Hollywood Notorious: A Hollywood Alphabet Thriller Series (A Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller Book 14) (22 page)

Dr. Ellen Moore dropped the knife when she got closer to us. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused. I realized there was blood on her blouse and hands, even a red smear on her cheek. It was apparent she’d suffered some kind of trauma.

“What happened here?” I asked her, holding Bernie back, at the same time Leo went over and picked up the knife.

Her head slumped down and she didn’t respond. I tried again, still not getting any response.

“I think she’s in shock,” I said to Joe. He motioned toward the house. “Let’s clear the shack, take things from there.”

The dilapidated residence consisted of a kitchen, a living room, and two small bedrooms. We found a woman, who we assumed was Alice Macy, in one of the bedrooms. She’d been stabbed in the chest several times. There was blood everywhere.

I went back into the living room, where we’d left Dr. Moore. I sat on a chair across from her, after managing to get Bernie settled down. “Tell me what happened here,” I said.

She didn’t look at me or respond. I raised my voice. “Dr. Moore, talk to me.”

Nothing.

I went over and sat next to her, lifting her head and turning it toward me. “Where are Brown and Macy?”

Her chest rose and fell. When she finally spoke, her voice was shallow and raspy. “I don’t know.” Her gaze drifted off.

“Tell me what happened.”

It took a moment before she looked at me. “They made me…”

When she didn’t go on, I glanced up, seeing that Joe and Leo were standing near us. I looked back at Moore and gave voice to what I was now pretty sure had happened. “They made you kill her?”

Her body shook and her head came forward, large drops of tears spilling from her eyes. “They said if I didn’t, they would kill…my children.”

I reached over and touched her arm. “Where did they go?”

She shook her head, sobbing. “I have no idea.”

“How long ago did they leave?”

She clutched her sides. “Maybe an hour. I’m not sure.”

I stood up and went over to the kitchen with Joe and Leo. “Let’s get word out to the local cops and highway patrol.”

Leo went off to make some calls. Joe then lowered his voice and said to me, “I guess little Quinton was struggling with some mommy issues all these years.”

I sighed. “It looks like those issues are history. What do you think they have planned next?”

Joe shrugged. “This was outside the usual pattern, a payback. They’re probably going to…”

We looked up as Leo came rushing back into the room. He was breathless as he told us, “I just talked to Oz. The killing…it’s already on the Internet.”

“Why am I not surprised,” Joe said.

Leo went on. “There’s something else. Macy appeared at the end of the video. He said they’re planning to kill again tomorrow night.”

After initially processing the crime scene in Phoenix and then turning it over to the local authorities, Bernie and I got back to Hollywood around nine. Dr. Ellen Moore had been arrested for murder and booked into jail. We all felt those charges would ultimately be reduced, if not dismissed, based on her being under extreme duress while committing the act. Joe had been more circumspect, if not less compassionate, telling us that he wouldn’t be surprised if the shrink was found not guilty by reason of insanity and ended up in the nut house where her patient had escaped.

Meanwhile, the images of Quinton Macy’s mother being bludgeoned to death were all over social media, along with the escaped killer’s promise to kill again the following night. The hysteria brought on by that posting and the media’s constant coverage of the crimes had left both the city and the nation on edge. We had no idea if the next killing would take place near the location of the first two murders, but we had no choice but to operate under that assumption.

I was on my way home when Natalie called, asking me to stop by her boyfriend’s new magic shop. After a ten minute argument about me being too exhausted to meet her, I gave in and met her at Izzy Cluck’s store, Tricks ‘n Licks, on Hollywood Boulevard.

I cringed when I opened the door and saw that my friends and Izzy were with Carly Hogg and Nana. To make matters worse, Izzy had Carly positioned under a guillotine in the middle of his store.

“We’re rehearsin’ for tomorrow night’s grand opening of the magic shop during Nana’s party,” Natalie said, making a slicing motion with her hand across her neck. “It’s gonna be bloody spectacular.”

On cue, Izzy pressed a lever on his contraption and made a flourishing motion with his hands. The blade came down, real or fake blood—I wasn’t sure which—spurted everywhere and Carly’s head rolled across the floor. It ended up across the room where her eyes blinked a couple of times and she said, “Now, that was painful.”

I looked back at the guillotine. It appeared that a bloody stump had been left where Carly’s head had been lopped off.

I’d had my fill of violence and blood for one day and said, “Alright, what’s going on?”

Mo walked over and picked up Carly’s head, carrying it back over by the hair. “It’s one of them animatronic contraptions like they got at Disneyland.”

Natalie walked over to the robotic device and said to it, “How does it feel to be given head by Izzy?”

I wasn’t sure if Izzy was working some kind of remote control, but the head blinked again and said, “It was my pleasure.”

Carly took the opportunity to extricate herself from the fake bloody stump that had been left in the guillotine. She stood up, brushed a hand through her hair, and said to me, “What do you think?”

“I think you’ve all lost your minds, not to mention your head.”

Nana came over to me. “I knew you’d make some smart-ass remark. You’re about as much fun as Charlie Brown at a football game.”

Natalie defended me. “Kate’s just tired from chasing the Reaper.” She looked at me. “Did you catch the bloke?”

I said no as Bernie examined the bloody head Mo was holding, trying to make some sense of it. “I’m sure you saw what happened on TV. We don’t have any leads.”

Nana’s gray eyes grew wider. “I’ll bet he’s coming back here and he’s going to kill someone at my Mardi Gras party tomorrow night.” She glared at me. “If he does, I want you to be discrete. I don’t want you creating a disturbance, ruining everything when you clean up the mess.”

No problem. I’ll just deal with a psychotic killer in the middle of a giant party on Hollywood Boulevard.

Carly went over and took her lookalike head from Mo. She held the head under her arm and said, “We’ve got to be going. I have a dinner date and it looks like I’ll be eating for two.” She laughed in a demented way.

“Me too,” Nana said. “I need to put the finishing touches on tomorrow’s event.” She looked at me. “Remember, if you show up, don’t mess it up.”

After they were gone, I slumped down in a chair, my exhaustion taking over.

Mo came over and sat down beside me while Natalie and Izzy cleaned up the fake blood. “You given any more thought to gettin’ away with me and baby sis after you catch your killer? You look like you could use some time off.”

I hadn’t given it any thought, but the idea never sounded better. “Actually, I think it might be just what the doctor ordered. Let me talk to Oz and I’ll let you know.”

“Speaking of Oz, did you talk to him about the photograph?”

“Not yet. I want to talk to my mom and see what she knows first.”

Mo patted the pink wig she was wearing. “Seems to me, after that, it’s time for you to have it out with your boss, get to the bottom of things.”

I yawned and stood up. “I agree. I’m just waiting for the right time.”

Mo followed me as I got Bernie back on his leash. “What about you and Noah? Did you two make up?”

I said my goodbyes to Natalie and Izzy, then said to her, “I’m going to call him. I think we need to have another conversation about his ex-fiancée and how the breakup affected his life.”

Mo stopped at the front door with me. She reached over and hugged me. It was unlike her to display a lot of emotion, and when she did, it brought tears to my eyes.

“You be strong,” my hefty friend said. “When everything’s over, you, me, and baby sis are gonna party.”

***

When I got home, I got ready for bed, but had trouble sleeping. Even though it was late, I tried Noah’s number. I was surprised when he picked up on the first ring.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “I’ve been watching everything that happened on TV.”

I took a moment and assured him I was fine. I then got to the reason for my call. “I didn’t handle things very well when we had dinner the other night, and…”

He interrupted, saying, “It was all my fault. I should have told you about what happened when we first started dating.” He went on, apologizing for not being forthcoming, then added, “To be honest, after I was injured and then Susan ended our engagement, I fell apart and tried to commit suicide. It’s taken me years to recover from everything.”

We went on for several minutes, Noah continuing to say he was sorry and trying to explain his actions, at the same time I tried to reassure him I understood that the trauma he’d suffered had deeply affected him. We ended the conversation by making plans to go to the beach over the weekend and talk some more then.

After ending the call, I lay back in my bed, feeling overwhelmed by everything. The events of the last few days skittered through my mind. I’d been chasing a madman and his companion, who were determined to kill again. I was probably going to be homeless in a few days, unless the world’s worst lawyer could somehow pull off a miracle. My relationship with Noah was in limbo, making me again wonder if I’d become involved with someone to make up for the losses in my life. And, finally, there was Lieutenant Oz. My friend and boss just might be harboring a dark secret about the murder of the man who raised me.

I wrestled with all those thoughts until well after midnight. My worries were then pushed into the deep shadows of night as sleep mercifully carried me away from the cares of the living.

THE WARNING

“Is your name Nancy?”

The girl looked sort of like the doll I had when I was little, but she also looked like me. I thought that was strange, like we could be sisters, if I had a sister. Then I noticed her dress. It was older and the sleeve was torn. Her hair looked kind of messy, too, like mine looks when I get up in the morning.

“You can call me Nancy, if you’d like,” she said.

I saw her looking around the room. “It’s not much,” I said. “But I have food. Are you hungry?”

She looked back at me. “Yes, I’m always hungry.”

We went over to the table. I then got some of the packages out of the crate; the kind that you mix with water. I told Nancy, “They aren’t like something you would eat at home, but…”

“They’re fine,” Nancy said. “I’ll have the one that’s marked
chicken
.”

“Okay. I’m going to have the stew.”

After I mixed the meals with water, we sat down at the table and ate. Nancy seemed to like the food, even though I didn’t.

When we finished, I asked her something I had been thinking about. “Where did you come from?”

She smiled and pushed her bowl aside. “I’m not really sure. I just know that I’m supposed to be here.”

“Do you know why?”

“Yes.”

I waited, but she didn’t explain. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to tell me right away. I said, “Do you know where I am?’

She nodded. “This place is called the Secret Room. It’s below the earth, near some cornfields.” She looked at me. “Have you ever seen the moon and the stars?”

“Of course. They’re beautiful.” She didn’t look at me, and I thought she was sad. “Have you ever seen them—the moon and the stars?”

“Yes, once. It was…amazing.”

She didn’t look at me after that. Maybe she was thinking about something. I started to ask her another question, but she said, “I’m tired. Can we go to bed now?”

“Of course, but it’s kind of early for me.”

“You stay up late because you’re scared, don’t you?” I nodded. “If you want, you can hold my hand.”

Later, a long time later, when we were in bed and my eyes felt heavy, I held Nancy’s hand and said, “Promise me that you won’t go away while I’m asleep.”

“I promise,” she said. “We can talk tomorrow. I have lots to tell you.”

After that, I closed my eyes and again thought all the thoughts that had made Nancy real. I was almost asleep when I thought about something else.

I opened my eyes and whispered to her, “Are you going to tell me about the man who is coming to kill me?”

“Yes. He’s going to be here soon.”

“What about that one?” Joshua Brown said, indicating the girl who was leaving the shopping mall and walking to her car.

The man who the media was calling the Reaper sniffed the air. His weight shifted and his amber eyes regarded his killing companion. “Not acceptable.”

Brown studied him, unflinching. “What difference does it make after all the others?”

Macy spoke evenly, the cadence of his words betraying his disappointment and impatience. “It is the difference between perfection and convenience. Have you learned nothing over the years?”

Brown lowered his eyes, but didn’t respond.

The two men moved off, walking through the nearly deserted parking lot near Hollywood. They had been back in the city for only a few hours when Macy had insisted they begin looking for a girl.

Macy focused on his surroundings, at the same time his thoughts bounced along a half-dozen different paths: Mars ascending...the infinite self-replicating fractal patterns of snowflakes…the Jacaranda trees blooming…the crackle of a stereo a block away…blood pulsing in his veins.

His thoughts coalesced, the other pathways closing down. Blood. That was the night’s mission.

They stopped and watched a convenience store across the street from the mall. He knew most of the patrons would be after something that would alter their consciousness. They were contemptible, worthless. He needed a certain level of purity for tomorrow’s event, and he knew even here, with time, that was possible.

As they waited, Macy’s thoughts eventually drifted to his companion. Joshua Brown had been his partner for the past decade, the one who got to enjoy the fruit of his creations while he’d been locked up. Now that he was free, he realized he resented Brown, his banal thoughts and predictable approach to killing. He decided the one-time security guard had, like so many things, outlived his usefulness. Then he had another thought that brought a smile to his thin lips.
Why not utilize that which is no longer useful?

A car pulled into the parking lot of the store and a young woman got out. Macy’s senses immediately went on alert. She was in her late teens, just about the right age, with long dark hair. Her body was slender and supple. But all that was secondary. He was looking for both beauty and grace.

“Wait here,” he told Brown. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

He got a nod before heading across the street and into the store. He went over to the soda dispenser, watching the girl from a couple of aisles away. She opened the door to a refrigerated case and removed a quart of milk. Then she got a loaf of bread and walked to the counter.

Macy went over, getting in line behind her. He closed his eyes, inhaling the scent of her shampoo—a chemist’s chemical imitation of lavender and apples. The smell was artificial and predictable.

“Hello.”

Macy opened his eyes, seeing that the girl had turned toward him and was smiling. Her hair was brown and touched her shoulders, her eyes the color of the sky in springtime. Physically, she met his criteria.

He then saw that the line ahead of her wasn’t moving.

“Never fails,” he said after returning her greeting.

“I’m sorry?”

“I’m in a bit of a hurry, and the line…” He shrugged. “I guess it’s to be expected.”

“Would you like to go ahead of me?”

“No, I wouldn’t think of it.”

“It’s no problem. I just picked up a couple of things for my mom. No big plans tonight.”

She stepped aside and he moved around her, at the same time knowing the girl had just sealed her fate. “You’re too kind.”

After paying for his drink, Macy went outside and nodded to Brown. It was the signal to bring the car around. In a moment his partner had parked next to the girl’s car.

When she came out of the store, it was a matter of moving swiftly and making sure that she didn’t scream. Just before he closed the lid on the trunk, he smiled at the girl who was bound and gagged. The Reaper had his next victim.