The black hole painting, with all its shades of darkness, still sat on the easel. Paige took it down and turned it backwards facing the wall. She’d had enough darkness for one night.
She left the room and went into her bedroom. She kicked off her shoes and fell onto her bed fully clothed.
She fell asleep with the women’s names echoing over and over in her mind. Charlotte Winters, Heather Brown, Alexandra Dobbs, Teresa Cavasos…
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Thanks for coming with me.”
The next evening Paige looked much better. Obviously a night of rest had done her well. Brett wished he could’ve been there with her, but he and Alex had stayed to work the case.
Plus she wouldn’t have gotten as much sleep if he’d stayed.
“How often do you go into the gallery?”
She rolled her eyes. “If Hunter had his way, I would be there every single day. Shaking hands and kissing babies whenever people enter the studio. But most of the time he comes up to my house when we need to talk business. At least in the last couple of years.” She turned to stare out the window.
Hunter Barnes was one of the first people Brett had investigated and then cleared once he realized Paige was tied to the killer. Found documented proof that the man had been out of the country during the time of at least two of the murders.
Brett didn’t want her focused on her attacker. She’d had him in her head enough recently. “Hunter’s a good agent?”
She smiled. “He’d be the first one to tell you that we’ve grown together. I know my name has brought in some bigger clients for him, but he took a chance on me before my career took off, so a fair trade.”
And no matter how successful Paige became she wouldn’t break ties with Hunter, even if someone else might make her an international superstar. Because she was loyal.
“So are you just here to kiss babies and shake hands?”
“No. Evidently the 3D centerpiece at the show was very well received. Hunter has had some more made and wants to get my opinion on whether we should try to go live with them.”
“It was impressive.”
She shrugged a single shoulder. “I liked it, but I want to make sure it’s not too gimmicky.”
The gallery was relatively crowded even in the evening and Brett had to park down the block. As they strolled together on the sidewalk he could feel Paige become more and more tense.
"You doing okay?” He asked. "I'm sure Hunter wouldn't mind if you do this another time."
"No, I'm fine. I sometimes get the heebie-jeebies when I leave my house. You just have to ignore me."
He slipped an arm around her and pulled her close, kissing the side of her head. "Heebie-jeebies look good on you."
She rolled her eyes. "You better hope so, as often as I get them."
He had hoped the jokes might help distract her, but by the time they were inside the gallery tension radiated through her small body. Her face was already more pale than it had been just a few minutes ago.
"Let's go home," he said as the door closed behind them. The gallery had a couple dozen people in it. Being around them was just going to make her more stressed.
"No, we're already here."
Hunter saw them from across the room. "Paige, honey. There you are." He walked to her and kissed her on both cheeks. Then turn to Brett. "Officer Handsome. Good to see you again."
"Mr. Barnes." Brett held out his hand to shake the other man's.
"Hunter, please." He turned back to Paige. "You're not looking so good, sweetheart. Feeling all right?"
She gave him a smile, but it wasn't fooling anyone. "I'm fine."
Hunter linked his arm with hers. "Let me show you what we're thinking, and then you can get back home." They began walking towards the offices in the back.
They were about five steps away from the door when Paige stopped and refused to go any further. She held her hand up to her eyes. "I can't. I'm sorry."
She took a shaky step towards Brett. "I can't," she said again. "The dark... it's too much.”
Every bit of color had drained from her face and if he and Hunter weren't holding her arms, Brett was afraid she might fall.
He turned to Hunter. "She like this normally when she gets here?"
"No, never. I've never seen her like this, not since right after the attack."
"Do you have somewhere she can sit?"
Hunter nodded. "Sure, right inside the door."
Paige resisted, but Brett led her in through the office door. "Let's just sit down for a minute."
By the time she was in the chair she was shaking. Her eyes were open but she couldn’t see. He crouched down beside her. “Does your head hurt, Paige?” Maybe a migraine?
She clutched his hand. “No. It’s the dark. Just like before, when…”
She trailed off but Brett knew what she meant. When she’d been attacked.
He looked at Hunter. "He's here. The guy who attacked her. He's here."
"How do you know?"
"Because some sort of darkness hits her like this when he’s around. The guy’s black aura is all she can see. Do you have security? Can they lock the doors?"
"Yes, but it's going to cause some problems. People generally don't like being told they can't leave somewhere they entered of their own accord.”
"Are you willing to do it if it means catching Paige's attacker?"
Hunter nodded and grabbed a walkie-talkie sitting on the desk. "I'd shut this entire place down for good if it meant catching her attacker."
The words were no sooner out of his mouth before the power blew. Brett muttered a curse.
"Don't worry, the emergency generator will kick on," Hunter said.
It didn't.
Now Hunter cursed. "My security team will have moved to the doors as soon as the power went out. Their primary focus right now will be to make sure no one is stealing any of the art."
"Tell them not to let anybody in or out." Hunter nodded as Brett grabbed his cell and called Alex.
"Hel--"
"Alex, it's Brett. I need you to get uniforms down to the Barnes Gallery on West 50th. The killer is here, Alex."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. And he just cut the power."
"I'm on my way. ETA 10 minutes. Squad cars should be there even sooner.”
Brett disconnected the call.
"Killer?” Hunter asked. “I thought he'd only attacked Paige."
"We think Paige was supposed to be a murder victim, but got very, very lucky."
Two gunshots fired in the main area of the gallery. Brett drew his weapon moving towards the door.
"Can you stay here with her? She's defenseless like this, Hunter."
The other man nodded. "I won't leave her, no matter what."
Brett eased the door open into the gallery. People were scared, panicking. Everyone had turned on the lights in their phones and it was causing a weird sort of strobe effect as they all rushed around, demanding to be let out. Security was keeping them from the door, the way they’d been trained to do. Brett looked for the shooter but couldn’t see anyone with a gun.
But he was out there. Somewhere in the room.
This was going to turn ugly very quickly. Brett grimaced. They were going to need to let people out before someone got trampled in the panic. But that meant also letting out the killer.
He opened the door and looked back at Hunter, barely able to make him out in the darkness. Paige hadn't moved at all.
"Tell your guards to let people out the front door. They're panicking and someone's going to get hurt or worse. And if that gun goes off again it’s going to get even uglier.”
Hunter made the announcement into the walkie-talkie and Brett went out to help try to keep everyone calm as they exited, all the while searching through the dim for anyone who caught his attention.
That's when Brett saw him.
He was standing at the opposite side of the gallery, near another set of doors, calmly watc
hing the scene around him. Every once in a while someone’s light would catch him there.
That was the killer.
As casually as possible Brett made his way towards the man, but he was only halfway across the gallery when the guy realized what Brett was doing. He turned and exited through the door behind him.
Brett immediately took off in a sprint.
As soon as he opened the door the man had gone through, Brett knew this had all been planned. The door led into a high-ceilinged storage area with dozens of paths created out of tall shelves and cases.
It was the perfect escape route.
Whoever was in here had studied this building and had known what to do to both cut the power and escape.
It was impossible to see anything clearly in the dark. Brett was tempted to turn on the flashlight of his phone, but that would be a dead giveaway as to where he was located.
Brett didn't want to leave this doorway, in case the guy decided to double back to try to get to Paige. But if Brett stayed here, the man would just escape.
He closed his eyes and focused on sound.
There. He'd heard something just over to his left. As silently as possible he made his way down one aisle, turning at the end of it towards the noise he'd heard.
Weapon raised, he rounded the corner. But even in the thick darkness he could see no one was there. He immediately stopped again to listen, particularly for the door that might lead back into the regular gallery and to Paige.
He heard another noise, further this time. The guy was definitely going for the exit. Brett sped up, moving towards the back of the storage area. As long as he could keep the man corralled away from the front door, that was all Brett cared about.
Soon this whole place would be crawling with police. All Brett had to do was keep the guy in here until then.
He heard the slight creak of a door and knew the killer was trying to ease his way out. Forgetting silence, Brett sprinted towards the sound of the door.
When he reached the door it was already closed. Brett reached for the handle, weapon once again raised, and slowly opened it. The man couldn’t have gotten far, but might be waiting outside with his own weapon ready.
By the time Brett heard the sound behind him it was too late. He had just enough time to throw his arm up as one of the heavy shelving units came towering down on him. The force of it knocked him to the ground, and something heavy falling off the edge grazed his head, causing the room to spin.
Brett pushed at the metal on top of him, trying to get a clear view of the man, but couldn’t see enough to make out any features.
The slightest bit of light reflected off the man’s gun. It was pointed right at Brett. There wasn’t anything Brett could do to stop him.
But the shot didn’t come.
“Can’t you see?” the man’s voice whispered. “I’m just trying to help you. Betray. Abandon. Steal. It has to stop.”
Something else crashed down on the shelving trapping him further, as he heard the backdoor open and the man slip out. Brett was just crawling out from under it when Paige and Hunter rushed in.
Paige’s voice was tight. “Brett, are you okay?”
“Yeah. Alive. He snuck back behind me then got away. Are you okay?”
Hunter handed him a cloth for the blood that was dripping down the side of his head. “She snapped out of it a couple of minutes ago. Security said you’d gone in here.”
“Did you see him at all?” she asked.
“No, it was too dark.”
She grimaced. “Sounds familiar. Thank God the rest of the police got here when they did or he would’ve killed you. Hunter said he had a gun.”
“I don’t think so. He said he was trying to help me.” Brett had no idea what the guy was talking about, and could not care less. “But we’re definitely getting you out of here. This was no random occurrence. He had scoped out this entire place. He knew about this back room and knew how to cut both the main and backup power supplies.”
“If you hadn’t come with me tonight, I would’ve been completely defenseless.” Paige shuddered and he wrapped an arm around her.
Brett couldn’t tell her she wasn’t right. Between this and the market, it was twice Paige had gone out and twice something had happened.
The killer was watching her. Might have been ever since the attack. The fact that she’d been so reluctant to leave her house was probably what had kept her alive for the last two years.
Brett was more determined than ever to catch this guy. And they still had the advantage: the killer wasn’t aware they knew about all his victims. Paige and her drawings were the key.
The one that got away would be the one who brought the killer down.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The darkness hid him from their view once again just as it had the night before at the police station. His fingers gripped the steering wheel with bloodless knuckles.
She was working with the police. But she couldn't have remembered his face after all this time. If so, he had no doubt it would be plastered all over the news.
He'd gotten what information he could about Paige Jeffries over the last twenty-four months. Found out that she couldn't remember his face and that the police didn't trust her for some reason.
That had worked to his advantage.
But it looked like they trusted her now. Or at least this new Detective Wagner did. He’d tried to explain that he was on Wagner’s side, on every man’s side, but he didn’t think the detective understood.
He probably should’ve killed Wagner tonight, but that would’ve been completely against the code.
Paige Jeffries was at fault, not Wagner.
He was going to have to make a change. The thought burned like acid in his gut. Because of her he was going to have to change the pattern again. Going to have to make a move sooner than he wanted.
But he couldn't take the chance on her living much longer. He would kill the other woman, even though it wasn't time, so that the pattern would be back to where Paige Jeffries belonged. She would burn.
Strangled. Stabbed. Burned.
His pattern, simple yet elegant, and had worked for him for years.
Until Paige Jeffries.
She had caused him to break his pattern and nothing had really been right since.
He would break his pattern one more time for her. Then she would burn.
And the pattern would be whole once again. She would be number ten. The end of this pattern.
It should’ve been nine victims. Three sets of three kills. The perfect union.
But Paige Jeffries had ruined it all. So now there would be ten. And she would be the last in this pattern to die.
In the most painful way possible.
He knew this would change everything for him, but it was a price he was willing to pay. Two last kills to fulfill this pattern then he would have to run. Hide. For a long time.
Then he would find a new pattern in a new place and start once again.
* * *
Brett and Alex spent the entire next day poring over the files. Brett had left Paige in her security team’s care and made sure they were completely aware that Paige was all but under siege.
Both physically and mentally.
Being connected to a killer and knowing that killer was coming after you? Not easy to handle.
He wanted to stay with her. Probably would've if she'd asked him to. But he was needed here. In the short run it might've comforted Paige more for him to go with her now, but in the long run, the only thing that was going to give her peace was to catch this guy.
And now that they were certain the cases were connected it was easier to see links between them.
Any possible remaining doubts melted away when Alex pulled up a map on the computer and plotted the locations of all the murders.
"Holy shit," Alex murmured.
“Seattle, Medford, Eugene, Olympia. They’re all along I-5,” Brett said. Lined up along the map like that, it was impo
ssible to miss the pattern. "The killer must work on that Interstate.”
Every murder had occurred in a town within two or three miles of it.
"Could be a trucker." Alex started a list of professions on a notepad by his computer.
"Yep. Or sales rep. Repair man."
"Whoever it is, has a route between Sacramento and Seattle."
Brett nodded. "Probably not a trucker then, right?"
"I doubt it. Just having that route over and over? That would be pretty unusual. But I’ll definitely look into it.”
"And now we have something we can take to Ameling. This is a pattern that he can't deny." Brett grinned. "He's going to wonder how we came up with this, you know. How we figured out to search these particular cases. I don’t want to bring Paige into it. He’s gunning for her hard enough as it is.”
Alex winked at him. "Haven't you heard? We’re brilliant detectives. Nothing slips by us. Plus, you let me talk to Captain Ameling. Just like you want to leave Paige out of it, I want to leave you out of it as much as possible. Easier for him to swallow that way.
Brett didn’t care about getting credit, he just cared about stopping this killer. So whatever Alex had to do was fine with him. “I’m glad he won’t be able to deny it, but coordinating this is going to be a bitch. Three different states? This is going to get turned over to the Feds."
Conner Perigo came to mind. The man probably wouldn't be given the case but it would still be one of the first calls Brett would make. But he didn't want to give up the case even to Perigo.
"We can't call anybody until we have Ameling's approval. He’s out today and tomorrow for that conference. So let's get as much info as we can before presenting it to him and it being taken out of our hands."
"I'll work on identifying the woman in Paige's last picture if you want to keep working on who might be going up and down that I-5 route," Brett said.
They had taken down the pictures and info on the whiteboard in the conference room just after Paige left. Until they were ready to officially go to Ameling with their findings, they needed to keep it to themselves.
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