The number eight
Jake swore violently, fear making his gut clench.
"I sent men to question Timms and Perez but neither were home. We’ve put out an APB on both."
"Good." Jake stepped aside as the medics wheeled the body outside. "I’m going to Violet’s now. It’s time to tell her this guy is most definitely obsessed with her, that she is most likely the ultimate target. Maybe she can think of someone who might do this."
"Want me to come along?"
"No, she will be upset. It’s best if I went alone."
Nick nodded. "I’ll be at the station."
"I’ll come in as soon as I have some names."
Snow fell at a rapid clip, clinging like a thick winter coat to the tree branches, stop lights and street signs. Jake didn’t notice. He pounded his fist on the steering wheel. What the hell kind of detective was he anyway? He prided himself on his ability to assess a situation, come up with a logical plan, follow it through. He hadn’t done that at all with this case. He spent his entire time thinking with his dick instead of his brain. Shit, he'd been dangerously close to sleeping with one of the key figures in the murder investigation as another young female lost her life. And it was his fault. If he had been thinking outside of his zipper, he would have seen the similarities, come up with a plan, possibly saved Angie’s life.
"Dammit," he bellowed, loud enough to drown out the steady hum of the heater. Punching the turn signal, he veered onto Violet’s street. A beat-up jalopy rumbled past and he caught a glimpse of the driver under the glow of a street light. "Perez."
Squealing the brakes, he swung around to catch the elusive janitor. Mother Nature had other ideas. As he twisted the steering wheel, the tires hit a patch of ice and kept on spinning. Once the car came to a stop, courtesy of a rough meeting with the curb, he peered through the windshield. He was facing the wrong direction so he rotated to glance out the back. Not a car in sight.
He jerked open his phone and dialed Turner, giving him the description of Carlos’s car and the direction he'd been travelling. He dropped the cell into his pocket and continued to Violet’s house. He waved to the officer stationed across the street as he traipsed up the walkway and rang the bell. He could hear Zeus barking and soon the outside light flickered on.
Violet threw open the door wearing a thick terrycloth robe. "Jake, what are you doing here? I thought you would still be at the crime scene."
He stepped inside and absently petted Zeus as he locked the door and reset the alarm. Then he grabbed Violet and kissed her with fierce intensity, her startled gasp smothered by his demanding lips. "Are you okay?"
She rested her cheek against his chest, her hands smoothing the front of his sweater. "Wonderful." She looked at him and her smile stalled. Her palm cupped his cheek. "What’s wrong?"
He took her hand and guided her to the couch, detouring to tug the drapes framing the picture window together. Zeus dogged their steps and leaped up on the chair. "From now on, keep these and all other curtains closed."
She nodded, her laugh shaky. "You're making me nervous."
He sat down beside her and grasped both her hands in his. "There is no easy way to tell you this, but you could be in serious danger. There is a very good chance the killer is obsessed with you."
It took a few seconds for his words to sink in but when they did, her eyes widened in horror. "M-me?" She rested her palm over her heart. "Why would you think he's obsessed with me?"
Jake removed a copy of the latest poem from his pocket and handed it to her.
"Oh, God," she said, her voice deceptively calm. "It is me, isn’t it? I’m the Violet in the poems."
"Yes," he answered, unwilling to lie with her safety at stake.
She covered her mouth. "I-I thought it was strange that I’d taught all of the girls, but I never dreamed it had anything to do with me."
The urge to protect her almost overwhelmed him. He wanted to pull her into his arms, smooth her silky locks and promise nothing would happen to her. What the hell. He guided her into his lap and stroked her hair. "We don’t know that for sure. There could very well be another Violet or maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all." He didn’t tell her that they had already checked out all the other Violets in the surrounding area. "But in case it is you, we are going to take every safety precaution available to protect you."
She shuddered. He settled his chin on her head. "I won’t let anything happen to you, sweetheart," he crooned. "I’ll kill the sick bastard first or die trying."
#
Violet inhaled Jake’s spicy scent, trying to absorb his strength. She felt completely safe in his arms. She didn’t want to move, but she was extremely vulnerable so she extracted herself from his grip and stood. Walking to the fireplace, she hugged herself to stave off the sudden chill. His concerned voice drifted across the room.
"Can you think of anyone who may be obsessed with you? Has anyone left you notes or gifts, anyone you can think of that might want to harm you?"
She didn’t answer right away. Turning slowly, she jumped when she came face to face with him. She hadn’t even heard him move. "Well, there was this one student who threatened me when I flunked him."
"Come, sit." He motioned to the sofa. When she was seated, Zeus’s head in her lap, he said, "What is the student’s name?" He grabbed a pen and pulled a notebook from his back pocket.
"Lewis Park. But he isn’t enrolled in school anymore. I reported him and he was expelled. I wasn’t the first teacher he tried to intimidate."
"What did he do?"
"At first, he wrote threatening messages on papers I graded and put them back on my desk. Then one day after he had received an F on a test, he cornered me in my office and said that if I didn’t change the grade, he would, quote "take care of me." I threw him out of my office and immediately reported him to the dean, who expelled him. He came back a couple of times but I called campus police and they escorted him away. I haven’t heard from him since. I'm pretty sure he had a drug problem, which led to his poor grades. He always appeared high in class."
"I don't like the sound of him. I’ll check up on him and see what kind of alibi he has. Anyone else you can think of?"
She closed her eyes, not wanting to get her friend in trouble. But if he was behind the attacks and she withheld the information, she would never forgive herself.
"Todd Timms."
Jake had been writing but when she said Todd’s name, his hand stopped and his gaze flew to hers. "Timms?"
She sighed. "I’m going to tell you this even though I’d rather not, but I don’t want you jumping to conclusions."
"I make no promises," he growled.
No, she supposed someone with Jake’s protective streak wouldn’t. "I didn’t know anyone when I moved here. Todd was a fellow professor and he and Chris Stark befriended me from the start. I could tell Todd liked me but I didn’t encourage his affection. Finally he asked me out and I thought, here’s a great guy who likes me, he has a steady job, not bad looking…." She stopped at the thunderous look on Jake’s face. Clearing her throat, she continued. "Anyway, we went out a couple of times but there was no spark, at least for me. When he kissed me—"
Jake shot to his feet. "The bastard kissed you? I’ll kill him."
"I’m not going to continue until you promise to remain calm." When he said nothing, she waited. At his reluctant nod, she went on. "I told him how I felt and he looked disappointed, but said he understood, that we would always be friends."
Jake must have sensed something happened because he asked, "What changed?"
"I had an upsetting phone call right before he stopped by a few nights ago." She didn’t elaborate on it yet…that would come next. "You were working and the news reports indicated that if the killer stayed true to form, another murder would most likely happen that night. I didn’t feel like being alone so I invited him in. We hadn’t seen much of each other lately and he said he missed me. I locked Zeus in the bedroom so we could wa
tch a movie in peace."
Zeus lifted his head and growled, as if he too recalled that night. She scratched his ears and he resettled.
"First he thanked me for being his alibi, but I told him that I didn’t lie for him. He seemed okay with that. Then he said that Carlos should be locked up." She left out his remarks about the police being incompetent. "He knew Carlos had lost his keys again but no one except the police knew about that besides me. Then I recalled finding the key ring on the floor of Todd’s office. I accused him of swiping them and he finally admitted he had done so as a practical joke."
"So Perez was telling the truth."
Violet lifted her chin. "I never doubted him." When Jake rolled his eyes, she wrinkled her nose at him. "Todd begged my forgiveness. I told him I would only if he apologized to Carlos and told you what happened. He swore he would."
"Go on," he said, obviously sensing her discomfort.
"We turned the movie on and one minute we were watching Vince Vaughn and the next thing I know, he was all over me. Todd, not Vince." She laughed uneasily at her attempted joke. The only sound in the room was a snap. Jake didn’t laugh with her, but she was happy to note he kept his promise to not say a word. She chanced a look at him and could see what it cost him. His face was flame red, his eyes mere slits. Two halves of a pencil were clenched in his fist. His chest heaved but she didn’t think he was actually taking in any air. She was afraid he would have a heart attack.
"Please breathe, Jake."
"What. Happened. Next." The words were forced through clenched teeth.
"I told him no," she said, glossing over the details. "I shoved him away and he banged his head pretty hard on the table. I ran to get Zeus and ordered Todd to leave. The cops you stationed at the door were banging on the door, having heard the commotion. At first Todd was very apologetic but before he left, he said that if I told anyone what happened, he would deny it and I would be sorry." She took a deep breath. "And then he told me I had no idea what he was capable of."
Jake shot off the couch. "Dammit, Violet, you didn’t take that as a threat? Women are being killed left and right and you didn’t think that was important enough to tell me?"
Violet flinched. Zeus even growled at his friend.
"Todd isn’t violent," she argued defensively. "He would never be capable of murder."
"And you know this how? Hell, Violet, the man attacked you in your own house!"
She kept her mouth shut since she didn’t have a response.
Jake’s voice was low and deadly when he said, "That was the same night Jamie Menendez was murdered."
Realization slammed into her. Had Todd killed Jamie after she ordered him away? Did he take his frustration with her out on an innocent woman? Was that what he meant when he told her she had no idea what he was capable of?
Jake stalked to the door and snatched his coat off the hook. He almost knocked the box off the wall stabbing in the alarm code.
"Jake, where are—"
He cut her off. "I need air."
She rushed forward and grabbed his arm, Zeus on her heels. "Please don’t go after him," she pleaded.
He gaped at her incredulously. "You would protect him after what he did to you?"
"It’s you I’m protecting," she said honestly. "I don’t want you hurting him and getting into trouble."
He scoffed. "Give me a little more credit than that." He grasped the door handle.
"Wait."
He sighed, his shoulders slumping. He didn’t turn around.
"There’s someone else."
She had his attention now. His head perked up as he slowly turned to face her. "Who?"
Knowing she couldn’t keep her past hidden any longer, she confessed, "It could be my stepfather."
CHAPTER 21
"Excuse me?" Jake sputtered, his tone disbelieving.
Violet worried her bottom lip. "It could be my stepfather…ex-stepfather," she corrected.
Jake hid the shock her words provoked. "Why would your ex-stepfather do something like this?"
"Because he's done it before, only he was stopped before he could kill the victims."
Jake knew there was a hell of a lot more to the story, but he wasn't going to upset her more right now. He would press for details later. "Where is he now?"
"For the past twenty years, he was in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. It was my testimony that sent him there. He was paroled a few weeks ago for good behavior."
Shit. Incarcerated for twenty years…close to the length of time between the similar case Maya uncovered in Biloxi. Plus, the car they traced was stolen from Mobile, which was near the Mississippi state line. "What’s his name?"
"William Jackson Kinney, or Willie Jack to his friends."
Jake logged the name. That made four solid leads, counting Perez. Glasgo was officially off the suspect list.
He wanted to put his bet with Timms. He had hated the professor at first sight. He would definitely make him pay for touching Violet, careful to leave him alive to stand trial. But now it looked plausible her stepfather could be the culprit.
"You might not be able to find Willie Jack."
That snapped him from his thoughts. "Why not?"
"He’s missing."
Well, hell. Of course he was. Jake searched her beautiful eyes. They were wide with terror and he wanted to gather her in his arms and never let her go. She could easily fall apart but she didn’t…God, he admired her strength. She was terrified, but holding up, holding on to her emotions.
"Has anyone left notes or gifts lately, any phone calls?"
"No. There have been hang-ups on my machine the last few weeks, but no messages."
A prickle of unease trickled down his spine. "When was the last time you had a hang-up?"
"Tonight." She looked at the clock. "Last night, actually. There were several."
"Does your machine record the time?" She nodded. "Have any messages come in since you played them back?"
"No."
They padded to the machine and she hit the play button. Silence preceded a short beep and then a computerized voice announced the time and date. Four more of the same calls followed. Faint breathing could be detected just before the phone clicked off. Jake jotted down the numbers. The first three were the same, as were the last two. Noting the time, he figured the last one came right around the time of the murder, if his calculations were correct.
Interesting that the person didn’t try to block caller ID, he thought. More than likely, the numbers would show up as pay phones.
"I need to call Turner."
"I’ll make coffee."
Jake dialed Turner and gave him a brief rundown. He instructed him to have Timms brought in for questioning. He’d do it himself but he didn’t think he could keep from killing the bastard. He passed along Lewis Park and William Jackson Kinney’s names and backgrounds, then he read the five numbers and disconnected with Turner’s promise to call when he had news.
He punched in another number and left a message with Violet’s stepfather’s information and asked that the agent pull everything he could on the conviction.
Once he was finished, he went in search of Violet, the aroma of coffee filling the air. She sat at the kitchen bar, looking small and fragile and so delicate, like the china doll perched on a shelf in her living room. He poured them both a cup and watched her hands tremble as he handed hers to her. His cell rang before he had a chance to sit. "Kincaid."
Turner didn’t bother announcing himself. "The first three calls came from the same pay phone in Ms. Anastasia’s neighborhood. I've got a team checking it out now, but those things have more fingerprints than a fifty-year old hooker."
Jake grunted. "What about the other two calls?"
"You sitting down?"
"I am now," he responded, dropping onto a bar stool.
"They came from Angie Warren’s house."
Jake’s violent curse snapped Violet’s gaze to him. He listened for a minute then s
aid, "Yeah, it’s covered. I’m moving in. I want twenty-four hour surveillance, someone to stay inside when I’m gone, along with the men posted outside." Pause. "Send him here now, I’m coming in."
"Jake, what’s wrong?" Violet stood with her arms around her stomach, her back pressed against the refrigerator.
He scooted off the stool and grasped her hands. "I didn’t mean to frighten you, honey, but the last two calls on your machine, they came from the latest victim’s house."
She slowly slid to the floor. "It is me he’s after."
#
The killer roared, his body racking with spasms. A thin sheen of sweat coated his skin. He was getting sloppy, careless. He couldn’t afford that.
With a harsh curse, he spun around, his hand ripping at his hair. How could he have been so reckless? He dug through his bag again but he already knew he wouldn’t find the knife. He had to have dropped it in his haste to leave.
It wasn’t as if the cops could trace the weapon to him. It could be purchased at any high-end sporting goods store and he was careful to always pay with cash.
Still, he had a routine he followed. He liked things to be in order, for everything to fall into place. He would have to make some changes now and that enraged him.
#
It was late morning when Jake entered the conference room. Everyone looked like walking zombies. He’d caught the tail end of the press conference on the radio, glad he didn’t have to participate. The residents of Burlington were getting anxious and they were blaming the police for not capturing the madman.
"How's she doing?" Turner asked.
"About as well as can be expected. Graham's with her now." Scrubbing a hand over his face, he dropped into a chair muttering, "This is a freaking mess."
"That’s what happens when it becomes personal."
"Go to hell, Turner."
Turner threw up his arms. "Lips are sealed." He mimicked a zipper being dragged closed across his mouth.
"Where’s Timms?"
"I sent Hammond and Keller to pick him up." He nodded to the others in the room. "Baker is tracking down Lewis Park. He’s trying to get someone on the line from LMC to pull his records. Maya…er, Officer Demaree is researching Kinney."
Violets Are Blue Page 21
