“Okay. The killer undresses, takes off his clothes as soon as he gets inside the house before he ever goes down the hall after either victim. He has surprise on his side. And he’s confident, swaggering even, doesn’t appear outwardly nervous. Neither woman heard him enter. He subdued Julie first, tied her wrists and ankles before going next door to Tracy’s bedroom where he tried to do the exact same thing.”
“But Tracy struggled, fought back,” Skye repeated. “She was no match for a man though. What was she?” Skye glanced at what was left of Tracy’s body on the bed as she tried to gauge the woman’s height in life. “Maybe five-three?”
Harry nodded. “According to her driver’s license, that’s about right.”
“Go on, Josh,” Skye urged, knowing he needed to get it all out. “Tell us everything you see.”
“When Tracy started swinging, it pissed him off. He beat her face to a pulp, broke her nose, raped her, stabbed her, shot her. I think what he did to Tracy your FBI experts would call overkill.”
“Julie must’ve heard the shot,” Skye added.
Josh shook his head as if coming back to himself. “No. The gun had a silencer. By the time the killer got back to Julie though, the woman was terrified. She’d had at least thirty minutes to consider her fate. She knew she was going to die. During that time another hour probably went by. He played with Julie. He taunted her. He took his time like you said he did with the Waterston woman. But then, he had to take his time before he raped Julie. He waited around at least an hour, maybe a couple before he was able to perform again. He caused both women a great deal of pain before they died. Both women suffered…terribly.”
A little stunned at the details, Skye finally asked, “Josh, you see all that?”
“Yeah,” was all Josh could say.
But Skye prodded, even with Harry standing there curiously watching them both. “You see the fine points enough to make out the scene in your head. Wait. You said something in your sleep last night. Something about the bones will talk to you. No, wait, that isn’t right. The bones will tell. That’s what you kept saying, over and over again.”
“The bones will tell, Skye. That phrase keeps bouncing around in my head. I don’t know what it means. Yet. The bones will always tell,” Josh repeated.
Skye furrowed her brow, doing her best to follow his line of thinking. “Okay. So exactly what are they telling you right now? You see what he did here. They’re telling you that much now. So give us all of it.”
“The man’s orderly, a bit of an obsessive-compulsive guy. He does the same thing again and again at every crime scene unless he gets distracted or overly pissed off like he did here. Then he loses it. If he gets out of his rhythm, he gets frustrated, easily sidetracked. He loses patience.” Josh snapped his fingers. “Just like that, he’ll go ballistic.”
“And spends a lot of time with his victims,” Harry tossed in. “Skye was right about that. The coroner surmised that he brought the Waterston woman into the bathtub. Probably slit her throat there before taking the time to carry her back in the bedroom where he posed her on the floor.”
“How do you know that?” Skye asked.
“The crime scene techs found a substantial amount of blood in the drain.”
Skye paced so she could think. “So he isn’t here just for the rape, even if the woman cooperates, he’s here to kill his victim no matter what she says or does. He doesn’t plan on leaving a woman alive. The degree of violence changes from scene to scene depending on how pissed off he gets at the victim during the time he’s here. Have I got that right?”
“That’s it exactly,” Josh said in agreement. “By targeting vulnerable women, comfortable in their homes, by controlling them on every level that’s everything to him, he sees it as a coup because the control makes him feel superior.”
“Ah,” Skye said. “So he likely won’t move on to prostitutes or drug addicts?”
“No. Those women he considers beneath him, considers them the dregs of society and too easy to grab. They offer no challenge. And I’ve been thinking about this. It also might mean…it’s just a hunch really…”
“You might as well say it,” Harry grumbled. “I’ve known cops who solved cases with less.”
“Okay, I think he’s probably from a good family, maybe people considered to be pillars of the community, wherever that turns out to be. He’s patient. He doesn’t mind waiting for these women living with partners to leave them alone so he can seize his opportunity.”
“Like Sylvia Waterston.”
“It’s a challenge for him to come into these houses, having the freedom to move around whenever he wants while they’re away. He’d been here before the attack. It’s likely what he does. He’s proud of his scouting abilities.”
“Could he be military?” Skye questioned.
“Military?” Josh considered that. “No, I don’t think so. Just my gut feeling. But it doesn’t really matter to him if his target has a roommate or is in a relationship. Obviously. He waits for that perfect opportunity. Then does what he does.”
“So maybe he’s striking out at this little piece of suburbia the only way he knows how, hitting them where they live, where they should be the safest. He isn’t snatching them off the streets. That’s for sure.”
“Wait a minute,” Harry said, interrupting their byplay. “How is it you see all that but can’t tell me who did this? What he looks like? That’s bullshit.”
“He wears a mask over his face,” Josh explained matter-of-factly.
Skye’s eyebrows went up. She exchanged a look with Harry. “You forgot to mention that, Josh.”
“Sorry, but there’s a lot hitting me here all at once, I’m a little overwhelmed. I can tell you how tall he is though. A little under six feet. I’d say about five-eleven in his bare feet. I can tell you he has stone-cold brown eyes. He’s physically fit, toned abs, muscular legs. He probably likes to think of himself as an athlete. But I’d say that lame description fits at least half the men within a fifty-mile radius of Seattle.”
“And then some,” Harry mumbled in disappointment.
“Sorry, Harry. I know you wanted more,” Josh admitted.
“Yeah, but you’re not a magician. You’ve given me more than I had when I got to Ballard this morning. That counts for something. I’m gonna do everything I can to get this sick bastard.”
“That’s good. Because Skye and I plan on doing the same,” Josh said by way of a reminder.
Chapter 6 Book 2
For Josh and Skye, downtime was almost nonexistent. But when they were able to relax, they excluded the world in order to spend time alone with each other. They turned off cell phones to watch a movie. They did the same with their laptops, making a pact to not check emails or go near social media. There were times like tonight when all they did was stretch out on the couch in the living room at the loft and talk.
With Josh’s head, resting on Skye’s lap, they tried to sort out the changes taking place in him. It had taken him a couple of days to get back to his old self again. During that time, Skye did her best to walk him through how best to handle the images which were becoming a nightly ordeal.
“Why do these visions only come to me at night? Why don’t they hit me while I’m sitting at my desk in broad daylight staring out at the Space Needle? Why don’t they point me to the sick bastard?” Josh wondered, clearly frustrated.
“Hmm, how do I explain this to a smart, sci-fi geek like you so you’ll be able to grasp the big picture? Let’s see. First, the brain is most susceptible to a vision when you don’t have your shields up. That would occur at night when the subconscious is prone to suggestions during sleep, the dream-like state. Second, if he ever takes off that damned mask, you’ve got him in your sights.”
“Shields up? I like that. My sci-fi influence is obviously rubbing off on you, admit it?”
“What I admit is that all your tossing and turning is keeping me awake at night,” she teased.
�
�Sorry. But I don’t see how you handled this at thirteen, Skye. Some of these images are disturbing and I’m a grown man. For a child…I can only imagine. I just don’t see how you kept from going crazy.”
“I’m the reason you’re having these dreams, Josh.”
Josh let out a loud sigh. “Come on. Not this again. We’ve rehashed this no less than a hundred times. I am what I am now. Do you hear me complaining? No. Want to know why? Because I’m happier than I’ve ever been before in my life.” He picked up her hand. “That’s because of you. You seem to forget that if you hadn’t come along in the alley to save me that night, I might not even be here. If we hadn’t crossed paths I might be dead right now long before Kiya ever brought me back from the other side.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Try to make it sound like it was meant to be or something.”
“Why? I believe you and I were meant to be. I’m sorry you don’t.” Bitterness clawed its way into his reason, began to inch up to full anger.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
All at once he sat upright, looked over at her, long and hard. “You won’t even talk about our future together. It clearly makes you uncomfortable when I even broach the subject. You can’t even bring yourself to use the word ‘married’ where we’re concerned.”
“Josh, I can’t even have children.”
He continued staring at her with those silver eyes of his, until she finally added, “Don’t deny it. You wanted children. You said so—with Annabelle.”
“Okay, I did—once upon a time—with Annabelle. But Annabelle’s gone. I’m not fixated on having children, Skye.”
“That’s because you can have children,” she snapped in a huff. “There’s nothing wrong with you.”
Josh tried for patience, rubbed his forehead where a headache wanted to join the growing resentment. “And there’s not a thing wrong with you. You’re perfect in every way.” When he saw her scoff at that, he went another direction. “Did you ever get a second opinion about that diagnosis from another doctor? You had to be very young when they told you that.”
She shook her head.
“We could always adopt.”
“You’d do that?”
He sighed and took hold of her chin. “I’m pretty sure before we head to an adoption agency and sit down with social workers, you’d have to marry me first, which up to this point, I can’t even get you to agree to discuss. Do you love me, Skye?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then that’s the next logical progression for people who love each other. They commit to be together, usually marking that commitment with something known as a ceremony, either formal with a member of the clergy performing the ritual or something more casual with a judge in attendance to make it official in the eyes of either God or the state.”
She rolled her eyes. “Smartass. I know what it entails, Josh.”
“Then maybe you just don’t want to mark that rite of passage with me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. If not you, then who? I love you, Josh. But marriage? With me? What if, at some point, you do want your own child? It wouldn’t be with me.”
“If we adopt, the child would be ours. Period.” But even as he studied her face, those words didn’t dent her stubbornness on the subject. “I don’t get you. Your parents were married for how long? They loved each other, correct?”
“They adored each other.”
“Then you have a model to pattern.” Getting more irritated with her by the minute, he stood up, walked to the bank of windows on the west side of the loft. Staring out at the night sky, he stuck his hands in his pockets before he turned back to her. “We love each other. We’re living together. We get along well. Explain this to me so I can understand it. Because your unwillingness to tell me is starting to piss me off. Twice now I’ve gone into a jewelry store to buy a ring only to walk out without it. Mainly because of this wedge you keep putting up between us right here.” With his hands now free, he waved at the imaginary wall in front of him.
“We’ve only known each other a few months.”
Josh bristled at the words. “So that’s it? We haven’t known each other long enough? Okay. But you won’t even discuss a wedding down the road. You’re dragging your feet about the future, Skye. For God’s sake, we can almost read each other’s thoughts. What more do you want?”
Without answering him, she pushed her hair back from her face and got up to go into the kitchen.
But Josh yelled at her back “We aren’t done with this yet.” Just as obstinate, he followed her through the swinging door. “What the hell else is bothering you?” When she remained quiet, he grumbled, “Why do I keep begging someone to marry me who obviously doesn’t want to?”
“That isn’t true.”
“Then what the hell is going on with you?” he shouted.
“There’s no need to raise your voice to me.”
“Skye, this is bugging me. You’re bugging me.” At the first sign of waterworks, he closed his eyes to keep them from affecting the equation, putting him at a disadvantage. But when Skye’s tears became sobs, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He closed the distance, wrapping her up. “What is wrong? Tell me.”
“I’m not comfortable here, okay?” Skye finally admitted.
“I told you we’d get rid of the damned loft and get a house in the country where you can spread out if you want, grow stuff.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“Oh, I can see that. Nothing ever is with you,” Josh grumbled.
“You couldn’t possibly be in love with me. You only think you are.”
“What?” He set her back, snagged her chin so he could look into her watery eyes. “Where is this coming from?”
“I’m not lovable. You keep telling me that you love me and I keep saying the words back to you, but I don’t fit into your world here, Josh. This is all like Cinderella or something. My parents were middle class. I spent five years in Yakima with people who treated me like I was worthless—”
He narrowed his eyes. “That’s bullshit and you know it. Is this some sort of mood swing—or something else? I thought you were past those zealots in Yakima. They aren’t worth your time. They certainly aren’t worth calling them family. No, there’s something else in play here, Skye. Level with me.”
“I’m losing Kiya,” Skye stated flatly. “I’ve lost my spirit guide—to you.” When she recognized the hurt on his face, she quickly added, “It’s okay. I felt it happening several months back. I’m not the same. You aren’t the same. You and I are connected through Kiya. But Kiya is more yours now than mine. And something else is bothering me. If everything could change in one leap, one transformation like it has, this whole thing between us might not last. It might not even be real. There might be something else at play.”
“You’re kidding? Like what exactly? Where are you getting this stuff? That’s ridiculous.” But when he realized she was serious, he thought for a minute. “You mean you think what we feel for each other is due to some kind of outside force because of the merge between human and wolf? That’s bullshit.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“For one thing I know what’s in my heart for you, my very human heart. But I see now your losing your spirit guide is at the bottom of this. Let me get this straight, you aren’t able to see victims the way you could before—at all? As in a blank screen.”
“Pretty much. I get a weak image every now and again. But it’s not the same as it was. Besides, I told you Kiya’s spirit is stronger in you than it ever was in me.”
Josh let her go so he could pace, back and forth, back and forth. “As much as I hate to admit this, Nakota might’ve been right. Having Kiya’s blood coursing through my veins has strengthened me, but weakened your wolf instincts. Where you had Kiya all these years, in the process of saving my life we’ve affected your path, apparently sapped what used to be so strong in you to virtual
ly nothing.” He frowned, scrubbed at the stubble on his chin. “Over the past few months Kiya and me bonding has somehow managed to change your destiny.” He took out his cell phone. “Which means we need to get Nakota’s input on this. He’ll know what to do to get your spirit guide back on track.”
“You think so?”
“Hey, don’t give up now. We’ll fix this. We have to get you back on the course you were meant to walk. Otherwise this lack of sight will affect everything around you. Like how you feel about me. I had no idea you were questioning what you felt.”
“I love you, Josh. I just feel different without Kiya.”
“Understandable. It explains a few things.”
“You mean that?”
“If I’m inviting Travis Nakota to have dinner here, I’m pretty sure I mean it,” Josh admitted with a grin and a wink as he punched in a number on his cell phone that he’d added to speed dial.
Chapter 7 Book 2
There were times when dealing with “family” could be a pain. Sitting down to dinner and spending an evening with Travis Nakota wasn’t exactly high on Josh’s wish list. But the man was as close to family as Skye had. That alone was enough to force him to be nice to Travis for the sake of the woman he loved. And now they needed the man’s help again, this time to figure out why Skye had lost her “power of sight” along with the spirit guide she’d had all her life. It wasn’t something Josh could ignore.
And he didn’t want to. It was obviously weighing Skye down enough to trouble her. They’d already waited months for the transformation to level out. It hadn’t. It was time to try to get answers. Travis might be the key.
Plus, it gave Skye a good excuse to make use of his gourmet kitchen to the max. She’d been busting her ass all day preparing appetizers, a four-course meal, and some kind of creamy custard for dessert she refused to let him sample.
The aromas coming from the oven were distracting him from doing any work at home on a Sunday. When the buzzer sounded, letting him know a guest was in the lobby downstairs, Josh got up from his desk chair to answer.
Skye Cree Boxed Set Books 1 - 3 Page 37
