“You’re that FBI lady, aren’t you?” Bud asked.
Jenna turned and looked at him. Bud was a good-looking man. His dark brown hair was thick and wavy and his brown eyes snapped with a flirtatious intelligence that might have been appealing if it wasn’t for the slight sneer of his upper lip.
“I’m Jenna Taylor,” she said. “And you are?”
He snorted. “You know who I am. Word around town is that I’m your number one suspect.”
“That’s not true,” she replied. “Oh, you’re on the list, but at the moment almost everyone in town is on the list.”
He cupped his big hands around his cup of coffee. “I shouldn’t be on your list at all. I didn’t have anything to do with those two women’s murders.”
“You know, I’m not here as an FBI agent. Miranda was my best friend. I’m just here trying to figure out what happened to her, who took her away from me.” Jenna pushed for a touch of vulnerability in her tone. “I heard you liked her, that you flirted with her.”
“Guilty as charged,” he replied easily. “And she flirted back with me.” He puffed out his chest like a big rooster about to crow. “You could say I have a way with the ladies.”
“Did you go out with Miranda?”
“Nah, it never got that far. When she first got to town I was kind of involved with somebody else.” He took a sip of his coffee and then continued as he set the cup back on the counter.
“Miranda was different than the women here. She had a real class to her. I’d just worked up my nerve to ask her out when I heard about the murder.” Once again his chest expanded. “She would have gone out with me, too. I could see it in her eyes when she talked to me. She liked me and she would have jumped at the chance to have a date with me. But I sure as hell didn’t kill her.”
Jenna wasn’t sure if she believed him or not. Bud was easy to profile, a man with a lack of self-esteem who compensated with a swaggering bravado. The fact that he mentioned that Miranda was different, that she was classy, intrigued her.
Was it possible that secretly Bud had thought Miranda felt she was too good for him? Had that stirred up a rage inside him?
At that moment Leroy came out of the kitchen with their breakfast plates in hand. Jenna’s special consisted of two eggs, two strips of bacon and toast. Bud’s usual was a tall stack of pancakes with sausage links. Leroy set down the plates and then once again disappeared into the kitchen.
“From what I understand, Miranda was pretty popular. I heard that Leroy had a crush on her.”
Bud laughed. “That man has a crush on anybody who is nice to him and doesn’t smell like bacon grease.” His smile fell as he lowered his voice. “The guy is weird. If he isn’t on your suspect list, then he should be.”
“What about Doc Johnson?”
Bud looked at her in surprise. “What about him?”
“I heard he had a thing for Miranda.”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that. Patrick and I don’t exactly run in the same circles,” Bud said with a scowl. “He was an asshole when he was sweeping the floors in his daddy’s car dealership and as far as I’m concerned, he’s an asshole with his fancy degree that put a Dr. in front of his name.”
He leaned toward her, his eyes holding a blatant flirtatious light. “Now, tell me about Jenna Taylor. Are you having any fun while you’ve been in town? I’d be glad to show you around. You know, take you to all the hot spots.”
“I didn’t know there were hot spots in Bridgewater,” she replied.
He grinned. “My place is one of the hottest.”
At that moment Michael returned to the counter with the coffeepot in hand. He scowled at Bud. “You harassing my customers?”
“He’s all right,” Jenna replied. “And thanks for the offer, Bud, but I’m only in town for a couple of days and besides, you just aren’t my type.”
Michael snorted back a burst of laughter as Bud’s eyes sparked with anger. “Guess that put you in your place,” Michael exclaimed as he topped off Bud’s cup.
“She doesn’t know what she’s missing,” he replied and once again looked at Jenna. “Sometimes a walk on the wild side is just what a woman needs.”
Bud didn’t speak to her again and Jenna was left wondering how wild his wild side might be. Wild enough to give a woman roses, then stab her through the heart?
She’d ticked him off on purpose to see what kind of a response he’d give her. It was kind of like poking a dangerous bear with a stick to see what it would do.
Bud left the café before Jenna and when she stepped outside into the hot morning air she thought about how she’d approach her next interview.
The door to Dr. Patrick Johnson’s office opened with a tinkle of a bell and Jenna entered to be greeted by a smiling receptionist.
“I was wondering if I could speak with Dr. Johnson,” Jenna said.
“Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll see if he’s available,” the young woman replied.
Jenna was seated on one of the plastic chairs for only a moment before the inner door opened and a tall, attractive blond man gestured her inside.
“Agent Taylor,” he said as he held out a hand to her.
“Jenna, please make it Jenna,” she said. He had a firm handshake and when it ended his blue eyes regarded her curiously.
“What can I do for you, Jenna Taylor?”
“I was wondering if I could speak to you about Miranda Harris.”
His eyes clouded with sadness and he gestured her into an office where he sat behind the desk and she sat in the chair in front of him.
“Miranda was a lovely woman and what happened to her is a real tragedy,” he said as he leaned back in his big leather chair. “But you and Matt already spoke to me about all this.”
Jenna nodded. “I just thought you might have thought of something else that could be helpful in the investigation. Word around town is that you showed a definite interest in Miranda.”
“Why wouldn’t I have been interested? She was bright and beautiful and funny. For the first time in years I looked forward to going into the café knowing I was going to see her smile.”
“But you never asked her out?” Jenna asked.
“I was taking things slow. I was coming off a bad relationship and didn’t want to make mistakes.” He straightened his desk blotter and moved a pen to align perfectly with it.
When he looked at Jenna again his gaze was filled with remorse. “I keep thinking that maybe if I’d asked her out, if we’d become a couple, then she wouldn’t have been murdered. I know it’s crazy but I feel partly responsible for her death.”
He cleared his throat and ran a hand down the front of his white coat as if to erase an invisible wrinkle. “If you’ve come here looking for answers, I’m afraid I don’t have any to give to you. I can’t imagine who did this, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt her.”
He might not have thought that he’d told Jenna anything substantial, but he’d definitely given her little clues to his personality.
“You said you’d had a relationship that ended badly. What does that mean?” she asked.
A small hint of color filled his cheeks. “Is there nothing off limits?”
“Not in a murder investigation,” she replied.
“It’s no deep, dark secret. I was in love, she wasn’t. End of story.”
“What was her name?”
“June Alexander, not that it matters. She moved away and I have no idea where she went.” The warmth of his eyes had faded, replaced by a faint chill as a yapping bark came from the reception area. “Are we done here? My next patient has arrived.”
“Thank you for talking to me,” she said as she stood. “As Miranda’s best friend I’m just trying to make sense of this.”
The chill in his eyes warmed once again. “There is no sense to it, and I’m sorry for your loss. I find it difficult to go into the café now. I’ll miss seeing that smile of hers.”
Jenna saw herself out
into the lobby where an older woman held a yappy dog no bigger than her purse in her lap. Jenna offered the woman a faint smile as she left the office, her mind whirling with the information she’d gleaned.
Dr. Patrick Johnson was a perfectionist, highly organized and intelligent. He would have had the mental tools to pull off the crimes and there was obviously a painful romance in his recent past.
She definitely wanted to find out about June Alexander. It was amazing how quickly a simple question could yield information that led to another question in a murder investigation. Most of the time there were short forays on wild goose chases, a head butt against a dead end, but nothing could be left to chance.
Too many criminals had been caught by the wisp of a lead that didn’t appear promising, by an investigator following what appeared to be a dead end.
She got into her car and stuck the key into the ignition. The next stop was the sheriff’s office where she’d check in with Matt.
Matt. She didn’t like the way her heart sang his name. She’d known the man for only three days and had already slept with him, had already told him about her childhood.
She’d already been more intimate with him than she’d ever been with any man. No more, she told herself. From here on out it had to remain strictly business between them. She couldn’t afford to let him in any closer.
Putting the car into Reverse, she turned to look over her shoulder before backing out and that’s when she saw it on the passenger seat. An icy chill shot up her back as she stared at the perfect, long-stem red rose.
“THANKS, I APPRECIATE YOUR time,” Matt said into the phone, then hung up and released a sigh of frustration. He pulled his list in front of him and crossed through the name of Mark Harris. Miranda’s ex-husband had a rock-solid alibi at the time of her murder. He’d been working the night shift at his job in a factory in Dallas. A call to his supervisor had confirmed that he’d been there until noon on the day of the murder. It was physically impossible for him to have been here in Bridgewater murdering his ex-wife and at work at the same time.
Even though it was just after ten, Matt already felt the burn of aggravation by his lack of progress. Two murders and not enough physical evidence left behind to fill a page. Two murders and not a viable suspect leaping to the head of the list.
And if the killer stayed on the time line he’d established between Miranda and Carolyn’s murder, then by tomorrow morning there should be another body. God, he couldn’t let that happen. How was he supposed to protect all the young women in his town?
There was a rapid knock on the door and Joey stuck his head inside. “Agent Taylor is here to see you,” he said.
Matt couldn’t help that his spirits lifted just a little bit as he anticipated Jenna’s presence. He told himself it was because he hoped she was bringing something concerning their investigation, but he knew that was a lie. His pleasure in seeing her again was strictly male and had nothing to do with business.
She swept into the office with a simmering energy. Dressed in a pair of white jeans and a red short-sleeved blouse, she looked better prepared for a picnic than a murder investigation.
“Good morning,” he said and gestured her toward the chair in front of his desk.
“Busy morning,” she replied and ignored the chair.
“You might want to grab an evidence kit and come with me outside to my car.”
He sat up straighter. “Why? What’s going on?”
“Come outside and you’ll see.”
Matt followed her outside where she pointed to the passenger-side door of her car. “Don’t touch it. Just look inside.”
Matt peered in through the window and his heart stuttered to a halt as he saw the red rose lying on the upholstery. “Where did that come from?” he asked as he straightened and looked at her.
“I found it there when I left Dr. Johnson’s office a few minutes ago,” she replied.
“Consider your car officially impounded,” he said as a muscle pulsed at his jaw. “And come back inside and tell me exactly what you’ve been doing this morning.”
When he returned to the office Joey and Abe sat at their desks. “Abe, I’m impounding Agent Taylor’s rental car. I want you to go over it with a fine-tooth comb and pay particular attention to the passenger side. Joey, there’s a rose on the passenger seat, see to it that it’s bagged and tagged.”
Joey’s eyes opened wide as he looked first at Matt, then at Jenna. “Yes, sir,” he said and jumped to his feet.
Matt turned to face Jenna. “In my office. I need to take a detailed statement from you.”
Marked. She’d been marked by their killer. Or was it just some kind of crazy coincidence? Had some man developed a little crush on the beautiful FBI agent and left a rose in her car? Matt didn’t believe in those kind of coincidences.
Once again he sat at the desk and she took the seat before him, her features composed as if she had no idea what that rose might have meant to her, to her safety.
“Tell me where you’ve been and what you’ve done this morning. How long was the car out of your sight? Did you see anyone lingering around just before you discovered the rose?”
“The rose wasn’t there when I left the house this morning,” she said. “I parked in front of the café and realized I was too early to speak to Dr. Johnson, so I went into the café for some breakfast. While I was there Bud Carlson came in and sat next to me at the counter.”
Matt raised an eyebrow. “You talked to him?”
Her lips curved in a wry smile. “He offered to show me all the hot spots in town, starting with his place.”
Matt was stunned by the unexpected wave of jealousy that swept through him. He wanted to tell her that she was his woman and should never entertain the thought of being with any other man.
He knew his reaction was totally inappropriate and consciously willed it away. “Did you leave the café first or did Bud?” he asked.
“Bud left first. I ticked him off, told him that he wasn’t my type.”
“Do you really think that’s wise?” Matt asked with a touch of aggravation. “I mean, we’re looking for a killer here and it’s possible you just baited him.”
She shrugged as if unconcerned at the very idea. “After I left the café I went in to speak to Dr. Johnson. Do you know what happened to June Alexander?”
Matt blinked, trying to keep up with her. “How did June come up in the conversation?”
“Patrick told me that he’d had a previous bad relationship with a woman named June Alexander. That would fit into the profile of our killer. He told me she’d left town, but I think we need to check up on her.”
Matt wrote her name down to remind himself to do some follow-up. “I know most of the people in town, but I don’t know all the ins and outs of their romantic lives,” he said. “I knew Patrick and June had dated, but I didn’t know it had ended badly.”
He leaned back in his chair and looked at her. “So, Bud would have had the opportunity to put that rose into your car.”
She nodded. “And so would have Patrick, or Leroy, or anyone else in town who might have walked past my car.”
Matt blew a sigh of frustration and tried to ignore the hot burn of worry that tortured his stomach. She’d received a rose. The words reverberated around and around in his head, a deep echo of danger.
“You know what the rose means,” he finally said. “The killer has you in his line of fire.”
“One rose doesn’t scare me,” she replied easily. “His pattern is five roses, then death.” In one of the conversations they’d had about the roses, Matt had mentioned that he believed they had been given one at a time, as they were all in progressive stages of bloom.
“But what if he breaks his pattern?” Matt asked, the burn in his stomach intensifying. The thought of anyone hurting her made him feel ill.
“He won’t,” she said with certainty. “The pattern is important to him, as important as the killings themselves. He needs the ritual
.”
“And you know this how?”
“Years of studying serial killers and a gut instinct that has never proven me wrong,” she replied.
“And you’re willing to bet your life on that?”
“Look at it this way, if he’s targeting me, then chances are he isn’t targeting any other woman.”
Matt stared at her for a long moment. “You were hoping this would happen. You’ve been all over town, highly visible to the killer. You wanted him to target you.”
“I thought there was a possibility he might,” she said. “I have the same hair and eye color as Miranda and Carolyn. We all look similar, so I knew there was a chance that I could be targeted.”
“We need to get you into protective custody,” Matt exclaimed.
“Absolutely not,” she replied with a stubborn lift of her chin. “This isn’t my first time at the rodeo, cowboy. I can take care of myself and the last thing I want is for the perp to think I have backup or protection.” She leaned forward, her eyes gleaming an electric blue. “I want him to come after me.”
“Is this some kind of death wish that you have?”
Her cheeks flushed pink. “Of course not.” She stood. “I need to get home and get on the Internet and see if I can find June Alexander. Since you have my car, can you take me home?”
Matt got up from his desk and gestured to his computer. “Why don’t you do that here and I’ll go check on the progress on your car. If you hang out here for a couple of hours, then we should be through with it.”
As he walked to the door, she settled into his chair. “Any info you can share with me about June Alexander that might help me find her?” she asked.
Matt frowned thoughtfully. “If I remember right, she came to town when her father died and moved into his house. She’d been living someplace back east, but I can’t remember where. She went to work for Stan Martin in his stained-glass shop. You might talk to him, maybe he knows where she moved to when she left here.”
What he wanted to do was bubble wrap her like a precious package and mail her to a distant state where she would be safe from the madman who now had her in his sights. He wanted to put her in a safety deposit box and lock her into a bank vault.
Scene of the Crime: Bridgewater, Texas Page 8