All the Shiny Things: A Kate Reid Novel (Kate Reid Series Book 1) (20 page)

Alone in her apartment, she looked around to find no sign that Spencer had ever even lived there. He must have come back earlier in the day to take his belongings. None of that seemed to matter just now. Isabelle was gone, just like the others, and Katie was face to face with the psycho who took her. Was she prepared to come that close to her own would-be killer?

Time lost all meaning until darkness began creeping down the walls of the living room. It was at that moment she heard a pounding on the door. She uncurled her body from the couch and peered out the front window to find Marshall on the landing. She opened the door.

“Jesus, Kate! Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling your cell phone all afternoon.”

Marshall walked in without invitation. “Where are the lights around here?” He ran his hand along the walls to find a switch until eventually, there was light. “Are you okay?” He guided her back to the couch. “I’m sorry I left you earlier today. I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you. That’s why I was hesitant for you to be there at all.”

“She was there, Marshall.” Her own realization of this fact hit her hard. The hoarse sound coming from her was a culmination of dehydration and exhaustion. She had no idea how long she’d been sitting on that couch, but thirst summoned her.

“Let me get you some water.” Marshall went into the kitchen and returned with a glass of tap water.

Katie grasped it with both hands and drank nearly all of it at once. She placed it on the coffee table and turned to Marshall. “Where did you go today?”

“I’m sorry. I had to get out of there. I wasn’t expecting that and I should have handled it better.”

“How could you possibly have handled it any differently? Just knowing that she was there….God, I wanted to throw up.”

“I know. It’s all right.” Marshall placed his hand on her knee to calm her. “The important thing is that we caught him. That’s what you have to keep telling yourself. We did the best we could to find Isabelle.”

“Is that what you really believe?” she asked.

“That’s what I have to believe. It’s the only way.”

Katie stared into his bright green eyes. She saw compassion and tenderness, no trace of the anger from earlier remained. His ability to transform himself in that manner amazed her. She was mesmerized by this man who had shown her so much, taught her how to redirect her pain, and put it to a more useful purpose. And so, she felt something she hadn’t experienced before in his presence. Almost instinctively, she leaned into him. Closing her eyes, she let her lips gently touch his.

He pulled away. “Kate, please… don’t. Not like this.”

Suddenly aware of her mistake, she sat upright, embarrassed by his rejection.

“With everything that’s happened to you today—your breakup—this isn’t you right now. Damn, I shouldn’t have let you see him today. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Marshall took to his feet. “I’d better go now. I just came here to make sure you were all right. I was nervous when you didn’t answer your phone.”

“Fine, just go,” she whispered, waving him off and turning away from him completely. There was no sound, except for his breaths that came quickly as a result of his raised pulse. She could feel him standing next to her, but refused to acknowledge him. A moment later, his footsteps trailed away as he opened the door. He stood there again in silence and then, the door closed. He was gone.

In the late hours of the night, Katie’s restless mind refused to surrender to sleep. The thought of calling Marshall occurred to her more than once, but seeking his comfort was not the answer. These demons were hers and hers alone, though she suspected he would be dealing with demons of his own tonight.

She got out of bed and walked to her medicine cabinet in search of a drug that would quiet Isabelle’s screams, which echoed in her head. Two samples of Valium that Dr. Reyes gave her for the bad nights lay on the shelf next to the aspirin. Although some nights had gotten so severe she wished she had taken them, the fear of squelching any new memory that might be recalled was enough to keep the pills at bay. But not tonight; tonight she wanted to think of nothing, remember nothing, and feel nothing. Katie threw both pills in her mouth and swallowed them down.

» » »

She didn’t know how long her alarm had been sounding, but she must have hit the snooze button a few times before full consciousness finally returned. Katie’s head ached as she tried to focus on the time. It was 7:30 and she was going to be late for work. Her body would not cooperate as she struggled to make it to the shower. It would have to be a cold one to jolt her back to life.

Having had virtually nothing to eat or drink all day yesterday, Katie felt the full wrath of a Valium hangover. She had no idea of the dosage she consumed, which was a stupid idea now, in the light of day. Although the desired effect had been achieved, her recollection of anything beyond standing in front of her medicine cabinet was completely wiped away.

Wrapped in a towel and slightly more alert, Katie walked into the living room and turned on the news.
“Prime suspect in the Isabelle Thompson case, Michael Johansen, has been charged with the murder of the missing eight-year-old girl. Police say DNA evidence was found on the girl’s body and in his home. His arrest comes after weeks of searching for Isabelle and days after finding her in the Miramar landfill.”

That was it; Johansen had been charged and it was all over, except for the trial. Katie turned off the television and finished getting ready for work.

She grabbed her purse and her cell phone and headed out the door. Glancing at her phone on the way down the steps, she noticed several missed calls from Marshall. It occurred to her that he had tried to get a hold of her before finally coming over late yesterday evening. She felt so foolish about her behavior and hoped he would be able to forgive her. It would take some time to cope with the snowball of events in the past few days, but she needed him by her side. He was a good friend.

It wasn’t until Katie arrived at work, that she sat down to check her cell phone voicemail. Several were from Marshall, but there was one very much unexpected call from Chief Wilson. As Katie listened to the message, she grew pale and froze in her seat.

Susan walked past her office and doubled back, noticing the look on Katie’s face. “Hey, are you all right, Katie? Still feeling sick?”

Her questions hardly registered a response. “Katie? Are you feeling okay?” Susan took her by the shoulder, shaking her from her trance. “Oh my God, you’re cold as ice. I think you should go back home. You’re not well and you shouldn’t be here. Should I call Spencer and have him pick you up?”

Katie’s eyes blinked a few times as she managed a reply. “No, I’m sorry, Susan. I guess I’m still not well. I think I will go back home and get some rest.”

“That’s a good idea. You sure I can’t call someone to come get you?”

“No, I’ll be all right. I just had a little dizzy spell, but I’m okay now. I can manage to get home.”

“Okay, well don’t rush to come back here until you’re better. I mean it.”

“Thank you, Susan. I appreciate that.” Katie hadn’t even put her bag away and she was grabbing it once again to leave. Only she wasn’t going home. She was going to see Marshall.

» » »

“I need to see Detective Avery, if he’s available please,” she asked the officer at the front desk.

“He’s in his office, Katie. Go ahead on back.”

“Thank you.” Katie rushed back to find Marshall hunched over several open files, filling out paperwork.

“Marshall?”

“Kate? What are you doing here?”

“I tried to call you first, but I had to see you.”

“Sorry, I was probably still in with the captain. What’s going on? If this is about last night, please…”

“No. It’s not.” She took her phone from her purse and placed it on his desk. “There’s a message on there from Chief Wilson.”

“Why don’t you have a seat and calm down? You seem really upset.”

“Please, Marshall… just listen to the message.” She pressed a few buttons and the message played back on speaker.

“Katie, this is Chief Wilson from the Rio Dell Police Department. I’d like you to give me a call at your earliest convenience. We need to talk about a recent development in the case you inquired about several weeks ago. Miss Reid, this is urgent and a returned call would be greatly appreciated.”

Marshall looked at Katie. “What does he want? When did this call come in?”

“I don’t know. I think he called yesterday, but I wasn’t answering my phone. I only saw the message this morning when I got to work. I came straight here. Marshall, I’m terrified to call him back. Do you think they’re going to reopen the case?”

“I don’t know. You need to call him back now.”

She snatched up her phone and began dialing.

“Put it on speaker,” Marshall said.

“Rio Dell Police Department, how may I help you?”

“Good morning. My name is Katie Reid. I’m returning Chief Wilson’s call.”

“Oh, yes, Miss Reid. I’ll put you straight through.”

They waited impatiently, even though the chief picked up in less than ten seconds.

“Miss Reid, this is Chief Wilson. Thank you for calling me back.”

“Of course. Your message sounded urgent. I’ve got you on speaker and I’m here with Detective Marshall Avery. What can I do for you?”

“Katie, if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak with you in private, please.”

“If it’s all the same to you, Chief, I’d like Detective Avery to be involved. He’s helped me a great deal with my situation.”

“Fair enough. We received an anonymous letter yesterday with your name on it. It was addressed to our station, but was sent to your attention. First of all, I would like to apologize in that I’d much rather discuss this with you in person, but I understand that would be difficult.

“It seems as though the local media caught wind of our discussions and my discussions with the Humboldt County DA’s office regarding reopening the investigation. As a result, the
Times-Standard
ran an article in the local news section about the cold case and the impact it had on the community. You were not directly named, but the article stated that a victim might have information that could lead to the reopening of the file. That article would have been posted online as well as in print, there for anyone to see.

“I was not informed of the article, nor was the DA. The journalist cited an anonymous source.”

She looked to Marshall. He appeared just as shocked as she was. “Well, considering I escaped, it sure as hell wouldn’t be hard to find out my name. They only have to look at the old papers,” Katie replied. Her knees were growing weak and she had to sit down fast. A corner of Marshall’s desk would have to suffice.

“Not necessarily. When you were found, it was only reported that you had no recollection of what had happened. No one knew of any possible connection with the other missing children or that we were profiling the likes of a serial killer. However, because of this media attention, it has brought about a more concerning matter and the one to which I called so urgently. Katie, the letter was from him.”

Terror swept through her as she, once again, looked to Marshall for help.

“Wait a minute. Are you sure about that, Chief?” Marshall asked.

“I’m quite sure, detective. Not only did I spend years hunting this man down, studying his profile, but in the letter, he mentions details that only those of us who worked on the case would know about. And he asked about Katie by name.”

“Oh my God,” she replied.

“It’s all right, Kate,” Marshall said, “Chief, what did he say about her and was there any indication he has knowledge of Kate’s whereabouts?”

“He asked how his ‘little Katie’ was doing. Apart from that, there was no further mention of her. He’s taunting us, detective, challenging us to find his other victims, to find him.”

“Other victims?” Marshall asked.

“Yes. Although it was never concluded that the three other missing children on the north coast were tied to Katie’s case, we always suspected it as you and I discussed. I can only assume he is referring to those children.”

“But there could be more?”

“I suppose so, yes, detective. There could be more. Serial killers don’t stay quiet for long. It’s entirely possible there have been other victims in more recent years. It’s possible he never stopped.”

“So, what now, Chief?” Marshall asked.

“We don’t have any more to go on except for this letter. The DA wants us to keep it quiet, but to follow up on any evidence that might have been left on the envelope. Not that I expect he would have left any. He’s evaded capture for this long; my guess is that he has an understanding of new technology. Other than that, we need to wait and see if he contacts us again, or you, for that matter, Katie.”

“Do you think he will try to contact me?”

“Right now, there’s no indication of that. He wouldn’t know where you live. But, Detective Avery, I suggest you help Miss Reid stay vigilant and keep me informed of any new information you might receive. I don’t see any reason for you to panic, Katie. We will stay on top of this, making sure you’re protected, that being said, I believe this is directed more at me than at you.”