I Can See You

Chapter Ten

Tuesday, February 23, 8:45 a.m.

So this is all being done within a game?” Carleton asked incredulously. “This is… amazing. And certainly changes the nature of my profile.”

“How so?” Noah asked.

“There’s a level of intelligence, of order that I’ve never seen before. You say he’s able to go in and change these game characters-”

“Avatars,” Jack inserted.

“Avatars,” Carleton repeated. “He’s got technical skills or he’s able to learn them quickly. And then there’s the cruelty. I have to tell you, I haven’t been able to get that victim from yesterday out of my mind. That he went to the danger and effort of locating a highly venomous snake, immobilized her… I don’t even want to imagine what that poor woman went through. I have patients with snake phobias and they are very real.”

Micki glanced at Jack, looking chastised. “We’re still trying to find out where he got the snake. But why only the snake with Christy? Why change his MO now?”

“And how will he change it the next time?” Jack asked grimly.

“I don’t want a next time,” Abbott said. “Micki, anything else from the scene?”

“Yeah.” Again the cautious look at Jack. “The snake had just ingested a mouse.”

Jack grimaced. “Oh God.”

“It hadn’t digested it yet. It must have swallowed it right before the killer blew its head off. We found a puncture in the mouse. It had been dosed with ketamine as well.”

“Why?” Jack mouthed the word.

Remembering the snake bite on Christy’s foot, Noah knew why. It made him ill.

“The mouse would have remained alive, warm-blooded,” Noah said. “Attractive to the snake. The mouse just wouldn’t have been able to run away.”

“The mouse was bait,” Carleton said, his voice thin and horrified. “Dear God.”

Abbott cleared his throat. “Keep the mouse out of the paper.”

Jack pulled his palms down his face. “I don’t want to think about that. Give me a few minutes to pull up the all-night waffle houses in the area and we can roll.”

“Christy Lewis’s last meal was waffles,” Noah explained. “We figure she ate it in the middle of the night, so we’re off to check the twenty-four-hour waffle houses and diners.”

Faye, their admin, stuck her head in the door. “Call from Ramsey in the DA’s office, Captain. You got your search warrant for that apartment next to the Brisbane woman.”

“Thanks,” Abbott said. “I’ll have Sutherland and Kane do the search. What about Taylor Kobrecki? Do we know any more about him?”

“I met his best pals,” Jack said. “He might be hiding with one of them.”

“I’ll have them checked. We will hold a press conference this morning. We have flyers made up with the victims’ photos to give to the press. If somebody saw them the night they died, we can start retracing their steps.”

“What about warning potential victims?” Micki asked.

“Do we even know who to warn?” Carleton asked.

“We know who the study’s heavy users are,” Jack said. “They’re the likely targets.”

“Wait.” Carleton held up his hand. “How do we know who the heavy users are?”

“Our CI gave us a list of study participants, organized by usage patterns. Jack and I will dig up contact info on the heavy users, but which he’ll target next is anybody’s guess.”

Abbott hesitated. “How many people are on the list?”

“Five hundred,” Noah said, “but only sixty that are both women and heavy users. Five ultra-users, like Martha.”

“Give me the list,” Abbott said. “Let me think about it.”

“We’re off to interview the study supervising professor. He and his assistant have direct access to the list. Then we’ll check waffle houses.” Noah had pushed away from the table when his cell phone rang. Eve. “What’s happened?” he asked in a quiet voice.

“Do you know a reporter named Buckland?” she asked, her voice strained.

His heart sank. “Yes. I assume you do, too. How did he find you?”

“He saw my car at Christy’s. He paid me a visit today. He may be a problem.”

“Buckland’s already a problem. What did he say?”

“Oh, lots of things, but mostly he wanted to know about the murders. I didn’t tell him anything. Listen, I need my car. Is it possible someone could drive me up to get it?”

Noah frowned at the breathlessness in her voice. “Are you running?”

“Kind of. Dr. Donner’s assistant is out looking for me.”

“Define ‘out looking for me.’ ”

“When Buckland left, so did I. Donner’s assistant followed me outside. He’s checking buildings and cars, definitely looking for me.” There was fear in her voice. “I’m sticking to the alleys. Noah, this is like something out of a bad Jason movie. This is insane.”

It certainly was. “Can you get to the Deli?” It was a combination coffee house and sandwich shop near the campus. Next to Sal’s, it was a favorite cop haunt.

“Yeah. I’ll meet you there.”

“We’ll have a couple of officers there. You don’t have to sit with them, but they’ll be watching. Wait for me.” He turned back to the team. “Our CI’s run into some trouble.”

Jack was buttoning his coat. “I like the Deli. They have fantastic pastrami.”

“Wait.” Carleton stood. “I know you’re trying to keep your CI safe, and presumably employed. But I’m not the ethics police. I won’t turn him in. I may even be able to help.”

Noah was listening. “How?”

“If I don’t know who’s running your CI’s study, I’ll know somebody who does. If your CI is running into trouble, I may be able to smooth the way with his boss.”

Noah nodded. “Right now the issue seems to be with the boss’s assistant, but I’ll tell the CI you’ve offered to help. Thanks, Carleton. Really.”

“We’ll give you all the info soon,” Abbott added. “It’s not that we don’t trust you.”

Noah knew this had to be particularly awkward for Abbott. He and Carleton Pierce went way back. They all did. They’d used Carleton’s profiles to solve dozens of homicide cases over the years. But they’d promised Eve.

“I know that, Bruce. I don’t like it, but you obviously believe I’ll have a conflict of interest with this and I have to respect that. I’d offer to find another psychologist to do the profile, but you’d have the same issue with whoever had my role. Besides, this is a fascinating personality. I don’t want to miss the opportunity to study him.”

“I’d prefer it if you were studying him from closer range,” Abbott said dryly. “Like with him behind bars. Go,” he said, waving Noah and Jack toward the door. “I’ll have a squad car sent to the Deli. Call me when the situation’s clear.”

Tuesday, February 23, 9:30 a.m.

Eve bought a coffee and blindly grabbed a magazine from the rack, trying to blend in with the other coffee-breakers. The Deli may have been just a sandwich joint in the past, but now it was an upscale bistro where students and professors-and cops-came to meet, greet, see, and be seen. Kind of like Ninth Circle, without the bad band.

“Now, he’s something,” the guy behind the counter said. Eve looked down, grimly unsurprised to see the face of Jack Phelps staring up at her. She’d “blindly” grabbed MSP. A Freudian slip. Yeah, right. The barista winked. “He can book me any day.”

“Yeah. He’s something.” Now Jack’s partner… was something else. Eve wished she knew what. She had told him she didn’t want him, told herself she couldn’t have him, but when she got scared, Noah’s had been the first number she’d dialed.

With a quiet sigh, she sat behind two officers who casually sipped their coffee. They might be the cops Noah sent or they might really be on break. Either way, she felt safer close by.

She flipped pages until she found herself looking at the picture of Noah Webster as she had before, so many times. Jack’s face was something. Noah, though… His face was rugged, hard. Thuggish was the word that always came to mind.

Dangerous. But his green eyes could be warm. And he makes me feel safe.

The bell on the Deli’s door jingled and she lifted her eyes to see Jeremy entering, searching the room. He came straight toward her table, giving her only a moment to debate asking the cops behind her for help should she need it.

If you do, you’ll be admitting working with them. She wanted to delay that as long as she could, for the sake of Noah’s investigation. The longer the Shadowland connection went undisclosed, the longer Noah would have to hunt a three-time killer.

“Can I join you?” Jeremy asked, breathing hard. “Thank you.” He sat, without giving her time to say no, then took off his glasses, wiping away the condensation that had formed by coming into the warmth from the cold. “You’re a hard woman to catch, Eve.”

She dug deep, found a tone that felt right. One that was wounded, but still bristling from her altercation with Kurt Buckland. “I didn’t realize you were looking for me.”

“Donner told me to watch, that you might go to the press. You little conniving bitch.”

To the press. Not to the cops. Donner had immediately assumed she’d grab notoriety versus doing the right thing. Why am I not surprised? “I didn’t go to the press. That guy came to me. And in case you missed it, I didn’t cooperate with him.”

“A very convincing act, but as you came here to meet him it’s not going to fly.”

Eve shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

He pointed behind her. “Your reporter.” Eve was stunned to see Buckland watching with a smug smile. How long had he been there? “You’ll be thrown out of the program for this,” Jeremy said with satisfaction. “You never should have been here anyway.”

She turned back to Jeremy, shaken, but hoping it didn’t show. “Why not?”

“Most of your undergrad work was online. Your degree’s from a state school.”

She tried to focus on the weasel in front of her versus the snake behind her. “So?”

“So you got in because you’re a little victim, not because you were qualified.”

There was venom in the man’s voice, jealousy in his eyes. “And you are qualified?”

His jaw cocked. “Hell of a lot more than you.”

And then she understood. “You didn’t make the cut. That’s why you’re Donner’s office assistant and not his graduate assistant.”

A muscle in his cheek twitched. “I made the cut. But they let you in instead just because some guy slashed you. They thought you’d bring an ‘interesting point of view.’ ”

That she’d been admitted on something other than her own merit stung. Buckland’s observing them made it worse. But Jeremy was no longer talking about the cops. Where are you, Noah? “How would you possibly know that, Jeremy?” she asked.

“I know everything,” he spat contemptuously. “I see everything. I know every medical fact, your grades, your favorite color, and that you hate beets and heights. I can see it all.”

I can see it all… Her grades, likes, dislikes… Sonofabitch. He hacked into my file. Eve didn’t know whether to laugh at the irony or be angry. In the end she did neither, opting for a weariness that was not an act. “I did not call that reporter today, so you can go back and tell Dr. Donner that whatever he was worried I’d say, I didn’t.”

Jeremy shrugged. “I’m not leaving until Donner gets here. If you didn’t tell the press, then you told the cops. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been with them last night.”

That was the first logical leap he’d made. “Donner’s coming here? Why?”

“To escort you back to his office, where he’ll formally kick you out of the program.”

Alarms went off in her head. Donner was coming. For me. “Which would open up a spot for you?” she asked, forcing a smile.

He nodded, graciously. “Yes.”

She kept her tone friendly. “So you think I went to the cops about… what?”

“Don’t know,” Jeremy admitted. His eyes dropped to the magazine. “That’s Webster, isn’t it? The cop that reporter saw you with.”

Indeed it was. And that was Webster, getting out of his car on the curb. He’d be coming through the Deli door in about ten seconds and would validate everything Jeremy and Buckland suspected. The seconds ticked and she made a decision.

There was a way to explain away her presence at both Christy’s and Martha’s homes yesterday, hopefully shutting down both Buck-land and Jeremy. She just prayed Webster would understand and play along.

She smiled proudly, running her thumb over the small photo. “Yes, that’s my Noah. I think he should have been on the cover, but I am a little biased.” She stood, waving broadly as the doorbell dinged and Noah came in. “Noah, honey, I’m over here.”

Webster’s eyes flicked down to the stunned face of Jeremy Lyons, then without missing a beat, he approached, his smile warm. Her heart thumped hard in her ears, harder in her chest. She knew what she needed to do. Channeling Greer and every imaginary character she’d ever created, she reached both arms up around his neck and pulled his faced down for a hard kiss on the lips, making it linger a few seconds longer than might have been appropriate.

His arms came around her naturally, as if they’d done this a thousand times. He was rock solid, just as she’d known he’d be. But his lips were far softer than she’d expected. And sweeter. And hotter. What have I done?

She eased back, rocked to the soles of her feet. There had been a split second of shock in his green eyes, quickly obliterated by a flare of desire. It was still there, tempered by his control.

Remembering what she had to do, she slipped her arm around his waist and turned back to Jeremy, whose mouth had fallen open. “Noah, I want you to meet Jeremy Lyons. He works for my graduate advisor, Dr. Donner.”

Noah shook Jeremy’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” he said, then put his arm around her shoulders, lightly squeezing.

“Likewise,” Jeremy murmured.

“So, Jeremy, now you know. We hoped to keep it to ourselves a little longer. You know how people talk. But…” Eve shrugged. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag, Web.”

“We knew we couldn’t keep it a secret forever,” Webster said, his voice a soft caress that sent shivers racing across her skin and she had to remind herself that none of this was real. It was as imaginary as any relationship in Shadowland.

You can’t have him, so don’t dream. But she would dream, because now she knew what it was like to hold him, to feel his body against hers. What have I done?

Noah cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, I can’t stay, babe. I’ve got to get back to work.”

“Oh,” she said feigning disappointment. “I understand.” But when her smile faltered, it was sincere. “Then, can you take me home? I had kind of a difficult morning.”

Webster rested his cheek against the top of her head and for just a moment more Eve held on to the dream, leaning into him. “Sure,” he said quietly. “Let’s go.”

She gathered her things and walked away, Webster’s arm still tight around her shoulders. The cold air on her hot face felt good and she let out a long sigh of relief. Phelps was sitting in the front passenger seat, eyes wide, obviously having seen it all.

Webster opened the back door, and only then did he relinquish his hold. “You’d better make me that key after all,” he murmured, surprising a snort of laughter from her.

“Babe?” she asked, and he smiled wryly.

“I panicked. Now, buckle up,” he said and closed the door.

Jack waited until they’d cleared the first intersection before twisting around to stare at her, then at Webster. “And that was…?”

Really nice, Eve thought, resisting the urge to lick her lips to see if she could still taste him. A dream. “Damage control,” she murmured. “It’s been an eventful morning.”

Tuesday, February 23, 9:55 a.m.

Noah’s heart had not stopped pounding. First he’d feared for her safety, then she’d rocked him with a kiss she’d called “damage control.”

Now it pounded with helpless rage as his hands twisted the wheel, wishing it was the reporter’s neck as she relayed the details of Buck-land’s visit. “He threatened you?” he asked ominously, and in his rearview he could see her grow wary.

“I dealt with it,” she said. “Whatever hold he thought he had over me, he doesn’t.”

And for that, he was fiercely proud of her. “It doesn’t matter. He had no right.” No right to extort her with her own assault. It was as if she’d been victimized a second time.

“You’re not helping,” she said softly and she was right.

“I’m sorry.” But he wasn’t sorry, not really.

“At any rate,” she said, “Buckland’s been following you to your crime scenes. He followed me to the coffee shop.”

“He was there?” Jack asked. “Just now?”

“Yeah. I guess he thought I’d meet you, to warn you about the pictures. I didn’t want him to think he was right. So I… did what I thought I needed to do.”

Damage control, Noah thought bitterly. “I understand.”

“Hopefully Buckland and Jeremy don’t think I’m part of your case anymore. But you need to watch out. Buckland wants his story and he’ll keep following you till he gets it.”

“He’s following us now,” Jack said. “Has been since we left the Deli.”

Noah checked his rearview again, focusing on the traffic behind him instead of the woman in the backseat. A dark Subaru was maintaining a safe distance. “Sonofabitch.”

“You gotta hand it to the man for persistence,” she said, wry amusement in her voice. “Are we going to lose him in a mad dash? Is that why you told me to buckle up?”

Noah chuckled in spite of the anger churning in his gut. “Sorry. It’s against regs.”

“Well, damn,” she said. “I haven’t had a good mad dash in years.”

Jack twisted in his seat so he could look back at her. “If I promised you a mad dash, would you kiss me like that?” There was something harsh and almost demeaning in Jack’s tone and Noah shot him a furious glare.

In the rearview, Eve’s smile disappeared and she looked away, embarrassed. “No.”

“Jack,” Noah gritted.

Jack settled in his seat with a sarcastic sigh. “Can’t blame a man for trying, Web.”

Noah bit his tongue. Focus on the case, not flattening Jack’s pretty face.

Eve must have thought the same. “Now what? I tried to confuse things by insinuating that I was there to meet Noah, but I don’t know if I convinced him.”

“You sure as hell convinced me,” Jack said blandly.

“Jack,” Noah muttered between his teeth. But she sure as hell convinced me, too, he thought. And he was already wishing for another demonstration.

“You convinced every guy in the place,” Jack added as if Noah hadn’t spoken.

“Do you mind?” Eve shook her head angrily. “This is serious, Detective.”

“It’s his way,” Noah said flatly. “How easy will it be to connect you to Shadowland?”

“Pretty easy,” she said. “All the grad students know it’s part of my thesis, although after this morning I don’t think they’ll talk to Buckland.”

“That’s good,” Noah said. He nearly asked her if she’d gotten into the Shadowland network, but he knew she’d have told him if she had. “Now, what do we do with you?”

“I have a good idea,” Jack muttered, and Noah clenched his teeth so hard they hurt.

I am so going to turn you in. He should have done it years ago. Why he hadn’t was a mystery to many, he knew. He was aware of the talk, the betting pool, but like a fool, he’d hoped Jack would get his life back together. I did, after all.

“What do you mean?” Eve asked warily. Apparently she hadn’t heard Jack’s mutter.

“That if Buckland knows you’re involved, it’s just a matter of time before he prints it.”

“He’s printed just about everything else,” Jack said sourly.

“Like what?” she demanded. “What did he print?”

Noah hesitated. “That they wore red dresses and the killer used a snake on Christy.”

“A snake?” She looked confused. “Like, a real snake?”

“A real rattlesnake,” Jack said grimly. “It bit her.”

“Did he do that to Martha?” she asked, troubled.

“No,” Noah said. “And we’re not sure why.”

“Did he sexually assault these women?” she asked.

Jack frowned. “Why do you want to know?”

“Did he?” she insisted and Jack shook his head, disgruntled.

“No, he didn’t.”

“So he meets them in the virtual world, attacks them in their own homes, strangles them, then stages a hanging. And now he uses a snake, a common phobia.”

Noah glanced at her again in the rearview. She’d become very quiet, her expression contemplative. “Do you know why he used the snake, Eve?”

“Maybe. Something Jeremy said today just struck me. He was on a diatribe, telling me why I didn’t belong at Marshall, throwing out things he had no business knowing.”

“Like?” Noah prodded gently.

“My favorite color and that I don’t like beets. Or heights.” She said the last words slowly. “I’m trying to remember who I told that to. The only thing I can think of is that I filled out a questionnaire when I was first admitted to the program. We did something similar with our study, asked all the things they love, hate, things that comfort, scare them…”

Noah got it. “If he has the files, he would have seen Christy’s questionnaire.”

Eve nodded. “And if she wrote she was afraid of snakes, he would have known. Did Martha’s autopsy show anything odd?”

“Her blue lungs,” Jack murmured.

“She had blue lungs?” Eve asked. “Why?”

“The ME thinks her killer shoved her face in a toilet,” Noah said. “We need to see those study files, Eve. We need to know what these participants said they feared, and as soon as we request the subpoena, your role in this will come out.”

“I know.” She hesitated. “I can get the files for you faster.”

Jack frowned. “And more secretly?” he asked pointedly. “And more safely for you?”

Noah glared at him yet again. “Jack.”

“No, you listen. Anything she gets by hacking is poisoned fruit. The DA will throw any arrests out like yesterday’s garbage and us with it. No hacking. We do it by the book.”

There was an anger in his partner’s voice that Noah wasn’t sure he’d heard before, but before he could get closer to its cause, Eve spoke, calmly, coolly.

“My role in all this will come out, Detective Phelps. That’s a given at this point. I’ll be taken before the committee and probably thrown out of the program. If that happens, I’ll be blackballed from any other program. I think it’s safe to say my career is over, so secrecy-and safety-for myself isn’t my main concern.”

“So what is your main concern?” Jack asked, his voice also cool.

“That you not show your hand to this monster too soon. If he knows you know his MO, he’ll change it. He will kill again. It gives him… pleasure.”

A shiver went down Noah’s spine, not from her words, but from the way she said them, almost as if she were in a trance. “How do you know that it gives him pleasure?”

She looked away, the spell broken. “It just makes sense. Get your subpoena for the files if you like. I don’t know what the file names are, but I can get you a description. That should speed your warrant. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to go home.”

Tuesday, February 23, 10:35 a.m.

“You didn’t have to walk me up, Detective,” Eve said as she let herself in.

Noah followed her inside her apartment, closing the door behind him. She’d become formal again. He’d liked it much better when she’d relaxed her guard and wondered how to get her to do it again. “Yes, I did. Where’s Hunter?”

“Probably buying roofing supplies.” Her smile was brittle. “I’m fine, as you can see. Your partner is waiting for you, so go.” She went to the window and stood, eyes closed.

“I’ll go in a minute.” He stood behind her, wanting to touch, but knowing she didn’t want him to. “I know you weren’t offering to get us access to protect yourself.”

“Don’t be so sure your partner wasn’t right,” she murmured. “Maybe I was.”

He gave in to the need to touch her, grasping her shoulders gently. She tensed, but her face reflected in the window remained unmoving. He kneaded, wishing he could turn her around and kiss her again. She’d know it was real this time.

But he didn’t, instead dropping his hands to his sides. “I don’t want you here alone.”

She shrugged. “It’s much more likely Buckland was here last night, and not your killer. He’d been following you and latched on to me.”

“Still, if Buckland prints your name, the man who killed three women will know you are involved. Then he may come after you.”

Her mouth firmed, her chin lifted. “I hope he does. I’ll be ready for him.”

Alarm had him frowning. “Eve, this isn’t the virtual world where you can kick ass as Nemesis or Greer. This is real. He’s killed three times. He won’t blink at four.”

“Which is why as Eve,” she said, with a calm that rattled him, “I have a very real gun and I know how to use it. It goes with the whole survivor thing.”

He knew he should go, but didn’t. “What else goes with the survivor thing?”

“Different things. I wasn’t always like I am now. I sat in the dark for two years after my assault. Never looked in mirrors and didn’t leave the house unless I had to, and when I did it was under an inch of makeup because I was afraid.”

“Of?” he asked softly.

“Of the way people looked at me. I was young, before. Pretty. Then, I was a freak. Scarred. People stared in horror, grateful it hadn’t happened to them, scared that it could. Nobody looked me in the eye. Once I made a child cry, he was so afraid of me.”

She’d dropped her eyes, shame in her voice and Noah’s heart squeezed so hard it hurt. But there was nothing he could say that she’d want to hear, so he stood, helplessly listening. After a moment she lifted her gaze, meeting his reflected in the glass.

“My world was in the computer. It kept me connected to people, and in many ways it kept me sane. When I finally got the courage to come out of the dark, helping people to break free like I did became more than a wish. It became my purpose. People need purpose, Noah. That’s a survivor thing, too.”

“I know,” he murmured. And he did know. “But I don’t want you to get caught.”

“I’m going to get caught, Noah. I’ll have to give up what makes me get up in the morning.” She swallowed hard. “And it’s killing me. But if I stand by and do nothing, I slide back into the dark. I can feel it, always there at my back, luring me back to where it’s safe. But even though it’s safe, it’s not right. I can’t expect you to understand that.”

But he did, more than she knew. In his mind he could see himself clawing his way out of the bottle. Out of the dark. Trying to escape the demons that had driven him there. Every day he had to renew that resolution. Every day he staved off the dark.

One day at a time had always seemed like a corny metaphor. Until it became his life. “I do understand.” He made himself smile. “It’s why I drink tonic water.”

She drew a quick breath, her eyes widening. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

He brushed his palm down her arm, just once. “I didn’t want you to. But you’re not alone and I do understand. Will you keep trying to get into the Shadowland files?”

“Do you want me to?” she asked and he carefully considered his answer. She had a purpose and he suspected she’d sacrifice a great deal to keep that purpose alive. But right now, he was more concerned about keeping her alive. And out of jail.

“What I want is to stop this guy before he kills anyone else. Including you. But I don’t want you to break the law. Jack is right on that. Nothing you give us that’s a product of an illegal enterprise can be used in court. We could catch him, but have to let him go. And, Eve, if you did something illegal, I couldn’t protect you either.”

“I don’t expect you to.” She turned suddenly, looking up with eyes that were almost black. Intense. He couldn’t have turned away had he tried. “Do you want me to stop?”

Desire surged through him like a storm and he tightened his hands into fists to keep them to himself. This is not the time, Webster. Focus. “Are you close?”

Her dark eyes flashed dangerously. She felt it too. “Very.”

He made himself think of Martha and Christy and Samantha. He thought of Eve, drawn into this mess because she couldn’t, wouldn’t look away. Then he thought of the other names on her list and wondered who would be next because a killer was playing a damned game. “No,” he whispered hoarsely. “I don’t want you to stop.”

She settled. “All right then. I’ll call you when I have something I think you can use.”

Cautiously he lifted his hand to touch her cheek. “Earlier, in the Deli…”

Her cheek grew flushed beneath his fingertips. “It won’t happen again.”

“Yes, it will. And when it does, it won’t be an act. For either of us.” He took a step back, dropping his hand from her face. “I need to go.”

She nodded, unsteadily, making his blood churn. “Don’t forget your hat.”

Noah took his hat from the bookshelf where he’d left it the night before. Questions filled his mind, too many to ask. But she’d opened the door to her life and he’d ask a question before she closed it again. “I read about what happened to you six years ago. But I couldn’t find anything about why. Why did that man try to kill you?”

“To get to his wife and his son. They’d run away because he’d beaten them for years. I knew them, loved them both. I didn’t know who he was at first, but figured it out. I was afraid he’d find Caroline and Tom and make their lives a living hell all over again.”

“So he was trying to stop you from warning them?”

“Partly, yes. But he had a gun. He could have just shot me and finished the job. Mercifully. But he didn’t.” She swallowed hard. “Instead, he stabbed me eight times. Slashed my face open. Nearly filleted my hand. Then he strangled me.”

“Because it gave him pleasure,” Noah said grimly.

“Yes.” She crossed her arms over her chest, body language screaming volumes. “I know the kind of monster you’re seeking, Noah. I stared mine in the eyes as he pulled that twine tighter around my throat. Yours won’t stop. He won’t stop until you stop him.”

“And you?” He had to force the words from his tight throat. “Until you stop him?”

Her eyes were dark. Stark. So incredibly alone. “I didn’t stop my monster. In my dreams he comes back, again and again. I’d do almost anything to stop yours.”

He nodded hard. “Lock your door.” He waited until he heard the deadbolt slide into place, then went back to the car where Jack was drumming his fingers impatiently.

“Are we ready to go to work now?” he asked acidly.

“In a minute.” Noah dialed Abbott. “It’s Web. Eve’s fine, but she’s had Buckland from the Mirror and her advisor’s secretary on her ass.”

“Where’s her ass now?” Abbott asked dryly.

“We just took her home. We’re going to Marshall to talk to Lyons and Donner, then work the waffle houses. Has Faye run checks on Jeremy Lyons and Donald Donner?”

“I’ll check and call you,” Abbott said.

Noah made himself say it. “We need to make a formal request to the university for their subject files. Eve said each participant listed their worst fear on a questionnaire.”

“The snake,” Abbott said. “That actually makes sense. As soon as we make the request, Eve’s going to be the first person they look to for the leak.”

“She knows that. She’s prepared to take the consequences.”

Abbott sighed. “Maybe Carleton can help her so this doesn’t damage her too much.”

“Damage control,” Noah murmured, fighting the urge to lick his lips. “I hope so.”

Jack’s jaw was tight when he’d hung up. “Now we get to work?”

Noah took one last look in his rearview before putting the car into gear. “Yes.”

Tuesday, February 23, 10:45 a.m.

Frowning, Harvey watched Webster and Phelps drive away. “Who lives here?”

Dell was busily inputting the address into the property tax web-site he’d brought up on his BlackBerry. “Deed’s held by a Myron Daulton.”

“Webster was here three times last night. She’s important. I got a picture of Webster walking her inside. Unfortunately, he didn’t touch her, today or last night.”

Dell snorted. “He sure did at that coffee place. Take a look.”

Harvey looked at Dell’s camera display where Noah Webster and the woman were locked in a passionate embrace. “Webster is using taxpayers’ vehicles on taxpayers’ time to drive his lady friend around. But that’s not nearly enough.”

“No,” Dell murmured. “It’s not. Not nearly enough.”

“Dell. Remember our plan.”

Dell smiled slightly. “Of course. The plan that’s working so well.”

Harvey’s hand was slapping Dell’s mouth before he knew it. “Watch your mouth.”

Dell touched the corner of his lip. “Whatever you say, Pop.” But his eyes were hard and angry and Harvey wondered how much longer he’d be able to control his own son.

“Which way are they headed now?” Harvey asked.

Dell checked the navsat screen he held. Planting a tracking device under each of the detectives’ cars had been Dell’s idea, and a damn good one. “Toward the city.”

“Then follow. I’m right behind you.” Dell got out of the Subaru and went back to his own car while Harvey thought about Webster having a girlfriend. Women were weak. They’d be able to get all kinds of good information out of her with the right inducement.

Tuesday, February 23, 12:15 p.m.

“Thanks.” Eve glanced up briefly as David put a sandwich next to her elbow, then returned her eyes to her computer screen. “I appreciate you doing the shopping.”

“I thought I’d better, since I’d like to eat while I’m here,” he said. “Are you in?”

“Finally. ShadowCo’s security is better than average. Took longer than I thought.”

“And? What did you find?”

“What I expected. He altered the avatar files on both Martha’s Desiree and Christy’s Gwenivere. It’s how he made their faces look as if they’d been made up. He also changed the rooms in their virtual homes with the rope and the shoes he left behind.”

“And so? Can you figure out who he was?”

“Not directly. He made these changes using his victims’ user IDs. But both avatars have been changed the same way. If you dig deep enough, the graphics are just lines of code. The code gets kind of clunky, where he changed it.”

“Clunky.” He gave her an amused look. “So he’s an amateur?”

“Perhaps. The code he wrote gets the job done-the avatar’s face changed. But a professional programmer would have done it more elegantly.”

“Now you sound like Ethan,” David commented blandly. “He likes to say ‘elegant.’ ”

“Ethan taught me a lot,” she said cautiously. To love Dana could have meant David had to hate Ethan, but Eve knew that wasn’t true. Still, she was careful not to lavish too much praise on the man who’d made her guardian happy and her friend miserable.

“Like how to break and enter, virtually. Which can get you arrested in the real world.”

“Now you sound like Noah.”

“Whose hat is no longer on your bookshelf.”

Irritated, she kept her eyes on the screen. “You get the stuff to fix my roof?”

“Ordered it. I pick it up after three. I can take you up to get your car on the way.”

“Thank you. I’ll pay you for all the supplies.” She had enough put aside. She hoped.

“Miss Moneybags,” he scoffed gently. “I’ll pay for it. You do know you’re ultimately helping your landlord? Once he kicks you out, he’ll have an improved roof at no cost.”

“But he’ll learn that he can’t kick people around. That he can’t kick me around.” Then she understood. “You’re helping because you don’t want him kicking me around, either.”

“Too many people have,” he said quietly. “You’ve pulled yourself out of something that would have broken most people. I’m proud of you.” Her throat closed, her eyes filled. There were no words, but she knew he understood. “Get back to your virtual B &E. But I want you to give Webster a chance. That’s my price for fixing your roof.”

He left her alone, but Eve couldn’t focus. She saw Noah’s face reflected in the window, worried and understanding. That’s why I drink tonic water. She wondered what journey had brought him to the place of a recovering alcoholic.

She chided herself for being so selfish that she hadn’t seen, or cared for, his feelings. And for just a second she let herself remember how he’d tasted when she’d kissed him. How good she’d felt when his arms wrapped tight around her.

But giving him a chance? No. Not even for David. Because in the end she didn’t want to hurt Noah Webster or any other nice guy who was looking for a future, because in the end, there would be none. Not with me. That was Eve’s reality.

She blinked, clearing her eyes so that she could see her screen. For Noah, she had to be careful. After he’d left, she’d called Ethan and at his direction had taken precautions, routing through a dozen proxy servers to make tracing her online movement difficult. But ShadowCo could still find her, and the blame might fall on Noah.

And that wouldn’t do at all because Noah was a good man. There had to be a way to stop this monster. Just knowing he’d been in Shadowland, messing around with avatars, wasn’t good enough. She had to use what she knew to make him show his face in the real world. It wouldn’t be easy. Noah’s monster was very smart, so far staying one step ahead of them. I’ll just have to be smarter.

Tuesday, February 23, 2:30 p.m.

Liza sneaked out the ditching exit, the first time she’d ever ditched class. It wasn’t like it was real class, just a stupid assembly with a stupid jock. It was making her crazy, sitting in a stupid assembly when she could be looking for Lindsay. So she left.

“Hey, girl, you gotta light?”

She jerked around, startled. A kid was standing by the door, hunched over, hands in his pockets. “No. I’m sorry.” Unsteadily, she kept going. Too little sleep and no food had her light-headed. She had only a few dollars left and she needed them for bus fare.

The city bus stop was up a block, so she put her head down against the wind and started walking. The next thing she knew she was on her butt, her bookbag spilled, and her papers blowing away.

“I’m so sorry. Let me help you.” It was a really tall boy. No, older. College maybe. He gathered her papers and brought them to her. “Some of them got a little dirty.”

“It’s okay. Thank you.” She shoved the papers back in her bag and stood, stumbling at the next little dizzy spell. Note to self. Need to eat.

“Are you okay?”

She looked up. Way up. Liza was five-ten, so this guy had to be six-six. “I’m fine.”

He frowned, studying her face. “You don’t look fine. You look pale.”

“I’m fine. Really.” Then she huffed, frustrated as the city bus pulled away. “Except now I’ve missed my bus. The next one isn’t for twenty minutes.” Wasted time. Dammit.

She started walking fast and he walked beside her, ambling easily. “Did you come out of the smoker’s door?” he asked.

She glared up at him. “Are you gonna turn me in?”

“No. But, well, why are you ditching? You don’t look like the type.”

“And what type is that?” she asked between her teeth, thinking of the way that officer had dismissed Lindsay as a missing person because she was a… prostitute.

“The type to take AP English. Your paper on Heart of Darkness,” he added. “Most advanced students I knew would never ditch class. Plus, your eyes are red. You’ve been crying.”

“Allergies,” she snapped.

“In February?” He shook his head. “Try again.”

“I have someplace to go.” She glared up at him again. “Do you mind?”

“Where are you going?”

Liza rolled her eyes. “None of your business.”

“Well, I feel bad that you missed your bus. Can I give you a lift?”

She stared up at him, appalled. “No. If you don’t leave me alone, I’m going to call the cops. In fact, I’m going to the police station now and I’ll just report you.”

“Are you going to the police station because of your sister?”

Liza stopped short. “How did you know that?”

“Just guessed. One of the papers I grabbed was a police report. Barkley, Lindsay. The name on your English paper was Liza Barkley and you look like the mug shot.”

Liza shook her head. “What are you? Some kind of CSI wannabe creep?”

He smiled. “No, but you look like you need help and I feel bad that I’ve kept you from where you’re going. You can take a cab to the police station from here.”

“Yeah, right.” She started walking again, muttering under her breath, “Can’t even afford lunch and this idiot wants me to get a cab.”

“No, I’ll pay for it.” He was walking beside her again, holding out a twenty. “Get yourself something to eat while you’re at it. You don’t look so good.”

Liza stopped again and stared at the money in his hand. “You scare me.”

“Tell you what,” he said when she didn’t move. “There’s a sandwich place across from that bus stop. I’ll buy you some food and you can wait for the bus where it’s warm.”

She hesitated. “I don’t want your charity.”

“But you’re hungry. Come on.” He took the bag from her hand and started walking.

“Hey.” She stumbled trying to catch up. “That’s my bookbag.”

“Liza, trust me as far as that sandwich shop, okay?”

“Like I have a choice?” she asked, and hurried behind him.

True to his word, he went into the sandwich shop and put her bag on the table. “Sit. I’ll be back.” She obeyed, and a few minutes later he brought two sandwiches and fries. “Eat,” he said. Again, she obeyed, ravenous. “Slowly. How long since your last meal?”

“An egg this morning. Before that, lunch yesterday.” She said nothing more until she’d eaten her sandwich, fries, and his fries, too.

He was impressed. “Girls usually pick at food like it’s a disease. I’m Tom Hunter.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Tom. Thank you for the food. I was hungry.”

“Why did you ditch class?”

Now that she was no longer hungry, she could think. “It was just an assembly. They took us out of class to tell us to stay in school. How stupid is that? And jocks… like they know anything about school.” He was smiling at her. “What?” she demanded.

“I’m one of the jocks from the assembly. I graduated with a 4.0,” he added helpfully.

Liza’s face burned. “God. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Mostly you’re right. But that’s why I come to the schools. If the kids will listen to me, even one, it’s worth it. Why are you going to the police station?”

She studied him. He was handsome, blond with clear blue eyes. A basketball player, she remembered from the assembly announcement. A big-time college player. Some of the boys in class were drooling at the thought of seeing him. “Why do you care?”

He shrugged. “My mom’s something of a social worker. It’s ingrained. Look, I have a baby sister. Her name is Grace. If she were in trouble, I’d hope someone would help her. I won’t hurt you. If nothing else, I’m a damn good listener. So why were you crying, Liza?”

She let out a breath. “My sister’s missing.” And she told him the whole story, everything except living alone. “Yesterday I got that police report and last night I asked every hooker I could find and nobody knew her. I started thinking today that maybe somebody was arrested with her, in a raid, or maybe somebody bailed her out.”

“So you want to know if the police can tell you that?”

“I have to try. Nobody’s going to look for a missing hooker. Nobody but me.”

He frowned. “You went looking for your sister? Where did you find hookers?”

“Internet. I googled and found where they hang.”

He looked pained. “O-kay. I know a few cops. Let’s take a cab to the station, see what we can find out.”

“The city bus goes to the station. Give me the cop’s name and I’ll ask him.”

“You missed the bus again. But you were eating, so I didn’t want you to stop.”

She sighed. “You’re not going away, are you?”

“Not just yet. Come on, let’s go.”