Rose of Jericho (Lilith Adams Series Book 2)

by Jenny Allen

  “And why do you doubt he’s involved?” Lilith felt the full weight of Eckhart’s intense blue eyes. It made her want to squirm but she refused to give him the satisfaction.

  “Because the man has cancer and he recently started chemo. Everyone expected him to take some sick days soon.”

  Chance looked up from the file in his hands, a slight frown furrowing the clean lines of his face. “All right, Terry. Walk me through this.” Surprisingly, when Eckhart tore his hostile gaze away from Lilith to Chance it transformed into a look of cooperative kinship. He may not like people questioning the integrity of his people or his ability to vet them, but he respected Chance’s ability to assess the situation.

  Eckhart leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms openly on the desktop. Definitely a sign of disclosure. He might have accepted a job he was over qualified for but Lilith was fairly certain he wasn’t involved. “They used a keycard scanner to access the building after hours.”

  “You’re certain it wasn’t an employee’s key card?” Chance’s question earned him a curt but friendly nod.

  “The employee number used to gain access was the lowest number in the possible sequences, which happens to belong to the Dean. As I’m sure you know, a scanner starts at all zeroes and works its way up ‘til it finds the first number to be approved. It’s definitely not a coincidence.” When Chance nodded, agreeing that his reasoning was sound, the burly security officer continued. “We’ve begun going over the security footage for the past few months. The vids were wiped clean on the night of the robberies, but we are hoping to catch a glimpse of them casing the place since we know what one of them looks like now.”

  Eckhart turned his steely eyes on Lilith. “The police said one of the dead guys wouldn’t be any help to us. Was his face messed up or something?”

  “Or something.” Apparently, the security officer had zero appreciation for her smartass humor. “The bottom half of his face was removed. Makes recognizing him on camera a little difficult.”

  The gruff man’s brows furrowed in a deep frown as he stared at her. “Removed? The cops said the bodies were in bad shape, but… how was it removed?”

  Lilith gave a sympathetic shrug. “That’s all I can say since it is an active police investigation. I see a lot of weird cases, though. I’ve seen stranger.” Okay, that was a straight out lie. Well, except for Ashcroft’s handiwork. Even then, as extreme as the bodies were, all the wounds made a logical sense. These bodies were devoid of any logic or reasoning that she could wrap her head around yet, but there was no sense in advertising that to the ex-military guy with a chip on his shoulder.

  “Okay, so the video feed is a bust, at least as far as the robbery is concerned. There’s no security code that can be tied to the door. The medical examiner mentioned something about a glove?” Lilith was anxious to get the attention back on the business at hand.

  Chance spoke up before Eckhart could. “Yeah. It’s here in the report. You found a glove in the secure work room, and the forensic team recovered prints from a glass case and a door handle that match our vic. Looks like there were also blood drops on the floor.”

  Eckhart nodded curtly. “That’s correct. There were signs of a struggle. I figure that two of the guys had a disagreement, they fought a bit, shoved each other around and one of the guys lost his glove in the fight. Something must have spooked them to make him run out without his glove.”

  Chance glanced down at Lilith with a professional look, as if waiting for her input. It definitely helped her focus on the case and for that she was grateful. “I agree. Both men had ante mortem bruising around the eyes and cheeks as well as on their knuckles. That’s consistent with a fight and the extent of the damage seems to indicate they were fighting each other. I agree with Eckhart on the glove issue as well. Leaving it behind meant asking to be caught. They were running from something or after something to just leave it behind. Maybe the third crew member double crossed them. There truly is no honor among thieves.”

  “Wait. We need to back up.” Cohen finally decided to actively join the conversation instead of just silently watching the entire exchange like a three way tennis match. “How would these guys have even known that the book they were after was in this secure store room? That wouldn’t be public knowledge would it?”

  Eckhart paused for a moment, truly giving the question some thought. His weather-worn face frowned as he pulled open the top drawer of his desk and tossed a notebook-style calendar on his desk. He started flipping through it resolutely until he found what he was looking for. “No. The press release for the Voyruich Manuscript is set for two weeks from now. Even if they knew it was slated to be on display, they wouldn’t know the protocols and routines without inside information.”

  “That doesn’t necessarily mean an inside man.” Lilith leaned back in the chair, crossing her arms. “How guarded could that information really be? Obviously, this crew had a tech that was capable of wiping out the digital camera feeds and hacking the electronic locks. I’m sure for inventory purposes that the manuscript’s location was logged somewhere electronically. It doesn’t seem like a stretch to think he hacked the inventory system to plan the robbery.”

  All three men just nodded without comment. As interesting as the case might be, it didn’t seem likely that they were going to find any truly helpful information here. There was obviously a third guy that escaped with the book. All the physical evidence here just pointed to the two guys that were dead in the morgue. They needed ID’s on these guys and they needed to figure out what the hell killed them. They weren’t going to get any of that here.

  “May we take a copy of the filed report?” Lilith pulled herself out of the chair, much to Chance and Cohen’s surprise.

  Eckhart simply looked at her for a second with those unfriendly, assessing eyes and nodded curtly. “That’s a copy. You can keep it.”

  Lilith stepped toward the burly man’s desk and extended her hand. “Thank you, Security Officer Eckhart. You’ve been a great help. We will be sure to call if we have any further questions for you.”

  He pushed out of his seat, stood up to his full five foot ten height and shook her hand gruffly. Lilith immediately turned on her heel and walked out the door without waiting for Chance or Cohen. She was frustrated. None of this was actually helpful. Figuring out how they pulled this off wasn’t nearly as important as who their third mystery guy was, or who killed his two team members, or where the hell the book was, or who these men worked for.

  Farren definitely wasn’t going to care if they broke down the robbery step by step but couldn’t give him the book. If they couldn’t find what he really wanted, he’d kill them all without mercy.

  The hallway seemed smaller and warmer while she waited for Chance and Andrew. She kept seeing Farren’s cold, ancient eyes staring at her, and the casual way he ended her father’s centuries old life with one little bullet. Most kids tend to see their parents as invincible, but when your father lived through 600 years of troubled times and survived a monster like Ashcroft, you really start to believe it. The very thought that one tiny little bullet could bring all that to an end, it was just unfathomable. It was enough to make her chest tight. Lilith leaned back against the wall, taking slow, deep breaths to fight off the threatening panic attack and just breathe.

  Finally the office door swung open and Andrew stepped out, with Chance close behind him. They both stopped in front of Lilith and she could see the concern plain as day on their faces. Thankfully, neither of them commented on how shaken up she must look.

  “Well that was all very interesting and completely useless.” Cohen sighed and dug in his pocket for the car keys. Lilith couldn’t tell if he was being genuine or just saying it for her benefit, but right now, she really didn’t care.

  “I’d like to swing by the murder scene. The cops have been all through it and I don’t expect to find anything of any use, but I’d still like to see it. Beyond that, all we can do is wait for the ID’s and t
race results to come back in the morning.” Lilith finally felt the tension recede a little.

  “All right. We will examine the crime scene. Then I want to make a stop at Wal-Mart before we settle into a hotel.” Cohen’s to-do-list earned him skeptical looks from both Lilith and Chance. “What?” Cohen scowled at both of them. “You have something against Wal-Mart?” There was something wrong about that question being asked in an aristocratic voice.

  “You just don’t strike me as one of the ‘People of Wal-Mart’ is all.” Chance was grinning like a smug Cheshire cat and it was enough to pull a laugh out of Lilith.

  “Smartass.” Cohen did not look amused in the least bit. “They happen to be the only store that will let you get $100 in cash back on each purchase. We will need cash. Finding the book and this mystery killer is all fine and dandy, but if we don’t manage to get our hands on the cipher and those missing pages, we will still be as good as dead.”

  “Won’t your family be wondering why you spent a couple grand at Wal-Mart?” Lilith raised one eyebrow and just stared at him. It seemed like a pretty valid point to her.

  “Of course. They can wonder all they want. Maybe we all bought new wardrobes, maybe we decided to buy a couple shotguns and take up raccoon hunting. I don’t care what they think. The cash will be untraceable and I believe they will have bigger things to worry about than what I decided to buy at Wally World.”

  “Well, all right. Crime scene, Wal-Mart, hotel and then dinner. Sounds like a really bad prom date.” That actually got a chuckle out of both Chance and Cohen.

  Twenty minutes later, Lilith was staring down a rain drenched back alley that reminded her of the bad sections of New York City. The recent rain cut the probability of actually finding any evidence down to hail-Mary odds, but actually seeing the crime scene, understanding the surroundings, could help with her puzzling bodies. Hopefully.

  The alley itself was fairly secluded. All the windows facing it were boarded, painted over, or sported heavy black out curtains. This was the type of neighborhood where people ignored the outside world. Getting involved in anything would just get you killed or worse, miss work and get dragged into court as a witness while your kids went hungry. It definitely didn’t surprise her that no witnesses turned up from the cop canvas.

  Lilith stood in the middle of two large cross alleys, precisely where the murders occurred. If she was right about there being multiple assailants, they could have easily jumped the two cat burglars here. This was an ideal spot. There were no dumpsters, nothing to hide behind or protect themselves with. Fire escapes lined the alleyway, but none of the ladders reached the street level without being lowered. Farther up the alley, in all directions, there were clutters of trash, bikes, cans and other obstacles.

  “This was planned. Whoever is behind the murders knew these men would come this way and laid in wait at the entrances here and there. How would they know they’d come this exact way? Especially if things didn’t go as planned at the library?” Lilith frowned down the alley, as her mind worked over the problem.

  “Well, we know there had to be a third person at the museum, the tech or the brains of the operation. Obviously he ran off with the book. He probably just led them right into an ambush to get rid of the loose ends.” Cohen sounded absolutely bored. His explanation made a certain sense, but still.

  “Why go through all that trouble? The ripped off jaw, the missing hearts and bones? It’s pretty damn messy for cleaning up loose ends. I don’t know.” Lilith stared hard down the muddy pavement as if it would give up its secrets at any moment.

  “Maybe that’s the point.” Lilith flashed Chance a quizzical look. “Make the bodies so horrific and confusing that the cops couldn’t piece it together. Keep them guessing.”

  Lilith nodded thoughtfully. “That’s very possible. Maybe the fingerprints and trace results will give us a better idea of what happened. We should get to the store and the hotel. It’s getting late and this isn’t exactly the kind of neighborhood where they bring strangers a map and cookies.”

  “Yes, let’s move.” Chance’s voice was full of nervous anxiety, more than ready to leave. While Lilith had been investigating the site, Chance moved continuously, staring at all the rooftops, windows, and doorways with a calculated stare. As a bodyguard, an easy ambush site made him less than comfortable. Of course if he’d seen the bodies that the cops had found here, he never would have let her out of the car.

  Chapter 11

  Two hours later, Chance, Lilith and Cohen were staring at a blurry dolphin tattoo squeezed out of the too-tight jeans of the woman in front of them. Apparently the “people of Wal-Mart” existed right there in New Haven, Connecticut. No place was safe from the stereotype.

  Beyond the fashion disaster in front of them, there was something incredibly surreal and darkly amusing about two vampires and an incubus standing in line at a crowded Wal-Mart on a typical Thursday evening. ‘Nothing to see here, folks. Just buying supplies so we can hunt down a supernatural killer that’s ripping apart people.” Add in the fact that they were reluctantly working for a clandestine group of demons to postpone their own execution and the pit stop seemed like a ridiculous moment in a Mel Brooks movie.

  The simple truth was that even vampires and demons needed body wash and razors. Of course, the prepaid phones, pistols, extra ammo, snacks and casual clothes would come in handy too. Chance refused to go unarmed no matter what Luminita said. After all, he did have a national private weapons permit because of his job…or previous job, so at least it was all legit. Lilith refused to think about why Chance was pretty much unemployed now.

  Cohen also insisted on having a backup weapon. Lilith considered doing the same, but she’d never used an ankle holster. Carrying a backup would be pretty pointless if she was limped awkwardly around like she had a lead weight strapped to her ankle. She settled for a shoulder holster so she could eventually get her gun out of her forensic case. After the last couple weeks, she’d feel safer with it on her.

  The high pitched, squealing demands of a spoiled three year old ripped through the air like Peisinoe’s mini-me. Lilith rubbed at her temples, turning toward Chance and Cohen to minimize the ear-piercing screams over Halloween candy. She’d completely forgotten that Halloween was on Sunday, just 3 days away. That was until she’d been bombarded with hyperactive kids running rampant and fighting over the few good costumes that were left.

  Cohen was leaning casually over the cart wearing his good-ole-boy smile. Apparently he felt his southern charm persona best fit the blue collar atmosphere of Wally world. Lilith had to hand it to him, he looked right at home, except for the suit and tie, that is.

  Surprisingly, Chance stood serenely beside Lilith eyeing the crowds without even a flicker of impatience. He didn’t even seem to be aware of his casual vigilance. It was an ingrained habit from years of working security. Of course, as observant as he was, he didn’t seem to notice all the women staring at his 6’3” leanly muscled frame wrapped up in a dark gray button-down shirt and black slacks. Lilith definitely didn’t miss their disappointed and slightly hostile sighs when he brushed his fingers across her back.

  Chance broke the silence, pulling her attention away from the nosy women. “After we get the hotel rooms, you and Cohen should go grab some take-out. I’ll make sure the rooms are secure and use one of the pre-pay phones to chase down some leads and touch base with Timothy. The last thing we need is him calling in the cavalry.”

  Chance was still scanning the crowded lines while he spoke, very carefully avoiding her gaze while trying to look casual. Lilith noticed a slight twitch of his lips, the flat expression on his handsome face and even a tightening around his roving eyes. Odd. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was lying to her.

  Of course, being tossed in jail for pursuing a case under false pretenses with absolutely no valid jurisdiction would definitely complicate things to say the least. Still, he obviously had some alterior motive or at least had something else w
eighing heavy on his mind.

  Lilith turned her attention to a kid in a vampire costume running in circles, holding his cape out wide. She couldn’t look him in the face just yet. The deception had taken her completely by surprise and she was hoping that it was just her over-analytical brain playing tricks on her.

  “You should definitely call Timothy first. Hopefully he hasn’t already called it in…” Lilith hesitated, the words temporarily caught in her throat. If Chance noticed her reaction, he was hiding it very well. He simply continued scanning the crowds, a casual smile lighting his face.

  After a deep breath Lilith was able to steady her voice. “That reminds me, I was supposed to be assigned a new partner today. I probably need to give them a call so they don’t raise too many flags either. Being ‘rescued’ might be a tad inconvenient at this point.”

  Cohen was just about to comment when a cough from the squat old cashier drew his attention. Cohen flashed his southern charm smile and murmured an apology to the woman behind the counter. The deep frowning wrinkles of her face resembled an irritable bulldog. Apparently she was unimpressed by his almost handsome set of pearly whites.

  Cohen busied himself by divided things into separate transactions and navigating the credit screen requesting cash back numerous times. Each time Cohen stopped the hostile old cashier, her wrinkles grew even deeper and Lilith could swear she heard a growl as her age-spotted hands jabbed angrily at the screen. By the end of their shopping ordeal, the old woman was nearly foaming at the mouth and the people behind them were making overtly loud sighs and groans.

  Cohen flashed a smile at Lilith and Chance, completely oblivious to the angry horde, and handed them each $50 for emergencies before stuffing another $400 into his wallet. “So are we all set then?”