by WL Knightly
Lizzy cleared her throat. “Excuse me, but I thought you might want to see the report that came in this morning.”
Darek wiped the smile from his face and felt a lump form in his throat. “Sure.” He hadn’t expected her to walk in on his bragging about Raven, and now he not only felt like an idiot but a jerk too.
As she passed the report over, he wondered if Raven had called in yet.
“One of the hotel workers remembered seeing someone coming and going from that room. She passed them in the hall and thought the timing was suspicious.”
He glanced over the statement. It wasn’t Raven’s. “A hotel worker?”
“Yeah, she was a sweet girl, just out of college. She hasn’t had her job long and was afraid to come forward at first, but then it ate at her, and she did.” Lizzy leaned on his desk. “I had her do a composite of the woman she saw go into the room.” Lizzy reached over the stack she’d given him and pulled out one of the folders and opened it. “She was a little far away but saw the woman again when she was leaving the front lobby. She said some time had passed, and I think this might be the woman the victim had been with.”
Darek opened the folder, and his adrenaline began pumping when he saw the sketch, which was unmistakably Raven. “Is she sure the women went into his room? Or could she be mistaken?”
Lizzy snatched the sketch from his hands. “Look at this woman, Darek. She looks like an escort. The witness said she looked like a high-class whore. She was dressed in leather pants and hooker boots.”
“Have there been any other calls?”
“Just one, a woman whispering about seeing a man. I had Darius take her statement, and I’ll read it later, but I think this is our new lead. I’m going to ask the victim’s wife about it when she comes in.”
Darek froze and only because he knew that any reaction, any look he gave, was going to be suspicious. Had Lizzy called Seth’s wife to come down? If she saw that picture, she was going to know exactly who Raven was. “His wife is coming in?”
“All the way from Dallas, the poor girl. She’s a young one too. It’s terrible. Too young to be a widow for sure. But she said that she and her husband had been to the city on a trip recently and met a few people at a club. She said she’d be in town on business and wanted to give a formal statement.”
“When will she be in?” He needed to know how much time he had to lose the composite sketch.
“A few days after the funeral. She said she’d call first and I’ll let you know when the appointment is set. We should really both be there.”
Darek thought it was time to address their working situation. “We should have both been there earlier when this was going down. Why didn’t you tell me you had someone in questioning? Are you trying to shut me out? To make me look bad?” His tone was a little harder than it should be, and heads turned in the office, including Max’s.
“I beg your pardon,” said Lizzy with a much quieter voice.
“You heard me. Are you trying to shut me out? This is no different than you being at the morgue the other day without me, and—”
“No, sir. You don’t get to go there. Not when you were sneaking in yourself. I don’t remember getting a call that you were stopping by the morgue.” Her eyes were hard, and her breasts heaved, the silky blouse doing all it could to hold them in.
Darek was so turned on when she was angry, but he had to remind himself that she was a liar. And now she was trying to keep him from his promotion. “Hear me now. The next time you have a meeting with one of the witnesses involved in this case, I’d like to be informed so I could be there.”
He looked around as some of the others had stepped out, not wanting to be in the line of fire, and even Max had walked away.
She laughed, but it wasn’t the type of laugh that Darek had heard from her when she was in a good mood. “Are you telling me how to run my investigation?”
“It’s supposed to be our investigation. And I’m not going to have you shut me out, so I get passed by.”
“Watch it, Detective Blake. I may have put you on an even level in the bedroom, but make no mistake that I’m the boss in this office. And just because I pitied you enough to let you fuck me, it doesn’t mean that I need you. I could make one call and have you on your knees begging for your fucking job, so unless you want carpet burns on those legs of yours, I’d remember your place.”
“Noted.”
She took a deep breath and looked around at those in the distance who were brave enough to still be lingering around and glancing through the glass wall that separated the front desk from the rest.
As Darek got to his feet, she grabbed his arm. “How did we come to this?”
“You’re a liar, remember?” Darek wasn’t going to be nice after that ass chewing.
She gave him a challenging look. “So, you’re already sleeping with someone else?”
He wasn’t going to dignify that with a response. He looked away.
“Fine, it’s not like I care.”
“Right. Because then you’d feel like you had to ask about it.” He looked up and could see the pain in her eyes. She was hurting and probably as much as he was. But he didn’t feel sorry for her. She’d brought this on herself.
Lizzy walked away and called back over her shoulder. “Be ready to meet with the wife.”
He was going to have to get that sketch and rip it to shreds. He couldn’t have Raven identified, and worse, he worried what all Kari Lynn Stone had to say about the others, Bay included.
Chapter 15
Alan
Alan had stewed all day about Corey and had come to the conclusion that he was going to skip town, drive to San Diego, and murder Carter Hamilton instead. It wasn’t that it would be any easier, but at least he’d have more time to consider how to get out of the mess he was in. He couldn’t kill Corey. He was too nice, too trusting, and he didn’t have a manipulative bone in his body. Not to mention he was obviously bullied as a kid, and he was doing his part for the Zodiacs by checking into things.
He looked down at the piece of paper in his hand which had nearly turned to tissue, he’d handled it so much. Time had ticked down, and he knew that Corey was headed to the address, hoping to find a lady. Alan thought maybe he should go and see if he could talk Corey into spending more time working on that number. If he could only know who was responsible, maybe they could come up with a plan. Corey was smart, and if he created an entire video game, maybe he was a good strategist too.
Alan had even downloaded Metal Monsters on his phone, and he had played it for a good two hours of the day, and even made it to bonus rounds.
He took out his phone to take another peek at the game, and before he could hit the play button, his phone made another sound. He glanced down at the message. Hope you’re taking care of business.
“Fuck,” said Alan. He let his fingers dance across the screen. I am on the road. Still deciding.
Another ping sounded. You have twelve hours to get it done. The clock starts now.
The words gave him chills. He glanced at the clock in his room; the time was nine-thirty-three. He was going to have to play a different game. The killer’s game. He got to his feet and let it sink in. He would go ahead to the club and see Corey, and maybe if he drank enough, he’d find his courage.
After getting himself cleaned up, he walked out to his truck, and he nearly jumped out of his skin when his phone rang. The killer didn’t ever call, but he was too on edge to talk to anyone else either. He looked down, and seeing it was Darek, he answered.
“Detective.” He hoped the killer wouldn’t count this as talking to the police and wondered if he should just hang up and be on his way.
“Alan. How are you?”
Alan opened his truck door and climbed inside. “Busy, what can I do for you, Darek?”
“I don’t mean to bother you, but I know you heard about Seth’s murder. I wanted to ask you what you know about it.”
Alan didn’t feel like answe
ring more questions. His life was over and would really be screwed in another twelve hours if he didn’t figure out what to do. “I already talked to one of your fellow officers. Two, in fact. I gave my statement, and that was it.”
“Yeah, you said you were here on business, and we know that Bay was too, but you see, I’ve got a witness that called in to report a man fitting your description. We had her do a composite, and while the other officers are stumped, I know it’s you. So, I can ignore the evidence and make the others think we don’t need to look at it any further, but I need you to tell me what the fuck you were doing there.”
Alan knew he wasn’t going to be able to lie his way out of this when it came to Darek. The man was doing all he could to keep the case from taking them all down, and he’d even reached out to Corey to try and identify the killer. Alan struggled a bit with the back and forth. He could explain it all to Darek and hope he didn’t show up to haul him in, or he could go at it on his own. He needed help.
“Tell me, Alan. If someone made you do it, I need to know that.”
Alan closed his eyes as tears spilled out. “They told me I had to kill Seth. They took my wife and tied her up in an abandoned house.”
“What? Did they hurt her?” Darek sounded outraged.
“No, they didn’t.” Alan wiped his eyes so he could see the road ahead. Horns were honking around him, and he knew he had to stop swerving before he got in trouble. “I did what I had to do. You’d have done the same for someone you love.”
“Did they leave a mark on her? Like our symbols or anything?”
“No,” said Alan as he entered the freeway. His nerves were shot, and it wasn’t making it any better. “Thank God.”
“Fuck, Alan. You could get in serious trouble.”
“If I do, I’m taking you all down with me. You can bet your sweet ass and kiss your fucking lives goodbye. I didn’t ask for this shit, and now this fucker wants me to take out someone else.”
“Alan, don’t do anything stupid. The killer is using you. You need to just stop and lay low.”
“Is that what you’d do when someone says they’ll turn you in for murder and hurt your family? I don’t think so. You’d have done the same thing. The killer named Seth, but this time, I have a choice. I’m not coming for you.”
“Where are you? Tell me!”
Alan knew that Darek wouldn’t be there in enough time. “I’m in Phoenix. I talked to Corey. I wanted to kill him and get it over with, but you know Corey, he’s such a nice guy. He made it impossible. That was before the killer gave me a deadline, though. Now I’m going to meet him, and I feel like I should just drive my truck off of a cliff and do everyone a favor.”
“Stop talking like that.”
“I saw the number on Corey’s desk. The killer’s number that you wanted him to trace. Do you think we could figure out who it is?”
“Do you think it could be Bay?”
“He’s a sadistic asshole, but no. He hadn’t heard shit and wasn’t even acting suspiciously. I didn’t know about the others. Justin is the craziest, but we’re friends, and I think if he had to choose any of us to do this kind of thing, he wouldn’t pick me.”
“Look, don’t do anything stupid when it comes to Corey. The guy is more help than harm, even in a situation like this one.”
“I only have hours, Darek. I don’t want to make any promises. And if I see an opportunity, I can’t promise I won’t take it. Just promise me that if anything happens to me, you’ll tell my Jamie and the kids that I loved them so much, and I never wanted any of this.”
“You’re talking like a man who is saying his final piece, Alan. I can help you. I can make sure that you’re safe.”
“Where? Behind bars like Logan was? In what world does that guy go to prison and get shanked? We’re living in an alternate reality, and I think we have been ever since we were young. Bay talked about how the ritual would change our stars and make us wealthy. Wanting for nothing, he’d said. That was his promise that we all jumped in line for. Even you, Darek. The best of us all, and even you took up the knife and carved your symbol.” He didn’t want to look like he’d been crying when he got to the club and would rather be mistaken for being wasted than crying like a pussy.
“We all had our reasons and wish we could take it back, but this killer, they want us to keep on making bad decisions, Alan. You don’t have to make another one.”
He sounded just like Corey, but neither one of them had their wife taken and locked up, tied like an animal to piss herself and wonder if she was about to die. He couldn’t let anything like that happen again. “They tied her up and left her for dead. She had no food or water, Darek. If I didn’t do what I did, she’d still be there, and my kids wouldn’t have their mother.”
“I understand that, but do you see? It wasn’t enough. It never will be enough. They’ll just keep expecting more and more. It’s what drove Tad out of the window. I’ll help you if you tell me you can stop.”
“I’m not planning on doing anything, I want us to try and figure out who the killer is, but I can’t promise you shit, Darek. I’ll do what I have to if it comes down to it, and in twelve hours, no matter what else happens in the world, another Zodiac is going to die.” He hung up the phone and held his chest. He was starting to have stress pains, and if he ground his teeth any tighter, his teeth would snap in two.
He took the exit via the GPS, and soon he was pulling up to the club. He opted to park in a lot nearby instead of having the valet do it. It was best that no one be too familiar with him and his truck. He sat there a minute and tried to catch his nerve. He had psyched himself up to kill Seth. He had shut off his brain from all emotion and was determined to just act and not think. He shut his eyes and imagined his quiet place, the place where there was no gunshots or begging, no Jamie with a disappointing tone, no kids telling him how much they missed him. He had to step into that place now and then, but he never stayed too long. He was afraid if he did, he’d never come out.
Alan opened his eyes and looked down at his phone. He wondered if Darek had called the police and if they were all looking for him. He knew it wasn’t going to end well. He’d either go to prison or end up dead himself, and if something horrible happened to his family, he’d wish he was.
He had been trying to avoid the idea, but he could always take Tad’s route and end his own life. All it would take was the squeeze of a trigger to make the mess he’d made go away. His wife would move on eventually. Hell, she was out the door already, and there were his kids. They were the main reason he was going to do everything to make sure he didn’t have to go out like that, but did they really need him?
He had to admit that Jamie had already spent more time with them than he ever did, and with the trips in and out of the casinos, the obsessive trips at all hours of the night, so many he had taken to sleeping in his game room. He hadn’t been a father, and for that matter, he hadn’t really been a husband either. Jamie deserved better. They all did.
He took a deep breath and opened the door. Then he went inside the club to find Corey and see if he wanted help finding out whose number the killer was calling from.
He got in line at the door and pulled out his ID when the bouncer asked for it. Luckily, they let him right in, and he hated having to hold his breath every time someone looked at him. It was like he had “murderer” tattooed on his forehead.
Chapter 16
Corey
The last thing Corey Farrow could claim was stud status, but he held his own with the ladies and already had one on the line.
“I love a man with glasses,” said Karla, who Corey had been hitting on since he’d bought her a drink an hour earlier. Ever since, she had been hanging on his shoulder and giggling in his ear.
Corey laughed. “I wish the girls at my high school thought the same way you do.”
“Please, you probably had your pick of the ladies.” She let her hands slip down to tug at his zipper.
“Are you goi
ng to take that out and play with it right here?” He looked around the room and decided it might be time to find a quiet corner.
“I would. I’m not afraid of it.”
“And I’m glad of that too. I can promise you, it won’t bite, sweetheart.” He flashed her a wink, and she reached her hand into his pants and stroked his cock, which was hard as a diamond.
“I’d ask you to go home with me, but at the rate you’re going, I’ll be finished with round two before I finish my drink.” His phone vibrated in his pocket, but he didn’t dare touch it. He wanted Karla to have his full attention.
“Come with me.” She pulled him to a table that someone had abandoned, leaving behind their drinks and a stack of napkins.
As his ass hit the seat, she let her hand go back to work. “That feels good,” he whispered. “But what’s the rush? We could leave and go back to my house.”
“I can’t. Well, that is, I shouldn’t. I’m here with friends, remember?”
He tried to focus on her words, but it was hard. He vaguely remembered she had friends, but they were all on the dancefloor again. His phone went off again, and he sighed. “I’m expecting a friend. He might be here soon.” He looked around and didn’t see Alan anywhere. He kind of hoped the man had changed his mind, and then he would talk Karla back to his place.
“I don’t mind if he watches,” said Karla. “Or I could play with his cock too.”
Corey considered the possibility but knew it would be too awkward. “He’s a married man.”
“I won’t tell if you won’t.” Karla giggled and slowly stroked him.
Corey laughed. “You’re a bad girl.”
“I like being bad. I’ve always wanted to have sex in public. I bet we could do it right here, and no one would notice.” She took his hand and put it up her skirt.