The Last Move (Criminal Profiler 1)

“Wil

liam, are you there?”

“You drive me crazy, Katie. You always have. If I could just put my problems in a box and bury them, I might feel like myself again.”

The words box and bury rattled in her head. She met Mazur’s gaze as he came into the room. “I need to be with you, William.”

“Maybe tomorrow, Katie,” he said. “Come by my house in the morning.”

“What’s wrong with now?” she pressed.

“I’m tired. And I have work to do. In the morning.”

The line went dead.

“What the hell does he have to do?” she whispered. Her gut tightened, and she could feel her core temperature drop. “He said he wished he could put his problems in a box and bury them.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“William and Drexler are going hunting.”

William watched as the young girl left the private Catholic high school. Like all the other girls she was dressed in her plaid skirt, white shirt, knee socks, and ugly brown shoes. She crossed the lot to a waiting dark Lexus and tossed her backpack in the backseat. She was laughing when she slid into the front seat.

He tried to imagine Katie at that age. He remembered the way her plaid skirt had brushed just below her knees. Those horrendous brown shoes all the girls had to wear looked terrible on most, but she somehow made them look cute and seductive. He wondered if she still had her uniform. Just the idea of seeing her in it made him hard.

The Lexus drove off, and he waited a beat before he followed, making sure to stay a couple of car lengths behind. The car wove through town and within fifteen minutes pulled into a gated community. He couldn’t follow or he would be noticed, but she’d be back out soon. There was a football game tonight.

William pulled away and drove toward the school. He took time for dinner and did a bit of shopping. He bought a petite white dress and size five white shoes. Then he stopped at a florist and bought flowers. It was going to be a good night.

By the time he’d returned to the high school, the sun was low on the horizon. The new moon would soon leave little light to navigate by. Not the best night for hunting, but he knew it was now or never. Drexler was working on the two boxes he’d commissioned, and he needed bodies to fill them.

The pregame show was an explosion of noise and confusion. So many young ladies running around giggling and huddling close as they whispered secrets. The boys postured as if they were men, but none would be able to stand up to him if he had to take one of them out. However, a group of them could be a problem because of the attention it would draw.

So he needed to be careful. And like the spider in the web, wait for his juicy little bug.

He moved toward the concession stand, doing his best to look like someone’s big brother or uncle, not a guy who was patiently waiting to kill.

At the concession stand he ordered a hot dog and a soda, and then as he bit into the dog and its very dry bun, Alyssa bounded up to the stand and ordered a diet soda.

Standing this close to her he could smell her soft, sweet perfume and see the natural highlights in her hair. The top of her head barely reached his shoulders, and if he had not promised her to Drexler, he might have kept her for himself.

“Carrie, I’ve got to run to your mom’s car,” Alyssa said to a friend he’d barely noticed. The other girl was tall and slim, but her limbs were gawky and unattractive. To fit nicely in one of Drexler’s boxes, she’d have to be altered. “Didn’t she leave the keys with you?”

Carrie fished keys out of her oversize purse and dumped them in Alyssa’s hand. “She did. I’ll wait for you here, and then we can order something to eat. Mom said she’d give us each a burger.”

“Sounds good.” Alyssa sipped on her soda and turned to the lot.

He didn’t follow right away. To separate from the crowd again would draw attention to himself. So he watched as she wove through the crowd toward the south fence.

He tossed his hot dog and soda in the trash and moved through the crush of people. The home team scored a touchdown, and immediately the people around him jumped and shouted. One boy knocked William with his elbow. The accidental blow set his teeth on edge, and in another time and place he’d have reacted differently.

William kept moving, cutting through the wall of loud and shouting people until he reached the gate, and nodding to a volunteer parent in a red apron, he stepped out into the packed parking lot.

For a moment, he didn’t see Alyssa and thought he might have lost her. Damn. He scanned the lot illuminated by large overhead lights. He heard a car’s beep and saw taillights flash to his left where Alyssa was opening the trunk.

He hustled across the lot, jogging, knowing if he moved quickly enough he had a chance to take her without an incident.

Dodging right, he moved down a row of cars. His heart beat faster as the cheers of the crowd roared around him. A pivot and he was only a few car lengths away from her.

A glance behind proved no one was watching. He barreled right up behind the girl and jabbed a syringe in her side with one hand as he wrapped the other around her mouth.

The plunger sent the sedative into her system. She struggled, her screams muffled as she went limp. Her keys dropped to the ground.

He placed her body into the trunk and closed it gently. Casually he scooped up the keys and slid behind the wheel of the car. He started the engine, and though his nerves danced and jumped with adrenaline, he drove carefully through the lot, even waving at a couple passing by. At the stop sign, he turned on his right blinker, pulled out, and headed toward the main road.

Excitement raced through him. Now that he had Alyssa it would be easy to get Kate. Checkmate was close at hand.

As the FBI agents collected evidence from Drexler’s room, Mazur and Kate spent the afternoon tracking William, who had not returned to any known hangouts. As they left William’s church, Mazur’s phone rang. Ducking his head, he moved away, saying, “Hey, kiddo.”

His expression immediately turned dark. “Alyssa, what’s going on? Where are you?”

Nevada flexed his large hands.

Kate moved toward him so that she could hear.

“Dad, I’m in a car. A tr-trunk.” The girl sounded groggy, as if she could barely form the words.

Deep lines furrowed around his brow and mouth. “It’s going to be all right. Who took you, honey?”

“I don’t know,” the girl said.

The line went dead.

Mazur immediately redialed his daughter’s phone, but there was no answer. He dialed again. Nothing. “Shit.”

“Track her phone,” Kate said.

He hit the find-phone feature, but no signal appeared. “Shit. Her phone had to be disabled for this not to work.” He punched the button again and again. “Shit!”

Gently she took his phone from his grip. “Where was she supposed to be tonight?”

He clenched his hands into fists. “At the football game. She’s spending the night with a friend.”

“What friend?”

“Carrie. Carrie Scott.”

“Do you have her number?”

“Yes.” Immediately he dialed, but there was no answer.

“Let’s start moving now and head to the game,” she said. “That’s where the trail started, and that’s where we begin.”

“Right.”

Mazur’s next call was to Palmer, and he advised her of what was happening with clinical precision. He ended the call, and as he redialed Carrie’s number, said, “Palmer is sending police to the game and to Bauldry’s brother’s house. Every cop car in this city is going to be looking for her.”

He pressed the phone to his ear and cursed. “Carrie, this is Detective Mazur, Alyssa’s father. Call me immediately. This is an emergency.”

She wished she could tell him that it would be okay. But the grim statistics already were stacked against finding Alyssa alive.

They hustled down the stairs and out the back door toward his car. She had to run d

ouble time to match his stride. In his car he started the engine, and tires squealed as he backed out of the spot.

“Jesus, she was at a football game. She’s a smart kid. She doesn’t walk off with strangers,” he said.

Kate didn’t look at him as a colleague any longer. He was a parent and a terrified man who knew he was on the verge of losing everything.

His gaze cut to her. “What kind of monster are we looking for? Could this be Bauldry? Or that psycho, Drexler?”

“I hope not.”

He smacked his hand against the steering wheel. “Tell me about Drexler.”

“The less you know right now about Drexler, the more focused you’ll be.”

“To hell with that!” Mazur shouted. “I want to know!”

Pure anguish deepened the lines around his eyes and mouth. She’d brought the monsters into his and Alyssa’s life. “If it is Drexler we have some time.”

“Meaning he doesn’t kill them right away.”

“Yes.”

He dialed Carrie’s number. This time she answered.

“Carrie, Alyssa is missing.” He listened. “When’s the last time you saw her?” He glanced at his watch. “That was twenty minutes ago. Okay. Stay by the concession stand. I’ll be there in ten minutes, and other police will be there soon.”

He listened. “Your mother’s car is also missing?”

“Do you have the license plate?”

He glanced at Kate. “Alyssa went to the Scotts’ car to get her sweater, and she didn’t come back. Mrs. Scott’s car is also missing. It’s new and has GPS. We might get lucky.”

He called the company, identified himself, and the operator promised to get back within five minutes. Then he called Palmer. “Tell me you have a location from Alyssa’s phone.” He listened and then, “Damn it. Are you sure? Right.” He dropped the phone in his lap and he quickly rounded a sharp turn. “There’s no signal from the phone.”

Drexler was smart and knew enough to destroy the girl’s phone. But just the fact that Alyssa had called suggested William was behind this. He wanted Mazur afraid and off his game. She thought back to what William had said. He wanted to put his “problems in a box.” William was giving Alyssa to Drexler. She looked at Mazur and saw the thinly cloaked anger and fear. If she told him this now, it would be impossible for him to concentrate. He wasn’t thinking like just a cop now. He was going to react like a panicked father.