“That won’t be necessary, Jack. I’m quite alright now. Let’s finish this. I’m not going anywhere.” He seemed truly stunned by her quick recovery and refused to release her arm. It wasn’t until she turned to look him in the eye that he seemed to understand that she meant every word she said. Smiling fondly, he released her arm and looked across at Matt.
“I think I understand now.”
Matt’s brow lifted in confusion. “Understand what?”
“Why you love her so much.” Turning back to Elizabeth, he said, “My dear you are truly remarkable. I have never met someone who could come face to face with horrors like these, especially when they themselves lived them, and still stand so strong. If you say you can continue, I will believe you, but be warned, the last room is most likely his bedroom.” His tone carried a sincere warning that seemed to imply he knew something she didn’t. Her forehead pinched as she cocked her head questioningly. Sensing her query, he continued, “Well, my dear, that room had only pictures of your original crime scene, and the scenes of the other four girls. He has committed three new double murders since then, not to mention that surveillance he has been conducting on you since, well, I think its probably fair to assume, since he found you alive and well at the academy. It is most likely that he has a shrine similar to what we just left, for his latest spree, and since the bedroom is the only room we haven’t seen so far, its also a safe bet that’s where we will find it. I hope you’re ready.” Matt’s gentle touch became firm. He tightened around her defensively as they moved together to the third door. Still ever the efficient cop, Matt drew his weapon before he swung the door open.
Chapter 46
After only a second, Matt realized two things, that the master bedroom was devoid of life, and that Arrons was correct on all points. The room across the landing had been disturbing, but this was out right revolting. The walls behind and to the sides were papered in images of the victims and scenes of the three double murders. To the left was the Kird murder. Images of them walking a small dog down a palm tree lined sidewalk, and having dinner through what was clearly their front window, were paired with images of them crying, bound and terrified in what he recognized too easily as the house on Sanders Avenue in the Hamptons. The right wall bore images of Pam and Carl, bound in their apartment. Of how he seemed to chronicle every day of their torturous ordeal, culminating in images of their chests, bare and carved while their faces were twisted in agony. Behind him, he had seen a few photos of the desk clerk and doorman, their faces distorted by pain, much the same as the the Lyski’s. But that wall only held his attention for the fraction of a second the other two had, seeing it only when he had scanned the room upon entry. The fourth wall was consuming his soul, eating away at his will to live. The last wall, directly across from the door and in full view of poor Elizabeth, who stood frozen beside him, was covered in images of her. Photos of her at the academy, in the park, in her apartment, even in the grocery store, stared back at him from around the full bed that seemed dwarfed by the mural of her life behind it. He had surrounded himself with images of her, of what she did in her most private moments.
Surprisingly enough, Elizabeth was not the source of the plea that rang out, but he, himself. She stood stoic and controlled beside him as he shattered inside. His eyes hung on the images of them at their desks, working away, beside the images of her relaxing on her sofa watching a movie. Unable to keep from scanning every photo, his eyes moved over the grotesque wallpaper until they collided with something he had prayed he would not find. A series of images of Liz, in her bed, indulging in the habit she had only recently admitted to him. As his eyes moved over the look of pleasure etched on her frozen face, and his stomach writhed within him. The prints themselves were placed right by the bed, eye level with the side baring the indent of repeated use. Unbidden flashes of the vile man looking at the pictures as he eased his own tension were more than Matt could bare. Rage coursed through his veins as his knees began to shake. He had seen war, seen crime scenes that were more fitting of a butcher shop window, seen murdered children, but this was more than his constitution could manage to withstand.
Turning, still holding her beside him, he rushed from the room. “Arrons, some of those pictures … is there anyway they can get lost? If they were to ever go public, Elizabeth’s life would be…well let’s just say it would make things worse.” He could barely speak, the anger coursing through him made his throat so tight that it hurt to breath. Elizabeth did not pull away, or make any move to resist him, as he lead her to the stairwell.
“You got it. Where are you two going?” Arrons was following reluctantly as he fumbled to remove his phone. Matt mused inwardly that the only one who seemed clam after opening the bedroom was Elizabeth. She had hardened her heart against the horrors she knew were coming, but they had been too preoccupied with worrying over her to do the same.
“The three of us are going to my apartment. If he isn’t here, he might be there.” Matt felt Elizabeth shift in his arms. She hadn’t thought of that. It stung him to think it. It had become the one place she felt at home and he wanted, more than anything, for it to remain that way, but he couldn’t pretend that Moreano was a fool. After he realized that she had collected a D.N.A. sample from him, he surely realized that everything she had said in his office was a lie. From there it seemed a short leap to the truth of their relationship. That would lead him right to their door.
“Why would he go to your apartment? Why not to the home of whomever Elizabeth has been staying with?” It was Liz’s voice that answered Jack’s questions. She chimed in before Matt could manage to. The tone of her voice, proud and confident, sent a ripple of pleasure through his strangled heart.
“Because that’s where I’ve been staying. I moved in with Matt when my apartment was defiled. His apartment is now our apartment and if Moreano is really looking to find me, that’s probably where he will head next.” Matt’s arm around her tightened.
“Alright, then that’s where we’re headed. Let me get the techs to meet us there with an electronics detector. If he isn’t there, those cameras might be. They should be here any minute, too. I’ll tell Sharon, my lead tech, to process the bedroom. She will remove the compromising images of Elizabeth for us. I trust her.” As Matt and Elizabeth descended the stairs, he looked over his shoulder at his friend.
“Thanks, Jack. You’ve been surprisingly understanding about all this, Liz and me, I mean. Most people would have taken it badly.” Matt meant every word. Most detectives didn’t care who you dated, so long as they didn’t feel like they were party to helping you cover it up. If you wanted to date a colleague so be it, but you didn’t let others know because they might be asked about it later. It would force them to choose between your friendship and their job. It was an awkward choice, but one that usually ended in a destroyed friendship.
Arrons chuckled slightly, “Oh, didn’t you know? No, I guess you wouldn’t, it was before your time. I married my first partner and she is still the best partner I have ever had. We worked well together, but when our twins were born she retired to be a mom. There’s not a day goes by I don’t wish she was working with me again. Don’t get me wrong, she’s an amazing mother, but I could think more clearly with her around. Things seemed to make more sense. I’m just glad to see it happen for someone else. No one will ever understand you better, boy, trust me.”
“Very true.” Matt held Liz a little closer, emboldened by his friend’s acceptance and support. Elizabeth seemed to be just as relieved as she allowed the tension in her arm to go slack, holding him more intimately than supportively now.
As they drew within a few steps of the first floor landing, the door to the condo swung open and several C.S.I.s, carrying large collection kits, filed in. The leader, presumably the Sharon he had mentioned, approached them. Matt nodded to her as he and Elizabeth maneuvered their way out of the unit, leaving Arrons to deliver his instructions. Once they were outside, in the cold breeze of the brisk autu
mn afternoon, Elizabeth leaned into his side a little deeper. “Do you really think he went to the apartment?” Matt couldn’t stand the fear in her voice. Unable to reassure her, he tucked her into him and bent over her. Resting his forehead against hers, he sighed. The sound drew her mouth and he fell into the kiss with the full force of all the pent up need he had managed to conceal throughout the day. Her mouth was sweet and soft and warm. Home. Sighing against her again, he whispered, “If he hasn’t, I say we call it a day. I could use a little R and R. This day off has been a bitch.” She laughed loudly before he silenced her with another kiss.
He was still reveling in her bottom lip when Arrons cleared his throat beside them. They broke apart quickly, both flushing with the embarrassment of being found in such a compromising embrace. It was one thing for him to give them his blessing, it was quite another to force him to watch them make-out in the middle of the sidewalk.
“You two are as bad as a couple of teenagers. Get in the car.” He barked teasingly. Matt and Elizabeth flashed each other a wicked smile before obeying. That wasn’t the first time they had behaved like teenagers in heat, and it was most likely not the last. “The techs are on their way. Considering traffic, they will beat us. I told them to get your super to let them in. Hope that’s okay with you two.” Matt nodded as he pulled his seat belt on. Arrons nodded in return and pulled out into traffic.
Matt had never been so nervous, no, he thought, that’s not entirely true. He sat remembering the night before and his request, almost never been as nervous. As he went over possible places for Moreano to hide a camera, his thoughts fell on Bucky. He worried over the little white puff ball for a second before he remembered his adept hiding skills. Thoughts of the dog drug his memory to the night Elizabeth was in the hospital. While the memory made him cringe, he realized that he should have known then that Moreano was not innocent in this. Bucky had tried to bite him, Moreano had said that much himself. Matt snickered. “Bucky knew this whole time, Liz.”
“Whose Bucky?” Jack seemed genuinely confused by the comment. They had ridden for nearly fifteen minutes in utter silence before Matt had broken the stillness with the left field comment.
“He tried to attack him in the hospital! I remember now! I should have known. He’s so smart.” Elizabeth snickered from the back seat and together they sat chuckling and shaking their heads.
“Who is Bucky?” Arrons asked again, more insistently this time.
“You’ll find out in a minute, we are nearly there.” Matt decided to leave it at that. He rather liked the idea that Arrons was at a loss, leaving he and Elizabeth to share in a private moment. As they pulled up in front of his building five minutes later, he spotted the familiar police vans parked along the street. Arrons’ department was nothing if not efficient. The three made their way into the elevator. After Matt pressed the button for the thirty-second floor, he and Elizabeth leaned lazily against the back wall, settling in. Arrons, on the other hand, stood nervously poised in front of the doors. “You might want to relax, Jack. This takes longer than the elevator in the Empire State Building.”
By the time it reached his floor, all three passengers in the elevator were laughing heartily, expending the nervous energy they had stored up like batteries during the intense ride over. The guard posted outside the door informed them that the scan was in process as they approached. Entering, they were told that there didn’t appear to be any signs of forced entry and that, aside from the dog that was now bouncing and barking around Matt and Liz’s feet, that they had not yet found anything in the apartment.
“Bucky, I assume?” Arrons was bending down to greet the dog as he asked. The dog sniffed his hand wearily at first, but after only a second, he was licking and bouncing around him as well. “Friendly little guy. I can see why him trying to bite Harvey was strange. How long have you had him?”
The question had been directed at Matt, but Elizabeth chimed in. “Since the Lyski murders. He was theirs. The only family they had was Pam’s sister who hates dogs, so I took him in.”
“The dog toys we processed! I should have remembered that, put two and two together.” He was standing, preparing to continue their conversation, when a technician approached him.
“Sir, we haven’t found anything yet. As far as I can tell, there’s nothing here. We will be finished in a few minutes with the scan. Do you want us to process the whole apartment for fingerprints?” Arrons shook his head and the investigator moved away to resume her work.
“Looks like wherever he went, this wasn’t on his itinerary. That’s a little good news, I guess.”
“No, not really.” Matt’s voice was solemn as he slid his hands deep into his pockets. Elizabeth could feel the tension welling up inside him. She knew what he was about to say before he said it, wondering if that was how it felt for him when he anticipated her thoughts so often. “I was hoping he was here, then this whole mess would be over. The fact that he hasn’t even been here is more disturbing than you think. He now has a good three hour head start on us, Jack. That’s more than this bastard needs to leave us behind forever.”
“He’s not going anywhere without me.” Elizabeth felt her confidence swell as she said the words. She turned to face the two stunned looks that suddenly focused on her. “You saw that wall. Before he found me again I was just one of his collection. I have since become an obsession. He can’t live without me now. He’s not going to run, at least not far, and he’s certainly not gone forever. He needs me too much.” Her voice was calm. She felt calm. Perfectly at ease. She was the hunter now, and it felt amazingly good for once to be in control. He hadn’t managed to penetrate her new sanctuary. He didn’t have his possessions or his resources. His anonymity was gone, too. He was running scared, and she loved it. “He will try to collect me again, and when he does, we’ll be ready.”
“Detectives, there’s messages on the machine. Do you want me to play them?” The three exchanged glances before nodding to the technician from a few moments earlier. She pressed the button and Elizabeth braced herself to hear the dark, harsh voice of the killer, but instead, the round high tones of Claire’s voice broke the tension filled silence. The relief, however, was short lived. Liz had braced herself for the wrong possibility and now found all her new courage falling away into despair.
Claire’s voice was frantic and frail, and she was crying, sobbing, into the phone. She left three messages, each one even more disturbing that the one before it. As Elizabeth listened, she felt the floor beneath her open wide, swallowing her whole. Apparently, Alex was supposed to meet her for an early movie but never showed and didn’t call. Claire had tried to call her, but got no answer on her phone or at her apartment. If it had been anyone else she might have blown it off and watched the movie alone, but not with Alex. Elizabeth’s oldest friend was beyond reliable and always answered her phone. When she got no response, Claire had done the busybody code book’s rule number one, and gone to investigate. According to the second message, she had arrived to find Alex’s door kicked in, her apartment ransacked, and Alex missing. She had called the police who were now swarming over the apartment like bees while she tried desperately to reach Liz. After several failed attempts at her apartment and her cell phone, she had called the station house. They had given her Matt’s contact information after hearing the nature of the emergency and thus the messages.
Her final message was pleading, begging Liz to come home and help, since she was “what the kidnapper wanted in the first place.” The last line of the third message swirled around her ears like flies, drowning out all other sounds, voices, or sensations. She slumped to the ground with a thud, too suddenly for either man to catch her. “He has Alex!” She exclaimed more to herself than the room. “No, no, no ,no….” Her voice trailed off into her tears as the reality of what had happened in the last three hours became clear. When he realized he was discovered, he had not come after her, but had gone after bait. He was still trying to be in control, and he was succeeding
. He hoped that her closest friend would lure her into his trap, and he was right. She would go. She had to. No one else would die for her, no one.
Before Matt’s hands could mange to grip her well enough to lift her, she jumped to her feet. He staggered back from her, having forgotten just how powerful her little body could be when the need arose. If this murderer wanted a face to face, she would give him one. Resolving to kill him once and for all, with her bare hands if need be, she turned coldly to the man she loved most in the world. “I’m going, Matt. I’m going to end this, today, once and for all. He dies. If you plan to argue with me you can stay here.” Her tone was harsh and cruel, though it didn’t seem to upset him. Surprisingly, he seemed to understand her perfectly.
As she turned to leave, he called after her, “I’m coming. You’re not doing this without me. I said I was with you, and I meant it.” She didn’t stop, but her back straightened and her shoulders squared, a new confidence spreading through her. She needed him and he had not disappointed her. As they left together, headed at a fast pace for the elevator, Arrons called after them. He was coming, too. Good, she thought coldly. Three on one wasn’t fair, but he didn’t deserve fair. He was going to get what he deserved. It ends tonight.
Chapter 47
Stuck in the chilly back seat of Arrons’ van as it rumbled over another bridge, Elizabeth had little more than silence as a companion. When the three colleagues had climbed into the van and set out, they had talked briefly of their trek to the Hamptons, deciding on a game plan and discussing who needed to be called, informed of the situation, what resources needed to be dispatched immediately, and who needed to be readied, just in case. It had been intense and fervent, but the conversation had been over now for nearly thirty minutes, and a roaring silence had fallen between them, filling the vehicle with a tangible tension that seemed to be strangling her. From where she sat, she could see Matt, though he couldn’t see her. Her eyes lingered on the side of his face. His profile was striking, the shadow of a day’s whisker growth accentuating the rugged, angular features of his jaw line, the glint of his blue eyes flashed as the dying light of the sun through the buildings lit through them. She couldn’t bring herself to appreciate his beauty though, not right now. His brows were pinched in anger and his mouth, his wonderful, strong, firm mouth, was turned down at the corners into a gruesome scowl. This new, fearsome, Matt sat behind the wheel, speeding through the traffic toward their destination.
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