Yet here he was, knocking on their door.
“I heard you wanted to see me,” Fowler announced. He flicked his gaze around, as if he expected someone to jump out and grab him. And maybe he did. After all, he’d seen the dead woman in the room just across the hall.
“We do,” Leah verified. “Where have you been?”
He glanced around again, this time toward the room where the body had been. “I’ll answer all your questions, but first I want to come in. I’m not exactly comfortable standing out here in the open.”
“And I’m not exactly comfortable having you in here with us,” Alex snapped. Clearly, he was not pleased that Fowler had pulled a disappearing act and was just now showing up.
“Then maybe you can talk fast,” he suggested. “Because I don’t want to be the killer’s next victim.”
“Funny, I thought maybe you were the killer.” Alex aimed one of his hard glares at the man.
Fowler’s eyes widened and he tapped his chest. “You think I killed that woman? No way would I do something like that! I just happened to be in the hall when the maid opened the door and found her.”
“Yeah, and then you disappeared,” Leah reminded him. “Pretty suspicious, if you ask me.”
“Because I was scared!” the man practically yelled. He mumbled something under his breath, then shook his head. “Look, when I was seven, I came home from school and found my mom dead. She’d committed suicide. Seeing that woman brought the memories flooding back. I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t stand to see her another second.”
Despite the chilly temperature in the hall, sweat popped out above Fowler’s upper lip. He certainly had the signs of a man on edge, but Leah knew serial killers could be deadly chameleons. The Big Sky Strangler fit that bill, and she was glad that Alex hadn’t let this guy in with them.
“You saw the woman’s body hours ago. Where have you been since then?” Alex asked, in his best special-agent tone. He definitely wasn’t reacting sympathetically to what Fowler had just told them about being traumatized over his dead mother.
The man volleyed glances at both of them. “You really think I killed her?”
“We really think it’s a possibility,” Leah informed him. “And that possibility is getting bigger because you seem to be dodging my partner’s question. Where have you been in the last few hours?”
That didn’t help his sweaty lip or his nerves. It seemed as if he changed his mind a dozen times about what to say before he finally looked at her. Direct eye contact this time. However, Leah knew from experience that serial killers were often excellent liars.
“There are some empty guest rooms on the second floor,” Fowler finally said. “I let myself in one so I could calm down and get some rest.”
“And take a shower,” Leah observed, noticing his damp hair and the scent of the resort’s shampoo.
There went the eye contact and his brief episode of relative calm. He propped hands on his hips. “Yeah, I took a shower. So what?”
“It could be a big so-what,” Alex commented. “You could have done that to wash away any evidence of the crime.”
“I didn’t commit a crime.” It wasn’t a shout, but there was so much emotion on his face and in his voice that it might as well have been.
“Then why shower?” Leah pressed.
His eyes narrowed and his breathing speeded up. “I figured the hot water would help me relax. It was either that or have a panic attack.”
If he was telling the truth about all this, Leah would apologize later. Right now, she just had to be sure that he wasn’t a killer playing some kind of mind game. Because every one of his physical responses could be faked.
“How did you get in the guest room?” she demanded.
Fowler reacted as if she’d slugged him. His shoulders went back, and there was a look of panic in his eyes. “I took the passkey from the maid’s cart.”
“Just one key?” Alex asked.
Fowler gave them a funny look. “Of course just one. Why would I take more than that? The passkey works with all the rooms.”
Alex and Leah exchanged glances. If the man had taken two, then it would be good news, maybe. That could mean the killer wouldn’t have access to the rooms and new victims. Unless Fowler was the killer. Or was lying about the missing extra key.
“I’ll give the key back,” Fowler added, after another glance up and down the hall. “Can I go now?”
Alex shook his head. “You can wait in Winston Cooper’s office until I’ve checked out a few things.”
And Leah knew what those few things were: Patrick Harper’s and Joe Tarkington’s rooms. Plus they had to find a place to contain the two men, and possibly Fowler, if Alex and she came across anything they could use to hold them. Heck, even if they couldn’t find anything, she hoped Alex would lock them up. Yes, it would create possible problems. Might even result in a lawsuit. But no one else would die today.
Unless the killer was someone else entirely.
Leah couldn’t help but go back to that. The Big Sky Stranglers knew how to fit in, how to hide in plain sight, but that didn’t mean that’s what they were doing now. No. They literally could be hiding, and if so, there were few precautions that Alex and she could take to stave off a surprise attack.
“Go straight to Winston’s office,” Alex warned the man. “And don’t leave until you’ve heard from me.”
For a moment she thought Fowler might argue, but he mumbled a terse “Thanks for nothing,” and headed back down the hall.
Leah waited until he was no longer within earshot. “You think he’ll really go to the office?”
Alex lifted a shoulder. “If he doesn’t, then he moves to the top of our list of suspects.”
Yes, and they’d just let him walk away. But what choice did they have? Too many suspects and no place to put them all. Not yet, anyway. Alex and she would have to remedy that situation soon.
They watched Fowler walk to the end of the hall, but then Leah saw someone else heading in their direction. Winston. The manager stopped for a few seconds to chat with Fowler, and then continued on.
“Fowler said you ordered him to stay put in my office,” he said, even before he reached them.
Alex nodded. “I need to search Harper’s and Tarkington’s rooms, and then I can deal with Fowler. Any idea where I can keep them contained? Separately, that is? If one of them is the killer, I don’t want to lock two innocent men in there with him.”
Winston paused, considering. “We have linen closets on all three floors, and each one has a lock on the outside of the door.”
“That’ll do.” Alex didn’t sound totally convinced, and Leah figured that was because those kinds of locks weren’t meant to keep a determined serial killer inside.
Still, there weren’t a lot of choices here, and maybe she and Alex could reinforce the locks in some way. If worse came to worst, they could drag furniture in front of the doors and then pray there wasn’t a fire, trapping an innocent man inside.
Winston glanced into the room, toward at the laptop on the desk. “Is the camera outside the storage room working all right?”
“Yes, thanks,” Leah answered.
“No problem. I hid it on the side of the fire extinguisher, so maybe no one will notice it.”
No one as in the killer. Leah checked the time. Less than four hours until what could be the final showdown. If the strangler hadn’t seen Winston plant the camera, then he might go through with his plan.
To kill her.
Leah couldn’t completely eliminate the fear that stirred inside her, but she tried to tamp it down. Fear wouldn’t get her through this. And there was no other option—she had to stop the strangler once and for all. This was the only do-over she was likely to get, and if she failed…
She stopped herself from going there, and focused instead on what she could control. “What about the intercom?” she asked Winston.
“Still working on it. In the meantime, you want me to have st
aff patrol the halls, to make sure people are staying put in their rooms?”
Alex nodded again. “Armed patrols, if possible. People with a clear head, who aren’t likely to panic if something goes wrong.”
“I got a few of those,” Winston stated. But then he looked past them, at the laptop screen, and shook his head. “I told him to get to his room.”
It was Patrick Harper. He was definitely not in his room, but rather near the lobby, where the camera was recording his every move.
But what the heck was he doing?
He seemed agitated—or maybe that was his natural state. And he appeared to be talking to someone, Or maybe to himself. Leah hoped the man hadn’t gone off the deep end. It could happen in situations like these, but Alex and she didn’t have time to babysit anyone.
“I’ll speak to him,” Winston grumbled, and headed in that direction. However, the manager had barely made it to the end of the hall when Harper disappeared, moving out of camera range.
“It’s probably too much to hope that he went back to his room,” Leah commented.
“Let’s pay him a visit,” Alex said, glancing at Leah’s notes to confirm the room number.
“Harper is wrong, by the way,” she told him. “I didn’t lure the stranglers to Ice Lake. I had no idea one of them would come here after me.”
“I know.” Alex slid his hand the length of her arm, and it sent a shiver through her. A good shiver. Well, maybe a bad one, since it was a distraction neither of them needed right now.
“We’ll talk to Harper first, search his room,” Alex said. “Then Tarkington.”
“And if we don’t find anything in their rooms that we can use to hold them?” she asked.
The muscles in Alex’s tightened jaw stirred. “Then we hold them anyway, and deal with the fallout later.”
Since their lives were on the proverbial line here, Leah couldn’t argue with that, but in the back of her mind, she wondered if this would put a serious dent in both their careers.
Later, much later, she’d worry about that.
“By the way, that question you asked me earlier…” She hesitated, but decided what the heck. The moment felt a little fatalistic and called for some soul-clearing. “When the strangler was choking me and my life flashed before my eyes, I saw—
Alex’s hand flew up to stop her. “Why are you telling me this now?”
It was her turn to stare. Leah wasn’t about to admit that she wanted him to know, in case she didn’t make it out of this alive. “Because you’d asked about it.” She frowned when she realized that sounded more like a question than an answer.
He nodded. “I did ask.” Then he paused. “I just thought maybe it would come out at a better time. Like when it doesn’t sound like a goodbye confession.”
Leah shrugged. “Maybe I need to get goodbye off my chest.” Goodbye, and other things. She wanted to tell him that she missed him. Not just the kisses and the sex.
She missed him.
But Alex shook his head. “Later,” he stated.
Later, as in when they weren’t trying to track down a killer. Leah couldn’t agree more, but she only hoped there was a “later” for both of them.
“I don’t have to remind you to stay behind me,” he warned. His tone left no room for personal confessions and goodbyes. “And just in case we rattle one of our suspects enough that he panics, I don’t want you in the line of attack,” he added. “If things go wrong, get out of there.”
“Of course.”
She met Alex’s intense glare as he studied her eyes. He cursed, no doubt because he knew she’d just lied to him. There was no way she would leave him under fire in order to save herself.
Alex touched his fingers to her face and gently brushed his thumb over the bruise on her cheekbone. It was clear he had something on his mind. Maybe something to do with that steamy kiss that was still clouding her judgment. Or maybe this was about her almost near-death confession. Something darted through his eyes—regret, maybe—and then he shook his head.
Had he been about to tell her that he cared for her? Or—she swallowed hard—that he felt more than that?
Was Alex about to use the l-word?
Leah was surprised that she wanted to hear that word from him. Even when he shouldn’t be saying it. But she couldn’t help herself. Being with Alex in such close proximity, and having him kiss her blind, only reminded her of how much she’d lost when he had broken off things with her.
She tried to push her feelings for him aside again. And she failed. Lately, the failures in that particular area were greatly exceeding the successes. Worse, she wanted to fail. She wanted to move those thoughts and feelings off the back burner. Except the timing really sucked.
“We’ll deal with this after we have the strangler in custody,” Alex whispered, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.
And to complicate the heck out of things, he brushed a kiss on her mouth.
Once again, Leah had to tell her body to cool down.
They turned to leave, but something on the computer screen caught her eye. Not movement from the camera near the lobby, but the other one.
A man was walking down the hall, directly toward the camera outside the storage room.
Leah automatically moved closer to the screen to get a better look. So did Alex. And a moment later, they both muttered a curse.
What the heck was he doing there?
CHAPTER TEN
ALEX WATCHED AS Patrick Harper glanced up and down the hall. It wasn’t an ordinary, casual sort of look, but the look of a man who was making sure he wasn’t being followed. Seconds later, he ducked into the storage room and closed the door.
“He’s the strangler,” Leah whispered. Her voice was thin and breathy, and Alex figured that reaction was just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath, she was no doubt doing a heck of a lot more than breathing hard.
“Maybe,” Alex answered. “If he is, then he’s way ahead of schedule.” Four hours ahead.
Of course, that could be the strangler’s plan. Get there early. Find the best place to launch an attack. And then wait for Leah to show up, so she would be an easy kill.
But Alex rethought that.
Certainly, the strangler was aware that Leah wasn’t alone. Even if he was someone not on their suspect list, he had to have been watching. He had to know that Alex wasn’t just going to let Leah be strangled to death.
So what did this bastard have planned to neutralize him?
Whatever it was, Alex had to be ready for it. And so did Leah. Because he doubted there would be anything straightforward about this planned attack.
He glanced at her to see how she was handling the situation, and found he’d been right about her body language and expression. She had her chin up and was trying her best to look rock-hard, but he knew her well enough to see the fear that was cutting her to shreds. He hated the SOB for putting her through this again.
“Maybe Harper is just scoping out the place,” Leah suggested.
That was possible, too, but Alex was betting the strangler had already done a thorough search of the storage room before he’d named it as their meeting place.
Leah sank down into the chair and stared at the laptop screen. “I couldn’t tell if Harper was carrying a gun.”
“Neither could I. But it would have been easy to conceal a weapon under that bulky sweater he’s wearing. We have to go in assuming he’s armed.”
And dangerous.
“So, do we wait until 2:00 a.m.?” she asked.
“No.” Alex didn’t even have to think about that. “The sooner we go in, the better. I don’t want to give him time to put himself in a better position to attack.”
Leah pulled in a long breath, got to her feet. “All right. Let’s do this.”
Alex grasped her arm. “Since we know he’s already inside, here’s how this is going to work. We’ll make our way to the storage room, and I’ll go in. Just me,” he emphasized. “You’ll wait in the
hall in case his partner shows up. And you’ll yell for help if anything goes wrong.”
She glanced at him. “You’ll yell for me if something goes wrong inside the room?”
Alex looked her straight in the eyes. “Sure.” And they both knew that was yet another lie.
He was going into that room with one thought in mind—anticipate anything the strangler had planned to neutralize him, and then end the danger. If that meant killing Harper, then that’s what would happen. And he would do that with Leah safely outside in the hall.
Well, as safe as she could be with a murderer around.
Alex pressed the communication button on the walkie-talkie, and thankfully, Winston answered right away.
“We got the intercom working,” the manager said. “I was about to call you to see if it was okay to test it.”
“Wait a little while,” Alex answered. He didn’t want to spook Harper and send him running. “Do you have a way to view the surveillance feed from the camera outside the storage room?”
“Sure. I could if I go back to my office.”
“Do it, please. Now. And put Fowler somewhere else.” Not just because the man might be dangerous to Winston, but also because Alex didn’t want him seeing what was going on. “We just spotted Harper going into the storage room, and we’re about to head there now. We need you to tell us if he leaves. Or if anyone else goes in there with him.”
“Harper’s the strangler?” Winston cried.
“It looks that way,” Alex answered. “I doubt it’s a coincidence that he’s at the very place where the strangler demanded a meeting.”
But it could be. They couldn’t discount that.
Alex could practically feel the manager’s concern. “I’ll see what I can do to keep everyone else in the lodge far away from that storage room and the basement.”
Good. Because Alex couldn’t guarantee that shots wouldn’t be fired. Just because the strangler hadn’t shot victims in the past didn’t mean he wouldn’t this time.
Alex clicked the button to end the conversation, and turned to Leah to make sure she understood that she would take a backseat in this operation. Oh, she knew all right. Her face was tight with anger and fear, and Alex knew it wouldn’t help if he kissed her.
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