Where once she would’ve walked the streets just to do something, now she sat at home, worrying, wondering, and second-guessing herself.
She got Sierra down early and went to bed herself. But as exhausted as she felt, she spent an hour tossing and turning, unable to settle, before finally getting up and heading back downstairs.
Around eleven, Josh woke to an empty bed. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced around the room trying to wake up. He tossed the covers back and went to look in the bathroom. When he didn’t find her there, he went in search of her.
Downstairs, he spotted a faint flickering light coming from the dining room and followed it, only to see a sullen Skye sitting alone among the soft shadows. She’d lit several candles they kept in the buffet for emergencies, like when the power went out. But as far as he knew the electricity was working just fine. “What are you doing in here?”
“I’m thinking of repainting the walls.”
Puzzled, he went along with the topic and took a seat next to her. “What color?”
She fanned out the wheel of paint chips she’d picked up at the hardware store last month before all this madness had started. “Peach cobbler.”
He wrinkled up his nose. “That sounds like fancy code for pink.”
She smiled. “Okay, what about masada? That’s brown.”
“You want a brown dining room?” He surveyed the paint choices from the fan deck. “I’ll meet you in the middle. What about kangaroo?”
“That’s tan.”
“It’s better than brown.”
“I think Jennifer’s still alive. I feel it in my bones. But we need to find her…and fast. I’m not sure how to do that yet. The video gave us nothing to indicate her location. And it was taken days ago. Reggie said that server feed bounced all over the place.”
Ah, he thought the real reason she was here sitting in what amounted to darkness. He touched her hair, enjoying the silky texture between his fingers. “Then we’ll have to up our game.”
She shifted in her chair to rest her head on the top of his. “It breaks my heart. We’re sitting here in a lovely home surrounded by warmth and comfort. That video showed Jennifer is suffering. We need to get to her before it’s too late.”
“He’ll keep her around as long as he’s getting off on the torture.”
“But she’ll have to endure that torture to survive and then…hope she can recover from its aftermath.”
“We’ll find her, Skye.”
“We should be doing more now,” she stated, her tone tinged with frustration. “There’s a part of me that thinks we’re failing.”
“Don’t let that part win. You can’t blame yourself for the evil of others.”
“But these women, the ones he targets and abducts, these women are in their own homes. They aren’t bothering him. Why does he pick them? Why does he take them? There’s something we’re missing. The victimology should be telling us more.”
He put his arms around her shoulders. “Come to bed. The best thing you need right now is sleep. He’s counting on us to fail, Skye. We can’t be at our best without sleep.”
Sniffling, she got up to blow out the candles. “You’re right. But I can’t get that image out of my head. Jennifer. Alone. Cold. Possibly dying. The question is, do we tell Deborah what we saw? Do we give her a sliver of hope, fleeting as it is? Or do we keep the information from her?”
“I’ve always thought a sliver of hope is better than nothing. Besides, I personally think she’s strong enough to see the video. At least she’ll know her daughter was kept alive after she left the apartment.”
“What good will that do? Jennifer could be dead right now. You know it’s true.”
He stood up, took her hand to lead her back to bed. “We won’t solve anything here tonight. He may have the advantage for now, but he won’t have it forever. Keep that thought at the forefront. Patience.”
She smiled. “I’ve never been very good at that.”
“Me either. But Jennifer’s counting on us to get the upper hand and keep it. We can’t do that without…”
“Sleep. I get it. A pep talk and all. Thanks.”
“No problem. If you’re having trouble sleeping, I know a great remedy for that.”
She smiled again as he nibbled her ear. “Where was this an hour ago? You couldn’t wait to get to sleep.”
“But now, I’m wide awake.”
“Yeah? Me too. We should make the most of it.”
Twelve
Mornings at the farmhouse could be chaotic but this day got off to an earlier start than usual. Sierra woke before dawn, something she rarely did at her age unless she was sick.
Restless and fussier than usual, the girl seemed almost agitated. Skye tried to bring her into bed with them, but the child refused to settle long enough to go back to sleep.
Atka wasn’t much better. The dog paced back and forth in the room in front of the closed door.
“What’s wrong with Sierra?” Josh asked, eyes closed, still in foggy dreamland.
“She’s wide awake. Go back to sleep, no sense in both of us being bleary-eyed by noon.”
“You sure?” But even as he asked, he was already dozing.
After fifteen more minutes of trying to get Sierra to go back to sleep without success, Skye finally gave up. She tossed the covers back, bundling Sierra in a ball to take her back down the hallway to her own bedroom.
Sierra’s toddler bed had a canopy over it with twinkle lights strung from top to bottom. Skye realized now they might’ve gone overboard with the whole starry theme, but Sierra seemed to get a kick out of going to bed these days, especially when her bed was all lit up in sparkles.
Except for now.
Skye checked her for fever, looked in her throat for signs of red spots, but found nothing to indicate that the baby was coming down with a sore throat or cold.
“Let’s you and mommy get in a little mother/daughter time,” Skye whispered in Sierra’s ear as she carried her down the back staircase and into the kitchen. The dog trotted after them. “Just the three of us this morning.”
She let Sierra down to play, then let the dog out. While she put on a pot of coffee, she mulled over what to fix for breakfast. “Want pancakes or French toast?”
“Pancakes!” Sierra shouted as she dragged, then pushed, her toybox into the middle of the room closer to where Skye stood near the counter.
“Honey, you don’t need to do that. Your toys are fine where they are. We put them in that corner so they’d be out of the way of the traffic lane in the kitchen.”
But the girl shook her head. “No! We need to be closer.”
“Okay,” Skye muttered as she got down the pancake mix from the pantry and set out the other ingredients from the fridge.
While sipping her first shot of caffeine, she wondered if this was another phase of separation anxiety that kids went through. Children were such a learning curve, she decided as she cracked eggs into a bowl and measured out milk for the batter.
Atka came back in and went right to her food dish, gobbling up breakfast, one loud crunch at a time.
Josh had already showered by the time he came down forty-five minutes later. “What’s with the toybox in the middle of the floor?”
“Ask your daughter.”
When he started to move it back into the corner, Sierra let out a shriek that reverberated off the walls. “No! We need to be closer, not that far away.”
Skye handed him a mug of coffee. “What’s up with that?”
“Not a clue. Any pancakes left? I’m starving.” But his cell phone interrupted, which was never good a good omen at six-forty-five in the morning. He looked at the readout, then grunted, “International call from Japan.” He and his coffee disappeared into the dining room to take care of whatever problem had come up in Tokyo.
Skye flipped two pancakes onto a plate for Sierra and set it on the table. She began to cut the short stack into small bites. “Leave your blocks and come eat.”
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Without a fuss, Sierra slid into her chair. But instead of digging into the food, she put her elbows on the table and looked up adoringly at Skye.
“What’s up with you, Sprout? You’re acting like something’s on your mind. You’re not upset that Mimi and Paw-paw are coming here to sit with you, are you?”
She shook her head. “Kiya says she’s going with you today. You and daddy need the wolf.”
Skye stopped pouring batter onto the griddle and glanced over at her daughter. “What do you mean?”
“Kiya’s going to help you and daddy catch the bad man. Like always before.”
“Really? Are you okay with that? With Kiya leaving you for a few days?”
“Uh-huh. I still have Atka. And Atka’s almost like Kiya.”
Skye went over to the table and ran her hands through Sierra’s thick mane of raven hair. She cradled the little head into her chest. “You’re growing up too fast. You know that? You’re such a big girl.”
“What’s going on?” Josh asked as he took a plate and forked up a tall stack of hotcakes.
“Kiya’s gonna help,” Sierra stated as she began to attack the food on her plate with vigor. “The bad man with the scruffy face is…too…scary.”
Josh traded looks with his wife. “Are we leaving here today with Kiya? Is that what I’m hearing?”
“Seems like. Those two, Sierra and Kiya, have decided.”
“We’ve decided,” Sierra repeated. “You need Kiya.”
“Are you okay…?” Josh began.
But Skye had already traveled down that road. “She seems to know the wolf won’t be with her for the next couple of days. Besides, she has Atka and your mom and dad. Whatever happens next, our circle will close around her for protection.”
Josh’s face relaxed as he spread his arms out wide. “Hey, as far as I’m concerned, welcome back Kiya. And how great are grandparents? Grandparents all-around are a Godsend.”
Over the rim of her mug, Skye sent him a smile. “We figured that part out early on, didn’t we?”
“We had to. Because when things got crazy around here, we knew we could count on our parents to look after Sierra in a pinch.”
“They seemed to eat it up. Not once have our parents ever turned us down.”
“That’s the bonus.”
When the doorbell rang, Josh grinned. “God bless ’em, they must’ve caught the early ferry. If I know Dad, you’d better make up more batter. Dad loves his pancakes. We’ll need to brief them on everything we know so far about this new case.”
Nothing pleased Skye more than having a full table, lots of people sitting around providing input and laughter. It warmed her to the core to know she could hunt down killers with no heart or soul and then return to this environment for her comfort and joy.
With his crop of gray hair, Doug had a distinguished look about him. Ever the snappy dresser, he liked to wear khakis and button-down shirts. But when it came to playing with his granddaughter at the park, the man could roll around in the dirt with the best of them.
Phyllis wasn’t quite as adventurous. Her hair was always in a meticulous coif, probably due to the standing appointment at the beauty salon she kept every Wednesday, no matter what. She wore a string of pearls with almost every outfit she owned. And could, on any given day, get a bridge game going after making a few phone calls. But no matter her schedule, she always made time to spend with her only grandchild.
The two doting grandparents had become quick learners in Native American lore, boning up on anything and everything about spirit guides. No surprises for them when Sierra and Kiya would go back and forth, loud and boisterous.
“You should probably be on alert, keep your eyes and ears open today,” Josh suggested. “Stay close to the house.”
“But it’s such a pretty day,” Phyllis said in protest. “The temperatures will be almost seventy. Surely you don’t intend for us to sit here in the house all day. Besides, I thought Sierra could use a nice picnic in the backyard with her Mimi and Paw-paw around lunchtime.”
“Okay, but no farther than the dock,” Josh reiterated. “This guy might be lurking who knows where.”
“You really think this man comes from a wealthy background?” Doug asked.
Thinking about their killer getting that close to Sierra made Skye uneasy. She picked at the food on her plate. “Based on the like-new, expensive equipment he uses, we do. We ran serial numbers from his stuff that we’ve captured so far through the system to see if it might’ve been stolen, but nothing matches up to a report. That leaves only one option, he buys the stuff.”
Phyllis let out a deflated sound. “Another serial killer. It doesn’t seem fair that our beautiful state has had so many of them.”
“Correction, Mom. Washington state doesn’t have a monopoly on these types. The entire country is overloaded with these kinds of warped minds,” Josh said. “I’m all for keeping our options open, but I’m concerned that this guy might be ramping up in a major way.”
Skye looked at the unfinished pancake on her plate and pushed it aside. “I think he’s fed up with his crimes not getting any attention, tired of not getting credit. He wants to change the game.”
“That’s a horrifying idea,” Doug stated with disgust. “I don’t know how you both do what you do.”
Skye laid a hand on Sierra’s head. “We do it because we know what’s out there. We’ve seen it before. And because we don’t want that kind of evil touching her world, we go after them.” She thought of Jennifer Mack. “There are others who aren’t as fortunate.”
“You’re right,” Doug noted. “We’ll be as cautious as you guys are.”
“More so,” Josh stated. “Dad, I want you aware at all times no matter where you are. Here. Your house. Taking the ferry back to Seattle. Even the grocery store. Don’t let your guard down. Be aware of your surroundings.”
“You can count on your mother and me.”
Later that morning after the minivan rolled onto the ferry leaving Bainbridge, Skye lowered her window and lifted her face to the breeze blowing across Puget Sound. It was the clearest fall day she could remember in some time. Not a cloud anywhere.
She leaned back to enjoy the ride and could feel the sweet essence of Kiya’s presence wash over her. For the first time in months, the wolf’s energy began to thud through her veins. That warm, familiar feeling comforted her just as it had so many times before since childhood. “Can you feel her? Can you feel the spirit of the wolf?”
“For me, it’s like an inner fire re-igniting that you didn’t know was missing.”
“This is what our daughter feels, the contentment that lends itself to such self-confidence. For the first time in days, I feel hopeful we’ll catch this bastard.”
****
Eleanor Trainor had no idea a serial killer had been lurking around her neighborhood. But when Phillip kept going on about his encounter with the man in the woods, she decided to do her civic duty and report the incident to the police.
That’s how Harry heard about it. His contact in the department passed the information along to him in a private email with a list of weird calls they’d had from the neighborhood about break-ins and a peeping Tom looking into windows.
Harry stood in the breakroom with Skye relaying what he’d learned. “I figure it’s worth checking out. It might be our guy. After all, the incident freaked the boy out and the kid that was with him enough that they couldn’t shut up about it. I asked my former partner to keep his ears open for any reports that sounded strange. And this topped the list. You want I should go out there and talk to the kid?”
“This happened in Phinney Ridge? We were just there last night. The woods where this happened is only four blocks from where we grabbed the laptop at the old service station. The proximity makes me think you should be there to talk to the boy as soon as he gets out of school this afternoon.”
“Will do.”
“How’s Deborah holding up?”
&nb
sp; “Why are you asking me?”
“Because she mentioned this morning when she got here that you took her to dinner last night and dropped her back at the hotel.” She elbowed him in the ribs. “She likes you.”
Harry swung the pot of coffee off the warming plate and poured himself another cup. “We both had to eat.”
“You’re a sweet man,” Skye said, leaning in to plant a kiss on his cheek. “Right now, you’re the best medicine for her, you know that, right?”
Harry bobbed his head in acknowledgment. “I think she’s been that for me since I pulled my car to the curb at the airport. Her sad eyes pulled me in.”
“I’m glad to hear you admit it. There’s something you should know.” She told him about the video of Jennifer. “Maybe you should be the one to show it to her. Reggie has it in the conference room.”
“How awful did she look?”
“Bad. Drugged.”
“Okay. I’ll ask Deborah if she wants to see it. But I already know, she will.”
“Thanks. I didn’t want to be the one. Any word from the coroner on that torso the city workers found?”
“Not a thing. Still listed as Jane Doe. Still no cause of death. I’ve been rethinking the Clay Spencer thing.”
“And?”
“The police are convinced he’s their man when it comes to Stacey Dysart. They even think he might be responsible for raping more women.”
“Because of what he did in California?”
“Yup. According to my source, after reading Clay’s record and after finding his car at Copalis Beach, Lakin went ape-shit crazy and even got an arrest warrant.”
“I might not be completely in Clayton’s corner, but a warrant? Based on what evidence from Dysart’s crime scene?”
“They found his palm print on her headboard. Which is completely explainable since they had a relationship that included having hot and heavy sex.”
“Wow. If I’m ever accused of murder, I want you in my corner. Clayton really is in deep doo-doo, isn’t he?”
“His parents are beside themselves. They haven’t slept since he went missing. Meanwhile, I’m ticking them off because I’m spending time on the Jennifer Mack case instead of looking for Clay.”
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