Marcy got out of the rented SUV that she had parked down the street from the Peabody and walked in the rain, not caring that she was getting soaked to the skin. She had let Aaron screw her again last night. And yes, she had enjoyed it, but she didn’t love Aaron. God, she wished she did. She’d give anything if she could love anybody other than Quinn. But what could a woman do when she was hog wild crazy about a guy and he kept her at arm’s length because she was the best damn assistant he’d ever had?
As she trudged up the street, her feet splattering water right and left, she wondered if she should threaten to quit her job and see what Quinn would do.
He’d let you go, you ninny. He can hire another assistant. They’d be lined up six deep and two blocks long just for an interview, just for a chance to work for him. And even if by some miracle Quinn did become your lover, he’d leave you, just as he’s left all the others. You’d be just one more in a never-ending stream of available women.
She was an idiot for coming here, but she hadn’t been able to help herself. When she’d woke at four and couldn’t go back to sleep, she’d crawled out of Aaron’s bed and started to her room, but instead she’d opened the door to Quinn’s room and looked at his empty bed.
He had spent the night with Annabelle Vanderley. He’d held her in his arms and made love to her.
Even with her eyes wide open, Marcy could see the two of them together. Naked. Fucking their brains out.
Marcy hated Annabelle. She despised her more than all the others, because she sensed that this woman meant something more to Quinn, that she was different.
Marcy had gone into Quinn’s room and had lain on his bed, thinking about what it would be like to lie in his arms, to have him make love to her. She had opened his closet and ran her hands over his tailor-made suits, then she’d gone into the bathroom, opened the lid on his cologne and sniffed.
A couple of minutes later, she’d thrown on a pair of sweats and her sneakers and gone outside to the SUV. Like a real nutcase, she’d flown along the mostly deserted Memphis streets, running one stop sign and one red light in her eagerness.
Now she was here. At the Peabody. Standing outside in the pouring rain, looking up and wondering just where Quinn and Annabelle were and just what they were doing right now. Lying in bed together, listening to the rain? Making love at dawn?
You should be with me, Quinn, her heart cried. No one will ever love you the way I do.
Over the years, she had disliked all those other women, but she’d kept telling herself that one day Quinn would look at her and realize he loved her and only her. Then as time passed and Quinn never saw her as more than his faithful assistant, she had begun to hate his other women. But she had never despised any of them the way she did Annabelle.
What will you do if he loves her?
As she stood there on the cool, dark street, gazing up, her tears mingled with the rain. Inside, she was dying. Dying and no one gave a damn. Least of all Quinn.
Chapter 26
Quinn and Annabelle had enjoyed their early morning coffee as they’d sat together on the sofa and watched the dark, rainy sky lighten at dawn, presenting them with a gray, rainy day. They had talked some, but mostly cuddled, savoring the quiet moments alone. And when passion had renewed between them, they had gone back to bed and made slow, sweet love, then fallen asleep afterward and had been awakened less than an hour ago at ten o’clock by Griffin Powell’s telephone call.
Breakfast had arrived only a few minutes ago and while Annabelle finished up in the bathroom, Quinn lifted the covers from their plates and poured coffee into their cups. Just as he removed the cellophane wrap from his freshly squeezed orange juice and took a sip, Annabelle emerged from the bedroom. He loved looking at her, every inch, from her long, silky blond hair to her slender feet, which he had discovered were extremely sensitive. Pausing in the doorway, she smiled at him and his gut tightened with awareness. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on with him, whether what he felt for her was love, but he knew that a brief affair wouldn’t be enough. He wanted so much more from her, wanted to spend days—no weeks—just being with her, holding her, touching her, making love to her. Or simply looking at her.
“Think we’ll have time to eat before Griffin arrives?” Annabelle came toward him, kissed him as if she hadn’t seen him in days, then took the orange juice from his hand and drank from his glass.
“If not, he can have some coffee while we eat.” Quinn seated Annabelle at the small dining table, but before he could join her, someone knocked on the door. “That’ll be Griffin.” Quinn checked his wristwatch. “Right on time. Precisely eleven.”
“I’ll pour him some coffee.”
Quinn opened the door to Griffin Powell and found that he was not alone. Lieutenant Norton stood behind and to one side of his old UT teammate. Just the sight of the detective sent up a red warning signal in Quinn’s brain. It wasn’t that he had anything personal against Norton—not the way he did against Sergeant George—but irregardless, Norton was a Memphis cop and at present the Memphis PD was his enemy.
Ignoring Griffin entirely, Quinn pinned his gaze on Norton. “Should I call my lawyer?”
“I’m not staying,” Norton said. “I’m just here to see if you recognize Kelley Fleming from the photo we have of her. No other questions and definitely no interrogation that will require your lawyer.”
“That’s good since Judd went back to Chattanooga,” Quinn said. “I saw no reason for him to hang around here when he can fly back to Memphis in an hour’s time if I need him.”
“We can have Mr. Walker flown in on the Vanderley jet,” Annabelle said as she came up beside Quinn and laced her arm through his.
At that moment, Quinn felt about ten feet tall. And all because of the woman at his side, the woman who believed in him. Trusted him. Loved him.
“May we come in?” Griffin asked, his tone marginally irritated.
“Of course.” Annabelle tugged on Quinn’s arm, prompting him to move backward so that Griffin and Lieutenant Norton could enter.
“I’ll pour two more cups of coffee,” Annabelle told Quinn. “Close the door and”—she lowered her voice to a whisper— “be nice to Lieutenant Norton.”
Quinn grinned, then when she turned to go back into the lounge area, he closed the door, took a deep breath and joined the others. Both Powell and Norton remained standing.
“Coffee?” Annabelle offered a cup to Norton.
“No, thank you, ma’am.”
“Griffin?”
“Yes, thanks.” Griffin accepted the coffee, then glanced at Quinn. “Jim’s got a photo from the crime scene when Kelley Fleming was killed. It’s all we have right now, although I’ve sent one of my best men to Baytown, Texas, to track down all the information he can get on the lady. And by the way, Kelley Fleming was an alias.”
Norton eased a manila envelope out from under his jacket and handed it to Quinn. “Take a look and tell us if you recognize her.”
Quinn took the envelope, opened it and removed the photo. His muscles went taut as he looked at the picture, halfway hoping he would recognize the woman and halfway praying he wouldn’t. Either way could work in his favor or against him. He studied the woman’s face, then her features, one by one.
“I don’t recognize her.” Quinn slipped the photo back into the envelope.
“We didn’t think you would.” Jim held out his hand for the photo. “She’s not exactly your type.”
Quinn handed the envelope back to the lieutenant. “Meaning?”
“Kelley Fleming, or whoever she was, might have been attractive at some point in the past, but let’s face it”—Norton waved the envelope back and forth—“this old gal looked like hell. And not just because this is a photo taken postmortem.”
“Does the fact I didn’t know her help me or hurt me?” Quinn asked.
“Neither, actually,” Norton replied. “At least not at this point.”
“Jim needs to know where you were
on the date that Kelley Fleming was murdered,” Griffin said. “Since Baytown is within easy driving distance of Houston, let’s hope you were out of town because that would prove you couldn’t have killed Kelley.”
“When did she die—two years ago?” Quinn frowned. “I’m not going to remember an exact date from that long ago, but records from my office might help us.”
“All I need is your permission to access that information,” Griffin said.
“When y’all can give us the answer, call me,” Norton said. “In the meantime, I’m going to go out on a limb and assume we have ourselves a serial killer.”
“Then that rules out Quinn as a suspect,” Annabelle said.
“Not necessarily,” Norton replied. “Mr. Cortez could be a serial killer, although I seriously doubt it.” Norton looked right at Quinn. “Don’t leave Memphis. If we call you in again, we’ll be charging you with at least one of our two murders.”
Quinn looked the detective squarely in the eye. “I appreciate the fact that you’re not concentrating strictly on me as the only suspect.”
“I don’t have any real leads,” Norton said. “But there are a few things I’m going to look into and if we’re lucky, we’ll find our killer.”
Quinn and Norton shook hands, then Griffin walked Jim Norton to the door. Norton paused, glanced back at Quinn and said, “The coroner’s office has released Kendall Wells’s body. I understand her funeral will be Tuesday.”
“Thank you for telling me,” Quinn said.
Norton nodded, then left.
After closing the door, Griffin came back into the lounge, picked up his cup and sat down on the sofa. “You two eat breakfast while I talk. I heard from Derek Lawrence this morning. He’s the former FBI profiler we hired to give us some insight into our killer. Using the preliminary profile, Jim and I put our heads together and have come up with a couple of ideas on who the killer might be. Jim’s input was unofficial, of course.”
“How are we supposed to enjoy our breakfast while you talk about murder and mayhem?” Annabelle glared at Griffin as she speared her scrambled eggs with her fork.
“Sorry,” Griffin said, “but if you two don’t want me hanging around all day, let’s get this over with this morning.” Griffin cleared his throat. “And just as a word of caution—if I were y’all, I’d consider staying in and not going out, unless you want the fact that you two are a couple now broadcast all over the news. At least one TV station has a cameraman posted across the street and my guess is there’s a reporter or two lurking about.”
“Do they know I’m here at the Peabody?” Quinn asked.
“The manager informed me that an employee was let go this morning because he was overheard telephoning someone— probably a reporter—and telling them that Quinn Cortez spent the night in Annabelle Vanderley’s suite.”
“Goddamn son of a bitch!” Quinn pounded his fist on the table, clinking the silverware against the plates and sloshing his and Annabelle’s coffee out of the cups and over into the saucers.
“Cool down,” Griffin said. “Until you two are seen leaving the Peabody together, it’s only supposition. So, Quinn, when you do get ready to leave, either we’ll find a way to slip you out of here or you and I will go out together and Annabelle will stay safely behind.”
“I don’t care if the whole world knows that Quinn stayed here with me last night.” Annabelle dropped her fork, then reached across the table and covered Quinn’s fist with her hand.
Quinn stared at her, a sense of well-being flourishing inside him. He had never known anyone like Annabelle. No pretenses. No lies. No hidden agenda.
“If Annabelle doesn’t care, then I sure as hell don’t.” Quinn opened his fist, grabbed her hand and squeezed.
Griffin cleared his throat again. “Business first.”
Blushing, Annabelle slipped her hand out of Quinn’s. “Of course.”
“You said that you’ve already heard back from the profiler,” Quinn said. “That was quick, wasn’t it?”
“You get what you pay for and we paid dearly for him. Derek Lawrence is one of the best.” Griffin slipped his hand inside his coat pocket and pulled out a small notebook. “This is only a preliminary profile, of course, but it certainly gives us something to go on.”
“Where would you even begin to look for a serial killer?” Annabelle asked.
“We start with this profile,” Griffin replied. “Lawrence says our guy is nomadic. The word is self-explanatory. He or she isn’t stationary or territorial. He’s killed in Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee. Thirty-four percent of serial killers are nomadic. And our guy—or gal—is probably a mission killer. This person believes it’s his duty to eliminate a certain type of woman. In this case, a woman who sleeps with Quinn Cortez.”
“What are you saying?” Annabelle’s eyes widened. Surprise? Fear? “All the women Quinn slept with in the past have not been murdered. And he didn’t even know Kelley Fleming or whatever the woman’s real name was.”
“Just because he didn’t recognize Kelley Fleming doesn’t mean he didn’t know her,” Griffin said.
“If I knew her, I would have recognized her.” After speaking hurriedly, defending himself, Quinn considered the possibility that Griffin might be right. “But what if I knew her five or ten years ago and she’d changed so much that—”
“Save that supposition for when I present the scenarios that Jim and I came up with,” Griffin continued. “If all of these women, including Kelley, were Quinn’s lovers, then that’s why they were killed. Either by someone on a mission to eliminate the competition or to punish these women, thus he or she is a mission killer.”
“Why did the murders begin only in the past couple of years?” Annabelle asked. “Actually, except for Kelley, only in the past year?”
“Good question,” Griffin said. “If the murders began with Kelley and if we can figure out why she was the first, we’ll be one step closer to finding our killer.”
“The person we’re looking for is a nomadic, mission killer,” Quinn said. “What else?”
“The murders seem to be victim and method specific,” Griffin told them. “The victims were all Quinn’s lovers and the way in which they were killed—smothered with a pillow— is the same, as is the postmortem removal of the right index finger.”
“A nomadic, mission killer whose murders are both victim and method specific. What does this really tell us?” Annabelle shook her head as she spread her hands, palms up, in an exasperated manner.
“Lawrence said the person we’re looking for was probably abused as a kid, suffered severe emotional trauma and maybe physical abuse. Removing the right index finger of each victim could be symbolic of a female authority figure who pointed her index finger at him while chastising him. A mother, a teacher, a foster parent, a nun…”
“People who had shit childhoods number in the millions,” Quinn said. “And I’m one of those millions, as are some of my friends and employees. The Judge Harwood Brown Boys Ranch is filled with guys who came from very unstable home environments.”
“Since you mentioned the ranch, I’ll go ahead and toss out one of our scenarios,” Griffin said. “You’ve helped a lot of kids over the years, mostly boys from the ranch, but several troubled girls, too. Three former delinquents make up your personal entourage. What if one of the kids you came into contact with through your work for the ranch fixated on you for some reason and transferred his hatred of this female authority figure in his life onto your lovers.”
“You aren’t suggesting that Aaron or Jace might—”
“I’m not suggesting either of them is guilty of anything. But I would like your permission to dig around in their pasts. And put out some feelers about other alumni of the ranch.”
“Go ahead and dig,” Quinn said. “You’ll find that both of them—Jace and Aaron—were abused as kids. That doesn’t make either of them a killer.”
“No, it doesn’t. But they do travel with you and would know you
r itinerary. And that includes Marcy Sims.”
“Marcy? A female serial killer.” Quinn laughed. “Good God, Marcy wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Never underestimate the rage of a jealous woman,” Griffin said.
“I know what you’re suggesting and you’re way off base.” Quinn’s gaze connected with Annabelle’s inquisitive glare. “Marcy’s got a crush on me. She has for years, but there has never been anything romantic between us. For heaven’s sake, when I first met her, she was barely sixteen.”
“Once again, I’m not accusing anybody of anything, just presenting possibilities.” Griffin stood. “Are you going to Kendall Wells’s funeral?”
“Yes,” Quinn replied.
“The press will be there. And her family may not want you to attend.”
“Screw the press. As for Kendall’s family—who are we talking about anyway? Her ex-husband, some cousins, an elderly aunt. Kendall was an only child and her parents are both dead.”
“By not going to the funeral, you could avoid a possibly ugly scene,” Griffin said.
“Kendall was my friend and my lawyer, not just an old lover. The least I can do is go to her funeral.”
“If you’d like, I’ll go with you,” Annabelle said.
Griffin groaned. “The press will be there, lurking about, hoping for a scoop. You two are asking for trouble.”
Annabelle smiled at Quinn, then looked right at Griffin. “Together, Quinn and I can face anything.”
Griffin shrugged, then headed toward the door. He paused and glanced over his shoulder, spanning his gaze across the table from Quinn to Annabelle. “Love can’t conquer all, you know. You two can shut the world out today, but when tomorrow comes…Annabelle, I don’t think you should be alone. Our killer is apparently targeting Quinn’s lovers and that now includes you. I suggest you let me assign a guard for you whenever you aren’t with either Quinn or me.”
“You believe I’m in danger?” Annabelle asked.
“Griffin’s right,” Quinn said. “From now until we find this guy, you can’t be alone. When I can’t be with you, Griffin will be or one of his agents.”
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