Shadow of Perceptoin

by Kristine Mason

  “Yes,” Tabitha said, then turned to Rodger. “Let me go.”

  Rodger ran a hand over his balding head, then blew out a sigh of resignation. “Fine. Don’t screw up,” he said, then walked away.

  Tabitha didn’t thank or acknowledge her as she followed after David and Rodger. Eden didn’t care. She had more important things to deal with right now.

  Holding onto Hudson’s arm, she directed him out of the newsroom.

  “Are we running from something?” he asked as she led him from the building and into the parking lot.

  When they reached the Trans Am, she climbed into the car and closed the door. After he did the same, he asked, “What’s going on?”

  “Dr. Leonard Tully.”

  “Yeah, I heard what the bald guy said about him.”

  “But you’ve never heard of him?” she asked as she used her smart phone to pull up a picture of Tully. He’d recently donated time and money to a new clinic in Chicago, helping people who didn’t have insurance with reconstructive plastic surgery. She’d sworn there had been an article about him in the Chicago Tribune. “Wait, got it.”

  After starting the car, he took the phone from her. When he glanced at the screen, he quickly snapped his gaze to hers. “Holy shit. This could be our guy.”

  “His physique definitely matches the third victim. We need to call Rachel. Tully could be our link to Elliot. I’m still not sure where the dentist fits in, but Tully definitely does. He’s a plastic surgeon. Wanna take a guess at what he specializes in?”

  He handed her the phone. “Liposuction.”

  “You got it,” she said, then gripped the door handle as Hudson hit the gas and raced out of the parking lot. “Slow down, Speed Racer.”

  “Sorry,” he said, and eased off the accelerator. “Would you grab my phone from my jacket pocket and call Rachel?”

  She reached into his front pocket and quickly found the phone. If she hadn’t been so eager to discover whether or not Tully had, at some point, worked with Elliot, she would have liked to have taken her time frisking Hudson. Scars and all, she loved his body, and would never grow tired of touching him.

  Minutes later, Rachel was on the other end of the line, pulling up information on Tully and his work history. She crunched on a pencil as she searched. Although irritating to listen to, Eden didn’t care if the woman chomped on a broomstick. Miss Smarty Pants had proven her skills time and again, and Eden had faith that she’d help them bring this case to a swift end.

  “Got it,” Rachel said.

  Eden pressed the speaker phone button. “I’ve got you on speaker so Hudson can hear. What’d you find?”

  “Tully worked with Elliot at Cosmetic Solutions and Med Spa during the three years it was open.”

  “How many other doctors worked at this place?” Hudson asked.

  “One. Dr. Victor Roth,” she said, then blew out a breath. “This is going to be bad if we don’t get to him before the killer.”

  A chill swept over Eden. “What was Dr. Roth’s specialty?”

  “Rhinoplasty.”

  *

  Michael Morrison parked the van in front of Dr. Victor Roth’s brownstone, and killed the ignition. He hadn’t planned on taking Roth today, but he also hadn’t planned on the sheriff and his posse of coyote hunters’ eagerness to tromp around on his land. Moving Roth’s surgery up a day actually worked out quite well. While he’d been confident that he could complete his death wish list by Eliza’s birthday, he’d been cutting it close. Now, though, he’d have an extra day. A little wiggle room, just in case things didn’t go to plan.

  Originally, Michael had intended to take Roth when he went for his usual morning run. Unlike Tully, Roth maintained a fit physique. Like Tully, Roth also had extramarital affairs. Only he didn’t go for Latin men. On numerous occasions, Michael had followed him to an upscale gentlemen’s club where Roth had enjoyed the company of many young women. He’d often take them to the adjacent hotel. Sometimes there’d be one girl, other times, two. Roth obviously didn’t respect his wife of two years, or his young stepchildren. In his opinion, Mrs. Roth was better off without her doctor husband.

  Cheaters were assholes who broke vows of trust and monogamy without a thought for their partner. Never, while Michael had been married, had he cheated on his wife. Even when their marriage had begun to crumble, he hadn’t wandered into another woman’s bed. Although his wife had become a raving bitch, he’d been raised to value commitment and keep promises.

  Make them pay, Daddy.

  Eliza’s last plea filtered through his thoughts as he glared at Roth’s brownstone. Michael definitely knew how to honor a commitment, the corpses in his field proof, and as the door to the brownstone opened, he silently promised his daughter that Roth would pay.

  Roth wasn’t alone. His pretty wife, and her equally pretty daughters, exited the home. While the young girls raced down the steps laughing and squealing, Mrs. Roth kissed her husband on the lips. She then turned, called to the girls, then ushered them into the Lexus parked along the street. Once she drove off, Roth closed the door.

  Michael’s stomach tightened with anticipation and anxiety. He’d kidnapped Tully during the day, but in a quiet parking garage that he’d studied and inspected months prior. While familiar with the general layout of Roth’s home, he wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about breaking into the man’s house. With the exception of Dr. Roth, he didn’t plan on stealing anything. Still, he’d rather Roth’s wife and stepchildren not endure the fear and violation that often followed a break-in, which meant he’d have to make sure he was careful. The house would have to look as he’d found it. Mrs. Roth couldn’t suspect that her husband had been kidnapped, at least not until Michael had finished his surgery and given Eden the final DVD.

  He’d worked hard to make the doctors from Cosmetic Solution and Med Spa pay for their crimes against his daughter. The prize, the gift he’d promised Eliza, was only one surgery away from completion. No slip-ups, no screw-ups, no last minute jitters.

  His confidence bolstered, Michael started the van, then shifted gears. He maneuvered until he backed the van into Roth’s narrow driveway. When the driver’s side back door was parallel to the house’s back stoop, he killed the ignition.

  Heart beating hard, adrenaline racing through his veins, Michael climbed out of the van and closed the door. He surveyed the small backyard, and both of Roth’s neighbors’ six foot privacy fences. Listening for a moment, he heard nothing but the bitter wind whistling through the naked trees.

  Pulling his cap low, he walked up the few steps leading to Roth’s back stoop, then knocked on the door. He counted to thirty, then knocked again. Harder. Louder.

  “Coming,” Roth said as he unlocked the door. “Can I help you?”

  “Dr. Roth?”

  “That’s right,” Roth said as he eyed the van.

  “I’m from Morrison Heating and Cooling. Your wife called about tuning up your furnace.”

  Roth furrowed his forehead. “She must have forgotten to tell me.” He blew out an impatient breath, then muttered, “Stupid ditz.”

  Michael looked away as if he hadn’t heard the man, his hatred for Roth intensifying. Roth had no respect for women. Not Eliza, not the pretty Mrs. Roth, not the women he used from the gentlemen’s club.

  “You want to reschedule?” Michael asked, knowing there would be no change in plans. He did want to sound accommodating, though, to keep Roth at ease and without suspicion.

  “No. It’s fine. Are you going to be long?”

  “About an hour.”

  “An hour?” Roth echoed with melodramatic outrage. “I have somewhere to be later, can’t you do whatever it is you need to do any faster?”

  Michael shrugged. “You willing to help me haul the tools out of my van?”

  With an exaggerated eye roll, Roth nodded. “If it’ll help,” he said, and without a coat or shoes, he jogged down the steps to the van. “I don’t know why she couldn’t have had y
ou come out during the week. I swear the woman doesn’t have a brain sometimes.”

  Michael pulled the syringe from his coat pocket, and hiding it in his palm, used his other hand to slide open the door. He climbed inside and pretended to struggle. “Damn it,” he shouted.

  “What’s the problem?” Roth asked. “It’s freezing out here, give me what you need me to carry inside and let’s get the ball rolling. I can’t stand it when people waste my time.”

  “Sorry, sir. The one tool box I need is wedged between the seats. If you could climb inside and pull from your end…” Keeping the syringe out of sight, Michael continued the pretense of struggling. Once Roth entered the van, he’d make his move, then leave.

  Roth crouched inside the van. While not a large man like Tully, he crowded the small space. Michael reconsidered the syringe. For him to stab the tip into Roth’s neck, he’d need more room to move. Now he wished he’d removed the seats from the van.

  Too late now, time to improvise.

  “I don’t know what the hell kind of operation your company runs,” Roth began as he looked around the van. “But if this is any indication, be prepared for me to file a complaint with your superiors. Now what in the hell can’t you seem to remove from this piece of shit van of yours?”

  Michael slipped the syringe into his pocket, then reached under the back passenger seat. He grasped the bat he’d used to subdue Tully, then pointed to the small tool box. “That box,” he said.

  “Seriously? My eight-year-old stepdaughter could lift that thing out of here. You know what? I’m done with this. Get the hell out of here. I’m cancelling the appointment.”

  As Roth turned to jump out of the van, Michael hit him over the head with the bat. Roth dropped to the floorboard. Unfortunately still conscious, Roth moaned and writhed between the seats. Michael took the syringe from his pocket and stabbed Roth in the neck. Once he sent every drop of the sedative into the man’s veins, he quickly restrained Roth with duct tape, then climbed over him and into the driver’s seat.

  He glanced at Roth’s house and realized the man had left the back door open. Not wanting to draw alarm should his wife come home, or a neighbor stop by, Michael raced up to Roth’s back stoop, closed the door, then ran back to the van.

  After he started the ignition, he drove out of the narrow driveway, then onto the quiet street. When he reached the intersection, he stopped at the red light before making a right turn, and heading toward the freeway on ramp. As he momentarily idled at the stoplight, a car approached from across the intersection, then stopped.

  Anxiety tore through his stomach. Tightening his grip on the steering wheel, he clenched his jaw. As he made the turn, he looked into his review mirror just as the light turned green and a black Trans Am sped through the intersection.

  Chapter 19

  Eden stroked Fabio’s soft hair, while Brutal snuggled on her lap. A sense of hopelessness, dread and foreboding ran through her mind and body. They’d been too late. The killer, once again, had been one step ahead of them.

  Pocketing his cell phone, Hudson entered her living room, then sat on the couch next to her. As Brutal crawled from her lap into his, he said, “Stop beating yourself up, we don’t know for sure that the killer took Roth. Could be the guy is out with his family.”

  “No. Roth’s gone.”

  “Are your sister’s psychic powers rubbing off on you?”

  Pinching his leg, she narrowed her eyes at him. “Try a gut feeling. Thank you very much.”

  He sent her a tired smile, then used his thumb and forefinger to rub his eyes. “The killer said the next DVD would be on your doorstep Monday. It’s Saturday. I guess it’s possible he’d kidnapped Roth already, but that would mean he’s killing these guys back to back.” He dropped his hand, then began petting Brutal. “The guy’s got to be exhausted.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “He’s driving at least two hours to Chicago to kidnap these doctors, driving another two to wherever he performs his surgeries, kills the victims, then turns around and drives back to Chicago to drop the DVD. Either he’s a machine or he’s running on caffeine and hate.”

  Eden considered the killer’s state of physical and emotional exhaustion, and became optimistic. “If he’s tired, he might slip up.”

  “Doubtful. Even if he does, this is his last kill. He could feed Roth’s body to the dogs or whatever, then disappear off the grid. Considering he’s willingly exposed himself to you with his DVDs, and has always been one step ahead of us, I’m guessing he has a solid plan of escape.”

  She gave Fabio a final pat, then stood and began pacing. “We have to do something. I can’t stand just sitting around, waiting for something to happen.”

  “We are doing something. We’ve left a message for Roth’s wife to call us, and Rachel is pulling up everything she can on Cosmetic Solutions and Med Spa.”

  “I know,” she said, and hugged herself. “I’m just so damned frustrated. I can’t believe Bob blew you off.” Because she’d been blackballed by the Chicago police, she’d asked Hudson to call Detective Bob Mallory. Now that Tully had been kidnapped, and CORE had plenty of evidence of foul play against the other two victims, she’d been certain Bob would want to become involved with their investigation.

  “He didn’t necessarily blow me off. He’s all over the Dread murders right now. Besides, he said he’d forward our info to the lead detective working the Tully kidnapping.”

  “Who’s the detective?”

  “Ron Vincent.”

  “That guy will never call you back.”

  “Why wouldn’t he?”

  “He’s one of those guys who doesn’t like outside help.” She’d seen Vincent in action, when she’d been reporting a story about a woman who had been kidnapping, then selling kids to people looking to adopt. When the FBI had stepped in, Vincent had done everything in his power to thwart their efforts. In the end, while all of the kids had been recovered, the woman had disappeared without a trace. “Trust me. We’re on our own.”

  Pacing again, she asked, “Did you give Rachel my suggestion?” She’d recommended they focus on Med Spa’s clientele. Considering the killer’s focus had been on the doctors from Med Spa, maybe one of the two women the killer had spoken of, or perhaps both, had had plastic surgery through the medical group.

  “Yes. She’s working on it now. Although Med Spa has been closed for the past six or so years, they still have a website. She said it hasn’t been updated since the place closed, but she somehow hooked into the server Med Spa had used. All of Med Spa’s data is on this server, their financials, the list of their former clients. Anyway, she said it might take a while to…hell, I don’t know what she called it. According to Rachel, I’m technically challenged, so I’m not going to pretend I know how she’s working her magic.”

  “Technically challenged,” she repeated with a chuckle, then shrugged. “I’m right there with you. I’m just happy that she’s able to work any magic at all. With the privacy laws, I was worried she wouldn’t be able to find any information on Med Spa’s clients.”

  He grinned. “One would think, but apparently those laws don’t apply to Rachel. Anyway, she said she’d email the list once the download is finished. Could be one hour, could be five.”

  Dropping her arms, she realized Hudson was right. They were doing all that they could for the time being. Still, she hated to sit and wait.

  Yes, she could find something to do. Calling her realtor back would be one thing, responding to her agent, another. But doing those two things would only aggravate and frustrate her more. She didn’t want to think about leaving Hudson. With the way he sat on her couch, cuddling Brutal, all she wanted to think about was them. They did have time to kill. Maybe she should bring up the move to New York. Ask him how he felt about her leaving Chicago.

  Or maybe she should take a shower. Although avoiding the inevitable wasn’t usually her style, with the way the day had been going, she didn’t want to make
it any worse. She loved Hudson, and honestly wasn’t ready for any answers he might have for her. If she brought up the move and he told her to keep in touch, she’d be more than devastated. She’d be heartbroken.

  After taking a chance and opening up her heart and soul to him, she didn’t think she was ready for the foreseeable rejection. He had a life and job here. While she’d been honest with him about her past, she hadn’t had the courage to tell him she loved him. He hadn’t said the words either. Even if he did love her, would that love be enough to sacrifice his career for her? The bigger question, did she love him enough to sacrifice hers?

  She needed a moment to gather her thoughts. “Well, if we have to wait, I might as well do it clean. I’m going to take a shower.”

  Setting Brutal on the couch, he stood, then moved toward her with a sexy swagger that had her heart rate climbing. He settled his big palms on her hips. “A shower sounds good,” he said, his voice thick, husky.

  The sudden intensity in his gaze caused an instant ache between her thighs. She curled her fingers into his shirt, and brought him closer. “I don’t remember inviting you,” she teased, while conjuring the image of his slick, hard, naked body rubbing along hers.

  Running a hand through her hair, he released her ponytail and massaged the back of her head. “I can wash your hair,” he suggested, and kissed her temple.

  “Mmm. That might be nice,” she murmured, and loving the way he kneaded her scalp, she let her eyes close.

  With his other hand, he squeezed her butt, then dipped his fingers between her thighs. “Very nice,” he whispered into her ear, before nipping her earlobe.

  The little sting sent a shiver of anticipation through her body.