Even though it wasn’t unexpected, the news was still bad. Without the sheriff’s backup, Alex would have to involve Leah in a way he didn’t want her involved.
“The sheriff seems to think you can handle this,” Winston went on.
“We can,” Leah assured him. “We’ve been working on this case for months. We did the profile, and we’ll find this SOB.”
Since that sounded a little like marking her territory, Alex intervened. “But we can still use your help,” he explained to Winston.
The man nodded. “I did like you said. I typed up a note, telling the guests to stay in their rooms. We slipped it under all the doors and underlined that part about them making sure they were locked in.” He checked his watch. “But it’s nearly three-thirty. Soon, everyone’s gonna start getting hungry. The restaurant opens at five.”
Alex considered room service for all forty-two remaining guests and staff, but that wasn’t without risks. After all, the strangler could use that as an excuse to get people to open their door to him.
“I’m about to start interviewing those who match the profile,” Alex announced. They might get lucky, but he doubted it would happen before dinnertime. “It’s best if we keep everyone together. Tell them to come to the restaurant at exactly six. Everyone at once.”
It’d be harder for the strangler to pick someone off that way. If he was after anyone but Leah, that is. Now that the blizzard had trapped her here, the villain had exactly what he wanted. And that both infuriated and sickened Alex.
“Don’t knock on the guests’ doors alone,” Alex reminded Winston.
“I won’t. My brother’s a handyman here, and he’ll go around with me.”
Alex mentally went over the employment records. Winston’s brother was in his early fifties and didn’t fit the profile, either. That was a plus. They didn’t want the strangler using the cover of being a staff member to get to another victim.
Winston patted his pocket. “Besides, I’ve got my .38, and I know how to use it.”
Good. Alex wasn’t a fan of civilian help when deadly force was a possibility, but he had no choice. He waited until Winston had walked away before he turned to another civilian.
Leah.
“Here are the rules,” Alex told her. “We’re joined at the hip for this. We question all the suspects together, and you don’t go out of my sight.”
She paused. A long time. “Joined at the hip, huh?” she finally mumbled.
Alex followed her gaze and saw that she was staring at the lone bed in the room. “Yeah,” he verified. “If we don’t catch the strangler before exhaustion sets in, then we’re sharing that bed.”
It sounded a little like a threat, but it didn’t feel that way. More like a torture session where Leah would be curled up close to him. Alex hoped he remembered that he was the boss and not some sex-starved teenager who couldn’t control himself.
Good luck with that.
He opened his field bag, which he’d placed on the foot of her bed, and took out the Kevlar vest. He got a raised eyebrow from Leah when he handed it to her.
“Really?” she challenged. “Our guys aren’t into bullets. So unless you’ve got Kevlar for my neck, I doubt this will do any good.”
“Humor me,” Alex insisted.
“Are you wearing one?” she demanded.
He shook his head. “There’s only one in the bag. But I’m not their target.”
She huffed, but then peeled off her sweater. For a moment he thought he might have to turn around or come face-to-face with her lacy pink bra, but she had a camisole top beneath. Also pink. She put the vest on over that and then topped it with the sweater.
“Satisfied?” she grumbled.
Not even close.
But Alex kept that to himself.
He shoved her key card into his pocket, picked up the guest list that had the names of their possible suspects highlighted, and turned to her.
“One more thing.” Alex stared at her and made sure he had her full attention. “When we find him, I’ll be the one to take him down.”
Leah made Alex wait several seconds before she nodded.
It was a start, but he knew her assurance didn’t mean much. She knew it, too. They weren’t dealing with an idiot out-of-control killer here, and Alex had to anticipate that the strangler would try to draw them into a situation.
A deadly one.
One where he could get his hands—literally—on Leah.
CHAPTER FIVE
JOE TARKINGTON, number seven on their list, threw open his door just seconds after Leah knocked on it.
Alex introduced himself, then her, and proceeded to ask the questions that would help them eliminate this guy. He was the last of the possibilities from among the guests, though they still had the three employees to interview.
As she had done with the other six Alex had questioned, she watched and observed while making notes. So far, there hadn’t been much to note—mostly just a group of guys who seemed worried they might be murdered or mistaken for a serial killer. Joe-number-seven seemed no different.
Until Leah noticed his right leg.
And the cast that was there.
“Ski accident,” Tarkington volunteered, when he saw where her gaze had landed. “It happened two days ago, but since I prepaid for the room, I decided to stay. Figured I’d get my money’s worth. Of course, that was before I heard there was a killer here.”
Leah jotted down info as Alex continued with the questions, though the cast put some doubts on Tarkington being the strangler. He was thirty-two, and the home address he gave them matched the one he’d written on his lodge registration. Unlike suspect number six, who’d who said he’d been sleeping off a long night of drinking, Tarkington had heard about the murder at the resort. He had also heard it was the work of the Big Sky Strangler.
“Does this strangler kill men, too?” Tarkington asked, and that brought Leah’s attention from her notes to his eyes. A nondescript brown color.
“We’re not sure,” Alex answered honestly. “That’s why we’ve asked everyone to stay in their rooms or to travel in pairs.”
“That’s a problem for me. I don’t know anyone else here.” He tipped his head to the memo on the foot of his bed. The one Winston had delivered, asking everyone to gather in the restaurant at 6:00 p.m.
Only fifteen minutes from now.
“Just wait until there are other guests in the hall and go with them,” Alex instructed as he went to the door. “Head straight to the restaurant. No detours.”
“Don’t worry. I got no plans to do anything stupid,” Tarkington assured him, and he closed the door once Leah and Alex were both back in the hall.
“We need to speed this up,” Alex said after he blew out a long breath. “We’ll have to do the rest of the interviews in the restaurant.”
As they walked in that direction, Alex glanced at her notes. She saw the frustration on his face.
Felt it, too.
With all the interviews, they had been able to rule out only two possibilities. Number four, because his five-one, rail-thin stature didn’t make him a likely candidate for manual strangulation. And number five, because the female guest in his bed had given him an alibi. Normally, Leah wouldn’t have taken the alibi at face value, but everything in the room indicated the two had been at sexcapades for hours and hours. Maybe even days.
“That cast means Joe-number-seven has limited mobility,” Leah pointed out. She paused.
“But?” Alex questioned.
“But I’m not ruling him out.”
“Neither am I. The killer used a stun gun on the last victim. It wouldn’t have taken much mobility to strangle someone who’s incapacitated.”
True. And they had to consider that the recently broken leg might be the reason he’d resorted to the stun gun. If this was their killer. It was a big if because with only two people ruled out, there were still eight possibilities.
At least.
“He mig
ht not even be on that list,” Leah mumbled.
“Yeah.” Alex scrubbed his hand over his face. “Maybe he didn’t register. Could be just staying out of sight. Lurking. Watching.”
That didn’t help case the knot in Leah’s stomach. She hoped it was her imagination working overtime, but she could feel the stranger watching her. Feel him waiting to have another go at killing her.
“I thought maybe I’d know him if I saw him,” she said. “That I’d feel something in my gut.”
“Don’t give up on that yet,” Alex mumbled. “If we don’t get any solid leads soon, we’ll reinterview everyone. We’ll keep pushing until we get him.”
It sounded like a promise, and Leah was going to hold Alex to it.
He stepped into the restaurant ahead of her. The waitstaff were there, all of them female. They were huddled together, their eyes wide, many of them whispering behind their hands. They were scared, and if they’d known as much about the case as Leah did, they would be terrified. Every female in the building was essentially in danger. Alex, too, since he would risk his life to save them.
Alex showed the workers his badge, and Leah and he took positions at the door where they could observe everyone who entered. She gave the room a sweeping glance, noting the location of the exits, windows and furniture. All rote for her. But it wasn’t rote to give Alex another look. Her nervousness was no doubt showing because he touched her arm with his fingertips. Rubbed gently.
First Leah scowled at him, but there was no bite to it. “That’s not helping me keep my mind on serial killers,” she murmured.
“Good. You deserve a break for a second or two.”
Leah shook her head, she didn’t move away. “Sometimes I think I deserve to be dead. Maybe if the killers had stayed there in that house, trying to finish me off, you could have gotten there in time to catch them.”
Alex cursed, then cursed some more. “I’ll still catch them. But if you think there’s any scenario where I’d want you dead, then think again.”
The words were right, but there was something about his tone. It came off like a lover’s confession, and it touched her deep in places it shouldn’t.
She stepped slightly away, so his fingers were no longer on her. “I thought of you.” That was all Leah said for several long seconds. “While he was choking me, my life flashed before my eyes. Yes, I know—it’s a cliché. But it happened, and I saw…some things.”
She instantly regretted saying that to him, and was sure he was about to ask for more details. But they heard footsteps and chatter, and spotted guests making their way to the restaurant. Right on time, and not alone. There was a group of five and another group of three behind them. Leading the pack was Winston, the lodge manager.
“Showtime,” Leah whispered, and she got her notepad ready.
Alex stayed quiet a moment, probably filing away some questions about her near-death experience. Questions he’d ask later, and she would avoid answering.
“Joe-number-seven found some traveling buddies, after all,” Alex pointed out.
He had. The supposed injured skier was in the second group. No viable suspects were in the first group—wrong gender or wrong age. But Tarkington was hobbling just a few yards ahead of someone who did match the profile.
Patrick Harper—number two on their list.
Both men stared at Alex and her as they filed into the restaurant. Leah tried to examine the two with an objective eye. She looked at their hands, their arms. They had the physical strength to choke the life out of a woman, but were they killers?
She didn’t see it.
But then she reminded herself that the strangler had managed to blend in, and had charmed his way into some of his victims’ homes.
He wouldn’t look like a killer.
Wouldn’t put out any vibes that would frighten women. Well, he wouldn’t until he was ready to commit murder. Leah had experienced this strangler’s true colors the hard way and knew he was calculating and smart. If he’d been anything else, he wouldn’t have gotten her in such a vulnerable position.
Winston moved next to Alex and her. “I went through the payroll records.” He kept his voice at a whisper. “And I checked them against the date of that murder in Billings last week. Two of my guys were here working, so they couldn’t have killed that woman. David Fowler is the only one left I haven’t been able to rule out.”
Fowler, the man who’d been in the hall after the discovery of the most recent victim. “Any sign of him yet?” Leah asked.
The hotel manager shook his head. “But I’ll keep looking.”
With two more workmen, their list was now down to six, and Leah realized five of those were in the restaurant. She studied each man again and wished one would make a move so she could put an end to this now. Of course, that wouldn’t be wise in a room filled with innocent people.
Winston excused himself so he could talk with the food staff, but Alex stayed near the doorway with her. The waitresses dispersed to take orders, even though no one other than the handful of children looked hungry.
Leah figured many of the adults must be already thinking about how to get out of there. The storm would stop them for a while, of course. She hoped none of them got killed trying to get out of the path of the strangler.
“I’ll start counting,” she offered.
Another necessity. They had to make sure no one was skipping out on this little get-together dining experience. Leah did a headcount and came up with forty-two. It was exactly what it should be, minus Fowler.
“Should I start another round of questioning?” she asked Alex.
He glanced at the group and tipped his head toward their number-two suspect, Harper, who was seated alone. “You take him,” he told her. And he strolled toward Joe Tarkington, who was also alone at a table.
Leah knew exactly why Alex had chosen Tarkington, and it didn’t have anything to do with interrogation tactics or random selection. It was because she’d be close by and in his line of sight. Even though it wouldn’t match the strangler’s profile to grab a victim in such a public forum, Alex wanted to be ready for anything.
So did she.
Like their other suspects, Harper had brown hair and an average build. He was the kind of person you wouldn’t notice in a crowd. And that meant he fit the profile to a T.
He spared Alex a glance before he turned his attention to Leah. “Looks like someone did a real number on you,” he commented, and took a long sip from the glass of ice water he’d just been served.
It wasn’t the opening Leah expected, and she made a mental note of it. They’d interviewed him just an hour earlier, and most people in that situation would have asked about the progress of the case and expressed some concern. After all, they were trapped in the building with a dead body and a serial killer. But Patrick had instead focused on her.
Interesting.
“I’m fine,” she lied. She inched closer, knowing it would violate the man’s personal space and hopefully make him uncomfortable. Uncomfortable people often spilled things they didn’t intend to say.
“You come here often to Ice Lake?” she asked, already aware of the answer, since she’d studied the guest records.
“First visit. And last.” He downed some more water. “I’m not exactly comfortable with what’s happening, you know?” His gaze drifted to her cast. “Rumor has it the Big Sky Strangler nearly killed you.”
Leah figured it was a good time to stay quiet, especially on that subject. She didn’t have to wait long for Harper to continue. “Rumor also has it that you set this up. People are saying you lured the strangler here so you could get revenge. Not a smart move. Now our butts are all in a sling because of you.”
Leah’s training had taught her not to lose her cool—ever—but this guy was pushing hard. She considered moving him to the top of the suspect list, but didn’t want to do that based solely on a hot button this moron had managed to push.
“I didn’t bring the danger here,” s
he stated, though she had to fight not to clench her teeth. “But I plan to stop this killer before he hurts anyone else.”
“Oh, yeah? What if he gets you first?” The man didn’t wait for an answer. “Wouldn’t be much of a stretch if he did, since he’s already done it once.” He leaned in closer, violating her personal space. “What did it feel like to come that close to dying?”
Leah didn’t back away, though she was certain she was more uncomfortable than Harper was. He seemed to be enjoying this. She wasn’t.
“What do you think it felt like?” she countered.
He didn’t smile, but she got the feeling that’s what he wanted to do. “Like you’d lost control. Like you’d failed,” he answered.
She didn’t deny it, and just nodded. “And that’s why I’ll stop him. Because I know just how high the stakes are.”
Leah geared up to add more, but there was a slight hissing sound.
That was all the warning she got.
The lights went out, plunging them into darkness.
CHAPTER SIX
ALEX AUTOMATICALLY DREW his gun, even though it was impossible to see anyone or anything in the pitch-black restaurant. However, he could hear gasps, whispers and other sounds of fear.
“Leah?” he called out.
“Here,” she quickly answered.
He hurried toward the sound of her voice and nearly plowed into her. Alex felt her gun and was glad that she’d drawn it. This might be nothing. After all, power failure was common during a blizzard, but they were in the room with serial killer suspects, so he didn’t want to take any chances.
“Hold tight, everyone,” Winston called out. “The generator should kick in soon.”
Alex hoped that “soon” would be soon enough. And prayed the killer wouldn’t use the darkness to strike again. Just in case that was the strangler’s plan, Alex kept shoulder to shoulder with Leah.
“Let’s back toward the door,” he whispered to her. That way, they could stop anyone trying to leave.
Or come in.
Ice Lake: Gone ColdCold HeatStone Cold Page 11