Cold Fear

by Susan Sleeman

  Belcher arrested. Evidence in apartment proves he’s your stalker. Searching now for proof of his involvement in murders. Hang tight. It might take some time.

  Success! Her mood soared to beyond joyous. She typed her response.

  Celebrating his arrest! I’m fine here. Take your time.

  She exhaled the final remnants of her fear and stowed her phone. Riley was okay. Not hurt. And Belcher had been arrested. The stalking was over. Hopefully the killing, too.

  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

  A rush of adrenaline left her body, and her legs wobbled. She dropped onto the sofa and closed her eyes to listen to the music.

  The notes smoothly rose and fell, like a ballet dancer whisking and leaping across the stage. Her heart swelled with the crescendo. Could she do what Devon suggested? Find another genre that might be more accepting? Maybe she could start anew. Her only other musical experience was at church where she and Riley used to play in the worship band. Her pastor had once suggested she pursue a Christian recording career.

  Could she do that? Did she want to do that, or had the whole career been simply to prove her worth, like Riley kept telling her? She certainly had proved it, but it was all superficial and then people turned on her. It really meant nothing. Like the harsh treatment of her peers growing up. What did any of it mean in light of eternity?

  If she ever considered Christian recording, then she would do it for the right reason. To proclaim God’s Word, not to make herself popular. Could she even do this and still share custody of Owen with Riley? Or might she and Riley possibly get back together?

  She sighed. She really had a lot to think about.

  A loud knock sounded on the front door, scaring her upright. Devon charged into the room, his hand on his sidearm as he approached the door and looked out the peephole then came back to Leah. “It’s a woman. I don’t know her. Blond. Pretty and dressed very fashionably. Not carrying anything like she’s trying to sell something or take a survey.”

  “Can I look to see if I know her?” Leah asked.

  Devon nodded.

  Leah went to the door, and when she saw Felicity standing there, she could only stare for a moment. “It’s my assistant.”

  “Did you call her?”

  Leah shook her head.

  Devon frowned. “Guess you should let her in, and we can see what she wants.”

  Leah opened the door.

  “Sorry to show up unannounced.” Felicity smiled, easing Leah’s worry that she’d lost her friend. “I’m sorry for bailing on you when you needed me and want to make it up to you.”

  Leah returned the smile, and she was once again thankful for her assistant’s support. “How did you find me?”

  “Riley. I called him and told him I wanted to surprise you. To make up with you. He said Belcher was arrested for stalking you, and they found the murder weapon, too. They have the killer in custody, and Riley wants to get back to Owen as soon as possible. So he asked if I would drive you to the helicopter. I thought we could talk on the way. I honestly think that was his whole point in asking me. He really cares about you and wants you to be happy.”

  Leah should be touched by Riley’s consideration but she couldn’t think about that quite yet. “Belcher’s the killer?”

  “Oh, right.” Felicity absently scratched her cheek. “I guess Riley didn’t have time to tell you yet. He said the place was chaos, and I could tell he was in a hurry to get off the phone. I guess he planned to tell you when he saw you. To celebrate it with you. Don’t tell him I said anything. I don’t want to ruin it.”

  “Belcher is the killer. It’s all over. Resolved.” Leah felt like she could float away, and she reached out to hug Felicity. She stiffened. Right. They had some work to do to repair their friendship. Leah really wanted that. Especially now that she didn’t have a secret to hide. She could include Felicity in her private life, too. The drive would be good for them.

  “Let me grab my purse.” Leah turned to find Devon watching them carefully.

  “Maybe you should call or text Riley to confirm this is what he wants,” Devon suggested.

  “You think I’m lying?” Felicity’s lips pressed into a white slash. “Why would I do that?”

  “Exactly,” Leah said. “Felicity is my friend. She would never lie about something like this. And besides, he’s busy, I don’t want to bother him and delay his departure.” She grabbed her purse but saw Devon take out his phone and start tapping the buttons.

  “You’re texting Riley?” she asked, a bit irritated that he thought he had to do so.

  He nodded. “Something seems off here.”

  Leah appreciated his considerate care, but she had nothing to fear with Felicity. Still Leah gave Riley a few minutes to respond. When he didn’t, she headed for the door.

  “Leah, wait,” Devon called after her. “Give Riley a chance to get back to me.”

  “What’s the point? Felicity is a friend doing him a favor. And as a bonus we can reconnect. It’s all good.”

  “No, it’s not. I—”

  “Let me know if you hear from him,” she said over her shoulder. “But until then, I’m headed for the heliport to go back home to my son, and no one is going to get in my way.”

  Outside Belcher’s apartment, Riley climbed behind the wheel of his rental vehicle, and Alex took the passenger seat. Riley had heard his phone chime several times while he was in the middle of interviewing Belcher, but he’d ignored it to concentrate on Belcher’s statements. Riley grabbed his phone to check his texts, but it rang with a call from Eryn before he could.

  “What’s up?” He answered quickly on speaker, hoping Eryn might have a lead on the murders. They’d found nothing to show Belcher had any part in them, and he claimed he was innocent.

  “I just finished reviewing the files on Leah’s phone.” She took a sharp breath as if she was about to announce bad news. “Someone installed a spyware app. It tracked her location, along with recording all calls, texts, and Internet use.”

  Riley had been upset before, but this was an extreme invasion of privacy. “Who installed it?”

  “I don’t know yet, but it had to be someone with access to her phone.”

  “Is the app still tracking her location?”

  “I’m sure it is, unless she found it and uninstalled it.”

  Riley didn’t like the sound of this. Not one bit. “Belcher didn’t have access to her phone, so who could have done this?”

  “Anyone who’s close enough to Leah to get to her phone. And know her password.”

  “Like maybe the killer who had backstage access and no one seemed to notice them,” Alex said, tossing Riley a pointed look that sent Riley’s gut cramping.

  “Exactly,” Eryn replied with force. “I’ll keep after it and should have additional information soon.”

  “Call me the minute you know something.” Riley disconnected and looked at Alex.

  “I’m seriously thinking Belcher isn’t our killer,” Alex said. “With the way he didn’t care about hiding the fact that he was stalking Leah, seems like he wouldn’t have worried about concealing murder either.”

  “Could be.” Riley checked his phone to see who texted him. “Devon texted me twice. Said Felicity showed up at his place claiming I told her to pick Leah up.”

  “Odd,” Alex said. “Maybe Devon got it wrong.”

  “Maybe.” Riley dialed Devon and put him on speaker so Alex could listen in. “I didn’t talk to Felicity.”

  “It seemed odd to me, and that’s why I texted you.” Devon sounded concerned.

  “Tell her not to go anywhere. I’m on my way.”

  “I can’t. When you didn’t reply, she left.”

  “She what? No. No.” Riley gripped the steering wheel tightly with his free hand. “You thought something was off. Why didn’t you try to stop her?”

  There was a long pause. “You mean like forcibly restrain her? You might do that with a woman you’ve just met, but I w
on’t.”

  Riley’s chest tightened with frustration. “I didn’t mean that.”

  “Then what?”

  “Try to talk her out of leaving until she heard from me.”

  Devon snorted. “Have you tried to convince Leah of something? Because if you have, you know she has a mind of her own.”

  Devon had a point, but still Riley wanted to rail at him for failing to keep her there.

  “Leah seems to think Felicity is a friend, so why is it so bad that Leah is with her?” Devon asked.

  “Because I didn’t tell her where Leah was. You, Alex, and I are the only people who knew that.”

  “Maybe Leah called Felicity,” Alex said.

  “No,” Devon replied. “I asked, and she said she didn’t. So how did Felicity find Leah? And how did she know about Belcher?”

  A sick feeling spread through Riley’s body. “Eryn just told me that someone installed spyware on Leah’s phone. It had to be Felicity and she would’ve seen my texts to Leah.”

  “But my address?” Devon asked. “How did she get that?”

  “GPS,” Alex said. “Felicity could track her using the spyware, and if not that way, she could also see that Leah plugged your address into her phone to get directions.”

  “Why would Felicity even take Leah?” Devon asked.

  “Because maybe…” Riley had to swallow hard to get the next words out before his throat closed. “Just maybe she isn’t the friend she claimed to be, and she’s the killer we’ve been looking for.”

  Leah sighed in relief, thankful the killer and her stalker had been caught. Her ordeal was over. She was finally safe. And she wouldn’t be arrested. A massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders. And now she was headed to the heliport to meet Riley and fly home to her son. Their son.

  After Owen was in bed, she and Riley would work out arrangements for Owen’s care and hopefully her career would resume and life would go back to the way it was before the stalker and the murders. But did she want the way it was? Or did she want Riley in her life again?

  The sight of Riley carrying Owen to bed popped into her mind. Seeing them together was just plain bliss and she would love to see more of that.

  “What are you smiling about?” Felicity asked.

  “Just that the killer and stalker has been caught, and I can go back to my life.” Leah picked up the mocha that Felicity had bought and took a long sip. Leah considered the gift of her favorite drink as a peace offering from Felicity and hoped they could make up and move on. “Thank you for getting this for me, and for giving me a chance to explain.”

  Felicity glanced at Leah, and for a moment she was taken aback by the anguish in Felicity’s eyes.

  Leah felt so bad. Keeping her secret had come at a high price. “I really hurt you, didn’t I?”

  “You have no idea.”

  Nervous that she might not be able to fix things with Felicity, Leah sipped on the drink to moisten her mouth. “Now that the truth about Owen is out, we can be true friends outside of work, too. Don’t you know how many times I wanted to tell you?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And yet, you didn’t.”

  “I couldn’t, but I can’t tell you why.”

  “More secrets.” Felicity’s face darkened with deep red blotches.

  She was mad. So mad.

  Leah took another long sip of the coffee, and then a second one for good measure, enjoying the warm chocolate sliding down her throat. “I guess so. But it really has nothing to do with us.”

  Felicity cast Leah a wary glance. “Other than I don’t know when you’ll keep things from me in the future. Things I should know. That a true friend would know.”

  “Hey,” Leah said, a sudden wave of sleepiness washing over her. “Friends don’t tell each other everything. I’m sure there are things you haven’t told me over the years.”

  “Like what?”

  Leah tried to shake her head, but dizziness spun her world. “Something’s wrong. I’m feeling really weird.”

  “Weird how?”

  “Sleepy. Dizzy. My eyes are so heavy. The world is spinning.”

  “Probably the adrenaline wearing off.”

  “No, no. Thissh, ish…” At the bizarre sound of her slurring words, she stopped talking, and the world turned faster. She rested her head back and noticed she was still holding the coffee cup. She tried to put it back in the holder but it fell from her hand.

  What was happening?

  She turned her head to look at Felicity.

  “Help,” she got out before paralysis took over her mouth.

  Felicity slowed at the stop light and smiled, but it was a sickly-sweet smile that scared Leah. “Just relax, sweetie. Let the drug take hold. When you wake up, I’ll explain everything.”

  Drug? The coffee. She’d spiked the coffee. She knew Leah would never refuse a mocha.

  “I…” She tried to argue, to beg, but she couldn’t keep her eyes open and slipped into the black void.

  21

  Still sitting in the car, Riley tapped Leah’s phone number, his hand shaking. The call went straight to voicemail. He tried again. And again. Then he dialed Felicity. No answer.

  Was Felicity really the killer, and had she abducted Leah, or were they sitting somewhere hashing out their differences?

  The first. His gut said it was the first.

  He looked at Alex whose worried expression told him he wasn’t overreacting.

  Riley struggled for breath, fearing he would hyperventilate, but he slowed his breathing and tried to hold it together as crazy thoughts pinged through his brain. “You’re thinking Felicity is our killer.”

  Alex nodded. “We have nothing on Belcher, plus he would’ve stood out backstage. But Felicity had access to Leah’s jewelry and knew Leah’s every movement. She also knew Leah had argued with Carolyn and Jill, and Felicity could’ve even pretended to be Helen and leaked news of Owen to the press.”

  Riley didn’t want to agree, but he had to. “But how would she have found out about Owen?”

  “You can’t keep a secret like that forever. Especially from people you work with every day. It was bound to come out.”

  “Maybe, but with as careful as Leah was, I can’t imagine she slipped up.”

  “You could be right, but Belcher knew about Owen.”

  Riley grimaced. He thought about the leads they’d uncovered. “Yeah, and she probably wrote the letters. She could have figured out how to forge Leah’s signature well enough to fool a handwriting expert.”

  Alex nodded. “What about the tattoos? Could she do that? And even if she did, why put the tattoo on the girls?”

  “No point in speculating on that. Felicity is looking good to me for the murders.” Riley shoved a hand into his hair. “Why didn’t I see it before?”

  “Because Felicity appeared to be a good friend, and there was nothing that pointed to her as a possible suspect.”

  “Still, I should’ve seen it.”

  Alex frowned. “Why? No one else did. And I still can’t come up with a motive, can you?”

  Riley shook his head. “As far as I know, they’ve always been good friends until Felicity found out about Owen. Maybe she discovered it a while ago, and she’s been planning this for some time.”

  “We can speculate all we want, but the fact is, we need to figure out where Felicity would’ve taken Leah. Maybe Eryn can track her phone.”

  Riley called Eryn, and when she answered he didn’t waste time saying hello. “We think Felicity’s the killer, and she’s taken Leah. Can you track her phone?”

  Eryn gasped, but didn’t speak.

  “Well?” he demanded.

  “No.”

  “What about using the spyware app?”

  “I’d need to have Leah’s actual phone, not just an image.” She paused for a moment. “Sorry, Riley. The only way it can be done is to have someone in law enforcement ping cell towers.”

  Right. Something that would take a warrant and t
ime—time they didn’t have. “Could Piper help us get that done quickly?”

  “I’ll ask her and get back to you.”

  He hung up, his heart heavy, his brain mush. Where could Leah be? “I doubt Felicity took Leah to her apartment or even to Leah’s house, but we should check them both out first.”

  “Also someone should interview Leah’s manager.”

  “We need help. You get the team on a video call while I head to Leah’s house.” Riley grabbed his iPad from his tote bag and handed it to Alex then got the car on the road.

  He wished for the first time in a long time that he was still a PPB officer and could run with lights and sirens. But there was no point in wishing. He had to face facts.

  He’d failed Leah. She was missing. Depending on him. And he had to find her.

  He heard Alex getting the team members to log into their secure video conferencing program as Riley wove in and out of busy Portland traffic. He tried to keep his full focus on the road, but his mind kept wandering to Leah and the danger she was in. It was hard for him to imagine Felicity as a killer. He just didn’t see it.

  “Maybe we’re wrong,” he said to Alex. “Maybe they really are just driving to the heliport.”

  Alex didn’t answer right away.

  Riley glanced at him.

  His brow was furrowed. “What?

  “If Felicity hadn’t abducted Leah, why are neither of them answering their phones?”

  “Because they’re talking things out. Making up and they don’t want to be disturbed. Or they’re out of cell range.”

  “Could be.”

  “But you doubt it.”

  “Yeah,” Alex answered. “You can’t discount the fact that Felicity knew where Leah was when no one else could know.”

  “Okay, but I still think we should check the heliport. Can you call Lee and have him look for them?”

  “Sure.” He changed his focus to the iPad. “Hang on guys, I need to make a quick call.”

  Riley made a mental note to thank Alex for his help after they found Leah safe and sound.

  What if you don’t?