by Paris Morgan
“Do you think she’s going to strike again in such a small town?” I couldn’t help wondering what her agenda would be if she did that.
“She’s going to have a hard time getting around if she’s still here. Unfortunately, I would suggest we wait until the morning, although that may mean another dead body. Right now, we don’t have a lot to go on, and we’re hours closer to her location if she shows up again.”
Ryan and I both nodded in agreement.
“We know who, what, and how. We’re missing the why and where to this equation,” Agent Chip quipped.
“Ah, a jokester. It makes sense why you’re up here in Wyoming. They had to put you and your humor somewhere they didn’t have to hear it all the time,” I snickered behind my hand.
“I heard that, and no they didn’t put me here. I requested it to be closer to my parents who were having some medical issues.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I could feel the heat rush to my face. “I don’t where that came from.”
He waved away my concern. “You’re not the first to make jokes about my humor. I had to find some way to deal with all the jokes about my name, so I took the offensive and made the jokes about my name first.”
“Jokes about your name? No one would ever do that, right?”
“Sure, and kids aren’t evil or mean, right? Hey, are you still chipping away at that? Or, well, when the chips are down, make sure you have him by your side.”
I couldn’t help it, and burst out laughing.
“Nope, it’s all good. Get it out of your system.”
I was laughing so hard that tears had started streaming down my face.
When I could get my breath, I started to apologize again as everyone else stared.
“Hey, I’ve learned laughter is sometimes the only way to lessen stress, but in a healthier way.”
Adam chimed in, “This job is tough enough to see the kinds of things we see on a regular basis, and this is a good outlet.”
“If you’re not offended, then I’m going to get out of here before something else comes out of my mouth that I have to apologize for. I think seeing that horrible mess today has thrown me off.”
“I completely understand. There’s a good diner just down the street with the best local cuisine,” Chip offered.
“Thank you. We’ll check it out, but make sure to call us if anything comes across the scanners.” Adam ushered us out of the room.
“Leslie, you’re holding it all inside. You have those shields that you’ve put up tightly, holding it all inside. And while really strong, they won’t stand up when something hits that you’re not expecting.”
We walked down the street, just as the sun started to set.
“Are you worried that I’m cracking up?” I hurried to reassure him, “I started dating again, so there’s no worries there. I’m perfectly fine.”
Ryan gave me a look. “Perfectly fine people don’t generally start laughing a short while after trying not to puke at a gruesome crime scene.”
“Have you thought about using one of our shrinks to talk some stuff out? They have clearance, so you can talk to them about cases or anything you need to work through,” Adam suggested thoughtfully as he held open the door to the restaurant.
“No, I’m good. A shrink just talks you to death and doesn’t really help.” I shrugged off the thought because that would mean I had a problem which required me to fix.
“Just keep the idea in mind. It’s always there in case you need help or simply want to talk something through with someone that isn’t us.”
“I’ve got Flora for that, but thanks.”
“It might be a good idea for both of us to talk to someone while we’re dealing with this case,” Ryan replied.
“That’s just another way for the Zodiac Master to know what we’re thinking, by spilling our guts to some person we don’t know. Right now, I want to keep things close to the vest so things aren’t out there in the universe to bite our butts.” I took a booth near the window so we could watch the local town residents in their natural habitat.
“She’s right.” Ryan backed me up. “We’re all on edge and tired. She’ll feel okay in the morning.”
It was curious as to why Ryan had agreed with me so quickly. It might mean that we actually needed to talk to someone.
***
Chapter 10
Mary Ann
I’d seen the FBI arrive because I was next door to my latest victim. When I had finished chopping him up, I realized that I was in serious trouble. My emotions had gotten the best of me, and I’d taken it out on a fairly innocent man. Granted, he’d been the first one that I could find with the right birthday in such a small town, but he’d had no idea I was coming for him.
Covered in blood, I’d washed most of it off in the back yard with the hose, but there was nowhere to change that wasn’t going get me caught. I’d heard the story of how the Aries killer had messed up and been taken out personally. The Zodiac Master had warned me that if I didn’t stick to the plan, or managed to get caught, I wouldn’t live to tell about it.
Somehow, I really wanted to live long enough to take out the one person who had started me on this journey. I could accept anything that happened if Galen was made to pay for his actions. In fact, I would welcome death if it would help me find some peace, but first I had to stay ahead of the police.
It had been kind of fun to wake up and see the house next door filled with police. I’d been in a fogged state when I’d killed the poor man next door. He had listened to my story about needing to use the phone and let me inside. Big mistake on his part.
I’d rewarded his good deed by taking all of my anger out on him. With that much blood on me, the only thing I could do was use the water hose to wash off as much as I could. Somehow, I’d ended up next door, asleep in the neighbor’s house with my truck in their empty garage.
No one had reported an intruder in their home, but it was only a matter of time before someone mentioned seeing lights on in a house where no one was supposed to be home.
Darkness would cover my trail out of town, but I was afraid that my time was running out. I needed to come up with a plan to get Galen back to his home.
Another murder should do the trick, and I had one on my list in the next city, which was only a few hours away. I’d have to have a better getaway plan because with the FBI this close, they’d be there almost before I finished killing the man.
My truck would get me out of town, but I’d have to find a new ride before completing my next murder. I couldn’t get too far behind because I wasn’t ready to face the consequences yet.
***
FBI – Dallas Office – Galen
Agent Watson had gotten me a pass that gave me low-level access to most of the databases at the FBI. When I’d walked out with Adam, he made it known that he was certain there was a mole in the team who needed to be ferreted out.
I figured it would be a good idea to get caught up on what each case had been about. Plus, it would let me poke around on my own without alerting anyone that we were checking up on them.
Agent Scott was supposed to help in whatever way to find all of the stuff that I needed or get it for me. That was a perk of having been a well-loved agent before jumping into retirement.
It took an hour or so to get me connected to the system and tapped into all of the files. Once I got started, I found the information fascinating. I hadn’t realized how much I missed working with active cases, and working up a profile from facts that other agents completely dismissed.
My brain worked in an unusual way when I read documents. It would highlight certain words or phrases, pointing out things that made absolutely no sense. Then, once I’d put down all the words, I’d study them, letting them float in my brain until the decoded themselves.
Aquarius held the beginning pieces, and while Noah Preston stood out, he was just a small part of the overall puzzle.
Pisces brought to the front the deep desire to uncove
r the Urban Energy group.
Aries had been up close and personal for both of them, and engaged the Zodiac Master.
Taurus had turned things around and brought out a group killer. Those weren’t the norm, and suggested another piece in the puzzle.
Gemini had personally challenged Leslie, but Ryan had been left out of the equation.
My conclusions were that Ryan had more contact with the Zodiac Master than he had let on, and didn’t want to burden his teammates. There’d been mention of a Kevin, but he’d disappeared out of the files after Taurus was over. If I’d had my own office, I’d have put individual words on the wall.
Their Zodiac Master was willing to go against the norms to keep these detectives engaged by any means necessary. His name went in the middle of my page, and finally brought me to the current month—Cancer.
Withdrawing myself from the mix was more difficult because I knew the information backward and forward.
Mary Ann passed herself off as a fairly normal person who wanted romance, and someone to spend her life with. But once she found you, she didn’t want to let you go.
Her clinginess could be contributed to abandonment issues from her childhood, or some other trauma that made her want to keep people she loved close. While she had wanted to be entwined in my life, she’d never really opened up to tell me much about her past. In the last few weeks, as I realized that I’d become the hunted, I’d done a little digging myself to become more acquainted with her.
As a small child, her mother had died in a car accident, leaving her to live with her father. He’d brought numerous women into her life, trying to replace her mother. Then, at about the age of twelve, just when she needed her dad the most, he’d left her at her grandparents for the weekend and never came back.
I’d tried to track down her father, but he’d simply vanished. I had to wonder if she’d managed to find him when he got older and taken him out. She’d mentioned that she had bouts of anger, which would lead to throwing things. Thankfully, she had warned me about those, and I’d stayed away when she got upset.
From what I’d gathered, she’d never been in therapy or counseling, which could have made a difference in how her life could have turned out.
Her anger was fueling her, and I had a good idea where she would go next. Wyoming held a few entanglements, but Washington was where more of the lumber communities gathered to work or engage in fun.
There were three places that she might head to, but Adam was going to see what the local police had before they jumped onto another plane.
It was time to take a walk through the building and see what I could gather from the team and their auras before calling it a day.
***
The next morning, I’d barely made it through the doors when one of the receptionists tracked me down. “Agent Dalca, there’s a phone call for you.”
“Did they say who it was?”
“A Flora Martin was wanting to speak to either Detective Boxe or Fox. When I told her they weren’t available, she asked to speak to you.”
“That’s strange.” He frowned. “I’ll take it over here.”
“Yes, sir.”
“This is Agent Dalca, how may I help you?”
“Adam, I’ve been told that you’re a member of a special club. I tried to get the information to Leslie and Ryan, but it seems their phones are out of service, or they’ve already been compromised.”
“Flora, we haven’t had the pleasure yet. I’m Adam’s brother, Galen. They should be safe at the moment because they’re driving somewhere in Wyoming to where the killer struck again.”
“I have a special message for them. She’s going to be in an isolated cabin, but if they approach from the front, she’ll hear them and kill her hostage. They need to park farther back and walk up from the back of the building. Several of their killers have been unhinged, but this lady is a whole new kind of crazy.”
“Thank you. I’ll make sure they get this as soon as they can.”
“Leslie’s spirit is completely closed off now, and I can’t send her this thought. I guess I was starting to rely on her skills, and with them out of commission, it seems like we’ve gone back to the dark ages.” Flora gave a light laugh that sounded like a ray of sunshine to me.
“Adam said she had such a promising start. I’m not sure what happened. It’s like she burned out, but her aura doesn’t say that at all. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.”
“Do you think that she’ll be able to use it again?” Flora sounded doubtful.
“With her shields closed, it’ll take some time before she can work on getting them down again. After dealing with her past, it was the only way for her brain to deal with the trauma. She used a lot of strength to take down that last killer, and it will just take a little time for her to work through it,” I assured her. And yes, in answer to your question, she’s the only thing standing in her way. Until she decides its time, those shields will be up, and then in an emergency, she’s going to drop them suddenly, which will cause a major sensory overload.”
“Crap, I was afraid that might happen. Now that we’re friends, it’s harder to see her future. I get visions about this case, but not about her personally right now.”
“Thank you for helping her. I’ll keep an eye on her, so maybe it won’t come to that. Adam needs her on our team. If she can work past the block, then she’ll be a huge asset.”
“My main concern is that she’s safe.”
“I agree completely. She seemed like a very unique individual when I met her, as do you. I hope that we can meet in person at some point. Maybe Adam can talk you into working for the FBI’s special division.”
“Sorry, Agent Dalca, I have other obligations. We’ll meet when the time is right. Just take care of her for me.”
A dial tone signaled the end of the conversation, but I smiled to myself. “One day we’ll meet, Flora Martin, and it should be interesting to see how our connections interact in person.”
***
After hearing the warning from Flora, I knew the only way we were going to have a chance to catch Mary Ann was if I used myself as bait.
I’d analyzed the data the team had been working on, and came to a few conclusions about where they could change perspective to get a little closer to their long-term goal.
The information that Adam had sent out to the main Unusual Crime Team was trickling in, and so far, the two guys were completely clean. They were still doing checks on a few other things before we marked them off the list.
Now, it was time for me to go back to where it all started, and let Mary Ann come to me. I’d let Adam know when I got to the airport, because while I really wanted to take her down, I wasn’t actually going to put my life in jeopardy.
Chapter 11
Galen
The cabin in the woods that Flora had seen was mine. I arrived from the airport and immediately drove straight there, only taking the time to call Adam as I headed up the mountain.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Flora had a vision. Don’t approach the house from the front because she’ll kill the hostage. What she didn’t know was that I’m the hostage in the cabin. I’m headed there now. I have no idea when Mary Ann will show up, but she will be there. It’s the only way we can catch her.”
“I wondered why I could sense you again. I’ll let them know, and don’t take stupid chances.”
“It’s not stupid if it saves lives. We both know that she’s only going to come if I’m physically there. I’m the one she’s after, and if it will save more men from her terrible crusade, then I’m willing to do it.” I held the phone to my ear as my truck rattled over the dirt roads up to my cabin.
“We’ll be there,” he promised.
“I sent you a text with the coordinates so you can find it.” I hung up and muttered, “I sure hope so.”
Everything looked just as I left it.
With a sigh, I dialed her number. All the information on file sai
d this was her most current phone number, and I could only hope that she answered.
“Hello, Galen. I see you’ve made it back home. Are you ready to stay there and face the music?” she cackled in my ear.
“Not really, but I have to stop the deaths from occurring. I’m willing to take what you’re dishing out with no tricks,” I informed her.
“That’s good, because I’m right behind you.”
The door opened, and the prongs of a taser shot out from her hands.
“Well, that will hold you for a while. I need to get things ready.” She stopped and grabbed my arm, dragging me across the floor. “Wait, I don’t have to hide anymore. Everyone knows it was me, but I’d hate to get blood on this gorgeous floor.” She took a pair of handcuffs out of her back pocket and put them around my wrists.
My body was still spasming from the taser, but I didn’t try to resist when they clicked shut.
“Are these the cuffs I used to use when we dated?”
Ignoring me, she left me lying there on the floor and walked around, spreading out a tarp.
“Mary Ann, how on earth did you know I was back before I called you?”
“I put a tracker on your truck. It dawned on me that you must have run to your family for protection, and it was the closest airport. Your truck was sitting in the long-term parking. It wasn’t a hard guess,” she smirked, rolling my body onto the tarp.
“I’m a profiler, and I wouldn’t have thought of that.” I tried to get a little more comfortable, but it was hard when I was handcuffed and exhausted.
“Ha, you never gave me much credit in the brains department, but he did.”