Outfox

by Sandra Brown

  “But he’s role-playing. He’s condescending. Behind his hand, he’s snickering at everyone who falls for his act. He’s had nine personas that I know of, but they all originated and were governed by the same distorted psyche, in which he’s far superior to everyone else, and rules do not apply to him.”

  “I feel so stupid, so foolish.”

  “Don’t, Talia. He played you brilliantly. ‘Not tonight, honey’? Fine. He was the perfect gentleman about it. The epitome of consideration. Never got pissed off, never complained, ultimately stopped asking. Right?”

  She gave a small, self-conscious nod.

  “That fell right into step with the way he wanted your relationship to be. He mastered without being masterful. What wife would complain about such an ideal husband? That closet, those pristine drawers made you want to scream, but you didn’t, because most wives would regard it a miracle if, for once, their slob of a husband picked up his dirty underwear from off the bathroom floor.

  “Jasper deliberately used words and phrases that were disturbing, then contrasted them with utmost thoughtfulness. That kept you off balance. Made you…What was the word you used today? Watchful. That was the turn-on of all turn-ons to him. He sensed your mounting wariness. Nurturing it was his foreplay.”

  “Leading to what?”

  “Killing.”

  “Nucking futs,” Mike mouthed.

  Distressed, she hugged the pillow closer. “I’ll never forgive myself for not heeding my instincts and saying something, doing something, sharing my misgivings with Elaine. If I had, she might still be alive.”

  “And you would be dead.”

  After Drex’s sobering declaration, a silence ensued. Then Gif said, “No doubt he would then have turned to Elaine for condolence.”

  “And snuffed her, too,” Mike said.

  “That’s one of the points I want to broach with you,” Drex said. “These circumstances were different from all the previous ones. This time there were two women. One, he married. Marian Harris was also a departure from the norm.”

  “In what way?” Gif asked.

  Drex stood up and went over to the eating bar that separated the living area from the kitchenette. He planted his hands on the surface of it and used his arms as struts.

  “I don’t think he buried Marian alive by mistake. I think he had become bored with his routine and wanted to try something new. He challenged himself. He wanted to see if he could do it and get away with it. And so far he has.

  “Talia represented another challenge. She wasn’t middle aged, wasn’t meek or insecure, wasn’t an heiress. Not at all like her predecessors, she was much younger, more beautiful, and her fortune was self-made. Could he lure a woman like that? Or, better yet, the biggest coup of all, get her to marry him? He succeeded.

  “He was introduced to Elaine. Independently, she wouldn’t have been a challenge. But going for two? Two who knew each other, were friends, who saw each other frequently and could compare notes about him?

  “Ah, that was a risk to beat all risks. Even riskier than leaving Marian to die on her own before someone heard her screams. The challenge of Talia and Elaine combined was too tempting to resist. Dare he try?” Drex dropped his head between his shoulders. “He did, and has accomplished half his goal.”

  No one behind him moved. No one spoke. Finally, Gif said, “This is his way of escalating.”

  “I believe so. It’s his middle-age crazy we talked about. He’s taking chances he’s never taken before, and it scares me shitless.” He paused, then said, “See if you can get Locke on the phone.”

  As Drex predicted, the other three in the room reacted to the request with a start. Before anyone could ask why or object, he said, “We need somebody inside, feeding us information, and keeping us updated. Rudkowski? Forget it. Lost cause. Do either of you have a contact in any of the FBI offices in South Carolina?”

  They replied with shakes of their heads.

  “So you can’t call in any favors. Besides, you can bet that Rudkowski has by now soured them on all of us. Same goes for Charleston PD, sheriff’s office, state police, Homeland Security. Every law enforcement agency.”

  “Locke is a member of that fraternity,” Mike said.

  “As well as Menundez,” Talia said.

  “Yes, but you heard them talking when they were alone in your study.” He briefed Mike and Gif on what he and Talia had overheard from inside the safe room. “They saw through Rudkowski’s bluster and neither likes him. Us, they admire. I believe Menundez would jump at the chance to assist.”

  “So why not call him instead?” Mike asked.

  “Because Locke is more experienced, more mature, the deeper thinker, the less impulsive, the more senior guy, and, for all those reasons, that’s who we need.”

  Gif hesitated, but took his phone out, went to his log of recent calls, and placed one to Locke. “Put it on speaker,” Drex said, then pointed to a place on the bar, and that’s where Gif set the phone. He scooted his chair closer to the bar and resumed his seat.

  Mike stayed where he was. Talia moved to Drex’s side. He turned his head toward her and spoke softly. “Sorry I had to put you through that.”

  “It was healthy for me, actually. Better than keeping it bottled up. I want him expunged, Drex.”

  “Me too.”

  She searched his eyes. “You put yourself through much worse, didn’t you? In that dark room for hours with the door shut?”

  “That’s what they pay me for.”

  “They did.”

  He gave her a wan smile just as Locke answered with his name, sounding world-weary.

  Drex addressed the phone and identified himself. “Can you talk to me without an audience?”

  “Give me five minutes and call back.”

  “Nope. Now or never. Yes or no? I made off with your material witness. Don’t you want to know why I called?”

  “To negotiate a prisoner exchange?”

  “All right, be an ass. Goodbye.”

  “Wait!” They heard muttered cursing, followed by a lengthy pause, some muffled sounds, then, “Okay, I’m alone. Why did you call?”

  “Do you think Jasper Ford killed Elaine? And please don’t give me the toe-the-department-line answer. Yes or no?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s good news. Bad news is that you’re never going to catch him by looking for him.”

  “How’s that?”

  “You’re going through the routine. Airlines. Rental car companies. Hotel check-ins. Tell me I’m wrong.”

  Silence.

  “What I thought,” Drex said. “Listen to me. He is no longer Jasper Ford. He’s somebody else. He’s undergone so complete a transformation that you wouldn’t know him if he walked up to you and grabbed you by the balls.” He let Locke think on that, which the detective did without comment. Drex continued. “He left the airport with his roll-aboard. Did he leave it behind in the taxi?”

  “No.”

  “Was it found on the yacht?”

  “No.”

  “It was in the car.”

  “Mrs. Ford had his car.”

  Drex explained to the detective his theory that Jasper had left a spare car near the hotel where the taxi had dropped him. “An innocuous vehicle that can never be traced to him. He used it to get around that night. Inside it was that suitcase. Jasper swam ashore, but it was another person who left the beach.”

  “You’re guessing.”

  Drex rubbed his forehead. “I went on a trip this afternoon, into this sick shit’s head. He wanted everybody to think that Jasper Ford had been lost at sea. Do you agree?”

  “Okay.”

  “He could not risk Jasper Ford ever being seen again. Jasper Ford had to cease to exist just like his previous incarnations did. He changed his appearance and his identity somewhere out there on the beach.”

  “Search parties have been combing the beaches—”

  “You won’t find so much as a gum wrapper. He�
�s sanitary. Meticulous. Freakin’ anal. He put everything back into the suitcase. What he did with it after that, I don’t know. But it contained everything he needed to transform himself into someone else.”

  “All right, for the sake of argument—”

  “I’m not being argumentative for the sake of argument, Locke,” he said with heat. “I want to catch him, but I can’t fly blind. I’m trying to impress upon you that if you want him, toss the handbook on police methodology into the nearest trash can.” He took a breath. “But I’m listening. What was your argument?”

  “If he did change his appearance, everything you said, we’ve already lost him. He’s gone.”

  Drex looked over at Gif. “Gif said that this morning. He surmised that Jasper was probably long gone even before Elaine’s body washed ashore. I didn’t take issue with that supposition, because, at the time, I thought it likely. I don’t any longer.”

  “Why not?” the detective asked.

  “Because I put myself in Jasper’s place, and came up with three reasons why I wouldn’t leave the vicinity right away. First, if I had successfully pulled off a plan that intricate, it would be irresistible to me to enjoy it. It would be like skipping the fireworks after the championship win. He wants to bask in the glow of the fallout he’s created. The last local newscast I saw, he’s being described as a person of interest in Elaine’s death.”

  “It was decided to hold back on naming him a suspect. We still can’t put him on the yacht or in the dinghy. It’s been tossed around that an unknown third party was aboard.”

  “If they follow that line of thinking, he’ll get away. Locke, you’ve got to convince somebody that this isn’t a man who woke up yesterday morning and decided to knock off a lady friend. It’s not a love triangle gone south. Not even common thievery. He didn’t act on impulse.

  “I promise you that he’s been plotting this for a while. Having talked to Talia about his recent behavior, I believe the discovery of Marian Harris’s grave served as his catalyst.”

  “Detective?” Talia said.

  “Mrs. Ford?” Locke exclaimed. “I didn’t realize you were listening in. Are you all right?”

  “If you’re asking if I came with Drex by choice, yes. There was no coercion on his part.” She paused. “But I feel badly about the awkward position I’ve placed you and Mr. Menundez in. Last night you treated me kindly through a difficult experience. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said stiffly. “What do you think about Easton’s conjectures?”

  “I don’t disagree with anything. In fact, he’s opened my eyes to much that I chose not to see. With no offense intended toward your department or any law enforcement agency, I believe you should listen to him and act on his advice.”

  The detective sighed. “Easton, you said there were three reasons why you think he’d stick around. What’s the second?”

  “To kill Talia.”

  Drex’s candor took Locke aback. He cleared his throat before asking her if Jasper had ever threatened her.

  “No.”

  “Did you ever feel threatened by implication or—”

  “No,” she replied, interrupting him. “That’s what makes it so terrifying to me now. He had some odd habits, but I didn’t perceive them as aberrant characteristics or take them as the warning signs I should have.”

  “We don’t have time for her to rehash what she’s already told me about their relationship,” Drex said. “Just take my word for it. He won’t leave here with her still living. It would be untidy.”

  “He’s right, detective,” she said. “I’ve lived with Jasper. I know his habits. He won’t leave me as a loose thread.”

  “To say nothing of her dough,” Mike said.

  “Who’s that?” Locke asked.

  “Mallory.”

  “So the gang’s all there?”

  “Hello,” Gif said.

  “You know you’re all screwed,” the detective said. “Rudkowski has vowed to see to it. Is it true that—”

  “Look,” Drex interrupted. “We’ll sort all that out when we have to. Right now, we’ve got to figure out a way to draw Jasper into the open.”

  Locke said, “You didn’t get to the third reason why you think he’s still in the neighborhood.”

  “Ego.”

  Drex pushed himself off the bar and went to stand at one of the narrow windows on either side of the front door. He twirled the wand to open the blinds. “He knows I’m on to him. Doesn’t make any difference to him whether or not I carry a badge, he knows I’m after him and, because of the trouble I went to with that impersonation of a writer, he must have some inkling of my determination to nail him.

  “But he pulled a fast one on me. He plotted and executed a humdinger of a murder. He duped Talia. He had me chasing my tail. He somehow swayed Elaine. None of us saw it coming. I didn’t see it coming, and I should have. He outsmarted me, and he’ll want to rub my nose in it.”

  “Okay, but how?” Locke asked. “By killing Talia?”

  That was the question that had tormented Drex that afternoon as he lay in the dark and focused on his quarry. If he were Jasper, would he want to dispatch Talia right away and be done with it? The game would be over. Where would the fun in that be?

  “What I think,” he said slowly, “is that he’ll want me to worry about her, to fret over when and how he’ll strike. He’ll want to keep her on edge and afraid, too.”

  “You’re contradicting yourself,” Mike said grouchily. “You just argued that he wouldn’t leave until he’d taken care of her.”

  “But not yet.” Drex stared out into the rain. “In order to get my attention, to let me know that he’s not done with me yet, that he’s still pulling the strings, he’ll strike swiftly. But he’ll kill somebody else.”

  Locke exhaled loudly. “Oh, shit.”

  Chapter 30

  Alerted by the detective’s tone, Drex turned away from the window and looked at the phone lying on the bar. “What? Locke? What?”

  Locke started backpedaling. “It’s not his MO. Not at all.”

  Drex crossed to the bar and shouted toward the phone. “What?”

  “A woman was found dead in Waterfront Park.”

  “Near the water, and you say it’s not his MO? He’s sending me a valentine. When did it happen?”

  “First call came in less than an hour ago.”

  “How was she killed?”

  “No visible wounds. No blood. No obvious weapon.”

  “Then why’s she dead?”

  “Her neck was broken. Looks like he killed her barehanded.”

  Drex plowed his fingers through his hair, then held them there, cupping the top of his head.

  Locke said, “But you didn’t hear any of this from me. Other detectives were assigned. It’s their case—”

  “Not anymore. It’s mine.” Drex pushed the phone toward Gif. “Get the details.”

  “He may not want to tell—”

  “Then get them from someone else.”

  Gif picked up the phone and began talking to Locke.

  Drex said to Mike, “Get on your laptop. It may already be online news. Get the buzz.”

  “That’s what it’ll be. Buzz.”

  “Get it anyway.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To bring the car around. Where’s the key?”

  While still talking to Locke, Gif fished the key fob from his pants pocket and tossed it toward Drex. But Talia’s hand shot out and caught it in midair. “I’ll drive,” she said.

  “You’re staying here with Mike.”

  “Half an hour ago, you said you don’t have any contacts in Charleston. You don’t know your way around.”

  “We’ll find our way.”

  “I’m going.”

  “You need to stay here.”

  “No, I need to do this. I need to do this.”

  He tried to stare her into compliance, but realized how unfair that would be. She had o
ffered to help, and she needed to do something to assuage the guilt she felt over Elaine.

  Mike huffed up behind them. “I got the exact location. I’m coming, too.”

  The four of them piled into Gif’s car. Drex rode shotgun, the other two got in back. Talia was driving—speeding—toward the waterfront at the confluence of the Cooper River and the Atlantic, where the so-named park, the pier, and other attractions made the area a destination landmark of Charleston.

  Gif filled them in on what Locke had told him. “Locke says CID is hopping.”

  “CID?” Talia asked.

  “Criminal Investigations Division,” the three men said in unison.

  Gif continued, “Two back-to-back female homicide victims within twenty-four hours sent up red flags.”

  “No shit,” Mike said.

  “Have they identified the victim?” Drex asked.

  “Sara Barker. Her purse was found beneath her, strap was still on her shoulder. Driver’s license, credit cards, all there. Diamond wedding ring on her finger. It’s believed she was attacked from behind as she was about to get into her car.”

  “Age?”

  “Thirty-nine. Having dinner out with three girlfriends. Her husband was at home with their two children, boy, age nine, girl, six.”

  Drex clenched his fist and thumped his forehead with it. “Completely random victim. Something else he hasn’t tried. Or, hell, maybe he has. Maybe he’s killed dozens we don’t know about, and I’ve only spotted the ones that fit a pattern.”

  “Which this one doesn’t,” Mike said. “So you don’t know this was him.”

  “I know,” Drex said. “He’s showing off. Catch me if you can, asshole. That’s what he’s thinking.”

  Talia broke in. “I see an empty space in there.” She pointed out the parking lot of a busy restaurant. “This may be as close as I can get, and we’ll be inconspicuous here.”

  Drex nodded approval. She pulled into the parking lot and claimed the space. The instant she cut the engine, Drex reached for the passenger door handle.

  “Drex, you can’t go,” Gif said. “Neither can Talia. Last thing Locke said, he warned me that Rudkowski would bulldoze his way into this, whether CPD liked it or not. If you’re seen—”