Her Last Word

“How about I drive us to a coffee shop, and then I’ll bring you back here?” He grinned, leaning in. “I couldn’t forgive myself if something happened to you.”

“Okay, thank you.” Kaitlin was glad to have the company as they crossed the lot to his blue four door. He clicked open the locks, and she slid into the front passenger seat and twisted toward him. “How about I ask you a few questions first?”

He grinned as he started the engine. “You can ask. But no promises.”

She laughed. “Fair enough.”

“The café is less than a mile from here. I’ll have you back in an hour. If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll love this café. The best. I write there when I’m on deadline.”

She grabbed ahold of the buckle, twisted back, and clicked it in place. She looked over at Marcus as he fumbled with something under his seat. “Tell me more about your visit with Randy.”

His face was grim, determined. “He said he hoped ‘whoever hates her as much as me finishes the job.’”

She looked into his blackened eyes, and alarm bells sounded in her head. Despite his expression, his tone carried notes of glee and purpose, as if this was his job to finish.

She scrambled for her seat belt and then to open the door. She was seconds away from being out of this car. The belt clicked open, and she was free as she turned back toward the door and clawed at the handle.

Before she could open the door, she felt the sting of a needle go into her arm. She tried to swat it away, but Marcus was already pulling away an empty syringe.

“What the hell?” She kept working at the door handle but found her motor skills growing clumsier. She looked out the window for anyone who could help her, but as her head spun faster and faster the scream died in her throat. “You’re the one. You killed them.”

His expression was void of emotion. “Just relax into it. Don’t fight it.”

“Why?”

“Shh. We’ll have plenty of time to talk about that later.”

She screamed, but the sound was strangled and muted by an overwhelming wave of fatigue. Her eyes drooped shut, and she was able to pry them back open with a force of will. But they were so heavy. And she was so tired. Her vision blurred. And this time when her lids fell shut, she couldn’t summon the strength to open them again.

She thought about Adler. Hoping he’d find her even as a darker fear told her she’d never see him again.

“Now, we can spend some real quality time together, Kaitlin,” Marcus said. “And this time I won’t be in such a rush. We have all the time in the world.”

“Adler, you may now call me a genius.” Logan limped forward, leaning heavily on a cane, and dumped a file on his desk.

Adler studied Logan’s triumphant grin. “What am I looking at?”

“I won’t bore you with the hoops I jumped through to get this information. And I admit, I did play the pity card.”

“You’ve got me on pins and needles.”

Logan lowered into a seat. “I dug into Maria Thomas’s life.”

“The girl who went missing about the time Hayward left college.”

“That’s correct.”

“She worked near Hayward’s college in a convenience store, and on the night she vanished she was working alone and in charge of closing the store. Normally, the company required two employees for the night shift, but her coworker left early saying she was sick. She told police Maria insisted she leave and that she would be fine.”

Some killers stalk their victims, but others act when the opportunity presents itself. A woman alone at night was a tempting target.

Adler sat back in his chair, remembering the skull in the medical examiner’s office and the ribs nicked by a knife. “Hayward was still around about that time.”

“He was. Police reviewed the store’s security footage, but he never showed up on it.”

“Okay.”

“So I asked the cop on the case to send me the surveillance footage.”

“And?”

“It captured the partial plate on a Toyota Highlander that matched several vehicles. One of those vehicles was registered to Derek Blackstone.”

“He was in college up in the northeast.”

“A day after Maria vanished, he reported his car stolen. It was never found.”

“A car that could have been Derek’s was placed at the scene, but he was not?”

“Correct. He had a solid alibi for that night. Several witnesses placed him five hundred miles away.”

“Was there a record of Hayward visiting Derek?”

“Hayward was never a suspect in the case, so no one checked.”

“What about Crowley?”

“That I don’t know. But we know Hayward, Blackstone, and Crowley stick together. Maybe now that Hayward’s back in the crosshairs, he’ll talk.”

Adler tapped his index finger on his desk. He would see to it that Hayward’s life in prison was miserable if he didn’t talk. “Great work, Logan. Great work.”

“Do you think Blackstone or Crowley killed Jennifer and Erika?”

“Maybe both might have been worried about loose ends when Kaitlin started asking questions about Gina.”

“And then Hayward offers up Gina when he’s facing the death penalty,” Logan said.

It was a plausible theory, but all the pieces didn’t fit. “Why draw the hearts at the murder scenes? Those hearts link directly back to the search for Gina Mason,” Adler said.

“Maybe they thought they were being clever. Thought they’d throw the cops off their trail.”

“Blackstone certainly calculates every move. The body’s positioning suggests the killer didn’t just want to silence Jennifer and Erika, he wanted to humiliate them. He was angry with them,” Adler said.

“There were a lot of people who loved Gina,” Logan said.

“And one of those loving people hated Erika, Jennifer, and Kaitlin enough to kill two of the three.” And whoever carried this grudge was still out there and, he feared, ready to make another attempt on Kaitlin’s life. He dialed her number. It rang five times and went to voicemail. He listened to her voice, unease growing in his gut. When the tone beeped, his voice was terse when he said, “Kaitlin, call me.”

“You’re worried about her.”

“Someone tried to kill her. And we still don’t know who the hell that someone is.” He reread his last text from her. “She’s having coffee with Steven Marcus now.”

“The reporter?”

“The one that covered the Gina Mason murder extensively. They’ll have a lot to talk about now that Gina’s been found.” He accessed his computer and searched Steven Marcus in the DMV records. Marcus’s name and picture popped up. “There are no priors, but there’s a ticket for a broken taillight on Tuesday. The night Erika’s body was found in the city.”

“Where was the ticket issued?”

“On the expressway headed into Richmond.” Adler checked the time. “I need to try and catch the tail end of Ms. Ralston’s viewing.”

“Think the killer will show up?”

“I can only hope.” He clapped Logan on the shoulder. “Solid work.”

“Thanks.”

“Hi, I’m Gina Mason.”

The familiar voice echoed over a loudspeaker as a bright light glared in Kaitlin’s eyes. Her brain was mired in a drugged haze that made it hard f

or her to focus. Drawing in a breath, she blinked until her vision finally cleared. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and pressed her back against a hard surface. Where the hell was she?

“Hi, I’m Gina Mason.”

The room was windowless, and the concrete walls were papered in hundreds of pictures of Gina Mason. As she pushed herself to her feet, her heart beat faster. She fought a wave of nausea. She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and took several deep breaths until her stomach settled.

“Hi, I’m Gina Mason.”

Something deep inside her prodded her and told her she’d been a damn fool and was now going to die because of her own stupidity. She’d recognized fear because she’d faced it so often and for many years allowed it to run her life. But this time, she pushed it away and refused to listen to the horrible things it wanted to whisper.

She had to find a way to reach Marcus. They’d both wanted the same thing—to find Gina—for fourteen years.

Drawing in a breath she said, “Stop playing the games, Marcus. You’ve been wanting to face me for a long time, so show yourself so we can talk.” Her voice was hoarse and her throat dry. “We have more in common than you realize.”

Silence.

She pushed back a rising sense of panic. “We have a lot to talk about. I have information about Gina. I know who killed her.”

“Hi, I’m Gina Mason.”

Adler found Quinn, and as the two drove across town to Ashley’s viewing, he briefed her on what Logan had told him. At the funeral home, he spotted Kaitlin’s SUV. He crossed to the vehicle and put his hand on the hood. It was cold.

“She said she’s with Marcus,” Quinn said.

Adler called Kaitlin again. It went to voicemail. “This is not good.”

They strode inside and followed the directional signs to the Ralston room. There were still a handful of people gathered around the closed casket. Ashley was dressed in black and dabbing a tissue to her red-rimmed eyes.

Ashley spotted Adler and, breaking away from the group, moved toward them. “Detectives.”