14

by J. T. Ellison

  “It’s damn good to see you, girl. You had me a little worried there.”

  She just hugged him back, then turned to Sam. There were tears in her best friend’s eyes. They’d talked the day before, and it wasn’t words they needed now. Sam embraced Taylor, and they both held on for dear life. She had a moment of sickening clarity. If Sam had ridden to the church in the limo with Taylor as planned, it was quite likely that she would be dead now. Taylor squeezed a little harder and offered up a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was watching over both of them that day.

  Baldwin moved toward the media group. Taylor heard him talking, telling them they would have a statement later on. She and Sam broke their hug, and each took one of Fitz’s arms. They made their escape down the hallway that led to the outer terminal. Fitz started teasing her immediately.

  “I can’t believe you ruined all our plans. We were going to put a goat in your honeymoon suite.”

  “Oh, shut up, you were not.”

  Fitz nodded, and Sam giggled. “Seriously, we were. You remember Alfred Turner, Taylor? Retired a couple of years back, opened that farm and petting zoo down in Williamson County? He was going to loan us one of his babies.”

  “So do I want to know what we were supposed to with it, or am I just better off not knowing?”

  Fitz shook his head, caught Sam’s eye for a moment. His eyes twinkled with merriment. “Naw, you don’t wanna know.”

  “I’ll see what I can do to rearrange things so you can play your jokes.” Taylor cuffed him lightly on the shoulder.

  They reached the doors and stepped out into the frigid air. There were four news vans lined up at the curb. Fitz gestured toward them.

  “You’re gonna have to talk to the news at some point.”

  “I’ll talk later, once I have a handle on what’s been happening here.”

  Sam squeezed her arm. “I’ve got to head back to the office. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “I’m fine. You go on.”

  Sam nodded at her, then scooted across the walkway and disappeared into the parking lot.

  They got into the unmarked Caprice and Fitz turned the heat on high. Taylor shrugged out of Baldwin’s jacket. Within moments, Baldwin clambered into the backseat and they headed toward downtown.

  They went directly to the Criminal Justice Center, Fitz talking more of nothing than anything of consequence. Ballistics on Richardson and Gonzalez, Jane Macias, there was nothing new on any of those fronts. When pressed, he told her of the intensity of the rescue and recovery efforts on her behalf, and Taylor vowed to get the names of each and every person who’d spent the night and day on the freezing bank of the river, searching for her. She would have to thank them personally for their efforts. The thought floored her. Baldwin hadn’t gone into much detail other than pointing out that he couldn’t believe that she was gone and refused to give up looking for her. Fitz, on the other hand, gave her all the specifics, and she felt tears prick the corners of her eyes at the pain she’d caused them.

  Baldwin had been quiet on the last half of the flight, distracted when they landed, and Taylor had left him to his devices. She’d been racking her brain trying to put a name to the face of the man with the signet ring. It just wouldn’t come. She needed the library, the society pages from her childhood. She knew there had been photographers at the party—the Nashville media were always in attendance at her parents’ soirees. The library would have thirty-year-old society nonsense, she was sure of it. She hated to lose the time looking, but she had no choice.

  There was a regular welcoming committee when they got to the CJC. Lincoln and Marcus stood on the landing without their coats, both young men jumping up and down in an attempt to keep warm. Captain Price was standing just inside the door, waiting to buss her on the cheek.

  She was greeted with hugs and Baldwin with handshakes and back slaps. They didn’t linger long over the festivities. They had a killer to catch.

  Baldwin took Lincoln aside, speaking to him out of earshot of the rest of the crew. “I have a favor to ask.”

  “Name it.”

  “I’d like to have a conversation with your South American friend. Juan. Could that be arranged?”

  “Of course. I’ll go make the call right now. Would you like him to call you back here or on your cell?”

  “My cell would be great. Thanks, Lincoln.”

  “No problem. Do you…never mind. I’ll just go call him right now.”

  Baldwin went back to Taylor’s office, shut the door behind himself and took a seat.

  “I have a theory,” he started, but her phone rang. She held up a hand in a wait-a-minute gesture, and answered the phone.

  “Taylor? Honey, is that you?”

  That voice again. This time deeper, richer. Not a tape. Taylor tried not to respond, but the word slipped out. “Daddy?”

  “Yes, Taylor, it’s me. Dad. Win.” He was whispering. “You’ve been making life a little difficult here lately, sugar.”

  “Don’t call me that. I’m not your sugar.”

  “Taylor, listen to me. You need to follow Mr. Delglisi’s—”

  She slipped a finger to the keypad and silently pushed the speaker button. Baldwin leaned forward to listen. “—instructions. Just make the massage parlors go away. Taylor, I’m sorry for all this. I’m trying to make it all right. I know I’ve botched everything, but I—”

  Her blood started to boil, that familiar sensation of disbelief streaking back into her mind. Her father wasn’t dead. He was alive, working for a fucking mobster, and wanted her to turn the other cheek to something illegal he was involved in. Abso-fucking-lutely not.

  “Stop. Just stop. What do think I am, Dad? You seem to forget that I’m a sworn officer of the law. I work for the good guys, Win. Not the bad guys. Not the ones like you.”

  “Taylor, knock it off. You have no idea what kind of situation we’re in. You need to cooperate with him, Taylor. If you don’t—”

  “What, Win? What kind of threat can you throw my way this time? Kidnapping isn’t enough for you? Now you’re going to have me taken care of?”

  A rush of noise spilled from the speaker, what sounded like banging and yelling. Then another voice came on the line.

  L’Uomo laughed, a sneering, belittling noise. “Oh, Win. I should have known I couldn’t trust you. Leave you alone for a second and you try to warn your sweet girl. Hello, Lieutenant. Lovely to speak with you again. Just wish it were under better circumstances.”

  “What have you done with my father?”

  “Nothing, yet. But I’ll kill him if you don’t cooperate. Slowly.”

  Taylor felt herself pale. The mixed emotions—she hated her father, but she loved him, too. Damn it. They were both bastards. She gritted her teeth, snapping off the ends of each word as if they tasted bitter in her mouth.

  “Like you did to Burt Mars? I swear, you son of a bitch, if you do anything to him, I will personally take you down.”

  “No, you won’t. You don’t have that kind of power. Your fiancé doesn’t, either, so don’t think about running to him. Mars was collateral damage. I do what needs to be done, Lieutenant. Just remember that. Now, it’s time to stop this game. You need to listen to me, once and for all. I’m willing to make a deal with you.”

  “A deal? With a criminal? I don’t think so.”

  “Oh, I think you’ll play along when I tell you what the offer is. Something to sweeten the proverbial pot. You turn your pretty little head away from my business interests in Nashville, and not only will I let your father live, I’ll give you Snow White.”

  Taylor didn’t reply, just looked at Baldwin. He wrote her a note, slid it across the desk. She read the message—calm down.

  Taylor nodded. Tried to sound more reasonable.

  “Delglisi, I can’t do that. I can’t turn my head on illegal activities.”

  “Yes, you can. And you will. You hold your father’s life in your hands. Snow White’s head on a pl
atter, Lieutenant. I think that’s a generous gift.”

  She raised an eyebrow at Baldwin, decided to take a chance, con the con.

  “Yes, I agree. Very generous. There’s just one problem with your offer. I know who the Snow White is. So your little deal isn’t going to work. You need to let my father go.”

  The laughter emanating from the speaker chilled Taylor’s spine. “You don’t know who he is, or you would have arrested him by now. Last chance, Lieutenant. I’ll give you a few hours to think it over.”

  He was gone. Taylor slumped her head in her hands. Baldwin stroked her arm until she raised her head.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  “I have a call coming in. If my theory is right, I think we can take him down. There’s someone who might know a little more about his activities, know if he’s bluffing. And we need to get Snow White. That’s our only bargaining chip.”

  “Bargaining? Surely you can’t be thinking of making a deal with that scumbag.”

  Baldwin rocked back in his chair. “I figured you’d want me to do everything I could to stop him from hurting your father.”

  “He won’t hurt him. They’re in this together. I can tell. I have a sneaking suspicion about Delglisi. Lincoln said Jane Macias’s notes had the name Malik next to Delglisi’s, right? What if Anthony Malik is Edward Delglisi? It would explain everything. Eldridge said they know Delglisi isn’t L’Uomo’s real name.”

  Baldwin was nodding. “This makes sense.”

  “And they’ve been friends for years. That’s what I keep remembering—Mars, my dad, the guy who I think must be Snow White, all chummy on New Year’s Eve. If I could get deeper into the memory and put a voice to the fourth man, I’ll bet you anything it’s Malik. Snow White’s name isn’t coming to me, but I’m sure if I go through the society pages real quick, I can find a picture of him and that damnable signet ring. If there’s a shot of Malik, too, maybe I can tie everything together, recognize Delglisi as Malik. We’ll have actual proof.

  “But I’ll be damned if I’ll listen to directives from a bunch of old criminals, trying to one-up each other. Sick bastards. My father will have to fend for himself. I’m not bailing him out of this mess.”

  A knock sounded on her door. “Come in,” she yelled.

  Marcus opened the door, pale in the glare of the fluorescent bulbs. He stood, seemingly frozen in the door frame, and his voice shook just a bit when he told them.

  “We have another victim.”

  Forty-Four

  Nashville, Tennessee

  Tuesday, December 23

  3:00 p.m.

  The procession to the Marriott Renaissance Hotel on Commerce Street downtown was four cars deep. Baldwin and Taylor were in one, Lincoln and Marcus followed, Fitz trailed the medical examiner’s van, who had pulled in front of them as they left the CJC. A funeral cortege. They might as well all have their lights on and traffic stopped to show respect for their passage.

  Taylor was quiet. She knew who this victim must be, had heard the brief details of the crime scene. A woman, dark hair, throat slashed, overwearing red lipstick. If she had just put it all together sooner. She had failed Jane Macias. In failing her, she had failed everything—her father, her coworkers, Baldwin. The guilt was more than she could bear.

  They pulled into the valet section, mindful of the doors to the lobby of the hotel. No sense in advertising too much. There were already four patrol cars in the drive-through. No one would question that something was happening, but if they could keep the Snow White aspects from the case for a bit, perhaps the media wouldn’t seize upon it and start the vicious cycle all over again. Wishful thinking.

  The manager greeted them in the foyer, a wild-eyed young woman with short, spiky blond hair and a considerable waistline. Taylor eyed her, unable to ascertain whether she was pregnant or just heavy. As a hotel general manager, she was as professional as could be expected, considering a serial killer had struck in one of her guest suites. The woman spied Sam coming in with her gear and snapped her fingers at a bellman, who intercepted the M.E. and guided her away. The service elevator would accommodate the stretcher.

  She spoke over her shoulder as they trooped toward the elevators.

  “I’m Deborah Haver. We’re heading to the seventeenth floor. The maid found her. There’s been a Privacy Requested sign on the door for two days, but the couple that checked into the room next door called down and insisted they smelled something. They called the concierge, we came up and agreed. When we got the room open…well. You’ll see.”

  They were in the elevator now, jetting upward into the Nashville sky.

  “Who is the room registered to, Ms. Haver?” Taylor asked.

  They reached the seventeenth floor and the doors slid open. She bustled out into the hallway and they followed.

  “Oh, I have that information…right here…damn it.” The woman was flipping through a notepad, and pulled up short in front of a room whose door stood open. Taylor continued into the room, looking over her shoulder at the manager, who exclaimed “Got it!” just as Taylor saw the body.

  They said the name at the same time, one in a normal tone of voice, the other hushed.

  “Charlotte Douglas.”

  “What?” Baldwin had been lagging back, talking on his cell, but he slammed it shut and stepped into the room. Taylor felt the invisible blow as it hit his body. He didn’t move, his facial expression didn’t alter, but it was there nonetheless.

  “Oh, no” was all he managed before he went to her.

  The smell of decomposition was strong. Taylor just didn’t want to look closely, not yet. She crossed the room, mindful of her steps, and went to the window. The view faced west, and the sun was setting. The clouds were stacked one upon the other like swirls of icing, piling up in the sky, reflected by the setting sun. They looked drenched in blood, stained crimson like the froth from a lung wound. Taylor knew it was simple refraction, the cold, clear nights often caused this unusual sight. Red skies at night, sailor’s delight. It should have been a red morning instead, so Charlotte could have been warned.

  Jesus, she wouldn’t wish this on her worst enemy.

  Bolstered at last, she turned and took in the gruesome scene. The back light from the setting sun tinged the room in pink, giving Charlotte’s body an almost lifelike glow. The grinning wound across her neck was black with oozed blood, her red-tipped lips were painted into a gruesome smile. Blood had run into her hair, turning the coppery red mass into a tangled claret river, with tendrils spreading across the white pillows, tributaries of fatal essence running away from her heart.

  Her limbs were spread-eagle on the sheets, her legs spread wide, open in reception.

  Taylor stopped looking at Charlotte and took in Baldwin, who was still standing over her. He hadn’t said a word, but he turned to her now, face grim, lips thinner than she’d ever seen them. He looked like a different man entirely. As soon as he spoke, the spell was broken and they became a law enforcement team again rather than two people touched by a tragedy.

  “You know what this means?” he asked her.

  Taylor nodded. “Yes.”

  “He’s broken the pattern again. This was personal. She wasn’t a random victim.”

  “You’re probably right. But we need to check for the article. And the frankincense and myrrh. We need to make sure it’s him, Baldwin.”

  He turned back to the body. “Oh, it’s him. I don’t think the message could be any clearer, do you?”

  “No, but we have to follow procedure. Let’s let Sam in here, let her get the body, Charlotte’s body, back to the morgue.”

  They stood together quietly for a moment, then stepped away. They had borne witness.

  Taylor watched Sam work on Charlotte Douglas, touched again by how reverent her friend became when she communed with the dead. Just the thought made her realize how close she’d come to being in that position, that she could have died at the hands of L’Uomo. The thought was more than she
could take. It was time for action. It was time to finish this.

  She left the room and sought out Baldwin, who was in the hallway talking with Fitz. She watched them for a moment, knew that she would die inside if anything ever happened to him. Yes, their wedding had been a disaster. But she didn’t need the formality to assure that he was hers, and she was his.

  She needed to find the answers, to help him lay this case to rest.

  They greeted her, Baldwin giving her a tight smile.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. There’s nothing more I can do here. I have to get to the library, find the name of this man from my memory. I know he’s Snow White. If I can find his identity, we can stop him. We can stop his copycat. It’s time to end this.”

  She reached up and kissed him softly on the cheek. The stubble scratched at her lips, but she didn’t care.

  “You want help, little girl?” Fitz asked.

  “No. Stay here, make sure Sam doesn’t need anything. I need to do this myself.”

  Baldwin’s phone rang as he watched Taylor’s retreating figure. She tossed a wave at him as she entered the elevator. He saw the international area code and decided he needed the break. There was a window at the end of the row of rooms. He went there, gazed out on the city he loved and answered the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “John Baldwin? It is Juan.”

  He answered in Spanish. “Hola, Juan. ¿Cómo estás? Gracias por responder a mi llamada tan pronto.”

  “Sin problema. Lincoln dijo que era importante. ¿Por qué no cambiemos al inglés? Tú no necesitas prácticar el español como yo la necesito en inglés.”

  “Okay. English it is. I have a question about a man who may be running people out of some South American countries. His name is—”

  “Edward Delglisi.”

  “How did you know that?”

  “Oh, my friend, I was looking into the murder of your poor chauffeur over the weekend. His name came up.”