On the sixteenth floor, Reed and Chandler were the only people to get off. The halls were deserted except for a few workmen setting up equipment and a few others seen painting in one of the offices. Reed knew that the entire floor was being remodeled for its new tenants, but he’d expected to see a few businesspeople. After all, the workmen could not remodel all the offices at the same time. Of course it was only about eight in the morning and businesses usually opened at nine or ten.
Reed stayed a third of the hall behind Gerry until the man entered a suite with the temporary FED logo sign on the door. Something about the scene niggled at his consciousness, but he couldn’t figure it out. He noted that most of the permanent office signs and logos had been removed. Strolling past the office, he was sorry that he’d promised Gerry he wouldn’t actually come in. He satisfied himself with the businesslike sounds of the conversation that reached him from the outside of the door.
Riding the elevator down, he decided to find the building’s coffee shop and to get coffee and breakfast sandwiches. He made a quick call to Marina to let her know, then found the coffee shop at the end of a confusing set of corridors.
Gerry sat on the couch in the empty outer office and tried to appear confident. FED’s office secretary wasn’t even in yet. He’d been on time, but his interviewer, a Ms. Lockwood, apparently wasn’t prepared. She’d come out of her office briefly, introduced herself, and offered him coffee.
Coffee made him antsy, but he’d still been nervous enough to drink half a cup. Now his stomach roiled. He hoped he wasn’t going to be sick. That would be a quick way to kill the interview and any chance he had of getting the job. He wished he’d taken the time to eat something. When his stomach moaned loudly he swallowed the rest of his coffee, hoping that would shut it up.
Ms. Lockwood’s office door opened and she motioned him in. The furniture wasn’t as nice as he’d been expecting, but he knew that the entire floor was going through a remodeling process and FED was only using the office in its present condition to interview potential staff members.
He couldn’t get over the feeling that he’d seen Ms. Lockwood somewhere before. Her dark hair and deep brown eyes would have been mousy on many women, but Ms. Lockwood was stunning. The body beneath her navy-blue suit was first-class, too. If this wasn’t the middle of a job interview and if he hadn’t sworn off women until the serial killer was caught, he’d be putting the moves on her.
She motioned him to a seat in the leather guest chair. “I can’t tell you how impressed we are with your résumé,” she said, settling into her own chair. “Give me some of the details of your assignments at GTC.”
Gerry wasn’t feeling very well. Nausea threatened to pull him from his chair and Ms. Lockwood sounded like she was speaking from the other end of a tunnel. He took a minute to collect his thoughts then told her about the analysis he’d done on the impact a proposed new subdivision would have on the water table, the assignment he had to make recommendations for the location for a new incineration center for the city, and the job he’d had consulting and helping Pellaco with a toxic waste cleanup.
Ms. Lockwood nodded encouragingly. “Any other projects?”
Waiting while someone in the kitchen made the breakfast sandwiches, Reed stood at the counter with the coffee he’d fixed for Marina and himself.
“New in the building or just visiting?” the gray-haired old man behind the counter in tired black pants and a worn white shirt asked pleasantly.
“Just visiting.” Reed smiled and prepared to make idle conversation. “I had to drop a friend off for a job interview and I’m waiting for him to finish.”
“Really? Which company?”
Reed thought twice before answering and revealing the company name but then he reasoned that a startup company would likely have several interviews going on. Giving the information wouldn’t necessarily highlight Gerry Chandler and put him in danger. “Federal Environmental Development, FED.”
The old man cocked his head to one side. “I never heard of them.”
Reed shrugged. “Me, either, but they’re a new company starting up in this building on the sixteenth floor.”
“We’ve got a lot of new businesses coming in since they started fixing up the place,” the old man said proudly. “Where’s the interview?”
Given their conversation, that was an odd question. “The sixteenth floor,” Reed answered, looking puzzled.
“The sixteenth floor?” The old man’s gray brows went up and he shot Reed an incredulous look. “I don’t think so! All the offices on that floor have been closed due to the remodeling. The building management didn’t want to take a chance on someone getting hurt and causing their insurance to go up.”
It was Reed’s turn to look surprised. His mind raced toward the inevitable conclusion. “No. Maybe they’re doing the interviews while other offices are being remodeled. I went up there with him, saw him go into the office, and heard him talking to someone. Are you sure all the offices on the sixteenth floor are closed?”
“I’ve got it here in black and white.” He showed Reed a memo that had been sent to the building’s occupants. Reed scanned it quickly.
To Whom It May Concern:
By order of the management, all offices on the building’s sixteenth floor will be closed for remodeling until further notice. We cannot be responsible for injury or damage to people, equipment, and furniture in the area while the remodeling effort proceeds, so please govern yourselves accordingly.
Sincerely,
The Management
The sheet of paper slid from Reed’s fingers and floated on the air as he shoved a hand into his pocket. Pulling out a crumpled twenty, he slammed it on the counter. “This is for the breakfast sandwiches and coffee, but I’m going to have to come back and get change later.”
“Sure. Somebody running a scam on your friend?” the old man called as Reed shot out of the coffee shop.
Reed was already sprinting down the hall. He wished that whatever was happening to Gerry Chandler was as simple as a scam. He could only hope he’d make it in time to save Gerry’s life.
Running up another corridor he missed a turn and had to double back. He was out of breath when he reached the elevators. There was no one waiting. He called Marina and quickly gave her the facts. Then he called for backup.
Reed gave the elevators another impatient glare. They hadn’t moved much while he’d been waiting. Deciding that he couldn’t afford to wait, he ran for the stairs exit.
Gerry sat slumped in the guest chair. He felt strange. His vision had doubled. A wave of nausea hit him. His last string of words had come out slurred. “I—I’m sick,” he muttered plaintively. The words that came out of his mouth bore no resemblance to those he’d formed in his mind.
“Not feeling well?” Ms. Lockwood asked, the sympathetic words not matching her tone of voice or the hardness in her eyes.
Gerry nodded, abruptly realizing that he was in trouble.
She opened the desk drawer and pulled out a wicked-looking knife with serrated edges.
Gerry tried to push back in his chair and get up, but couldn’t find the strength.
“You don’t remember me, but I remember you. I was one of the women caught in your sick little game. Didn’t you ever wonder how the women felt when you put that stuff in their drinks? Now you know.” She traced a blood-red manicured nail down the length of the knife. “I’m going to take good care of you Gerry. You won’t be able to move or call out, but you’ll be alert enough to feel everything I’m going to do to you.”
Standing, she walked around the edge of the desk to where he sat. “Don’t bother to get up.” She laughed.
Gerry whimpered as she spun his chair around and closed in, knife extended.
Chest burning, Reed reached the top of the steps for the sixteenth floor. He turned the knob and pulled open the door. Running past workmen busy removing fixtures near the stairs he headed to the suite where he’d left Gerry.
; He drew his gun and gently turned the knob. He carefully eased open the door. The outer office was empty except for a secretary’s desk and a couple of chairs. Reed stepped inside and closed the door.
He took a moment to acclimate himself and to listen for voices. The low murmur of someone talking pulled him in the direction of the first office. A woman was grunting. Reed paused. The sounds could have been those of someone having sex. Or someone stabbing another person, he decided, regrouping.
Reed pulled open the door. A dark-haired woman in a blue suit bent over Gerry with a bloody knife. Gerry’s eyes were open and unmoving. He appeared dazed or dead. Not dead, Reed amended. He saw the faint rise and fall of Gerry’s chest. Gerry’s blood covered the woman’s hands, his shirt, open pants and the leather chair.
Knife raised, the woman turned to face Reed with startled brown eyes.
“Put the knife down and move away from him,” Reed ordered, pointing his gun at her.
The woman hesitated. She stared down at the blade and back at Gerry.
Planting his feet, Reed tightened his finger on the trigger. “I’m going to tell you one more time, then I’m going to start shooting.”
“I’m the victim here.” The woman vented angrily. “He’s got to get what’s coming to him!”
Reed didn’t argue with her. He knew that she could still plunge the knife into Gerry’s chest and kill him. He prepared to shoot the knife out of her hand.
Shaking, the woman suddenly dropped the knife and backed away. She crouched against the opposite wall, crying.
He heard the sounds of the construction activity in the hall grow louder as the outer door opened and closed. He caught Marina’s scent in the air.
“It’s Marina, Reed,” she called. Then she was right behind him, filling the doorway. “I’ve got her covered if you want to see what you can do for Gerry.”
Nodding, Reed put his gun away and hurried over to Gerry. He checked the man’s neck for a pulse. It was still there, but weak. Several slashes and puncture wounds marred his chest and abdomen. Using Gerry’s shirt and jacket, he tried to stem the flow of blood. It was an impossible task. The man needed the skills of a surgeon. “Did you call for an ambulance?” he asked Marina.
“Yes, they should be here in the next ten minutes.”
Not really focusing on Reed’s face, Gerry talked. Reed couldn’t understand any of it. He seized the moment to Mirandize the woman huddled against the wall. Then asked, “What did you give him?”
Marina moved closer to her, repeating the question in a calm, no-nonsense tone.
The woman lifted her head, wiping away tears with her forearms. “Rohypnol. It’s what he gave me.”
Recognizing the name of one of the drugs used in date rape, Reed studied Gerry. The drug had incapacitated him and made it easy for this woman to nearly kill him.
“The drug should wear off in eight to twelve hours,” Marina said. “I’m more worried about those wounds. We’re lucky he hasn’t gone into shock.”
“He’s lucky,” Reed countered. “A few more minutes and she would have finished him off.”
Marina focused on the woman. “What’s your name?”
It took two tries to get an answer. Easing down until she was sitting on the floor, the woman raised her head and met Marina’s gaze with a mixture of fear and defiance. “Sandra Nichols.”
Checking for Gerry’s pulse once more, Reed thought the name sounded familiar. He saw a nearly imperceptible spark of recognition in Marina’s eyes, too. His best guess was that Sandra was on the list of the fraternity’s victims.
The outer door slammed open. “Police!” a breathless voice barked.
“We’re in the first office,” Reed yelled. “We have a stabbing victim and his attacker.”
Uniformed cops crowded into the room. Reed and Marina identified themselves.
Reed pointed to the woman who was now wringing her bloody hands. “When I opened the door to this office, she was hovering over him with that knife. I nearly had to shoot her to make her put it down. She says her name is Sandra Nichols. The victim is Gerry Chandler.”
Surrounding the woman, the officers handcuffed her.
“You two will have to come down to the station to file your report,” one of the officers said.
“We’ll be filing our report at the Twenty-fourth District Town Hall Station on Halstead. That’s where the task force office is located,” Reed said.
“Just make sure you do,” another officer instructed.
“Where is that ambulance?” Marina asked, casting Gerry a worried look.
He wasn’t moving and the amount of blood he’d lost seemed like more than anyone could lose and still live.
“They were waiting at the elevator with a stretcher when we ran up the stairs,” one of the officers explained. “This building is old and the elevators are slow. They couldn’t have made it up sixteen flights of steps with a stretcher.”
“Well we’ve got to get moving,” another officer said as he hustled Sandra toward the door.
The other produced a plastic bag and used an ink pen to maneuver the bloody knife into it. Then both officers left with their prisoner.
Hearing the outer door open once more, Reed called out their location and looked for the Emergency Medical Technicians. Two men hurried in with a stretcher and a couple of med packs. Reed and Marina moved out of the way and let them get to work.
“Will he live?” Marina asked as the EMTs loaded Gerry onto a stretcher.
The taller man spoke with the voice of experience. “Probably, but from what we can determine, he’s in serious condition. We’re taking him to Mercy Hospital.”
With the uniformed police and Gerry’s attacker already gone, Reed and Marina followed the EMTs out of the building.
They watched as Gerry was loaded into the ambulance and hooked up to their equipment. As the ambulance took off with its sirens blaring, Reed turned to face Marina and said, “I think we just caught our serial killer.”
CHAPTER 17
Good news traveled fast. The station was in an uproar with lots of congratulations for the task force. Spaulding had called to personally congratulate Marina, and Reed’s spirits were still high from his meeting with Captain Shepherd. They’d wanted to schedule a press conference, but Marina begged for time to check all the paperwork to make sure they hadn’t missed anything.
The pressure to perform and to produce was gone now that she’d demonstrated that she could get the job done without having Talbot supervise her every move. But now Marina felt a self-inflicted pressure or need to prove that they had caught the right killer. Sandra had tried to kill Gerry with a similar knife and in a manner similar to the other victims, but had she the motive and opportunity to kill the others? Marina wasn’t certain.
Seated at her desk, Marina paged through her files. Sandy Nichols’ name appeared in a couple of places. She had been in one of the Merriwhether Campus Crisis Support groups and in one sponsored by the Student Advocate Office. They hadn’t been looking for her since they’d cornered Elizabeth Hatcher who gave them Sherianne Gellus as the woman who had helped in the attack on Aubrey Russell years ago.
Marina felt that Hatcher had to have remembered Sandra Nichols. That fact made Marina wonder if the woman had deliberately lied.
She felt Reed’s gaze on her. They hadn’t said or done anything on a personal level in days, but she would always be sensitive to his moods and thoughts. She’d been trying to keep her thoughts and feelings for Reed out of the work needed to support the case against Sandra Nichols and the closing down of the task force.
Marina glanced up. There was a question in Reed’s eyes.
“What? What is it? What are you looking for?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I’m not sure. It’s just that this was too easy.”
Reed’s breath came out in a huff. “I don’t call all the work we’ve done easy. We’ve been busting our asses on this one,” Reed countered. “We even caught her in
the act. What more could you want?”
“I want to know why she killed all the others and I want to be sure she could actually have done it. I want to be sure no one helped her. Most of all, I want to be sure that none of the others is going to die because of the nasty crap they did in that fraternity.”
“I’ve been checking the files, too,” Reed admitted. “There’s no issue as far as motive and opportunity with the murder of Aubrey Russell. He’s one of the men accused of assaulting her. Other than the fact that Elliot and Colton were in the fraternity and were accused of doing the same thing to other women, there’s no connection.”
“Let’s go back over her statement to the police,” Marina suggested. “I was tired when I read through it the first time, but something about it doesn’t quite click. I’ve been meaning to read it again.”
A Serial Affair Page 15