The Coldest Fear

One king bed.

“You take the bed,” he said, noting her gaze there as he locked the door. He crossed the room and rummaged in the mini fridge, found a bottle of beer and collapsed on the sofa.

“If you’re not officially on the task force, then you’re tracking Weller on your own.”

He shrugged. “Aren’t you doing the same thing?”

Rather than answer him, she pitched another question at him. “You’ve watched Zacharias since you arrived?”

Her real question was pretty clear. How did he get away or get himself injured and maybe dead with you watching? God she needed a shower. And sleep. It was three-thirty in the morning. She couldn’t think clearly anymore. Maybe she hadn’t been thinking clearly in a long time.

Rather than answer her question, he opened the beer and chugged a long swallow. When the need for oxygen overrode his desire for alcohol, he lowered the bottle and wiped his mouth with the back of his other hand.

Finally he said, “The local cops interviewed Zacharias on Wednesday, as did the Bureau. I tried to question him this morning—” he glanced at the clock by the bed “—technically yesterday morning, round eight. He wouldn’t talk to me. Just before dark, five-thirty maybe, a local courier service picked up a small package at his front door. I followed the guy to see where the package was going. By the time I got back to Zacharias’s house he was long gone or he appeared to be.” He shrugged. “I took advantage of the unoccupied house for sale across the street. I’ve been watching his place since, waiting for him to come back or for the right opportunity to get inside. At some point I guess I fell asleep. When I woke up I saw your car and decided to find out what you were up to.”

“So you lied to me earlier,” she accused, “when you said you were already in the house when I arrived.”

He waved off her charge. “There wasn’t time to explain all the nuances involved so I ad-libbed.”

Bobbie let his lie go for the moment. The way he referred to the Bureau—as if his decisions and theirs were mutually exclusive—reiterated her feeling that Agent LeDoux’s career was like hers, teetering on the brink of disaster. Bobbie crouched down and dug through her bag for the clean underwear she’d packed.

“So you never saw Zacharias when the courier went to the door?”

“I did not. I suppose anyone could have given the guy the package.” He downed another long swallow of beer. “But I never saw anyone else go in or come out of the house.”

She tucked the panties into her back pocket and got to her feet. “Who was the package addressed to?”

He lifted his shoulders in another listless shrug. “Who knows? The courier refused to tell me the name.”

“You stopped him?” Jesus Christ. LeDoux really was flirting with the edge.

“I followed him to the service center parking lot, showed him my credentials and told him I needed to see the package. He told me to get a warrant.”

“Did you inform the agent in charge of the task force?” The package could be headed to wherever Weller was hiding. Anticipation had her pulse pounding. “This might be a major lead in finding Weller.”

Rather than answer, LeDoux finished his beer and went for another. Images of Weller’s numerous victims filtered one after the other through her mind like flipping the pages of a macabre family album. Randolph Weller, aka the Picasso Killer, wasn’t just another serial killer. He’d spent most of his adult life as a celebrated, highly respected psychiatrist whose secret hobby was mutilating the corpses of his victims and then painting macabre scenes of the carnage. More shocking, the sick son of a bitch had served as a consultant to the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit—still did, or at least he had until he escaped. Weller was also a father. Images of Nick flashed through her mind. Unlike his father, Nick had spent his adult life stopping the most ruthless serial killers, the ones no one else appeared able to find. He’d found the one who’d stolen Bobbie’s life. The Storyteller. She flinched. Hoped LeDoux hadn’t noticed.

“The Bureau has no fucking idea where he is.” LeDoux grunted. “They’ve torn Atlanta apart. Can’t find him.” He shook his head and downed more of his beer. “Zacharias gave them zip. He’s sticking by his attorney-client-privilege bullshit.”

“What about the package, LeDoux?” she repeated, impatience swelling inside her.

He lifted a bleary gaze to hers and exhaled a big breath. “He wouldn’t tell me who the recipient was, but—” the hint of a smile tugged at his lips “—for a hundred bucks he gave me the address.”

“Where?”

The smile made a full appearance. “The same place I’m headed after a few hours’ sleep. Savannah. I would’ve left already but I guess I was actually waiting for you. I knew you’d show up eventually.”

“Savannah?” She ignored the remark about him waiting for her. Why would Weller risk staying in the state of Georgia? Savannah was only three or four hours away. “That makes no sense.”

“Who knows? But I’m damned sure going to find out.” LeDoux laughed, the sound as weary as she felt. “That’s why I brought my car back here and took a cab to Zacharias’s house. In case the courier grew a conscience and decided to report me.”

At least that cleared up her question about how he’d followed the courier and why he didn’t have a rental car.

“You’re here,” he went on, “we have a lead. You going with me?” He tipped up his second bottle of beer and finished it off.

Either LeDoux had gone rogue or his new assignment was to keep her off track. Considering his apparent need to inhale those beers, maybe if she nudged him enough he’d slip up and reveal his true objective.

She chose her words carefully. “The FBI is still suspicious of Nick?”

Just saying the words out loud had anger stirring inside her. Bobbie had no idea exactly how many killers Nick had stopped in the past decade but the FBI wanted to label him a vigilante. The man was anything but. He hadn’t taken a single life...until just over twenty-four hours ago. Montgomery PD had cleared him of any wrongdoing in Steven Devine’s death. If Nick hadn’t stopped the bastard who had used being a cop as a cover for what he really was—a cold-blooded murderer—he would have killed both of them. Devine had already taken five lives, including a fellow cop she’d loved like a brother.

Bobbie pushed the memories of Asher Bauer away. No looking back until this is done.

“There are those who want to take him down,” LeDoux acknowledged, “but they have no proof. All they can do is watch and wait for him to fuck up. They got nothing on Shade and nothing on Weller. You and I are the only ones with a lead.”

She wanted to rant about the injustice of it all. Nick was a hero. “Then I guess we’ll be working together again.” At least as long as it benefited her goal of helping Nick. She didn’t wait for LeDoux to respond. She picked up her cell and headed for the bathroom.

He grabbed her arm as she passed. “We want the same thing, Bobbie. But I’m not sure we can win this.” His thumb rubbed across the scar on her wrist.

“That won’t keep me from trying.” She tugged free of his hold and shut herself up in the bathroom. She placed her clothes, her Glock, the ankle holster with her .22 and her cell on the closed toilet lid and then sagged against the door. She squeezed her eyes shut to block the memories that tried to intrude. The long scars on her wrist burned as if LeDoux had dashed lighter fluid on her skin and lit a match rather than simply touched her there.

The first cut had been long and deep. She hadn’t been able to hold the knife well enough to slash the other wrist so she’d taken the handle between her teeth and sliced as hard and deep as she could. Blood had flowed like a river. The knife had dropped to the floor and she’d slumped against her little boy’s bed and waited for the relief of death.

Only it hadn’t come.

Bobbie opened her weary eyes. Now, despite that horror, she had something more than revenge or just the job to live for. “Where the hell are you, Nick?”

He had no right closing her out like this. He thought he was protecting her, but he was wrong. Forcing herself to move, she turned on the water in the shower and placed a towel over the curtain rod. She watched herself in the mirror as she methodically undressed. Stripping off her sweatshirt first, she dropped it on the floor. Reaching behind her she unfastened her bra, pitched it on the pile. She shucked her jeans and underwear next.

For a long moment she stood staring at her reflection. She made herself inventory the ugly journey she’d taken ten months ago. Every step was carved onto her flesh. The thin line around her throat where a plastic surgeon had repaired the deep groove left behind by the noose she’d worn like a too-tight dog collar for weeks. The marks on her breasts where the monster in her nightmare had cut around her nipples and then sewed them back on like a demented surgeon. The slashes and gouges that had healed into grotesque ridges and shallow craters. The unsightly ridges from the surgery to repair her right leg. The small bulges that gave away the location of the screws and pins that held it together. The things he had done to her on the inside couldn’t be seen, but they were there...always would be.

It was the words tattooed on her back that told the real story. The words she chose not to remove. The words that spilled across her skin in broad black strokes like a tragic monument to all she’d lost.

She had left the story the bastard started on her back to remind her of what she’d done.

Bobbie had chosen to risk her life, but she hadn’t realized until it was too late that she’d put her family at risk, too.

The hot steamy air clouded the mirror, hiding the things she didn’t want to look at. She shook off the pity session and climbed into the shower. As she scrubbed her body and washed the sour smell of worry and desperation from her skin and hair, she considered that the Atlanta PD’s forensic unit would be lifting her prints from Zacharias’s front door. If he was dead she would be a person of interest in the investigation no matter her explanation. Her chief would not take it well.

As much as she didn’t want to hurt him, she couldn’t call in yet. She’d known Chief Theodore Peterson her whole life. He was her godfather. He’d been her father’s best friend, the best man at his wedding. The two had played football together in college, had married the same year, and she’d grown up calling him uncle. Bobbie had to do this and the chief didn’t agree. He wanted her clear of whatever fallout was coming related to Weller’s escape and the inevitable federal investigation into Nick’s actions.

Bobbie shut off the spray of water and climbed out of the shower. As soon as she’d dried off, she checked her cell. Still nothing from Nick. Another missed call from the chief, of course. A text from her sergeant and another from her lieutenant. Both ordered her to return to Montgomery.

Not yet.

She dressed and tucked the phone into her back pocket. Strapped the .22 back to her ankle and nestled her Glock into her waistband. With a deep breath she opened the door and the cooler air made her shiver. Rather than deal with the noise of the hair dryer she took the towel with her to continue rubbing at her damp hair. LeDoux had crashed on the sofa. Four empty beer bottles and an empty bottle of vodka she hadn’t noticed before lay on the floor next to his abandoned loafers.

Bobbie sat down on the end of the bed and watched him sleep as she squeezed the dampness from her hair. LeDoux wasn’t much older than her. She’d turned thirty-two this year; he was thirty-six. His beard-shadowed jaw and the tousled light brown hair that was almost blond added believability to the idea that he was as desperate as she was. The weary man lying only a few feet away was not the hard-ass agent she’d first met last December.

She laughed, a dry sound. Like she was the same naive, ambitious detective she’d been back then. Bobbie tossed the towel aside and went in search of her phone charger. She found it in the bottom of her bag. After scooting aside the night table she was able to unplug the lamp and plug the charger into that slot. Out of habit she checked the lock on the door and turned out the other lights before climbing under the covers. She tucked the Glock under her pillow and kept her cell phone next to her so she could feel it if it vibrated. Maybe she was being paranoid, but if she received a call or a text from Nick—which was highly unlikely but she could hope—she didn’t want LeDoux to know.

Forcing her eyes closed and her mind to quiet, she thought of D-Boy, the dog she had adopted from her negligent neighbor. She missed him. As an adult she’d never had a pet to worry about. She and James, her late husband, had been too busy for a pet and then she’d learned she was pregnant. James had taken up her slack with Jamie, their little boy, during the extra-long hours she dedicated to the job. She missed them both so much. It had taken her a very long time to allow another living creature close. Now she had D-Boy. When she’d decided to come after Nick, she had panicked at first. Who would take care of D-Boy? She couldn’t just leave him locked up in the house, even with plenty of food and water and a doggie door providing access to the backyard. There was no way to calculate how long she would be gone.

She’d called Andy Keller, a lab tech in Montgomery. He was a friend. He’d been only too happy to come pick up D-Boy. He had a pit bull of his own. D-Boy would be fine with Andy.

Bobbie allowed her eyes to close and stopped fighting the need to shut down.

Five

Coventry Court, Norcross, Georgia

6:05 a.m.

Nick Shade pulled on a pair of gloves and knocked on the door. The small brick house was the last in a cul-de-sac, with a yard bordered by trees on three sides. The two neighboring houses were empty, faded for-sale signs leaned precariously in the neglected yards. The driveway of his destination was empty and there was no garage. Overall, the condition of the house was poor at best. The only light or sound inside was a television set to the early-morning news broadcast from an Atlanta station.

If Lawrence Zacharias was in hiding, he’d picked a damned good place for camouflage. No one would look for the affluent, high-powered attorney in these living conditions.

Nick rapped on the door again. Their meeting had been scheduled for six. Either Zacharias was still en route or he wasn’t coming.

Fury twisted in Nick’s chest. Zacharias had ignored his calls and then, around midnight, he’d called to say they needed to meet in person. Zacharias had insisted he must pass along in person information imperative to Nick’s future. If the son of a bitch had ditched him, Nick would hunt him down no matter where he tried to hide. And when he found him, there would be no forgiveness.

If this was a distraction to keep Nick from catching up with Weller, Zacharias would pay for that misstep, as well.

One way or the other, he would end this cat-and-mouse game with Weller.

Nick made his way around to the rear entrance of the house. A small covered deck surrounded by the trees that grew denser behind the house allowed for a reasonable amount of privacy. When the door opened with nothing more than a twist of the knob, a new kind of tension filtered through Nick. He used the flashlight on his phone to confirm the lock had not been tampered with. Not just any lock either. Nick frowned. The door was secured with a state-of-the-art deadbolt set—only it was unlocked.

Inside the meteorologist on the newscast was giving a rundown of the day’s weather. Nick closed the door behind him and listened. No sound beyond the television. He inhaled a deep breath and analyzed the scents permeating the space.

Blood. Human waste. Both smelled fresh.

Defeat nudged him. No matter that he’d arrived on time for the meeting, he was too late.

He scanned the room with the flashlight app. No blood or evidence of foul play in the kitchen. As ramshackle as the house looked outside, the inside was clean with generous amenities. The fixtures were high-end. Nick wondered if Zacharias had used this place as a getaway during the more notorious days in his career.

He had a bad feeling the attorney’s career and likely his life were over.

He moved into the main room and there on a white sheet in the center of the room was Lawrence Zacharias. Weller had gotten here first. He’d taken Zacharias apart as he did all his victims. Nick’s jaw tightened with hatred. Weller started with an arm or a leg. All four limbs were separated at the joints, elbows and knees. Then, the stubs were chopped from the body at the main joint. The torso was divided in half and, finally, he removed the head. Before his incarceration, Weller had only taken victims to use in his art projects. He mutilated their bodies and spread the parts on a white sheet in some grotesque manner and then he painted the scene on a painter’s canvas.

Nick hesitated. One of Weller’s victims hadn’t been an art project. His wife—Nick’s mother—had discovered the kind of monster her husband was. Weller had murdered her and buried her in the backyard when Nick was only ten years old. For the next decade or so he had believed his mother had deserted him...that she hadn’t loved him enough to take him with her.

Just another reason to hate Weller.

Nick searched the house, knowing full well he would find nothing to help in his hunt for the bastard. Weller would have taken anything relevant with him. The only bedroom revealed another victim. This one a younger man. The younger victim’s shirt had survived mostly intact as his body had been chopped into pieces. The previously white polo shirt sported the logo of a well-known courier service.

Moving through the house a second time, Nick found nothing other than the smattering of possessions that apparently made Zacharias feel at home whenever he visited this place. A framed photo of his family sat on a table. Now the family that had deserted him was rid of the scourge on their name.

Nick slipped out the back door and into the darkness. The darkness had always been his closest ally. It was the one thing he could count on. He reached the car he’d parked three blocks away and climbed inside. His only recourse now was to attempt picking up Weller’s trail again. The murders were barely a couple of hours old. He wouldn’t have gotten far.

Several hours ago Bobbie had arrived in Atlanta. She’d gone to Zacharias’s home. The tracking software Nick had installed on her phone gave him her exact location every minute of every day. It wasn’t the same as being near her, but it made him feel better to know where she was and, to some degree, what she was doing.

If she steered clear of him maybe she would stay safe. Bobbie deserved a real life. He could never give her that.

His cell vibrated and Nick checked the screen.

Dwight Jessup.

Jessup was Nick’s resource within the FBI. Their relationship was a tenuous one, but Jessup had not let him down in the six years since they literally ran into each other on an investigation in Minnesota. Nick had been watching his target for weeks when Jessup showed up and accidentally plowed into the house where Nick had set up surveillance. An icy road had been the culprit. Jessup had also facilitated Nick’s way into Bobbie’s life.

He had no business being a part of her life now.

“You have something for me?” Nick asked, going straight to the point.

“The Atlanta field office is about to bring in Anthony LeDoux. The word is they think he has knowledge of your or Weller’s whereabouts. I thought you might want to know.”

Nick had suspected LeDoux was on the edge. The agent was almost as obsessed with stopping Weller as Nick.

“LeDoux is in Atlanta?” If he was here, he had a lead. Nick didn’t know why he was surprised—LeDoux was damned good at his job. At least he had been before almost losing his life to the Storyteller.

“Hold on and I’ll give you his exact location. I just saw the alert.”

Nick slid behind the wheel of the Buick he’d bought in Chattanooga in the middle of the night.

“Here we go,” Jessup said. “He’s at the Country Inn & Suites.”

Nick knew where LeDoux was before Jessup provided the physical address.

Bobbie was there, too.

Six

Something shuddered against her. Bobbie stirred, tried to open her eyes. Too tired. Again that vibrating sensation nudged her. Somehow she pried her eyes open. It was dark. Her heart galloped during the three or four seconds it took for her brain to register where she was.

Hotel. LeDoux.

How would she ever find Nick?

That damned shuddering again.

Phone.

She felt under the cover for her cell. The sound of the shower drew her gaze first to the empty sofa and then in the direction of the bathroom. Light peeked from the crack around the door. LeDoux was in the shower.

What time was it? According to the digital clock on the bedside table it was 6:40 a.m.

Focus, Bobbie. Check your phone.

Text message.

Do not trust LeDoux.

Bobbie blinked and reread the message. Her breath trapped in her throat when her sluggish brain registered the sender’s name.

Nick.

Get away from him! Now!

Bobbie threw back the covers and sat up. She pushed her feet into her sneakers and tucked her cell into her back pocket. She shoved her Glock into her waistband, snatched the charger from the wall, tossed it into her bag and headed for the door. Before walking out she glanced back at the bathroom. The water was still running. The urge to kick the door in and make LeDoux tell her the truth about his intentions assaulted her.

Now! Nick had urged her to hurry.

Bobbie unlocked the door and slipped out.

As badly as she wanted to run she forced herself to walk through the lobby and across the parking lot. She tossed her bag into the back seat of her Challenger, climbed behind the wheel and slipped her Glock into the holster she kept between the seat and the console. At some point she might need to resort to a different vehicle. Her Challenger would be too easy to track. Her chest tightened. The smell of Bauer’s blood still lingered inside it. I’m so sorry.

Taking her time, she rolled out of the parking lot. Instead of heading for the interstate, she drove across the street and pulled into the adjacent parking lot. She chose a spot behind a row of crepe myrtles. She shut off the engine and waited. It was just past seven, still dark.

She stared at her phone and waited for another message from Nick, but nothing came.

Where are you?

She hit Send and held her breath.

Seconds turned into minutes and no response came.

Fingers cold, she placed the phone on the console. Twisting around to dig in her bag, she found the small purse she’d tucked her driver’s license and insurance card into. She pushed it aside and fished through the clothes until she found her hairbrush and a hair tie. It took a minute to untangle her hair and corral it into a ponytail after going to bed with it still damp. Once she’d shoved the brush back into her bag, she relaxed into the seat and watched the street.

Another five minutes passed and then the trouble Nick had warned her about arrived. No blue lights or sirens came. Just the dark, nondescript sedans the FBI preferred along with two Atlanta PD cruisers.

“You son of a bitch.”

Had LeDoux set her up? If she found out he’d killed Zacharias and had relevant insights he was keeping from her, she would make sure he regretted it.

Bobbie scanned the parking lot around her and then the street just to be sure she was still alone. She had a perfect view of the hotel entrance and the official vehicles that had descended on the parking area. LeDoux would be dressed and looking for her by now. If he was the one who’d called in the troops, she would know soon enough.

She waited, the seconds and minutes ticking off like tiny explosions in her brain. 7:31 a.m. Still no movement across the street. Anticipation had her foot stretching toward the accelerator. She should just drive away, but she had to know for sure if LeDoux had betrayed her. If she left now she might never know.