by Sable Hunter
“Well, let me tell you what’s going on.” She put an arm around Alivia’s neck and herded her to a more secluded spot. “I’m sure Micah already knows, but one of the girls thinks she saw something last night.”
“I hadn’t heard, Saxon was gone when I woke up.” He’d left her a note, and a red rose on his pillow, telling her he’d meet up with her later in the day.
“Yes, she swears someone was on her balcony, peeking through her curtains into her room.”
“That’s creepy.” Alivia shivered. “I asked Saxon last night if he thought the killer was here, and we both agreed that he may be. What can I do to help?”
Victoria moved in close enough, so Alivia got a whiff of expensive perfume. “I talked to Destry a few moments ago, and he suggested that we set a little trap.”
Alivia frowned. “What kind of a trap?”
“Well, it’s not what you’d think. I’m not suggesting we dangle you out like some kind of carrot. I don’t think things like that would work in this case. Destry suggested we set up some kind of memorial to all the beauty queens who have died. Pictures, names, lay out a visual graphic of the women we’ve lost and some of the cold cases that you think were the work of this sick bastard.”
Alivia nodded her head. “We’ll have to talk to the other guys, but I think that’s pretty brilliant, actually. Give the killer a virtual way to return to the scene of his crimes.”
“Right. We can’t make it obvious. We won’t say a word about the way they died or that we even think they’re connected. This would just be a tasteful memorial display. We’d even include those who have passed from other causes in the last twenty-five years.” She waved her hand in the air. “We remember those who have gone before. Or something like that. Just a display at one end of the corridor. No fanfare, maybe just a casual mention for everyone to stop by and pay their respects.”
Alivia narrowed her eyes. “I’ll get Savvy to print up the names, dates, and pictures. She can handle the job in a jiffy.” Placing her hand on Victoria’s shoulder, she said, “Be honest, was this Destry’s idea or yours?”
“Well…I think he’s rubbing off on me. He makes me think. He makes me want to do good.” She gave Alivia a wink. “So, let’s say it was both of us.”
“I think you two make quite a team.” She drew Victoria close. “He’s lucky to have you.”
As the two women hugged, they didn’t notice Adam Curtiss moving silently past, his eyes as blank and dead as a shark on the hunt.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Grrrrr.”
Standing behind Saxon, Micah leaned close to his friend, listening intently with an amused, disbelieving expression on his face. “Did you just growl?”
“Dammit, Wolfe! Quit sneaking up on me! You have a bad habit of lurking. You’re a lurker!”
Saxon moved a few feet away, his eyes never leaving Alivia as she flitted around the memorial display. What irritated the shit out of him was that Titus Landry’s eyes never left her. He even caught the dude grinning like an idiot when she put her hand on her hip and smiled at Victoria as they adjusted one of the plexiglass stands holding the photographs of the beauty queens being remembered.
“Yes, we’ve established that I’m very, very sneaky. Left over from my spy days.” He handed Saxon a folder.
Saxon accepted it, his eyes still on Alivia as Tyson and Landry rushed to help her carry a plexiglass stand. “What’s this?”
“I did some digging and located a classmate of Raymond’s while he was in the boy’s school and found gold. The man had a copy of what passed as their school annual in those days. You won’t believe this, but I found a photo of Father Murray with the boy, a mentoring shot with them looking at the same textbook. I also found Johnny’s yearbook photo and aged it for you.” He clapped Saxon on the shoulder.
“Wow, great!” Saxon wasted no time examining Micah’s work.
“You’re welcome.” Micah was proud of himself.
“Alivia needs to see this.” He was about to take off across the room, glad to have an excuse to pull her away from the others when Micah grabbed his arm.
“Hold on. You two look at it and review everything. If you think this is the guy, I’ll pass the photo out to everyone involved. The faster we catch this creep, the better.”
Saxon nodded. “While we examine this, go ahead and give a copy to the other Equalizers, Alivia has a strong suspicion that he’ll show up here to gloat over these victims.”
“Will do,” Micah agreed.
Muscling his way through the crowd, he made his way to Alivia. She was standing back, arms folded beneath her breasts, her head cocked sideways as she surveyed their efforts. Saxon found himself reaching for her before he even came close enough to touch, a reaction he couldn’t seem to be able to control. “Hey, why don’t you let the others finish this?” he asked when his hand finally made contact with the elegant line of her lower back, and the breath wedged in his lungs managed to flow freely.
She gave him an indulgent smile that made his heart clench in his chest. “We’re almost through. I think it looks good. Don’t you?”
Saxon gave the room a cursory once-over. He didn’t want to say so because he knew this effort served a dual purpose – paying homage to those who were no longer present, and a way to lure a killer back to the proverbial scene of past crimes – but Saxon found the whole thing a little macabre. “Yea, I’m sure it will be well received.” He bent his head, so he could whisper in her ear. At the same time, he brought the folder Micah had given him around for her to see. “Micah managed to get a picture of Raymond as a teenager, and he sent it through an age progression program.”
Alivia made a grab for it, but Saxon held onto the folder. “Not here, let’s go back to the room. Victoria and the team can handle things here.”
“Oh, all right. Let me tell Victoria.”
Saxon waited, glancing around at the growing crowd. People weren’t waiting for the display to be finished. He noticed one man moving slowly through the area, stopping to view each tribute. When Alivia returned, he nudged her to look at the strange bearded dude in the white lab coat. “I’d say he was a contender for the suspect, but he looks nothing like the photo Micah found for us.”
Her face lit up at the same time she dismissively waved at the individual in question. “Oh, he’s no one. That’s the guy from the blood bank.” She grabbed Saxon’s arm. “Did you say Micah found a photo of Raymond?”
Saxon loved to see her smile. Winding an arm around her neck, he pulled her against him, kissing her on the cheek. “A photo from the same school where he met Murray, yea. Plus, he aged the photo to present day via a computer program.”
“Let me see.” She held her hand out, and Saxon placed the folder in her hand. As she gazed at the two likenesses, he steered her through the crowd safely. Once they were in the elevator, she leaned against the door and frowned. “These programs aren’t always reliable. I’ll run it through one I’ve used before.” She shook her head. “He certainly doesn’t look familiar.”
“Well, we’ll keep our eyes open. I didn’t expect for us to recognize him right off the bat. I daresay he’s not following us around where we can see him.” Saxon held the elevator door open for her to exit once they arrived on their floor.
Alivia shivered and wrapped her arms around Saxon, earning her a hug. “I know, I just have this odd feeling that he’s near, that he’s watching me.”
Her comment gave Saxon his own shiver. “Well, there will be several pairs of friendly eyes on you at all times, mine most of all. So, don’t worry.”
As they made their way down the hall, two of the other contestants passed them by, and Alivia couldn’t help but note how Miss Laredo couldn’t take her eyes off Saxon. The statuesque, stacked blonde raked him up and down with a gaze designed to turn a man’s cock to stone. Damn! Could the woman be more obvious? After glaring at her competition, she clutched the folder to her chest. “I’m not worried. I’m just frustrated.” Fru
strated with the investigation, and frustrated with the uncertainty of where her relationship with Saxon was headed.
“Well, I have an old home remedy for frustration.” He made a grab for her and playfully nipped her neck, making her squeal. “Have two orgasms and call me in the morning.”
“Stop it. You’re insatiable.” Alivia laughed, relieved to see that he didn’t seem aware of the other woman or her interest, much less return it. Saxon let them walk by without even acknowledging their presence.
“Better believe it.” When they came to the door, Saxon took out his keycard, but before he could insert it, the door opened. Savvy stood there. “Will we get home before my purchases arrive from QVC?”
Saxon groaned, “Yes, of course.”
“I chose next-day air delivery,” she informed him in her monotone voice.
“You didn’t!” Saxon fumed. “Savvy! That’s going to cost me a fortune.”
“Ha. Ha. Gotcha! Or Bazinga, as Sheldon would say.”
Savvy’s laugh caused Alivia to laugh. “I knew you were watching too much television.”
“Whew!” Saxon wiped his brow, a half serious/half teasing move. “You should be satisfied with your purchases. I can’t think of anything else you could possibly want.”
Savvy moved deeper into the room, giving them room to enter and find a seat. “Au contraire, there is one more thing I want.” When her people didn’t look up or respond, Savvy cleared her throat. “There is one more thing I want,” she repeated a few moments later.
Alivia, who was staring at the computer-enhanced photo, glanced up. “Okay, I’ll bite. What else do you want? Room service?”
Saxon chuckled. “A little WD40 with an order of fries on the side?”
Savvy gave him her best robotic glare. “No. I want a baby.”
The two humans in the room froze. “A what?”
“I want a baby. I’m lonely. Alivia is gone too much. I need someone to take care of, someone to be with me.”
Saxon shook his head. “We’ll get you a cat.”
Alivia wasn’t as dismissive. Saxon might not realize it, but this was huge. Savvy always surprised her by how much she could learn, and how she was changing. “You feel the urge to procreate?”
Savvy crossed her arms over the slight bulge of her bustline. “I could teach it everything I know!”
Alivia was silent for a moment, considering the ramifications of building a computer that could be programmed by another computer. “Let me think about it, okay?”
“Yea, Savvy,” Saxon teased. “You don’t even have a boyfriend.”
“No, I don’t, but Alivia does.” She raised one eyebrow and gave him a slight smirk. “You two could have a baby.”
For the second time in just a few minutes, there was complete silence in the room.
Savvy was the one who broke it. “I’ve told Alivia this before, but I’d be a perfect babysitter.”
Alivia cleared her throat. “A couple should be married to have a baby together. They should be in love.” She wouldn’t lift her face. She was too embarrassed to see his expression. “Sorry. Savvy doesn’t understand everything.”
“Savvy understands more than you think,” the robot grumbled and rolled away. “I’m going to recharge myself.”
Saxon watched Alivia carefully, trying to gauge how she really felt about Savvy’s suggestion. He’d never considered having a baby, but he’d never felt about anyone the way he felt about Alivia. “She’s something else, isn’t she?”
“Yea…something else. Her imagination is a constant surprise,” Alivia said slowly, combating her uncomfortable reaction to the topic, and her scientific amazement at the display of consciousness her creation was exhibiting. “When all of this is over, I really need to think about this, and what it all means.”
Dammit! He couldn’t tell what she was feeling. “Yea, I agree. When this is over, we have a lot of thinking to do.”
With a slightly trembling hand, Alivia pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I think the most logical thing for us to do is to run this photo through a face recognition program to see if we can find any matches on the internet, especially social media.”
“Right.” Saxon opened his laptop. “If Raymond assumed a new identity, maybe this will flush him out.”
For the next couple of hours, they worked side by side, only taking a break to order in room service. After they’d eaten a quick meal, Alivia checked the program’s results. What she found was a disappointment. “Nothing!” She glared at Saxon with her hands on her hips. “How can that be?”
Saxon ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Hell, I don’t know. Maybe we’re on the wrong track, maybe Raymond is dead.” He searched for an explanation. “Or he might have had plastic surgery to change his appearance.”
“Unlikely.” The buzzing of Alivia’s phone drew her attention. Grabbing it, she read a text message. “It’s time to get ready for the ball game.” Alivia glanced at Saxon. “Are you going with me?”
“Absolutely.” He rose from the bed. “Let me change shirts.”
“All right, I need to change clothes too. While we’re gone, I’ll get Savvy to take the original photo and run it through a different aging program – just to be sure.”
As they prepared to leave, Saxon called Micah to touch base.
“Any luck with the photo?”
“Not yet,” Saxon said as he stared at Alivia, who’d just walked out to dig in her suitcase, wearing only a bra and her panties. He didn’t know why this surprised him; they’d been intimate several times. Still, his heart swelled at the realization of how comfortable she felt with him. “We’re still working on it. We have to leave soon to go to the Ranger’s game. What’s up with you?”
“I’ve been monitoring everything from the control room. The police are patrolling the halls and the entrances, systematically vetting everyone. Tyson and Titus are supervising the memorial display, and sweeping the area to make sure there’s nothing they’ve missed. I think we have this place wrapped up tight.”
“Sounds good. I’m worried about this ball game thing. These girls are leaving the security of a hall and a hotel we’ve gone all out to protect, to attend an open-air event, surrounded by thousands. Have you talked to Victoria about this?”
“Yes, and I think we’ve got this handled. The ballpark is upping security, and there will be bodyguards for the girls. They will never be alone. Since this guy is a hands-on killer, I think we’re safe. If all stays quiet, I’m going to pull Tyson in here to take my place, and we’re heading to the game too. Madison has cabin fever, I’ve got to get her out of the hotel room.”
Saxon hated to say what he was thinking, but there was no way around it. “Wolfe, our beauty queen killer is hands-on, but the Jaguar isn’t. He could strike a dozen different ways at any time. Putting ourselves at risk is one thing, but I thought you were keeping Madison under tighter wraps.”
Micah growled, “Don’t you think I’ve thought about this? I know I’m going to sound like the pageant board, but we can’t let the Jaguar rule our lives. As I’ve said before, that’s how the terrorists get you. Killing is just one weapon in their arsenal, striking fear and terror in your soul, eradicating all normalcy from your daily life, that’s how they really get to you.”
“I hear you.” Saxon didn’t disagree; he just felt uneasy. Without a doubt, the difference was Alivia. He’d always been protective of his friends, but his need to protect Alivia far surpassed anything he’d ever experienced before.
“Besides, Victoria has offered us the use of her private box for the evening. After the girls finish the presentation event on the field, you and Alivia can join us. I think the box holds eighteen people. Victoria will be there and whoever else she’s invited.”
“Even better.” Saxon breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll just be glad when this is over. I know I’ll sound crazy, but I’m ready for the psycho to make a move.”
“I’m sure he’s well aware,” M
icah agreed. “He’s probably sitting back and enjoying all the hoopla, knowing it’s all about him.”
Saxon rubbed his eyes. “And then he may not be here at all, he may be tracking some other girl who’s just been anointed the Corn Queen at some small county fair.”
Micah chuckled. “I think you need to get laid.”
“Wouldn’t hurt.” Saxon looked up as Alivia joined him and mouthed.
“Are you ready?”
“Look, Wolfe, we’re heading out. Alivia has to be there for a rehearsal of sorts, I guess. We’ll see you there.”
“Keep your ears cocked and your eyes peeled, buddy.”
“Why does everything you say sound sorta dirty?”
Micah laughed. “I’m an extraordinary talent.”
“Yea. Yea.” Saxon hung up and joined Alivia at the door. “Ready to play ball?”
Feeling playful, she reached down and palmed his cock, giving it a squeeze. “Sure, as long as I get to play later.”
Saxon groaned, feeling his dick surge to life. “Everyone will think I have a baseball bat in my pants.”
Alivia giggled. “I swear, your ego is the biggest thing about you.”
“I beg to differ, sweet cheeks,” Saxon teased as he pulled her back against him and rubbed his groin against her hip. “How big does that feel?”
“Please. Please.” Savvy came rolling out with her hands covering her eyes. “Too much PDA!”
“Bolt the door behind us, and don’t go out of the room,” Alivia instructed her as they stepped into the hall.
“I want to go with you,” Savvy spoke up behind them. “Please? I’m tired of staying in the room. I can be of use. I can help watch for the bad guys.”
Alivia looked at Saxon. “She would be an extra pair of eyes.”
“I would. Telescopic and X-Ray. I’m better than a metal detector for detecting weapons.”
Saxon shut his eyes, took a deep breath, then nodded. “All right, but you have to be good.”
Savvy smiled. “I can only do what I’m programmed to do.”