Unseen

by Jana DeLeon

  He’d seen her going into Madison’s building the day before and had worried for just a minute that the Peeping Tom had hired her to track him down. But he’d dismissed that thought when he found out Madison couldn’t identify him at all. Shaye Archer had plenty of money, and Madison lived in a high-end building. For all he knew, she could have been there looking at apartments.

  But now he knew his initial thought was correct. And that wasn’t good. The whores Carla hung out with couldn’t provide her with any information because they didn’t know anything, but it hadn’t stopped her from showing up in a bad area of town, late at night, to speak to them. Unfortunately, Shaye Archer didn’t have the red tape that the cops had to work through or a caseload that kept her spread so thinly that things got overlooked and eventually shelved. Most importantly, she didn’t need the money. If she took an interest in something, she had the means, ability, and connections to pursue it until the end.

  In so many ways, she was more dangerous than the police.

  So he’d watched as she talked to the whores and weighed his options. He’d come here tonight against his better judgment. His body ached for the release he’d feel when he finally took Madison as his own, but that finale required careful planning, especially now that she knew he was watching. But his desire was overwhelming, and it wouldn’t be denied. He craved the release that came with death the way a junkie craved the needle. So finally, he’d set out, hoping for an easy score. Something that would tide him over until he could have what he truly desired. It wouldn’t be a production like what he’d planned for Carla. More old-school as in the beginning. But he needed it.

  Then he’d seen that Archer bitch and rage took over. Who the hell was she to try to prevent him from getting what he needed? Who was she to judge his desires? To decide that a bunch of whores were more important than his pain?

  Something had to be done about Shaye Archer.

  Nothing could stand in the way of his plans for Madison. Madison was the key to everything. The one he’d been searching for with every previous kill but had never found. She was everything he hoped the others would be, and no one was going to stop him from having her.

  When he’d spotted the Archer bitch’s SUV on the corner, he’d gotten an idea. Puncture a tire so that she had no way to run from his bullets, except out in the open. Then shoot her while she stood there, waiting for a man to come rescue her from the banalities of life. He’d been surprised when she started changing the tire herself, but it made no difference to his plan. In fact, it meant his plan worked all the better. When faced with death, someone might attempt to drive away on a flat tire, but if the vehicle was on a jack, that became impossible.

  So he’d waited until the perfect moment, then he’d opened fire.

  When he saw her dive under the SUV, he’d bitten his tongue so hard to hold in the stream of cursing that he’d tasted blood. He’d tried to save the plan, shooting out the light and attempting a silent approach in the dark night. And it would have worked if the cops hadn’t shown up. A patrol unit must have been nearby. Just his luck.

  And now things were worse than before.

  Now Shaye Archer knew that he knew, because he didn’t think for a moment that she would attribute his attempt to random street violence, especially when a shop checked out her vehicle and told her the tire had been deliberately slashed. He’d put an already-suspicious person with connections to law enforcement and an unlimited budget on high alert.

  He cursed and slammed his hand against the wall, knocking pieces of plaster off the deteriorating building. What if the Archer bitch convinced Madison to leave New Orleans? Without Madison, everything fell apart. She was the only one for him. The perfect mate.

  It was obvious what he had to do, and he had to do it quickly.

  17

  Thursday, December 24, 2015

  * * *

  It was only 5:00 a.m. when Shaye rolled out of bed and headed into the bathroom. Despite only a couple hours’ sleep, she was wide awake, even though her exhausted body wished she were still in bed. Unfortunately, her mind had other ideas, and Shaye knew herself well enough to know that her mind always won that battle. It didn’t matter that it was still pitch-black outside; if her mind was raring to go, then her body had to get on board. Coffee would help move things forward.

  A splash of cold water on her face startled a little bit of energy out of her, and she headed into the kitchen to make coffee, trying to stay quiet so that she didn’t wake Jackson, who was sleeping on her couch.

  She’d called him as soon as she’d gotten to her apartment. The last thing she wanted was for him to hear about what happened at the police station. He’d rushed right over as she’d expected he would, but she hadn’t expected the displeasure he’d expressed with the choice she’d made to go talk to Shonda and Louise with no backup. It was the closest to a fight they’d ever been, and she still wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

  On the one hand, she was glad that he wasn’t dancing around things in order to spare her feelings. She wanted their relationship to be one of equal footing. But on the other hand, her decision the night before was about her job, and he needed to accept that risk came with it the same as she accepted it about his job. Then on the other, other hand maybe she should have asked him to go with her, just to sit in the car, given that she knew the killer was stalking Madison. And if one wanted to throw a fourth hand in there for good measure, no one had considered the killer would come after Shaye, so her worry of being in danger was low.

  It was a problem with no immediate solution. For the first time since she and Jackson had taken their relationship beyond friendship, she understood why Corrine didn’t date. It was hard. The emotions wrapped up in everything, especially the decisions she made about her own life. If she wanted things to work with Jackson, she was going to have to start considering him in everything she did, not just when she wasn’t working.

  That didn’t mean she stopped doing her job, or taking risks along with the job. But maybe she could alter the way she went about certain things to reduce the chance of her getting caught in the cross fire. It was the same thing Corrine had been harping on ever since Shaye opened her practice, but it had been easier to dismiss her worry as the whole mother thing. It was harder to dismiss Jackson, especially given what he did for a living and knowing how much he respected the choices she’d made concerning her profession.

  “You making coffee?” Jackson’s voice sounded from the couch and his head appeared over the back of it.

  “Yeah. I was trying not to wake you.”

  “I wasn’t sleeping all that great anyway.”

  “I have a queen bed with a nice cushy mattress in the guest room.”

  He rose and walked into the kitchen. “It’s not the couch. It’s actually more comfortable than mine.”

  He looked directly at her, and she could see the concern and caring in his eyes and all the fight in her slipped away.

  “I’m sorry about last night,” she said. “I should have asked you to ride along.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “What’s the catch?”

  “No catch. I’ve just been thinking about the way it went down. The reality is if he’d been a better shot, I probably would have been killed. Then Madison wouldn’t have me looking out for her, my mother would be inconsolable, and you…” She looked down at the floor.

  He stepped close to her and put his finger under her chin, raising her head so that she was forced to look at him. “I would have been inconsolable too,” he said, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him.

  She relaxed into him, the warmth from his body enveloping her like a blanket. Everything could have been lost. Everything that was so important to her. All because she didn’t take the time to consider every possibility. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. The struggle she’d had to get to where she was now was worth thinking twice before she made a move. It was worth thinking ten times.

  Finally, she
leaned back to look at him. “I’m still not quitting,” she said.

  “I would be disappointed if you were.”

  She smiled. “How did you get so perfect, Jackson Lamotte?”

  “I found my perfect match.” He leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips, then released her. “Now, let’s have some coffee and talk through everything that happened last night. Everything changed, and you need to rethink how you go about the investigation differently from this point forward. I’d love to help you with that. If you don’t mind.”

  “Mind? I think you’ve got a couple years’ experience on me. I’m happy with any help you want to provide.”

  They fixed their coffees and sat at the bar, Shaye reaching for her laptop as she slipped onto the stool. “I might want to make some notes,” she said.

  He nodded. “Okay, so recount last night for me. Everything from the time you got back to your SUV.”

  She took a sip of coffee and started, taking her time to mentally picture and describe every detail that she could recall. You never knew what would be important. She’d heard that from every investigator she’d ever worked with, and they were right. Sometimes the thing that seemed small or even insignificant was the clue that cracked everything wide open.

  “The tires are new, right?” he asked when she finished.

  “Basically. I just replaced them two months ago.”

  “New Orleans roads are bad but not bad enough to take out a brand-new tire, and if you’d picked up a nail, it probably wouldn’t have gone as flat as you described in that amount of time. It wasn’t pulling to one side when you were driving, was it?”

  “No. It was fine. Look, I’ve pretty much decided that he slashed my tire. My guess is the dealership will call me this morning saying the same thing. I don’t believe for a minute that he just happened upon me and took advantage of my bad luck, but I have to believe that he knows I’m working for Madison. Otherwise, why target me?”

  “No reason to at all. I’d say your assumption is accurate. He could have been watching when you went to her apartment and put it together. I don’t have to tell you that you’re at a disadvantage to most PIs given that the majority of the city knows what you look like. It will always be hard not to stick out.”

  “I know.”

  “You also have to call Maxwell this morning and fill him in. He needs to know that things are escalating.”

  “I planned on calling him at nine, unless of course, he gets word of what happened and calls me before that.”

  “Good. I’ll take a cab back to my apartment and leave you my truck.”

  Shaye sighed. Despite talking about the shooting, she’d completely forgotten about the fact that she would be without a vehicle for a while. “I’ll get a rental today,” she said.

  “You sure? I’ve got the spare car.”

  “It’s a business expense, and given that he’s not afraid to shoot at me, I don’t want to get bullet holes in your truck, too.”

  “It could do with a new paint job, but I hear you.”

  “Okay, so back to the case. We agree that his shooting at me was deliberate, but what I can’t figure is why he was there in the first place. I don’t think I was followed, and I usually know.”

  Jackson shook his head. “I’d bet money you weren’t followed. Very few people would be good enough to pull that off during the day with decent traffic for coverage. But late at night, in an area with low automobile traffic, he would have stood out like a sore thumb even to a blind man, much less someone with your perception.”

  “Okay, so we agree he was already there. Why?”

  “No good reason, for sure. We know what corner Carla worked and you said another girl from that area is missing, right?”

  “He was looking for his next victim.” She’d already made it around to that thought sometime in the middle of one of her tossing-and-turning episodes the night before, but saying it out loud put a whole different sense of urgency on it.

  “That’s what I’m thinking.”

  “But why so soon? I mean, there was a bigger time gap between Mitzi and Carla. And he’d made plans for Carla’s murder even if she wasn’t necessarily chosen ahead of time. So why escalate now? Unless you think he already has multiple locations prepared.”

  “Window-shopping?”

  She shook her head. “That doesn’t feel right. He knows Madison saw him, and if he’s responsible for Carla and Mitzi, why would he return to the same vicinity? It’s risky.”

  “He doesn’t know that the police are investigating. And besides, he knows he didn’t leave any evidence. You know these perps think they’re smarter than everyone else. He knew he could find what he was looking for in that location because he had before. I don’t think it’s any more complicated than that.”

  “I have to do something. Louise could have been next. She fits his type. Tall, blonde, thin. I need to call Shonda. Maybe last night will prompt Louise to change her hair color.”

  “It could make a difference going forward, but honestly, if he was looking for a victim for last night, I don’t think it would have mattered. She could have had black hair or even blue. If he wanted a victim right then, he might have just gone with availability.”

  “Like shooting at me. I just happened to be there.”

  “Golden opportunity.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t know. I think the blonde thing is important. I think part of the reason he’s fixated on Madison and stalking her rather than just killing her at first opportunity is because she fits his profile.”

  “And you could be right. God only knows what goes on inside the head of the criminally insane.”

  “Just my luck to get a case with one.” She put her hands in the air. “So what now? He’s after Madison and won’t hesitate to take a shot at me. Maybe he’s even after me now. How do we find him? I have a dozen places to start but none of them sound more promising than the other.”

  “The way I narrow things down is by picking the one fact of the case that produces the fewest number of options and start there.”

  She frowned and considered the facts of the case aligned with his statement. “The change in Carla’s behavior is one thing. I wondered if she had a new man, but no one seems to think that’s the case. Neither the owner of the motel where she stayed nor his two night managers recalled seeing Carla with anyone, and Shonda and Louise didn’t think there was anyone new. The weekend night manager saw her get into a white Corolla, but he didn’t see the driver.”

  Jackson nodded. “If Carla was seeing someone new, that’s an angle that needs exploring, but it sounds like you’ve tapped it out. The thing that really stands out to me is the apartment where he killed Carla. How did he get in? If what the maintenance guy told you is true—that he controls contractor access—then there can’t have been that many people who could gain entry.”

  “And we know for certain that he didn’t break in. You’re right. I have a list of all the Realtors who showed the apartment. I was going to contact all of them and see if they saw anything unusual when they were there.”

  “Or a weird client that they showed the space to.”

  Her mind went back to her interview with Trenton Cooper. “Or maybe the solution is right there at the beginning of it all. I need to do some more digging into Trenton Cooper.”

  “The Realtor who holds the listing?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t like him. That doesn’t make him a serial killer, of course.”

  “Thank God. If everyone I didn’t like was a serial killer, I’d have a lot more murder cases on my desk.”

  She shook her head. “Now that you’re done being funny, where are you going to buy my breakfast?”

  “Me? I offer all this free help and I have to pay?”

  “You rode in to rescue me, right? Well, you can wrap up the gig by saving me from starvation.”

  “I see how this is going to be. Well, if I’m buying, then I’m choosing. How about that place on the corner with the incred
ible blueberry pancakes.”

  She groaned. “I was going to wear jeans.”

  “If I don’t get to wear elastic-waist pants, you shouldn’t either. It’s that whole equality thing.”

  “My man, the feminist.” She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss before jumping off the stool and heading for the bedroom to change. She had a lot to do, and it all needed to happen five minutes ago.

  Her life and Madison’s depended on it.

  Madison awakened before dawn and went straight to her office, trying to distract herself with work. She hadn’t slept for more than a thirty-minute stretch and she felt it all over. Her entire body ached and a small headache lingered, threatening to turn into something far worse. Every time exhaustion had taken over and put her into slumber, the dreams came. And he was in every one of them. The faceless figure wearing black. Sometimes he was behind her, and no matter how fast she ran, he gained on her until he grabbed her shoulder. Other times, he had a knife to her throat and he was laughing. The horrible laugh of a disturbed person.

  Both had sent her bolting upright, dripping with sweat, and a couple of times, screaming for help. She was glad none of the other apartments on her floor were occupied. She could only imagine the scare she would have given a neighbor, shrieking as though she were being killed. And she supposed, in a way, she was.

  After a pot of coffee and a good hour of work, she lifted her hands above her head and stretched them, trying to ease her knotted back. During one of her jolts awake, she’d strained something and her body wasn’t letting her forget it. She glanced at the master bedroom, thinking about the big whirlpool tub or the shower with all those adjustable jets, but the thought of being in either of them, naked and vulnerable, freaked her out too much to try it. Instead, she dug out the heating pad she used for cramps and stuck it in her office chair, hoping the heat would give her a bit of relief.

  It was barely 8:00 a.m. when her phone rang. She looked at the display and frowned. It was security.

  “Hello,” she answered.