THE BRIDGE

by Carol Ericson

  He squeezed her tight. “What he says doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is that the killer tracked down Ty, and we have two more dead bodies.”

  “It’s awful.” She hid her face against his chest. “Two people killed today on six, twelve. Wh-where were their bodies found?”

  “Not on the Golden Gate Bridge, so those coordinates were just a tease. The bodies were found in the Bayview area.”

  “You were right. He was just toying with us.” She leaned back to look into his face. “Who were they, Sean? Did Captain Williams tell you their names?”

  “A man and a woman this time.”

  She closed her eyes and her lashes fluttered on her cheeks. “Was that cop right? Were their fingers missing?”

  “Just like Katie Duncan’s.”

  “You never told me that.” Her nostrils flared as her eyes flew open.

  “That was supposed to be confidential information. How that moron found out and why he’s spreading it around, I don’t have a clue. I’m no longer on the case, as he pointed out.”

  “Then why did Captain Williams call you at this time of night to tell you about the bodies?”

  He left the circle of her arms and paced to the window to stare out at the dark street. “Because the killer left me another message.”

  “What was it this time?” She pressed her fingers against her lips.

  “Elise...”

  “Just tell me, Sean.”

  “He left me the same type of note that he left you at the school, but with slightly different numbers. They’re working on it, but the location was a joke last time so we can’t trust him.”

  Two vertical lines formed between her eyebrows. “Where did they find the note?”

  He clasped the back of his neck and chewed on his lip. Did Elise really need the visual of a note wrapped around a severed finger and shoved into one of the victim’s pockets? “He left a note on one of the bodies.”

  “What does he want with you?”

  “I already know that. The bigger question is what does he want from you?” He tapped on the window with his fingernail. “How did he know about Ty? How did he know about you and me, about our spending time together?”

  She knotted her fingers together. “I don’t know. He didn’t get all that from my purse, or from my house. He must’ve been the one who attacked Ty. He probably told Ty he was working for you. Where else would Ty get that crazy idea?”

  “When Ty regains consciousness, we can ask him. Maybe he can give us a description. How did the guy even approach Ty?”

  “It’s like he’s dancing around me, us. He’s playing some kind of game with us that started the night he attacked me.”

  “And that game has its roots in the past, twenty years in the past.” Sean blew out a breath, crossed the room and took Elise’s hand. “I’m sorry the night had to end this way. I’m sorry about Ty.”

  “Me, too,” she whispered, and tears welled in her eyes. “For a moment there we pushed it all away, didn’t we? For a moment it was just the two of us.”

  He kissed her trembling lips. “It can be that way again, Elise. This will all be over soon.”

  She nodded, her eyes widening, and he had a feeling he’d just made a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep. Would it ever be over for him? In his gut, he knew it would never be over until he found out what happened twenty years ago in this city.

  He stroked her hair back from her face. “I’m going to get a shirt on and see you back home. You still have two more days of school to get through, right?”

  “You don’t have to follow me back. I’ll head straight to Courtney’s place and drive right into the garage. It’s a secure building. I’ll be fine.”

  He walked into the bedroom and pulled a clean T-shirt from his closet. Yanking it over his head, he returned to the living room and said, “I’m not comfortable with you driving alone at night. It’s late.”

  He scratched the stubble of his beard. This whole incident with Ty Russell had spooked him. How the hell had the killer gotten a line on Ty?

  As far as he knew, the only time Elise had seen Ty since he’d been in the city was the day he swooped down on her in front of Courtney’s place. He hadn’t seen his name in her phone contacts, and he doubted Elise had anything in her house with Ty’s name on it.

  “Well, I guess I could always use a police escort. I’m obviously not very good about noticing a tail since the Alphabet Killer managed to follow me from the Golden Gate to Chinatown that day.”

  “He did, didn’t he?” The coil in his gut wound tighter. “You said you were careful that day.”

  “Absolutely, and then when I got close to Chinatown, it was such a big mess because of the parade I had to take a million detours. For each turn I made, I checked my rearview mirror. I even drove down a couple of little alleys—nothing.”

  “Elise, how many times did you see Ty since he came here?”

  “Twice—once on the sidewalk in front of Courtney’s place and just now.” She combed her fingers through her hair. “Why are you asking? I certainly never told him anything about you or where you lived. I didn’t even know where you lived until I followed you here tonight.”

  “You followed me here tonight.” He dug his fingers in his hair.

  “Um, yeah.”

  “There’s only one way your stalker could’ve known about Ty.”

  “My stalker?”

  “He saw him at Courtney’s place—with you, with me.”

  Her head cranked back and forth. “No. That can’t be. He doesn’t know Courtney. He doesn’t know where Courtney lives. How could he? He couldn’t be that good, to be able to follow me around the city when I’m on the lookout for him. No way.”

  “He’s not physically following you, Elise. He’s tracking you.” He barreled toward the coat closet by the front door and reached for the shelf for a flashlight.

  “Tracking me? How?”

  When he turned with the flashlight in his hand, he almost knocked her over.

  Her eyes took up half her face as she grabbed his arm. “How is he tracking me?”

  “I have a hunch.” He threw open the front door with Elise hot on his heels. “Your car was parked in your garage when he broke in after the attack.”

  “My car... Yeah.” She hooked her fingers in his belt loop. “Oh, God, you can’t mean he put something on my car.”

  “That’s exactly what I mean.” He nudged her shoulder. “Pull it into the driveway next to mine so we can get it into the light.”

  Elise dashed to her car as Sean juggled the flashlight from hand to hand. If the killer had put some kind of tracking device on Elise’s little hybrid, it would explain so much. It also meant he knew where she was staying and he knew she was here—right now.

  His gaze scanned the street of empty cars parked at the curb. One car idled in the driveway, but that one belonged to his neighbor’s teenage son who raced up and down the street daily.

  Elise parked and exited her vehicle. “Where would he put something like that? Inside the car?”

  “Most likely attached to the undercarriage of the chassis.” He handed her the flashlight. “Hold this.”

  He dropped to his hands and knees, rolled onto his back and scooted under the front of the car. His nostrils flared at the smell of oil and gasoline, strong even for a hybrid. He thrust out his arm and wiggled his fingers. “Flashlight.”

  “Flashlight.” Elise smacked it against his palm as if they were performing surgery.

  He trailed the beam along the wheel wells and the undercarriage. He knew a bit about cars, and he didn’t see anything amiss.

  Maybe his instincts were off this time.

  He shoved out from beneath the car and walked on his knees to the back. He ducked beneath the vehicl
e and swept the light back and forth. Rolling to one side, he aimed the beam at the wheel well.

  “Bingo.”

  “What? You found something?” Elise’s voice had risen to a frantic pitch.

  He wrapped his fingers around the black box and yanked it from the metal, breaking the magnetic force. Gathering his legs beneath him, he rose to a crouch and cradled the device in the palm of his hand.

  As Elise drew closer, he illuminated it with the flashlight.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s a GPS tracking device.”

  She gasped and fell back on her hands. “It’s been there since the night of the attack. He’s been following me, tracking my every move. That’s how he followed me to Chinatown. That’s how he knew about my school. That’s how he found out about Ty.”

  “It should’ve occurred to me sooner.”

  “That some killer would just happen to have a GPS tracking device handy?”

  “He’s a clever SOB.”

  “Sean!” She tugged on his arm, nearly toppling him over. “We have to warn Courtney. He knows where she lives, knows I’m staying there.”

  “Not anymore you’re not. Give Courtney a call. You’re staying here tonight, and I’ll take you back to her place early tomorrow morning so you can get your things and get to school.”

  She jabbed her finger at the tracking device. “What are we going to do with this thing?”

  “Oh, I have a plan. If the Alphabet Killer likes games, I’ve got a good one for him.”

  * * *

  THE SOUND OF the alarm grated against her eardrums, and Elise sighed and snuggled closer to Sean’s warm, smooth back.

  She didn’t want to move, didn’t want to face the harsh world outside. But the alarm was insistent.

  Sean growled and threw out an arm, his hand groping for the clock on the nightstand. With one well-aimed smack, he ended the sound that had intruded on Elise’s sweet dreams.

  She yawned and dug her chin into his shoulder. “You can’t wake up to soothing music or wind chimes?”

  “Those sounds would never wake me up. I have a hard enough time with that obnoxious noise blaring in my ear.”

  Elise squinted at the green numbers floating in the dark room. “Ugh, I haven’t seen five o’clock a.m. since—since a maniac tried to kill me five days ago.”

  Sean swiveled around, twisting the covers in his legs, and pulled her against his chest. He kissed the top of her head. “He can’t continue at this pace. You don’t murder two people and dump their bodies in an alley without leaving a trail of clues.”

  She burrowed deeper into his arms and inhaled his scent. She wanted to bottle it and take it with her everywhere.

  “Are you going to have to answer some questions about Ty today?”

  “Of course, but I doubt my supervisors are going to believe I hired someone to mess up your ex-fiancé and then had my hit man tell him it was me.”

  He stroked her back and she almost purred. They hadn’t made love last night after they’d discovered the GPS, but he’d held her all night long and that was almost as good.

  “I want to be in on the questioning of Ty, so I hope they grant me that privilege since the guy accused me of chopping off his finger.”

  Her gut rolled. “I can’t even think about that without feeling ill. Ty is going to be devastated when he wakes up and it all comes back to him.”

  “Ty should be thankful he’s alive. I’m sure Katie Duncan wouldn’t mind waking up about now missing one digit.”

  “You’re right.” She smoothed her hand down his arm, across his tattoo. “He has no idea how close he came to dying.”

  “We’d better get moving if we hope to collect your stuff from Courtney’s and get you to school.” He rolled away from her and planted his feet on the carpet. “She’s checking into a hotel today, right? I think that’s best right now.”

  “Yes. That girl has money to burn. She’ll probably book a suite in some fancy hotel and live it up.”

  “When is she going back to pack up?”

  “Well, since she spent the night with her new man, I think he’s going to take her back.”

  “Have you met this new man of hers?”

  “I met him briefly that night at the Speakeasy. He bought us a couple of drinks.” She tumbled out of bed and shot him a quick glance. “You don’t suspect him, do you?”

  “Just covering all bases here.”

  “Derrick is African-American. I don’t think he’s the Alphabet Killer.”

  “Okay, okay. Does this Derrick look like he can handle himself in a fight?”

  She hugged her sweater to her body. “Really? You think it’s going to come to that? The killer probably doesn’t even know who Courtney is.”

  “Can he?”

  “He looks like he could’ve played football in college.”

  “Good.” He pointed to the bathroom door. “I’m going to hit the shower first because I’ll be quick about it.”

  She longed to hit the shower with him again, but there was no going back to that moment last night. But they’d have other moments—so he said.

  An hour later, they stepped outside into the damp, misty air.

  Sean tilted his head back. “June gloom is in full swing.”

  “Yeah, I pity all those tourists who come out here expecting a sunny California day.”

  “Spoken like a true San Franciscan native.” He tossed the GPS device in the air and then clamped it back under her car.

  “So what is your plan? You’re just going to let him continue following me around?”

  “You’ll see. First stop, Courtney’s condo.”

  Elise drove back into the city, and the tracker on her car made her feel exposed and vulnerable. She hated that. Only Sean’s presence behind her made it bearable.

  While Sean waited by the front door of Courtney’s condo with his arms crossed, daring anyone to cross the threshold, Elise buzzed around the spare room and bathroom, tossing her stuff into her suitcase.

  Joining Sean at the entrance, she took a last look around the immaculate downstairs. “If Courtney’s homeowners’ association was mad about the garlic, just wait until those fine folks discover she invited a killer to their complex.”

  Sean loaded her suitcase into the back of her car. “You follow me now. We’re going to take a little detour. You have plenty of time to get to school, right?”

  “Uh-huh. It’s an easy day today. We’re taking the kids over to the first-grade rooms to have a look around, and they get to wear their PJs to school and look at their favorite books all day.”

  “Wish I could wear my PJs to work and read my favorite books all day.”

  “I’d like to see that. What kind of PJs do you have, dinosaurs?”

  He winked. “My PJs are my birthday suit, and you’ve already seen that.”

  “You’re in enough trouble with the department. Don’t give them any more ammunition.” Elise slid into her car and idled while Sean revved the engine of his Crown Vic.

  She followed him across the city in the opposite direction of the Bay Bridge, hoping he didn’t plan to take her too far afield.

  Her cell buzzed and she answered and tapped the phone for the speaker, without checking the display. “Hello?”

  “It’s Courtney. Did you get your stuff?”

  “I just picked it up. Aren’t you the early bird?”

  “I want to get home, pack a few suitcases and get the hell out of there. How long has this maniac been watching my place?”

  “I’m so sorry, Courtney.”

  ”I’m not blaming you. Hey, it gives me an excuse to get pampered at a hotel for a week or eight. When is your cop going to nail this guy?”

  “Soon. Is Derrick going
with you?”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s one silver lining. I get to play the little delicate flower in distress.”

  Elise snorted. “Yeah, that description fits you to a T.”

  “Derrick’s digging it, so who am I to disappoint him?”

  “I can’t imagine you disappointing any man.”

  “Watch it. Don’t believe everything you see on YouTube.”

  Elise laughed. “Take care. I’ll touch base with you later. Are you working late?”

  “Yes. New clients are running me ragged, but I can’t complain. Business is good. One of the new guys said he chose me because of my name.”

  “Is he Asian?”

  “No, but he had an Asian girlfriend, a hand model. He’s probably projecting, but it gives us a lot to work with.”

  “Okay, you take care and let Derrick be the big, strong man.”

  “Mmm, he is.”

  Smiling, Elise ended the call and then gulped as Sean made a turn onto the road leading to the Golden Gate Bridge. Why the heck did he want to come here?

  He pulled into the fog-shrouded parking lot and rolled into one of the many empty slots.

  Elise parked beside him and jumped from the car as he was getting out of his.

  “Are you crazy? What are we doing here?”

  He put his finger to his lips and strode to her car. He ducked under her car and pulled the GPS from the wheel well. “Follow me and get that jacket out of your car.”

  Elise snagged a jacket from the backseat and shoved her arms in the sleeves.

  They trudged up the path to the pedestrian gate on the bridge. Cars rumbled back and forth across the expanse on their morning commute. A few scattered pedestrians and cyclists dotted the walkway.

  “Sean.”

  He turned toward her and zipped up her jacket to her chin. “Keep up.”

  They stepped onto the sidewalk on the east side of the bridge, the only side that allowed pedestrians.

  Sean took a deep breath. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Even engulfed in fog, it’s majestic, mysterious.”

  “I told you. It mesmerized me from the moment I saw it.”

  “We used to cross it a lot on foot. My younger brother Ryan used to look over the guardrail and insist he could do a pencil dive and just slice through the water.”