Daddy's Little Killer (43 page)

"And these guys are really that bound to a
type that it was unusual for him to go after Gwen?"

"It didn't fit at first,"
I said.  "If we didn't have all of this physical evidence,
we'd have nothing but a lot of suspicion and no way to prove what
he's done, Orion. His home movie collection makes a confession
moot, but I'm sure his lawyer will argue that you can't
really
see
Lowe
through his mask."

His arms snaked around my waist and pulled
my back against his chest.  Lips brushed my neck.  "Are
we back to this Orion business again?"

"We're on the job.  Don't get
personally involved with people you work with.  Sage advice
from my mentor."

Orion let me go, and I was
surprised to realize how much I missed the warmth.  No
matter.  The lights of the crime scene vehicles shone like
beacons through the perpetual fog.  I needed to organize
thoughts and determine the best possible approach when I sat down
with Lowe.  The clock was ticking, and I had no idea what I
could say to pull him into the light of truth, because own it or
not, my conscience really needed to hear Jerry Lowe tell me
why
.

Chapter 40

OSI's building was situated outside the city
limits of Downey.  It was shared with the state police, a
reasonable arrangement since OSI was actually part of the state
police force.  The sprawling facility was a single story with
a central hub and tentacles that stretched away from the body of
the building to smaller hexagonal pods. 

Chris Darnell, or more aptly Orion, had a
single pod dedicated to OSI's needs.  I expected Orion to pass
me off to some state officer, in a crisp black uniform with a swath
of slate gray bisecting the sides of the pants.  Their badges
were different from Orion's too, five point stars that reminded me
of old west sheriff badges.  One of the officers responsible
for evidence approached, straightened to military posture and
saluted.

"Not necessary," Orion chuckled.  "Dr.
Eriksson and I are heading out to OSI now.  Process this scene
and take everything out to headquarters.  Chris will handle
the media and CSD from Darkwater."

He led me to the car and opened the
door.

"I thought you couldn't be part of this,
Orion.  And your cover can't be too deep if all these officers
know who you are."

"Everyone associated with OSI passed a
rigorous vetting process.  Most of them are so loyal to Chris,
you'd think this was still his Marine unit.  They understand
the stakes, Doc.  My secret is safe with them."

I hadn't given him a similar assurance, and
wasn't about to do it yet.

"So how is this going to happen? 
You're gonna drop me off and disappear?"

"OSI's section at the state police building
is unique.  I can enter and exit without being seen by
anyone.  There's a basement access with a private staircase
that leads directly to my office."

"Your office."

"Technically, it's the one Chris uses to
maintain the façade that he's running the operation.  Chris
primarily manages administrative things that I have neither the
time or patience to deal with.  He'll get us to interrogation
without anyone from Central Division knowing you're alive. 
You can talk to the suspects, arrest whom you will, and I can
observe."

"I need to tell Charlie I'm alive."

"After everything else is done.  Zack
Carpenter is going to meet us at OSI.  I doubt you've met him
yet.  Chris also called George Hardy and Donald Weber. 
Maya already faxed her preliminary findings that identified Rodney
Martin and Matt Rogers.  Everything is ready for you to do
your thing."

"This isn't normally what I do," I
confessed.  "I don't conduct interrogations or arrest
suspects, Orion.  I haven't been trained to –"

"Bullshit.  I'm well
aware of the training you received at Quantico.  Just because
your brilliant
mentor
David Levine never required you to interrogate anyone doesn't
mean you're not a natural.  You handled me like a pro, and I
watched you extract the truth out of Dennis Bennett.  You'll
do fine."

"What if I screw it up?"

Orion's eyes pierced the darkness. 
"Seriously?  Self doubt from you?"

"I don't want to end up with a reputation
like yours."

"Ouch.  Point taken.  Yet I have
faith in your abilities.  You completely convinced me of your
dedication to see this through.  Lowe might think he's a match
for you, but he's not."

"And still I fell into his trap."

He didn't argue.  It was apparently a
sore spot despite my explanation of how that happened. 

At OSI, I met Zack Carpenter and received
assurances from Darnell that no one present in the building would
see me until I was ready to reveal the truth.  Through a maze
of hallways, I was lead from Orion's office to the room where
through a door left ajar, Lowe sat.  I heard his smooth voice
talking to someone. 

"I've already told you
everything I know," he sneered.  "You should be talking to
Hardy and Weber,
Detective
Conall
.  They specifically cut me out
of the loop of communications in this case, brought in their
profiler from the FBI, and now she's dead.  Do you suppose any
of them might consider that had I known what any of them were
doing, she might've survived this case?"

Bile bubbled up the back of my throat. 
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Orion take a threatening step in
the direction of that door.  I gripped his arm and shook my
head. 

Carpenter opened another door next to the
one where Conall questioned Lowe and made a silent sweeping
gesture.  I followed Johnny inside where Chris Darnell stood
with beefy arms folded across his chest staring through the two-way
mirror. 

Hardy and Weber's jaws dropped when they saw
me follow Orion inside.  He made a swift gesture – one finger
pressed to his lips, and turned to me.  "You ready, Doc?"

I dragged my lower lip between my
teeth.  Through the glass, Lowe looked cool, calm and in
complete control.  Would the sight of me, alive and well,
rattle him enough to make him confess his crimes?

Orion's head tilted close to mine. 
"You were right earlier; we don't need a confession, Helen. 
We've got enough evidence to put him away for the rest of his
life.  A confession would be nice, but …"

He was right to remind me,
of course.  Part of my hesitation had little to do with the
job.  This man, this monster, was someone I thought might be a
kindred spirit.  Revulsion chilled my blood.  My heart
thudded heavily in my chest as it struggled to pump the cold sludge
through my body. 
We are kindred
spirits.  How is what I did …?

"Helen?"

I blinked the doubts out of my eyes and
glanced up at Orion. 

"You can do this."

My spine stiffened.  Of course, Orion
was right.  No amount of Dad's advice swirling in my head
could strip me of the feeling that this was very personal to me –
and not simply because I might well have been one of Lowe's
victims. 

But then the reason he had my blood clicked
in my head.  The son of a bitch didn't want to kill me, but
setting me up for some crime certainly fit his
psychopathy. Forsythe's details of Rodney Martin's house
reverberated through memory. Two blood types. Gray matter. One
wounded, one dead. Only I wasn't wounded, and I was certain they'd
find EDTA in one of the blood samples.

I gritted my teeth.  "I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" Carpenter asked.  "Once
he realizes you're still alive, he's going to invoke his right to
counsel."

"Let him," my smile was thin, as frigid as
what flowed through my heart.  "I won't ask him a single
question, Mr. Carpenter.  Like Orion said.  I don't have
to get a confession.  But he wanted me here to match wits, so
let him try."

I didn't knock, didn't hesitate.  My
hand pushed the door open, and Lowe stopped mid sentence while he
berated Crevan Conall for the audacity to question his superior on
anything.  His jaw dropped.

"Surprise," I said softly. 

Lowe covered smoothly and rose. 
"Helen!  Thank God!  I was told that the medical examiner
found your body at the fire that destroyed a home in Beach
Cliffs."

"Yes, I'm aware that was the story."

His eyes twitched for just a beat before he
drew attention away from his expression by smoothing one hand down
the necktie that bisected his crisp shirt.  "As I said, I'm
grateful that our medical examiner seems to be incompetent – in
this instance, that is.  There will be consequences for making
such a grave mistake, let me assure you."

I smiled again, this one genuine.  Lowe
was entertaining as he scrambled for footing.  "She didn't
make a mistake, Jerry.  In fact, she was simply following a
directive given to flush out a guilty party.  As it happens,
the man who tried to kill me, tried to frame me for Rodney Martin's
murder –"

"Frame you?  Good God!  Helen,
surely you must be mistaken."

Crevan Conall stared up at me as though I'd
lost my mind. 

"I couldn't figure out why the blood samples
were kept.  Obviously they might've been trophies.  But
no, that's not what they were at all," I said softly.  "It
makes perfect sense to me.  In a sort of weird, pathological
killer sort of way, that blood was little more than an insurance
policy.  Only the presence of EDTA in the vials –"

Lowe's face flushed dark red before all
color drained away and left him a pasty gray. He slumped back
into his chair.

"Well, it served a purpose too, I
suppose.  It would be a colossal waste to let someone else get
credit for such a brilliant, life-long serial killer's cunning,
wouldn't it?"  I circled the table and tapped one finger
against my lips.

"Then you've solved your case?"  Lowe
waited for my second lap around the room to break the silence.

"Indeed I have."

"I see."  He crossed
his arms across his chest and smiled engagingly.  "So
who done it
, Dr.
Eriksson?"

I perched on the edge of the table and
grinned.  "You tell me."

"I was kept appallingly out of the loop, as
you well know."

"I don't recall thanking you for the lovely
lunch the other day.  Zucchini frittata, if memory
serves.  And that nice white wine from Napa," I
murmured.  "Then again, I wasn't in any condition to be a
gracious guest after the wine."

"Helen I'm not sure I know what you're
–"

"Cut the crap, Lowe.  I remember
everything, the wine you served, the fact that Flynn Myre so
conveniently was present while we were having lunch, just in case
that little knock-out drug you slipped into my wine didn't do the
job and I started to remember things, you could claim that Myre was
the one who drugged me."

Lowe steepled his fingers and pressed them
against his lips.

I turned to Conall.  "I think Mr. Lowe
–"

"Chief –" Lowe corrected with a low
snarl.

"
Mister
Lowe ought to have his rights
read to him now, Detective Conall."

Crevan's Adam's apple bobbed around his
tight collar.  "For what charge?"

I sighed.  "Never mind.  Jerry
Lowe, you're under arrest for the murders of Gwen Bennett Foster
and Candace Blevins and a score of other girls who have yet to be
identified from the blood samples we got out of your office safe
tonight.  You have the right to remain silent.  Anything
you –"

"I know my rights," he growled, "and this is
the most ridiculous travesty I've ever seen in my life!  Only
in Darkwater Bay."

"If this city has problems, Jerry, I'm sure
we have you to thank for a great many of them."  I stared at
him hard.  "The prosecutor might be inclined to deal if you
confess what you've done."

"I've done nothing.  You claim to have
evidence obtained from my house.  We'll see how well it stands
up in court in a city where scum like Johnny Orion still roams the
streets framing the innocent as the whim strikes him."

I leaned over and
whispered softly, "Then you should've killed them all, Jerry. 
You should've never let them see your crime scene on wheels. 
Oh yes, we've got the crime scene, the succinylcholine, your
video
collection
...  And we're only beginning to search for every last nail
that I will personally hammer into your coffin, you son of a
bitch. 

"It's been a good game, Jerry, but it's time
to face the truth now.  You lose."

He smiled
unabashedly.  "You foolish woman.  You have no idea
what's going on in Darkwater Bay.  You think you've solved
everything tonight?  Stick around, sweetheart.  Things
are about to get very interesting from here forward. I wasn't sure
you'd be able to put it together. But I'm right. You
are
the one." He paused
and laughed soflty. "What I wouldn't give to see all of this
unfold."

The cryptic remark gave me
pause. Clearly the only
beginning
was his crazy routine. I didn't doubt Lowe would
angle for an insanity defense. Instead of feeding the gain he
sought, I snorted derisively.

"Don't believe me, Helen? Well, it's
understandable, when the truth is so obfuscated you don't know the
good guys from the bad guys. As I said," he pressed his hands on
the table and leaned forward. His eyes impaled Crevan for a moment
before drifting up to do the same to me. Instead of finishing, he
merely laughed maniacally.