"I was hired to find a runaway. In the course of my investigation I traced her here, and connected her with one of your Cinderella Strangler victims."
Suzanne frowned. "She"s one of the victims? I"ve talked to all the families."
"She was friends with Jessica Bell, the fourth victim. In fact, my partner and I found some evidence that may help in your investigation."
"Where"s your partner now?" Suzanne glanced around quickly but methodically, her posture alert.
Sean wasn"t going to tell the Fed that Lucy was talking to Jessica"s friends. "Trying to trace her location." Close enough, not exactly a lie.
"Why are you here?"
"Kirsten Benton is a seventeen-year-old habitual runaway who always came home after a couple of days, until now. I started working the case on Wednesday."
"That doesn"t answer my question," the fed said. "Why are you at the crime scene?"
"Kirsten called the Clover Motel on Friday night, paid cash for two nights, but she left without her suitcase or return train ticket. My partner learned that Kirsten"s friend Jessica was murdered last Sat.u.r.day, and I came out here to get a sense of Kirsten"s mindset. I think she was here the night Jessica was killed. And, I think she saw something." The rain came down harder and Sean was practically shouting over the wind. "I have a lot more, and I"d be happy to tell you everything while we stand here and get wet, but maybe we can get coffee or something?"
"How about this? You follow me to FBI headquarters. If everything checks out, you"re free to go." She pocketed Sean"s ID. "I"ll keep this as collateral." She looked pointedly at Sean. "Do you have a weapon on your person?"
"Holstered, on my belt."
Suzanne"s glare narrowed and darkened. She disarmed him and said, "You should have informed me immediately. Strike one, Mr. Rogan." She walked toward her car. "Call your partner and have her meet us."
FIFTEEN.
Kirsten woke up to two men arguing.
She opened her eyes, but her vision was blurry. The harder she focused on seeing, the more her head hurt.
Hiding from Jessie"s killer didn"t seem so important anymore. She was still terrified that even if she went home she wouldn"t be safe, but she wanted to go home. She was so lonely, so scared. She wished she could remember what she"d heard and saw when she"d found Jessie, but it was all a blur. Every time she tried to think back to that night, her heart raced and she began to panic once again.
Dennis had been so sweet to her, so kind and gentle. He"d found her on the floor of the den after she emailed Trey and carried her to the bedroom. He fed her soup and made sure she drank juice. But she wasn"t feeling any better. In fact, she felt worse.
She was dying.
"Don"t yell at me!" she heard Dennis say.
The bedroom door was open only a crack.
"Dammit, Dennis, this is my life we"re talking about! If I want to yell, I"m going to yell! I"ve been looking all over for you since yesterday. You haven"t answered your phone, and then I find out you"re staying here?"
"Charlie says I can stay here whenever I want."
"Well goody-goody, my life is f.u.c.ked and you"re staying in Charlie"s penthouse while he"s s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g women all over Europe."
"Charlie isn"t like that."
The visitor barked out a laugh. "He has everyone fooled, but he"s a red-blooded American just like everyone else."
"Why have you been looking for me?" Dennis said. "I thought you were still mad at me for leaving Sat.u.r.day."
"I am, but we have more important things to deal with right now."
While Kirsten recognized the voice, she didn"t know from where. She tried to sit up but couldn"t. She lay back and closed her eyes, focusing on listening, though now the words were coming from even farther away. Like a tunnel. She needed to sleep. But all she"d done was sleep.
Dennis said something she couldn"t quite make out, then his brother said, "It"s complicated. I think I have it under control, but I could have used your help. Okay, listen to me. This is important, Dennis."
"I"m listening! I"m slow, not stupid."
"Dennis, I know you"re not stupid. Just please pay attention; this is important."
"Okay." Dennis sounded like he was sulking.
"If the police come by and ask you any questions about me-anything, no matter what-play dumb. You don"t know anything about my social life and nothing about my girlfriends."
Kirsten whimpered. She knew who Dennis"s brother was.
Wade.
She"d had cybers.e.x with him, then met him in person at a New Year"s Eve party. Kirsten had walked in on him and Jessie having s.e.x. Jessie had really liked him.
Oh, G.o.d, had Wade killed Jessica? Had it been his whispered voice she"d heard?
"But why?" Dennis said.
"Trust me on this, okay, Dennis? I"ve always looked out for you; this is your opportunity to look out for me. Okay?"
"But I don"t understand."
"You don"t have to. All you need to know is nothing. If Charlie finds out about this, he"s going to cut me off. I"ll just have the pathetic settlement money. Dammit, this is so f.u.c.ked!"
Dennis said slowly, "This has something to do with that girl who got killed at the party."
Kirsten bit her lip to keep from crying out, and tried to swallow a cough. It came out weakly.
Please, don"t let him hear me.
"Don"t be such a dumb s.h.i.t, of course it does!"
"Don"t call me names. I don"t like it when you say I"m stupid."
"I didn"t! Geez, Dennis, I"m coming to you for help. I never said you were stupid. You"re my little brother, right?"
"I"m sorry."
"It"s going to be okay. Really. It doesn"t mean anything. So what if I knew the victims? I know a lot of people. It"s just a coincidence. But you know how the police are. They"d love to take down a Barnett."
"You didn"t hurt anyone?"
"No!"
"But you were there. You made me sit in the car for hours."
"And you left me! The cab was taking f.u.c.king forever so I got a ride home from some s.k.a.n.k. I was lucky she didn"t get us killed. That"s why I have you come along, to be my driver. But I wasn"t there, right?"
"Of course you were. I took you."
"No! You didn"t. You didn"t take me to that party. Okay? Got that? I don"t know what"s going on, but someone has it in for me. It"s going to be fine, it is, as long as you don"t know anything."
"You want me to lie?"
"I want you to act stupid. Just act more r.e.t.a.r.ded or something."
Kirsten wanted to run away, but she couldn"t run or walk or even stand. What was Dennis going to do? Lie for his brother? Her head spun, even though she was lying down.
Wade said, "Denny, I"m sorry-I didn"t mean it like that." His voice was soft and sounded sincere. But he wanted Dennis to lie.
"It"s okay."
"No, it"s not. I"m just under a lot of stress right now."
Dennis said, "I don"t like any of this."
"I didn"t hurt anyone. I swear to you, I didn"t."
Kirsten didn"t believe Wade. He"d been at the party! Was it his voice she"d heard? It had been so far away, she didn"t know or couldn"t remember. As far away as the voices sounded now. Down a long, dark tunnel.
Dennis said, "I believe you."
No, Dennis! Kirsten wanted to scream.
But she didn"t. She couldn"t. She was spiraling down, into blackness.
Her chest ached. Was she coughing?
"Oh, my G.o.d, Dennis, what have you done?"
The voice was so far away.
"Kirsten? What"s wrong?"
Someone touched her head. She couldn"t talk.
"What happened?" Wade demanded. "What did you do to her?"
He saved my life!
"I found her," Dennis said.
"Oh no. No. I know her. We have to get her out of here! d.a.m.n, she"s blazing hot."
If Kristen had the energy, she"d laugh. She was anything but hot. Her body was icy cold. So cold.
"She"s sick. I"m taking care of her."
"Sick? She"s more than sick, Dennis. We have to get her to the hospital. Call 911-no. No. I can"t. You can"t."
"What do you mean?"
"Don"t you see? They"ll take our names. If they know about my website, they might know about her. I can"t risk that."
"We can"t just leave her somewhere."
"We have to. What if she brings the police here?"
"No!"
"s.h.i.t. Okay, I have an idea. Get her stuff. Everything. Now."
Kirsten faded away. She didn"t hear what Wade"s plan was. For all she knew, he was going to kill her.
Somehow, dying didn"t scare her as much as she had thought it would.
SIXTEEN.
Watching Sean pace the FBI interview room was exhausting. "If that woman doesn"t come back in five minutes," he said, "I"m leaving. We"ve been in here for over an hour." He looked at his watch and frowned. "One hour and twenty minutes."
"You don"t like waiting much, do you?" Lucy asked.
"Without my phone, without my laptop, without even a piece of paper?"
She put her hand on her chest in mock insult. "What about me? I"m here."
He stopped walking and sat across from her. He held her hands and kissed them both. "And you are amazing. You totally blew Agent Madeaux away with your time line."
"So you"ve told me. Twice." But Lucy was very pleased that she"d found something valuable to the Cinderella Strangler investigation. She only hoped it led them to Kirsten. "I hope it helps."