Blood Game (21 page)

Caleb nodded, his gaze on Joe’s face. “I told you, I’m not touchy-feely. Why?”

Joe didn’t answer. He turned on his heel and strode back to his car.

“Answer me, Quinn.” Caleb was standing by his driver’s seat as Joe started his car. “You’re up to something, and I’m not going to be left out in the cold.”

“Then follow me. I don’t give a damn.”

“Where are you going?”

Joe backed up the car. “To find someone who’s touchy-feely.”

THE YELLOW TAPE WAS GONE from the crime scene at Allatoona. There were no longer media trucks parked out down the street.

Thank God, Joe thought. It was broad daylight, and the last thing he needed was for some reporter to come running up to him with a barrage of questions.

He got out of the car and started across the glade toward the woods.

He looked over his shoulder as he heard a car pull in behind him.

Caleb.

“Stay there. You’re not invited.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Right.” He had almost reached the woods, and he dismissed Caleb from his mind. He didn’t care if Caleb camped out there all day as long as he didn’t get in his way. The reason he was here was absurd and slightly mad, but it was on a par with the way the rest of his life was going.

He stopped inside the shadowy confines of the trees and looked around. No one. No slim, blond girl in a red sweatshirt. Hell, she had said that Bonnie had told her to get away from the place where she had died. She might not even be around here. But he didn’t know what else to do.

Okay, go for it.

“I’m here, dammit. Where the hell are you?”

No answer.

“If you think I’m going to stay out here yodeling for a damn ghost, you’re mistaken. Either show up, or I’m out of here.”

“You don’t have to be rude.”

He whirled to see Nancy Jo only a few yards away. “I feel rude,” he said curtly. “And like a blasted idiot. How did I know you weren’t tripping the light fantastic in the Great Beyond?”

“I told you I wouldn’t leave Daddy. He needs me.” She was gazing searchingly at him. “And I think you need me too. Or you wouldn’t be here. Is it something to do with Margaret Selkirk?”

“No.” He added, “Though I’m not surprised you know about her. You belong to the same club.”

“Yes, we do,” she said sadly. “My heart aches for her.”

“But evidently she decided to cross over and not stick around. I wasn’t honored by her presence.”

She shook her head. “You’re wrong. She’s still here.”

“Then thank God I don’t figure in her afterlife. I didn’t see her.”

“If you’d gone upstairs with Seth Caleb, you’d have seen her. She was with the children.”

Joe felt as if he’d been kicked in the stomach. The idea of walking into that room where the children were grieving and seeing their mother with them was shocking even in retrospect. “How do you know?”

“I was there too. I was trying to help her. I know how lonely and scary it is at first,” she said. “But she wouldn’t listen to me. She kept trying to get through to the children. Then Seth Caleb came and it got a little better. But she can’t leave them until she knows they’re going to be all right.”

“Another woman with a mission,” Joe said.

“Stop trying to be hard,” Nancy Jo said. “I know that you’re hurting for her just as I am. Daddy will survive if I can get him through this. But those children will be scarred.”

“Hell, yes, I’m hurting.” Joe’s hands clenched into fists. “And I’m confused and sorry and scared shitless. I’ve got to get Jelak before he does this again.”

“And you think I can help you.”

“So you’re suddenly a mind reader?”

“Why else would you have come bellowing for me like a cow in labor?”

He made a face. “You could have chosen a more appropriate comparison, Nancy Jo.”

She smiled faintly. “But not one more accurate. You like me. You want to help me. But every time we’re together, you’re fighting it. So yes, you do bellow.”

“Maybe,” he said. “You said you could sense Jelak, that you thought you could find him. If you had some of his possessions would that help?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps.”

“All I’m getting is maybes and I don’t knows,” he said in disgust. “Caleb came up with zilch.”

“Which sent you bellowing to me,” Nancy Jo said. “What did you find that belonged to Jelak?”

“His car. Probably the one he used to bring you here to Allatoona.”

She stiffened. “The car. I’ve been thinking about it lately. It was as big and heavy as a hearse. Do you think that Jelak made that connection?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me. It’s parked at Kennesaw Mountain right now. After forensics gets through with it, they’ll tow it in to the impound yard. Will you come and look at it before they do?”

“Of course.” She moistened her lips. “I’ve got to look at it. I’ve got to see it, touch it. Right now, it’s not even real to me. It’s just part of the nightmare.”

“That’s probably a mercy.”

“I’ve got to get rid of the nightmare. Bonnie said that, and I didn’t understand, but now I’m beginning to see what she meant.”

Bonnie, again. Eve’s daughter seemed to be moving in and out of Nancy Jo’s awareness as she did Joe’s.

He turned. “Then let’s see if we can use that damn car to hang the bastard. Coming?”

She smiled. “I don’t need a lift, Joe. I can find you with no problem.”

He glanced back over his shoulder. “That’s right, you know the trick. I wish to hell I did. I wouldn’t have had to come here bellowing for you.”

“Maybe someday I can teach it to you.”

“Not if it means I have to be a ghost. I’m not ready for that.”

“Neither was I.”

No, nineteen years old and full of life and all that the future held. A beautiful life, and the longer he was with her, the more glimpses he was seeing of the extraordinary woman she would have become if Jelak had allowed her to live.

He was suddenly furiously angry. “Then, dammit, let’s go get the son of a bitch.”

Kennesaw Mountain

“WHY DID YOU SEND THE forensic team away?” Caleb asked. “They didn’t seem pleased.”

“Too bad. They can do the rest of the tests later.” He watched the last van go down the hill. “Why don’t you go back to the precinct and wait for—”

“I wouldn’t think of it.” He leaned against his car and crossed his arms across his chest. “I’m too interested in all this erratic behavior you’re showing me.”

“It’s not erratic.” Where the hell was Nancy Jo? He’d been hoping that he’d be able to get rid of Caleb before she arrived on the scene. It wasn’t going to happen. Caleb was sticking closer than glue. It didn’t really matter. At this point, he didn’t give a damn if Caleb thought he was nuts or not.

“Maybe erratic wasn’t accurate. Then unusual.”

“I’ll grant you unusual.” The van had gone around the turn of the road. Where was she? “But that’s the pot calling the kettle.”

“He’s much blacker than you, Joe,” Nancy Jo said. She was standing in front of the big Lincoln, staring at it in fascination. “It frightens me. Why should it frighten me?”

“I don’t know. Memory?”

“Memory?” Caleb repeated. “What are you talking about?”

Joe made an impatient gesture and turned away from him. “Let’s get it over with, Nancy Jo.” He opened the trunk of the car. “He probably stashed you in the trunk after he put you out. Do you have any recollection?”

“No.” She put her hand on the rust-colored carpet lining the trunk. “It seems strange not to be able to feel things. Bonnie said if I stay long enough some of it will come back. Sunlight . . . rain . . .”

“You don’t sense anything?”

“Nothing about him.” She shuddered. “But I wasn’t the only one Jelak stuffed in this trunk. One, two, three . . . Five. I think there were five. Four of us were unconscious but Kerry was still awake, and she fought, her nails were bloody from trying to get out.” She reached out and touched a tiny brown stain on the carpet. Tears rose to her eyes. “I feel her, but I can’t help her.”

“You have sensation when you touch the blood?”

“Yes, but I can’t help her.”

“It’s all right, Nancy Jo.” He closed the trunk. “She doesn’t need your help anymore.” He went to the driver’s door and opened it. “Get in and see if you get anything.”

“He sat there.” She came to stand beside him and stared at the seat. She swallowed, hard. “Dear God, I don’t want to do it.”

“You said you couldn’t feel anything.”

“I can remember,” she said fiercely. “I can remember his face.”

“You won’t do it?”

She drew a deep breath. “Of course I’ll do it. Give me a minute.”

“All the time you need.”

Two minutes later she slowly slipped into the driver’s seat. She closed her eyes. “He was in this car the night he killed Heather Carmello. After that, he decided it wasn’t safe to keep it. He’d have to steal another car and abandon this one.”

“What kind of car?”

She shook her head. “He hadn’t decided. He liked big American cars, but he was leaning toward a smaller foreign job. He kept thinking about Seth Caleb and the way he’d tracked him at the lake cottage. He doesn’t want to admit it to himself, but he’s afraid of him.” She opened her eyes. “May I get out now? I feel as if he’s here with me. I can almost hear his heart beat.”

“Just a little longer. I need to know where he is.”

“I can’t tell. All I know is how he was feeling the last time he was in this car.”

“Run your hand along the dashboard.”

She hesitated, then lifted her hand and ran her fingers along the leather dashboard. “Nothing.”

“The cup holder and the passenger seat.”

She took a deep breath and touched the cup holder. She snatched it back as if burned. “Heather Carmello’s blood. He had the goblet in the holder when he took it to Patty Avery’s house. It was only a short distance, and he was in a hurry.”

“Try the passenger seat.”

She didn’t move. “When can I get out of this car?”

“After the passenger seat.”

“Dammit, Joe.” She swallowed and reached out her hand to touch the dark fabric. “It had better be worth this—” She gasped and bent double. “No!”

“What is it?”

“Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.”

“What is it? Talk to me.”

“Oh, my God.”

“Nancy Jo.”

“I see him.” Her fingers were pressing on the fabric of the passenger seat. “I see him. I feel him. No, I don’t feel him. I feel me.”

“What?”

“My blood pounding in him.” She looked down in horror at her hand touching the seat. “When he got back in the car that night, he still had a little of my blood on his hand. He’d been very careful to clean up the area, but he had blood on his hand from the goblet. He . . . licked his finger, then wiped it on the seat. He wasn’t worried. He could always clean the seat later. He knew how to do that. It had happened before.” She shook her head. “But even though he couldn’t see it, the blood is still there. My blood.”

“Focus. You said you could see him.”

“Dammit, stop being a cop. I’m trying to focus. You try to think when you can feel your blood pounding in that murderer’s body and—”

“Okay, I’m sorry. When you touched the bloodstain, you felt a connection with Jelak?”

“I feel it right now. And if I wasn’t trying to focus, then I’d take my hand off this damn stain. I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to feel anything. Not sunlight. Not rain. Not if this is in the package.” The tears were running down her cheeks. “I don’t want to be part of him. Make it stop.”

“That’s what we’re trying to do.” Joe knelt beside her in the passenger seat. He wished he could touch her, comfort her. “We’re going to make it stop. Tell me what you see, Nancy Jo.”

“Goblets. He’s looking into a black Croco case that has those gold goblets arranged in three neat rows. He’s reaching out and stroking one of them.” She shuddered. “I know those goblets. He put one to my throat after—”

“Where is he? Look around.”

“It looks like a motel. A bed with a cheap-looking flowered cotton bedspread. There’s a desk. A red door.”

“Red door? Bathroom door or exterior?”

“I don’t know. No, exterior. I see one of those plaques that give the room rates hanging on the door.”

“Can you see the name on the plaque?”

She shook her head.

“Try.”

“I can’t see it,” she said through her teeth.

“Anything else? Newspapers?”

She shook her head. She was starting to pant. “I can’t stand it. I have to leave him.”

“Just another minute. The desk. Is there stationery on the desk?”

“Just a leather folder.”

“With the name of the hotel?”

“No.” Her chest was lifting and falling with the harshness of her breathing. “No.” She tensed. “But there’s a telephone book on the desk. It’s the yellow pages. It’s thin . . .”

“Atlanta?”

“No, Roswell. Roswell yellow pages. I can’t see anything more. Jelak is closing out everything but the feel of the goblet in his hand. No, he’s thinking about her. The way she’s going to taste, the triumph she’s going to bring him.” She shook her head. “Don’t let him do it. Don’t let him do it. Don’t let him do it again.”

“Who is he thinking about?”

“You know. Eve. It’s always Eve. None of us really mattered to him. I do matter. My life mattered.”

“Yes,” he said gently. “Let go. Get out of the car, Nancy Jo.”

“I do matter.”

“You matter very much. Now get out of the car.”

She nodded jerkily and her hand slowly left the fabric of the passenger seat. She slumped against the steering wheel like a broken doll. “It hurts. It makes me feel sick and scared. I can’t do this again, Joe.”

“I won’t ask you.”

“You will if it would save Eve.” Her lips twisted. “But I don’t think I could do it.” She got out of the car. “I just hope that—” She broke off and moved toward the front of the car. “It was very hard. I don’t remember ever going through anything as terrible as that. Don’t let it be for nothing.”

“I promise that I—”

SHE WAS GONE.

TWELVE

“AM I TO ASSUME THAT YOU’RE finished?” Caleb asked. “I don’t wish to interrupt, but my curiosity is off the charts. Considering, I believe I’ve been very patient.”