Hold Back the Dark (23 page)

Crystal couldn’t pull off the cute nerd look as well as Aimee did. The glasses were the same, but Crystal’s face was round and undefined. She didn’t have Aimee’s aquiline nose or high cheekbones or that wide lush mouth that Josh could kiss for hours. Still, Josh was feeling quite kindly to Crystal at the moment since she’d scanned the mystery microchip. She’d gotten the serial number in seconds; now she was calling the business that had registered the microchip. From there, it should be only a few minutes until Josh and Elise had a name, address, and phone number for the dog’s owner.

Crystal pushed a few more buttons on her computer. “Got it. Ohhhhh,” she said sadly.

“What’s wrong?” Elise asked from behind Josh.

“He was just a puppy. His name was Bingo and he belonged to a Thomas Barlow in…I think Land Park. I’ll write down the address for you.”

This was not good. Oh, no. This was not good at all. He didn’t like the doctor nosing around with those drawings one bit. Who else had she shown them to? Who else might figure out what they meant? Thank God the police weren’t taking her seriously.

Still, she was persistent and that could end up being a problem. A huge problem. And now there was the girl to consider. Damn it all to hell. What had she seen that night? He’d been so sure that he’d been long gone before she’d come home. How could she have seen him?

His heart began to pound as he considered the ramifications. How long would she stay in her silent world? She’d already shown signs of coming out of it. That could no longer be tolerated. Taylor was going to have to be silenced permanently. He had a little time before he had to deal with her, but the psychologist had to be dealt with right away.

Christ, he felt dizzy and it was getting hard to breathe.

All right. This was bad, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. He’d been warned now, and he could do something about it.

He fingered the cord that he carried in his pocket, stroking it with his thumb. The doctor’s neck was so long and slender. It was easy to imagine the cord wrapped tight around it. His breathing became heavier, and his cock began to swell in his pants.

He imagined the way the doctor’s eyes would glaze over. Yes, he could take care of her with pleasure.

Then he’d figure out what to do about Taylor.

A
imee glanced up at her office clock. It was nearly seven. She’d spent the last few hours entering billing codes and sending follow-up e-mails. She’d gotten behind in the past week and it was time to catch up. Her cell phone rang in her purse. She fished it out. “Aimee Gannon,” she said.

“Josh Wolf,” he replied.

Aimee felt the blood rush to her cheeks, happy to hear his voice on the other end of the line. “Hey. How are you?”

“I’m fine. I was calling to find out the same about you. Where are you?”

“At my office. I needed to get some paperwork out of the way.”

“Are you almost done?”

“I just finished up. Why? Are you checking up on me?”

“I don’t need to check up on you. I got the guy who’s been bothering you in custody.”

“Great! Then why are you calling?”

There was a pause. “I was, uh, wondering…”

“Wondering what?”

“I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me tonight,” he said.

“I would love to,” she said immediately.

There was a sigh, as if he’d been holding his breath. “Great,” he said. “Do you want me to pick you up at your office?”

Aimee looked down her plain black skirt and sweater. “No. I want to go home and change first. Pick me up there?”

“Sure. How about seven? That’ll give me time to stop at home and feed Dean.”

“Dean?”

“My gecko.”

“You have a gecko? As a pet?”

“Wanna make something of it?”

She laughed. “I’ll reserve judgment until after I meet Dean.”

“I’ll check his schedule and see if I can arrange it.” He paused. “Aimee, are you sure you feel okay going home alone? I know it’s got to be a little weird right now.”

She leaned her head back on the chair again, relieved that he understood without her having to explain it. “I’m okay. With Kyle in custody, what’s there to be afraid of?”

“She said yes, didn’t she?” Elise plopped down on Josh’s desk with a big smile.

“Were you eavesdropping?”

“It’s hardly eavesdropping. I can hear everything you say over the top of these cubicle walls. It’d be more work to try and
not
listen. Then I’d be costing the good taxpayers of the city of Sacramento even more money, so it would be downright unpatriotic to not listen in on your conversations.”

“You can rationalize anything, can’t you?”

“Pretty much. I’m still having trouble with the idea of miniskirts and Uggs at the same time, but other than that, I’m good. Where are you going to take her?”

“I have no idea.”

“How about the Firehouse?”

“A little pricey for a first date, don’t you think?” And not exactly in a police officer’s day-to-day budget either.

“Does it really count as a first date when you’ve already spent the night together?” Elise asked with a wicked grin.

Josh shook his finger at her. “I am not discussing that.”

“If you didn’t spend the night, then we need to have a chat about your personal hygiene. It is not okay to wear the same shirt two days in a row.” Elise plopped down on his desk.

Josh leaned his elbows on his desk and looked up at his partner. “This is different. It’s special. I don’t want to joke about it.”

“Josh, that’s so…”

“Boneheaded?”

“No, sweet. If you don’t cut that shit out she’ll start to expect it all the time, and I don’t know how long you can keep it up, partner. Although I have to say that it suits you.”

Aimee walked through the empty garage. Not many people came to the office on Sunday. As she came out of the stairwell, she got that creepy sensation of being watched again. Frowning, she rubbed the spot on the back of her neck where the hairs stood up.

Kyle was in custody, and the Subaru was only a few steps away. She’d be there in seconds. She opened her bag to fish out her keys. She’d just found them when she heard running footsteps behind her.

Her mind screamed.
Run! Scream! Fight!
But her body froze, like a deer in the headlights. She finally broke free and started to turn to face whoever was coming—

Too late. A cord slid around her neck and she was yanked backward, almost off her feet.

Her hands flew up to clutch at the cord, but it already dug too deep into her throat. Her keys and purse fell to the ground as she frantically tried to get loose from the cord that was cutting off her air.

The edges of her vision began to blur. She was yanked back even harder. Whoever was behind her was big. He’d reached over her head and pulled her back against a broad chest. She could hear his harsh breath in her ear as he panted with exertion or excitement, then she registered the feel of his erection pressed against her back.

No! Not again! She
wouldn’t
be a victim again.

As the darkness at the edges of her vision spread, she stamped around her with her foot, hoping to connect with the keys. She felt her heel crunch on plastic, then her car alarm blared.

The man’s grip loosened for a second, and Aimee instantly got her hands under the cord and pulled it away from her neck. Oxygen rushed into her lungs. Over the rushing in her ears, she heard someone shout, “Hey! What’s going on here?”

The man released her and Aimee sank to the floor, gasping for breath as she heard him race away.

The skinny security guard was by her side in seconds. “Ma’am, ma’am, are you all right? Are you okay? Do you need an ambulance?”

She shook her head and turned. Her attacker was gone.

“Should I call nine-one-one?” the security guard asked.

Aimee pulled Josh’s card out of her purse. “Call him,” she croaked.

Josh hung up the phone, ran out his door, and called the attack in as he locked up. He wanted people out looking for this creep as soon as possible. He just wished he knew which creep it was.

He called the jail. “Hey, Vasquez Reed. Josh Wolfe here. Do you still have Kyle Porter in custody?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Do me a favor. Double-check. Lay your eyes on him. I’ll hold.”

There was a pause. “Why you want me to do that, Wolf? I’m comfy here at the desk.”

“Just
do
it.” Something in his tone must have come through, because Vasquez told him to hold.

Not wanting to lose his connection to Vasquez if he got in the elevator, Josh ran down the six flights, two stairs at a time. He was headed out the door by the time Vasquez came back on the line. “He’s there. You want me to take him a snack? Maybe give him a manicure?”

“I just needed to know for sure. Thanks, man. I owe you one.”

Who the hell could Aimee’s attacker be? Whose button had she pushed? What did she know that had put her in danger? The security guard had said that someone had tried to choke Aimee. A vision of Stacey Dawkin on a cold slab in the morgue flashed into Josh’s brain. Could this be connected? How could it not be? Josh gritted his teeth in frustration as he navigated his way through Sunday afternoon traffic. He needed to get to her. He needed to see she was safe. Then he could ask all the questions he wanted.

By the time he got to the garage, three squad cars and an ambulance were at the scene. He flashed his badge to the officer at the entrance to the garage and ran through. He found Aimee sitting in the back of the ambulance, an ice pack to her throat.

“Hey,” he said. “I got here as fast as I could.”

She smiled and took his hand.

The paramedic said, “She’s having some trouble speaking. I’m pretty sure it’s temporary. I want to take her over to the hospital to check it out for certain, but she’s not so keen on the idea.”

“Where do you want to take her?” Josh asked.

“Mercy. She’d probably get through their ER faster than at the Med Center.” The paramedic folded up the blood pressure cuff he’d taken off Aimee’s arm.

Josh smiled down at Aimee. “It’ll be like old times. Just like the night we met.”

Aimee rolled her eyes and croaked, “I’d rather go home.”

“And you will. We’ll make this one stop first. I’ll be there with you.”
And then I’m going to catch the son of a bitch who hurt you.

She squeezed his hand, then scowled.

“What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t get to use my pepper spray,” she whispered.

In the emergency room, the nurse had Aimee stand with her chin lifted as far as possible and aimed a huge camera at her throat.

Josh’s first instinct was to look away. The deep red gouges were enough to send him over the edge. The way she held her shoulders and head high, despite the way her hands were shaking, made him feel like he was falling off a cliff. He wanted to find the bastard who had done this to her and pound his face in.

Instead, he’d find the bastard who did this and put him behind bars, preferably for life. To do that, he needed every shred of evidence he could gather. He forced himself to look at the photographs as they slid out. What he saw didn’t surprise him.

“Hey, Elise—come take a look at these.”

Elise walked over. “What do you have? Something good?”

“Something seriously bad. Look at those, and tell me if Aimee’s wounds don’t remind you of something.”

Elise looked down at the photographs and then back at Josh. “Holy shit.”

“My sentiments exactly,” Josh said.

It had been hard to see the details of the ligature marks on Aimee’s throat. Living flesh doesn’t always take a mold the way dead flesh can. Once the camera had magnified the marks, though, the long, ridged line in the middle of the ligature mark was clear. The same long thin line that had made Doc Halpern decide that Stacey Dawkin had been strangled with an electrical cord.

“If not Kyle, who?” Elise asked quietly as they sat in the waiting room. Aimee had gone up to X-ray a while ago. The hospital staff wouldn’t let Josh stay with her, and no amount of badge flashing or glowering had changed their minds.

“I have no idea,” he said. “It’s been close to a week and we’ve got
nothing.”
He couldn’t think of another case where he’d followed more leads and come up with less.

A nurse wheeled Aimee past the waiting room and back toward the emergency room. Josh and Elise stood up and followed.

“The patient needs to rest,” the nurse said.

“We’re not going to keep her from resting,” Josh promised.

The nurse didn’t even glance at him. “Ms. Gannon has been through a traumatic experience. She can talk to you later. She needs to go home and rest.”

“Dr. Gannon is perfectly capable of telling me to leave whenever she wishes to do so,” Josh told her. “I’m not going to make her talk. Besides, I’m her ride home.”

The nurse did give him a glance now, then asked Aimee, “Is that so?”

Aimee nodded.

The nurse helped Aimee transfer from the wheelchair to the hospital bed. “I’ll be back in forty-five minutes to check Dr. Gannon’s vitals. If everything’s stable, she can go home. If you upset her, she might have to spend the night.”

“I won’t upset her. I promise.” Josh pulled the visitor’s chair up to Aimee’s bed. She looked tired. The circles under her eyes were deep and dark, like bruises against her pale skin. The ligatures across her next were angry and red. He wondered how many times the bastard would have choked her and released her if she hadn’t gotten away, and he clenched his fists.

Elise stood up. “I’m heading home. See you in the morning?”

Josh nodded.

Elise turned to Aimee. “I’m going to have a lot of questions for you tomorrow, but now you need to rest. Let Josh take care of you tonight. He’s probably crappy at it, but he’s got to start somewhere.” She gave Aimee’s hand a squeeze and left.

Aimee looked at Josh. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “I didn’t see anything. He came at me from behind. I wasn’t…” She hesitated. “I knew that Kyle was in custody. I thought that I was safe.”

Josh’s gut twisted with guilt. He was the one who’d told her she was safe. He had been the one who made her think she could let her guard down.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, lowering his head onto his hands.

“It’s not your fault.” Aimee put her hand on his shoulder.

“Whose fault would it be then?”

“The bastard who tried to choke me.”