“Our supervisor filled us in on the details of this case. You just tell us what you want us to do.” Donahue’s stocky build and crew-cut reminded Matt of his drill sergeant when he was in the Marines.
Matt checked his watched. Only twenty-five minutes had passed since he’d left Erin, but it felt like much longer. “I can handle this if the two of you wouldn’t mind heading back to the hotel.”
The partners exchanged glances, but it was Walker who spoke. “We’re more than happy to talk to the suspect if you’d like to go be with Ms. Prescott.”
Damn. Matt didn’t have to guess how much Jacob had shared with their supervisor. “Thanks, but since you’re here more often than I am, you know this city better than I do. She’ll be in good hands with the two of you.” He didn’t add ‘in case something happens’ because his mind wouldn’t allow it.
Nothing was going to happen to Erin. She was safely tucked away. Stuart couldn’t get to her. He continued the self-talk into the ICU.
The man lying on the white cotton sheets didn’t look like a career criminal with a rap sheet as long as a butcher’s table, but when his glazed eyes fixed on Matt’s face, they revealed the truth.
“Arlin Murphy, I’d like to ask you a few questions.” No sympathy. Matt wouldn’t give the man what he didn’t earn. He’d put himself in this position. “Where did you last see your cellmate, Stuart O’Malley?”
The man’s bony arm twitched, and his eyes rolled back. For a moment, Matt thought he’d lost his chance, but Murphy croaked out a response.
“Off the interstate.” Each word came out on a labored breath. “Some back road. Bastard shot me. Doc says I’m lucky to be alive.”
Matt didn’t know that he’d call it luck. “Does he know where his sister is?”
“In Charleston. Coffee shop.” Murphy coughed and sputtered then groaned.
“What about Billy Chambers?” Matt had to wonder why the man was being so cooperative, but he wasn’t about to ask.
Another cough followed a giggle. “He’s with Erin.” He wheezed and managed a slight shake of his head. “Shouldn’t have left her.”
Blood running cold, Matt stared down at the man’s bandaged head. Impossible. Erin was safe. Protected. Chambers couldn’t get past the police and had no way of knowing what hotel she was in. Could be the morphine talking.
“Do you remember the car? What’s Stuart driving, Murphy?”
“Shouldn’t worry about the car, Agent Man.” The bravado was fading from his voice. “Pretty little thing is gonna die tonight. That’s the plan.”
“What plan? Is it Stuart’s plan or yours?”
The next giggle was weaker. “Bye-bye, pretty little Erin. Whichever way the wind blows.”
The slurring words had Matt leaning in closer. “What does that mean?” His fingers itched to snag hold of the checkered gown the man wore and haul him up off the mattress.
When silence followed, Matt held his hand up over Murphy’s mouth, cursing when he felt only the faintest of breaths escaping the convict’s thin lips. He’d get no more information out of him.
The monitor began a steady beep, and someone swept the curtain back. Matt got shoved back to make room for the staff as they worked feverishly to save the life of a man who thought nothing about taking another life.
He didn’t bother watching. He’d seen enough death to recognize when it was looming around the corner. A doctor called time of death before he reached the double doors.
The line in the hotel room went unanswered, forcing Matt to contact the Columbia field office to be patched through to Agent Walker’s cell phone.
“Walker.” The agent’s gruff voice brought a measure of relief.
“It’s Giles. Have you made it to the hotel yet?”
“Negative. Stuck in traffic.”
Heart accelerating, Matt increased his pace to a run. “Make it an emergency. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Something we should know about?”
“Arlin Murphy said O’Malley’s already made it to Erin. I don’t think he’s found the hotel, but he’s closing in.”
“Copy that. We’re putting a rush on it.”
Matt rang off then called Jacob. “O’Malley’s in town.”
“Yeah, I know. I just got off the phone with the mayor.”
“I thought we had three days.”
“So did I, but the Chief of Police had a different view of things. The mayor wants to put the city on alert.” Jacob’s chair squeaked. “And not just about O’Malley. Two serial killers in his city is something he thinks his constituents need to know about.”
Matt reached the car, clicked the unlock button on the key fob. “And the chief? What’s his take?” He slid behind the wheel and started the engine immediately.
“You know he serves the mayor.” Expelling a harsh breath, Jacob called out to his administrative assistant. “Get me the Charleston City Chief of Police on the phone. Tell him I’m speaking directly with one of the agents on the ground.” He returned his attention to the conversation. “I’ll see if I can buy some time, but the second they start plastering O’Malley’s picture on the TV is when we lose our chance. He’ll go underground.”
“I don’t think so.” Matt navigated the car out of the parking lot and into the heavy Calhoun Street traffic. “He’s been on the run since he broke out of Attica. He’s not going to let a smaller city like Charleston stop him, not when he’s so close.”
“Yeah, I guess you got a point. Okay, the chief is on the line. Keep me apprized.”
Once he made it to the interstate, Matt took to the emergency lanes with the siren whining and the blue light flashing atop the dash. His instincts buzzing, he could literally feel Stuart closing in. And he’d made it clear over the past forty-eight hours that he had absolutely nothing to lose.
Matt tugged at the necktie threatening to choke him. Criminals like Stuart were the worst kind. They wouldn’t go back to prison and didn’t mind taking out anyone who stood between them and freedom. And if they had something extra, like a medical death sentence, they wouldn’t stop until they’d achieved their goal.
His head began a slow throb. He called the local police department, asked to be patched in to the officers on duty at the hotel. An interminable wait followed, though it might have only been a few seconds by the time one of the officers answered.
“This is Agent Giles. Is Erin Prescott still secure?”
“She hasn’t left the room, Agent, and we haven’t left our posts.”
Still wasn’t enough. “Would you take the phone to her, please?” He drummed his fingers on the seat beside him, impatience torturing him.
“Matt?” Erin’s soft voice had his shoulders slumping. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” He didn’t know how he kept the edge out of his voice. “I just wanted to touch base with you. I’m on my way back. You okay?”
She hesitated before replying with an even softer, “I’m fine. Were you able to talk to Stuart’s cellmate? Did he give you any information?”
“Not much. He just died. I’ll talk to you more about it when I get back.” He wanted to continue the conversation, if nothing else just to hear her voice, but now that he knew she was still safe, he needed to shift his focus, look under the next rock where Stuart might be hiding.
“Why do I hear sirens?” She didn’t sound any more eager to let him go.
Matt shut them off immediately. “Just covering some ground.”
Erin sighed. “You don’t ever use your job as a way to cut corners, Matt. Why were you rushing back?”
He cursed under his breath “Look, we’ll have to talk about this in a few minutes. I’ve got to get back into traffic. I’ll see you soon.” His thumb hovered over the End Call button, giving her a chance to reply.
“Stuart’s made it to Charleston, hasn’t he?”
Damn. She was too smart for her own good. He’d wanted more time, a chance to tell her himself in a way that would
reassure her. “Yes.”
Her breath hitched, but otherwise, her response was calm. “There wasn’t any reason to keep it from me, Matt. I was going to find out eventually.”
“Yeah, I know. I was just hoping to wait for the eventually.” He injected a note of teasing into his voice, hoping to ease the anxiety she was hiding.
“He’s not going to hurt me.”
Matt tightened his grip around the steering wheel. Was she kidding him? She couldn’t seriously think, after everything she’d heard and seen, that her brother wouldn’t harm her. He was in Charleston for one reason and one reason only.
“Matt?” The soft call of his name tempered his anger.
“Look, I know you want to believe that Stuart can still be reached, that deep down inside a part of the brother you knew still exists, but—”
“That’s not what I meant,” she interrupted.
“Oh. What did you mean then?”
Her smile came across the line. “I know you won’t let him hurt me. Besides that, I’ve become pretty adept at protecting myself these last couple of years.”
His shoulders relaxed slightly. “Yeah. How so? You taking self-defense classes and all that?” He thought he managed to keep the disbelief out of his voice, but Erin’s response told him otherwise.
“Don’t sound so surprised. I was actually top of my class.”
“I’m sure you were, but there’s a big difference between beating up a dummy and taking down a real two hundred pound man.” Just the thought of her going one on one with Stuart had his blood icing. No amount of self-defense lessons could top the skills learned in a maximum security prison.
“Really? I didn’t know that.” The softness had melted from her voice, replaced by a hard edge.
Matt winced. Damn. He hadn’t meant to piss her off. Of course, that had always been easy for him to do, especially during the last year of their marriage. Just a look could manage that. Apparently, he hadn’t lost his touch.
“I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. I just don’t want you to get too close to Stuart.”
“That’s disappointing. Here I was thinking I was going to throw him a welcome home party.”
“Okay. I said I’m sorry. I got your point.” He propped his elbow on the edge of the window. “You have to understand…” He broke off, let it drop. No, she didn’t have to understand. Eight years of marriage hadn’t made her get his job.
Silence so thick Matt could feel it tightening around his throat stretched across the line. Then the officer’s voice picked up where Erin’s had left off. “Was there anything else you needed, Agent Giles?”
Damn. Damn. Damn. When was he ever going to learn to keep his mouth shut? Erin knew she was in danger, and she’d only been trying to assert some independence, remind herself and him that she still had a semblance of control over her life. And he’d just stripped that away from her.
“Agent Giles?” The police officer sounded annoyed.
Matt cleared his throat. “No. Thanks.” He ended the call and tossed his cell onto the passenger seat. Erin wouldn’t be in any hurry to see him, but he couldn’t let things go, not this time. That was what had caused their marriage to implode before. They’d just stopped talking.
Now that he’d been with Erin again, seen her, talked to her, he didn’t want to walk away, at least not without seeing if something still remained of the marriage that had crumbled. The heated words she’d flung at him earlier hadn’t come from a woman who no longer cared.
He winced at the remembered sound of her voice. She’d been hurt, and knowing he was responsible for that pain tore at his heart. He’d never intentionally hurt her, but she was right. He hadn’t wanted her to feel anything for her brother, not after he’d brutally murdered her parents. A man like that didn’t deserve anything but what he got in an eight by twelve cell.
Matt had never thought for one second Erin might actually miss Stuart. When he’d gotten into drugs their relationship had changed, and she’d rarely seen him in the weeks leading up to the murder.
And then he’d knocked on their door, and Matt knew now a part of Erin wanted to believe he’d come for help to get clean. But he’d seen the blood on his brother-in-law’s hands, and the husband had taken a back seat to the FBI agent. It had been his job, his duty to arrest Stuart.
He couldn’t count the number of times he’d wished he’d kept to the sidelines, had called the local police department and had them arrest Stuart. Maybe his marriage would have survived if he hadn’t put the suit above his wife.
“Can I get you something to eat, Miss Prescott?”
Erin bit her tongue to keep from snapping, instead, managing a polite, negative response, just like her mother had taught her. No, she didn’t want food, a magazine, or something else to drink besides water. No, she wasn’t too cold or too hot. She didn’t need anything from the front desk, and yes, she had aspirin in case she needed it.
Each time one of the officers asked, she always replied kindly while the need for an acidic tone gnawed at her insides. What she wanted, they couldn’t give her. Peace of mind.
She’d dialed Hal’s number and hadn’t gotten a response. Had even tried his mother’s cell phone which she rarely used but always kept charged and with her. When that call didn’t elicit a reply, Erin had gotten really nervous.
Hal wasn’t safe. She knew it. The knot in the pit of her stomach grew in size, but all she could do was pace the room and pray, hoping for a call, a sign, anything to let her know Hal was still alive. She had to know his friendship with her hadn’t gotten him killed.
She heard murmured voices outside the door, recognized Matt’s deep tones and drew in a shaky breath. She wished he’d given her more time. The embers of her anger still burned low, though she didn’t have the energy for another fight.
Matt opened the door, closed it quickly behind him. He didn’t move any further into the room. “I’m sorry.”
She gave him a nod in response and turned away. Not now. She couldn’t see him now. Not like this.
“Erin, please look at me.”
“I don’t want to talk about anything, Matt. There is nothing to talk about anyway. I shouldn’t have gotten so upset about a self-defense course. You apologized, and that’s the end of it.”
“You think I apologized because of that?”
She turned, confusion swirling inside. “You didn’t?”
“No.” He walked toward her, closing in, pulling her thoughts away from the fear of the unknown. They centered on him, the look in his eyes, the expression on his face. Everything.
Her fingers fidgeted with the hem of her blouse. “Then why?”
He palmed her faced, and she instinctively leaned in to the warmth. “Because I didn’t know how to help you after Stuart’s arrest. I couldn’t understand why you wanted to grieve for a relationship that had been toxic for the past year. Maybe it’s because I’m an only child. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I hurt you, and for that, I’m sorry.”
That she hadn’t been expecting. Her eyes stung, and she looked down at the floor. Don’t cry. The internal instruction served little purpose. The tears took on a will of their own, gliding one behind the other down her cheeks, dampening Matt’s hand.
“Erin. I’m so sorry,” Matt muttered before he drew her into his arms, into an embrace she’d missed for so long.
She touched her forehead to his, holding onto him, afraid the moment would pass too soon. “I’m sorry, too,” she whispered. “I blamed you for arresting Stuart. It was your job, but he was still my brother. And I’m sorry. So sorry.”
He drew back, cupping her face with both hands. “Shhhh. It’s okay.” His lips brushed hers. Once. Twice. Then he buried his face in her hair. “We have a lot to talk about.”
Erin drank in his fresh scent. He still smelled the same, felt the same, the muscles in his arms contracting around her waist. He held her so tightly, so completely. She slid her hands up his back and grasped his shirt.
It had been over four years since she’d been held like she was cherished. Long before their marriage ended because she’d pushed Matt away. Things were so different now, their lives in separate cities. She couldn’t allow herself to think this hug was anything more than that.
A hard knock interrupted them, and Matt stepped out of her arms and headed to the door. Erin couldn’t hear the conversation, but the tone said all she needed to hear. Her shoulders drooped. Whatever conversation Matt wanted to have would have to wait.
He closed the door and returned to her, sliding one palm alongside her cheek again. “I have to go.”
“What’s wrong?” She wanted answers, but the look in his eyes gave clear indication she wouldn’t get them from him. A part of her wanted to argue, but right at that moment, she wanted to concentrate on his hand touching her face, the closeness of his body to hers.
Matt kissed her again, just a soft brushing of his lips across hers. Not nearly enough to be fulfilling. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Call me if you need me.” After another kiss on the top of her head, he walked away.
“Matt, I…” She almost rushed the words out, but he turned and shook his head.
“Don’t, Erin. Not now. Not like this. We’ll talk as soon as this is over.” He gave her a wink then opened the door. When it clicked shut behind him, it took all the effort she had not to run after him.
Something told her they wouldn’t get the chance to have that conversation. Terror brought the tears back. A small knot of hysteria built within her chest and grew to epic proportions, threatening to smother her.
Putting feet to her fears, she did run then, yanking open the door and calling his name, but he was already gone. And she knew with unyielding certainty she’d never see him again.
Chapter Ten
Charleston, South Carolina. God, he hadn’t been there in twenty plus years at least. He hadn’t missed it. The historical charm had never done a thing for him, though his parents had thought it was one of the best places on earth to vacation. Apparently, his sister had fallen in love with it just as much.
Extreme Measures Page 10