A Soul To Steal

by Rob Blackwell

  “He could go anywhere or do anything,” Kate responded.

  “Go anywhere? Yes. Do anything? I don’t think so,” Quinn said. “If you looked at his writing, it’s exceptional. I think I’m pretty good, but this guy was much, much better. I’m sure Lord Halloween put him off journalism for some period of time, but in 12 years, is the guy liable to give it up altogether?”

  “He could go into PR,” she said.

  “Not a guy like this,” Quinn said excitedly. “This is his talent. I’ve met people who are good at a couple things, but never one who is exceptional at more than one. Frankly, I don’t know what I would do if I left journalism and PR is not a viable option for me. So wherever Tim went, it’s a safe bet he’s a reporter.”

  “And Fillmore is a reporter?”

  “He’s now the editor of the Bluemont Gazette in West Virginia,” Quinn said.

  “Hasn’t that paper won a few awards?” she said.

  Quinn put his finger to his nose. “Bingo,” he said.

  “There are more than two good writers in the world,” Kate said.

  “I paid $30 to buy some software that helps track down kids that are cheating in school. You know, they don’t write that paper on Great Expectations, but instead just download it from the Internet? The software tracks phrases, even writing style, to help a teacher figure out if something is plagiarized. So it also can be used to scout through newspaper articles looking for someone who is ripping off someone else. If that’s true, Fillmore is the biggest copycat of Anderson I’ve ever seen.”

  “How so?”

  “Every writer establishes a style and we tend to fall back on the same turns of phrase, over and over. Anderson was dramatic but concise. In 1994, he wrote a story about the victim of a shooting that started: ‘Violence was the thing that Carlos Ramirez fled from in El Salvador to start a new life in the United States, but it caught up with him on Friday night.’ In 2003, Fillmore wrote this: ‘Violence has been a factor in the life of Harry Davids since he was a teenager, but it finally caught up with him on Saturday night.’”

  “Not conclusive,” Kate said, but she was looking excited.

  “No, but do you know how many matches I had by loading up Anderson’s old articles into the software? Throughout the country, I got as many as two hundred to three hundred hits on a single reporter using the same kinds of phrases. That’s not that weird, because not everything is unique. With Fillmore, that number is two thousand, five hundred and sixty-one. That’s how many hits come out. Call it a writing signature.”

  Kate looked up at him.

  “Quinn, you are a genius,” she said. She leaned across the table and kissed him again. This time, the kiss seemed to linger for a second or two longer.

  “Where is Fillmore now?”

  “Still sitting in Bluemont, less than two hours drive,” Quinn said.

  “Why wouldn’t he go further away?” Kate asked. “I would think he’d be in New Zealand by now.”

  Quinn paused. “You are a fine one to talk,” he said.

  “But I’m…” she stumbled. “Actually, it’s a good point. I don’t know why I’m here either.”

  “Maybe he just couldn’t get away,” he said.

  “Or maybe he’s Lord Halloween,” Kate said.

  Quinn whistled. “What makes you say that?”

  “Come on, he writes letters to himself, that’s not so hard,” Kate said. “One of the last letters even suggests as much.”

  “He’s drawing attention to himself,” Quinn said.

  “And Lord Halloween lived for that,” Kate said. “Anderson is a key to this puzzle. There is no doubt about it. Either he is Lord Halloween, or there is something very specific he wanted from Anderson.”

  But Quinn remembered something he couldn’t quite place. Hadn’t someone told him to look “for the victim that still lives?” For the life of him, however, he couldn’t place who had told him that. He had a hunch that Fillmore wasn’t the killer, however.

  “Either way, it sounds like a field trip is in order,” Quinn said.

  “Agreed,” she said. “You have weekend plans?”

  “I do now.”

  After dinner, Quinn prepared to walk her home again.

  “I need to stop by work first,” she said as they got outside. It was just around the corner from the restaurant.

  “You’ll be back there again tomorrow,” he said.

  “I know, but I left some stuff I wanted to read over tonight,” she said. “Fillmore still sounds familiar to me. I want to look at some of my research and see if I’ve come across the name before.”

  They arrived at the Chronicle and Quinn pulled out his key.

  The office was dark and seemed foreboding at night. Neither Quinn nor Kate mentioned it, but both hurried through the reception area, past the advertising section and into the editorial room.

  Kate stopped.

  “Did you hear something?” she asked.

  “You’re kidding, right?” Quinn replied. He looked around. All the offices were dark, lit only by a faint light from the front reception area. “Let’s grab your stuff and get out of here. I don’t want to be more creeped out than I already am.”

  They paused a moment, heard nothing and she headed for her desk. She started rustling around.

  “Quinn, turn on the light on my desk, will you?” she asked as she opened up her file drawer.

  Quinn fumbled for the switch on the desk, found it and flipped on the light.

  He glanced at the computer area and saw some print-outs on the left-hand side. There was a post-it note stuck to one.

  He picked up the stack.

  “Is this it?” he asked. “It looks like you labeled this stack.”

  He held up the stack to the light and froze.

  The note wasn’t a label.

  “I don’t think I labeled it,” she said, shutting the file drawer and looking up at the papers.

  “Oh my God,” he said.

  She read the note over his shoulder.

  “He was here,” she said. “And he knows.”

  The post-it note was simple: “See you soon, Trina.”

  Both of them looked at each other and then around the office.

  “He could still be here,” Quinn said quietly. “We should get out of here. Right now.”

  She grabbed his arm and reached into her purse. She pulled out a gun.

  “Fuck,” he said. “I didn’t know you…”

  She put a finger to her lips and the two carefully moved back toward the front door. They moved slowly, waiting for any sound, and she held the weapon out in front of her. They passed through the advertising section and Quinn thought he saw movement on the side.

  But when he looked again, it was only his shadow on the wall.

  Quinn looked to the front, while she kept an eye out behind them. Quinn felt like they were moving too slow. He fought down the urge to grab her and bolt toward the door.

  At the reception desk, both jumped as the phone at the front rang. Kate pointed the gun at it.

  “It’s past 10 o’clock,” Quinn said. “Who the hell would be calling?”

  “Pick it up,” Kate said.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said.

  “Pick it up,” Kate said.

  Quinn slowly reached over the desk and did so. He stared at the receiver and picked it up.

  “ Loudoun Chronicle,” he said. “Hello.”

  There was no answer. At first, he wondered if it was a hang up. But then he distinctly heard the sound of breathing on the other end.

  “Who is this?” he asked.

  No response.

  He walked around the desk and looked at the phone more carefully.

  He dropped the phone, grabbed Kate and the two of them ran out the door.

  “What did he say?” Kate demanded, still holding the gun in her hand as they ran down the street.

  “Nothing,” Quinn replied.

  “Then why are w
e running?”

  “It was an internal call,” Quinn said. “He was in there.”

  Quinn and Kate fled into the darkness.

  Chapter 16

  Friday, Oct. 20

  Quinn woke up stiff from sleeping on the couch all night. He looked at the clock. It was barely past 5 in the morning. He was not surprised.

  Last night’s adventure had him so wired he had taken more than three hours to fall asleep. And even in his dreams, he seemed to be keeping a close eye on the door.

  Kate was in his bedroom-the two of them having mutually decided that it was best to stay together. Quinn wasn’t sure to whose advantage that was. She had a gun and seemed to know how to use it. Of course, she was also the one being hunted.

  The note had felt like a jolt to his system. He could only imagine what it felt like for her. The guy knew. Somehow he knew who Kate really was.

  He kept turning the possibilities over in his head. The first was that Lord Halloween could have just seen her at some point, recognized similarities and done some research. That seemed implausible, however. How would you recognize someone after 12 years out of the blue, especially when they were a kid when you saw them last?

  The second was that someone Kate had told had passed that information along to someone else. Or perhaps she had told the killer himself.

  But Quinn knew that was a limited few, of which he was one. Since he knew he hadn’t done it, he mentally marked himself off that list. He would just have to hope she did that too.

  Janus clearly suspected Kate had a history here, Quinn considered briefly, but pushed the thought to the back of his head. For starters, Janus was his best friend and incapable of being a murderer. A pain in the ass, yes. But he was no psychopath.

  But how, he thought, do you know anyone for sure? He supposed the real murderer had friends he must hang out with, people he must know. Did they suspect? Quinn doubted it. Whoever did this kept that part of himself buried. And it was possible it was so buried the killer didn't know himself. Quinn had heard of people with multiple personality disorder, ones who weren't aware of what their other personalities did.

  Even aside from that, Janus was not a logical suspect. Janus was… what? 30? 31? If he was the same murderer from more than a decade ago, he would have to have been killing as a teenager. Possible, but likely? Sure, there were kids in schools who started shooting people, but this was a different deal. This was vicious murder of a very personal nature.

  Quinn sat up and rubbed his eyes. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Could he really calmly be assessing whether his best friend was a killer?

  He got up and walked the few steps to his kitchen. It was a mess, of course.

  If he had known Kate would stay the night again, he might have cleaned up.

  But the idea had never occurred to him. Not in the end-of-a-date romance kind of way and certainly not this one.

  He idly fixed himself a cup of coffee, still keeping one eye on the door.

  The guy could have followed them back. A worse thought suddenly occurred to him. If he knew who Kate was, he undoubtedly knew who Quinn was. And almost certainly knew where he lived.

  Quinn would have to find someplace else to stay, he decided. They both had shied away from Kate’s hotel, but Quinn wasn't sure why. They had hardly discussed it.

  Quinn thought he heard a noise and paused for a moment. It was a soft clicking coming from his bedroom. It took him a minute to recognize the sound-someone was typing. Kate must be using his computer, he thought. He walked down the hallway and paused outside his door to be sure.

  The typing stopped. Quinn waited and heard nothing.

  He thought about tapping on the door, but decided he was imagining things. He turned to walk away and then the typing started again.

  He cautiously opened the door.

  Kate sat there fully dressed at his computer.

  When the door opened, she practically jumped out of the chair.

  “Quinn,” she said.

  “You couldn’t sleep?” he asked and moved over to look at the computer. She hurriedly was closing windows on the screen. But Quinn caught a brief look at one.

  It took him only a moment to figure out what was going on.

  “Either you are now hiding your secret love of Internet porn, or you’ve been doing research-on me,” he said.

  Kate looked at him for a moment. He wondered if she had slept at all. She was dressed in the same clothes from last night.

  “What makes you say that?” she asked.

  “I caught a glimpse of my old paper on the screen as you were shutting down,” he said. “Plus, you just look guilty.”

  Kate studied him for a moment more.

  “I was doing research on you,” she said finally.

  Quinn sat down on the bed.

  “Let me guess,” he said. “You were trying to figure out if I was the killer? Or if I might be in league with him at any rate?”

  “You were the only one I told, Quinn,” she said. “I told you who I was and nobody else. So if he now knows…”

  Quinn nodded.

  “That’s logical,” he said. But he felt like he had been cold cocked nonetheless.

  “It isn’t that I think you're him, I just…”

  “Had to be sure,” he finished.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “And are you?”

  “Am I what?”

  “Sure?” he asked.

  She looked back at the computer screen briefly and laid her palm on the desk.

  “No,” she said. “I found nothing in there that helped me.”

  “I thought not,” he said.

  “I have to say-you are taking this pretty calmly,” she said.

  “So is that a strike for or against me?” he asked, with an air of resignation.

  “I don’t know,” Kate replied.

  He leaned on his knees.

  “It hurts a little, you know,” he said. “I have all this… I don’t know. Since you came here and I met you, I’ve felt… Oh screw it.”

  He ran his hands through his hair. He was tired. She was paranoid. What was there to say?

  “You felt what?” she asked, but she looked away from him.

  “A connection,” Quinn replied. “Like you and I were supposed to be together or something. I don’t know how to explain it.”

  “I know you think you know me,” she began.

  He cut her off.

  “That’s just it,” he said. “I don’t think I know you at all. I just know I want to. But I can’t do that if you don’t trust me.”

  “I think you will agree our circumstances are a little different,” she said.

  “Of course,” he replied. “And probably if I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t trust anybody either. But I don’t know how to convince you. I’ve been as honest with you as I know how.”

  Kate sighed.

  “Here’s the thing,” Kate said. “How do you know another person really is who they seem to be?”

  “You don’t, you just…”

  “No, no, don’t answer quick,” she said. “People can’t see inside each other’s heads. Everyone knows that. But think about how much people really don’t know about their friends and their family. Read the papers. Read our paper. How many child molesters? Rapists? Bullies? Killers? How many of them have families who just see them as friendly old John or Joe?”

  “I know,” Quinn said.

  “People don’t even know themselves. Husbands and wives cheat on each other and even they can’t explain it. They betray, they lie, they steal and sometimes feel like they are watching someone else do these things. Behind each person, there is a monster. A thing that lurks deep in their brain and slithers out every once in a while.”

  “That’s not true,” he replied.

  “It is true and you know it,” she said. “Everyone knows it. I’ve learned the hard way. You can’t trust anybody. You can’t even trust yourself.”

  There was a long pause
between them.

  “I don’t believe that,” Quinn said finally. “I believe you can trust people.”

  “But who, Quinn? How can you be sure?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s a risk…”

  “Let’s take it out of the hypothetical,” Kate said. “How do you explain how the killer knows who I am? Let’s assume it isn’t you. Then how does he…”

  “There are a few possibilities I was running over in my head,” he said. “For starters, what about your dad’s friend? The cop.”

  She nodded.

  “I’ve been trying to do some research on him as well,” she said.

  “He’s a possibility?" Quinn asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “He is one of my dad’s best friends. I find it hard to believe…”

  “There is another possibility,” Quinn said.

  “Janus?” she asked. “I know. He could have figured it out.”

  Quinn did not know if he wanted to scream or laugh.

  “This is insane,” he said. “We are paranoid. I thought about it. I want you to know that. I really considered Janus. It’s a possibility, but I don’t think so. He would have been really young the first time around.”

  “Still possible, though,” she said.

  “Very unlikely,” he replied. “Or there’s the paper.”

  “Do they all know?”

  “You blew up in a room full of reporters,” he said. “You could have made someone curious.”

  “So one of the guys could be…”

  “Or one of the women,” Quinn said. “Or they could be working with him. Anybody could have been curious and dug a little.”

  She put her head in her hands.

  “I knew this would happen,” she said. “I just knew he would find me.”

  “He hasn’t found you yet,” Quinn said.

  “How do you know?” she asked. “He could be here right now, waiting outside the door. He could be anyone-even you.”

  “I’m not him,” Quinn said.

  “I know, I know,” she said, and then she laughed to herself. “But how do I really know? How can I trust anybody?”

  Slowly, Quinn reached across and took her hand. She pulled it away.