Barbara issued her kids out the door, then made breakfast for her and Zach, refusing Alex’s offer of help. “You’ve been through enough without having to try to cope with my stove.”
Alex could have said the same to Barbara. How she coped with such equanimity Alex had no idea. But her pancakes were delicious. When Alex asked what she put in them, Barbara whispered, “Bananas.”
That was the ingredient Alex tasted but couldn’t identify. She’d have to try that.
Once the plates were cleared, Zach went off with his brother into the study. When she was alone with Barbara, she volunteered, “How about you wash and I’ll dry?”
“Obviously you have a compulsion to be helpful, but the dishwasher will do both for us. I’ll take care of it later.” Barbara sat at the table, her coffee cup cradled in both her hands. “I’m glad for the moment alone together.”
Alex took a sip from her own cup waiting for Barbara to say what she wanted.
“I’m worried about my husband,” she said finally.
That surprised Alex. If there was a man who exuded self-sufficiency and self-containment, it was Adam Stone. “Why?”
“I’m sure Zach told you about my condition. I have to go into the hospital for more tests next week, but it doesn’t look good. If my disease follows the same progression as my mother’s, there isn’t much time.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Well, in a way it’s my own fault. I haven’t taken care of myself as I should. There are screening tests that I didn’t keep up with. I just got so busy with the kids and work and Adam.” She made a hopeless gesture.
“Why are you worried about him?”
For the first time Barbara met her gaze. “Because I know how he is. When bad things happen he doesn’t wallow in self-pity, he looks around for someone to blame.” She shook her head. “I know he blames me for not being as careful as I should be, but he blames himself more for not protecting me.”
“That seems to be a Stone family trait.”
Barbara lifted her coffee cup in salute. “Amen to that. I don’t know what it is about them that makes them think they’re responsible for the rest of the world. Part of it is a cop thing, I guess. You know, serve and protect. Sometimes it’s enough to put your teeth on edge.”
“I’ve noticed.”
Barbara sighed, the humor leaving her. “How do I convince my husband to stop worrying about whose fault it is and enjoy the time we have left together?”
Alex placed her hand over Barbara’s. “Tell him how you feel. Encourage him to share his feelings with you. There’s a book I can recommend, if you like.”
Barbara nodded. “You know, the worst part is knowing I’m never going to see my kids grow up. I’ll never see them fall in love or get married or help them pick a career. Adam and I have had a lot of years together. I know he loves me and that there will always be a place in his heart for me. But the kids? They’re so young.”
“They’ll remember you, Barbara. My mother died when I was thirteen and I can picture her in my mind like she was here yesterday. In fact, I was thinking before that you remind me of her.”
Barbara brightened. “Somehow I think that’s a great compliment.”
“It is. Anyone who could put up with the man she married ought to be ready for sainthood.”
Barbara stood and straightened her dress. “I’d better get a room ready for you and Zach. I know he said you two needed a few hours of sleep before you hit the road again.”
“Thanks.” In the meantime she pulled out her cell phone and her organizer. At the very least she needed to contact her insurance agent while she was still in the city. Heaven only knew what would happen with her house, her life when all this was over. But for the moment, she was more concerned with what Zach and his brother were talking about in the other room.
As it was too early in the morning for liquor, Zach had accepted a glass of orange juice from his brother. He didn’t know why drinks were mandatory in this room, but he set his glass on the nearest coffee table and left it there.
Adam took his usual place behind the desk. “She seems to be holding up well,” he said as his opening salvo.
Zach didn’t know why his brother’s words irritated him so much, but they did. “She has a name.”
Adam’s eyebrows lifted. “I know that. Alex seems to be holding up well.”
“Yes, she does. But that doesn’t mean I’m not worried about her.”
Adam nodded. “You should get her out of here as soon as you can.”
“I intend to.”
Adam stared at him a moment. “What’s with you today? I think this case is getting to you or maybe you got up on the wrong side of someone’s bed.”
“That’s what it all boils down to for you, isn’t it? Who I’m sleeping with. I don’t remember you being a prude before you married Barbara, and frankly I never told you this, but I walked into the house once when you two were going at it. I could hear you down here. That’s when I stopped letting myself in with my key. So what exactly is the problem you have with me? You think I was unfaithful once so I have to pay for that the rest of my life?”
For the first time in a long while Zach saw uncertainty in his brother’s eyes. “Weren’t you?”
“Not until I told her it was over and that I wasn’t coming back. When I said ‘infidelity’ I meant hers.”
“Then why did you let me go on thinking otherwise for so long?”
“I’d hoped you knew me better than that. In those days I had the same mistress I do now, my job, just like you, just like Jon. We have that in common, if nothing else. Besides, do you really think I wanted to talk about that?”
Adam tilted his head to one side. “No, I guess not. I got totally freaked just thinking Barbara was with another man. I don’t know what I’d do if I knew it for certain.”
Zach stood. “I need to see to Alex.”
Adam nodded. “Go. If there’s anything you need, let me know.”
Alex had just settled under the covers in Adam and Barbara’s guest room when Zach walked in the door. Her gaze wandered over to him. Although they’d only been apart a few minutes there seemed to be something different about him. “What have you been up to?”
Fully clothed, he lay down on the bed beside her and kicked off his shoes. “Nothing much. Just had it out with Big Brother. I told him the truth.”
That didn’t surprise her. “What did he say?”
“I think he was a little surprised, both that what he assumed wasn’t true and that I’d never bothered to correct him. I probably should have done that years ago.”
Probably, but she knew he’d been hurt by his brothers’ mistrust. It was easier for him to walk away or pretend that hurt didn’t exist than to face it. At least it had been. She couldn’t say that for certain anymore. The night she’d told him about her father, he’d withdrawn, but he’d come back almost right away. Still, he’d been there for her in every possible way when she needed him.
They weren’t the same people they were thirteen years ago. For the first time that thought filled her with something other than dread. She didn’t know what to call it, but it was something good, something to look forward to. He lay on his back and she leaned over and pressed her mouth to his.
He set her away from him, almost immediately. “Please, baby, don’t start. I brought us over here to sleep, just sleep. I need my eyes sharp to keep you safe. I don’t want to be falling asleep in the middle of the road.”
She had meant the kiss as a simple sign of affection, but it didn’t hurt her ego any to know he doubted his self-control around her. She lay back against the pillows. “All right, but you owe me one.”
“I’ll owe you as many as you like, just go to sleep.”
“That could be dangerous,” she teased.
“Don’t I know it?”
She urged him to take off his clothes and join her under the covers. He did and after a while she fell asleep against his chest.
What woke her later was not the sound of the alarm Zach had set, but her cell phone. Considering the news the last time she’d picked it up, she wasn’t looking forward to hearing who was on the other end. Zach didn’t say anything as she rose from the bed to retrieve it from her purse, but she felt his eyes on her.
She connected the call. “Hello?”
“Hi, Dr. Waters?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Winston. I work with Eric Rosetti.”
“Yes?”
“Eric isn’t in and I wasn’t sure who to call. Your name and number were with the file.”
“Yes?” She was beginning to sound like a broken record, but she wished this kid would get on with what he had to say.
“You were looking for some guy in connection with the Amazon Killer.”
Alex ground her teeth together. “Yes?”
“Well, Hercules 912 just bit.”
Twenty-eight
“What do you mean, he bit?” Alex asked, anticipation making her hand holding her phone tremble.
“We still had an operative pretending to be Jenna Thorne, the profile we put up for him. She was on last night and he contacted her. He wants to meet with her.”
“When?”
“That’s the problem. I don’t know what to tell him.”
Since she had no idea either, she turned to Zach, told him who was on the phone, and handed it to him.
While Zach spoke her mind raced. Why would Williams resurface on the Internet now? She doubted his compulsion for killing young girls was responsible, not when he’d picked the one girl designed to trap him. Had Roberta told him about the profile? She didn’t know and Roberta was no longer with them to ask. Whatever he planned had to be some kind of setup, though what variety Alex couldn’t fathom.
And what would happen now? They’d get some decoy to pretend to be this girl to meet with him? Even if that decoy were a policewoman and not one of Juvenile Justice’s volunteers that would be one more life put in danger because of her. She already had Roberta’s death on her conscience. She didn’t think she could handle another.
Zach disconnected the call and handed her the phone. “Here we go again.”
“Tell me.”
“I’ve got to call in, but I’m sure we’ll make some arrangement to meet with him. Or they will. I still plan to take you out of here.”
She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere. How can I run and hide while other people put their lives on the line for me? He burns down my house, but he could have taken down Gladys’s as well. If he wants me, why don’t we just let him come get me and stop him then?”
“Apparently, he doesn’t want you this time, so that’s a moot point.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Not that she really wanted to argue with him. She just wanted it to be over. She put her hands in her hair in a mockery of tearing it out. “This is so goddamn frustrating.”
He grasped her wrists and pulled her down to him. “I know.”
“If you want my professional opinion, it’s some sort of setup. He has no more interest in this girl than he has in bicycling on the moon. For all we know, he wants to divert manpower away from watching me to make it easier for him.”
“Don’t you think I’ve thought of that? All the more reason you should be somewhere else while this goes down.”
Maybe, but that didn’t make it feel any less like cutting and running. “What if I stay here, under your brother Adam’s protection?”
“And what will I be doing?”
“Hunting that bastard down. Your skills are wasted babysitting me. I want you to find him, and if it’s possible put a few bullet holes in him for me.”
“Alex, don’t ask that of me. I sure as hell wouldn’t mind the bullet hole part, but don’t ask me to leave you, not even on my brother’s watch.”
That’s what he said, but she could tell that he was weakening. Then his cell phone rang. “I have to take this. Why don’t you go downstairs and see if Barbara’s got anything to eat?”
Yeah, anything to get her out of the room so that he could talk in peace. She slipped on her clothes and headed downstairs. They’d have to finish their conversation later.
Zach sat behind the wheel in the car next to Smitty, feeling uneasy. He’d let her talk him into joining this fool’s errand, when he should be back with her now. He would have stayed, except he wanted to be there on the off chance they caught him, to be able to look into the man’s face and know that Alex was out of danger. In that way, he was no different from McKay.
Zach scanned the area. There had to be a good fifteen pairs of cops hidden in plain sight around them—a couple of them “working” the all-night counter in the service station, a couple served as patrons in the Dunkin Donuts. Another couple of sets, like them, sat in darkened parked cars, waiting. Backup, in the form of several marked cars, waited back on a couple of side streets.
They’d set up an hour and a half ago, figuring they’d beat Williams to the area in case he decided to show up early. But if Williams had shown, Zach didn’t see him. At least the decoy policewoman was only three stops away on the 30 bus. Whatever happened, it would be over soon and he could get back to Alex.
“Why don’t you call her?” Smitty suggested.
Zach shook his head. Calling her now would only worry Alex when there was probably nothing for her to worry about. He was more concerned that he hadn’t heard from Adam yet. While he and Alex had been sleeping, Adam had gone in to work. He was supposed to call when he got home, but so far nothing yet. How goddamn long did it take to drive across town? Then again, knowing Adam, if he thought Zach was overreacting he wouldn’t bother to call.
He started to pull out his cell phone to dial Adam’s number when Smitty elbowed him. “Here comes the bus.”
It was the moment they’d all been waiting for. Zach trained his gaze on the approaching vehicle, breathing deeply, trying to control the burst of adrenaline that shot through his system. They couldn’t mess this up. Not only was Alex’s life in danger, but so too was that of the young officer who served as their decoy. The bus stopped at the corner of Boston Road and Connor Street to let off passengers. When it pulled away to turn on to Connor, several people got off. Most of them immediately dispersed. Only three remained: the decoy and a pair of cops posing as lovers waiting for the connecting 16 bus to show up.
But there was no sign of Williams. The decoy paced around, checking her watch as a young girl might when being kept waiting. She’d been outfitted with a microphone and a receiver. “Okay, guys,” she whispered. “What do I do now?”
Before the words were fully out of her mouth a black SUV pulled into the Dunkin’ Donuts end of the parking lot and drove toward her. The driver stopped beside one of the gas pumps but not close enough to actually fill his tank.
The driver’s-side door opened and a man got out. He called to the decoy, “Hey, are you waiting for someone named Sam?”
Zach knew immediately that this man was not Williams. He was too tall and his build was too beefy. But he found himself running across the broad street, dodging traffic to get to the spot where the man had already been forced to the ground. One of the “lovers” was in the process of cuffing him when Zach got there.
The man was already blubbering and the strong smell of ammonia reached his nostrils. The asshole had peed on himself. Zach pushed through the others gathering around and hauled the man to his feet and pushed him back against his car. “Where’s Williams?” he demanded.
“Who’s Williams?”
The man seemed so genuinely terrified, Zach doubted he was trying to dissemble. “Who told you to be here?”
“Some guy I met online told me he had a girl meeting him here but he had another date. He asked me if I wanted to take his place since she didn’t really know what he looked like.”
Zach shoved the man away from him. If Williams wasn’t here, he could think of only one other place he might be. He sought out Smitty in
the crowd, nodded toward the car, and mouthed one word. “Alex.”
Twenty-nine
Alex paced the floor in Barbara’s living room, unable to keep still. It didn’t bother her that Adam had yet to show up, though the strain of his absence showed on Barbara’s face. There had been some sort of pileup on the Cross Bronx earlier that evening. A semi carrying toxic chemicals had jackknifed causing a several-car accident behind it. If Adam had gotten caught up in that, siren or no, who’d know when he’d get home?
Alex’s concern was for Zach. She grew more anxious as the minutes ticked down toward the time Williams was supposed to meet them. Williams was one man against many, but if there was one man he’d tried to take down with him, it would be Zach. She knew he’d seen them together, if not the night of the copycat killing, then definitely on his own farm.
Alex glanced at the policewoman standing at the entrance to the room, the lone cop inside, while another pair guarded the front entrance in a car. She was tall with a beefy face and a hard expression. But when the shrill sound of the phone ringing invaded the silence of the room, she along with Alex and Barbara jumped.
Barbara reached for the cordless phone on the table beside her. “Hello.” Her face immediately brightened. “Where the hell are you?”
That had to be Adam. At least they knew where he was now, if nothing else.
Barbara spoke for a few more moments, then hung up. “As you must have guessed that was Adam. He was in that wreck on the highway. The damn air bag didn’t deploy and he smacked his head on the steering wheel.”
“How is he?”
“Fine now. But they’re not letting him out of the hospital until someone can come and get him. He’s got a mild concussion.”
“Poor thing.”
“Don’t go worrying about him. If you’d seen the way my husband drives you’d wonder if he wasn’t the cause of the accident. By the way, Adam contacted Jon. He’s on his way over. He and Dana live five minutes away.”
Body of Lies Page 29
