Her Dying Breath (13 page)

Susie hoisted her sample bag from the seat, then locked the car and picked her way over the ruts in the sidewalk. “Not really. I saw him coming and going a few times.”

“Did you talk to him?”

“He helped me carry some groceries in once when it was raining, but we didn’t talk about anything personal. Why?”

“He was murdered.”

Susie pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, my God, what happened? Was he killed in his apartment?”

“No. At a motel.” Brenda fidgeted. Nick would never speak to her again if she revealed details. “The police are investigating. They’re searching his apartment now.”

Susie started toward the building, her stilettos catching in the broken cement. “Well, I’m sorry to hear about his death. I hope they find the killer.”

Brenda walked beside her. “Did he have a girlfriend?”

“Like I said, I didn’t really know him.”

“Did you see a woman with him?”

Susie paused, shaking her shoe loose from where it had caught in the cracks. “Maybe a redhead once. Oh, and another time a blonde. Then two brunettes in one night.”

“Ahh, he was a ladies’ man.”

She resumed walking. “I guess you could say that, but something about him…He gave me the creeps.”

“What do you mean?”

“He seemed disturbed, angry all the time. I decided to stay away from him.” She adjusted her sample bag in her arms. “Now I’m glad I did.”

Brenda thanked her and dropped her business card in the woman’s purse. “Call me if you think of anything else.”

Susie hurried toward her apartment, and Brenda considered knocking on the neighbors’ doors. But Jake and Nick appeared outside and glared at her, and she decided she’d better drive to her parents’ for dinner.

Nick and Jake would canvass the neighbors. Then she’d find out what they’d discovered.

Although she could stop by that trucking company on the way to her folks’ house.

After all, her parents had made her wait for answers.

They could wait this time.

Nick took the right side of the building and Jake the left. He caught the woman Brenda had been talking to as she reached her condo.

“Listen,” she said, tucking her sales kit beneath her arm. “I already told the reporter I don’t know anything. I’m sorry about that man’s death, but we weren’t friends. I was never in his apartment, and we never socialized.”

Of course irritating, nosy Brenda had gotten to her first. “Did you see him with any women?”

“A few came and went, but there wasn’t anyone special.”

“What about night before last or yesterday midday?”

“I didn’t see anything. I was at a convention in Knoxville.”

Nick thanked her, then gave her his card and strode to the next condo. He rang the bell, but no one answered, and when he looked inside, the place was empty.

The next unit had a For Rent sign in the yard and was also vacant. He rang the last doorbell and identified himself when an elderly man answered.

The man leaned on his cane. “Eh, sorry, I’m a little hard of hearing.”

Nick nodded. “Sir, did you know Mr. Logger who lived in 112B?”

The man adjusted his hearing aid as he peered around the corner. “No, don’t believe I did. Why? What’s going on?”

Nick debated whether to tell him. He didn’t want to worry the old man. “Just asking some questions.” He showed the man a photo of Logger. “This is Mr. Logger. Did you ever see him with a woman?”

“A what?”

“A woman!” Nick hated to shout, but it was necessary.

“I don’t pay no mind to the neighbors,” he said. “My wife’s been sick, so I stay in taking care of her.”

“I’m so sorry,” Nick said. “Thanks for your time.”

He texted Jake that his canvass had turned up nothing, and that he was on his way to the trucking company, then headed to his car.

Maybe Logger’s boss could offer more information about the victim.

And hopefully forensics would turn up something that would lead to the strangler.

Although he had a bad feeling that the killer hadn’t left any evidence behind.

Brenda parked in the Mountain Truckers lot, noting three eighteen-wheelers and a row of rental moving trucks in a separate fenced-in area.

Sunlight was fading, the treetops shimmering a silver gray. The March wind added a chill to the air, a reminder that winter hadn’t yet left the ridges and peaks of Slaughter Creek.

A metal fence surrounded the property, and the scent of gasoline permeated the air. She crossed the graveled lot, wobbling on the uneven surface. A double-wide trailer served as the office. She climbed the wooden steps, then rapped on the door.

She didn’t bother to wait for someone to answer. She opened the screen, then the wooden door, and stepped inside. A metal desk sat to her left, and the rest of the space was divided into two offices, one on each side. A young girl with bleached-blond hair looked annoyed as she dropped her phone. Judging from the gooey expression on her face, she was obviously texting, not working. The nameplate on her desk read “Tia.”

“Can I help you?”

“I’d like to speak to the manager.”

“You need a rental?”

“No,” Brenda said. “I’m actually a reporter.”

The girl’s eyes widened in recognition. “Oh, right! You’re Brenda from the news!” She jumped up, grinning at Brenda as if she were a celebrity. “Can I get you something? We have bottled water and soda.”

“I’m fine,” Brenda said, deciding this girl might know more than the manager. “I need some information on one of your employees. A man named Jim Logger.”

“Oh, Jim.” Tia blushed. “He was a looker, but…he could switch moods on a dime.”

“Did you and he ever—”

“No, God, no,” Tia said. “Not that I didn’t think he was sexy. But I’m engaged.” She stuck out her hand, waving her fingers to show off her diamond.

Brenda barely resisted squinting to see it. “That’s beautiful,” she said. “When is the wedding?”

The girl’s plump shoulders shrugged. “We haven’t set a date yet. Benny—that’s my fiancé—he had to do a little time. But soon as he makes parole, we’ll start planning.”

“Oh, I see. Well, good luck with the wedding,” Brenda said. “Now tell me more about Jim Logger. What kind of employee was he?”

Tia fluffed her curly hair. “He usually volunteered for the long hauls. Said he liked getting away, being on the highway. He had trouble sleeping, so he was perfect for road trips.”

“Did he have a girlfriend?”

“Not that he talked about. I think he was still hung up on his wife, but”—the girl leaned forward as if sharing a dire secret—“he had a bit of a temper problem. One day the boss told him he might have to lay him off, and Logger blew up.”

“What happened?”

“He punched the wall with his fist,” Tia said. “Boss said he wasn’t puttin’ up with that shit and fired him on the spot.”

“When was that?”

“About two weeks ago.”

Brenda twisted her mouth in thought. “Did he mention where he worked before he joined this company?”

Tia shrugged. “No, but he probably listed it on his application. Waylin tries to make sure his employees don’t have serious rap sheets. I mean, he’ll let some petty stuff get by, but not serious crimes like embezzlement or robbery or murder.”

“Would you mind pulling his file for me?”

Tia shifted and dug through her file drawer, then removed a folder and rifled through it. “Oh, here it is. Hmm, says he worked at a placed called Stark Security.”

“Is there a phone number for it?”

Tia read the number, and Brenda jotted it down.

“Wait a minute,” Tia said, her nose wrinkling. “Why are you asking all these questions about Jim?”

Brenda hesitated. “I’m afraid he was murdered.”

Shock flashed across Tia’s face. “Good heavens, that’s awful.”

Brenda laid her business card on the desk. “Yes, it was. If you think of anything that might be helpful, please let me know.”

She opened the door and stepped out just as Nick’s dark sedan pulled to a stop. When he climbed from the car, his scowl pierced her.

“I told you to stay out of this, Brenda.”

“I was just leaving.” Brenda waved to him as she descended the steps. The wind caught her hair and swirled it around her face. “The manager’s not in, but I talked to Tia, the receptionist. If you want to know anything, you always talk to the female in the office.”

Nick’s eyes were glued to her sexy swagger. She decided to torture him.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.” She met him at the foot of the stairs, her hip hitched out. “Anyway, she said Jim Logger had a temper, that two weeks ago he and the boss had heated words, and Logger put his fist through the wall. Manager fired him on the spot.”

“Sounds like Logger. What was he upset about?”

“She didn’t know.” Brenda toyed with the strap of her bag. “But maybe he cruised the bars to drown his sorrows.”

“Maybe.” Nick reached up and tucked an errant strand of her hair behind her ear. The touch seemed so intimate that her heart fluttered. Sunlight was fading, painting shadows across his face. Shadows that only made him look sexier.

Dear God, she had to get away from him before she did something stupid—like throw herself at him.

That would be a huge mistake. Nick didn’t even like her.

“What else?” Nick asked, oblivious to her racy thoughts.

“She gave me the number for the security company where he used to work.”

Nick held out his hand, palm up.

Brenda studied it for a moment, her fingers itching to grab his hand and cling to it.

Instead she huffed, then scribbled the number on a sheet in her notepad, ripped it out, and shoved it toward him.

“Let me handle this,” Nick said curtly.

Brenda knew how to play the game. She’d let him believe he was in charge. “Of course, Nick.”

His gaze met hers as if he’d read her mind.

But just then her phone dinged, breaking the moment. She had a text. She glanced at it and frowned.

Good job at the motel, Brenda. I knew when I saw you at the sanitarium years ago that you and I would be friends.

Brenda stiffened and scanned the property, her senses alert.

The killer had contacted her again. And she had definitely been in the sanitarium. Was she one of Blackwood’s subjects?

And if she was, would she tell everyone that Brenda had been there as well?

Seven felt the burning ache rising in her again.

The need to kill.

The image of Jim Logger’s face as he’d gasped for his dying breath flashed in her head, and sweat broke out on her upper lip.

His lips had turned blue, his eyes bloodshot, his skin a sallow color.

Adrenaline surged through her, and she slipped on a slinky black dress.

It was time. Time to send the Commander another present.

Anticipation like nothing she’d ever felt seared her.

Laughter bubbled in her chest. She didn’t want him to think she’d forgotten him.

She knew exactly where to go, too. The place the military men liked to gather. There they were horny, drowning their troubles
in booze and beer. Looking for a soft body to assuage the pain and the nightmares that dogged them.

Hell, she was doing them a favor, offering them one last night of pleasure.

Then she’d end their suffering forever.