Shantell dropped her pencil on the floor and leaned down to pick it up.
Hailangelo waved to Elzbieta and said, “Thanks for letting me borrow her. I’ll be sure to bring her back in one piece.”
Elzbieta scoffed. “You better.”
Hailangelo turned his back to the table, away from Shantell, and held his arm out to Leila. “Shall we?”
“My pleasure,” Leila said. With that, they left. En route to his car, her cell phone rang.
“Need to answer that?” he asked.
Leila checked the caller I.D. “It’s just my brother. I’ll call him later.”
Nell and Casey arrived at Leila’s complex. Casey jumped out of the car before it had completely stopped and sprinted to the entrance. He pressed the buzzer. Nobody answered. He pressed the button frantically like a telegraph operator on uppers. “Come on…come on. Where are they?”
“There,” Nell said, pointing at a car across the lot, about fifty yards away.
Elzbieta’s voice came through the speaker. “Who is it?”
Nell and Casey had no interest, already running toward Leila, who spoke to someone Casey couldn’t see. Casey’s heart pumped liked pistons. “Lei!”
Her companion opened the passenger-side door to his 1970 black Chevelle. She got in the muscle car.
Casey closed in, sprinting, forty yards away from the car. Thirty.
The man walked around the Chevelle, got in, and started it.
“Lei!” Casey shouted, twenty yards away. “Wait!”
As the car pulled away, Casey felt himself lose control.
34
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26
This time, the sleep paralysis was accompanied by mental numbness. As Hailangelo drove away with Leila, Casey felt…nothing.
Certainly, the déjà vu wasn’t lost on him. But the first time his little sister had been attacked, he’d been caught off guard. This time, he had seen it coming, tried his best, yet still hadn’t been able to stop it.
Nell caught up to him and shook him out of it.
He made fists. “Dammit, dammit, dammit!”
The Chevelle took a hard turn around a corner—tires squealing— and vanished. Again, Leila was going to be attacked by a predator and, again, his mother would be right—he couldn’t finish when it mattered most.
“Casey, look at me. Are you all right?”
He clutched his hair with both hands and fell to his knees. “No—he has her!”
Nell grabbed his shoulder and tugged him toward her car.
He resisted, yearning to punish himself.
She tugged harder. “Let’s go.”
“I can’t.”
She got in his face. “Get a grip. You already broke open an interstate-murder case. It’s downhill from here.”
“Look, some of us didn’t go to Quantico,” Casey snapped, pushing her away. “I’m not cut out for this—I can’t even stay awake!”
“Casey?” A familiar voice. “Casey!”
He turned.
“Where on earth did you go?” his mother yelled, standing at the doorway of the apartment complex. Shantell peeked out around his mother’s legs. “I thought you were coming back for Shantell.”
Casey was relieved to see she wasn’t holding a kabob. He couldn’t begin to formulate the words. He ran to the car and Nell followed his lead.
“Wait,” his mother called. “What’s going on?”
They sped after Leila and Hailangelo. Casey waited a few minutes then called the phone in Leila’s apartment. “Hi, Ma. Listen, Leila just took off with a murderer.”
Elzbieta chuckled. “Oh, Casey, you and your imagination. You just had another hallucination.”
“No, Ma. I saw this. Nell did, too. Right?”
“I saw it, too,” Nell said.
“That’s impossible,” Elzbieta said. “She left with the nicest man. He makes the statues around town and in Manhattan.”
“That’s how he gets away with it, Ma. It’s all in the ruse.”
For the first time ever, Casey’s mother didn’t have a comeback. “Oh dear.” The words sounded like they fell out of her mouth solely due to gravity. Casey hoped she wasn’t having a stroke.
“You let this happen,” Elzbieta said in monotone. “Again.”
“Ma, I tried. It’s not over. We’ll get her back.”
Elzbieta let out a cry like a wounded animal. “My baby. You were supposed to be watching out for my baby.”
“Ma. We’re going to find her. Nell has the entire Bureau on this. The cops, too.”
“They haven’t done squat.”
“We found evidence at his store. We’ve got him. We just have to catch him.”
“Casey Jerome Thread. How could you let this happen again? How?”
“Ma, I gotta go. I’ll keep you posted.”
Elzbieta bawled.
Casey ended the call and slammed a fist on the dashboard.
“Sorry, sleepyhead.”
Casey said nothing.
“You can talk to me.” She said it in a caring tone Casey had rarely heard from others.
He didn’t know what to say. He envisioned Hailangelo stabbing his sister in the car, before they could find her.
“You know I can’t promise we’ll find her,” Nell said. She took a right turn at an intersection.
“I know.” Snow fell gently on the road, serene and peaceful like a scene in a snow globe. Under any other circumstances, Casey might have considered it gorgeous.
Nell said, “I can send an agent to watch your mother and Shantell.”
“Thanks, but I’d be more worried about your agent with my mother there.”
She smiled and called it in anyway. “They’ll watch the place, make sure he doesn’t circle back there on us.”
Casey’s phone played the song “Message in a Bottle” by the Police, the ring tone to signal a text message had arrived. He grabbed his phone. It was from his editor at Sports Scene.
“Holy crap,” he said. “Todd Narziss is in the hospital.” Casey’s article had just careened in another direction.
“Hospital? Why?”
Casey scrolled down. “Apparently some sort of violent altercation.”
“Is he okay?” Nell said.
Casey wasn’t sure which type of answer he wanted to see. He scrolled down further. “He’s in stable condition at Green Bay Hospital.”
“Well that’s a relief.”
“Yeah, tough break for the team. And him.” Casey stared out the passenger window. For now, he had nothing else to do.
Nell placed her hand on his thigh. “I really do care about you. You know that, right?”
His heart fluttered. Did she mean that in an “In Your Eyes” kind of way, or in a “We Are the World” kind of way?
She put both hands on the wheel and focused on the road. “I didn’t lie about anything.”
Casey looked out the window, at a dog rubbing its back into the cool, white ground; how he longed to be so whimsical and free. “At first, I didn’t know what to believe.”
She turned a corner. “But now you do.”
Their eyes met. “Now I do.”
She smiled.
He returned it. “Where are we going?”
“To get your sister back.”
“But we don’t know where he went.”
“We’re not following him.”
“What the hell are we doing then?”
“Ye of little faith. If you’re hunting an animal and lose the trail, how do you track it?”
Casey shook his head. He had never hunted anything in his life, besides a job.
Nell answered, “You go back to where you know the animal has been.”
35
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26
Casey and Nell pulled into the back parking lot of Hailangelo’s shop, got out of the Z4, and hurried to the art studio. Casey racked his brain thinking about Leila and how to stop her from becoming the next statue. He saw her as a survivor, and k
new she’d give the killer a fight.
They stopped at the door and Nell handed Casey another pair of latex gloves. “Any chance he could have brought Leila back here?” Casey said.
“Even if he did, he would have bailed after seeing the police presence.”
Casey looked around and didn’t see Hailangelo’s car. “I don’t think I can go in there again.”
“You can,” she said, and opened the door. They entered and hustled down the steps. Nell placed a call. “Cindy? Listen, can you access some computer records for me? His latest alias is Thom Meintz. Thom with a T-H.”
“They’re not here,” Casey said. “Where did he take her?”
Nell covered the phone and pleaded with him to trust the FBI process.
He nodded.
As they passed between the statues, Casey got goosebumps and the hair on his neck stood on end. Talk about awkward. Hailangelo’s studio was now well lit, thanks to the addition of large lamps to illuminate the crime scene for investigators. The harsh light did nothing to dampen the statues’ beauty. If anything, it brought their radiance to full relief. He had to remind himself that these had been people, real living women. Hailangelo had lived his fantasies, just as Nell predicted.
Casey closed his eyes yet still saw the statues behind his eyelids. He didn’t dare keep his eyes closed for too long, either, lest he risk another sleep attack and imagine the statues coming to life. He had forced himself to compartmentalize Elena’s murder. But he had no idea how he would handle a hallucination about her. He wondered if he’d wake from that at all.
He wasn’t a violent man, but the thought that Leila could end up as one of Hailangelo’s eternal love slaves made him want to rain hellfire on the sculptor.
Nell flashed her FBI identification to two police officers, who were discussing the crime scene while their partners snapped photos. One of the officers nodded at Nell as she walked by. Casey and Nell passed through the narrow hallway. Nell placed her cell on her collarbone, turned to Casey and whispered, “The Bureau is checking Hailangelo’s computer records.” Nell spoke back into the phone. “Wait, did you say Narziss? Okay. Thanks.” She snapped the phone shut and nodded toward Hailangelo’s office. “Let’s go.”
He followed her through the swanky room and up the staircase.
“Our Bureau computer specialist accessed Hailangelo’s e-mail and says he recently exchanged several messages with none other than Todd Narziss.”
“Damn,” Casey said. They stood before Hailangelo’s computer. The two stuffed rats stared back at their unwanted guests.
“Hailangelo sent about twenty text messages from his cell phone to Narziss.” They now had evidence linking the two on the night of Elena’s disappearance.
“What did they say?”
“Hailangelo wanted to know if Narziss would consummate a deal they had previously discussed.”
Something told Casey it wasn’t about the Narziss statue.
Nell pulled open the heavy metal desk drawers and rummaged through the contents. “Help me look.”
“For what?”
“Receipts, checks, financial records…”
Casey joined her search. They didn’t find any financials in his desk or in the filing cabinets.
“For the record,” Nell said, “it’s legal to do a search without a warrant under the emergency exception that someone’s life is in imminent danger.”
Casey raised his hands in innocence. “I didn’t say anything.” The rats each stood on metal boxes. He hated the thought of touching the rodents, even while wearing gloves, but moved them to the floor, repeating to himself, they’re dead and stuffed, they’re dead and stuffed…and opened the boxes. Inside they found cash, checks and IOU’s. Casey examined a check, and it sent him into a sleep attack.
“Casey?” Nell said, shaking his shoulders. “Wake up, sleepyhead.” Casey snapped out of it.
“What is it?” Nell said.
He shook his head and pointed in horror at the floor. “It’s made out to Thom Meintz—signed by none other than Todd Narziss and dated a week before Elena disappeared.”
“How much?” She reached to the floor and picked up the check.
Casey looked from the check to Nell. “Ten-thousand dollars.”
Ten minutes later, they pulled into the ER entrance at Green Bay Hospital and raced to the front desk. Nell showed her badge, and after asking for Narziss’s room number, burst through double doors and ran down a hallway.
Casey followed close behind. Something about the near-empty halls chilled him. There was no telling what might pop out at him— hallucinated or real. They raced past the ER and into the post-op recovery room. Monitors beeped and bleeped. Curtains separated each patient, and they checked seven beds before they found the famous athlete, his head wrapped in a wide white bandage.
Casey went to his side, shook Narziss, and called his name. “Wake up. Wake up.”
Narziss started, struggling against the wires and straps and Nell and Casey as if they were football foes trying to tackle him before he could score the winning touchdown in overtime. Wires popped off his chest and stomach. He groaned.
Two nurses tried pushing with all their weight on Narziss’s chest. “Settle down,” a male nurse said, “Mr. Narziss. Please!” Two more doctors and two nurses pressed their hands on his chest. Narziss finally surrendered and let the medical staff tackle him in his own private end zone. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
“You look like you could use some spinach,” Casey said.
A female nurse said, “It’s a miracle he’s alive.”
Nell showed her identification to the nurse. “What happened to him?”
“He was attacked. Someone poisoned him with hydrocyanic acid. That caused him to fall to the cement. He hit his head on the parking lot and fractured his skull.”
Nell nodded. “What’s his prognosis?”
“He’s in a great deal of pain, but the morphine should keep him comfortable until he recovers enough to go home.”
“No long-term effects from the cyanide?” Casey said.
“It was a small dose. He’s a big guy, and we were able to promptly treat it with hydroxocobalamin,” the nurse said.
“Right. Hydroxocobalamin,” Casey joked. “That’s what I would have done, too!”
Nell grinned.
The nurse folded her arms and frowned. “He’s fortunate.”
Casey glanced at Nell and shivered. Narziss was practically the next Grigori Rasputin.
“The point of the needle was still in his neck, broken off with poison still in the syringe,” the nurse continued.
“What if he had gotten the full dose?” Nell said.
The nurse raised her brows and shook her head.
“Can we speak with him for a few minutes?” Nell said.
“Don’t keep him too long,” the nurse said, “I’ll be back in a bit.”
Casey faced Narziss with urgency. “Hailangelo has my sister.”
Narziss slowly moved his head and met the reporter’s eyes. He slowly blinked and said nothing.
“Where is she?” demanded Casey.
Narziss blinked again and gave a faint shrug.
Nell leaned down to Narziss and softly said, “You wrote a check for ten grand to Hailangelo.”
“Din’t.” Narziss slurred, closing his eyes.
“We have the check,” Casey said.
Nell showed her badge. “Agent Nell Jenner, FBI. It’s going to be logged as evidence. What’s it for?”
Narziss said, “Stashoes.”
Nell winced. “Statues?”
“Bull,” Casey said. “I didn’t see any statues at your house.”
No response. Narziss closed his eyes.
“What was the check for?” Nell repeated sternly.
“I want my lawyer,” Narziss said.
“You’ve got a little girl,” Nell said. “What would you do if Hailangelo had her?”
“Kill,” Narziss managed.
&
nbsp; “You don’t trust him,” Nell said.
Narziss closed his eyes and firmed his lips.
“How did you end up in here?” Nell said.
Narziss said, “Attacked.”
“By Hailangelo?” Casey said.
Narziss said nothing.
Nell pressed. “Where is he?”
Narziss fought back a smile and shrugged again. Casey pressed his palm on the bandage on his head and the superstar screamed.
“Where is he?” said Casey with clenched teeth.
“Prick!” Narziss said. He struggled to retaliate and, failing, clicked the morphine button beside him several times.
“Does he own any other property?” Nell said. “Maybe his father’s old place?”
Narziss closed his eyes and shook his head ever so slightly.
“Are there any abandoned or foreclosed homes where he might hang out?” Nell said.
Narziss pulled on a string that signaled for the nurse to come immediately.
Casey said, “It’s going to be fun testifying that you hired Skeeto to kill Elena.”
Narziss opened his eyes. “What?”
“You had an affair with Elena, knocked her up, and you wanted to be governor,” Casey said.
Nell tilted her head, twisted her lips, and nodded. “Three strong motives.”
“Screw you,” Narziss said.
“You realize that I will tell Samantha everything,” Casey said.
Narziss said nothing.
“Mr. Narziss, Hailangelo is a serial killer,” Nell said.
Narziss’s eyes sprang open even wider. “Huh?”
“We found his victims in the basement of his shop,” Nell said. “One of them is Elena.”
Narziss’s eyes bugged. “What?”
“And we’ve got your check to him, written a week before she disappeared, for $10,000.”
“No,” Narziss said. “Wrong…idea.”
“Talk to us and maybe I can put in a word for you with the DA,” Nell said.
“I asked Skeeto…to follow Elena. A baby…would be bad press.”
“And during a championship run,” Casey said.
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