BATON ROUGE (8 page)

“Kind of a coincidence that the phone was found not far from where our kooky reporter lives,” Matt said, pulling Alex back to the work at hand.

“He admitted freely that he’d been to all the crime scenes,” Frank added. “Maybe he’s our perp hiding in plain sight.”

“Maybe,” Alex replied absently. “Two things I think we can agree that we learned from the conversation Georgina had with Bob. The first is that he probably grew up in the swamps. He talked about blowing darts at gators when he was young. The second thing is that I think he’s probably well educated.”

“
Pedestrian
isn’t a word that normally flows from a thug’s mouth,” Terry replied. “Hell, I went to college and I’ve never used that word in a conversation in my life.”

Nicholas walked through the door and Alexander suddenly realized the man had been missing for several hours. “Where in the hell have you been?” he demanded.

“I told everyone I was going to lunch,” Nicholas replied defensively.

Alexander looked at his watch and then back at the dark-haired agent. “Since when do we get four-hour lunches around here?”

Nicholas’s complexion took on a red cast. “I was only at lunch for half an hour. Then I got a call from a snitch who thought he had some information for us about this case, so I agreed to meet with him.”

“And?”

“And the little jerk didn’t have anything for me, he just wanted to see if I’d flip him a twenty. It was a waste of my time. What did I miss here?”

“Frank, fill him in,” Alexander said and headed for the door. He walked down the hallway to the bathroom and once inside he sluiced cold water on his face and then dried off with a paper towel.

For just a moment as he’d faced Nicholas, he was too angry for words. He knew the younger agent had a reputation as being a lone wolf and had a desire to make a name for himself amid the ranks.

But Alexander had little use for somebody like that on this case. The task force was a unit that would function best as a single entity, with everyone knowing what everyone else was doing and learning.

He frowned at his reflection in the mirror. Had Nicholas ever been present when Georgina had received a call from Bob? No, Nicholas had always been absent when the calls came in.

Crazy. The thoughts that whirled through his mind were crazy. There was no way Nicholas could be responsible for the phone calls to Georgina. Alexander was definitely entertaining crazy thoughts.

He tossed the towel into the trash and then left the bathroom and returned to the war room, his anger back under control.

“Just a word to all of you,” he said, although his focus was on Nicholas. “We are a team here and we work together as a team. I’ve assigned you all a partner and anything you’re doing your partner should know about. No exceptions, got it?”

The men all murmured their assent and everyone got back to their assigned jobs. Alexander sat down and opened the folder he carried everywhere with him. It contained all the reports and photos from the previous disappearances and everything that the task force had done in this investigation.

He’d gotten word from the lab that none of the food that had been in Jackson’s refrigerator had been tainted by anything, a point that didn’t matter now that Bob had confessed how he’d taken his victims. Tranquilizer darts—it made sense given the fact that none of the victims had appeared to have had an opportunity to fight back.

“Tim and Jeff, focus in on all buildings that are near the swamps in the area. My gut says this guy will stay where things are familiar to him. Nicholas and Frank, focus in on any murders that occurred within the last ten years or so around the swamp areas. If he killed his parents at the old homestead, then I have a feeling that homestead is swampland.”

“You know it’s possible their murder was never reported,” Jeff said. “Those swamp people are a tight-knit group that have little to do with law enforcement. Our perp might have killed his parents and fed their bodies to the gators.”

“At this point anything is possible. Check missing persons reports during that time period. Surely somebody would notice if two people just went missing,” Alex said.

Once again the room grew silent except for the clicking of computer keys. Alex stared down at the folder open in front of him. The photo that stared back at him was Macy’s.

There was no question in his mind that Georgina had put herself through a terrible hell in an effort to please Bob enough that he would agree to release the little girl.

The bastard. His chest filled with pain as he thought of what Georgina had shared, as he realized how difficult it must have been for her to go back to such a horrendous time in her life, to dredge up memories that should have stayed buried deep in her mind.

Secrets. He’d always known she had secrets. He just hadn’t realized they involved childhood abuse and neglect. There was no question that it bothered him more than a little bit that she would give that piece of herself to a killer, but had never shared any of it with him throughout their marriage.

He wondered how she was doing. He’d never seen her so pale, so sickly looking in all the time he’d known her. He reached a hand to his pocket for his phone and then dismissed the idea of calling her.

She’d made it clear what she needed from him, and a check-in call wouldn’t be considered appropriate under her conditions. Still, he couldn’t help the worry that weighed on him as he thought of her at home all alone with only her demons as company.

“I’ve been checking Roger Cambridge and Michelle Davison since they’ve both been around the college in the last week,” Frank said. “And I found a connection between the two of them that probably means nothing.”

“What kind of connection?” Alexander asked, grateful for anything that would keep his mind focused on work and not on Georgina.

“It’s weak, but they both took the same class in college, a class called Inside the Killer’s Mind: Aberrant Behavior through Case Studies. It’s taught by Professor Jacob Tanner.”

“He was in front of Georgina and me in line at the book signing for Michelle,” Alexander said and then frowned. “But I didn’t pay much attention to him.” Unfortunately he’d been far more focused on the author and her boyfriend than the man in line in front of him.

“I’ll check in with Professor Tanner tomorrow. Maybe he can give me some insight into his former students,” Alexander said.

“If Georgina isn’t available to tag along with you tomorrow, I’d be happy to,” Nicholas said.

“I’ll decide who is going where in the morning,” Alexander replied. He hoped that Georgina would be back, that today hadn’t completely shattered her not only personally but professionally as well.

It was just after eight when he finally dismissed the team. After the room had emptied, Alexander remained, his mind trying to process everything that had occurred in the past eight hours.

Maybe Professor Tanner would be able to give them some insight into Michelle and Roger Dodger, the wonder reporter, some insight that might indicate whether either of them had the potential to be a killer.

It would be nice if Professor Tanner could provide an easy solve to this complicated case, but Alexander didn’t hold out much hope for that.

The swamp reference had definitely been a lead to follow, but there were plenty of swamps in and around Baton Rouge. It could take weeks...months to check every building for the missing people.

And he wasn’t sure he wanted Georgina taking any more of the creep’s phone calls. It had gotten to her today. She’d given up too much of herself, sacrificed a piece of her soul in an effort to negotiate with Bob.

He had no idea if she’d be any use to the team now or not, but what concerned him more was her emotional well-being. He had a feeling she’d only shared a taste from the plate of horror that had been her childhood. How much more she must have gnawing holes deep inside her soul.

It was after nine when he finally left the FBI building with the need to drive around for a while and process everything the day had brought.

At least Georgina hadn’t sacrificed herself for nothing. They now believed the man had been born and raised around the swamps and that somehow, some way, he’d become educated beyond what would be expected from a spawn of the swamp.

Either he was a self-educated person or he’d had some schooling additional to high school. Words were Michelle Davison’s business. Roger appeared to be a fairly well-educated man. So neither of them could be taken off their list of suspects. He just had a feeling that neither of them were guilty of these crimes.

Of course, he knew Michelle hadn’t physically carried out the kidnappings, but her boyfriend, Jax, would have been able to commit the crimes at her bidding or even unbeknownst to her.

He drove for about half an hour and was somehow unsurprised when he found himself pulling into Georgina’s street. Darkness had fallen and he told himself he had no intention of stopping in to see her. He just needed to drive by her house and make himself feel better.

As he approached her house, his headlights fell on her front lawn where two people appeared to be fighting. He stopped his car, pulled his gun and got out. “Halt!” he yelled.

One of the figures froze, while the other fell to the ground. The one standing turned and ran and Alexander raced forward. From a nearby streetlight, he saw that it was Georgina on the ground.

“Go,” she gasped. “I’m fine, just go catch him.”

Alexander hesitated only a moment and then ran in the direction her attacker had gone. His heart beat frantically as a dog barked in the distance. He couldn’t think about what might have happened had he not arrived at the scene when he did. He couldn’t think about anything but catching whoever had attacked Georgina.

Still, what he wanted and reality were two different things. The darkness of the night played in the attacker’s favor and the attacker had enough of a head start on Alexander that by the time he reached the next corner, he didn’t know which way to go.

He stopped and listened. The only sound he heard was the frantic beat of his own heart. No footfalls, no crackling of brush or any new barks to indicate which direction the man had run.

He was gone, swallowed up by the night. With both frustration and worry boiling inside him, Alexander turned and hurried back down the sidewalk toward Georgina’s house.

When he got there, she was no place to be seen and he breathed a sigh of relief as he realized she’d probably gone inside and locked the doors behind her.

He went up to the door and softly knocked. “Georgina, it’s me.”

She opened the door and before he could take a step inside she fell into his arms, sobbing and shaking. “It was him,” she finally managed to gasp into the front of Alexander’s shirt. “It was Bob. He wanted to add me to his collection.”

Alexander tightened his arms around her and moved them both deeper into the living room, stunned by two things. He was surprised that Bob had confronted Georgina in a way that was not his normal mode of attack.

But equally as surprising was the fact that in all the years he’d known her, he had never seen Georgina cry. Bob had gotten pieces of her past and now he’d gotten her tears. For those facts alone, if Alexander ever got the chance, he’d kill the man.

Chapter Eight

Georgina finally moved out of Alex’s arms, deep sobs slowing as she sank down on the sofa. She raised her hands to her face and angrily swiped away the tears. She’d not only been terrified, she’d been stupid and the result had nearly been devastating.

She was aware of Alex sinking down next to her, his body warmth radiating out as the scent of his familiar cologne began to slowly calm her.

Dropping her hands to her lap, she turned to face him. “I was so stupid,” she said angrily. “I fell for a ruse and I should have known better.”

“Tell me what happened.” His voice was soft and when he reached for one of her hands, she allowed the contact, needing the warmth of his touch.

“I was asleep on the sofa and I woke up and heard a baby crying. It was such a plaintive wail and it sounded like it was coming from just outside my front door. I was still half asleep, but I decided I needed to check it out. I opened the door, stepped out on the porch and that’s when he grabbed me.” A new sob escaped her as she thought of that moment when strong arms had wrapped around her and a voice had whispered in her ear.

“The minute he grabbed me, he whispered that I would be the queen of his collection.” She shuddered and Alexander squeezed her hand more tightly.

“Were you able to get any kind of description of him?”

She shook her head. “He had on a ski mask so I couldn’t make out any facial features, but he was tall and very strong. If you hadn’t come along when you did, he would have had me. I fought against him, but eventually he would have won the fight.”

Alex frowned. “I wonder why he didn’t take you like the others? With some sort of tranquilizer?”

“He said I was special, that I deserved special treatment because we’d shared so much.” Once again a shiver rippled through her as she thought of how close she’d been to disappearing, of becoming the eighth person in his den.

“Dammit, we should have seen this coming,” Alex said. “I should have known he’d come after you.”

She disengaged her hand from his and gazed at him curiously. “Why are you here? Did you have any idea that I might be in trouble?”

“No, I was just driving around for a while before going home and you were on my mind so I decided to drive by your house.”

“Your timing was impeccable,” she replied and then released a tremulous sigh. “I’ve been through a lot of things in my life, but I don’t think I’ve ever been as scared as when he grabbed me.”

Alex stood and gazed down at her. “Pack your bags. You’re coming home with me.”

“Okay,” she replied, obviously surprising him if the look on his face was any indication. She stood. “I might be hardheaded, Alex, but I’m no fool. I feel the target on my head and I’m not about to make it easy for him by staying here all alone. I’ll be right back with my bags.”

She left the living room and went into her bedroom, where she pulled a suitcase from the closet and began to fill it with enough clothing to last a week or so. After that time they’d have to figure out what to do next where she was concerned.

She didn’t particularly like the idea of spending time with Alex in the house they had once called home together, but she liked the alternative less.

She didn’t have a security system here. She would be vulnerable to another attack if she stayed, and the next time she might not be so lucky.

As she left the bedroom and went into the bathroom to gather up toiletries, she told herself she would rather put up with the memories that being in that house with Alex would evoke than be Bob’s next victim.

Within twenty minutes Alex was carrying the big suitcase out her front door and she followed behind with a smaller overnight bag.

She didn’t feel completely safe until she was in his car and he was behind the wheel and pulling away from the curb. Over and over again, Bob’s voice played in her head. “He spoke to me, but his voice was more a guttural growl than a real voice. I’m not sure I’d recognize it again if I heard him speaking normally.”

“I hope you never get close enough to him to hear his voice again unless he’s in handcuffs,” Alex replied, his voice bearing the deep rumble of a papa bear protecting a cub. “I don’t want you talking to him anymore.”

She stared at him in surprise. His chiseled features were taut with tension in the glow from the dashboard. “Don’t be silly. Of course I intend to talk to him again.”

“Georgina, he got to you today. He got deep into your head.” Alex didn’t try to mask the deep worry in his voice.

“I know. You’re right,” she replied, knowing that to try to lie to him would be foolish, given what he’d heard on the phone conversation and her reaction afterward.

“I was afraid I’d lost you, that he’d pushed you too far over the edge.”

She frowned and stared out the passenger window, remembering the traumatic conversation with Bob. “For a minute he did, he cast me back to a place I never wanted to revisit. But I just needed some time away from it all. I would have been fine by morning.”

He didn’t say anything and she had a feeling he didn’t quite believe her. But she would have been fine. She would have been ready to face her job once again. After all, the job was the only thing she’d ever really trusted.

For the remainder of the drive, they were silent. She had no idea what was going on in Alex’s head, but her head was filled with the feel of those strong arms around her, the low hiss of words meant to terrify and the scent of evil that had swelled in the air.

She’d fought him. She’d fought hard, but he’d been so much stronger, and if he’d had only another minute or two, he would have overwhelmed her and carried her away.

God, would she ever be warm again? The intimate contact with the killer and imagining what might have happened had Alex not come along had iced her insides to arctic levels.

A new tension, along with gratitude, filled her as they reached the house and Alex punched the button to raise the garage door.

She was walking back into her past by coming here. It was a past that had been filled with happiness, passion and ultimately the pain of self-realization. Still, she knew she’d be safe here. The house had a security system and an armed and dangerous Alex, who would never let danger come close to her again.

“I’ll just put your bags in the guest room,” he said as they walked out of the garage and into the kitchen. Georgina followed behind him, stunned to see that the kitchen looked exactly the same way it had on the day she’d walked away.

Nothing had changed and as she walked into the living room she realized nothing had changed there either. He hadn’t redone the decor or bought new furniture. He hadn’t even taken down their wedding picture that sat on the bookcase next to his criminal investigation books.

She followed him down the hallway to the second bedroom where he placed her suitcase and smaller bag on the floor. “You know where everything is and if you can’t find something just let me know. How about I put on some coffee?”

“Actually, what I’d like most right now is a long hot bath and then sleep.” She didn’t want to sit at the table and rehash the night’s events. She just wanted to get warm and feel safe.

She wanted to sleep without dreams, suffer no nightmares of Bob or her childhood and wake up ready to tackle the job once again. The job would keep her sane.

“Why don’t we just say goodnight now,” she continued. “It’s already getting late and we can talk in the morning on the way to work.”

He hesitated a moment and then nodded. “Okay, then I guess I’ll just tell you good-night now and see you in the morning.”

“Good night, Alex. And thanks for being at the right place at the right time.”

“My pleasure,” he replied with a smile.

She closed the bedroom door, as if to ward off the way his smile made her feel just a little shaky, just a little more vulnerable than she already felt.

She pulled her suitcase up on the bed and opened it, quickly hanging what needed to be hung and then throwing her underwear into one of the empty drawers in the dresser.

Don’t think,
she commanded herself.
Don’t think about what might have happened if Alex hadn’t appeared in the night. Don’t think about the distant past and all the pain. Just breathe and keep your head empty of all thoughts.

She grabbed her nightshirt, a pair of panties and her toiletry bag and went across the hall into the guest bathroom. There was another full bath in the master suite so she knew there was no reason for Alex to interrupt her.

She started the water in the tub and then began to undress, eager to get off the blouse and slacks that
he’d
touched. She wanted to scrub away any skin that had touched his. She felt him everywhere on her and she just wanted to scrub him off.

With the tub filled, she turned off the water and stepped into the heated depths. She sank down so that the hot water surrounded her to the shoulders, hoping to heat the inner core of ice that remained inside her.

Closing her eyes, she willed herself to relax, but her thoughts worked against her. How had he found out where she lived? Probably the same way he’d found out her cell phone number. There had to be a mole somewhere in the department. But it was difficult to believe that anyone in the agency would want to see the kidnapping or death of another agent.

As far as she knew she’d made no enemies in her five years as an FBI agent. Granted, she wasn’t close to anyone, but she’d always gone out of her way to be pleasant to everyone she worked with.

Don’t think,
she told herself once again. She wouldn’t be worth anything in the morning if she didn’t relax and get a good night’s sleep. And she wanted to be on her game the next day for she was certain that Bob would contact her again. He’d revel in the fact that he had gotten so close to her.

She shivered and realized the hot water wasn’t working, that the core of ice inside her remained. It took only a few minutes for her to use the minty scented soap and scrub herself clean. She sank completely under and then rose up and stepped out of the tub and grabbed a fluffy towel from the cabinet.

When dried, she pulled on her nightgown and panties, finger-combed her damp hair and then left the bathroom and scurried back across the hall. The house was silent and dark, letting her know that Alex had already gone to bed.

It felt strange to be getting into the bed in the guest room. She’d never slept in here before. She’d decorated the room in deep rich browns and tans and had thought it looked quite inviting at the time. But at this moment she only felt cold, afraid and lonely.

“Don’t even think about it,” she muttered to herself as she punched her pillow. She shouldn’t even think about the fact that Alex was just down the hall, that he’d been the one person who had always been able to warm her and make her feel safe and secure.

Going to him now would be one of the biggest mistakes she would ever make in her life. It would definitely give him the wrong impression.

Of course, she could make sure he didn’t get the wrong impression. She could tell him that she just needed him for one night, wanted him to hold her and make love to her to banish everything else from her mind.

She would be using him for this night to drive from her mind everything that had happened in the last twelve hours, but as long as she was up front with him about it, then surely he couldn’t hold it against her.

She knew she was making a mistake when she got out of the bed. She knew it was a mistake as she made her way down the darkened hallway.

She hesitated in front of his closed bedroom door, knowing that if she knocked there would be no going back. While she could justify this night in her mind, she would never be able to take it back.

Once she knocked on the door, she knew he’d invite her into his bed and she knew they would make love. But before that happened she had to let him know that it was just tonight, not a new beginning for them, not a second chance, just a single moment of need that would never again be repeated.

She raised her hand and, drawing a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

* * *

A
T
FIRST
A
LEXANDER
THOUGHT
he’d only imagined the faint knock on his door because he wanted her to come to him. It was only when he heard a second, louder knock that he responded. “Come in,” he called, his heart pounding a little faster.

His door opened, and in the faint moonlight casting in through his windows he could see her silhouette in the doorway. “Did I wake you?” she asked.

“No, I’m not even close to being asleep,” he replied. “Did you need something?” His voice sounded slightly hoarse to his own ears as his blood rushed through his body.

“I need you.”

Her voice sounded stark and his heart pressed painfully tight against his chest. “You’ve got me, Georgina. Whenever you need me, you’ve always had me.”

She remained standing, as if weighing her options. “It’s just for tonight, Alex. I’m using you. I’m only inviting myself into your bed for tonight, not back into your life in any meaningful way.”

Although it wasn’t what he wanted to hear, he wanted her badly enough to agree to any terms she’d set into place. “So you just want to take advantage of me for a single night,” he said with a forced lightness.

“That’s about the size of it,” she replied.

“Then what are you waiting for?”

She flew across the room and landed on top of him like a long-legged nymph seeking home. Despite everything that had happened through the long day, he laughed with the sheer joy of holding her in his arms once again.

As she crawled beneath the sheets to join him, it was as if the past two years without her had only been a bad dream and now she was back where she belonged.

They lay side by side, facing each other and in the moonlight her eyes glowed with the fire of want, of need.

He reached for her and she filled his arms as their lips met in a fiery kiss. Alexander had two years of desire built up inside him and he gave her that emotion by delving his tongue to dance with hers.