Four (Count to Ten Book 4)

by Jane Blythe

  He roused himself; he didn’t want to get lost in daydreams and have Audrey wake up before he was ready for her. Besides, he didn’t need to daydream—he was about to experience the real thing.

  With a practiced hand, he clamped down on Audrey’s mouth and held the gun to her temple.

  Just like the others, she came awake with a start. Panic filled her eyes and she started to fight him.

  “I have a gun at your head, Audrey,” he whispered in her ear. “If you don’t stop squirming, I'm going to blow your brains out.”

  This fact had the desired effect. The woman immediately went stone still. Her chest heaved as she struggled to calm herself.

  “I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth and tie you up. If you make a sound, not only will I kill you, but I’ll track down every member of your family and every one of your friends and kill them, too. Understand?”

  It seemed to take a moment for his words to penetrate her terrified haze, but eventually she nodded.

  Cautiously, he removed his hand. When she remained quiet, he nodded, pleased. Making quick work of securing her wrists and ankles together, he was about to put some tape over her mouth when she spoke.

  “Are you the man?” Audrey’s voice was so quiet, he had to strain to hear it. “From my building?”

  He saw no reason to lie to the woman. “Yep, that’s me,” he agreed cheerfully.

  “Why?” her voice trembled and she started to cry. “Why are you doing this to me? Why did you hurt those other people?”

  Now that, he didn’t have time to answer. At least, not right now. Right now, he had to get Audrey out of here and tucked safely away. So, instead of answering, he cut a piece of tape and slapped it down over her mouth. Audrey mewed a protest, but the muffled sound wouldn’t have carried outside the room.

  Now to get her out of here and into his van. It was parked close to the door, and the early hour still meant there wouldn’t be many people about. But on the off chance anyone was up already, he didn’t want to be seen carrying a woman from the motel to his van.

  The police would soon realize that Audrey Nichols was missing. And they would assume he was the one to have taken her. But he didn’t want them getting a lead on his van. He still needed it. Not just to transport Audrey, but also to enact the last stage of his plan.

  Carrying her was out; or, at least, the very last option. He needed something to move her in. He scanned the room in search of something suitable. His bag was too small, but he spied a suitcase over by the closet. It wasn't a huge one, but Audrey was a skinny little thing, so it might work.

  Unzipping it, he dumped all the clothing onto the floor, then turned back to the bed. Amused, he watched as Audrey wiggled herself to the edge of the bed. She reminded him of a caterpillar and he couldn’t help but chuckle. At the edge of the bed, she swung her bound legs over the edge, then tried to stand. With her ankles tied together, she couldn’t really move, and she lost her balance, helpless to break her fall with her hands still coupled together.

  Once on the floor, she began her caterpillar wiggle again as she headed for the door. As amusing as it was to watch her slow progress, he didn’t really have time for this, so gun in one hand, to remind her just who was in charge here and what the consequences were of disobeying him, he went to retrieve her.

  Throwing her over his shoulder, he carried her to the suitcase and put her inside. It was a tight fit, and she fought him, knowing that once he had her inside, her chances of escaping dropped to virtually zero, but curling her up in the fetal position, he managed to just fit her in.

  With Audrey safely tucked away, he collected his supplies and repacked them in his bag. Then taking it and grabbing hold of the suitcase’s handle, he wheeled it out the door, locking it behind him.

  Now closer to dawn, there were a few joggers and holidaymakers out and about, but no one cast him a second glance as he wheeled the suitcase along behind him toward his van. Opening the back door, he heaved the suitcase inside, tossed his bag in beside it, then slammed it closed.

  Climbing into the driver’s seat, he started the engine, and pleased with the night’s events, he drove off down the street.

  * * * * *

  8:47 A.M.

  Rose was feeling much better this morning, and more than a little embarrassed about last night’s little meltdown.

  After they’d left the apartment building, they had stopped briefly at her house so she could grab a change of clothes and some toiletries, then gone straight to Jack’s. As soon as they got there, she had jumped into the shower, standing for ages under the steaming hot spray. Then Jack had helped her redress her wounds and she’d crawled into bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  She awakened when Jack had gotten up only a few hours later, but she’d felt fully rested, and despite Jack’s protestations that she go back to bed and take the day off, she had dressed and come with him to work.

  No way was she missing out on interviewing the man who had attacked her.

  Now she was standing watching Kirby Tam as he sat inside the interview room waiting for them. The man was huge. Tall and extremely well-muscled, with a shaved head and small brown eyes. He reminded Rose of a kind of dark, angry version of Jack. As she took in his size, she realized that had she not had backup last night, she would not have gotten away from the man alive. He was simply too big. She was well trained in self-defense—she even taught classes from time to time–but skill and training only went so far. In the end, size won out every time.

  “You sure you want to do this?” Jack came up beside her.

  “Positive,” Rose assured her partner. She wasn't intimidated by Kirby Tam. Sure, he may be bigger and stronger than she was, but she was smarter. And right now, sitting in an interview room at the police station, Kirby’s size wasn't going to do him any favors.

  Jack looked doubtful but didn’t say anything else. They had argued in the car on the way here about whether or not she should even be in today. But, as far as Rose was concerned, there was no good reason for her to stay home. She’d been shaken last night, but some good sleep had taken care of that. The cuts on her foot, knees, and hands had stung last night, but a couple of Tylenol had done away with that and this morning she barely even felt them. What would be the point of her lounging around in bed all day when she could be here at work making sure that Kirby Tam never had the opportunity to hurt another person?

  “Let’s do this,” she announced.

  “I can do the interview, if you want,” Jack offered.

  “I know you're worried about me, Jack, but I’m okay. I really am. I chose to stay in Audrey Nichols’ apartment last night. I chose to put myself in this guy’s path. I'm not Paige and I'm not Sofia; I didn’t just get attacked while going about my everyday life, and I didn’t even end up with any serious injuries. I really am fine,” she assured her partner.

  “Okay,” Jack agreed, sighing deeply. “But if you change your mind in there, just let me know.”

  “I'm not going to change my mind,” she said stubbornly. Jack merely nodded and followed her as she strode into the interview room.

  At the sound of the opening door, Kirby’s head snapped up. As he looked at her, recognition dawned and a small smirk lit his face. “Hi, Detective,” he drawled.

  “Good morning, Mr. Tam,” she replied calmly.

  Disappointment had his smirk dimming a little, but still he kept his tone cocky. “Hope I didn’t hurt you too badly last night.”

  Refusing to get drawn into Kirby’s game, she merely kept her face impassive and took her seat. “Mr. Tam, you are being charged with murder, sexual assault, several counts of aggravated assault, and attempted murder of a police officer.”

  “I'm being charged with what now?” he snapped irritably. Kirby Tam hadn’t lost his attitude throughout the night. He was still snippy and argumentative, and even the prospect of facing several extremely serious charges wasn't going to diminish that.

  Patiently
, Rose repeated the crimes. “Murder, sexual assault, aggravated assault, and attempted murder of a police officer.”

  “I didn’t try to kill you.” Kirby rolled his eyes as though the notion were ridiculous.

  “You grabbed me, chased me, and were pinning me to the floor when you were dragged off me,” Rose reminded him.

  He snorted. “That’s hardly attempting to murder you. I don’t even know you. I was surprised to find you there. And who exactly do you think I murdered?”

  “We don’t think you murdered anyone. We know you murdered Tarek Milford,” she replied.

  “Who is Tarek Milford?” Kirby was looking at them suspiciously, as though he thought they may be trying to trick him.

  “Tarek Milford lives in Audrey’s apartment building. You do know Audrey Nichols, don’t you, Mr. Tam, since you did break into her apartment last night?” Rose goaded.

  “Of course, I know Audrey.” Kirby gave them a withering glare. “But I didn’t kill anyone.”

  “Mr. Tam, we know that you did, we are simply waiting for the fingerprint and DNA samples we took from you earlier to be compared to those collected from the crime scenes.” Rose was wondering why Kirby Tam was denying his crimes. Maybe he was trying to play coy to get out of here and to whoever the woman was he was really after.

  “You think I'm that guy who’s been attacking people in Audrey’s building?” When they both nodded, Kirby continued with a small, smug smile. “I was right. I knew you’d think it was him. If you hadn’t been there,” he snarled at her, “then it would have gone perfectly.”

  Rose exchanged a glance with Jack. “What would have gone perfectly, Mr. Tam?”

  “My plan,” he answered. “I didn’t kill that old guy in Audrey’s building, and I didn’t rape anybody, either. But I had heard about the crime spree. I thought I'd take advantage of it.”

  “For what reason, Mr. Tam?” Jack asked.

  “Audrey and I were married; our divorce was finalized a few weeks ago.”

  “Was it an amicable separation?” Rose asked, knowing that it wouldn’t have been because Kirby Tam didn’t seem to do anything amicably, but wanting confirmation.

  “No,” Kirby replied a little sullenly.

  “Why did you separate?”

  “Because Audrey is a control freak. She tricked me into marrying her. Pretended that she was cool, open-minded, that she wasn't going to be like other girls and freak out over everything I did. But she did. As soon as we were married, she started trying to monitor everything I did, everyone I talked to, every place I went. She wanted to change me. Nothing I ever did was good enough for her. I drank too much, I spent too much time with my ‘loser’ friends, as she called them. She didn’t like that I flirted with beautiful women, she was jealous.” Anger and resentment toward Audrey was seeping out of every pore in Kirby’s body.

  “Who ended things, you or Audrey?” Jack asked.

  “She did,” Kirby pouted. “She caught me sleeping with another woman, said she never signed up for that. Little witch was lying, though; she knew who I was before we got married. But women always think they’ll change a man.” Kirby glared at her as though she were personally responsible for every decision every woman had ever made.

  “So, you were angry at her?” Rose continued.

  “Of course I was. In the divorce, she thought she was entitled to everything she wanted just because I slept with a few other women. She convinced the judge in our divorce proceedings to give her everything, even things that were mine, things she didn’t even want,” Kirby raged.

  “So, you wanted to do something about it?” Rose pressed.

  “Yeah, I sure did. I didn’t care about Audrey, she wasn't even that pretty. I can get women ten times more beautiful, but I wanted my stuff back. She shouldn’t be allowed to be spiteful and get away with it,” he groused.

  “So, what did you intend to do about it?” Rose was wondering whether Audrey was the intended victim that their killer was after, and the others were the collateral damage along the way.

  “I intended to get my stuff back,” Kirby repeated as though she were an idiot.

  “And just how did you intend to get it back?”

  For the first time, Kirby started to look a little uncomfortable. “I was just going to tie her up. Maybe knock her around a little. But I swear that was it.” His brown eyes bounced from her to Jack, trying to gauge if they believe him or not. Apparently deciding they weren’t convinced, he continued, “I was going to tie her up, blindfold her so she didn’t know it was me. That was it. Then I'd get my stuff and leave. I thought Audrey and the rest of you would just think it was that guy who’d been hurting people in the building. I thought I'd get away with it. That no one would even be thinking about me. If I'd known you were going to be there instead of Audrey, I wouldn't have done it.”

  “Audrey said no one else had a key to her apartment, but you unlocked the door to get in.” Jack was staring at Kirby Tam with a look that suggested he believed that Kirby was not the man they were looking for.

  Rose, however, wasn't quite ready to believe that yet.

  “I still had a key,” Kirby replied tightly.

  “She changed the locks after you moved out though, right? So, how did you have a copy?” Jack raised a blond eyebrow.

  “I stole it, okay?” Kirby sighed.

  “How?”

  Another sigh. “I had a friend chat her up at a bar, then when she wasn't looking, swipe her keys. Then he met me in the bathroom, gave me the key and I went and had a copy made. Then I went back to the bar and slipped my friend the key. He put them back in her bag before she even knew they’d been missing,” Kirby explained.

  “I think you had more in mind for Audrey than just tying her up and stealing back your things.” Rose watched Kirby closely for his reaction. “I think you intended to hurt her, maybe even kill her.”

  “That’s crazy,” Kirby growled. “I never laid a finger on Audrey when we were together, and even though I was angry with her, I would never have physically hurt her.”

  “You said you might have knocked her around a bit last night if she’d been there,” Rose reminded him.

  “Just to make it believable,” he added defensively.

  “I think you were just so angry with her, you wanted her to suffer. I think that you killed Tarek Milford, raped Judith Barclay, and tortured Jessica Elgar, just to throw suspicion off your intended victim. I think you wanted us to think there was some lunatic stalking the building, so that when you got around to Audrey we wouldn’t even be thinking about you, then you'd be free to do to Audrey whatever you wanted.”

  “That’s insane,” Kirby roared. “Do you think I'm some kind of nutcase?”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw Jack stand and move to a corner of the room, his phone in his hand. She kept her attention focused on Kirby. “I don’t know if I'd call you a nutcase,” she commented mildly. “You certainly planned this all out carefully. You knew exactly what you were doing. You organized everything perfectly. I'd say you’re more like an evil genius than a nutcase.”

  Before Kirby could make a retort, Jack returned to the table. “His prints don’t match,” her partner announced. “DNA doesn’t, either. He didn’t commit the murder, rape, or torture.”

  “See?” Kirby smiled triumphantly. “I told you I didn’t. I told you it wasn't me. I'm out of here.” With that, he stood dismissively.

  “You're not going anywhere, Mr. Tam,” Rose informed him, stopping him with an outstretched hand.

  “Why?” He looked confused. “You just said your forensics proved I didn’t kill or rape anyone.”

  “Our forensics showed you weren’t the perpetrator of the murder, rape, and torture that were committed in the building. But you will still be prosecuted for breaking and entering Audrey’s apartment and for assaulting a police officer. You are not going anywhere. In fact, you won’t be going anywhere, other than to prison, for a very long time,” Rose finished wit
h a smug smile of her own. Kirby Tam was really getting on her nerves.

  “You witch!” Kirby threw himself at her, lunging across the table, sending his chair clattering to the floor, and the papers on the table flying.

  He got maybe halfway toward her when Jack grabbed him, throwing him up against the wall and twisting his arm behind his back. Kirby continued to yell obscenities at her, even as other officers flooded the room.

  “You okay?” Jack kept one hand on Kirby as another officer cuffed him.

  “Fine,” Rose assured him as her heart rate slowed back down to normal. Kirby Tam’s little stunt had done little more than give her a momentary start. She wasn't afraid of him. And she doubted he was stupid enough to come after her if he got released on bail.

  What was worrying her more was that another suspect had slipped through their fingers. Kirby Tam wasn't their guy.

  Which meant their guy was still out there—somewhere.

  And so was the woman he was after.

  And they were no closer to finding either one of them.

  Which meant they were no closer to ending this and had no idea how many more casualties were going to fall before this guy got what he wanted.

  “I’ll see you in court, Mr. Tam,” she called sweetly after him as he was dragged, still yelling, from the room.

  * * * * *

  1:03 P.M.

  “We’ve been wrong twice now.” Jack tried to say it like a statement, but thought it probably came out as more of a dejected whine.

  Both Harry Kinkirk and Kirby Tam, while neither of them were decent human beings, had turned out not to be the man they were looking for, based on the forensics. Jack was hoping there was some way the forensics could be wrong. He knew they weren’t and yet still he hoped they were.