by T. R. Ragan
“We would have gone hiking at Yosemite, rode bikes around Lake Natoma, and every once in a while Adonis and I would have gone fishing while you and the girls read books on the grassy bank overlooking the lake.”
She raised a brow. “What? Girls can’t fish?”
“Girls are too loud. Fish don’t like loud noises.”
She elbowed him playfully in the side. It felt good to tease and laugh and smile. “What would you have done with the girls,” she asked, “when Adonis and I went on our mother and son field trips?”
“Good question.” He rubbed a hand over her back. “I would have taken the girls to lunch and then...hmmm...we would have gone dress shopping, no doubt. Not in that order though because females don’t like to try on clothes with a full stomach. Nothing ever fits right after a meal.”
“You’re a shopping expert?”
“I guess you could say I have a gift.”
She brushed her thumb over his knuckles and smiled thoughtfully before her thoughts shifted in a new direction. “I didn’t think I was ever going to see you again. And then when I finally did I felt so much guilt for what had happened to the other girls, I didn’t think I deserved to be happy. That’s been the hardest part.”
He didn’t say anything, just rubbed her back.
“I told Jessica about Mary today.”
“How did she take it?”
“Better than I expected. I should have told her sooner, although she won’t have closure until we find Mary’s body...but it’s a start.”
He nodded.
“It’s the not knowing that eats away at the victim’s families.”
“Lizzy—”
She put a finger to his lips. She knew he was worried about tomorrow. He didn’t want her to be used as bait to catch a killer. “Don’t say it, Jared. I have to do this. I know I’ve put you and everyone else in my life through hell, but for the first time in a long time I’m not afraid. I’m doing exactly what I need to do.”
Monday, February 22, 2010 2:45 AM
Lizzy tried to sleep, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Hayley. The minutes crept by as if in slow motion. Nothing new there.
Jared slept next to her, his breathing deep and even. Surreal. That was the word she’d been looking for earlier when she and Jared were talking as if they had no worries. Surreal. It was hard to believe Jared was back in her life, sleeping in her bed, protecting her as if his life depended on doing so. She reached for him, letting her fingers rest against his arm. She realized then, for the first time since she was a small child, that she felt safe.
Lizzy stared at the ceiling. She needed to sleep, but she also knew that if she allowed herself to close her eyes she would be taken back to another time. A time when minutes felt like hours and death became synonymous to life. She had never believed in evil until the night she was snatched up like a mouse caught within sharp talons. It was a sad thing to lose all innocence within the blink of an eye. Nobody in the world died unscathed. Nobody.
Lizzy thought about calling her sister to find out how Brittany was doing, but Cathy still wasn’t talking to her.
Lizzy shut her eyes. It didn’t surprise her that the moment she did, the telephone rang.
Jared was at her side before she reached the bedroom door. He followed her to the kitchen. Lizzy picked up the phone. She nodded at Jared. It was him. She knew he would call. She just hadn’t known when.
“I saw the interview.”
“They cut out all the good stuff,” she said.
His laughter echoed as it came through the weird device he was so fond of using.
She had been looking forward to the call because she knew it would mean he was doing the expected and falling into their trap. But she was too exhausted to muster up much enthusiasm.
“I thought your interview was explosive.”
“Why is that?”
“I can’t put my finger on it exactly. Seeing you on television, Lizzy, up close and personal like that, made me yearn for what we used to share.”
“We never shared anything. We never will.”
“You’re wrong. Even now, we share the same longing for a perfect world.”
“My perfect world includes you being dead,” she told him.
“See? We do think alike.”
“I’m tired,” she said, trying to use reverse psychology to keep him on the line. “I have to go.”
“You’re not going to ask about Hayley?”
Was that desperation she heard in his voice? Lizzy gritted her teeth. Hayley was all she wanted to talk about, and he knew that. She was tired of the crazy man and playing by his rules. “You’re going down, asshole. We’re so close now we can smell your dirty secrets. We know exactly what you’ve been up to for the past fourteen years and we’re coming after you.”
Jared looked taken aback by her change in tactics. If and when Spiderman called, Lizzy was supposed to stay calm. She’d screwed up. If there was one thing Spiderman hated, it was a loose tongue and dirty words.
“All the therapy in the world isn’t going to save you now, Lizzy,” Spiderman said calmly as if unruffled by her sudden outburst.
“It can’t hurt,” she said bitterly.
“I beg to differ.”
“Why is that?”
“No reason,” he said. “I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
“You and me both.”
“Before I go,” he added, “I want to tell your boyfriend how much I’ve enjoyed chatting with his mother. She has a beautiful smile.”
Jared took the phone from Lizzy’s grasp, but it was too late. The line was dead.
Chapter 33
Monday, February 22, 2010 1:00 PM
Across the street from the building where Lizzy and her therapist, Linda Gates, were meeting, Jared peered through a pair of binoculars. He had a clear view.
For the past hour, the two women had talked, taken notes, and sipped tea. Jared set his sights on Lizzy’s mouth. The corners of her mouth turned upward. Until now her expression had been serious, bordering on severe.
So far, no sign of Spiderman.
Every other Monday Lizzy visited Linda Gates for an hour of therapy. Spiderman had Lizzy’s file. He knew exactly where Lizzy spent her Monday afternoons. And if he was the same man Linda Gates had seen standing at the bus stop last week and the week before that, then Spiderman knew his way around the area.
Lizzy was stubborn. Nothing new there. Once she had Jimmy on her side, Jared hadn’t been able to convince her to skip this therapy session. Why not wait to see if someone recognized the sketch and identified their man? Lizzy had refused to wait another minute, let alone another day. She was sure they could lure Spiderman away from Hayley. And that’s all that mattered to her. Hayley, she said, needed time without her captor hovering over her.
Music sounded from the hotel room next to him. Sinatra, his mother’s favorite singer. Ever since Spiderman had mentioned chatting with her last night, Jared had been hard pressed to get her out of his mind. He tried calling his mom this morning, but she hadn’t answered. Then he called his sister who, in turn, called their mother at the hotel where she was staying. Apparently, Mrs. Jacqueline Shayne had checked out of the hotel the same night she had checked in. Neither he nor his sister knew what to make of that bit of information.
Jared’s life was literally unraveling. Rules, order, organization: three staples he’d grown up with. When there was a problem, his father had taught him there was always a solution. And then Lizzy had disappeared, throwing all of his father’s teachings to hell. Jared felt as if he’d been trying to pick up the pieces and stack them in an orderly manner ever since. Strange, he thought, how one man, one crazy lunatic, could wreak havoc on so many lives. Not just on the victims’ lives but also the lives of their friends and families. And now, fourteen years later, the madman was back, like a ghost, invisible, elusive, doing it all again...wreaking havoc, causing pain. And nobody could stop him.
Since the sk
etch of Spiderman had circulated, the agency had received hundreds of tips. They just needed the manpower to sort through the calls. Frustration coursed through his veins as he looked from the empty street, to the parking lot, to the bus stop, to the coffee shop on the corner. Not a lot going on. There was an agent on the rooftop across the street, an agent parked in the same lot where Lizzy’s car was parked, and another two agents working undercover inside the building. All bases were covered. So why did he have a feeling there was something they were overlooking?
If Spiderman was anywhere in the vicinity, they would have seen him by now. Spiderman was playing with them. It was as simple as that. They had fallen into his trap; everyone was right where he wanted them.
A delivery truck pulled in front of the building where moments before Jared had seen Lizzy through the plate glass window on the third floor.
Jared straightened, setting his sight on the driver as the man stepped out of the truck and came around to the back.
“Matt,” Jared said into the transmitter. “Get outside and check out the driver of the truck that just pulled up outside the building.”
“Will do,” Matt answered.
Jimmy was stationed inside the building where Lizzy and Linda chatted. He was on the top floor and had a bird’s eye view of the backside of the building. Jimmy’s voice rang loud in Jared’s earpiece. “What’s going on?”
“We’ve got an express delivery truck out front. Matt’s checking it out.”
Monday, February 22, 2010 1:06 PM
Karen kept her eyes on the road as she cracked the window and let in some fresh air. Five more minutes and she would arrive at the car rental area next to the airport. Twelve hours after that she would be wrapping her arms around her husband and her kids.
It was time to go home.
She’d come to the United States to find her brother, but it seemed he’d disappeared off of the face of the Earth. And nobody seemed to care.
Poor Sam.
She sucked in a lungful of air to calm her nerves. After her mother failed to call her back with the name of her brother’s partner, she’d decided to pack up her bags and head for home. Her husband was worried and her kids needed her.
But something wasn’t right and the irritating niggling at the back of her mind refused to go away. She could feel it in her bones. Something was very wrong.
The music failed to keep her mind off of her brother, so she clicked through the radio channels until she heard a soothing voice. It was Tammy Spencer, a how-to author who had written books on everything from raising children to growing herbs. Today Ms. Spencer was talking to her listeners about getting down on all fours to clean the kitchen floor. Back home, whenever Karen was stressed out, she would clean. There was something comforting about the smell of cleaning products. Maybe she thought she could scrub her problems away...if only it was that easy.
“Mops and brooms don’t get into the nooks and crannies like good old fashioned scrubbing,” Ms. Spencer told her listeners.
Karen nodded in agreement. Next, the woman gave instructions on cleaning out the pantry and ridding the house of all those nasty smells that easily accumulate from things like rotting potatoes. “You don’t want people to visit and think you’ve got someone buried in the basement, do you?”
No, Karen thought, as she parked her rental car, nobody wanted their house to smell like that. But that’s exactly how her brother’s kitchen smelled.
Since nobody came to help her, Karen retrieved her belongings from the trunk of the car and made her way inside the building. As she waited in line behind a gentleman reading the newspaper, she caught sight of the newspaper headline.
“IS SPIDERMAN BACK?
A YOUNG GIRL AND A NEWS ANCHOR DEAD. ANOTHER GIRL MISSING. HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?”
Below the headlines were two sketches of the man thought to be Spiderman. Karen looked from one picture to the next. “Oh, my God,” she said, drawing a hand to her mouth. “No.”
Monday, February 22, 1:21 PM
The driver was cleared and sent inside to deliver the package.
“Just received a call from the office,” Jared said, updating Jimmy. “They received a call from a woman named Karen a few moments ago. The woman thinks her brother might be the guy we’re looking for. She’s not ready to give up his name until somebody assures her he won’t be hurt.”
“What is it with these crazy people? A serial killer is loose, but they don’t want the killer to be hurt?”
“Who knows,” Jared said. It was quiet for a moment as Jared watched the building. Every nerve ending quivered with foreboding. “We’ve been set up, Jimmy.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Lizzy isn’t the only bait we’re using today. We’re all bait. He’s doing his best to distract us.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s all a game to him.” Jared saw movement inside the office where Lizzy had been seated for nearly an hour now. “Something’s happening. I’ll get back to you.” He lifted his binoculars for a better look inside Linda Gates’ office. “Matt,” he said into his receiver, “who was the package addressed to?”
“A Linda something-or-other.”
“Linda Gates?” Jared asked.
“Yeah, Linda Gates.”
Every word of your interview was explosive, Lizzy...all the therapy in the world won’t save you.
“Matt! Get inside that building and make sure nobody opens the damn package.”
“The package was from a well-known store. The driver had ID. He was legit.”
“If you’re willing to bet your life on that, get your ass up there and open the damn package yourself.”
“I’m on it.”
“What’s going on?” Jimmy shouted into his earpiece.
Jared growled his answer as he looked through the viewfinder, “The driver of the truck happens to be delivering a package to Linda Gates. I don’t believe in coincidences.”
Jared looked through his binoculars. Both women looked toward the door at the same time. Linda stood and pointed to another part of her office. Lizzy seemed to hesitate before she glanced toward the window and then disappeared from Jared’s view.
Jared’s heart was racing. Don’t open the door. Shit. Where the hell was Matt?
Linda opened the door, signed for the package and carried it back to her desk.
Jared moved the binoculars over the room, one side to the other. His adrenaline rocketed. Where are you Lizzy? The driver was gone. Lizzy was gone. The door to Linda’s office had been left wide open.
Jared turned the viewfinder on Linda and zoomed in close. Preoccupied with the package, she examined the box thoroughly. Her expression was calm, unruffled.
“Matt,” Jared said into the receiver.
No answer.
Jared left the equipment where it was, hurdled over a cement ledge and flew down the stairs. In less than a minute, he was across the street and running through the entrance to the building. The elevator was in use.
He ran to the stairwell and took the stairs two at a time. At the third floor, he shoved through the door to the hallway and to the sounds of screaming.
Jared raced through the hallway, angry at himself for letting it come to this. People stepped out of their offices to see what the commotion was about. Jared rushed into Linda Gates’ office and saw Lizzy. Alive. She was alive.
His gaze fell to the open box and the puddle of blood at Linda Gates’ feet. At closer view, he saw clearly the contents that had fallen from the package—one bloodied finger belonging to Hayley Hansen, no doubt.
Monday, February 22, 2010 2:48 PM
Cathy glanced at her watch. She’d been waiting in the hotel lobby for nearly three hours. Sex with her husband had never taken more than five minutes, ten minutes tops. But Richard had been cooped away in the hotel room with that woman for hours now. She reached inside her purse for her cell phone, but realized she’d left it in the car.
It was nearly time to
pick up Brittany from school. She looked from her watch to the elevator. She didn’t want to miss Richard when he stepped out of the elevator with his mistress. She wanted to confront her husband at the hotel where he would be unable to deny having an affair with the woman.
She glanced at her watch again. What should she do?
Brittany had another appointment scheduled with Dr. McMullen after school. Another wire had broken.
It didn’t take Cathy long to figure out what she needed to do—she needed to call Lizzy. She hated to call her sister after she’d sworn never to talk to her again, especially after the way she’d treated Lizzy at the house and then at the swim meet, but she knew Lizzy would help her out. Lizzy could be naïve at times, but her intentions were always honorable, which was exactly why Cathy worried about Lizzy and treated her like a child instead of a sister at times. Cathy had known all along she couldn’t stay mad at Lizzy for long. Lizzy was family. No matter how angry she was with her sister, no matter how hard she tried to blame Lizzy for everything that had gone wrong in her life, she knew it wasn’t true. Lizzy had a good heart. She didn’t deserve her or their father’s scorn. And yet that’s all Lizzy had gotten over the years.
Every time Cathy found herself in a lurch, she thought of Lizzy. Every time she needed a shoulder to lean on, it was Lizzy who cheered her up. Not her father. Not her husband. Always Lizzy. And yet Cathy had never once told Lizzy how much she meant to her or that she worried about her because she couldn’t imagine a life without her sister in it.
She went to the front desk and asked if she could use their phone to make a local call. The woman nodded and told her to dial 9 first.
Swallowing hard, Cathy dialed Lizzy’s number and hoped Lizzy would pick up.
Monday, February 22, 2010 2:49 PM
Jared followed Lizzy up the stairs to her apartment. He went inside first, checking the place thoroughly before telling her it was clear. After leaving Jimmy and his men to take care of the bloodied digit, Lizzy and Jared had taken Linda to the emergency room where the doctor determined that Linda Gates had experienced a severe panic attack.