Murder Stalks (26 page)

Tony toweled off and dressed before leaving
the bathroom. He expected to find Marissa asleep, but she was
sitting at the desk studying the list of victim’s names.

“
This is strange,” Marissa
said, pointing to the sheet of paper.

“
What?” Tony came up
behind her and reached out to touch her. He wanted to pull her into
his arms, but he hesitated. Too much had gone on between them. He
knelt down beside Marissa and looked over her shoulder.

“
The names.”

“
What about
them?”

“
I’ve listed them in the
order they were killed.”

Tony read the paper where Marissa had neatly
written the women’s names in a column.

“
See, Longfellow, Ingles,
Fink, Enzer, Santos,” Marissa said.

A lump formed in Tony’s throat when he saw
‘Santos’ on the list. He had almost failed his wife, like he was
failing the entire community.

“
Do you see it?” Marisa's
eyes were bright with excitement.

“
No, I don’t--wait, I
think I do.” Tony grabbed a clean sheet of paper and spelled out
‘lifes’. The first letter of each girl’s last name.

“
Lifes what? What is this
guy trying to say?” Marissa moved from one end of the small room to
the other. Her delicate scent toyed with Tony each time she
passed.

“
Life’s a
bitch?”

“
God I hope not. That’s
seven more deaths.”

“
Life’s hard?” Marissa
offered.

“
It’s most likely
something catchy, something that’s said frequently. Someone said a
similar phrase to me the other day. What was it?” Tony paced around
the small room, his path blocked by the bed, a dresser, and the
walls. He grunted in disgust. He needed to be back on the force
working this case as a detective, not holed up in some tiny room
trying to piece together a puzzle without all the information he
needed.

“
Tony, it’s ‘life sucks’.
But does he spell the word s-u-x or s-u-c-k-s?”

“
How do you know
that?”

“
He said that as he tied
me up.”

Tony stopped moving. His life with Marissa
flashed before his eyes. He had to push the fear of losing her
away. He’d screwed up in their marriage. He’d do everything he
could to recover from that, but death was final. Had he not been
there...

“
So who’s next?” Tony
asked, dread working its way into his voice. He had traded
Marissa’s life for someone else’s. He mentally ticked off a list of
his friends and acquaintances. Sekorski’s last name began with an
‘S’. Did he have any children, a wife? Tony didn’t know. He flipped
open his cell phone and dialed Sekorski’s cell number.

“
Sekorski
here.”

“
Henry, do you have a
daughter or wife?” Tony asked, not wasting time with an
introduction.

“
Tony, is that
you?”

“
Yes, listen. This guy is
going after someone whose last name begins with an ‘S’.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
The last names. I think
he’s telling us something with the last names.”

“
My wife is here with me
and my daughter is away at college.”

“
How close is she?” Tony
questioned, praying Sekorski had the resources to keep his wife and
daughter safe.

“
My daughter? She’s in New
York City.”

“
Henry, call her and tell
her not to be alone. Give her as many details about this case as
you feel comfortable with, but make sure she’s not alone. And don’t
let your wife stay alone either. We took away his ‘S’ and now he’s
having to search.”

“
His ‘S’? How do you know
it’s an ‘S’?”

“
I worked it out.” Tony
clenched his jaw, not telling Sekorski that it was technically
Marissa who had worked it out. He hated being questioned, but
Sekorski had every right to question him. Tony was off the force,
no longer a police officer. He was a nobody as far as Sekorski was
concerned.

“
I’ll call my daughter,
but you need to call Rex.”

“
Sure,” Tony replied. He
had no intention of calling Rex. He still hadn’t gotten word back
from Spade. Rex had been the one to say ‘life sucks’ to him. Until
Tony knew for sure about Rex’s background, he couldn’t be trusted.
Hopefully, by tomorrow morning, Spade would have some answers for
him.

“
Marissa, it’s time for
bed.”

Her eyes drifted over his chest and down his
body. Her gaze shot back up, and a blush covered her cheeks. He was
torn between wanting to hold her and make passionate love to her,
or turning a cold shoulder, letting her know he didn’t appreciate
her betrayal of omission.

“
Why don’t you take a
shower and relax? Then we’ll sleep,” Tony suggested, trying to
delay his decision.

After her shower, Marissa crawled into bed.
Tony pulled her close, kissing her temple and spooning her body
against his. She fell asleep almost immediately. Tony’s brain
worked the evidence, churning over the same material. It was a
tactic he used to keep his desire for Marissa at bay. Something was
missing from the case. Some key element he hadn’t thought of.
Tomorrow’s talk with Spade should help.

Chapter 25

The morning air was thick with heat and
humidity. Tony swiped at his brow, pushing the sweat to the side of
his forehead. He should be inside with Marissa, but Rex had called
and it sounded urgent. Hell, Rex had been mad.

Tony’s stomach flipped when he saw Rex’s car
pull into the parking lot. He had to know about the background
search, or was it something else? Tony slid into the passenger seat
and glanced at Rex. The jovial smile that normally graced Rex’s
face was gone, replaced with a scowl.

“
I got a call this
morning,” Rex said. “Someone’s been looking around in my past. You
know anything about this?”

“
I asked Spade to look
into it,” Tony said unapologetically.

“
What? You couldn’t come
to me and ask me directly? You really think I’m the
killer?”

“
No. Maybe. I don’t know.
It was a bad move on my part, but look at your actions and the
evidence.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
When Sekorski told us
someone broke in and stole evidence, you got quiet.”

“
I told you it was because
Janice had loads of bleach.”

“
I know that
now.”

“
You really did believe I
could be the killer?”

Tony pushed a breath out, guilt at
suspecting his friend ate away at him. “A dead body shows up in my
house, you have an extra key. Your hair was found plastered to my
body and it was covered in the victim’s blood. What was I supposed
to think?”

“
I don’t know. Okay, so
the hair thing is getting to me too. I kept wondering how it could
have been covered in dried blood and stuck to your leg unless I was
there when the murder took place.”

“
I’m sorry. But the more I
look at the case, the more I think someone in the department is
involved.”

“
Shit, Tony, what are we
gonna do?”

Rex’s cell phone chirped. “Rex Hague
here.”

Rex looked up at Tony, then said into the
phone, “I’ve got Tony in the car with me, but I want some answers.”
He listened for a moment, then, “You’re freaking me out, Jackson.
Talk to me.”

Rex paused for a moment before passing the
phone to Tony. Rex’s eyes said it all, Tony had betrayed him. Damn,
he hated this shit. He listened to Spade, his eyes focused on a
spec on the dashboard. He cringed as he listened. “Thanks. I’ll be
waiting for your call,” Tony said before flipping the phone
closed.

“
Am I clear?” Rex asked,
his voice hard as steel.

“
Yes.”

“
You gonna apologize to
me?”

“
I’m sorry I doubted you.
I have one question, though. The other night at the hospital with
Marissa, why did you say ‘life sucks’?”

“
I don’t know. It’s just a
phrase.”

As if on cue, Marissa opened the motel door
and peeked her head out. She looked so small and helpless standing
in the doorway wearing Tony’s oversized t-shirt and sweatpants with
her hair ruffled around her face.

Rex waved, gesturing her out. She hesitated
for a moment before running to the vehicle, holding on to the
waistband of the pants.

“
What’s going on?” she
asked as she slid into the back seat.

Tony wanted to tell Marissa everything.
Hell, he wasn’t on the police force anymore so what could they do,
ask him to leave again? He turned in his seat so he could see her.
She looked beautiful this morning. She had run her fingers through
her brown hair, pushing it back away from her face. The imprint
from the pillow creased her right cheek and her lips, as always,
were more puffy in the morning. Desire shot through to his groin.
He wanted to crawl in the back seat and kiss her, feel her mouth up
against his cheek, soothing away any doubts he had. Regret welled
in him. Now he knew he never should have doubted her. She gave him
a wary glance and turned to Rex.

“
Why are you guys out here
in the car?”

“
We’re talking about the
investigation,” Rex replied. His voice was tight, giving away the
anger he felt towards Tony.

“
I thought Tony was on
leave.”

“
I am, but Rex knows we’re
doing our own sideline investigation.”

“
Tony had a background
checked run on me.”

“
Why would you do that?”
Marissa turned an incredulous look on Tony.

“
It’s
complicated.”

“
Explain. I’m not dumb you
know,” she said, motioning for Tony to talk.

“
Basically, Tony doesn’t
trust anyone,” Rex said, obviously delighted in the pain he was
causing Tony.

“
I trust you.”

“
Then why the background
search?” Marissa asked

Tony sighed and said, “First, the evidence
goes missing from the morgue. Who took it? Did Sekorski really lose
it, or did he throw it out because he’s the killer? Maybe I’m the
killer, or Rex is the one preying on innocent women. Hence, the
background checks. Maybe the Chief of Police is a suspect now. Or
did the evidence get taken by some lucky pedestrian who just
happened to walk by the back door to the morgue, find their way
into the medical examiner’s office and steal the only real piece of
evidence we gathered from the crime scene?”

“
It could be anyone, even
me,” Marissa said, her voice subdued in the back seat of the
car.

“
Doubtful, but possible.
Next, we have the victims. There’s nothing that stands out about
them, but what if they were all connected somehow? Did they all go
to school together? Were they all on the same email list? Had they
dated the same guy? You get the picture.”

“
We got word back about
schools and hometowns. They all come from different backgrounds and
different states. So no link there,” Rex added.

“
There’s also the letter
carving tie in. So far we have an ‘A’, an ‘S’, an ‘H’ and an ‘L’.
Is this guy really trying to spell out Ashley?”

“
Oh God, Tony. He killed
Ashley and now he’s making others suffer. What does he have against
us?”

“
I don’t know, baby, I
don’t know.” Tony wished the seats would vanish. He wanted to hold
Marissa tight, pull her close and tell her he loved her, but more
than just the seats separated them. She didn’t trust him, and he
still had issues.

“
Then the body of Latisha
Enzer shows up in our bedroom. Rex has a key but obviously someone
else was able to get in. I’m not sure what would have happened if I
had talked you into coming back with me that night.”

“
We found one of my hairs
on Tony’s leg. It was planted there by the killer,” Rex
interjected.

“
Why would he do that?”
Marissa asked.

“
Ah-ha, here’s the kicker.
Spade said the killer could be a male or female. So it could be
anybody. We’re back to square one. Who is this person doing the
killings?” Tony slunk down in the seat.

“
Did Tony tell you we
think the killer is leaving some kind of message?” Marissa
asked.

“
Really, what’s that?” Rex
turned toward Tony and rubbed his jaw. “Are you holding stuff
back?”

“
I’m not holding back. We
figured it out last night. The victims’ last names spell out
‘life’. If he’d been successful with Marissa, there would also have
been an ‘S’. We don’t know the next word for sure, but Marissa and
I both think he might be spelling out ‘life sucks.’ What do you
think?”

“
That’s why you asked me
where I picked up the phrase, ‘life sucks’? You still didn’t trust
me, even after telling me you didn’t think I was a suspect?” Rex’s
tone was incredulous.

“
I believe you, but this
guy is close to the police. I was wondering if you picked it up
recently. Maybe someone’s been saying it to you. Then you pick it
up subconsciously and say it to me. I know it’s a fairly common
phrase, but I was grasping for straws.”