by Anne Patrick
"I'm not hungry." He tried to pass.
Once again, she blocked his path. "Get a grip, Dad. She's going to be okay."
"I just want to check on her."
Bailey grinned. "Does she know how much you like her?"
"Don't be ridiculous, we…we're only colleagues. Friends if anything."
"Yeah, whatever." She grinned. "I haven't seen you this crazy since I broke my leg in the second grade. Geez, you'd have thought I was dying or something."
Austin smothered a smile. He knew he'd been acting a fool, and that he needed to keep a clear head. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get Jo out of his mind. It was obvious to him now, what she had seen when she'd looked up at him with raw terror in her eyes. Somehow, while in her trance, she had come face to face with the man responsible for the deaths of five women. He couldn't help but wonder, what that horrifying experience had taught her.
"Come on, let me make you that sandwich."
"All right."
*****
When Jo came to in surroundings foreign to her, she bolted upright in the bed.
"Don't worry, you're not in the hospital."
She glanced over to see Austin perched on the arm of a high-backed chair next to the bed. "Where am I?"
"My bedroom."
Jo immediately glanced down at the long tee shirt she wore.
"Relax. The tee shirt belongs to Bailey. She helped you get undressed and into bed."
"What time is it?"
"Almost six."
"In the morning?"
"No, in the evening. You were pretty exhausted."
Jo tossed the covers back without thinking. "I'm due at Quantico. Walt was supposed to check on a later flight for me." She rambled on, her eyes searching the room at the same time for the clothes she'd wore the day before.
Before she was able to climb from the bed, Austin was hovering over her, his hands on her arms, pushing her gently back into the bed. "You're not going anywhere. I talked to your boss and told him you were feeling a little under the weather and wouldn't be able to make the trip. He said not to worry about a thing, he had things covered."
She glared up at him. "You had no right to—"
"You had no right going out there last night without telling me what you were attempting to do."
Jo suddenly felt very vulnerable. She pulled the covers back over her body. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You're not a very good liar, Jo." His eyes leveled on her, their intensity so extreme Jo glanced away. He sat on the corner of the bed. "Washington and I had a very interesting conversation regarding your abilities this morning."
Jo was tempted to tell him it was none of his business, only to change her mind.
"He told me how these visions really work and how dangerous they can be, and why you seldom risk it. What I'd like to know is why you did it?"
"Isn't that obvious?" She looked at him. "We've got five dead women on our hands and we're not even close to catching this guy."
His lips curved into a drop dead gorgeous smile. "Yeah, that's what I figured you'd say."
"What other reason would there be?" she challenged.
"None that I can think of."
She gave a deep sigh, wrapping her arms around raised knees. "Have you heard anything from Drake?"
"No, but I've got a possible ID on the latest victim." He grinned like a Cheshire cat, seemingly quite pleased with himself.
"That was quick."
"I got lucky." He picked up a file from the nightstand and handed it to her. He went on to tell her how he'd come up with the ID so quickly. "She'd been divorced twice, no children, a string of ex-boyfriends, as well as previous jobs. Seattle PD is checking out the boyfriends and ex-husbands. Her parents and three siblings live in Washington State. She'd worked for Global Air two years."
Jo glanced over the biography of the missing woman, before picking up the accompanying photograph. The woman's coffee colored hair was cropped short around her shoulders, hugging her narrow jaw line. Looking into her soft brown eyes, Jo couldn't help but notice the sadness that lay within. "This is her, Austin."
He sat in the chair next to the bed. "What makes you so sure?"
"Though there are a lot of similarities; approximate age and build, she's different than the others. Her employment history matches that of her personal life, meaning she had no real goals or dreams in life. Which coincides with what I experienced, this victim didn't struggle like the others. She felt she had nothing to live for."
"Why do you think he chose her when all the others were strong, independent and successful women?"
"I don't think he did choose her. I get the feeling Miss Reynolds is a thrill kill. He only chose her out of convenience. Our man is either ticked off or he's getting nervous."
"So why strong, successful, and independent women?"
She thought back to the visions she had, the emotions she'd picked up on, and offered what little she could. "He chose the others because of their strength. It's all about control with him. That's one of the reasons he drugs them so he can watch them struggle subconsciously. This is why he's doing it. He has a deep-seated hatred for successful and independent women."
"Is he conscious of what he's doing?"
"On some level he is, which explains the lack of physical and trace evidence. He knows it's wrong and that he can be caught. He probably doesn't want to kill, but the need to kill outweighs his conscience."
"So we're dealing with the average psychopath."
"I don't think there's anything average about this man, Austin."
His eyes narrowed. "What happened out there in the woods, Jo?"
She tried to think of something convincing to say to him, other than the truth. "You know how taxing some cases can be, how they sometimes consume you. That's all it was. I just need to start taking better care of myself. Get more sleep."
Austin seemed about to speak when his cell phone rang. "Sheriff Garrett."
Jo watched as his eyes lit up and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly. Her mind drifted back to when she'd told him the victims had been positively identified, how he'd picked her up and hugged her, how natural it felt to be in his arms; then later that night as he held her hand in the back of his Jeep, how concerned he'd been for her. She'd never liked anyone pampering her, not even when she was a kid, but lying there in the back of that Jeep, him holding her hand and fussing over her hadn't bothered her nearly as much as she would have imagined.
Austin ended his call. "Good news. One of the victims used a credit card at the airport lounge in Portland."
"So your hunch was right, he's meeting them in the airport lounge."
"Yeah, maybe. I'll have Pendergrass drive up in the morning to check with the employees. Maybe they'll remember one of the victims and be able to give us some sort of description."
"We should go instead," she suggested. "If he was there in the lounge with them, I might be able to get a clearer picture of who this guy is."
"I don't think so. I've no intention of reliving last night. You really scared me, Jo."
"What happened to me last night wasn't what you think it was."
"Are you sure about that?"
"What happened last night was brought on by lack of sleep, nothing more." She hated lying to him, but knew he'd never agree to take her if he knew the truth.
"We'll go on one condition," he paused and met her raised eyebrows. "We're only going to question the bartender and waitress. I want you to promise me you won't try to force a vision."
She nodded in agreement knowing he wouldn't have it any other way.
Bailey came into the room a short while later, carrying a tray, with a bundle of clothes tucked under her left arm.
Jo quickly recognized them as the ones she'd worn last night. "I hope I haven't been too much trouble." She turned back to Austin. "You could have just dropped me off at the motel. I would've been fine."
"You were no trouble. Dad, on
the other hand, has been a real pain. I couldn't get anything done this morning from talking to him on the phone every twenty minutes." Bailey placed the tray on the nightstand, then laid the clothes on the end of the bed.
Jo looked at the tray and what looked to be a bowl of vegetable soup before turning to Austin.
He offered a shy grin. "I couldn't help but be worried. I felt responsible."
"Yeah whatever," Bailey quipped before leaving the room.
Jo smiled after her. When she turned back, she found Austin handing her the tray. She straightened in the bed and he placed it on her lap. Besides the soup, there was a glass of iced tea and several crackers. Her stomach growled as the soup's aroma hit her. "Looks awfully good. Have you had some?"
"No. I wasn't hungry."
"You have to eat, Austin, we can't both be laid up in bed."
"I'll eat later." He leaned back in the chair, interlocking his hands behind his head. "So tell me what happened in college that made you change the path you were on?"
Jo chuckled. "Why would you want to know that?"
"I'm a cop, I'm curious."
She pondered his request. It wasn't something she liked to talk about, yet felt compelled to share it with him. "I lost someone very close to me."
"A boyfriend?"
She nodded. "Kyle Freeman. We'd dated throughout high school, and were planning to get married after college."
"What happened?"
"A car accident, his junior year at Washington State. There'd been a bad ice storm early that morning, turning the highway into a solid sheet of ice. A car crossed over the meridian and there wasn't anywhere else to go on the bridge. He was thrown from the car on impact and died before the paramedics arrived."
"Were you with him?"
"I was driving."
"Oh no. I'm so sorry, Jo."
She smiled at the compassion shown in his brilliant blue eyes. "That accident changed my life. I was never the same again."
"Why? Did you blame yourself?"
"I knew the accident couldn't have been avoided, but I still felt guilty. You see up until that day I was a total mess. College was one big party for me; I studied just enough to get by. If it weren't for Kyle, I probably would have never even gone to college. He made me want to be a better person."
"Survivor's guilt?"
"Exactly. I mean, here I was barely passing my classes and he had half a dozen pro football scouts looking at him. It had a pretty sobering effect on me. The way I saw it, I was given a second chance and I owed it to him not to waste it."
"He'd be real proud of you."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." He stood, smiling. "Try and eat. I'll check in on you later."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Jo managed to eat almost all the soup. She then showered, dressed and took her tray downstairs. The moment she hit the hallway she heard snoring coming from the living room. Peeking in, she caught sight of Austin, asleep on the sofa. A smile formed on her lips at how peaceful he looked, his back pressed against the cushions and snuggling a pillow to his chest.
She tiptoed past his sleeping form to enter the kitchen and found Bailey washing up the dishes. "Need a hand."
"You can dry if you want." Bailey opened a drawer, took out a towel and tossed it to Jo.
Ten minutes later, after putting the last of the dishes away, Jo looked over at Bailey. "You don't have your driver's license, do you?"
"No, next year. Why?"
"I was hoping for a ride back to the motel."
"You're supposed to spend the night, Dad's orders. He said he'd ground me if I let you out of the house."
"Oh he did, did he?"
"Well, he didn't say the last part, but I'm sure he wouldn't be pleased to wake up and find you gone. He was pretty worried about you. So was I. You didn't look too healthy when he carried you in here this morning."
Unsure of how much Austin had told Bailey about what had happened to her, Jo offered as little as possible. "I haven't been taking very good care of myself lately. Too much junk food and not enough sleep."
"Yeah, Dad's bad about that, too. I don't think he gets as carried away as you do, but he does worry me sometimes."
Jo looked toward the living room. "That's probably the first good sleep he's had in a while, huh?"
Bailey nodded. "That's why I was hoping you might stick around. I really need to go over to Jesse's and get the homework assignment for today. I hate to go off and leave him alone, though."
"Can't you just call your friend?"
"Yeah, but it'd be just as easy to walk over. She only lives a few blocks away."
"I suppose I could stick around until you get back."
"That'd be great, thanks. I'll be back around 10:30."
"I think maybe you better make that 9:30," Jo advised, suspecting she was being duped.
Bailey gave a coy smile, looking just like her father. "All right, 9:30. Thanks, Jo."
"Hang on, Bailey," she called out to the girl before she made it out the kitchen door. "Do you know where your father keeps his case notes?"
"He was working on some stuff earlier in the living room."
"Okay, thanks."
Jo tiptoed into the front room and spotted the files on the floor next to the sofa. Snatching them away wasn't going to be as easy as she'd hoped as she noticed one hand had dropped from the cushion and now lay atop of the files.
She knelt beside the sofa, gently lifted his hand, and placed it at his side on the cushion. Before she could turn away, though, he grabbed her hand and glanced up with sleepy eyes. "Jo?"
"Yeah. Go back to sleep." She attempted to pull her hand away, but as she did, she noticed the bloodied scratches on his arms. It looked as if a wild animal had tried to take off his arm.
"Oh no," she gasped, as memories of the dumpsite drifted back to her of how she had mistaken him for the killer.
"Are you okay?" Austin asked in a sleepy voice, his eyes barely open.
"I'm fine, go back to sleep. You need your rest."
"You're not leaving, are you?"
"No."
"Promise?"
"I promise." Jo made herself comfortable on the floor beside the sofa. She looked down at their intertwined hands. At a glance, they appeared as one. She thought of their talk earlier. It'd been a long time since she'd met a man she trusted enough that she could confide in him, and an even longer time since she'd been in a relationship. Jo couldn't deal with that right now, though. She had to stay focused.
With a heavy sigh, she shifted her eyes to the files on the floor. Though only three had been positively identified, she knew without a doubt they were all victims of the same sadistic monster. After opening each of the five case files, she studied the characteristics of each dumpsite.
Drawing on her visions and the missing person and autopsy reports, she noticed all but one of the victims was similar in personality, height, weight, and age, and all but one was a successful businesswoman. Margaret Miller, the first, was the owner of a clothing store. Stephanie Harrison was a corporate executive, and Elena Bradshaw was a plastic surgeon.
It was obvious he didn't care much for strong, independent women. Question is, why?
Jo read over each victim's personal background, Margaret Miller, forty-one, was estranged from her family, and was a divorcee with no children. Elena Bradshaw, thirty-seven, was a plastic surgeon, and divorced with one child. Suzanne Reynolds, thirty-six, was also divorced and no children. Stephanie Harrison, thirty-seven, had been engaged. Ambition and poor family values seemed to be the common denominator.
"Finding anything interesting?"
Her concentration shattered, she glanced over her arm to see Austin smiling. "Hey."
"Hey, yourself." He rose on one elbow and peered down at the files spread out on the floor in front of her. "What'cha doing?"
"Just a little reading."
"I see that." He bent down and began to gather the files. "You're supposed to be taking it
easy."
"Look, I appreciate your concern, but I wish you'd lay off the mother hen routine."
"I know. You can take care of yourself. I'm sorry if I've infringed on your independence, but the southern gentleman in me couldn't help it."
"I thought you were from California?"
"True, but I was born in Georgia. My family moved to California when I was a senior in high school."
"A southern boy in L.A., I bet that was a real nightmare."
"It was culture shock, that's for sure." He chuckled.
She leaned her head back against the cushion of the sofa and tried to imagine him a senior in high school. "I bet you were the quarterback of the football team and had the phone numbers of all the junior and senior high girls."
"I was back up quarterback, and though I did have their numbers, I was too scared to call even one."
What was it with her and quarterbacks? "I suspect you got over that shyness."
"Barely. Two days before my senior prom I finally got the nerve to ask Penny Jordan out, only to wish I hadn't. She'd broken up with her boyfriend the week before and when he saw us together, well, let's just say I missed the last dance."
"At least you got to go to your prom. I spent my prom night behind bars."
"I'll probably regret asking this, but how many times have you been in jail?"
"Only twice. The joy riding incident which cost me my prom, and one other time."
"What did you do the second time to land yourself behind bars?"
"Some other time, maybe," she said with a smile.
*****
It took both Austin and Bailey to talk Jo into staying the night. Finally after agreeing to stay, Jo and Bailey took the Jeep and made it to the video store just as they were locking the doors. That had been their excuse anyway when they returned with two chick flicks, informing him they'd grabbed the first two movies they saw that looked decent. Positioned on the floor in front of the television, both Jo and Bailey shed tears most of the way through the first movie, and now midway through the second one, Austin felt he was going to choke on his own laughter watching them tear up yet again.