Have You Seen Her? (40 page)

Neil slid his rental car into a parking place and looked up at the school. Roosevelt High. He’d stayed away before, not wanting to alert Rudy to the fact that he was here. That he was on to him. There didn’t seem to be a lot to lose at this point. He got out of his car to see what he could see.

He’d lost Parker once. He didn’t intend to let it happen again. Clearing or no clearing. Alibi or no. Parker was guilty and by God, this time Neil would see him pay.

Maybe then he himself would find peace.

Thursday, October 13, 6:00
P.M.

Jenna sat on the school’s front steps, very annoyed. Steven was late. So late the security guys had locked the school. So late she needed to wait outside because he wouldn’t be able to get into the building to find her. So late she’d had to call Mark and tell him she’d be missing their Thursday night karate class. I should have driven myself, she thought. She wouldn’t wait around like this every night because Steven couldn’t be depended on to be punctual.

But Steven would be there. He’d sent a message that he’d been called away that afternoon, but he’d get her as soon as he could. And at this point, she had more on her mind than Steven’s whereabouts and missed sparring matches. She was missing chemicals. Quite a few chemicals.

Shivering from the wind, Jenna stared at the revised inventory list, trying to figure out why someone would steal these items. She was missing the silver nitrate plus bromine, chlorobenzonitrite, and propylamine. They were rather unusual chemicals to steal, she thought, her thoughts drifting back to her pharmaceutical days. The syntheses that used these ingredients were complex, so complex that to complete the synthesis, one needed a sophisticated lab. It certainly wasn’t possible to complete such syntheses in her little high school lab.

“Jenna, you’re still here.”

Jenna looked up to find Neil Davies standing at the base of the school’s steps. “Neil.” She started to smile a welcome, but her eyes suddenly narrowed in concern. “Is Steven all right?”

Neil shrugged. “Don’t know. Haven’t seen him since this morning.” He looked around. “Are you supposed to be here alone?”

Her patience snapped. “No, I’m not supposed to be here alone,” she said testily, then watched his face fall and felt guilty. “I’m sorry, Neil. I’ve had a bad few days. I guess you all have, too.”

He shook his head and leaned against the iron railing. “That’s an understatement.” He was quiet for a moment, then asked, “You tell your family about the wrecked car?”

Jenna nodded. “I finally told them the truth. They were not as upset as I thought they’d be.”

Neil ventured a grin. “More worried about you, huh?” Jenna nodded again, this time a small smile curving her lips. “Fancy that.”

“I kind of hoped it would turn out that way.”

“Mmm.” When he didn’t say anything, the silence grew awkward. “So, Neil, you never did tell me where you’re from.”

One corner of his mouth lifted and Jenna thought he was a very handsome man. Not as handsome as Steven by a long shot, but still the kind that made women swoon. “Wales,” he said.

“More recently than sixty years ago.”

He looked impressed. “Good memory.”

“Umm-hmm. So where, Detective Davies?”

“Seattle,” he said, surprising her.

“Really? What brings you all the way to little old Pineville, North Carolina?”

“I thought I could help on Steven’s case,” he said and she detected a touch of self-pity.

“But obviously you were wrong. Have a seat, Neil, and tell me a story.”

And after a long look, he sat. “I thought I knew who was killing the girls. I was wrong.”

“Mmm. So should I deduce that you’ve met this killer, or thought you’d met him, somewhere in the past? Say, Seattle?”

“I should have gone to Ph.D. school,” he murmured ruefully. “I’d be a lot smarter than I am.” He looked out into the darkness of the parking lot. “And Alev and Kelly might still be home with their parents,” he added, his voice bitter.

Jenna digested this. “Steven believed your lead, didn’t he? And then you realized you were wrong and the whole investigation was in the toilet.”

“Right again.” “So what now?”

He turned his head to look at her and she saw he was lost. Totally lost. “I don’t know.”

“Will you go back to Seattle?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Not a whole helluva lot left for me there.”

“So I take it you’re not married.”

“Was. Not anymore.” Neil looked down at his hands. “I kind of got obsessed with a case.”

“A serial killer of young girls in Seattle?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“You didn’t catch him then. What happened?”

For a minute she thought he wasn’t going to answer, then he shrugged. “The evidence I gathered had been tainted.”

“Like O.J.’s glove?” she asked wryly and he looked up at the sky with another unwilling smile.

“Just like that. I gathered it right. I swear I did. By the rules. By the book. Just like I’d done a hundred times before. But something happened. The records showed I’d been in the evidence room the night critical semen samples disappeared—and then reappeared the following morning.”

“They accused you of contaminating evidence.”

He nodded morosely. “And even though I had a concrete alibi, a fucking judge let a killer go.”

“And because you blame yourself for not catching him then, you come all this way, bent on catching him now, only you’re wrong and quite possibly made everything worse. Am I on target?”

He nodded. “Right once again.”

“So you punish yourself for something you should have done or shouldn’t have done.”

“That’s me.”

Jenna shook her head. “That’s bullshit.”

He darted a quick look her way and scowled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means get a life, Neil. You goofed. Pick up and move on. Lots of people have.”

“You mean like Steven.”

Jenna heard the sneer in his voice as he said Steven’s name. “Among others, yes. Why don’t you like him, Neil? He’s a good man.”

Neil’s laugh was hollow, launching warning bells in her head. He looked away, his jaw taut. “Do you know what it’s like to lie awake and stare at the ceiling?” he asked, his voice hard.

“Yes,” Jenna said unflinchingly.

“Night after night?” he pressed.

“Yes,” Jenna answered.

“For years?”

“Yes.” She could hear the edge in her voice. She was growing weary of his self-pity.

He fished in his pocket and brought out a pack of Winstons, still in the plastic. “I haven’t smoked in years.”

“So don’t start again now,” Jenna snapped.

The corner of Neil’s mouth lifted. “If my wife had been more like you . . .” He shoved the cigarettes back in his pocket, unopened. “So do you still lie awake night after night?” he asked.

She thought about the enveloping warmth of Steven’s body during the night, the utter safeness of his arms around her, and couldn’t stop the satisfied smile that curved her lips. “Not anymore.”

He turned his head, only his head, and she was startled by the way his dark eyes had hardened. “Because of him.”

“Yes,” she said, but it came out crackly. She cleared her throat. “And you? Can you sleep?”

He nodded, then pulled the cigarettes from his pocket. Nervously tapped the pack against his palm. “The first night I saw you I slept for the first time in three years.” He closed his hand into a fist, crushing the cigarettes. “And dreamed of you.”

Jenna blinked, unsure of what to say. “Neil, I—”

Neil lurched to his feet. “Stop. Let’s just leave it alone, all right?” He strode toward the parking lot and she jumped to her feet to follow him.

“Neil, wait.”

He looked up at the stars, then back at her. “You really love him, don’t you?”

She nodded, again not knowing what to say. So she said the truth. “I really do.”

He took her hand, squeezed it. “I’ll probably go back on the first flight tomorrow.”

And as she looked at him, she saw a very lonely man who truly cared about the girls he believed himself to have failed. Her heart squeezing in compassion, she leaned up and kissed his cheek. “I hope you find peace, Neil.”

He grimaced. “I’d settle for a good night’s sleep.”

Her mouth curved up. “Try counting ewes.”

“Ah. Girl sheep.”

She rolled her eyes. “I knew it was a guy thing.” And he laughed as she smiled. He stepped away backward until he got to a tiny little car.

“Good luck, Jenna. I hope Steven’s the good man you believe him to be. If I had a woman like you waiting for me, I sure as hell wouldn’t be late.”

Jenna’s smile faded. “Safe travels, Neil.”

T
HIRTY

Thursday, October 13, 6:30
P.M.

N
EIL WATCHED HER FROM HIS REARVIEW MIRROR
as he drove away, cursing himself for once again being in the right place at the wrong time and Thatcher for having all the good fortune. Then a Volvo wagon zoomed past him on the right and exited the school’s parking lot in a cloud of dust.

Thatcher’s Volvo. Of course.

“Well, damn,” he said softly, though only half of him could regret Thatcher misinterpreting what he’d seen. The other half was glad. Jenna didn’t deserve a volcano ready to blow. She was also alone, waiting for a man who wasn’t coming to get her. And she still had to worry about Lutz and his friends as the next football game drew nearer. Those thugs were more than desperate.

He’d nearly returned to the front of the school when he heard her scream. Senses on full alert, he jumped from the car and pulled his Glock from the waistband at his back. “
Jenna!
”

She screamed again. Running, following the sound of her scream, he rounded the corner of the school where four big figures were dragging her toward the football field.

And having a hard time of it, he noted as he drew his weapon. She managed to kick two of them away, but the other two shoved her against the brick wall. Her cry of pain ripped at his gut.

“Stop! Police!” he shouted, trying to see who was who in the dark, swearing he now saw five boys where just a moment before there had been only four. He pointed his gun upward and shot a warning round into the air when no one stepped away from her. “Police!”

There was cursing and scuffling and the two took final parting shots at her face before running. He took one quick look to make sure she was breathing before taking off after them. They were fast, he thought. Probably wide receivers. No tackle could run that fast. The tackles were probably the guys she’d dropped back in the scuffle. The two did some fancy maneuvering that took them around the bleachers and over a fence.

Neil stopped running, breathing hard. He hadn’t had one good look at them. Sonsofbitches.

Hopefully Jenna had. Sprinting, he made it back to where she sat up against the wall, the fifth figure bending over her. So there
were
five. “Just step back from her, boy, and nobody gets hurt.”

The fifth boy froze, then backed up slowly, straightening. “Hands out where I can see them.”

The boy’s hands stuck out stiffly at his sides.

“Neil, it’s okay.” The cupped palm she held over her mouth was dripping blood.

“Shit, you’re bleeding.” He shrugged out of his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt with one hand while holding his weapon steadily on the boy with the other. He pulled off his shirt and threw it to her. “Here. Use that on the blood. It’s clean. Mostly.”

She held the shirt to her mouth. “Neil, put the gun down. Josh was helping, not hurting me.”

Josh.
Neil let his weapon drop to his side, his fingers still tight on the trigger. “Turn around, son.” And waited while the big boy turned. And saw a face he hadn’t seen in many years. Josh Parker. Josh Lutz. They hadn’t bothered to change their other son’s first name. Neil guessed the Parkers weren’t as worried about the effect of a scandal on a boy of Josh’s aptitude. Or lack thereof. There would be no college scouts watching their other son. No future to protect. Josh stood looking at him, his hands still out at his sides, that same vacant look in his eyes that he’d had years before. “Just back up, son. Back up and tell me what you were doing here.”

If Josh recognized him, he gave no sign of it. One of the boys curled up on the ground moaned and cursed. Neil took a step back to see them clearly. “You two on the ground holding your dicks, put your faces in the dirt and your hands out to your sides.” When they made no move to comply he shoved one of them with the toe of his shoe. “I said on your faces or I’ll let the teacher here give you another kick.” Immediately both rolled to their bellies, groaning pitifully, hands outstretched, like snow angels in reverse. “Next time you decide to fuck with a woman, make sure she doesn’t have a fucking brown belt,” Neil snarled and both boys made whiny whimpering sounds.

Josh Lutz glanced at the two on the ground. “They were hurting her. I had to do something.”

“You did, Josh,” Jenna said, her voice muffled by the shirt against her lip. “You did just fine.”

Neil pulled his phone from his pocket, dialed 911, then tossed the phone to Jenna. “Tell them where we are.”

Jenna gave the operator all the information, then stood up, his phone still in her hand. “I need to call Steven,” she said.

Steven. Hah, Neil thought, sorry sonofabitch, caring more for his petty ego than the safety of this woman. “Good luck. He’s probably halfway to Virginia by now.”

Her hand stilled on the cell phone and she lowered it to her side. “What do you mean?”

He debated for a moment telling her, knowing it would hurt her, then told her anyway, knowing it was for her own good. “He passed me on my way out of here. Doing about eighty.”

Even in the darkness he could see her pale. “He was here?” “Yes.”

“He saw us talking then.” She paused. “He saw me kiss you good-bye.”

Neil flicked a glance at Josh, then looked back at her. She was trembling now. Partly the shock of yet another attack. Partly the shock of knowing it wouldn’t have happened had her volcano not blown. Mostly the shock of realizing Steven hadn’t trusted her. “I’m sorry, Jenna.”

“So am I,” was all she said before turning back for the front of the school.

“Wait. Where are you going?”

She turned and he could see the lines cutting through the grime on her cheeks. Tears. Dammit, she was crying and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do.

“I... don’t know,” she whispered.

“Well, sit down,” Neil said irritably, mad at his own helplessness. “Those other two are still somewhere around here. Just wait till the cops get here.”

One of the boys on the ground twisted to look up at him, snarling. “You said you were a cop.”

Neil bared his teeth. “Substitutes are a real bitch, you know? All the responsibility with none of the authority.” He pressed his toe into the thug’s back and if it was a bit harder than necessary, who was going to tell? Not Jenna, who stood in the same exact spot, looking like she’d lost her best friend. Not Josh, who stood looking like he was stuck sitting in the wrong movie but didn’t have the means to get up and switch theaters. And certainly not himself. Hell, he’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Jenna cleared her throat from behind him. “On second thought, I think I will use your phone,” she said, sounding almost like her old self again.

“You’re not calling Thatcher, are you?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

She smiled, grimly, then winced at the pain in her cut lip, using his shirt to dab at the flow of blood. “No, I’m not calling Steven.” She dialed and listened. “Dad?” she said, starting out strong. Then her voice wobbled. “Can you come get me please? I’m at the school.”

Thursday, October 13, 6:45
P.M.

Steven stopped a few miles away, pulled into a parking lot, and switched off the motor. Tried to force his heart to calm. The pain inside was . . . excruciating. Worse than Melissa. Much worse.

Jenna had said she loved him. Laid in his arms and said she loved him. Then twelve hours later she was kissing another man. And not just any other man.

Neil Davies. Steven’s blood churned at the thought. The man disrupted his investigation, distracting his people from the real killer while two more girls were stolen. Then he had the nerve to move in on his woman.

But Jenna wasn’t his woman. There was no way she could be his and kiss Davies. He leaned his forehead against the steering wheel, feeling his heart slog back to normal. Wishing his head and his gut would do the same. Right now it felt like a million sledgehammers were pounding away inside his skull while a million knives dug deep and ripped at his gut.

How could she?
Maybe she didn’t.

He lifted his head from the steering wheel and blinked. But she had. He’d seen them.

What did you see?
Her. Kissing him.

She was kissing his cheek. Just like you’ve kissed Liz’s.
But it wasn’t the same.

And why not? Because it’s Neil Davies? Because you’ve felt wary of him since you’ve met? Because he looks at her, wanting her?
Yes, that’s why.

But has she ever looked at him the same way?

He bit his lip and stared at the night sky. No. In all fairness, no she had not. He glanced at the clock and felt his blood go cold once again. She was waiting for him, all alone. Vulnerable.

Oh, God. He’d left her there. All alone. He raced back to the school, faster than he’d raced away. And arrived just behind two squad cars and an ambulance, lights flashing.

Dread clutched at his heart and he made himself get out of the car. Made himself walk past the flashing lights of the empty ambulance. He almost collapsed with relief when he saw her sitting on the ground, cross-legged, her skirt hiked high on her thighs. Unhurt. Alive. He walked a few steps closer and stopped short.
She wasn’t unhurt.
Her face was bleeding and her cheek was already starting to swell. Her clothes were torn and she had a dirty white rag bound around her right hand. One of the paramedics was unrolling it and Steven saw it was a shirt. A man’s shirt.

He lifted his eyes to find Davies facing away, talking to the uniforms as they cuffed two teenagers. Then Davies turned and Steven saw the man wore no shirt under his jacket. It didn’t take a damn detective to put the pieces together. While he’d been speeding away, Davies had come back and done
his
job.

Protected
his
woman.

Protected Jenna, who just now realized he was standing there. He didn’t know what to say, didn’t even hope Davies had kept his little tantrum secret. Because that’s what it had been. A tantrum. She looked up at him. Then deliberately looked away.

He dropped to his knees next to her on the ground. “Jenna,

I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. And said nothing. Then she cleared her throat and said in as strong a voice as he’d ever heard her use, “Go away, Steven. Just go away.”

“Jenna, honey, I’m here.” They looked up to find a silver-haired man standing above them and she crumbled right before his eyes. The older man knelt beside her and held her while she cried.

The sound of her sobs tore at Steven, made him want to kick his own ass, and knew a kicking would never be enough. He reached out and touched her torn sleeve. She jerked her arm away.

“Jenna,” Steven tried again. As soothingly as he could considering his heart was hammering right out of his chest, “Let me take you home.”

She cried harder and shook her head. “Take me home, Dad. Please.”

Dad. This was Seth. Seth met his eyes. Frowned. “Your apartment’s not safe, honey.”

“No, Dad. Take me
home
. Your home. And please tell
him
to go the hell away.”

Seth’s eyes narrowed, realizing Steven had hurt his girl. “You heard her. I’m taking her home.”

Steven watched as Seth lifted Jenna to her feet and into his car. And drove away.

Someone stepped to his right and Steven knew it was Davies. “Thatcher, you’re a fucking idiot,” he said, his tone low.

Steven watched the taillights of Seth’s car disappear, taking Jenna away. “I know.”