Good question. For all they knew Peter was trying to take them out in the middle of nowhere or he was planning to drive off to get away from them.
“Just a few miles off the main drag. Corner of Euclid and Elm. Cute little coffeehouse called The Copper Cup. You’ll love it. They have the best pastry in the world. The owner is a good friend of mine.”
More boasting. This was getting old fast.
Within fifteen minutes they were all sitting around a circular table near the front window of the little coffeehouse. Peter hadn’t tried to make a run for it but Carter almost wished he had. The way the man was looking at Mallory, barely able to drag his attention away was almost obscene. He wasn’t bothering to hide his interest. No, his obsession. If they hadn’t known Peter was the stalker he’d certainly be a suspect after this disgusting display.
“So, Peter,” Jason said loudly to bring the man’s attention back to them and away from Mallory. “We’re anxious to hear what you can tell us about Matt. We need to find whomever did this to him and you might be able to help us.”
Finally, Peter stopped staring at Mallory, thanking the waitress when she brought their coffees.
“I’ve known Matt since we were kids in grade school so you could definitely say I knew him better than anyone else. I was his best friend and vice versa. We spent almost every minute hanging out with each other every summer in high school when I came to visit my dad.”
“You moved away?” Jason asked, his hands wrapped around the coffee cup. They’d discussed strategy in the car on the way over and they’d decided to leave the questioning to the professional. Carter and Mallory would take a back seat, staying quiet unless Jason or Peter addressed them directly.
“My mom and dad divorced when I was in seventh grade, and I moved with Mom to Billings and we lived with my grandparents. So I spent the summers here with my dad. Eventually after I graduated from high school I moved back.”
Interesting. Most teenagers would have been given a choice as to where to live. Had Peter? It sounded like he’d wanted to live with his dad since he’d moved back right away. Had his mother been abusive? Was that why women were his victims? More questions, but no answers. Did it even matter? It didn’t answer the biggest questions they had.
“What do you do for a living?”
“I manage my dad’s hardware store.” Peter laughed. “Hey, wait a minute. I thought you wanted to ask about Matt, not me.”
“That’s true,” Jason conceded. “What can you tell us about Matt? His interests, his other friends, his job. Was he troubled lately? Upset or angry? Did he have any arguments with anyone in the last few weeks before he died?”
Peter leaned forward, his elbows on the scarred oak table. “Listen, I don’t like to speak ill of the dead and of Matt especially.”
But you’re going to anyway…
“But I think you need to know that Matt was into something before he died.”
Bingo. This guy is going to throw his friend under the bus in 3…2…1…
“What was he into?”
“I’m not sure. All I know is that he was very secretive about it. He stopped inviting me over to his place. We always had to hang out at my house or at the bar he was working at. Whenever I asked him about it, he wouldn’t answer and he’d quickly change the subject. He became more erratic, often being late when we’d set a time to meet.”
“Do you think it was something illegal?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I think he was. He would get tense whenever we’d see a cop and he wouldn’t tell me how he was spending his time. He definitely had secrets with those people at the bar. Have you talked to them yet?”
“I have.” Jason didn’t elaborate. “What else can you tell me about Matt? Did he have a girlfriend?”
Seemingly not bothered by the question, Peter took a sip of his coffee. “He dated a lot of girls but I wouldn’t say he had much luck with the ladies. Matt had a temper and I didn’t like him being around any of the girls I dated.”
“Because you thought he might hurt them?”
Whatever loyalty Peter might have had to Matt when he was alive was certainly gone now.
“I saw him slap some girl once that he was dating. Like I said, he had a temper. When he was angry enough there was no telling what he might do. He was unpredictable.”
Carter couldn’t keep quiet. “Do you think he could have stabbed one of his girlfriends?”
Luckily Jason didn’t seem upset about Carter butting in to the questioning, staying silent so that Peter had to answer.
“If he was mad enough…sure.” Peter looked around the cafe and then leaned in, his voice low. “I thought about that when I heard about those girls getting stabbed.”
This time it was Mallory who spoke. “Why did you think of Matt?”
“He had a knife and he knew how to use it,” Peter replied as if the answer was obvious. “Plus, I met one of those girls. She was with Matt and then she turned up dead.”
“Which one?” Jason asked, getting the conversation back on track. “Did you know her name?”
“I met her but I don’t remember her name. Jessica? Jane, maybe? I’m not sure. It was the one that they found in the park behind Mallory’s house.”
Bam. We’ve got him. He doesn’t know what he just revealed.
Peter was still acting like nothing was wrong. He didn’t have a clue what he’d let slip inadvertently. Zach’s profile had been correct. The killer would want to dazzle them with all the things that he knew. He wanted to impress them. Scratch that. He wanted to impress Mallory.
Mallory looked shaken but to Jason’s credit he wasn’t fazed in the least. Carter wanted to jump out of his chair and yell but he had to force himself to keep his expression bland. He wasn’t made for this cop work. It was all he could do not to slam his fist into Peter Walker’s pale, insipid face. This guy was garbage. He didn’t give a shit about anyone or anything other than himself. He didn’t have friends…he had victims.
Jason shifted in his chair and glanced quickly at Carter before continuing. “I’m going to tell you something that the public doesn’t know but I have to ask you to keep it quiet.”
This was to draw the little shit in, make him feel important.
It worked. Peter puffed up with importance and nodded solemnly. “I can keep a secret.”
That might be the first true thing he’d said all morning.
“The police matched the knife wounds on Matt to the knife wounds on those girls. It was the same weapon. Matt couldn’t have hurt those young women. It was someone else. We think it was someone Matt knew because otherwise they probably wouldn’t get close enough to kill him. He was a pretty big guy.”
“Maybe they surprised him.”
Carter had a question and he wasn’t going to hold back. “If you thought Matt might have killed those girls, why didn’t you go to the police?”
For the first time, Peter seemed off balance and defensive. He wasn’t in control of this meeting and he didn’t like it. “I didn’t have any evidence. Just a gut feeling.”
“I always follow my gut,” Carter said. “It’s never led me down the wrong path.”
Peter’s lip curled. “I would imagine being an Anderson helps with that.”
It was a good thing Carter had had his last name thrown in his face for pretty much his whole life. Otherwise he might have shoved his boot up this guy’s ass. Jason, however, must have not had as much confidence in Carter’s response because he immediately cut in with another question.
“Would you be willing to let us look at your phone and computer for emails and texts from Matt? It might help us find out who killed him.”
Peter was already shaking his head before Jason finished the sentence. “I don’t think I can do that. That would be helping the cops to pin a murder on a dead man that can’t defend himself. That doesn’t seem right. He was my friend and I want him to be able to rest in peace.”
So now Peter was going to be loyal? A little l
ate in the game.
“What about those other girls?” This was from Mallory and she looked pissed. He reached under the table for her hand and gave it a squeeze but it didn’t change the red flags of color on her cheeks. After all the pressure she’d been under this week, he couldn’t blame her for reaching the end of her rope. She appeared to be officially done. “Don’t they deserve to rest in peace? Or do they even matter?”
Peter didn’t answer, instead draining his coffee cup before levering to his feet. He wasn’t happy and he was shooting nasty looks at Mallory. Apparently he didn’t like women to say too much. Or have opinions.
Tough luck, asshole.
“I think I have someplace to be.”
Back to his lair to figure out how to get to Mallory and shut her up for good? Never going to happen as long as Carter breathed oxygen.
Jason held up one finger as he tapped at his phone. “Just a second, Peter. You might be interested in this case development.”
“I’m not interested in you railroading my friend and making him a murderer.”
Jason finally looked up and then handed his phone to Carter. A cursory reading of the text displayed had Carter grinning.
“We’re not interested in turning your friend into a murderer. He did that himself,” Jason said. “With a little help from you.”
Carter held up Jason’s phone. “Funny thing about emails and texts, Peter. They go both ways. We already have them from Matt’s phone and laptop. He tried to delete them but nothing ever really goes away. It took our guys some time but they managed to resurrect your messages to each other. All of them. Looks like you two were working together. The police are on their way.”
Carter should have expected it after what he’d just said but it was still a surprise. Peter’s eyes grew wide as he realized what he was hearing. Moving quickly, he shoved his chair back so that it fell and skidded along the floor and then bolted for the door, the bell above ringing cheerily despite the situation.
Jason glared at Carter. “Fuck, why did you tell him that the police are on their way? Now he’s on the run. I take back what I said. You’d make a lousy cop.”
Shrugging, Carter threw up his hands. “Sorry, I was on a roll. Now what do we do?”
Jason pointed to himself and Mallory and then Carter. “Not we. You. You made him run so you get to catch him. You’re always bragging about what great shape you’re in.”
Shit. Carter hadn’t done any training since all of this bullshit started at the rest stop.
Pushing his own chair back, Carter cursed his choice of footwear today. Instead of his comfy and supportive running shoes, he was wearing his dress boots. They were not made for running but he had little choice. He hit the door at a jog, looking right and left for the little worm. He wasn’t difficult to find. He’d crossed the street and was running south down Euclid Avenue. Clearly he was out of shape because Carter could see him huffing and puffing from here, frantically looking over his shoulder. The air was sharp and cold, and sucking that into his lungs was going to hurt like a bitch if he wasn’t used to it.
Carter – with the exception of the last week – did this almost every day of his life. After training for that obstacle course with his brothers, he’d found that he actually enjoyed running.
He put on a burst of speed to catch up to Peter who was doing his damnedest to stay ahead. There was only about ten feet between them and Carter could hear the other man’s labored breathing even from that distance. He wouldn’t last much longer but Carter could do this all day if he had to. He would chase him to the ends of the earth to remove him as a threat from Mallory’s life.
His prediction turned out to be true. A half a block later, Carter caught up with Peter, grabbing the back of his jacket and throwing him to the ground. Peter clutched his side and went down on the sidewalk, sucking wind and whining about how unfair it all was, too tired to put up much of a fight. Carter immediately went down on top of him, his knee in the squirming man’s lower back and pinning him to the ground. Sirens wailed in the background. The cops were almost there and they would take Peter away. With any luck, he’d never see the light of day again or threaten another woman.
Carter couldn’t stop himself from leaning down to whisper in Peter’s ear.
“You’ll never get near her. Do you understand me? Never. Not while I’m around.”
Peter growled something Carter couldn’t make out and then tried to buck him off but he didn’t succeed. They stayed in that same position until a swarm of cops came and pulled Carter off of Peter, cuffing the other man behind his back and leading him away. Jason and Mallory must have made their way from the coffee shop because she threw herself at him, her arms tight around his waist. He buried his face in her fragrant hair and breathed deeply. This woman had become everything in such a short time. How did it happen? Who cared? It had and he wasn’t sorry. This was what his brothers and cousins talked about.
I understand now. I’d die for her.
Jason slapped him on the back while Mallory clung to him, tears rolling down her cheeks. Happiness? Relief? A mixture of all of it, probably. He held her just as tightly, not wanting to break the contact. She felt so good in his arms.
“You did good. You got him,” Jason said.
“We got him,” Carter corrected. “I couldn’t have done this alone. I’m no cop, remember?”
“You didn’t do too bad,” Jason chuckled. “When you were needed you were there. That’s the important thing. Wyatt is going to drive you and Mallory back home. I’m going with the cops to interrogate our suspect. Your part is ending but our part is just beginning. We have a lot of work to do to put him behind bars for good but I think we’re building a solid case. You can relax now, Mallory. You’re safe.”
She wiped at her cheeks and smiled. So beautiful. “Thank you, Jason. And to Wyatt and Zach and all the other men that helped. I really appreciate it.”
Carter leaned back so he could look into her face. “Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?”
She tugged at the collar of his shirt so he had to bend over close to her perfect pink lips.
“I have a special thank you for when we get home,” she whispered, for his ears only.
Hot damn. This love stuff was working out just fine.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
‡
As quietly as possible, Mallory slipped on her shoes and smoothed down her hair. It had to be a rat’s nest by now. She and Carter had spent the last several hours doing debauched things to one another in his king-sized bed and now he was snoring, exhausted from their activities. All she wanted to do was curl up next to him and sleep as well but that was her body and heart talking. Her mind? That was a different story.
Her stalker was in jail. She wasn’t in danger anymore. That was a good thing. But she couldn’t help but think back over the last week. Her relationship with Carter had been fueled by fear, danger, and about a thousand other heightened emotions. He’d gone into protector mode practically from that first moment at the rest stop. But he didn’t need to do that now. Would it change things? Would he be different?
Old enough to know her own mind, Mallory wasn’t questioning her own feelings. She had fallen in love with Carter Anderson whether for good or bad.
Carter, too, was a grown man. Older than her, he ought to know his own mind as well. But…clearly he’d never been in any kind of serious relationship. He’d admitted to partying and womanizing, never taking dating to the next level. She had to admit that it was hard to trust that his feelings were genuine and not a product of all that had happened in the last week.
A week. Was that all it had been? Nine days since their first date and life would never be the same. It was a short time to fall in love. She’d been cautious most of her life and she wanted to believe…
The last time she had though, she’d been burned.
Putting her purse over her shoulder, she turned to look at Carter one last time. The air was heavy with sleep and his features
were relaxed and serene. He was so handsome, almost beautiful, which was a funny word to describe a man but it fit this circumstance. At this angle, with his muscled torso on display, he looked like he’d been chiseled from marble.
If he’d only been good looking she would have been fine, but he had to be smart, charming, and protective, too. If he didn’t feel the same, getting over him wasn’t going to be easy. Finding another man like him would probably prove impossible.
For a moment she hesitated in the bedroom doorway. If she stayed, not giving him a chance to think things over, it might all turn out okay. They could be happy and in love. All hunky and dory. Except that didn’t seem fair. He deserved a chance to breathe and decide what he really wanted. She could give him that and she would.
If he wanted her that was great. If he didn’t, then it wasn’t meant to be. She couldn’t force him to feel the same. The thought pierced at her vulnerable heart, though. She was afraid that stepping back might give him a chance to remember all the fun he had as a wild single man. She couldn’t compete with dozens of younger, more beautiful women.
You have to do this. Give him the space he’s lacked this last week.
With more resolve than she ever thought she had, Mallory walked out of the bedroom and softly closed the door. No going back now.
Would he decide that he wanted her or would he happily return to his carefree womanizing ways?
She’d have to wait to find out.
* * *
Carter didn’t know whether to be mad or proud of Mallory. When he’d woken up last night, all alone in a cold empty bed and found that stupid, rambling note, he’d been angry and frantic to find her. He couldn’t argue that they’d gotten together under strange circumstances. That was a given.
But dammit, he didn’t need any time or space to figure out how he felt. He’d fallen in love with her and he was happy about it. He wanted to be with her and she was putting unnecessary distance between them.
Road to Danger Page 19
