He strangled virgins and stabbed those who weren’t. Except Bec.
Again the circle returned to Bec. Why her?
Anastasia interrupted her thoughts, demonstrating her mobile battery wasn’t quite as dead as she’d made out. What had she done to the universe that made it want to bite back?
‘And there’s more.’ Seth continued in a rush. ‘I don’t think Roan Madden is the man everyone thinks he is.’
She stopped mid-stride and stared. What was that supposed to mean?
The persistent ring dragged her mind back to the phone in her hand. ‘Hey, Dad.’
‘Your mother and I are going away for a while. We want you to come.’
No ‘Hi’, ‘How are you?’, ‘How’s the case going?’—just . . . this. The world had turned on its head. Since when did her father ask her to leave midway through an investigation? Especially this one.
She glanced at Seth before hurrying towards the study. ‘I can’t. I’ve just made a break in the case.’
‘I know. But, after speaking with Terry, we’ve agreed you need time out. I should have seen it sooner. We leave tomorrow after the funeral.’
He was conspiring with Hackett to get her off the case? Since when were they so close?
‘I thought you wanted me to find the Night Terror.’
The connection crackled, but not enough to mask the weariness in his voice. ‘Not at the expense of losing you.’
‘You won’t lose me, Dad.’
‘Then you’ll come?’
Hope tugged at her heart. She’d see her mother, get the chance to mend whatever bridges Bec’s death had fractured. She closed her eyes and her sister’s broken gaze stared back. ‘I can’t. I’m going to see Roan Madden.’
‘You are not to see that man!’
The words rumbled through her like an earthquake. She held the phone from her ear and stared at it, her heart so stunned it forgot to beat. Then she pressed her mobile’s flat surface back in place. ‘Why?’
‘He’s dangerous.’
‘He’s in prison. How dangerous can he be?’
Her father didn’t answer right away. She almost thought he wouldn’t answer at all, and his next words proved she was right.
‘Promise me you’ll stay away.’
‘I can’t, Dad. Someone Madden knows is emulating his killing. I’m going to find out who.’
‘And nothing I say can stop you?’
‘Not unless you have a reason.’ The silence was almost as deafening as his earlier outburst. ‘Is there a reason I should stay away from Madden?’
‘I worry about you. Isn’t that enough?’
‘Not when it stops me from fulfilling my duty. As officers, we uphold the good, remember? If we don’t, women like Doris Tombes, Clara Gayle and Bec can never feel safe. And scum-suckers like the Night Terror win.’
He sighed, the way he always sighed when he realised she wouldn’t budge. ‘When are you going to the prison?’
‘I’m hoping this weekend. Why?’
‘Just promise you’ll keep your wits about you.’
‘I always do.’
‘Then I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.’
The angular edges of the phone dug into her fingers. ‘Whoever it is, I’ll make him pay for what he did to Bec. He won’t get the chance to do it again.’
‘I see so much of me in you.’ Paper crinkled in the background as her father cleared his throat. ‘Just remember, nothing’s more important in all this than you. Even when it comes to solving the case. We just want you to be safe.’
She swallowed, tried to pull her voice out from halfway down her throat. ‘I know, Dad. You have nothing to worry about. I’ll be fine.’
‘Love you, Jayda.’
The uncharacteristic words thickened her throat. ‘I love you too, Dad.’ The dull beep of the disconnected call brought her back. She tapped end, blinked, bringing the blurred mobile into focus. The home-screen photo stared back. It was old, seven years at least. The day of her graduation from the Police Academy.
She didn’t need the photo to remember every detail of that day. It was etched forever into her memory.
Her over-starched navy uniform had pricked at the collar from the moment she put it on, making her want to scratch the entire ceremony. But it hadn’t dulled the day. Nothing could. She’d outrun Liam’s efforts to undermine her and had come out the other side, top of her class. The pride of that moment still had the power to make her heart glow.
She stared at the photo, her father punch-proud in his dark suit. Bec, well, she looked stunning, as always. Her mother . . . she squinted at the screen. Not once in the past seven years had she noticed the tightness in her mother’s smile, the way her body turned slightly outward from the group. Even her eyes seemed focused somewhere else.
The photo was taken just before the Highbury Case trial. Bec had mentioned something was up even back then. Jayda moved her hand to mask the screen.
Was this a sign of her parents’ problems? How would she know, with her father’s all too professional stonewalling? Not from her mother. She still hadn’t called, and Jayda refused to keep asking why when it hurt too much to get the same deflections.
Something inside fractured. Nothing made sense anymore. Growing up, her parents were her idea of perfection. Impossible to imagine a happier, more together family. And she’d wanted the same for herself when she finally met the man of her dreams.
What a joke. Perfection was a lie. It existed purely in perception. And dreams, well, they were just that. Dreams weren’t meant for the real world.
Her gaze darted of its own accord towards the doorway, her mind picturing the man waiting beyond it.
The most solid of people in her life was changing right before her eyes. Was the entire OPI investigation garnered in lies? The evidence tampering she could explain away. Someone had made a mistake. But the affair? The photographic proof? Did she explain that away too and bury her head in the sand?
She’d assumed she knew her father inside and out. He was the archetype for the man she’d always wanted to meet and marry. Now that image was far from reality, and she wondered whether she had ever really known him at all.
Do you ever really know anyone?
Where did that thought leave her now? When even her gut couldn’t be relied upon to steer her straight?
29
Seth watched Jayda’s indecision before she glanced at her mobile and left the room.
She’ll be back.
The words sliced through his brain and were almost as strange as the growing feeling of emptiness in his chest.
Ever since they’d returned from Macleod, she’d closed off, distanced herself. To use the word ‘cold’ would be the grossest of understatements.
She was broke. He got that. He could only imagine the violation of having your financials hacked and bled dry. That on top of losing her sister . . .
But he wasn’t the bad guy here. Had never been the bad guy. He’d dedicated the past week to helping her find the sick son of a bitch who’d robbed the sun from her life, yet, time and time again, all she’d tossed in his face was a silver platter heaped with an over-generous serving of grief.
He shouldn’t care so much.
Only, the more she pulled away, the less she seemed inclined to trust him. And the further he got from the inside of his story.
And that’s exactly why he was feeling whatever he was feeling.
‘What were you saying?’
He looked up. Jayda hovered just inside the doorway, almost as if she were ready to run.
‘How’d you go with the prison?’
‘I’m waiting for confirmation, but it looks like two o’clock on Saturday.’
‘We couldn’t see Madden earlier?’
‘Yeah, but I thought it’d be fun to wait.’
There it was again. That bite. Once again, he was the fall guy, and the feeling was getting mighty old.
‘I know the saying goes something like “
her bark is worse than her bite”, but there are times I’m not so sure.’
‘Hilarious, Seth.’
‘I am, on occasion.’
‘So you keep saying.’ Her lips twitched as she stepped closer. ‘You mentioned something about Madden.’
‘I did.’
‘And?’
‘And, what?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘What did you want to tell me?’
‘Please.’
‘Please?’
He grinned. ‘Ah, since you asked so nicely.’
‘Are you kidding?’ Arms crossed under the curve of her breasts, her eyes flashed with amber flecks. He refused to be so easily distracted, much as her anger sparked other equally animated reactions inside him.
He returned her glare with what he hoped was nonchalance. ‘Not remotely. It wouldn’t kill you to use a little “please” and “thank you” occasionally.’
‘I’ll make sure to remember that, Dad.’
‘Much appreciated.’
‘And . . .’
‘I’ve performed every search possible online, and nothing’s surfaced about Madden or his wife prior to his arrest.’
‘Not so unusual.’
‘Really? No bank records? No driver’s licence, credit history, birth or marriage certificates? I can’t even find a blog or any form of social media entry.’
‘Maybe you’re looking in the wrong places.’
‘This is what I do, Jayda. I dig, and I’m damn good at it. Believe me, I’m looking in all the right places, the info’s just not there. Nothing’s there. There’s even a chunk of missing news reports on the murder. It’s like Roan Madden’s entire life has been swallowed into some kind of black hole. Like someone has deliberately gone through and wiped out every hint of the man’s early existence.’
‘Sounds like something the Feds would do to protect witnesses. Only Madden’s not in witness protection, he’s a convicted murderer still serving his sentence. Why hide his past?’
‘Good question. Perhaps we can ask him on Saturday.’ He scratched at the stubble on his jaw as if his next words wouldn’t completely overhaul the case. ‘And there’s one more thing.’
Her mobile erupted with that damned song, again, and she glanced down at the screen through the mish-mash of tape he could spot even at a distance.
‘I have to take this.’
What was with her phone and its godforsaken timing? He bit back a few choice words as she turned away and lowered her voice.
‘Chase?’
Seth’s gaze followed the gradual drop of her shoulders, the whitening of her knuckles as her grip tightened around the phone that, it seemed, had more than enough battery to spare.
‘I’m coming. I don’t care what he says, dammit! Tell me where you are.’ She grabbed a pen and notebook from her pocket and scribbled in it before ending the call.
‘What was that all about?’
‘It was Chase.’
He tapped his foot and his rising irritation. ‘I got that much.’
Mobile in one hand, Bec’s car keys in the other, she headed for the door. ‘There’s been another Night Terror killing.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘Not we.’
Was it always going to be uphill with her?
‘Yes, we.’ He grabbed his jacket. ‘I have more right to be there than you. You’re banned from the case, remember? But I’m media. I’m expected.’
She opened her mouth, then clamped it, leaving the door open behind her as she stalked through it and down the hall.
A mottled black-and-grey cat wrapped its body around her ankles, almost causing her to trip. ‘Hey, Tumbles.’
She slowed, crouched, scratched its head and neck as the creature purred and bucked against her fingers.
From nowhere, a growl erupted from the back of Seth’s throat. The cat’s head jerked up, copper eyes wide as its body tensed. Jayda hugged the animal to her thigh as she shot him a less than amused look. His jaw clenched. Had he completely lost his mind? Jealous of a damned feline, no less.
He slammed the door, and this time the cat didn’t hesitate. With what he could only describe as a drunken stagger, it fled down the hall, one of its back legs jutting out at the most ridiculous angle.
Two men appeared through the fire door, saving him from another of her wilting stares. One was Mediterranean, in designer sunglasses and gym gear. The other wore white-collar garb, was slighter and paler, but he guessed most women would find his chiselled features and mismatched eyes, one blue and one green, intriguing.
‘Maldita gata! Where are you off to now?’ The cat disappeared around the corner. Mediterranean Man slipped the glasses off and into his pocket, squinting as he turned towards them. ‘Jayda! Where have you been hiding? We’ve missed you.’ He engulfed her in his arms. She buried her face in his over-tanned neck and hugged back.
Something wrenched deep in Seth’s gut.
‘Hey.’ The man cupped her head in his palms and stared down at her with a depth of emotion Jayda unquestioningly returned. ‘What’s up?’
Their gazes melded. Her lips trembled as she wordlessly shook her head.
Her shaky fingers rubbed at the stain her makeup had left on his shoulder, but he took her hand in his. ‘Looks like you’re in need of some TLC.’ Again she sank into his arms.
Seth and the other man might not have been there, for all the acknowledgement they received.
He pulled at the neck of his jumper. ‘We should be going.’ He heard the bark in his voice, and couldn’t prevent the glare he was sure accompanied it.
She barely reacted, remaining comfortably ensconced within the curve of tanned sinew and muscle as they all turned their attention towards him.
‘If we don’t leave now, we’ll be late.’ The bark was still there, and he didn’t try to hide it.
‘A date?’ The man, his arm still circling her shoulders, sounded excited with the idea.
Jayda’s head jerked back. ‘Hardly!’
The severity of her response made Seth flinch as her fingers dug into her front jeans pocket. ‘Seth’s a reporter. We’re investigating the Night Terror together.’
Her gaze met and mingled with his for one brief second. Seth’s gut clenched, the ground falling away beneath his feet as he tumbled deep into lush shimmering rainforests. Then she snatched her gaze away, and something inside him was lost.
Her hand waved carelessly towards him, ‘Seth Friedin,’ then moved to muscle-man, ‘Juz Callum,’ and the other invisible man, ‘Garry Wallace.’
They all nodded, his wooden and forced, Juz’s unashamedly curious, and Garry’s difficult to read.
‘Where are you off to, if it’s not a hot date?’
For the first time since throwing herself into his arms, Jayda shot daggers towards Juz. ‘Crime scene.’
‘Another woman?’ It was the first time Garry had spoken, his voice soft and low, with an accent Seth couldn’t quite pick. Eastern European, perhaps?
Jayda nodded, and was it his imagination or did Garry lean in with more interest than before?
‘Dios!’ Juz’s tanned fingers squeezed Jayda’s shoulder in an obvious show of comfort. ‘But aren’t you off the case?’
Garry’s eyes seemed to glint. Or was Seth over-reacting? Regardless, he felt his scalp prickle.
Jayda’s chin jutted upwards in that ‘take no prisoners’ look of hers. ‘Only officially.’
There was nothing but mild interest from Garry now as the conversation continued, once again completely disregarding him.
Seth shook off his thoughts. He was being ridiculous.
Nevertheless, he made a mental note to check the guy out. He wasn’t on a lease in the building, but he knew Jayda. No stone unturned.
Juz smiled, his entire face splitting into a contrast of fluoride white and tanned brown. ‘Jayda, you’re all guts.’
‘Great visuals, Juz.’ They shared a chuckle.
Enough. Maybe Garry was happy b
eing passed over, but he wasn’t.
‘Jayda.’
The bow in her lips flattened. ‘We should go.’
She shared a final hug with Juz then moved on to Garry. The man looked plain awkward with the intimate gesture, or was it just with her?
‘Will I see you both tomorrow?’
‘You need ask? I’m here if you want to talk. And for the next couple of weeks while the gym’s closed, I’m even more available. Visit. I’ll even buy a bottle of lolly-water for you.’
Her lips quirked, her eyes glowing before she turned to Seth. The glow dimmed, and her hand dug deep into her pocket once more. ‘Ready?’
He’d been ready to leave since the moment they arrived. ‘Yep.’
‘Great to meet you’ pleasantries were exchanged, Juz’s appraisal as he shook Seth’s hand too intense for comfort.
Jayda headed towards the stairwell, the lift doors still taped shut by yesterday’s ‘out of order’ sign. Something sharp and acidic hit his nostrils, like paint thinner. His gaze lifted up to the air vent above his head. An artist, perhaps, in a nearby apartment?
Jayda pushed at the heavy fire door, her impatience as she held it open for him so obvious it grated.
‘Coming?’
‘If only,’ he muttered.
‘What?’ Her gaze was sharp and unimpressed.
‘I said, hold your damn horses.’
‘That’s what I thought you said.’
She let the door go and he caught it, slipping through, leaving it to slam behind him. Taking the steps two at a time, she was already on the second set of stairs when he began negotiating his first. Damned if he’d run to keep up with her.
The blood firing through his veins had nothing to do with exertion.
‘Eric!’
Automatically, his steps quickened. He almost flew down the last set of stairs to join Jayda and her neighbour at the bottom.
What was it today? Was the entire damn building on the prowl?
‘Seth, you remember Eric?’ Her expression warned him before she turned back to the other man. ‘I have a computing question for you.’
Lethal in Love Page 21