Not when your number came up on my Caller ID, Genny thought. She had wanted to avoid Brian, but she should have known he would force a face-to-face confrontation.
"Jacob is like a brother to me. He"s one of the finest men I"ve ever known. If you"d had any feelings for me whatsoever, you would have taken another tactic in reporting what you call the truth."
"That"s just it, Genny..." He held out his hands beseechingly, but dropped his arms to either side when Genny eased farther away from him. "I do have feelings for you. Strong feelings. And I"ve come here to prove to you just how much you mean to me."
"How do you propose to do that?"
"You"re aware of the fact that Jacob attacked Matt Newton, a WMMK reporter, when the man was simply doing his job."
Genny breathed in deeply, then slowly exhaled. She seldom lost her temper; in fact, most people who knew her would say she never lost her temper. Only Jazzy and Jacob knew better. When pushed to the limit, she reacted. Brian had pushed her almost to her personal limit.
Brian took a hesitant step in her direction, then paused when she glared at him. "If we choose to, we can sue Jacob personally, as well as file a.s.sault charges against him."
"And is that what you intend to do? I"m sure you"re pulling Matt Newton"s strings, so-"
"Genny, Genny..."
When Brian moved toward her again, she held up a restraining hand. He stopped immediately.
"Because of my high regard for you, my deep feelings for you, I will see to it that neither Matt Newton nor MacKinnon Media brings charges against Jacob or files a lawsuit against him."
"And what do you expect in return for this grand gesture?"
Why had it taken her so long to accept the truth that had been staring her in the face all along? Brian MacKinnon was evil. She sensed that evil all around her. In the past, had he been able to mask his true nature when around her, or had she simply been unwilling to probe too deeply into his psyche for fear her hopes for his reformation would be dashed?
"You suspect an ulterior motive?" Brian asked. "Genny, my dearest, I"m willing to give you Jacob"s career, which is in my hands, as a gift. To show you how very much you mean to me."
Truck doors slammed. Drudwyn barked. Feet tramped up the front steps and across the porch.
Brian gazed into the foyer, toward the front door. "Are you expecting someone?"
"Jacob and Dallas are coming to supper," she replied.
"I see."
"Brian, if you truly mean what you"ve said, that you"ll do this for Jacob...for me...I"m grateful. But-"
The front door burst open. Dallas came through first, with Jacob directly behind him. Drudwyn rushed past both men and galloped over to Genny. Jacob paused in the living room doorway, but Dallas charged in, not stopping until he was at Genny"s side.
"Brian, I don"t believe you"ve met FBI Special Agent Dallas Sloan," Genny said. "Dallas, this is Brian MacKinnon, of MacKinnon Media."
Brian glanced from the man to the dog, the two flanking Genny, then tentatively held out his hand to the man. Dallas eyed Brian"s hand speculatively, then grasped it, and the two exchanged a quick shake. By the way Brian grimaced, Genny figured Dallas had used a macho tactic of superior physical strength to intimidate Brian.
Jacob sauntered into the room, his movements slow and cautious. "What are you doing here, MacKinnon?"
"I came to give Genny a gift." Brian smiled at Genny.
She forced herself to return a watered-down version of her usual smile. "I would ask you to stay for dinner, but-"
Drudwyn"s growl almost drowned out Jacob"s blatant snarl.
"Some other time," Brian said. "I"ll telephone you tomorrow."
Genny moved toward Brian, intending to walk him to the door. Before she"d taken the second step, Dallas clamped his hand on her waist and held her in place. Jacob jumped into action and walked with Brian out of the living room, into the foyer, and through the front door. When the two men disappeared onto the porch, Genny turned to Dallas.
"Brian told me that Matt Newton isn"t going to bring charges against Jacob, and they"re not going to sue Jacob, either."
"I see." Dallas gripped her waist with both hands and turned her to face him. "What brought about this miracle? Exactly what did MacKinnon want from you in return?"
"He said he"s doing it as a gesture to prove to me how much he cares about me." Genny glanced over her shoulder at the closed front door, wondering what Jacob was saying to Brian. "I hope Jacob doesn"t-"
"MacKinnon isn"t going to get what he wants-because he wants you."
"Yes, he does, but for now he"s willing to settle for my good opinion of him."
"Which he doesn"t have, does he?"
Genny shook her head. "I"ve wasted a lot of time believing Brian could change, that he wanted to change. Even poor Wallace thought he saw signs of improvement in Brian"s behavior."
Jacob came back into the house, removed his coat, and hung it on the hall tree. "Looks like I can quit worrying about getting sued or having Matt Newton press charges against me."
"I think I can be nice to Brian for a bit longer," Genny said. "It won"t be easy, but it"s necessary."
"If nothing else good comes out of the media torture I"ve been going through, your realizing that MacKinnon is beyond redemption is enough."
"I don"t want you to be too nice to him," Dallas said.
"I"ve never been too nice to him," Genny replied. "Not the kind of nice you mean."
Suddenly Jacob"s cell phone rang. He paused a couple of seconds before reaching over and lifting it from his coat pocket. "Could be news about Nina MacNair."
Genny looked at Dallas. "What"s this about Nina MacNair?"
"Her husband reported her missing. It seems when he woke up this morning, she was gone. No note. All of her things still there at the house. She had taken her purse with her, but that"s all. The doctor thinks she might have walked to the grocery store, but no one at Shop Rite has seen her."
"Do you think-"
"Maybe. Our killer hasn"t made a move in six days."
Jacob returned his phone to his coat pocket and walked into the living room. "No sign of Mrs. MacNair. n.o.body in town has seen her. Roddy and I are in agreement that considering we have a serial killer loose in our county, we"re waiving the waiting period on filing a missing person"s report."
"Do you have to go now or can you stay for supper?" Genny asked.
"I"ll grab a quick bite, then head back into town." Jacob turned to Dallas. "If you decide to stay a while, I can send one of my deputies to pick you up later."
"Thanks," Dallas replied, never taking his eyes off Genny, "but I think I should go back into town with you."
"While y"all eat, I could see if I can pick up anything on Nina MacNair," Genny said. "Since I don"t know her and have seen her only a couple of times, I"m not sure-"
"Go ahead and see if you can sense anything about her," Jacob said. "But do not go anywhere near the killer"s mind. Do you hear me?"
"I hear you loud and clear." Genny ushered the two men into the kitchen, served up plates of chicken and dumplings, along with several vegetables, and tea cakes made from Granny"s recipe for dessert.
While they ate, Genny ventured off into the living room and sat alone by the fireplace. Gazing into the flames, she relaxed and let her mind open up and fly away. She kept repeating the name Nina MacNair over and over again. Dark shadows swirled and then vanished. Soft gray light floated through her consciousness. She sensed a desperate need to escape, but no real fear. Laughter bubbled up. A great sense of relief. Keep running. Don"t look back. A man"s hand reached out. Still no fear. A woman"s hand. A man"s hand. Together. Touching tenderly.
Genny"s eyelids flew open. How odd, she thought. How very odd. She joined Dallas and Jacob in the kitchen, poured herself a gla.s.s of milk and sat down at the table. She picked up a tea cake and broke the rich, b.u.t.tery cookie in half.
"I don"t think the killer has Nina MacNair," Genny said, then took a bite of tea cake.
"Then you picked up on something?" Dallas asked.
Genny nodded and wondered if Dallas realized what an about-face he"d done since they first met. A little over a week ago, Dallas Sloan had been a skeptic, believing in nothing beyond his five senses; now he accepted her psychic abilities without question. Or at least with very few questions.
"I think Mrs. MacNair ran off with another man," Genny said.
Jacob snorted. "She didn"t happen to leave a forwarding address, did she?" he asked flippantly.
"I"m afraid not," Genny replied, then finished off her tea cake and washed it down with half a gla.s.s of milk.
Several minutes later, just as Dallas was helping her clear away the dishes and Jacob was dumping the sc.r.a.ps from their plates into Drudwyn"s bowl, a telephone rang. Three sets of eyes glanced at the wall phone, then realized it was the distinctive ring of Dallas"s digital phone.
He released it from his belt clip, punched the ON b.u.t.ton, and said, "Sloan here."
Dallas listened, while Jacob and Genny watched and waited.
"What"s up, Teri?" Dallas asked. He remained silent while she responded. "What?" There was a short pause when Agent Teri Nash spoke again. "My G.o.d! Are you sure about this?"
Dallas"s gaze met Genny"s; she sensed that whatever Teri Nash was telling him had something to do with her.
"You know what this means, don"t you?" Dallas spoke into the phone. "Finding out the four women who were the fifth victims actually had something that distinctive in common tells us who he"s chosen for his final victim here in Cherokee County."
Chapter 20.
Dallas thanked Teri, then returned his phone to its holder, all the while not breaking eye contact with Genny. Of the various things he might have expected Teri to tell him, he"d never expected that her discovery would bring his life full circle. He had spent eight months feeling guilty for not having been able to save Brooke, no matter how irrational that guilt might be. Realistically he knew there wasn"t anything he could have done to have prevented his niece"s death; but he could do something to find her killer. G.o.d d.a.m.n it, he was a federal agent. He"d spent most of his adult life in a job he thought meant something. He had believed when he"d begun his pursuit of this elusive, diabolical murderer that catching the man and bringing him to justice would bring Dallas and his family some sort of closure. How wrong he"d been. Not in his worst nightmare had he envisioned facing the loss of someone else he loved at the hands of the same madman.
And G.o.d help him, he loved Genny Madoc.
"What is it?" Genny asked. "What did Teri tell you about me?"
Jacob snapped his head around and stared at Genny. "What do you mean, what did she tell Dallas about you? What could she possibly-"
"Teri has searched through every bit of information she could find about the fifth victim in each series of murders," Dallas said. "Linc Hughes believes that all the other victims, the first four in each case, might have simply been chosen at random, but that the fifth victim was somehow different."
"Different in what way?" Genny reached out and placed her hand on Dallas"s chest, right over his heart.
"We know he doesn"t just drink the fifth victim"s blood," Jacob said. "He removes her heart and...well, he probably eats it."
"Through some intensive research, Teri has found something that all four of the fifth victims had in common." Dallas laid his hand over Genny"s where it rested against him.
"At last, a real breakthrough." Jacob narrowed his gaze to pinpoint where Dallas"s hand lay atop Genny"s. "Why is it that I get the feeling I"m not going to like what you"re about to tell us?"
"Barbara James, who was the fifth victim in Mobile, had a rare talent," Dallas said. "According to her family and close friends, Barbara was clairvoyant."
Genny shut her eyes. Dallas closed his fingers over Genny"s hand tightly, holding it over his heart.
Jacob laid the empty plate in the sink. "What about the other three?"
"The first fifth victim, Kim Johnson, entertained her friends with telekinetic tricks. Several of her friends told Teri that Kim could move objects with her mind and..." Dallas sucked in a deep breath, then released it slowly. "Daphne Alaire worked part-time as a medium. She claimed to have the ability to converse with the dead. And Lori Wright was telepathic. Her sister told Teri that Lori didn"t want any of her college friends to know about her ability because the kids she"d grown up with considered her a freak."
"Good G.o.d!" Jacob clenched his jaw. "Why is this information just now surfacing?"
"Because Teri dug pretty deep," Dallas said. "Apparently the friends and families of the fifth victims hadn"t bothered mentioning their unique talents to the authorities because they hadn"t thought that information had anything to do with their murders."
"How the h.e.l.l did this guy find these women? And why is he killing them?" Jacob balled his hands into tight fists.
"We don"t know," Dallas replied. "But if he"s true to form, then his fifth victim will be someone who has a sixth-sense ability."
"I"m the reason he"s come to Cherokee County," Genny said, certainty in her voice. "He intends for me to be his fifth victim."
"It won"t happen," Dallas told her with absolute conviction.
"You"re d.a.m.n right it won"t," Jacob added. "We"ll keep you under guard twenty-four seven. I"ll move back in here to protect you."
"Jacob, you have a job to do. Let me take care of Genny," Dallas said. "I"ll move in here with her tonight."
"Yes, of course," Genny replied. "But, Dallas, you can"t stay with me all the time. Jacob needs you to help him find this man before he kills the fourth victim."
"Whenever Dallas can"t be with you, I"ll make sure a deputy is," Jacob said. "And in the meantime, we"re going to do whatever it takes to find the killer."
Dallas grasped Genny"s shoulders tenderly. "We will keep you safe. I swear to you that this man isn"t going to-"
"You must let me help you discover his ident.i.ty," Genny said. "With my life at stake, I have every right to take a risk and try to telepathically connect to the killer"s mind."
"No!" Jacob shouted.
"Yes," Genny told him. "I"ll get plenty of rest tonight and tomorrow morning, and then tomorrow afternoon, with you and Dallas here with me, I want to try."
"She"s going to do it whether you agree or not," Dallas said. "I"ll be here with her when she does try. Will you?"
Jacob huffed. "d.a.m.n it, yes!"
Laura tossed back her blond curls and lifted her snooty little nose into the air. "As your fiancee, I have every right to know what"s going on. Ever since we came to Cherokee Pointe to visit your grandparents, you"ve been gone more than you"ve been here. You stay out all night and tell me you"ve been with old high school buddies. How many old buddies can you possibly have?"