She hated how powerless she felt, how trapped and alone.
As she sat on her bed, she wondered how long that creep had been watching her. She wracked her brain, trying to figure out what he could have seen or heard that could put her—or those girls—at even greater risk. She shuddered at the idea that he might have seen her having sex with Ryan, if it had come to that today.
Her mind drifted back to the video, and she felt tears sting her eyes at what had happened to those girls. She couldn’t let it continue. Martin Hays had to be stopped; she didn’t know how the unsub had gotten hold of that footage. It could be through P2P networks or they could be working together. She didn’t care, really; she just wanted Martin Hays in jail, where he belonged. She wished she knew if the FBI and the GBI had made any progress investigating him, or even if they had taken her tips seriously. Raquel had warned her that sending them the information without any hard evidence was not likely to trigger a full-blown investigation.
“Fuck.” She threw her pillow across the room, wishing she had taken up boxing or karate instead of yoga. She stalked into the kitchen and pulled an apple and some cheese out of the fridge. She wasn’t particularly hungry, though it was almost four. She’d been working for several hours straight, skipping lunch. She didn’t know what the fuck she was going to do, but she wasn’t spending one more damn second in her apartment. Snatching up her phone, she called Ryan.
“Helmer.”
“Ryan, I’m going for a run. I can’t stay cooped up in here.”
“Not by yourself.”
“I’ll get Raquel to come with me. She’s been helping Tavey, but she’s supposed to come back up.”
“All right.” His voice sounded grudging, and a little distracted, like there were people around him.
“Okay. Talk to you later.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, but just as she was about to hang up, he said something else. “Chris?”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful, please?” he said, echoing her parting words to him.
Chris felt a stab of guilt that left her breathless. She had every intention of being careful on her run, but that wasn’t what he was asking. He was asking her not to take any risks, and she couldn’t promise that, not without lying, so she deliberately misunderstood and sidestepped his questions.
“I’ll be with a cop. I’ll be just fine.”
She hung up quickly, not trusting herself to keep quiet. She wanted to tell him the truth, wanted to lay everything on his shoulders and just forget it all, but she couldn’t put what she wanted over the lives of those girls—she just couldn’t.
29
JOE HAD KNOWN that his Creator would need to tell the police to find the body, but he was curious whether she would reveal her bargain with him as well. If she did, she wouldn’t get any more information about those girls.
If she decided to tell, he needed another way to get her to come to the woods. He thought that a little insurance would be appropriate.
He scanned the circle with his binoculars, looking at the people who were walking through it. People had gathered around his Creator’s building, either standing around staring up at her windows or gossiping in small groups as they watched the police cars and TV cameras. He’d seen his Creator briefly in a news report online.
He followed their strings, tracing them with his eyes as they crisscrossed and intersected. The strings told him whom they loved, whom they hated, who had wronged them. He learned so much by watching the threads of people’s lives. He caught a brief flash of three bright gold strings, as gold as the string his Creator wore on her head, leading up to the yoga studio, and beyond. He focused in on three girls with blond hair who were walking arm in arm across the courtyard, but by the time he’d adjusted the binoculars, the strings had disappeared. They didn’t seem to have any strings at all, actually, though he knew he’d seen them just moments before.
“How interesting,” he whispered; he’d seen them before, but he hadn’t realized their relation to his Creator was so strong. They cared for her, he realized, and she cared for them.
“Very interesting,” he concluded, and followed them with his eyes until they disappeared into the building.
30
CHRIS WAS LYING. Ryan didn’t know how he knew she was lying, but he was certain of it. He’d just finished talking to the counter clerk at the gas station, who also happened to be the owner. The man had an interesting story to tell. Apparently a couple had pulled into the parking lot in a white commercial van, the logo for some company on the side.
The clerk hadn’t thought much of it, but then the woman had gotten out of the van and come into the store, asking to use the bathroom.
“She seemed scared, like a woman who lived in a constant state of fear. It spooked me. The guy lingered by the van, didn’t come inside, but kept his eyes trained on the store. Maybe they’re going to attack me, I think, but nothing happened. She went back to the van, where he was waiting for her by her door. He didn’t touch her, but she was very clearly afraid. Trembling. Then they drove away, very fast to the east.”
Ryan had questioned the man further, asking for a more detailed description, but the man had never come into the store and the clerk hadn’t seen him clearly.
“He was a man you would forget. He had on a gray uniform, I think, and a baseball cap on his head.”
“Why did you call the police?”
The owner, a Pakistani man with scars on both his cheeks, had held his hands out. “The girl. She reminded me of a woman I used to know. I was worried for her, so I called.”
With the owner’s permission, he took copies of the surveillance tapes for the store and the fuel islands.
He called Midaugh to update him.
“Yeah. I don’t know if this is our unsub, but it’s worth taking a look. There was a woman with him. So far she fits the description of Martha Cooper, but we’ll have to check the tapes. Here’s what’s weird, though, Midaugh. He wasn’t controlling her. She walked alone into the store and didn’t say a word to the clerk.”
“She had the opportunity?”
“She did.”
“Interesting. Maybe she left with him voluntarily.”
“Could be,” Ryan agreed, “but the owner said she seemed terrified.”
“All right, bring it in and we’ll add it to the information we have now.”
“I need to get back over to Fate. I have a weird feeling something’s going on with Chris.”
“Helmer, this is a solid lead. You need to get your ass in here and check out what’s on those surveillance tapes.”
“Fuck. I know.”
“She’ll be fine. Her friend the cop is with her, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So, what?”
“She knows something, I think.”
“Well, come in and we’ll check the remote connection to her computers, see if he’s contacted her in any way.”
It was as good an option as any at the moment, but Ryan had every intention of visiting Chris tonight, just to make sure she didn’t do something stupid. He wouldn’t put anything past her, especially after that taunt she’d sent out to the unsub.
He drove to Rome with his flashing lights on, wanting to check the video as quickly as possible and get back to Fate.
CHRIS MET RAQUEL downstairs in the lobby, next to the side entrance to Dog.
“Everything all good in there?” she asked, not wanting to go in and see Betty. She was guaranteed to ask about the handsome man, and Chris just wasn’t in the mood to talk about it, not with thoughts of Martin Hays and the location of that little girl’s body.
“Yeah, the girl’s all bandaged up. Tavey sent her home and now she’s helping to squeeze dog butts and clip hair. I swear, I don’t know how Tavey manages the store, the dogs, and Once Was Lost.”
“Tavey
likes being busy.” Chris understood that all too well. Raquel stayed busy as well, but she was better at relaxing when she wasn’t at work. Chris’s work never left her.
“She called one of the deputies to push back the reporters as well.”
Chris walked to the long, narrow window in the lobby and looked out at the circle, where a few reporters were gathered. One of the county deputies who worked in the office in the circle had pulled his patrol car up and parked it in front of Dog, keeping the reporters back from the patrons.
“Think we can get out of here without being spotted?”
“Beats me, sugar, but we’ll go out the back.”
Chris shrugged. The way she felt, she was likely to deck anyone who gave her any shit, but she’d rather avoid them if possible.
They exited the back door and immediately broke into a fast jog, heading away from the circle and the center of town. They crossed several blocks and took a right up a hill that led into one of the small neighborhoods on the outside of the town proper where Raquel lived in a small 1940s ranch that had belonged to her grandmother.
Clouds covered the sky, but there wasn’t supposed to be any rain. A light breeze shook the orange-red leaves that remained on the trees and the air smelled of fires, of damp earth and the coming winter.
Even without rain, the hill was not an easy climb. Surrounded by trees on both sides, it rose at a steep incline that tested the women’s thighs and left them breathless when they finally reached the top.
They paused to stretch on the corner, ignoring the occasional honk from passing drivers. The view into town was fragmented by branches, but Chris could make out the circle and the buildings surrounding it.
Chris didn’t think she was acting strangely, but when they finally started moving again, jogging on the tree-lined streets in one of the old neighborhoods, Raquel asked Chris if something was bothering her.
“Bothering me?” Chris tried to play it off like it was a ridiculous question.
“Okay, that was a pretty stupid question. Is anything else bothering you?”
Chris wasn’t sure what to do, that was the problem. She had the location of one body, she was sure of it, but if she told anyone how she knew about it, the Feds would be on her ass about her contact with the unsub. If she told them about the meeting, figured out a way to get them to capture the asshole, odds were she’d lose any information the unsub had about the missing girls.
Still, the odds were good that she’d end up dead if she didn’t tell anyone . . . and the girls would still be missing.
“If I told you something, would you look into it without asking how I found out?”
Raquel stopped jogging, putting a hand on Chris’s arm to stop her as well.
“Girl, what do you know?”
Chris swallowed. “The location of one of the missing girls in the Martin Hays case, I think. Her body, anyway.”
“Shit, Chris. What the fuck? Why haven’t you told anyone?”
Chris didn’t want to answer that, not even a little bit, but Raquel knew Chris well enough to figure it out on her own. “The killer told you, didn’t he? The one who’s obsessed with you?”
Chris nodded.
“You have to tell the FBI.”
“I know.”
“Chris, I don’t get it, why wouldn’t you say anything?”
“He knows where the rest are. He has evidence of what Hays did to them.”
Raquel fell silent and started walking. After a moment Chris joined her.
“I get it. You think that if you tell the Feds, he’ll stop communicating and you’ll never find out where the rest are.”
Chris knew he would, but that was only part of it. But Chris was willing to go with that for now. What Raquel had guessed was reason enough.
“You know if we can find one body, there will be evidence tying the murder to Hays. We’ll find the rest. Have a little faith.”
Chris had seen too many people go missing, leaving too little evidence to track them down, to have much faith in anything, but she knew Raquel was right, knew that she couldn’t let that little girl’s family suffer anymore when there was something she could do to stop it.
“I’ll call Ryan when I get back.” She hadn’t wanted to carry her phone.
“Tell me his number and I’ll call him.” Raquel never went anywhere without hers. It was in the pocket of her jacket.
“I don’t know his number by heart.”
“We can call the FBI office.”
“It’ll take a while to get to him, then.”
“Let’s head back now.”
Chris nodded and they turned back, walking down the hill rather than killing their knees trying to jog.
They were spotted by a reporter the moment they arrived back at her building. Raquel held them off while Chris used her key to unlock the door to the lobby.
She stepped inside, nearly tripping over something that had been left there. She looked down and froze, her hand going to her mouth.
She could barely stifle her scream, though there was no one to hear her.
At her feet lay the body of a Chihuahua. It looked frozen, its little legs sticking out, its poor head nearly severed from its neck.
She backed away, only to have Raquel run into her from behind.
“Chris, what’s— Oh, fuck.”
Chris managed to choke out a response as she turned her head, wishing she could unsee the poor creature’s lifeless body. “I think it’s Martha’s.”
“Who’s Martha?”
“One of the missing women. The Boyfriend.”
“Okay. Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. You stay here, just come over here and sit on the stairs. Don’t look at the body.”
Raquel pulled out her weapon and her phone at the same time, calling in what had happened, advising the operator that the crime scene was part of an ongoing investigation headed by the FBI.
When she hung up, she immediately called Tavey.
“Betty, put me on with Tavey. It’s Raquel.”
“We have a situation in the lobby. Someone killed a dog and left it for Chris to find.”
Chris heard Tavey’s curse from where she was sitting.
“Yeah, I’ve called it in. Can you keep everyone away from the side door for now? . . . All right, thanks. . . . She’s fine. Shaken up. I’m taking her upstairs. . . . Yeah, I think yoga class is canceled tonight.”
She hung up and turned to Chris. “Come on.” She urged Chris to stand and had her follow her up the stairs, pausing at each landing to point her weapon and check to see if the coast was clear. Chris followed numbly, not worried that anyone was lurking on the stairs. He wanted her to take him to the place in the woods, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to kill her. Not yet, anyway.
When they reached her door, Raquel entered first so she could do a sweep. Chris waited on the landing until she came back.
“Okay, we’re good.”
She put her arm around Chris and escorted her into the room.
“Raquel, I’m not an invalid.”
“I know, honey.”
Chris sighed, shaking her head. “The poor dog.”
“I know. We’re going to find the guy. I promise.”
Chris nodded. “I know.”
Raquel deposited Chris on the couch and immediately called her supervisor at the Atlanta PD, letting him know that they’d gotten an anonymous tip about a body in the woods. Chris thought that the Boyfriend would allow that much; how else was she going to find the body? He wanted it kept a secret that she’d agreed to meet with him, that’s all.
Raquel turned to Chris. “What’s the GPS location he sent you?”
Chris hesitated, wondering about the risks involved in sharing this information.
“I wrote it down. It’s on a piece of paper on my
keyboard.”
Raquel disappeared into Chris’s bedroom to look for it. While she was gone, Chris pulled her cell phone out of her purse, which she’d left on the coffee table. She checked her phone log—ten missed calls. She guessed Ryan had gotten the message.
She pressed the button to call him back.
“Chris. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Not hurt.”
“Is Raquel with you?”
“She is; she’s on the phone with Atlanta PD.”
“Okay, I need to—”
“Before you hang up, you should know that Raquel is giving GPS coordinates to the agent in charge on a case involving girls who’ve gone missing in the Atlanta area.”
Ryan took that in for a moment and then the questions started. “What GPS coordinates? What does that have to do with our unsub or the dead dog?”
But before Chris could answer, he seemed to figure it out. “He sent you a message?”
“Yes.”
“Something you wanted?”
“Yes. The location of a missing girl, but I’m betting it’s her body.”
“Great. So he, what? Saw what you were investigating and decided to help you out?”
“Uh-huh.”
“So what did he want in return?”
“I’m not sure exactly,” she hedged.
“What do you mean, you’re not sure exactly? And why didn’t we see this conversation on our remote connection to your computers?” His voice sounded muffled, as if he’d turned away from the phone.
Chris chose to answer the second question only. “I don’t know. Ask Sandeep.”
“I am asking Sandeep,” he clarified. “He says he’s looking into it.”
“Well, now you know as much as I do.”
“I doubt that.” He sounded really suspicious.
“Come over tonight and ask me in person. Maybe there’s some details I missed.”
“You bet your ass I’m coming over. And you better be ready to share every tiny detail with me,” he snarled, and hung up.
Strings of Fate (Mistresses of Fate) Page 18