“We didn’t see anything.” The driver paused. “But let’s say, hypothetically speaking, that we were watching Detective Kinsella’s house tonight. You know how surveillance works. We would have maintained a discreet distance. Anyone approaching or fleeing her house on foot would have gone undetected if he knew what he was doing.”
“Mind turning on your dome light?” Ethan asked.
“What for?” the agent asked in surprise.
“Your partner has kept his face hidden this whole time. Makes me wonder.”
“Nothing to wonder about. He’s just shy.”
“Is that why you refuse to show me your credentials?” Ethan pressed. “Not that I’ll have a hard time figuring out who you are.”
“You go right ahead and try, Agent Barrow.”
Ethan’s hand shot through the window to manually release the lock, and then he opened the door before the driver had time to do much more than swear under his breath.
“Hey, you,” he said to the second agent.
The man turned, giving Ethan full view of his features. He, too, looked to be in his thirties, but his hair was lighter than his partner’s, and his expression was more flinty than arrogant. “Satisfied?”
The driver closed the door, snuffing out the interior light. “If I were you, I’d be careful who I piss off. Your visit to Charleston hasn’t exactly endeared you to the powers that be.”
“Do I look worried?”
Addie’s SUV pulled up just then. She got out of her vehicle and hurried over to the car. She was barefoot, too, and still dressed for bed except for the weapon she held at her side. She looked incredibly appealing in the moonlight, hair all tangled and eyes flashing with excitement. “What’s going on?”
“These guys are federal agents. They’ve been watching your house tonight,” Ethan said.
Her brows lifted. “Well, that’s interesting.”
“They claim they don’t know anything about the break-in. Didn’t see a thing.”
“How convenient for them.” She leaned in. “What’s in the back seat?”
“Nothing, as far as I can tell.”
She made sure the agents were aware of her weapon. “Think we can convince them to pop the trunk?”
“Doubtful,” Ethan said. “They haven’t been very cooperative.”
Addie straightened. “Feds.” She made it sound like the lowest form of indictment. She turned to Ethan. “How do we know they didn’t do more than just watch my house? We only have their word for it.”
The driver shifted his gaze to Addie. “Trust me, Detective, if we wanted to enter your house, you’d never know we were there. We sure as hell wouldn’t set off the alarm.”
Addie pounced. “Who said anything about an alarm?”
“Good question,” Ethan said.
The driver glanced at him. “Still hypothetically speaking?”
“Sure.”
“It’s a hot night. If we’d been watching Detective Kinsella’s house for any length of time, we would have had the windows down to get a cross breeze. We could have heard an alarm without actually seeing anything until the two of you came flying off the porch, armed and in your underwear. Being the conscientious types, we would have circled the block to see if we could figure out what was going on.”
“So your hearing is fine, it’s just your other senses that are lacking,” Addie said.
The agent’s gaze dropped appreciatively. “Nothing wrong with my eyesight.”
“Hey, eyes up here.” Ethan rapped on the hood to attract the agent’s attention. “You can tell Gwen Holloway if she wants to keep track of my whereabouts, she can come find me herself.”
“We’re not your messengers, Agent Barrow.”
“Just beat it,” Addie said wearily. “Your surveillance has been busted. If you insist on hanging around my neighborhood, I’ll be forced to haul you in on suspicion.”
“That would be a big mistake.”
“We’ll see, I guess.”
“Yes, we will. In the meantime, you two have a good night.” The Charger peeled away from the curb, swerving so sharply that Addie and Ethan had to jump back.
Addie swore as they stood, gazing after the car. At the end of the street, the brake lights flashed, and then the driver gunned the engine as he shot around the corner.
She said in awe, “Are you sure those clowns are federal agents? Who teaches you people to drive, anyway?”
“Always a few bad apples,” he said.
“No kidding.” She pushed back her tousled hair. “You really think they’re working for Gwen Holloway? How the hell does she still have the kind of clout that she can call up the FBI and order surveillance on another agent?”
“Profiling wasn’t her only talent at the Bureau,” Ethan said. “She excelled at politics. She made sure that people in power owe her.”
Addie shook her head. “I understand how the system works, but dedicating resources and manpower to protect her reputation seems like overkill. And I thought I’d seen egos in the police department.”
“You have to take into account the current atmosphere at headquarters. The FBI is still reeling from corruption and bribery charges, and the last thing the brass needs is publicity from a botched investigation and cover-up that wrongly indicted one of the most celebrated profilers since the inception of the BAU. Given all that, it’s an easy sale for Gwen. One phone call and she’s provided all the technical and logistical support she needs to shut us down. But beyond the Bureau’s reputation and Gwen’s ego, something else may be at play here. There’s still a lot about Gwen you don’t know.”
“Then tell me.”
He gave her a skeptical look as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Not sure this is the time or place.”
“Oh, after that little confrontation, I think this is exactly the time and place.”
Ethan glanced around uneasily. “Let’s go back to your house, then. I feel like an idiot standing out here in my underwear.”
“We need to check the neighborhood first. You can talk while I drive.”
He followed her back to the SUV, and they climbed in. Addie started the engine and pulled away from the curb. “Maybe we’ll get lucky. Our suspect can’t have gotten far on foot.”
Ethan nodded, turning to search the shadowy yards as they made the block.
“So tell me about Gwen Holloway,” Addie said.
“In a nutshell, she may have more than ego and reputation riding on our investigation.”
“So you implied, but that doesn’t really tell me anything.”
“I think this is personal for her. She has an ax to grind.”
“With you?”
“With me, with my father. I never told you this, but he wanted her transferred out of the BAU.”
“So she’s taking it out on you? Twenty-five years is a long time to carry a secondary grudge,” Addie said. “You were just a little kid back then.”
He turned to study her profile. “Same age as you when you lost your mother.”
She scowled out the windshield. “We both lost a lot. That was a seriously messed-up time.”
“Understatement.”
She glanced at him before returning her attention to the road. “Go back to Gwen Holloway. How do you know your father wanted her transferred?”
“I overheard an argument between them. My mother and I had come down one weekend to stay with my grandparents. It was in the middle of the Twilight Killer case, and my father had been in Charleston for weeks. That was unusual for a profiler. Despite what you see on TV, they’re deskbound most of the time. But for whatever reason, my father wanted to be in on the action, and he worked closely with the task force. He became so consumed with the investigation that he rarely called, let alone visited. I didn’t realize until later that my parents’ marriage was fall
ing apart. I guess that time was a trial separation. I only knew that things weren’t right and that my mother cried a lot. Anyway, on our last night in Charleston, my father left the house to meet Gwen in the garden, and I followed him.”
Addie turned a corner and drove half a block before commenting. “You saw them together? Together, together?”
“She tried to kiss him. When he pushed her away, she attacked him.”
Addie fell silent for another long moment. “Ethan, what are you saying here?”
He scanned the shadows, still searching. “There’s a reason Gwen Holloway shut me down ten years ago and why she’s still trying to control the narrative even today. Yes, it’s about reputation and ego and protecting her business interests, but it’s more than that. Like I said, for her, it’s personal.”
“I get that, but you’re still beating around the bush. If you think she had something to do with my mother’s murder, just say so.”
“All I can tell you is that Gwen was as familiar with the Twilight Killer case as my father. They worked on it together for months. She knew Orson Lee Finch’s MO, his signature, his kill list. Everything. She helped develop the profile.”
“Means and motive, but what about opportunity?”
“My father was already showing signs of a breakdown. Disorientation, blackouts...” Ethan trailed off as a cloud descended, the same darkness he often experienced when he thought about his father’s illness.
“So you think it’s possible Gwen killed my mother during one of your father’s blackouts and planted his DNA at the crime scene? Then planted his bloody clothing and the murder weapon near his hotel? Just to be clear, that is what you’re suggesting, isn’t it?”
“It’s a theory, nothing more.”
Addie made another turn. “The other day, you said the match from Naomi’s database search might have been the result of familial DNA. Do you know anything about Gwen’s family?”
“She doesn’t have any.”
“No living parents or siblings?”
“No.”
“What about distant relatives? Cousins, aunts, uncles...?”
“I don’t know of any.”
Addie checked the rearview mirror. “There is another possibility.”
“I’m listening.”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t already thought of it,” she said. “What if Gwen’s relationship with your father resulted in a baby? Could she have kept something like that a secret?”
“It would be difficult for someone in her position, but not impossible.”
“She didn’t take a leave of absence after your father’s incarceration? No hospitals stays or transfers to remote field offices?”
“None that I’ve been able to uncover.”
“Did you ever consider submitting her DNA to see if you get the same match that Naomi did?”
“I’ve considered it,” he admitted. “But even if I managed to get a sample of Gwen’s DNA, there are thousands of public databases. I don’t know which one Naomi used.”
Addie sighed. “It always comes back to her, doesn’t it? She was the catalyst for everything that’s happened. And we still don’t know how any of this connects to the guy who just broke into my house.”
“If it connects at all.”
She shot him a glance. “I can’t decide which is more unsettling—the possibility that Gwen Holloway sent him to harass me or that he’s just some random dude with a fixation. Did you get a look at him?”
“He’s too smart for that,” Ethan said. “He knows enough to keep his face protected. I chased him into your neighbor’s backyard, and then he slipped through a hole in the fence and disappeared. Which tells me he’s familiarized himself with your neighborhood. He may even live nearby.”
“That’s a cheery thought.” She eased around another corner. The houses in the neighborhood remained dark, the occupants oblivious to their search. “This is a waste of time,” she said in frustration. “He’s long gone. Or else he found a place to lie low. Not much more we can do tonight. Tomorrow I’ll take a look through some of the empty houses. See if he’s holed up in one of them. You’re right. That could be how he’s able to move through the neighborhood so easily.” She pulled into her driveway. The front door stood open.
“Did you close the door before you left?” Ethan asked.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I remember closing it after I grabbed my car key.”
“But you didn’t lock it?”
“Not the dead bolt.”
They got out and met in the driveway. “I’ll take the back,” Ethan said.
* * *
ADDIE WAITED UNTIL he’d gone through the gate, and then she crossed the yard and went up the front steps, flattening herself against the wall to listen before she stepped into the foyer. The security system was still disarmed. The blinking message seemed to taunt her as she moved across the foyer into the living area. She cleared the kitchen and then moved down the hallway.
A light flickered from the open door of her bedroom. Her hand tightened on the grip of her weapon as she moved steadily forward, clearing the bathroom and then the guest room before she approached her room.
She paused for only a second to listen before she went in, flipping on the light switch so that she could scan every corner. A candle had been lit and placed on her dresser, along with the photo of Sandra Kinsella and the Cutlers. Someone had scrawled whore across her mother’s face in red marker.
Addie heard a sound in the hall and spun. When Ethan appeared in the doorway, she dropped her weapon to her side. “All clear outside,” he said and then noticed the candle. He came into the room and set his gun aside. “What’s this?”
“He must have doubled back while we were circling the neighborhood. He came into the house, lit the candle and defaced my mother’s photograph.” Addie’s gaze lifted in frustration. “Who the hell is this guy, Ethan? How can he come and go from my house so easily?”
“That’s what we have to find out.”
Addie turned back to the dresser and stared into the candle flame with a brooding frown. “I really wanted to believe he was just another fanatic, but the timing can’t be coincidental. He first appeared in my backyard right after I met you in White Point Garden. Do you think he was watching me even then?”
“I don’t know, Addie.”
She picked up the photograph and ran her finger over the ugly word. “If he’s connected to the DNA evidence and Naomi’s research, then why is he coming after me specifically? Naomi contacted you. You’re the one who instigated a new investigation. Not that I want him coming after you,” she quickly added. She stared down at her mother’s marred face and then handed the photograph to Ethan.
“I recognize the deputy chief,” he said. “The other woman is his wife?”
“Yes. You met Helen once years ago.”
“Now I remember. It was an awkward encounter. She seemed to be evaluating my every word.”
“She’s a shrink. Comes with the territory. Plus, she’s very protective of me.”
Ethan glanced up from the photograph. “The Cutlers and your mother were close?”
“Helen and David have always been like family. I called them aunt and uncle when I was little. I spent more time at their house than I did my own. My mother was a party girl. She had me when she was young, and I guess she never really grew up.”
“She was a beautiful woman,” Ethan said.
“Yes, she was.” Addie took the photo and propped it against the mirror. All those dear faces seemed almost sinister in the candlelight. “Helen had a really hard time after my mother’s death. She not only lost her best friend, but also in a way, she lost me, too. I went to live with my grandmother, and I didn’t see her and David as much. My grandmother was protective of me, too. The Cutlers c
ould visit me whenever they liked, but it was a long time before Grandmother would let me spend the night at their house. She never wanted to let me out of her sight.”
“Understandable after what happened to her daughter.”
At the hands of your father, Addie thought. Or maybe not. “Helen and David did everything they could to stay in touch, but it wasn’t the same. Not for a long time.”
“You seem close now.”
“When my grandmother died, they were there for me. I had no one else. My father was never in the picture. I don’t know him or his family. We’re strangers that happen to share DNA. I still consider the Cutlers my family. I’m lucky to have them.”
“It’s interesting how different they all seem,” he said with a pensive frown.
“I was just thinking about that earlier. My mother was like a younger, wilder sister to Helen. In some ways, I think Helen lived vicariously through her. Helen was always so down-to-earth. I suppose that’s why they got on so well. Opposites attract. She kept my mother grounded.” Addie folded her arms around her middle. “That was my favorite photograph of the three of them. Why would someone spoil her image that way?”
“Assuming whoever did this is the same guy you saw earlier, he said that it was time you learn the truth about your mother. Are you sure you don’t know what he meant?”
“My mother’s past is no secret.” Addie bent and blew out the candle. “You say Gwen Holloway’s motives are personal—well, so is this. Intensely personal. I hate what he’s doing, coming in here and violating my home. This is supposed to be my safe place, my sanctuary, and now I can’t even stand to be in my own bedroom.”
“You’re a cop, Addie. You’ve seen this before. He’s taunting you. Don’t let him get under your skin.”
“Easier said than done. I’m a cop, yes, but I’m also human. The thought of him going through my things makes my skin crawl. I’m not sleeping in here tonight,” she said with a defiant glower.
“You don’t have to. Take the spare bedroom. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“I’ll take the couch, but we can argue over sleeping arrangements later.” She moved to the door. “I could use another drink. Something stronger than beer this time.”
Criminal Behavior--A Thrilling FBI Romance Page 15
