He told his eyes to open, but he felt stuck in the fantasy world.
“Sean, please wake up,” she urged him again.
He pried his eyes open to find her looking down at him, sheer panic all over her face.
“Chloe was murdered,” she blurted out. “I have proof now.”
“What time is it?” He willed his eyes into focus and looked groggily at the alarm clock.
“That doesn’t matter, Sean. We have proof!”
How long had she been up? She sure was awake…
“Did you hear me?” Frustration coated each word.
The layers of fog finally started lifting, and her message was sinking in. Chloe… Murdered… Proof. He bolted upright. “What do you mean, we have proof?”
“Come with me.” She pulled on his hand with more strength than he knew she possessed.
“Where are we going?”
“My office.”
The haziness of sleep still hadn’t completely cleared. It was like he was in a waking dream. What proof that Chloe was murdered could exist in her office?
“There.” She pointed to her monitor. “Read the message.”
He sat in her chair and looked. The text was a blur at first, but then his vision cleared:
Chloe made my life miserable, so I had to do what I had to do. Everyone dies, and Chloe’s time had run out. I saw to that.
Tom
Sean turned to Sara. “Who’s Tom?” He wished he could muster up more enthusiasm, but maybe after he woke up.
“I don’t know,” she said, the panic still fresh in her eyes. “But we need to find out.”
“Yes, we do.” Sean used the landline on Sara’s desk and dialed with it on speaker.
“Who are you calling?” she asked.
“Adam.” Sean hoped that he kept his phone on while he slept.
Sara began to pace as the phone rang.
“Mr. McKinley?”
Ugh. Mister again… Wasn’t it too early to pull out a formal address?
But Adam sounded like he was a few coffees into his day and wide-awake. Apparently everyone was up but him.
Sean cleared his throat. “How did you make out looking into other reporters who might have held ill will toward Chloe?”
“I have a list of names from the station where she worked,” Adam said. “But I haven’t been able to dig into any of them yet. I was just about to get to work on—”
“Are any of them named Tom?” Sean cut in.
There was a slight hesitation on the line, and Sean looked at Sara. She was biting on her finger, clearly anxious.
“No,” Adam answered.
“No Thomas, either?” Sara asked.
“Oh, good morning, Sara,” he said. “No, there’s nothing even close to Tom.”
“Damn,” Sean muttered. “What about at Albany One?”
Sara touched his arm. “We should probably tell him what’s going on first.”
“What happened?” Adam asked.
Sean read the e-mail to Adam.
“Whoa,” he said.
“That’s what we thought, too. At the very least, someone wants us to look closer at what happened to Chloe.” Sean rubbed his eyes.
“You don’t think it’s the killer?” Adam asked. “It sounds like a confession.”
For being half-asleep still, Sean saw a potential ulterior motive to the e-mail. “It could be, but it might be to throw us off the real killer.”
“I get it. Someone who thinks you’re getting close?” There was doubt in Adam’s tone.
“That’s a possibility, too, Sean,” Sara said, speaking to Adam’s idea.
Sean looked at her and knitted his brows. It could have come from any of the people they’d interacted with yesterday. “Can you trace the sender of the e-mail?”
“I can give it a try. Forward it to me, and I’ll see what I can do. It might take me a bit of time, though.”
Sean did just that. “Now, we were going to save this for our meeting today, but Sara and I spoke with Austin Rhodes from Albany One yesterday, and he made a job offer to Chloe a few weeks ago. She accepted and was supposed to start on Halloween.”
“So maybe someone over there was jealous of her offer.” Adam quickly filled in the blanks. “Hang on a minute…” Clicking keys came from Adam’s end of the line. “Last night, I focused my search on Your Source. I hadn’t gotten around to Albany One yet, so I’m just taking a quick look for any Toms.”
After a few minutes, Adam said, “All right, we’re somewhere now.”
Sean’s pulse ratcheted up a notch. “And where’s that?”
“Tom Butler is one of two news anchors who work for Albany One. He’s partnered with—”
“Lois Simon?” Sara shrugged her shoulders and splayed out her hands when Sean looked at her.
“That’s right,” Adam confirmed.
Sean studied his wife’s eyes. “Maybe we’ve been looking at this all wrong. Maybe it’s not someone who’s jealous of Chloe’s job offer, but maybe Tom didn’t want to lose Lois.”
Adam was quiet on the other end of the line. Sara peered into Sean’s eyes as if she was trying to read them, but based on the contortion of her brow, she was failing.
“Austin told us that when Lois left, her job would be gone, too,” Sean added.
More keystrokes sounded on Adam’s end. “All right, according to online sources, it was rumored that Tom and Lois were lovers.”
Now Sean was awake.
“What about Chloe’s social media timeline?” Sara asked. “Does Tom show up there, or did you find anything else suspicious?”
“Not that I’ve seen.”
“Did you look to see if her fellow coworkers from Your Source offered condolences there?” Sara asked.
“I haven’t scoured it that closely yet, but I recall some familiar names when I was looking at the employee list from Your Source.” There was self-flagellation in Adam’s voice. Sean knew that Adam prided himself on efficiency and finding out things before he was even asked.
“All right,” Sean started, “do you see any evidence of animosity between Tom and Chloe?”
“Actually…I found a blog that Chloe ran.”
“Why’s this the first we’re hearing about it?” Sean snapped.
“I was going to update you this morning. I’m sorry, Mr. McKinley.”
“Sean,” he corrected this time. “And that’s fine. I know we just threw a lot at you. What’s the blog about?”
“Just her opinions on various things. I think I remember seeing something about Albany One, though…” More clicking keys. “Ah, yes.”
Sara leaned in closer to the phone and straightened back up when Sean looked at her.
“Chloe wrote an article on Tom Butler,” Adam continued, “and let’s just say it’s not too favorable.”
“When did she write it?” Sean asked.
“About a month ago,” he answered.
“That’s around the same time Albany One was looking for a new anchor,” Sean summarized.
Sean and Sara locked eyes.
“Send us the link to the article,” Sean directed Adam.
“Will do.”
Sara leaned toward the phone again. “What did she say about him?”
“She called him a hack and said she couldn’t take anyone seriously who didn’t know how to keep his work and personal lives separate.”
“That’s ballsy, seeing as she was going to work with him, though I guess she wouldn’t have known that yet. She was offered the job about a week later. But still,” Sara lamented.
“Why would she say that latter part, though?” Sean was stuck on the hypocrisy. “She was dating Jackson, someone she worked with. She didn’t break it off with him until after this post.”
“Something must have changed her mind about workplace romance,” Adam offered.
“And we might never know what.” Sean stood up. “I think we have enough to go on for now, though. You keep on Chloe’s timelin
e and the condolences, and try to track that e-mail.”
“Adam,” Sara spoke up before Sean hit the END CALL button.
“Yes, Sara?”
“Thank you for what you did for the haunted house.” She slid her gaze to Sean, who had tilted his head in confusion.
“Don’t mention it,” Adam said. “I’m part of your team, and I love doing what I can for charity, as well. And when your story didn’t broadcast, I figured this was something I could do to help get the word out.”
“Well, it didn’t go unnoticed. As I said in my e-mail, the place was hopping.”
Apparently, there was a lot of life that went on while he’d slept…
“Glad it worked,” Adam said.
“Thanks, again.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“Bye, Adam,” Sara said and looked at Sean.
He ended the call. “What was that about?”
She walked back to the computer, brought up an Internet browser, keyed in their names and the words haunted house. Sean watched as the results filled the screen.
“He got the story out online.” Sara was beaming. “He’s a keeper.”
Sean was nodding, impressed. “That he is.”
-
Chapter 19
CASTING A SPELL
SEAN AND SARA WERE PULLING into the Albany One lot at nine o’clock. On the way, Sara had called Jimmy to let him know about Chloe’s job offer, the e-mail Sara had received, Tom Butler, and Chloe’s blog post. He was going to move forward with getting the key to Chloe’s apartment from Jackson, but he’d hold off going over until they were done with Tom Butler.
They went inside the station, and the same man from yesterday was seated at the front desk. He grinned when he saw Sara, and she smiled politely in return.
“Good morning, Mrs. McKinley.” He slid his gaze to Sean. “Mr. McKinley.”
Sean squared his shoulders. “We’re here to speak with Tom Butler.”
The receptionist matched Sean’s posture. “Do you have an appointment?”
Maybe if she played all innocent and used her feminine wiles… Sara took a strand of hair and curled it around a finger. “We don’t, but I’m hoping that you could get us in to speak with him. It’s very important.”
The man frowned. “He doesn’t come in until around noon.”
“Could we get his home address or a phone number?” Sean asked.
The receptionist narrowed his eyes at Sean.
Sara wasn’t sure why he was pushing their luck with this guy. After all, they could find this information out on their own, but seeing as Sean put the request out there… “We’d be quite thankful if you could help us with this.”
The receptionist’s body relaxed slightly, but his jaw lines remained rigid. “I’m sure you can understand that I shouldn’t be handing out employee information. It’s against company policy.”
“We’re working a case, and we think he can help us,” Sara said, nicely.
The guy’s brow pinched, and any attraction he might have toward Sara lost power in light of adhering to company policy. “Yesterday, you were talking to Mr. Rhodes, and today, you’re interested in Tom? What’s this about?”
“We’re sorry to have bothered you.” Sara turned to leave.
She made it to the door with Sean before the receptionist spoke up.
“You understand why I can’t help, right?”
Sara stopped walking and so did Sean. He must have been considering breaking protocol; otherwise, why not just let them leave? She headed back to him with Sean by her side.
“Have you changed your mind about giving us his information?” Sean asked.
“I’ll give it to her.”
Sean smiled at the guy and shook his head. “You’re a brave man.”
“Why?” A smile teased the guy’s lips.
“I’m her husband…standing right here in front of you.” Sean’s tone was one-hundred-percent playful.
“Nothing hurtful intended, Mr. McKinley.” The guy smiled fully now. “I’ll give you—both of you—his phone number. I’m sure you could get it anyway. That’s my justification.” He added the last sentence under his breath.
“Then why risk getting into trouble giving it to us?” Sean asked skeptically.
She was wondering the same thing, but Sean had beat her to the question.
“Whatever you’re investigating can’t be good.” The light in his eyes dimmed. “I looked you both up online before you got here yesterday, and I know that you mostly stick to—” he leaned forward “—murders. I don’t want you to think I’m involved in whatever you’re looking into by not being open with you.”
Ironically, that piqued her curiosity about him, if only a little. The supposed killer sent an e-mail signed off as Tom, but that didn’t mean Tom had sent it. For now, though, she’d accept this guy’s comments at face value. “We won’t tell anyone we got his information from you,” she assured him.
“I’d appreciate that.” He clicked around a bit on his computer and then grabbed a small notepad and scribbled on it. He extended it to Sean. “That’s his cell phone number.”
Sean took the paper. “Thank you.”
“Uh-huh.”
Sean was already dialing as they headed out to the parking lot, and based on the course of the conversation, she could tell he had Tom on the line.
A few minutes later, Sean hung up. “Tom’s good to meet us for coffee in twenty minutes.”
“Wow, that’s fast. And how did he seem to you? Was he surprised to hear from you?”
“He didn’t seem to be, and he came across quite relaxed about it.”
“Did you tell him it was about Chloe?”
Sean shook his head.
“Interesting.” She was mulling over the different reasons that could explain why Tom was being so accommodating. If he’d killed Chloe and e-mailed them, it would be more likely that he’d avoid them. Then again, maybe they would be running into a trap. Another possibility was that Tom wasn’t guilty at all and someone was trying to set him up. “Where are we meeting him?”
Sean told her, and it had her grinning. One, it was a public place, and two, they served one of the best cups of coffee in the city. “One of my favorite places,” she said.
“Haven’t you already had your caffeine quota for the day?” Based on the sparkle in his eyes and mischievous curve to his lips, he was teasing her, but it was a facade to mask his real concern.
“Is there such a thing as too much?” she countered. “If there is, I don’t think I’ve ever hit that limit yet.” She jutted out her chin and reached for her door handle. Sean swooped in front of her and opened it for her.
“Why, thank you.” She pecked a kiss on his cheek, and he swept her into his arms. “Sean!” she squealed from the surprise attack. “What are…you doing?” She was laughing and couldn’t get all the words out in an even flow.
“You’re mine, all mine,” he said in a comical voice.
She put a hand to his chest. “Would you cut it out?”
“Only if you kiss me again.” He nudged his lips toward hers, and she closed the distance.
-
Chapter 20
HOCUS-POCUS
TOM BUTLER WAS SITTING AT a table next to a window, making him easy to spot right away. Sean and Sara ordered drinks and then approached the reporter. As they got closer to him, Sean didn’t think he looked much like his professional photo. His broad nose and salt-and-pepper hair identified him, but the makeup artist, lighting specialist, and photographer must have worked otherworldly magic.
“Mr. Butler,” Sean said as he and Sara reached the man’s table.
The reporter looked up from a hardcover book, his eyes somewhat blank. He’d obviously been engrossed in whatever he’d been reading, and Sean had yanked him from the pages.
Sean looked for the cover, but it was facing down. “We’re Sean and Sara McKinley,” he added when Tom remained speechless.
Tom s
miled. “Ah, yes. Please sit.”
For a killer who had essentially called them out, he seemed quite polite and cooperative. Psychopath? It was possible.
Sean pulled out a chair for Sara. After she sat down, he did the same.
Tom angled his head and let his gaze go back and forth between them. “What would you like to discuss? I did a quick Internet search on the two of you. I saw you’re running a charity haunted house. A pretty successful one so far, too. If you’re looking for a spotlight on—”
Sean shook his head. “We’re here about Chloe Parsons.”
“What about her?”
“She’s dead.” Sean took a sip of his bottled orange juice, watching Tom as he did so.
“Yes, I heard about that. But what I meant was I’m not sure why you’d want to talk to me about that.”
Sean reached into a coat pocket and pulled out a printed copy of the e-mail and handed it to Tom.
Tom read it and looked up. His face was pale. “I didn’t send this.”
“It’s signed off ‘Tom,’” Sean pointed out. It had been an assumption that Tom Butler was the Tom from the e-mail, but it had some merit. Sean wasn’t going to let this man convince so him easily. He’d seen his fair share of guilty suspects play the denial game. “And you had something to lose.”
He sneered. “There are a lot of Toms in the world, and please enlighten me as to what I had to lose. Don’t killers normally have something to gain?”
Sean wasn’t going to let this man’s rebuttal throw him off. “Your co-anchor was being replaced.”
“She was going to Paris,” Tom corrected curtly.
Sean nodded.
“If you knew that,” Tom said, “then I don’t see how Lois ties into any motivation for killing Chloe.”
“Her job wasn’t going to be waiting for her when she got back,” Sean said.
Tom’s expression sharpened. “So I killed Chloe because I didn’t want her taking Lois’s job?”
“You and Lois were in love.” Sean was jumping the gun, given that the online rumors just mentioned they were dating, but he had to try to catch this guy in his lie. He took another sip of his juice.
“In love?” Tom scoffed. “Hardly. We were sleeping together. Not even in a relationship, but if you need to label it, it was casual as they come.” He paused. “And if you think I killed Chloe because she was replacing Lois, you clearly don’t know how television journalism works. You don’t think that Austin had second and third choices lined up in case Chloe declined the job offer?”
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