“No, I won’t help you.”
Doyle reached out and yanked away the covers, exposing Kathy’s scantily clad body.
Her breathing grew more rapid.
“Are you going to rape me?”
He took out his gun, an old .38 that once belonged to his father. The only reason he still had it was because he kept it in a safety deposit box, and only his house and car had been searched.
“I have a list of six names, girls like you who belong to that fan club, and this gun has six bullets. I am so hoping to God that you still have some sense left and help me find my daughter.”
Kathy swallowed hard.
“And if I don’t... you’ll rape me and kill me?”
“I won’t rape you, but I will kill you, and then I’ll move on to the next name on the list.”
Doyle tried to sound cold and tough. He hoped that the threat of violence seemed real to the girl, but knew that he would never lay a hand on her. It just wasn’t in his nature.
“Mister?”
“Yes?”
“Please hand me my laptop,”
Hank Doyle smiled.
“Maybe you aren’t so crazy after all.”
***
Later that morning, at the house, Jessica greeted Dr. Elena Colt.
Lawson delivered her as promised, but left them to go and check with the men he had guarding the grounds. When asked about her husband, Jessica explained that he and Jace had accompanied Maggie back to her home to pack up some of her belongings.
Dr. Colt insisted on seeing the babies before they settled in to talk, but once they sat together in the living room with coffee, she got to the point of her visit.
“I know what your husband is Dr. White. He’s a natural-born predator.”
Jessica stared at her for a moment, but when she spoke, there was a tone of suppressed anger.
“It was beyond unprofessional of your husband to reveal to you what we told him in confidence.”
“Emile is my ex-husband, and a dear man. He didn’t reveal anything to me. One look at your husband and I simply knew.”
Jessica sat her cup down.
“Are you like him?”
“A predator? No, although like yourself, I hold no love of serial murderers, and, if my suspicions are correct, you and your husband are not above dealing with them outside the law.”
“Why are you here, Dr. Colt? What do you want from me?”
“I want you to know that you and I are much alike and that I was dealing with vermin such as Jeffrey Mitchell before you were even born.”
“I’ve looked into your history. You and Dr. Harven consulted with the authorities much the same way as my husband and I do now.”
“That we did, although back then no one referred to us as profilers. We were simply called in to offer a psychological roadmap, so to speak, but Emile and I did more than that. You see, we hunted them, we used my gift of recognition to find them and neutralize them.”
“Neutralize?”
“Murder, we murdered them.”
Jessica rose from the sofa and paced about.
“Why are you admitting this to me?”
“I read your book, read between the lines in fact, and in those pages I knew that I’d found a kindred soul. I’m here to offer my help whenever you need it, and to listen. I know how lonely it can be to work outside the law. The law wants to capture men like Mitchell, yes, but only so that they can coddle him for decades inside some nice warm prison cell that comes with three meals a day. My Lord, if only every child in this country was treated so well.”
“You want to be friends, to have my trust? All right then, give me yours. Tell me about some of the things you’ve done.”
“In your book, you had a list of seventeen notorious serial killers who had never been caught.”
“Yes.”
“The number is not quite that high, I assure you. Emile and I made certain of that.”
Jessica thought for a moment.
“The Horoscope Killer? He was on an escalating rampage back in the late-sixties, taunting the police with letters to the newspapers, and then... nothing.”
Elena smiled.
“No, not nothing, you see, he crossed my path.”
***
San Francisco, summer, 1969
Dr. Elena Colt watched the man in the gray work shirt stroll along through the park on a warm summer afternoon, and as she did, she marveled at the lack of reaction from the people around her.
Could they really not see what he was?
The man was a predator as much as any wolf ever born and it amazed her that no one else could see it.
Elena Colt was an attractive woman of twenty-five who had recently attained her medical degree from Stanford. She wore her long dark hair tied back in a ponytail, and was wearing a colorful peasant skirt along with a black T-shirt that displayed a picture of The Beatles.
Her husband, Emile Harven, spoke to her. He was a handsome man in his thirties with wavy dark hair, tall, and with a slim frame. Despite the heat, Emile was wearing a suit.
“Elena, are you certain that he’s the Horoscope Killer?”
“No, Emile, but I’m certain that he is a killer and that he could no more stop doing it than you could stop being curious about people.”
“I’m a psychiatrist. I’m paid to be curious.”
“Yes, and the killing repays him too. I’m sure that it brings him great pleasure.”
“I can go back for the car, but we have no way of knowing which exit he’ll use to leave the park.”
“Nevermind the car, we’ll just follow along behind him and see where he goes.”
“What if he spots us?”
“If he does he’ll think nothing of it. Neither of us looks like a cop.”
“He’s not very big, is he?”
“The average sheep outweighs the average wolf, but who fears whom?”
They followed the man until he reached a bus stop. He still had not noticed them, and so they stood together in a nearby doorway and watched him.
“He looks so normal, Elena, are you certain he’s the one. I mean he’s smaller than I am and he’s wearing glasses.”
“Have I ever been wrong?”
“Yes, you had no idea what your father was until the police discovered him with that girl’s body.”
Emile noticed that Elena looked hurt by his mentioning of her father, and he immediately regretted bringing it up.
“I’ve told you before, it was love that blinded me to him. He was my father and I loved him, still love him, even though I now know what he is, what he did.”
Emile took Elena in his arms and began nuzzling her neck.
“And you love me, how can you be certain that I’m not a mad killer?”
She giggled.
“The only thing you’re mad with is lust.”
They began kissing, and only stopped when they heard the squeal of brakes, as a bus came to a stop at the corner.
They followed the man onto the bus and watched as he took a seat at the rear of the vehicle. They settled into a pair of seats near the back door so that they could be certain to spot him when he got off, then, the bus meandered its way through the city while stopping often, but after twenty minutes had passed, the man disembarked and went walking away down a side street at a brisk pace.
Emile rose to follow, but Elena held him back.
“Look at the street he’s on, it’s deserted. If we followed him now he’d be certain to spot us.”
“So what then, you just want to let him go?”
“No, we’ll get off at the next stop and run back to catch up to him.”
Emile groaned at the thought of running.
Elena smiled.
“The exercise will do you good.”
The bus traveled another two blocks before they could get off, and they began jogging back the way they had just come. Despite having longer legs, Emile soon found Elena leaving him behind.
“Elena, wait for me.”
She turned and smiled at him while running backwards.
“Hurry up, slowpoke.”
Emile found a new reserve of strength and ran faster, but was still four paces back when Elena came to an abrupt stop.
“There he is, coming out of that little store. It looks like he stopped to buy cigarettes; he’s lighting one now.”
Emile nodded as he tried to catch his breath.
“Look at you, huffing and puffing, you definitely need to exercise more.”
“Nonsense, I’m an academic, not an athlete, and besides, I’m not as young as you.”
“Now who’s talking nonsense, you’re hardly old, Emile.”
Emile pointed up the street.
“He must be headed to that factory, there’s nothing else down there.”
“You’re right, that must be where he works, and look at the time, it’s nearly four. I’ll bet you that he’s a shift worker, and if he is then he’ll probably quit work around midnight. We’ll come back then.”
A small group of men rounded the corner, and each of them wore the same gray shirt as the man they had followed. They were soon joined by more men, both walking alone and in groups or pairs, but all of them wore the same gray shirt.
“Look, more people arriving for their shift, but let’s wait and see if any leave soon, if so, I think we can be certain that he’ll be in there for a time.”
Not long after the pedestrian traffic passed, a succession of automobiles turned into the street, and most of their drivers were wearing a gray shirt. Elena and Emile’s wait was rewarded when cars began coming from the factory only a few minutes after four p.m., and a large group of men followed on foot, and again they were garbed in gray.
Elena smiled.
“Shift work, I knew it, and I’ll bet you that he goes hunting once his work here is done.”
“Hunting? At midnight?”
“The murders, Emile, to him it would be hunting,”
“Ah, how perverted,”
Elena took him by the hand and began walking.
“We’ll go home, eat, sleep, and then come back here in the car. I want to be here when he gets off work.”
“But how will we spot him in the dark if he’s walking among a crowd of men dressed much like himself?”
“He won’t blend in, not to my eyes.”
“Right, I’d forgotten,”
***
They followed the man for over a week as he left work, and learned where he lived, but had seen him interact with no one and he never left his apartment other than for meals at a local diner.
One night, as they sat in Emile’s car waiting for the man to get off work, Emile looked over into the passenger seat and found Elena sleeping.
He nudged her gently and she awoke.
“I hated to wake you, but I’m not able to pick him from the crowd as you can.”
“It’s alright; it’s just that the hours are catching up to me.”
“You’re not alone in that, why I nearly fell asleep today while a patient was talking. Perhaps we should try and persuade the authorities to lend us an assist in surveilling the man.”
“Based on what? They would laugh at us if we told them the truth.”
“Yes, but we can’t keep this schedule much longer.”
“I know, but give it until the end of the week, if he is The Horoscope Killer he won’t be inactive much longer, he’ll need to kill, and soon.”
***
It was only a day later that Elena’s words proved true, as they followed the man home after a late shift at the factory, only to watch him emerge from his apartment house moments later. He was carrying a satchel and walking along at a very fast pace.
Elena left the car, but then leaned back in to give instructions.
“Follow along, but not too close; I’ll track him on foot.”
Emile opened his mouth to protest, but Elena was already across the street and on the man’s trail.
When the man was a dozen blocks from his home, Elena watched him look about furtively, before reaching into the satchel and removing something. A moment later, the man was at the door of a nearby car, and had it unlocked in seconds.
Emile came along just as the man drove off in his newly acquired vehicle.
“He’s just stolen that black car, what is that, a Dodge Dart?”
“You know I don’t know cars. Now ask me about classical music, that I know.”
“Follow it, but not too close,”
Emile did as told, and later had to turn off his headlights to remain undetected.
They trailed the man up into the hills where a fabulous view of the city could be had. When they saw the man pull off the road and onto the grass, they followed suit only a few hundred feet behind him.
Elena grabbed a pair of binoculars.
“He’s taking something out of that satchel, it... it looks like a pair of coveralls.”
Emile looked about, smiling,
“Remember the last time we came up here?”
“Here? We’ve been here before?”
“Of course, just over that hill is lover’s lane. We’ve just always driven here by a different route.”
“Emile, that’s where he’s headed. Remember, The Horoscope Killer targets lovers, couples, oh my God, there could be three or four couples parked up here at this hour.”
“What’s he doing? Does he have a weapon?”
“Yes, he just removed it from that bag of his, and now he’s headed for the hill, oh Emile, we have to stop him. Start the car.”
“What? But he’ll hear it.”
“It doesn’t matter, oh, just move over and let me drive.”
Elena moved behind the wheel and started the engine. As it roared to life, their quarry, who was now wearing a pair of green coveralls, spun around.
Elena rushed the vehicle towards the man and then put on the car’s high beams. She slammed into him just as the man raised his weapon to fire, and sent him bouncing off the fender and against the side of a tree.
She was out of the car the moment it stopped moving and rushed back towards her victim. The man who had terrorized a city for months now lay at her feet, a broken thing, pleading for help.
“Hospital, please... get... me.... help,”
Before she even knew what she was doing, Elena snatched up the man’s fallen weapon, took aim, and shot him in the chest until the gun was empty.
“Elena!”
She turned to find Emile gawking at her with a horrified look, and she dropped the gun and rushed into his arms.
“He had to die! If he lived, they would have simply locked him away to live out his life in the comfort of a warm cell. It’s not right that this vermin live while his victims are in the ground, while his family suffers with the guilt and the shame. It’s not right!”
Emile looked down at her as he held her.
“It’s done and there’s no going back, but what do we do now?”
Elena thought it over as she wiped away her tears.
“We’ll place him in the trunk and drive to your boat; afterwards, we’ll dump his body out at sea.”
“My sail boat? At this hour? But I’ve only been out in daylight.”
“All right then, we’ll weigh him down and drop him in the bay, but we better get started if we’re to get any sleep at all tonight.”
“Sleep? Good Lord, I doubt I’ll sleep a wink after this.”
***
Later that night, they stood on the dock looking out at the bay.
“We’re murderers now, Elena; you realize that, don’t you?”
“His blood is on my hands, and I’d gladly do it again, God only knows how many innocents we saved by disposing of him.”
Emile shivered, and Elena felt it, as she was leaning back against him, his arms around her.
“If we hadn’t been following him... he was really headed to murder those people.”
“Yes he was, but we stopped him,”
Emile
nodded.
“Maybe I’ll sleep after all,”
Elena turned in his arms and kissed him hard on the lips.
“And maybe not,”
CHAPTER 5
Jessica had sat listening quietly to Elena’s story, but at its conclusion, she asked a question.
“That man was likely a killer, but how could you know that he was The Horoscope Killer?”
“He had one of those cryptic notes on him, the type he was sending to the newspapers. It was in a white envelope, and I suppose he was going to mail it after he killed. Also, his gun was a .32, and The Horoscope Killers’ victims were all killed with a .32.”
“And there were no more murders attributed to him?”
“None, within weeks the city returned to normal.”
“But not you, you continued searching for men like that, didn’t you?”
“Oh yes, over the years Emile and I disposed of quite a few of them, but it took its toll on our marriage, for you see, Emile is a pacifist at heart.”
“I like Dr. Harven a great deal, and he helped to heal my marriage recently.”
“Your husband is a predator; you do realize that, don’t you?”
Jessica smiled.
“My husband is an Apex Predator, Doctor, but I assure you, he is not a serial killer.”
“I believe it. I find it incredible, but I believe it, and please, call me Elena.”
“And I’m Jessica,”
A noise sounded from the baby monitor, and when Jessica checked the camera in the nursery via her phone, she saw that her son had awakened.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have to go see to my children.”
Elena took out her own phone.
“Of course, and while you’re doing that, I’ll make a few calls.”
As Jessica left, Elena dialed, and the call was answered after one ring by a female voice.
“How did it go?”
“As I expected, she’s intrigued.”
“She didn’t freak out, did she?”
“Of course not, I told you that she was one of us. I wouldn’t be here to make the offer to her if I thought she wasn’t well-suited.”
“Has she agreed to join us?”
“There hasn’t been time to broach the subject, but I will. How are things there?”
“Good.”
“Have you heard from Cassandra yet?”
“Yes, she’s made friends with one of Circe Doyle’s group. She says that they’re all waiting to hear news about Jeffrey and that they’re very excited.”
The TAKEN! Series - Books 13-16 (Taken! Box Set Book 4) Page 4
