A Killer's Prey

by M. J. Eason

  They drove in silence for a time. But Kara couldn’t let Davis’s connection to all the victims go. If he’d lied about knowing all the victims, what else hadn’t he told her about the case?

  He brought the car to a stop in front of a sprawling red brick home in the affluent Georgetown neighborhood.

  Davis got out of the car and waited for her to do the same. Kara realized that her things were still at the Bureau.

  And no one knew where she was.

  “Don’t worry, Kara. I would never hurt you.” She forced aside her fear at those words.

  “Where are we?”

  “Home. We’re home. This is my home.”

  “Why are we stopping here?” she asked but Davis ignored the question. Unlocking the door, he waited for her. Reluctantly, Kara stepped inside the two-story house, not sure what to expect.

  Davis and Rachel had lived in an older colonial near Glover Park when Kara first met him. He told her later that he spent most of his time at an apartment he rented near work.

  Davis closed the door behind her but made no move to step away.

  “You didn’t answer my question.” She tried to keep her voice steady. She couldn’t let him see she’d become frightened of him.

  “No, I didn’t,” he said with a heavy sigh before stepping past her into the living room. “I expected more from you, Kara. I never expected you to turn on me.”

  She followed him slowly, waiting for him to say more. When he didn’t she asked, “So why are we here, Davis? We should be out working the case.” When he ignored her entirely she added, “Davis, we’re running out of time!”

  “Ryan’s got it covered for now. He promised to let me know the moment he hears anything. Look, I just need to think for a minute, okay. Clear my head. Explain what’s happening to you in private,” he added quietly.

  Kara stood before him trying to control her anger and frustration. None of this made any sense. Davis had been determined to find Jessica just a short time earlier.

  “What’s wrong with you?” she asked at last.

  He walked over to the bar and poured a drink, downing it in a single gulp. “My director—you remember Ed Zamora, right—well he wants me to distance myself from the case for a while. ‘Let Ryan take the lead’, he said. At least in the public’s eye,” he told her quietly. When his eyes met hers, the fear left her. This was Davis. This was the man she loved. But Davis was hurting.

  Kara remembered Ed only too well. She and Ed had butted heads from day one. “Why? I mean didn’t you tell Ed about your connection to the victims in the beginning?” Then she realized. “Is it because of me?”

  He smiled once more mockingly, then poured another drink. “You were just the final straw. No, they want me away from the case for the same reason you’re starting to suspect me. Because I might have personal knowledge of the killer.”

  “Because of your relationship with the victims?”

  Davis took another sip of the whiskey before answering. “The first victim, Amanda, well I hate to admit it but I forgot about her. We hadn’t kept in touch. And Camille, it happened years ago, before Rachel and I got together and it was one night. We’d both had too much to drink. It meant nothing. So much so that I forgot about her until someone pointed it out to me.”

  “Oh, Davis.”

  “I know how this is beginning to look but for God’s sake I need you of all people to believe in me. Please.”

  “I do,” she told him and meant it. Kara moved to his side and took the glass from his hand. His fingers shook. “I do believe in you but there’s something going on here that you can’t deny. Somehow the Angel has decided to make this personal for you. Do you have any idea why? I mean you and I haven’t spoken in years. It can’t all be because of me.”

  He ran a shaky hand through his hair. “I thought of that after Rachel’s death. I’ve gone over all of my cases with a fine-tooth comb but there’s nothing.”

  The pain in his eyes was hard to face. Slowly, Kara took him in her arms and held him close. “It’s okay. We’ll get through this together. We’ll figure it out together. You’re not alone in this, okay. But I need you to help me. Ava needs you—you can’t give up.”

  He didn’t answer for a moment, and then he shifted in her arms.

  “I’m not giving up, Kara. I want this guy as much as you do. And I won’t let him hurt Ava, I promise.”

  When he looked down at her, all the old feelings resurfaced. Her body ached for him. She responded without hesitation to the open need in his eyes. Kara leaned into him and felt his hands tighten around her waist. Lifting her fingers, she cupped his face. The moment their lips touched, the years melted away. It never felt more right. This was what she’d wanted for so long. Even when she tried hating him, she still craved his touch.

  “I want to make love to you, Kara. Dear God, I’ve thought of making love to you for so long.”

  Her eyes searched his. It would be so easy to give in. After all she wanted the same thing but it was too late for them. Too many things stood in the way. And the pain of Davis’s betrayal cut too deeply.

  Slowly, she untangled herself from his arms. “I can’t do this.” The look in his eyes was hard to take. Davis Martin had never looked so vulnerable. “It’s too late for us.”

  Chapter Six

  Letting Kara go was impossible to do but he did it. With her absence from his arms, the world and its troubles crowded in.

  His conversation with Ed Zamora had come as the biggest shock in a week full of them. That his commanding officer, the man he’d worked with for almost ten years could think he in some way might be involved in these deaths was hard to accept.

  “Where are you going?” Kara asked when Davis reached for his keys and headed for the door.

  “Ed suggested it might be in my best interest to back off these cases and let Ryan take the lead. I won’t accept that, Kara. Not now with Jessica involved. I owe it to her and to her parents to figure out what’s happened to her.”

  He opened the door and turned back. “And I don’t want you involved in this. I was wrong to bring you here in the first place. I’m going to send you to Ava and Maggie.”

  He wasn’t surprised that she’d followed him, or that she was ready to argue her cause. “No, you’re not. I’m not going anywhere, Davis. I’m here and I can help. I want to. I need to for Ava’s sake. She needs both of her parents, Davis. So you can just forget sending me away. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Davis closed the door and touched her face. “I can’t let anything happen to you. I almost lost you the last time. I did, in a way. I don’t want that to happen.”

  “We’re both involved in this. We both need to settle the Angel case once and for all, otherwise it will always haunt us. We’ll never be able to move on with our lives.”

  He didn’t want to move on. For Kara, moving on meant letting go. He couldn’t let her go.

  Davis closed his eyes before finally giving in. “All right, I guess I don’t really have a choice in the matter, do I? I know how stubborn you are. I’m going back to the office to talk to Ed. If you want, I’ll drop you off with the task force and you can start going over the evidence with them.”

  “No. I’m coming with you to talk to Ed. It’s the least I can do. Whatever he has to say to you, he can say it with me there as well.”

  ****

  Ed Zamora was not happy to see Kara. When she’d worked with the Bureau before, Ed had been her biggest skeptic. In the end, after the kidnapping and the scandal that followed, he’d been only too happy to see her leave.

  “It’s been a long time.” He waited until she took a seat before closing the door.

  “Before you say it, you know I don’t believe any of this but we can’t afford another scandal like the last one. We need to be above reproach on this one,” he told Davis before his gaze slid to Kara briefly.

  “I understand what you’re saying but Jessica is my friend. I need to be part of this. Hell, I am part of
this,” Davis said.

  “Do you have any idea what the press will do when they get wind of your connection to all the victims?” Davis wondered what Ed was more concerned about. His connection to the victims or his relationship to Kara.

  “Is there anything new on Jessica?” Ed asked at last when Davis didn’t answer.

  “No, nothing yet. Her car is still in the garage. But we believe she knew her kidnapper,” Davis told him.

  “Great—just great. That’s exactly why I need you to stay out of the spotlight on this one. The press will eat you alive when they find out you’ve known all the victims. I don’t want you to go through that. It’s not good for the Bureau or you if—”

  “Are you ordering me off the case entirely?” Davis demanded.

  Ed stared hard at Davis for a long moment before slowly releasing his breath. “Would you do it if I asked?”

  “No. Jessica has only a short time to left if the killer is staying true to form with his first victims. Dammit, Jessica is like family to me. I’ve practically watched her grow up. I’m not backing off this.”

  “All right,” Ed answered at last, clearly not pleased with Davis’s response. “But I’m warning you, stay out of the limelight. And if this thing comes to the attention of my superiors, I won’t have a choice but to pull you off the case and suspend you. Understood?”

  “Yes.” Davis jumped to his feet ready to leave before Ed changed his mind.

  “And keep her out of this. We can solve it without the help of a medium this time.”

  “With all due respect, we can’t. She’s been the only one to give us any break in this case so far. We need her.” He turned to her and added, “I need her.”

  ****

  Ed’s parting words were upsetting. She’d been a major part of pulling all the clues together on the first Angel case and yet he still considered her gift little more than a parlor trick.

  They left him still fuming over Davis’s words.

  “He doesn’t know that you suspect Frankie of these new murders?” She knew the answer as well as Davis’s reasons for keeping Ed in the dark even before he confirmed it.

  “No, and until we have some solid evidence pointing that way, he’s not going to.” They took the elevator down one level to the floor housing the taskforce working the latest murders. Kara recognized several of the agents from the original Angel case but there were a few new faces as well.

  “Most of you know Kara Bryant from the original case,” Davis announced to the team. “I’ve asked her to help us out on this one.”

  Once he’d introduced her to the new members, Davis asked Ryan to brief them on the latest on Jessica’s case.

  “So far, we haven’t turned up anything but we’ve got both state and local police involved in the search. We’re covering every possible square inch of countryside but I’m thinking it’s time to bring the press in on this thing.”

  Davis’s gaze slid to Kara. “No, no press.”

  “Davis, we’re getting nothing here. Someone out there might have seen something important to the case that will help us find Jessica,” Ryan added, clearly frustrated by Davis’s reluctance. “We need to reach out to the public for help now. We can’t wait any longer.”

  “I said no press.” Kara could still hear Ed’s warnings but neither Ryan nor the taskforce knew what Davis had faced in there. She glanced at each person seated around the table. Some were growing suspicious of their leader.

  “We’ll solve this on our own, okay?”

  Ryan slowly nodded then added, “I was hoping that maybe we—you and I—could take Kara to some of the places that look promising.” Ryan gave Kara an encouraging smile. “Maybe you can see something we’ve missed. You feel up to it?”

  “Sure.” She understood Ryan was willing to try anything at this point. “Just tell me where.”

  “We’ve got several possibilities. If this guy is running true to form, he’s gone to great lengths to follow his—Frankie’s—old MO. So”—Ryan went to the map covering one wall, revealing most of DC and the surrounding area—“we concluded these are the most likely places he would have taken Jessica. We’ll keep searching other areas but so far, I’m concentrating on these primarily. That’s where I’m hoping Kara will be beneficial.”

  “Ready?” Davis asked her quietly. She knew what he really meant. Was she ready to go through this?

  “Sure, I think so. It’s worth trying. Let me just get my suitcase from your office,”

  The dry countryside outside of DC literally swarmed with agents from every branch of law enforcement. They were met right away by the agent in charge of the search, who told them nothing had turned up yet.

  “God, I hate this,” Davis told her once he’d finished briefing them. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  He took her hand for a second and held her back from the others. “Stay close. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

  “I will. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

  “I think we should start with the barn, don’t you?” Ryan fell into step next to them. “I mean, you never know…”

  When they reached the building, Kara stepped inside and stopped. She couldn’t feel Jessica but she did sense something.

  “What is it?” Davis asked.

  She shook her head. “I’m not sure—”

  “Look around you, Kara. I’m here with you. I’m right here with you now.”

  “Kara?” When Davis stepped away for a moment to examine something one of the agents found, Ryan appeared at her side. “I thought you said something.”

  “No, nothing.”

  Ryan continued to watch her carefully. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “You think you are so smart, don’t you Kara? But I slip through your world without you knowing it. You’ll never catch me.”

  “Mommie, Mommie, he’s there with you! Mommie be careful!” Suddenly Ava’s presence overpowered the killer’s. Kara knew Ava was afraid for her.

  In Kara’s mind she could feel her daughter’s fear.

  “She’s next, Kara. She’s my next victim. I can’t wait.”

  “I’m okay, baby, don’t worry. I’m okay,” Kara tried to reassure her frightened child. “Daddy’s here with me. He won’t let anything happen to me, okay.”

  “Kara? What is it?” Ryan asked in concern and Davis suddenly became aware that something was wrong with her.

  He stopped talking to the agent and came to her side. “What do you see?”

  “He’s here.” Kara was shaking from fear.

  “Where? Can you see him?”

  “No. He’s too strong. He’s taunting me. He says Ava is next.” Kara tried to keep the panic from her voice. She didn’t want Ava to read these thoughts.

  “That’s not going to happen, Kara. I’ll never let that son-of-a-bitch hurt Ava or you.”

  “We may have something.” Ryan motioned to the agent coming toward them holding something in his hand.

  The agent handed Davis a diamond earring.

  “Where did you find this?” he asked stunned. Kara could tell he recognized the earring.

  “Over by the stall, Agent Martin. We’re still searching the area.”

  “Recognize it?” Ryan asked quietly.

  “Yes.” He met Ryan’s gaze. “Jessica’s parents gave her those for her eighteenth birthday. She never took those earrings off. She wore them all the time.”

  “May I?” Kara asked and he handed her the earring. She closed her eyes. She could only feel Jessica’s happiness. She’d been so happy the night she received the earrings. Kara didn’t feel Jessica’s presence here.

  “She’s not here, Davis. She’s never been here. He’s playing with us. He planted that earring here to steer us off course. She’s not here.”

  “Are you sure?” Ryan asked, obviously disappointed in her answer. “This has been our best clue so far.”

  “Yes, I’m sure.” Kara turned to Davis. “She’s not here. She’s never been
here.”

  Davis nodded slowly before speaking to his partner. “Keep your people looking for clues. We need to go back to headquarters and start over.”

  “Davis, with all due respect to Kara, we can’t dismiss the fact that maybe she’s wrong about this.”

  “She’s never been wrong before. She’s not wrong this time either.”

  “Are you willing to place Jessica’s life on that? And your career?” Ryan added quietly.

  “I am. Keep the team looking. You come with us.”

  The tense silence stayed with them throughout most of the drive back into the city. Once more, Kara felt as if she’d come between their friendship.

  “Ryan, Jessica was your friend as well. When you talked to her last, did she mention anyone special in her personal life?” Davis asked more to fill the empty space.

  “Not really. She told me once she wasn’t really looking for anything serious after her last relationship ended. But you know she had a crush on you the size of Texas.” Ryan gave Kara an apologetic grin.

  Davis chose to ignore this remark. “When did you speak to her last?”

  He thought for a moment. “Not since the morning you left for El Paso. As I recall, Jessica left early that day and I had that commitment in New York. When I got your call, I caught the first flight out to Texas to escort Maggie and Ava to a safe place. I just got back in the office a little before you and Kara arrived.”

  “Have someone check with her friends. See if there’s anyone they might know of worth checking out. Also, let’s check with her old boyfriend. Find out what he’s been up to. Oh and before I left for El Paso, she mentioned someone she’d been seeing for a few weeks. Someone she said she met in one of her Criminal Justice classes at UV. I got the impression he’s not a student. He might be her professor. She called him Alec. Maybe one of her friends will know him. And Ryan, do it discreetly. Without alarming her parents.”

  Once they reached the command center, Ryan called in Davis’s orders to his partner, then went back to the map. “Okay, where else should we be looking, Kara?” Ryan shook his head. The lack of sleep was finally catching up with him. “Because frankly, I’m out of ideas.”