“Look at this,” Tines called out from around the back of an old dryer.
They stepped around to see Tine’s discovery, and Lucy’s hand flew to cover her mouth. There was a wooden X standing in the corner of the room with arm and leg restraints attached. Dried bloodstains saturated several places.
“Is this where he tortures them?” Sloan’s voice sounded foreign to his own ears.
“There’s no face prosthetics down here. Even if he is keeping them here, this isn’t his final destination. The one that got away was lucky. The fact she ended up on our floor wasn’t coincidence.
“I bet she has a room in the hotel and Gentry doesn’t even know she slipped away.” Lucy said.
“That means he’ll be back,” Sloan said, releasing the magazine clip on his gun and checking the bullets. “And I’ll be waiting.”
Lucy slammed her hand against the dried blood and shut her eyes. A scream ripped from her lips as she dropped to her knees without releasing her touch.
“It’s too dark to see his face, but she’s scared for her life.”
“Doesn’t she normally tap into the killer?” Tines asked Noah.
“In this case, the victim’s energy is all she has to work with. The killer was never in our hallway.”
Tines nodded.
“Oh God, he stabbed her.” Lucy’s head fell forward; her hair shielded her face. “Be a good girl while we play and I may let you live.” Lucy shook her head as if it were her answering the maniac. “She can’t see his face.”
Several minutes ticked by before Lucy dropped her hand and opened her eyes. “The son of a bitch raped her.”
“Tell me you saw his face, heard his voice. Tell me you’ve got something to nail this son of a bitch,” Noah growled.
Lucy stumbled to her feet like a drunk sailor. Her eyes started to roll in her head, and Sloan grabbed her before she fell. “The woman’s fear drained me. I need some air.”
Sloan lifted her in his arms. “I’ll take her by the pool while you call in the forensic team.”
“Sloan,” Noah called out. “Don’t let her out of your sight. This maniac knows she’s been staying in this building. That’s why he picked this place. He’s been watching her.”
“I’ve got her.”
Chapter 17
I awoke on a cushioned beach chair inside a bungalow on the hotel patio. The ocean breeze caressed my face. The fear I’d experienced through witnessing the college girl’s captivity had stolen every bit of energy in my body. It could’ve been worse. Instead of fear, it could have been the killer’s rage still coursing through my body. The need and desire to kill was something much harder to shake.
Sloan sat on the lawn chair across from me. The pool was practically empty, as dark clouds hovered above. Sloan was a hard man to figure out. The intensity swirled in his deep blue eyes, calling to me, but also frightening me. It was an unexplainable emotion.
“Welcome back,” he said.
“Hunting like that always leaves me vulnerable.” A shuddered ran up my spine even uttering the word. Vulnerable wasn’t an adjective that was used to describe me. “Intense emotions drain me. There was one case before where I couldn’t get out of bed for two whole days.”
“Was that when you were tracking Carl?”
“Not Carl. Another dirt-bag serial killer. One the Department still hasn’t caught.”
“You think they’re related?”
I shook my head. “Not possible.”
“Why is that?” he asked.
“That killer targets men and his emotions were all over the place.”
“And you keep all of these connections in your head?”
“Until either I die or they die.” I tossed my legs over the side of the chair and tried to stand, realizing too late that I was still too woozy.
Sloan rose as fast as I did and tried to ease me back down onto the chair. “How do you get your strength back?”
“It dehydrates me. I don’t know if it has to do with the serum that they used in the trials or what, but a bottle of water would do wonders for me.”
Sloan glanced from me toward the bar just inside the patio doors.
“I promise not to move.”
He looked resigned. “See that you don’t.”
I saluted him as if he were one of my babysitters. Truth was I still knew nothing about Sloan, well, nothing other than the way he strummed my body to life and aggravated me just as quickly.
He’d been gone two seconds when the college kid I’d been dancing with stepped into my bungalow with two of his buddies.
“There you are,” he said.
I tried to sit up, but the college kid sat down on my chair. “No need to get up. I think we’ll keep you on your back. Cover her mouth, boys.”
Fear crept my spine as I tried to scream, but the hand covering my mouth blocked any sound. One guy grabbed my arms while the college kid ripped my shirt, exposing my bra. “You almost screwed a guy on the dance floor. This tent should be private enough for you.”
I leaned forward bit the hand covering my mouth until his hold loosened and I knocked my skull against the pervert’s.
“You bitch,” he growled as I squirmed off the chair.
Their buddy was still blocking my exit. “Your turn.”
The guy from the dance floor grabbed me around the waist as the exit blocker approached. His fist landed on my jaw. Blood exploded in my mouth as I fought through the pain. My busted lip burned as I spat.
My eyes narrowed as he approached me again. This time I saw him coming and kicked with the force of an NFL kicker, hitting him in his jewels. He went down on a howl as I head-butted the guy from the dance floor behind me.
His hold loosened, and that was all the wiggle room I needed. I stumbled from the tent and screamed, my legs uncooperative. I slipped on the tile and landed on my hands and knees, my scream getting louder with my need to get away.
The guys took off, disappearing into the shrubbery. I inhaled a calming breath, and that was when I spotted him. Gentry, on the other side of the pool. The shadows did little to conceal his identity.
“What the hell happened?” Sloan asked, dropping the water bottle. He gathered me in his arms and plopped down on one of the pool chairs.
“The guy from the club and his buddies attacked me.”
Sloan’s gaze narrowed. “He did this?”
I swallowed hard and pointed toward the shadows. “And Gentry was across the pool. I saw him.”
Sloan pulled out his phone and sent a text before lifting me into his arms and carried me inside the hotel, into the elevator. He didn’t let me down until he had me inside the hotel room.
“What the hell did you do to her?” Ford asked as he and Sam walked back into the hotel room returning from the crime scene in the laundry room.
“He didn’t do this. The kid from the club attacked me with his buddies.”
Ford pegged Sloan with his glare. “And where were you?”
“Don’t blame Sloan. I sent him to get me water, and the college kids found me vulnerable. It’s my own fault.”
Sam stood in the doorway to my room with his arms crossed. “You say it was the kid from the bar?”
“Yeah, it was him all right.”
Sam handed me a wet washcloth, and a hiss escaped my mouth as I dabbed at my busted lip. I probably had more scratches and bruises that they couldn’t see, but I didn’t like them seeing me like this, weak and needy.
Sloan’s jaw tightened. “We need to take you to the hospital so we have proof of what happened. We’ll press charges and get him arrested. They’ll be lucky if the cops get to them before I do.”
“I’m fine; I don’t need the hospital. I got away before he could do anything.”
Sam’s gaze landed on my busted lip. “I’ll eviscerate him online. I’m going to hack every single one of his accounts and take away anything and everything that he loves.”
I’ve never had anyone willing to go to bat for
me other than my sister. Sam’s determination made my heart squeeze. “How are you going to do that if you don’t have a clue who he is?”
“Are you kidding?” Sam asked. “I identified him the minute you dragged him to the dance floor.”
“And while Sam attacks him on the computer, don’t you worry, Lucy. I’ll be taking everything else he’s got,” Ford said.
A man willing to steal for me. Another one willing to destroy online. I never thought I’d meet guys who cared as much other than my brother-in-law. Maybe there was something to having friends to watch my back.
“I can take care of this when our case is over. I don’t want you guys getting into any trouble.”
“Trouble is my middle name,” Sam said. “Besides no one screws with my new friends. Don’t worry, Lucy Loo. With a few keystrokes he’ll never know what hit him.”
“Besides destroying the college kid, do you know what would help me more?” I asked.
“Name it,” Sam said.
“Gentry was in the building. He was by the pool.” I explained.
“And you’re telling us this now?” Sam asked.
“I texted Noah before I brought Lucy upstairs.” Sloan answered.
“Can you pull up surveillance to see what he was up to?” I asked.
Ford spent the next twenty minutes taking pictures of my cuts and bruises as evidence of the assault.
With each click, anger stirred in my gut. Anger with the pricks who did this and anger with myself for almost letting it happen.
I grabbed a first aid kit and some towels and stepped into the bathroom. Sloan followed me, and I held out my hand to stop him. “You and I have chemistry. You entering the bathroom isn’t what I need right now. I need to get cleaned up. I need to tend to my wounds, and if you were to stay in here with me, none of that would get done.”
The adjoining bathroom door opened, and Ford was staring at us. “I thought you might need help. It seems Sloan and I had the same idea.”
“I can handle this myself. I need to take a shower, alone.” I glanced to each of them before leaning into the shower and turning on the faucet to get the hot water running.
Sloan waited for Ford to shut the door, and then his heated gaze landed on mine. “You sure you don’t need help?”
“I’m fine.” I planted my hand on his chest, backing him out the door. I slowly closed it in his face.
Tears gathered in my eyes as I stared at my face in the mirror. My busted lip, the bags beneath my eyes, the bruises on my cheek starting to turn an ugly mixture of blue and purple. It wasn’t the physical violence that had me struggling to breathe. It was the thought of them actually succeeding in what they’d tried to do. Anger stirred in my belly as the heat from the shower fogged the mirrors.
Fear cramped my gut and I gasped to find words written on the mirror that were uncovered by the steam. I see you, Lucy.
I heaved while tightening my fist. I threw the door open and ran out into the living room. “He’s been in here.”
Sam glanced up at me. “Who?”
“Gentry, he left me a message on the bathroom mirror.”
“How in the hell did he do that?” Ford said as each of them took off into the bathroom.
I had no idea how he’d gotten into the room; I only know that he had. I stepped back into my bedroom, looking for anything and everything that might be out of place.
I opened the drawer; all of my panties and bras were gone.
I hurried to the closet and swung it open. All of the clothes that I’d hung up were gone too, and in their place was nothing but red dresses.
Chapter 18
I didn’t know which one of the guys called Noah and Tines. Heck, I didn’t even remember them entering the suite. I sat on the balcony. Sloan had handed me a glass of wine, as if the alcohol would make me relax. The glass remained full in my grasp as I stared out at the waves, thinking that my emotions and life were just as tumultuous as the waves crashing the shore. Little by little they were eating away the shoreline and drawing the sand and mud back into the water. Erosion, that explained me.
Sam had pulled up all the surveillance from all around the hotel and determined that housekeeping was the only person in the room while we were all out. Only our housekeeper was a guy who knew how to avoid the cameras. Gentry had spent twenty minutes in our room with no one to watch him. In twenty minutes, he could have done a ton more damage than just written on the mirror and replaced my clothes.
Tines stepped out onto the balcony with the phone in his hand. “Lass, the phone is for you.”
“Who is it?”
“Grant.”
I snatched the phone from his hand and covered the speaker. “Did you tell him?”
“He has a right to know.”
“If he leaves my sister vulnerable and comes here, I’m blaming you.”
Tines’ eyes softened. “You’re his family too. If he wants to be here to protect you, you should respect that. “
My eyes narrowed at Tines. “You don’t want me on your bad side, teddy bear.”
Tines laughed as he headed back into the suite.
I took a calming breath and placed the phone next to my ear. “I don’t know what they told you, but I’m fine. I put more of a hurting on those college kids than they put on me.”
“What college kids, Lucy?” Grant asked.
Crap. I was sure that Tines had told him what happened. “Just some punks. It’s nothing to worry about.”
“Nothing to worry about, like the fact that Gentry had access to your room?”
“I wasn’t in it.”
“Lucy, I’ll be on the first flight out.”
“No, you won’t. If you leave Gigi, I’m going to be pissed and back out of finding this monster. I swear to God. I don’t even care if they put me in jail.”
“Dammit, Lucy, if anything happens to you, she’s going to blame me.”
“And if anything happens to her, I’m going to blame you. Which one of us would you rather have mad at you?”
****
I hadn’t wanted to dream of serial killers or college guys, or even Ford or Sloan. I didn’t want to dream of anything, but I did. I dreamt of a time with my sister when we were younger on a playground. It was a sweet dream until it wasn’t. Until I spotted the college kid and Gentry off in the distance, talking to each other and pointing at Gigi and me. Darkness filled their eyes when their laughing stopped, and they stomped in our direction.
My eyes flew open as I struggled to calm my racing heart. I stared at the ceiling fan as it went round and round and round. The sheet clung like a second skin to my dampened body, but at least I didn’t scream. I turned toward the alarm clock. The red numbers glowed 6 AM. Memories of the night before flashed in my mind as the bruise on my lip started to throb. Everything was coming back to me now. I was hunting a killer, and I’d almost become a victim. I slid out of the bed and stepped into the shower. The hot water sliced down my body, waking up my pores and my brain. I got out. The words on the mirror were no longer readable. One of the guys must have removed them. While I dressed, I heard two voices coming from the direction of the living room. I opened the door and stepped out. The chill on the cold tile had me heading straight toward the coffee pot. I was going to need a ton of caffeine, especially today.
Sloan and Ford were giving each other the stink eye. Sam was behind his keyboard, typing away, his knee jumping and tapping his foot at each keystroke. Noah was casually dressed in jeans and a pullover shirt. His badge clung to his hip.
“Morning, guys what’s on the agenda today?”
“I ordered surveillance on Gentry this morning,” Noah said.
“I pulled his and his father’s financials to find out how many areas in town he actually owns and can be hiding out,” Sam said from across the room without even a pause in his typing. “He has five properties, three houses, a boat in a slip at the marina, and a bar on the strip.”
“We don’t have any physical evi
dence to tie Gentry to the killings, yet. So that should be our objective today.”
A knock on the door stopped all conversation.
“Are you expecting company?” I asked Noah as I headed toward the door.
Sloan stepped in my way, stopping me. “I’ll get it. For all we know Gentry is standing out on the landing with a gun.”
Although it was possible, Gentry wasn’t stupid enough to do that. Sloan opened the door to find a college kid dressed in hotel garb standing on the other side. He had an envelope in his hand. “Is this where Lucy is staying?”
“Who wants to know?” Noah asked as he approached the door.
The kid lifted the envelope in the air. “Somebody left this at the bar, and it has her name and room number on it.”
Noah slid a pair of gloves out of his pocket and snapped them on. The college kid looked on confused as Noah took the envelope and walked back into the room.
Sloan tipped the kid some cash and shut the door on his face. Noah took out his pocket knife and slid it under the tab, trying not to disturb any DNA. He pulled out a note and held it up by the corner.
“What does it say?” I asked.
“Happy birthday?” Noah answered.
I had completely forgotten it was my birthday. My days had started to run together. “Is that all?”
Noah put the letter on the counter and rushed to the balcony door. He pulled it open and stepped out.
I followed him and his gaze down below. My breath hitched. “Is that what I think it is?”
Noah left me standing on the balcony as he grabbed his phone and headed out the suite door. Before he closed it, he pointed at Sloan. “You stay here with her. No one in or out of the door.” He slammed the door behind him as he left.
Three dead bodies were floating face down in the pool, which was filled with their blood. I recognized the clothes. The young men from last night. “Those are the guys who attacked me.”
“Looks like somebody did us a favor,” Sloan said as Ford and Sam stepped out onto the balcony.
Stalked Justice (Fractured Minds Series Book 1) Page 8
