Carolina Rain (35 page)

“What?”
Her heart dropped again. Her friendship
with
Max
had been a real one. Even though that
friendship
had dissipated
when
Max had
changed
, s
he’d thought maybe someday he’d come back around.

“Do they know what happened
or
how he got down there?”

“No details for me
.
Manny
just wanted you to know
. He
said you and he would talk more when they got here.”

She nodded. “I guess that will have to do. Poor Max. Led to a dark side he didn’t think he’d see, then it ends like this.”

Gavin’s face changed and the melancholy countenance he wore from time
to
time waltzed back.

“I know that one, firsthand. Stella will always be my wife
;
the other Stella was someone I'd never met,” he said quietly.

“What a profession we’ve taken on, ya know,” she answered.

The
c
hief seemed to gather enough strength to push away a haunt that would be his for the rest of his life.

“Speaking of work, I need to take care of a couple things at the office. I’ll be back this afternoon. It’s okay for Jen to drive to school now that we know where Max isn’t.”

“Sounds right.”

“Also,
don’t do anything with that disc
, or call Manny. I understand the time constraints
,
but
Argyle
’s probably blowing smoke up our collective arses so I’ve got some questions
for our computer folks
first
, mainly
,
can what Argyle claims to be true, really be true? And I trust
Buzzy Dancer better than most.”

“Okay, Gavin, for you. But we can’t wait too long. What if
Argyle’s telling the truth
? The longer we wait, maybe more people
will
die.”

“Again, I get that
. Only
this seems far-fetched, even for his dead, ugly ass. I’ll get back with you soon.”

An hour later,
she stood looking out the window.
Jen had gone to school and her mum was in the shower. She respected Gavin
. Still,
she was torn. She wanted to call Manny but he had enough on his plate
. Hell,
they all did. But she couldn’t shake the temptation. The cell phone felt
like a hot poker in her back pocket. She took it out, put it back in, and then took it out again. She started to dial, then put it back in her jeans.

For one of the few times in her life, Chloe was unsure of what to do. She walked back into the small kitchen and fingered the edge of the case th
at had held the disc
apparently produced by a dead serial killer. Not only that, but a genius who had a way with people that bordered on disturbing. Argyle had been a psychiatrist, which meant he’d also been a medical doctor. While she bought into Manny’s theory of cult leaders and how they influenced people from all walks, she also wondered just how much Argyle utilized
hypnotism.
For some
one
like Argyle,
the sky c
ould be the limit for any mind-altering goal. It also leant certain credence to the way he wanted to leave his legacy. Chloe
had
talked
about
that very thing with her
Manny before they were married. H
e
had
thought she had some points
. The thing is that
Manny
is
more from the old school that said people wouldn’t do something unless they really wanted to deep down inside. He was probably right, he usually was, but it was a brave new world these days. The impossible, the science fiction
,
was much closer to reality tha
n
at any time in history and
. . .

Catching herself diving into a pool that had no bottom, she shook her head. None of that mattered now, did it?
Theory wasn’t on her mind, her mother was.
Her concern, her angst had to do
with one thing
:
Haley Rose Franson and whether she was her own
woman
,
or something else entirely
.
It sounded so damned
insane,
but Max Tucker
,
and probably Mike Garity
,
had been changed men. Bright professionals that had found a
horrific path
based on promises from a madman
,
and they weren’t the first
throughout
history
.

Added to that, who had spent more time with Argyle before Manny punched his ticket than her mother? She
’d eaten
with him, danced with him, and
slept with him. That made her a prime candidate for conversion to his way of thinking
,
even
Chloe
realized that.

If she called Manny and told him what her mum had brought with her from across the pond, his first thought
—
and maybe rightfully so
—
would probably go there. Well, maybe not his first
,
but he’d get there because she had. Then it would begin. Testing. Questioning of motives, trust issues, and
the worst-case scen
ari
o
—
What i
f her mother were
truly
under Argyle’s influence
? S
omeone could die.

Moving
back
to the front window, she felt the warm spring sun touch her face and leaned toward it. Light usually made things clearer, at least to her, but not this time. The X-factor in all of this was the strength of character and conviction that had been Haley Rose’s special trademark. She had always lived as
a
strong-minded woman. But Argyle had been far more than a serial killer and that made her nervous.

Come on Chloe
. T
his is your mum,
for crying out loud.

She
sighed
and eventually her eyes rested on the mailbox. She hadn’t gotten yesterday’s mail. She immediately walked to the door and turned the doorknob and pulled it open
,
waiting. A few seconds later, Sampson flew around the corner, ears high
,
and she swore he was wearing a grin. The dog loved to go with her to get the mail
,
and she always enjoyed his company.

Reaching the black box, she swung it open and pulled out the content. Junk mail, more political crap, and a
s
mall padded envelope mailed from North Carolina. It was hand-addressed to Manny with no return address. She frowned. Cops didn’t typically care for such packages and this was no exception.
The
mail stamp read Ash
e
ville
. Probably more
advertising from somewhere like the Biltmore.
She shrugged, heading back to the house, flipping through the mail.

A low growl caused her stomach to leap and she spun toward Sampson. The big Lab
stood
stiff-legged, his apparent grin had disappeared and his lips were drawn
, showing his teeth
. She’d n
e
ver
seen him like this. He didn’t seem to be angry
. M
ore like
. . .
scared.

“What is it,
B
ig
B
oy?”

He moved toward her
, slowly,
then backed away, walking up to the stoop, his head down, still growling.

“Well
,
that
doesn’t make me feel so good,” she
said under her breath
.

Promptly looking around
, she bent
for her backup weapon,
scanning
the street. She didn’t see anything, or anyone suspicious. In fact, there wasn’t anyone on either side of the road. Gavin had even sent the LPD cruiser that typically parked down the street back to the office.

She wasn’t sure what had spooked
Sampson. Then
again, she hadn’t been around dogs all that much either. Maybe it was
a
skunk or some other critter.

Walking back to the house, she let Sampson in
. He
went immediately to his spot by Manny’s chair
,
not taking
his eyes from her.

“Odd dog, ya are.”

Chloe tossed the mail on the table and started for another cup of tea but the cl
ank from the package
forced her to stop. She picked up the envelope and felt a short cylinder-like object at the bottom and above it
, what felt like another
CD case.

Her curiosity
now fully
aroused, she tore the red tab on the back of the package and dumped it
s
contents on the table just as Haley Rose walked into the room.

“Good
mornin
’
M
um
—
”

That’s as far as she got. Haley Rose was pointing at the table, horror on her face.

“What the hell is that?”

Looking back at the table, Chloe felt
her
reality slip away then show up again. On top of the
empty
CD cas
e that had
dropped
from the package
rested a bloody human finger.

CHAPTER-48

“Why in hell would you think that?” asked Josh. “
The hair was p
lanted? Come on. Really? By who? Why?”

Josh stood up, then realized he had no place to pace
. H
e sat back down and leaned over the table, his eyes
burning
with
an expression that said Sophie’s comment had caught him totally by surprise.

Manny might have laughed in any other circumstance. His boss wasn’t happy, to be sure, but he saw something
more
,
a ting of trepidation not common to Josh Corner. He knew the
boss’s
job situation was
on his mind. M
aybe that was it.

“I’ll be waiting to hear those answers myself,” said Braxton, shifting his considerable weight.

“It’s not that hard to go there. First
,
Sophie’s right. There’s no way they’d seen each other just before Garity was shot. We know that as fact. Secondly
, t
he science doesn’t lie. The degradation of the hair in the shoe
,
accounting for any effect the chemicals from the sole might have had on Max’s
hair
,
or Garity’s
,
were virtually identical. I’m not a forensics guy
,
but that forces me to make one conclusion; Max’s and Garity’s hair had to be in about the same state before Garity went for a swim.”

“How are you accounting for both men’s hair being about the same decay rate when we did the test? Hair starts to age when it’s separated from the body. Granted, not quickly
. B
ut it does,” said Dean.

“That’s true
. Ye
t if the samples of hair were sealed in an evidence bag, or something similar
, t
he sample wouldn’t age noti
ceably
. Correct?”

“In theory,” said Alex, rubbing his chin. “So
you think
it’s possible someone had samples of Max’s hair and
,
when the time was right, plant
ed
one
on Garity. As damn far-fetched as that sounds, say you’re right, say that happened.
Repeating what Josh
said
;
who and why would someone do that?
Maybe Janice Rhodes, your cyanide wom
a
n?
”

Manny shook his head. “I’ve been thinking about that. She was after me for something she thinks I did. She was focused on me
for
a
completely
different
reason
. I don’t think she was involved with this, at least
not
now.”