01 Serial Killer (FBI Paranormal Casefiles)

by Sabine A. Reed

  It took a colossal effort, but I won the silent war.

  Aaron Fine made a fool of me, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of losing it in front of all. Also, his safety was guaranteed until we found Mark. Only after we recovered him would I release the pent up emotions and bombard him with my power.

  “Where the hell is Mark, you bastard?”

  Aaron’s gaze took in the team behind me. By now, there were eight mages in the room along with four FBI people with guns targeted at him. There was no way he could fight us all. He could try, but he wouldn’t succeed.

  “What in Lord’s name are you talking about?”

  Ignoring the brunette who clearly was also a mage I strode towards him. She was gorgeous of course. Dark brown hair, perfectly curled, floated around a heart-shaped, delicate face. Dark, green eyes looked appropriately puzzled and incensed. The short, dark green dress that clung to each curve was held on the shoulders by thin, silver straps. Diamond hoops dangled from her ears.

  Just his type.

  I could imagine them doing it right there on that desk, or perhaps on the comfortable couch in his office. To think that if we arrived a few minutes later, we might even have caught them naked.

  Damn that image.

  It burned my mind.

  “You’re the one who killed all those people. We know that now. You knew both the victims.”

  His face turned blank. “Victoria, I think it’s time for you to leave.”

  She raised a perfectly arched brow. “Honey, this seems terrible. How dare they accuse you of such a heinous crime? Would you like me to call my father? He has connections…”

  “That won’t be necessary.” He smiled at her. “I can take care of my own problems.”

  “Right, of course.” Victoria, with her flawless, pearly skin, and sexy, luscious body, stepped closer to him ignoring the room full of people. Resting her hand on his shoulder, she touched his chest with the other and fiddled with the button on his shirt. “After you are done, you know where you can find me. We could continue what we were doing before we were so rudely disturbed.”

  Not if I had my way, bitch.

  He would be locked up in a basement cell far under the bowls of earth from where he could never harm anyone ever again.

  He put a hand on her fingers and squeezed. “Sure. Why not? Now, please. I don’t want you to witness this terrible mistake that Ms. Mathews and her associates are hell bent on making.”

  Leaning forward, she pecked him lightly on the lips. Turned, glanced at me, dismissed me as I didn’t matter, and then stalked off. I could feel the gaze of all the men in the room on her as she exited.

  Oh well.

  If I never saw her again, that would be all too soon.

  Aaron leaned on his desk, hands folded dutifully in his lap. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “The meaning is quite clear. Where the hell is Mark? If I find so much as a scratch on him, I’ll tear you apart limb to limb, and that too without my magic.”

  My voice vibrated with power, with rage, and I wasn’t sure if all of it was because he’d killed two people and kidnapped my friend. I was pissed off because he dared to ask me on a date and then came back to make out with that gorgeous viper.

  I didn’t appreciate my ire on that particular point.

  He meant nothing.

  He was nothing.

  “You’re wrong.” He sighed and stood. “Now, if you would all be kind enough to lower those hideous weapons of yours, I’ll show you what I found regarding your friend.”

  “What do you mean?” said Augusta.

  And why the hell was she sounding doubtful? We had the bastard. He was connected to both victims. There was no one else. He was just trying to lower our guards so that he could escape.

  He waved his hand in a downward motion at everyone who stood primed to attack him. “You could all try and kill me, and that would lead to nothing. You would still be short of a team member who may be in an extremely perilous position even as we speak. Or you could actually listen to what I have to say and show to you and maybe we might still have time to get Mark back.”

  Yeah, right.

  As if we would believe that.

  The silence in the room stretched. He raised an eyebrow. “Come, come. Do you really think that if I’d something to do with the murders and the kidnapping, you would have discovered it this easily?”

  Right. And there was the ego.

  No, we didn’t believe him.

  “Lower the weapons,” ordered Jones.

  “What?” I yelped.

  Jones stepped in front of me. “I would like to see what he has to show.”

  “Great. A sane voice of reasons among such imbeciles.” Aaron moved around his desk, held his laptop, and turned it around so that he could show something. “Remember the video footage I took from you, Jeremy? I sent it to the investigation agency I own. They’ve a lot of cool gadgets and they were able to see the glitch that I suspected.”

  “What glitch?”

  “The video footage you got was tampered with. Someone stopped the cameras at some point and restarted again after a gap of precisely one hour thirty nine minutes.”

  Hmm. Did he think we were idiots?

  “Can you prove that?” asked Jones.

  The smirk on his face shook my confidence a little. “You’ll be glad to hear that I can prove it. Once my team found out that there was missing footage, they accessed the server where the original footage was saved and got the real version.”

  Jeremy chuckled. “How did your team manage to do that? That’s impossible to do, at least in the time you had. And it requires hacking some serious shit.”

  Aaron pressed a few keys on the laptop. “The less you know the better it would be. Now, do you want to catch the killer or not?”

  Flummoxed, I stared at him.

  Was he telling the truth?

  I wasn’t sure.

  “This could all be something you created,” I muttered.

  He didn’t even glance at me. “Why don’t you see the real footage and then judge for yourself?”

  I didn’t trust him.

  Not at all.

  He was trying to spin a fast one on us, and I couldn’t believe how everyone was looking at him as if he was spouting pearls of wisdom.

  “Let’s see it then,” said Jones.

  “Sir, I think…”

  He raised a hand. Ugh! What the hell? But this wasn’t the time to argue with the head of the whole operations. I didn’t want to piss him off. We needed his support to find Mark.

  Aaron pressed one key and the video sprang up. Mark was sitting in the car talking on the phone. The sight of him made my heart squeeze.

  Where was he?

  Was he alive?

  After he cut the call, Mark put the phone on the car seat. The door to Smith’s house opened. I gasped. Yes, this was new footage. Smith walked up to the car, smiling. There was nothing in his hands, no gun, and no other weapon. We could see Mark’s flabbergasted expression as if he was trying to ascertain if he should make a run for it or stay put. In a situation like this, he could have easily said that he was waiting for someone.

  I leaned closer. People behind me shuffled forward. Everyone else was as glued to the video as I was.

  Smith knocked on the window. Mark rolled it. We saw them talking. Smith laughed. Then he leaned closer and stared right at Mark. Mark’s expressions were hidden as we could only see his profile. Taking something out of his pocket, Smith pressed it. As best as I could see, it was some kind of spray. A short, gray bottle it was small enough to be hidden in someone’s hands.

  “What’s that?” said Augusta.

  No one answered. Smith opened the door and Mark stepped out. He stood and followed Smith to the garage where he got in the car. Smith sat on the driving seat and drove off, nice and easy.

  No struggle.

  No flight.

  Just plain obedience.

  Oh dear! What
the hell was that? What kind of magic did Smith have? And why we didn’t detect it? And what was that spray? Was that a spell?

  “There is another street camera that covered them as they drove away, but then we lost them.” His fingers danced on the keyboard and we saw the car as it drove on the street perpendicular to Smith’s house. Mark sat, quiet and peaceful. “See how he drives off in this direction. No camera there so I couldn’t find him but my team is still doing a sweep. I think we might have something soon.”

  “May I ask how you got the feed? These are police cameras. Access is restricted.”

  “No, you may not ask.” Aaron closed the laptop. “Not if you want to get your man back.”

  Jones pursed his lips. “You might be breaking laws.”

  Aaron’s face showed no expression. “I might be, Mr. Jones, but unless you can prove it, this discussion is futile.” He’d balls of steels. A muscle jerked in his cheek as he viewed our congregation. “Now, I assume you are ready to take back your accusation against me.”

  “Smith kidnapped Mark, but that doesn’t erase away your connection with the other two victims,” I said. “And the fact you chose not to tell us even though you were working closely with us on the case.”

  He crossed his arms. His face was empty of all emotions. “I chose not to tell you precisely because I was aware that you would jump to the wrong conclusion.”

  Taking a step forward, I met his stare. The scent of that woman, Victoria, or Vanessa, or whoever the hell she was, still mingled in the room. “It wasn’t your decision to make. You should have come clean and told us the truth.”

  “I’m afraid you won’t accept the truth even if it hits you on the head.”

  My hands itched to slap the handcuff on him and allow the FBI agents to drag him away. “Really? Well, I would like…”

  Jones cleared his throat. “Enough said, I believe. Cleo, I believe Mark is our priority right now and Mr. Fine is in a unique position to offer us Intel that we wouldn’t be able to access on our own so easily through legal channels. So may I suggest a truce for now?”

  Truce? With that lying, cheating sack of shit? No way.

  “But he is the prime suspect in this investigation?”

  “The prime suspect drove off with your friend. Open your eyes otherwise it might be too late to save him,” countered Aaron.

  I hated that man.

  I really did hate him.

  Grr.

  “Fine. But you will tell us everything you know about the first two victims, how you met them, when was the last time you saw them, and anything else that may or may not be pertinent to this case.” It was impossible to look at the smug expression on his face. I wanted to break his bloody, perfect nose. “Jeremy, please take a statement.”

  “With pleasure. Hopefully, we will hear from my team within the hour. You’re all welcome to make yourself comfortable in my office. I’ll tell my assistant to bring the employee file of Sara. I’m afraid I don’t know the werewolf all too well. He knew Sara and I met him once only in my office.”

  Yeah, right.

  Like I trusted everything he said now that I’d caught him…well, with that woman. If he could make out with her hours after he asked me out on a date, I could imagine him doing all sorts of worst things now.

  Jones sat in a chair and indicated for Augusta to take the next one. “How well did you know Sara?”

  “She interned with us for a few weeks.”

  Everyone else made themselves comfortable on the couches but I chose to stand. There was no way in hell I was letting my guard down, not when he was around. “Why?”

  “I run a business. A successful one, I might add.” His voice was crisp and devoid of emotion, but his eyes were full of fire. “Sometimes mages, especially the young ones, come to me to gain some business experience. They know that they are safe with me because I am aware of their identity and it doesn’t come in the way of their work.”

  “What did she work on while she was here?”

  “She didn’t have any discernable skills. I put her in the administrative department so that she would learn. However,” he cleared his throat, “she seemed to develop a crush on me while she was here. I’m afraid I let her down because I didn’t return her feelings. She wouldn’t accept it. Once I caught her stalking me to my house and I…asked my team to terminate her services.”

  “She must have been enraged when you fired her,” said Augusta.

  Aaron sighed, walked to his chair, and sat. “Mad, no? Disappointed, maybe yes. I’m afraid she wanted to stay in the office as it gave her an opportunity to be…around me. But my team was adamant. She caught me once as I was exiting and argued…well, pleaded to be allowed but I said no. It’s very distracting to work with someone who keeps ogling at me as if I am God.”

  Right. And he didn’t have an ego.

  Not at all.

  Jones suppressed a chuckle. “Did you see her again?”

  “Never, but I think the werewolf heard about the job opportunity from her and came here to meet me. I wasn’t sure about him. He seemed the type who didn’t want to work that hard so I told him to think about his commitment level. He never returned.”

  “That’s all?” I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

  He cocked his head and kept his gaze on Augusta and Jones, ignoring me. “Pretty much. I’m willing to give you access to my backup files for video footage, employment record for Sara, and access to my staff for questioning. I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this and you would catch the real killer without intruding on my personal and business space but well…I guess that ship has sailed.”

  Right. So the only reason why he tried to support us in this case was because he wanted the investigation to not come to his doorstep.

  So selfish.

  And so naïve to think that we wouldn’t have continued to check all angles.

  “You haven’t exactly been forthcoming, Mr. Fine. In face, I may go as far as to say that if you came to us with this information before, we could have eliminated you as a suspect and concentrated on other leads,” said Jones.

  “Yes, in hindsight, perhaps not my best move,” he admitted.

  As if that was enough to absolve him.

  “You made up for it by getting this information on Mark,” said Augusta, much to my disgust. “We cannot thank you enough for sharing this with us. I hope he is alive and well.”

  Aaron nodded, looking as surprised by her admission as I was. “We’ll find him. My team is very good. If the car is seen on any camera anywhere, they will get that information for us.”

  “I’m quite certain I don’t want to find about the method through which you are accessing this footage,” Jones voice was pained.

  “No harm, no foul.” He grinned. “Let’s all do what we are good at without asking too many questions.”

  How convenient for him.

  And I couldn’t believe Jones and Augusta were buying this bullshit.

  The man was a con artist, a charlatan, and a liar.

  Rage spiraled within my veins, but I didn’t want to jeopardize the investigation. Mark was still out there and we needed some Intel. Shit. Resisting the urge to stomp, I turned and stalked to the couch. Slumping next to Bryan, I closed my eyes for a moment.

  Now what?

  We would just sit here and wait while his team worked on this?

  I wanted to do something, punch someone (preferably Aaron Fine), maybe even kill someone…but Smith wasn’t here and Aaron was already allied with Jones.

  Life wasn’t fair.

  “All ok?” asked Bryan in a low voice.

  “How can it be ok? Mark is still with that bastard.”

  “No, I mean…you were kinda getting involved with this guy so it must have hurt like a bitch to see him with that woman.”

  My eyes snapped open. “I don’t give a shit.”

  Bryan pursed his lips and scratched his chin. “I’ve got two sisters and what seems like dozens of female cousin
s. I understand woman a bit more than the average male.”

  “You don’t know anything,” I hissed.

  He raised a hand. “Peace. But I just want you to know that if you need to talk, I’m there for you.”

  Right. As if I would ever trust anyone of his gender again.

  Men were assholes.

  All of them, as far as I was concerned.

  Except Dubey, Mark, and Jeremy.

  Maybe even Bryan.

  Oh shut up.

  The only one I hated was Aaron. He deserved a good kick in the butt, and a nice long stay in a basement cell somewhere so that he would repent alone. Maybe he would need to starve also for true redemption, and perhaps even some light torture…

  I could think of some inventive ways to make him sorry for what he did.

  When Bryan touched my hand, sanity returned.

  “What?”

  “He has found something.”

  My attention returned to Aaron who was staring hard at the laptop while Augusta and Jones looked eagerly on. I stood. Time to work with the enemy. If it got back Mark, I would stop trying to imagine him in various stages of torment.

  “What is it?” I asked, striding over to the desk.

  “A location complete with an address,” he said.

  Hope stirred in my heart. “You’ve found where he took Mark.”

  “An old office building, Greensboro Drive, Mclean.”

  “Let’s go” There wasn’t a moment to wait. “Send everything on Jeremy’s phone.”

  He stood and strode after me. “Already done. And my team is now trying to track movements to and fro from the same building over the past few days to see if he moved Mark there. They will send us the information when they get it.”

  I turned so fast that we nearly collided. “Us?” My finger jabbed his chest. “There is no us here. You’ve given us the location. We’ll check it out.”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  Oh no!

  No, no and again no.

  “Impossible.”

  “That’s not a word in my dictionary.”

  Lifting my chin, I met his gaze. Rage churned deep within my veins. “Then change your goddamned dictionary. You’re not working with the FBI. In fact, as far as I am concerned, you are still a suspect. You’ll stay right here.”