.” Launching into a succinct narrative, he outlined the steps they’d taken since Natalie came to town.
By the time he’d gotten to the local murders, both Park and Brady had joined them, curious as to what the stir was about. Nick didn’t bother with introductions until he’d brought them up to speed on the investigation to so far, including the new evidence that the killer was a female. Some part of him was glad to see a degree of thawing on the part of the Feds once they realized Nick and his team hadn’t been deliberately obstructing justice, but mostly he was still reeling from the shock of Natalie’s betrayal.
“We’re going to need to see this video footage you have,” Perry commented as soon as he was finished, and Brady was quick to accommodate them.
“Sure, right this way.”
Nick hung back from joining them at the monitor, instead pulling out his cell to call Natalie. It rang and rang before going to voicemail and he left her a clipped message, asking for a call back. Not that he expected to get one. The way she’d left in such a hurry… she must’ve seen them and made a run for it. He still couldn’t believe she’d done it. Subverted an investigation all to grind her personal axe against May.
Speaking of whom, Nick suddenly remembered he’d left Annaliese and Jax in the break room. He darted in there, surprised to find Anna alone.
“Hey, where did Jax go? He’s not supposed to wander around on this floor unescorted.”
“He left when he saw you talking to those federal officers. You can hardly blame him for feeling nervous with them around after what he’s been through. What’s going on?”
“Oh nothing, I’m just having a complete mental breakdown,” Nick groaned, leaning his head on her shoulder for long moments before he looked up, desperate for a soothing word. “It turns out Natalie wasn’t actually on the job. In fact, she’s been on leave this entire time. The Feds had no idea we were even working the same case. This is so, so fucked up.”
Her face registered the expected shock and anger before confusion and sympathy set in. Nick had expected her to rail on about Natalie and her twisted behavior, but instead she laid a soothing hand on his shoulder. “That is pretty screwed up. Is there anything I can do to help?”
God, he loved her in that moment. Part of her had to be feeling rage with Natalie’s behavior toward Jax, the deception only compounding it, but her only concern was for him. “No, I’ll be fine as soon as I can wipe the egg off my face and get back to work,” he smiled. “Oh, actually, there is something you can do for me. Would you mind dropping around the house to make sure V gets off to school? I don’t know when I’ll get home and I can’t remember if she has enough money for the bus.”
“Of course,” she agreed readily.
Nick pressed his keys into her hand. “Take my car, I’ll catch a ride home later.”
Annaliese closed her hand around his as she accepted the keys. “Don’t worry about Veronica, I’ll take care of her. You just take care of yourself, this is a lot to take in. If Natalie lied to you about this, think of what else she might’ve lied about.”
Nick wasn’t sure he was ready to think about all of the ramifications, not yet. He needed to get his feet firmly back under him first.
“Gibson, my office, now,” Captain Quinn barked, his voice cutting through the office, turning all heads in his direction.
“I’d better go, it’s never a good thing when the Cap’s in this early.”
The look on the Captain’s face supported that theory, and the terse order to shut the door behind him didn’t help matters either. “Do you want to explain to me why I’m getting my ass reamed by the Feds for interfering with their investigation?”
“I’m still playing catch up, sir. I thought we were working with them,” Nick said quickly, ignoring the painful clench of his stomach at Quinn’s tone. But he wasn’t the only one who’d been fooled. “Didn’t you say you got a call from the SAIC down in California? A Beverly somebody…”
“No such animal. Special Agent In Charge George Barrow is the lead on this one, and Pettijohn is his right hand man.”
“Holy shit. She must’ve made that call to make herself sound legit. And we didn’t see it. No wonder she didn’t want to use their labs to get any of the analysis done.”
Quinn leaned back in his chair, the anger fading to a look of bewildered chagrin. “We’re in deep shit, Gibson. I suggest we stop digging a deeper hole for ourselves and give them immediate access to everything we’ve got.”
“Already doing it, sir. They’re reviewing the video footage now. It’s looking like our perp is a woman.”
“A woman,” Quinn said, growing thoughtful. “Did we ever pin down where Special Agent Fox was at the time of the murder? I recall hearing a report of her missing at the time.”
The color drained from Nick’s face. “You don’t think she had anything to do with the murder, do you? I mean, sure, she lied to us to stay in the loop with her crusade against May, but…”
Quinn waved his objections away. “I don’t k
now what to believe, Gibson. But it’s time to stop swallowing the information she spoon fed us and figure out what’s really going on. I expect you to investigate all avenues of possibility. Even the painful ones.”
“Understood, sir.” Nick rose to his feet, contrite as he approached the door. “I won’t let you down.”
“Nick.” The captain called him back with a commiserating smile. “I bought it too, hook, line, and sinker. Just don’t let it happen again.”
“Thank you, sir.”
* * *
Pettijohn and Perry took over a small section of the bullpen, commandeering desks for themselves, but luckily, they seemed inclined to work with Nick’s team instead of against them. Over the next few hours a stack of file boxes arrived, with copies of every document they had on the case available for review. They were content to allow Libby to continue her autopsy, but confiscated every scrap of forensic evidence collected over the past two murders and hustled it down to their lab, promising results within two hours.
The list of female employees associated with Forsaken was distributed to a handful of uniforms to be brought in, instead of running all over the county to try and interview them. Nick had to admit, it was more efficient, but he did miss seeing a potential suspect in their own environment. He wasn’t the one calling the shots anymore though, and Nick was just grateful to be included on the investigation.
A patrol car was dispatched to Natalie’s hotel room, but she wasn’t there, and no one held much hope that she’d be back. She’d obviously been spooked. Nick got the idea that Natalie’s obfuscation was something of an embarrassment to the Bureau, and they were eager to get past it and close the case once and for all.
Park and Perry left to go speak to the latest victim’s family as Pettijohn, Brady and Nick stepped through the case piece by piece, turning over every piece of evidence with a new set of eyes, given that the murders might’ve been committed by a female.
“A woman.” Pettijohn shook his head, reviewing the tape again. “How the hell did I miss that?”