Cold Snap

by Allison Brennan

“You think that this unknown stalker ex-girlfriend from Chicago tracked him down here?”

  “Sean found evidence on his laptop that he was being cyberstalked, and two blond twentysomething women who resemble his girlfriend Denise are dead.”

  “Devil’s advocate—what if that information was planted?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “What if Denise is the psycho ex-girlfriend but is covering her tracks by making it seem that she left him because of someone else? You couldn’t find a name on his computer; when Denise allegedly left St. Paul four months ago, then two months later he allegedly filed a restraining order against an unknown female.”

  “Then why kill two blond women?”

  “To distract us.”

  “But it hasn’t,” Lucy said. “In fact, finding the missing body is at the top of our priority list right now—we have most of hotel security looking.”

  Harris frowned. “Maybe that was the distraction.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I think the body is another blonde, and that James St. Paul is the killer. I’ve met a lot of psychopaths, and this whole setup is creepy. But I think that two of the three victims are the distractions. I think there is one primary target and the others are to make the target less obvious.”

  The radio Harris was carrying beeped.

  “Harris here.”

  “Detective, we found a body. In the basement, outside the laundry. Go through the double doors at the end, down the corridor, and turn left.”

  Lucy and Harris walked briskly to the laundry. They found the corridor, and when they turned saw at least ten laundry carts and a dozen meal carts, many broken or in disrepair. One of the security guards, a young guy not older than Lucy, looked green as he stood at the front of the corridor waiting for them.

  “Where’s the body?” Harris asked.

  The security guard was upset. “I checked here yesterday, but I didn’t look inside the bins. Nothing seemed out of place so I didn’t think—”

  “Where?” Harris repeated.

  He motioned toward the far end of the corridor. “Last cart on the right.”

  Harris and Lucy walked down the corridor to the end.

  Inside the last cart was a body.

  It was a woman, in a maid’s uniform so drenched with blood Lucy couldn’t tell the original color. She was neither blond, nor James St. Paul. She was an anomaly.

  “Now the million-dollar question,” Harris said. “Why didn’t the hotel tell us they had a missing maid?”

  * * *

  “I’m gone for an hour and you practically solve the case without me,” Kate said when she caught up with Lucy and Detective Harris.

  They’d moved the body to the makeshift cold storage. Harris was on the phone with his chief about the latest development.

  “Hardly,” Lucy told Kate. “Did you get an ID on the maid?”

  “Monica Sanchez.” Kate flipped open a small notepad. “According to the manager, Lynn Thomsen, Sanchez clocked out at four yesterday, so she wasn’t on the staff list. I spoke to the head of housekeeping, who said she may have finished another maid’s rounds—someone who had kids at home and didn’t want to be stuck in the blizzard. When they called the staff who’d been on shift during our time window, they hadn’t thought of calling Sanchez because she’d supposedly left earlier.”

  “And no one thought she was missing?”

  “She’s divorced, lives alone, her two kids are grown.”

  Lucy was saddened that someone could be missing for nearly twenty-four hours and no one thought to call about them.

  Instead, she focused on what she could control—finding the killer before anyone else died.

  “Whoever killed these women has a plan, and he—or she—is not going to stop until it’s completed.”

  Kate zeroed in on the pronoun. “My money is on a she. Tessa Gilliam.”

  “Who?” Harris said when he got off the phone.

  “St. Paul’s stalker ex-girlfriend. I had a long chat with his attorney, who was unusually paranoid even for an attorney. He checked out my credentials while I was on hold. Apparently, Gilliam found out where he lived and poisoned his family’s dog. The dog survived—mostly because it was an eighty-pound golden retriever—but it freaked him out.”

  “She went after St. Paul’s attorney?”

  “Because he’s the one who spoke to the judge. She had to show for the restraining order hearing, and she was furious at how he portrayed her, as well as the fact that St. Paul showed up with a bodyguard. The girl is a nutjob.”

  “Was she charged in the poisoning?”

  “No proof. It’s one of those ‘he knew it was her, but couldn’t prove it’ cases. Like the stalker psycho chick from the movies, the one who boiled the rabbit.”

  “Does he think she’s capable of murder?”

  “I didn’t give him specifics on the victims, but asked if he considered her dangerous. He gave me a laundry list of reasons why he said hell, yes. It started with literal stalking—she’d show up at St. Paul’s office, his house, when he was out to dinner with clients. She even had tea with his elderly grandmother in her nursing home, and that’s what got St. Paul to finally file the restraining order. She told his grandmother that they were engaged and she was thrilled to be part of the family.”

  “Were they ever engaged?”

  “Not engaged, never lived together. He dated her for four months, and from what the lawyer said, it was hot and heavy until she started exhibiting irrational jealousy. He broke up with her after she confronted his personal secretary—a college intern—and said she’d slit her throat if she even looked at St. Paul the wrong way.”

  “Where’s St. Paul now?” Lucy asked.

  “His laywer won’t tell me, not until he talks to him. But here’s another interesting point—St. Paul and his girlfriend Denise never broke up. They pretended to split so Tessa would leave Denise alone, but they’re getting married. They feared Tessa would try something if she knew.”

  Everything clicked together and made sense. “Denise is a petite blonde, like these two victims,” Lucy said.

  Kate snapped her fingers. “Bingo.”

  Harris shook his head. “What’s Gilliam doing? Planning on killing every blonde in the hotel, hoping one of them is Denise?” He glanced at Kate. “You should watch your back.”

  Kate laughed. “I’m not petite, and I hit the big four-oh this year.”

  “You don’t look it, and this woman is crazy.”

  Lucy said, “Denise is in danger until we find her. So is St. Paul. I was so certain he was the missing victim.” This was why Lucy didn’t like to voice her theories, especially with the limited information they’d been working with. “St. Paul is probably alive and in hiding. He must know that Tessa is in town. Maybe he and Denise aren’t even in the hotel anymore.”

  “Other than the restraining order, Gilliam has a record—a stalking charge when she was in college, assault three years ago, two DUIs,” Kate said. “And that’s all local from Chicago. There could be more. I have the local FBI office working on it and searching for Gilliam. We have her last known address, and two field agents in Chicago are checking it out now.”

  “My money is on Gilliam being right here in this hotel,” Harris said, shaking his head.

  “I’m certainly not going to take that bet,” Kate said.

  “I’ll call my chief, see if he can get intel from the airport.”

  Kate pulled her cell phone from her pocket, glanced at the ID and grinned. “Hello, counselor.” She listened. “Thank you. Let him know we’ll be there in ten minutes. I’ll identify myself by name, and show my badge in the peep hole.” She hung up. “We got him. He’s on the eighth floor, registered under a different name. They haven’t left the room in twenty-four hours, not since St. Paul saw Gilliam in the hotel lobby yesterday morning.”

  CHAPTER 22

  As soon as Lucy walked in, she felt the fear rolling off both James St
. Paul and his fiancée, Denise. And it was very clear why.

  Denise was very pregnant.

  James motioned for them to sit on one of the two beds. “My attorney didn’t tell me there were two federal agents and a detective looking for Tessa. What’d she do?”

  They’d kept the information about the murders quiet, but there were rumors spreading through the hotel, mostly because too many people knew parts of each story. No one but security and the manager knew the whole truth, so the stories were wild, but guests weren’t walking anywhere alone and many were staying in their rooms.

  But it appeared that James and Denise were clueless. They hadn’t left their room in twenty-four hours.

  “We believe she’s killed three women.”

  “Oh, God, James!” Denise grabbed his hand and squeezed.

  James put his arm around his fiancée. “How do you know this?”

  “Two of the victims resemble Denise,” Kate said bluntly.

  Tears welled in Denise’s eyes and she buried her head in James’s shoulder. “Where?” James asked.

  “In the hotel.”

  “This hotel?” It was clear by his expression that the news was a total shock.

  Harris said, “The first was a maid who was in the room your company had rented, room 1080. The other two were guests. We don’t know where she is, but we believe she’s still in the hotel, possibly registered under a false ID. We need everything you know about her, starting with why you’ve been in hiding.”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” James said, his voice rising. “She’s dangerous! You just said she killed three people, and I know she’d kill Denise if she found us. I can’t—”

  Lucy sat across from the couple and kept her voice calm but firm. “I know this is extremely difficult, but for Denise’s sake you need to remain calm and focused. Anything you can tell us will help find her.”

  James took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m not good with all the secrecy. When we found out Denise was pregnant, we thought it would set Tessa off. She’s been dangerous, but she never hurt anyone before.”

  “Except your lawyer’s dog,” Kate said.

  “Well, I didn’t want to believe it of her, but yeah. And then when she met my grandmother—but even the restraining order didn’t stop her. So Denise and I staged a breakup and she came here, to Denver, to live with her parents for the past four months. We’re getting married next weekend, at her parents’ house. I stayed here, thinking if Tessa was going to follow, I’d know it. When I thought it was safe, Denise joined me, but stayed in a different room under her sister’s name.”

  “Donna Jergens,” Kate said. “The name this room is registered under.”

  He nodded. “But then I saw Tessa. Yesterday morning, in the lobby. I tried to get a flight out for Denise and me, a flight anywhere, but couldn’t, so I checked my bags hoping she’d think I’d just disappeared. I got rid of my cell phone, Denise got rid of hers, and we decided to hole up in this room until we could get out. I even called Denise’s parents and told them to leave their house. I didn’t know what Tessa knew, if she knew about the Vails, if she was going to try to hurt them.”

  Denise cried out once, then buried her face again in James’s shoulder.

  “You know you won’t be able to run from her forever,” Lucy said. “If she wants to find you bad enough, she can. It’s obvious she went to extreme measures to track you down. There were viruses on your computer that sent her information every time you turned on your computer.”

  He stared at her in shock. “I got a new computer four months ago! I don’t do anything on it, except work. How did she do that?”

  “You’d be surprised how easy it is,” Lucy said.

  “What are we going to do?” Denise said, her hands on her large stomach.

  “You’re going to stay in this room,” Kate said, “and I’m going to put a bodyguard on you.” She glanced at Lucy. “Think Sean’s up for it?”

  “Always,” Lucy said. “Though he doesn’t have his gun.”

  Harris said, “He can use my backup.”

  “Call him,” Kate said. “I have a plan to flush Tessa out.”

  Lucy eyed her suspiciously. “I don’t think Dillon is going to like it.”

  Kate blew out a sigh. “You can’t read my mind.”

  Lucy raised an eyebrow. “I had the same idea when Detective Harris said you didn’t look forty.”

  * * *

  Sean seemed happy to escape the confines of hotel security. “I love my computer, but twelve hours straight is my max.”

  “You’re a cop, too?” James asked.

  “Better,” Sean said with a half smile. “I’m a trained bodyguard.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. “Get over yourself, Rogan.”

  Sean feigned hurt. “At least I have you to keep my ego in check.”

  Lucy said to James and Denise, “Listen to Sean, and you’ll be fine.” Most of the time the friendly bickering between Kate and Sean put people at ease, but it was clearly making Denise tense. She was seven months pregnant—an early delivery would be dangerous for the baby, especially here without a hospital and the proper equipment. The most important thing was to keep her calm and comfortable until this was over.

  Sean caught Lucy’s eye. He didn’t need to say anything, but she knew he was telling her to watch her back—and Kate’s. She squeezed his hand in reassurance and left with Kate to join Detective Harris and Dillon in the manager’s office.

  “The crime-scene techs are here processing the hotel room and searching the courtyard for evidence,” Harris said. “The coroner took the bodies an hour ago, through the freight elevator. I’ve asked my team to be discreet; better not to stir up any more rumors.”

  Dillon said, “A lot of guests have checked out and are heading to the airport—those that were stranded yesterday.”

  Harris nodded. “That was one of my concerns, that she could slip out much easier now.”

  Kate handed around copies of Tessa Gilliam’s driver’s license photo. “This just came in from Chicago. Decker in hotel security is passing it out to his team, and Harris’s people already have a copy as well. Tessa is a natural blonde, but Mr. St. Paul said she’s altered her appearance—she dyed her hair brown and may be wearing glasses. So you need to be extra diligent when looking at potential suspects.”

  Lucy added, “She knows St. Paul spotted her, and may have changed her appearance again—new hair color, even a new style.”

  “I have a team of four plainclothes officers in the lobby near the main entrance,” Harris said. “Hotel security is covering the other exits and diverting guests to the front. If Tessa Gilliam is here, we will find her.”

  Kate had dressed in one of Denise’s sweaters, something that Kate would never wear in a million years—it was bright pink with tiny blue hearts. Denise told them that she’d had the sweater for years, and she kept it because it was big enough to fit over her growing stomach. It might be something that Tessa would recognize. Kate wore a turtleneck underneath, which helped mask the wire she was wearing, as well as a Kevlar vest Harris had one of his female officers loan her. They didn’t know if Tessa had a gun, but no one was taking chances.

  “We have you covered,” Harris said. He handed her St. Paul’s suitcase. It was unique enough that they thought Tessa would know that it was his. They also had his computer, and Sean was working on a back trace—Kate would go to the lobby and log in. Sean would monitor the connection to see if Tessa was tracking it, and hopefully use that to locate her exact whereabouts.

  Because Harris’s large frame was noticeable, he opted to stay in the security room monitoring the cameras with Gary the IT kid Sean had befriended.

  “Ready?” he asked Kate and Lucy.

  “Let’s catch the bitch,” Kate said.

  Kate, Lucy, and Dillon approached the lobby separately. Kate took the stairs, and Lucy beat her to the lobby by taking the elevator. She sat in the open, in front of the lobby’s two-story-tall Christmas
tree that dominated the center of the vast space. It was decorated in red and gold ornaments and white lights, too opulent for Lucy’s taste, but when she sat down the pine aroma of the fresh tree made her smile. She reminded herself that this was Christmas, a time of hope and miracles. For her and Sean, starting their future in San Antonio; for James and Denise, putting the violence of their past behind them to start a family.

  Lucy pulled out Sean’s e-reader and pretended to read. From her angle, she could see Kate as she crossed the lobby and sat on the far side, the best place for the undercover cops and Lucy to keep her in sight.

  Dillon agreed to stay out of the main lobby, but he staked himself out at the concierge desk. The added benefit was that it gave him a view of the elevator bank. Harris brought James down to the security room to monitor the cameras, while Sean kept Denise secure in her room.

  As Lucy watched, Kate walked from the lobby to the checkout desk. They wanted to make her as visible as possible from all different angles. She stood in line for ten minutes before she got to the front.

  Lucy couldn’t hear the conversation with the clerk, but Kate would be saying that she was Denise Vail and was checking out.

  Next, Kate went to the concierge to arrange for James St. Paul’s luggage. She handed the clerk the ticket.

  The concierge was closer to Lucy’s position. The clerk asked, “Do you need a taxi?”

  “Yes, but I have some time. I’m waiting for my fiancé.” She made a show of displaying her ring.

  “Beautiful! You’re a lucky girl.”

  “I know.” Kate beamed. Lucy almost laughed—maybe Kate should have been an actress.

  The fake exchange took only a few minutes, then the clerk handed her James’s suitcase and laptop case, which they’d returned to storage earlier.

  Kate walked to the middle of the lobby, looked around as if searching for someone. Checked her watch. Pulled out her phone and sent a text message. It went to Lucy and the others in their group.

  No sign of her. I’m going to run the program now.

  Kate went back to her original seat in the lobby and pulled out James’s laptop. She’d boot up and run a trace program Sean had installed so that Sean could monitor anyone who tracked James.