"Wow, that's fast," Stacy said. "Let's see what we have to make the ID with. We may need a family member's DNA."
"Hopefully, it won't be necessary if we can grab dental records."
"I'm on it," Chad said from behind. Meg turned and realized she'd walked to the end of the room to stand in front of the map again. "Good. I think we might have dental records for one of these. I remember her case. Her parents come in regularly, bringing bits and pieces. We've called them once over a potential match. But it didn't turn out to be their daughter. I'll have to check." Stacy hung up without saying good bye.
Meg laughed as she handed the phone back to Chad. "She's as bad as I am."
"Yes she is. And that's a good thing." He was busy clicking away on his keyboard. She assumed he was helping Stacy on the case material. "Interesting."
"What?"
"Just a second." He wrote something down on a scratch pad, then clicked again, then wrote something else. She waited, staring at the pins. So many victims and these ones were just the blondes. So sad.
"Okay. Here we go." He got up and walked around his desk with notepad in hand. "Here is everyone's home address from the camping trip." He stopped opened a drawer and pulled out black pins. "Let's add this to the grid and see what we have."
Chad put in his, then Josh's and Bruce's addresses. Meg grabbed two more and put down Stephanie's address, then Cia's.
They all went to the same school so it made sense that they would be living close together. On the map, the pins made a strong visual effect. Once Chad had finished with the last ones, he stepped back and handed her a pin. "Now put in your old home."
With an inner tension radiating through her, and yet another glance at the clock hoping for some news on Janelle, she took a black pin, found her old family home and pinned it.
Hers was right in the middle of the cluster. She stared at it, wondering what it meant.
Then he defined it. "It all centers on you."
***
Meg stared blindly out of the window. Chad's office overlooked the parking lot. Rain filled the sky while tears filled her heart. It all centers on you.
These were hard words to hear and bear. The necklaces had already said she was involved in a big way, but seeing it visually on the map...
She couldn't get the image of her home crushed into the middle of the dots. She spun around, and picked up another black pin and placed it at the second place she'd lived at, then placed a third at Pete's condo where she'd been living over the last decade.
If anything, that put her even more in the center. She hadn't realized how close to home she'd stayed. And as she looked at it, how close to Cia. She'd instinctively stayed close to the problem and, it seemed, may have subconsciously chosen a boyfriend from the same group. If Pete was Pero, that is.
Would Pete have remembered her? She hadn't changed much – at least she hadn't been through a severe car accident. But as she hadn't known him back then it followed that he hadn't known her either, surely...
So they were two strangers who had a past connection which neither had remembered.
That theory worked for her but maybe only because she wanted it to work.
The worry, the tension coiling tighter inside, left her wanting to pace the room – or hit something. For the first time in years she felt the need to run, to run as hard and as fast as she could and wear out this pulsing fear.
"Are you okay?"
She spun around to face him and opened her mouth to blast him, when a voice at the doorway said, "Chad, the pizza is here."
She closed her eyes and waited for the voice of reason to cool down her temper enough to speak calmly. Chad walked past, and a strong warm hand landed on her shoulder for a gentle squeeze.
She focused on her deep breathing, trying to regain control. Then the aroma of pepperoni pizza filled the air and tears filled her eyes. God, he'd remembered. She hated all pizza but one...pepperoni.
And just like that, memories once again flooded her psyche. Evenings spent sitting on his parents' deck, cuddling while watching the rain, pizza and popcorn beside them. Early morning after a night of heavy lovemaking, swimming in the early dawn, their bodies still heated from passion so recently spent.
God, those had been the days.
She wanted them back.
That sense of freedom, of knowing you owned the world and your life was going to go the way you had planned it. The rash arrogance of believing the world was theirs to do with as they wished.
How wrong could she have been? She bowed her head. She wanted to feel young again, to feel loved, and to feel vibrant and full of life again. She had to think about all the years with Pete. Why had he stayed with her? Sure, they'd been good together, comfortable together, like a well-worn pair of shoes. You hated to get rid of them because you knew how hard it was to break in a new pair, even though you knew the old pair were bad for you. In the same way, she had stayed with Pete – he just wasn't bad enough to get rid of… yet.
And how sad was that?
Her relationship with Pete had slipped into old shoe category, comfy but just not exciting. It had taken her brother's death to make the changes she'd been unwilling to make before.
She bowed her head. Janelle. Dear God, please let her be safe.
***
Chad set the hot pizza down on an open spot on his desk. He went to say something lighthearted to help her get over this, when he saw her shoulders shake. Damn.
He walked up behind her, making sure she'd heard him and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and tugged her backwards against his chest and squeezed her gently. "Easy, sweetheart."
She caught back a sob, but her shoulders continued to shake.
"Shush. Easy." Chad turned her around gently and wrapped her into a gentle hug. She snuggled in closer and burrowed her face against his chest and bawled.
He held her close and waited out the storm, loving the feel of her in his arms again. But her inherent strength had taken on a new fragility that scared him. She'd had so many shocks. She had held it all together, almost in a cold way. Several of the guys had actually made comments about her demeanor. But he knew the real reason for the coolness. Control – Meg was all about control, because so much of her life had gone out of control and had stayed that way.
He rubbed her back gently, easing the tension from her spine. But no one could keep this much emotion locked down for so long. This release was good for her and for him. He rested his head on her check and held her close. A part of him wanted this moment to never end and another wanted it to stop immediately so that she wouldn't be in pain anymore.
Finally, the tears stopped flowing and her sobs quieted to the occasional hiccup.
"Feeling better?"
She leaned back slightly, and gave him a watery smile. "Yes, thank you. And slightly embarrassed."
Reluctantly, he let her step back. He reached out a hand and brushed her hair back off her face, then leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't be. You had to release this tension. You've been under horrible pressure for days."
"Make that weeks, months even." She stepped back, wiping her eyes gently. "Ever since my brother's death."
"And today has just finished it."
She sniffled, tears welling up again at the reminder. She took a big, gasping breath and asked, "Any news?"
He shook his head. "Not yet. But we will find her."
To take her mind off her missing niece, he said, "Let's eat while we have a moment. When the calls start coming in, it's going to become bedlam."
Her eyes brightened at the thought of calls coming in with news. She walked over to the pizza box and opened it and smiled. "How could you remember?" She picked up the biggest slice and took a bite.
"How could I forget? Or forget that you always took the biggest piece?"
She laughed. "That's because I eat so little; it's slightly fairer this way."
"Yep, the same twisted logic as the old Mags."
That bro
ught real humor and wonderful memories to her face. "Oh, I do remember those many arguments."
"Good. I hope you remember the many great times of making up as well." He smiled, pouring as much heat into his gaze as he could. She had to remember. They'd been thunder and lightning together, different, unique but perfect – a matched set. As they should always be.
She lifted her gaze and caught his. Her eyes widened and she almost gasped. Pink flushed across her cheeks and he'd never seen anything more charming or sexy. God, how he wanted her yet this was so not the time or the place. But he wanted it to be. He wanted to tear her clothes off and take her on the desk, like he'd done once in his home so long ago.
He swallowed. Then he swallowed again. He clenched his fists.
She took a step closer, her pizza forgotten in her hand. She swayed toward him.
"Damn," he whispered hoarsely. "I really suck at timing."
Her lips tilted. "You never used to have a problem in that area before."
He closed his eyes, willing them to another world where he could take her in his arms and remind her of what they'd had. What they could have again.
When he opened his eyes again, it was to find her standing before him with a warm loving smile on her lips. "As we can't feed one appetite, then I suggest we feed another one." With a smirk, she popped the pizza to his lips.
"Definitely not the same thing," he mumbled, his mouth full of hot deliciousness.
"Later," she said, with a sexy twinkle in her eyes. "Much later…"
And his heart swelled at her words. "Is that a promise?"
She laughed and shoved the pizza into his mouth. "We'll take it slowly and see."
"Not too slow," he mumbled around his mouthful, then swallowed. "You've got until the weekend."
CHAPTER 23
She gasped in shocked laughter. How typical of Chad. "I don't think so. That is so not going slow."
"Get used to it. I've given you fair warning." He eyed her pizza slice.
She leaned in to search his eyes, but moved her pizza further out of his reach. "You're not serious?"
He grinned, walked to the desk to snag a piece of pizza of his own. "I am so serious." He took a big bite. "We have a lot of time to make up for."
She gazed at him, her heart racing in shock and excitement. Chad had always been like this. Taken charge, been commanding and then so very caring.
"That gives us this week to wrap up our history and get started on our future."
And then his phone rang.
She raced over, excitement and fear rippling through her. Please let it be good news.
Chad answered, his gaze zeroing in on Meg's face, all the fun dropping from his expression. "What? Really? Yes. Thank you. We'll be there in..." he checked his cell phone for the time. "…twenty minutes."
He closed his phone, but held up a hand to stop her.
"What? What is it?" Inside her stomach was jumping in panic. "Please."
"It's not Janelle."
Her stomach bottomed out like a cement pillar in the ocean. "Then what is it?"
"It's Stephanie. She's in Emergency."
"Oh, God."
"They're working on her right now. They said we could see her in twenty minutes or so."
"Good. Let's eat first and then go."
***
The hospital screamed chaos as they entered. Meg stood at the front entranceway, hating having to even enter. There had to be dozens of people in there. Chad tugged her close, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "There's been a major pileup on the highway." He motioned through the crowd. "Let's go this way."
She followed blindly, hating the smell of fear and sorrow, panic and pain. God, one never forgot it. Her brother's accident had paralyzed her and in a small way she'd blamed the hospital. It had been so difficult to deal with the shock of his death, the harried nurses, the forms to fill out. Where was the person to hold her and tell her it would be all okay?
Oh wait, that had been her job for Janelle. Janelle had been at school and Meg had tried to get her to the hospital in time for her to say good-bye to her father. They hadn't made it.
If only they'd been called just that little bit earlier, if only the traffic had been just a little bit lighter...only God hadn't been so generous that night.
Chad reached a hand back and grabbed her hand, tugging her up behind him. "She's up here." He led her through to a long hallway that was almost graveyard quiet in comparison to the waiting room they'd just passed through. She could walk beside him now.
"Has she woken up?" Meg asked.
"She hadn't when I called before leaving. She has been stabilized though."
"Good. I'd hate to see her finally succeed in killing herself now that we're close to solving this hell."
He stopped at a large room with double doors. He peered into the window. "She's in here."
Meg looked in and saw rows of beds on either side of the room, green curtains partially concealing the occupants. Yeah, it was a typical hospital ward. He pushed the door open and walked down to the right bed. Stephanie lay quiet, asleep. Her breathing was calm and stable. A man sat beside the bedside. A man she didn't recognize.
"She's so pale." Chad said.
Her attention was drawn to Stephanie. She walked closer.
"But she's alive."
That voice. Meg lifted her head to study Stephanie's visitor. Then she recognized him. "Bruce?"
He stared at her blankly, and then a smile broke across his worried features. "Margaret?"
She smiled. "It's Meg these days." She studied his features. He'd been such a fun loving guy back then. He and Stephanie had big plans. Then, they all had.
Chad reached out and smacked Bruce on the shoulder. "Everyone's been trying to reach you. Where the hell have you been?"
Bruce snorted. "Trying to save Stephanie."
Meg turned her attention back to her old friend prone on the bed. In fact, she looked as white as the sheets around her. And her neck looked uncomfortably swollen. Tubes ran in and out of her arms and there was a stillness to her that had Meg wondering if she wasn't still standing with one foot in her grave.
"She's not going to wake up tonight." Bruce said.
"What happened?"
"God only knows. She was supposed to meet me for coffee but she called it off. Said she was going to meet someone else. I was pissed. But then I got a text from her – all garble and making no sense. Something about being scared." He sighed. "I'd followed her to see who she was meeting. Only she drove into a parking lot and sat there and waited for a long time, then took off. She drove downtown, parked and started walking. I followed. Then she went really freaky and ran away."
"Jesus." Chad said. "Any idea who she'd planned to meet?"
Bruce shook his head. "After she ran away, I spent hours, trying to find her. When I did, this is the shape she was in."
"She found her dealer then, I guess." Chad said staring down at Stephanie.
"I don't know that she did. I asked her to stop doing this to herself and she said she didn't do it." He frowned down at the silent woman. "Then, she passed out. She hasn't been awake since."
"What?" Chad exclaimed. "She didn't do this to herself?"
Bruce stared at him. "No. She didn't."
"Then who the hell did?"
***
A short while later, back out in the parking lot, Chad wrapped an arm around Meg's shoulders, wanting to tuck her into his damn pocket and keep her safe but this was so not possible.
"No news on Janelle?" Meg asked in a subdued tone.
He winced, pulled out his phone to check even though he'd just checked a few moments ago. "No. Not yet."
The barest of shivers rippled down her back. "Are you cold?" he asked.
"No. Scared. Bordering on panicked. I want her back safe and sound."
"If Pete has taken her, do you think he'd hurt her?"
She lowered her head, her hair hiding her expression. Speaking slowly, thoughtfully, sh
e said, "I wouldn't think so. But the Pete I know is not the killer we are hunting. If they are the same person, then obviously, the answer is…" she took a deep breath, "yes."
On cue, Chad's phone rang.
Meg stiffened, she turned to face him, hope…and fear warring across her face.
***
Meg didn't dare breathe. Please. Please. Please, let this be good news.
Chad said, "Really? Where?"
He glanced at his watch. "We can be there in just under an hour and a half." His gaze locked on Meg's, a question in his eyes.
"Yes," she said. "Have they found Janelle?"
He shook his head. "Just Pete's truck. And it's been hidden away."
"Wait." Her heart plummeted. "What if he doesn't have her? We can't leave here and find out someone else has taken her."
Chad hung up. "Do you want to stay here then?"
"No!" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I just wish it wasn't so far away."
"Everyone is out looking for her but if there is any chance that Pete has taken her, we need to find him. His truck was found in the bush a few miles from the campsite."
She gasped; her skin flushed with an iciness she knew wouldn't leave until she had Janelle back in her arms.
"What?" He grabbed her shoulders. "Do you know of another place he'd have stashed her?"
"Not really," she whispered, her mind racing. "He hunts and has spoken of having blinds at various places." She shook her head. "But why would he be a few miles into the bush?" Shudders wracked her body. "I can't stop thinking about the dumpsite."
"Think about this logically." He stared at the sky for a long moment, and then glanced back at her. "Whoever took her was someone she knew well enough to leave with. That someone had to have known where she was at the time, and even more important…that someone had to have known they could sign her out of school and not raise any suspicions in doing so." His gaze, caring and somber, rested on her. "What does your gut say?"
Killer Romances Page 148