QR Code Killer (17 page)

“Oh,” Maddie said as a wave of fear washed
over her, dragging her down beneath the surface of reality. Her
personal sense of security reached an all new level of despair as
she registered the fact that Zeus had not only broken into her
apartment and watched her while she slept, but she hadn’t heard
him. She was a cop for goodness sakes. She was trained to be on the
alert all the time. How could she have slept through that?

“Maddie, whatever you are thinking, just stop
it. This has nothing to do with your talents or skills. He has more
issues and levels of demented thinking than we realized. We’ve had
profilers working on this case and you know that Zeus doesn’t fit
any classic or typical profile. He’s too random, too unpredictable.
We definitely didn’t realize just how obsessed he is with you. What
I want to find out is why. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know that, but what else, Tom? Just get it
over with,” Maddie said, leaning back in the chair and rubbing her
hand up and down her arm, fighting off the gooseflesh that rippled
over her. She felt defiled, tainted.

“Files filled with every detail anyone could
ever want to know about you. He knows everything from your favorite
flavor of coffee and your birth date to your dislike of asparagus
to the birthmark on your…”

Air whooshed out of Maddie’s lungs. If she
hadn’t already been sitting, she might have sunk to the floor. This
was worse than she had imagined, even in her worst nightmares.

“How would he know… how could he know… Tom,
I…” Maddie couldn’t even form coherent thoughts at this point. He
had watched her sleep. He had seen her naked, or nearly so, to know
about her birthmark. He’d been close enough to know what she was
eating and drinking. What else had he seen? What else did he
know?

Maddie had never felt so vulnerable and
exposed in her entire life. Mortified, she wanted to crawl in a
hole and pull it in after herself, shutting out everyone and
everything.

“Calm down, Maddie. Take a deep breath.
There’s more, but you’ll like this part,” Tom said, hoping she
would keep herself together. Mad Dog hadn’t ever let him down yet.
“We found a box full of passports and photos. Our Mr. Zeus has no
less than a dozen disguises including that of Jude Johnson and an
elderly gentleman named Martin Ross. I’m guessing Martin is the one
who spied on your dinner with Erik. I’m going to put together
copies of all this info and have it couriered to you today. It will
be hand-delivered by someone you recognize, so expect to have it
this evening.”

“Okay, Tom,” Maddie said, her mind racing.
“I’ll be watching for the info.”

“Don’t let this get to you, Mad Dog. Remember
this isn’t about you or anything you’ve done. It’s about catching a
psychopath that just happened to choose you as his personal
target.”

“Right,” Maddie said. “Hey, Tom, can you send
copies of the photos, too? At least the ones he took while I was
sleeping?”

“Are you sure you want them?” Tom asked, not
sure it was a great idea.

“Yeah, I do. I’ve got a few ideas and I want
to see if they hold water. I can handle it. Just make sure you send
them.”

“Will do, boss,” Tom teased. “Lena says to
tell you she misses you terribly and she hopes the guys aren’t
starving to death.”

Maddie laughed. “Tell her I bought an
industrial sized jar of peanut butter and they found her stash of
strawberry jam. They’ll survive.”

“Bye, Mad Dog.”

Maddie’s mind wouldn’t stop spinning around
the information Tom had shared. Her hands practically itched to dig
into the files.

The evening sun was nearly setting when she
heard a car coming up the drive. Looking out the window, she smiled
and turned to Danny. “Why don’t you get the door, Danny Boy?”

“Why?” Danny said, getting up from the table
where he, Erik and Zach were looking through the daily paper.

“I think you’ll want to, that’s why.” Maddie
couldn’t keep from smiling when Danny opened the door to find his
fiancée standing there.

Letting out a whoop, he swung her up into his
arms and kissed her soundly, the file of paperwork crushed between
them.

“Aubrey, you are a sight for sore eyes,”
Danny said as he finally set her down in the kitchen and pulled her
close to his side. Turning to Zach and Erik, Danny couldn’t wipe
the huge grin off his face. “This is my fiancée Aubrey. Aubrey, you
know Maddie. This is her brother, Zach, and her boyfriend,
Erik.”

Aubrey made the appropriate comments when
Zach and Erik both rose and shook her hand. She was a lovely woman
with long, mahogany colored hair, a willowy figure and wide
almond-shaped gray eyes.

Maddie mulled over the title Danny gave Erik.
Boyfriend? Was that what he was to her? While it was simple enough
to use for introduction purposes, Maddie knew Erik was much, much
more to her than just a boyfriend. He reached places in her soul
that had never been touched. She felt a connection to him that
twined their hearts together so closely, sometimes the very joy of
it made her ache with pleasure and longing.

Pouring Aubrey a glass of tea and scooping
her a bowl of the ice cream they were all eating, Maddie took the
file and started pulling out papers and photos. She hadn’t told
Zach or Erik about the details, although she did go over what she
knew from the call with Danny. As they spread everything out on the
table, Erik grew quiet and distant. At one point he got up and
walked around the kitchen, hands splayed through his hair before
drawing in several deep breaths and sitting back down.

Aubrey, who hadn’t seen Danny all summer, sat
close to him, her hand looped through his arm and her head on his
shoulder. She worked in the homicide division of the police
department and Maddie knew she could be trusted with the
information they were carefully going through.

Tom must have known Danny needed a little
break from the monotony of playing cowboy, farmer and chief
babysitter.

With Ethan gone and Lena in Seattle, Maddie
insisted Danny and Erik move into the house. She felt safer with
them all under one roof. The old farmhouse had plenty of extra
rooms, although she would give Aubrey Aunt Lena’s big bedroom, just
off the kitchen. She’d have a bit more privacy that way.

“How long can you stay, Aubrey?” Maddie asked
as she got up to refill all their glasses with more tea.

“Unfortunately, I’m heading back tomorrow. I
can stay through the morning, but I’ll have to leave right after
lunch.”

“Well, maybe we better order something for
takeout,” Zach said, waggling his eyebrows at Maddie. “Our head
cook is still learning how not to burn everything.”

Maddie threw a dish towel at her brother and
gave him an annoyed glare. “At least I’m trying to learn. That’s
more than I see you doing.”

“I’ve got a farm to take care of Little Miss
Maddie-Pants,” Zach teased, using his childhood nickname for
Maddie, causing her to narrow her eyes and look at him like she
would take him out right then and there. That caused the rest of
them to break out in laughter. Maddie was pleased to see even Erik
laugh, his somber expression fading momentarily.

Maddie showed Aubrey to her room so she could
get settled in. Danny was following her around like a puppy on a
leash so Maddie soon returned to the kitchen where Erik sat
studying the photos spread out on the table. Zach disappeared into
the office to finish some paperwork.

Maddie put the few dirty dishes into the
dishwasher then sat down next to Erik. Watching him for a moment,
she placed her hand on his and he looked up at her, worry etching
lines across his tanned forehead.

“Talk to me, Erik” Maddie said, wanting to
know what was bothering him.

“This is… Maddie, this... I never imagined…”
Erik said, running his hands across his eyes, like he was trying to
blot out the images before him. “Maddie, this is so personal, so
invasive. I feel like you’ve been violated. I feel like I should be
doing something to protect and shelter you, yet I know there is
nothing I can do.”

Reaching out to him, Maddie pulled Erik’s
hand from his face and held it between her own. “Erik, it is
personal. It is invasive. I do feel violated. Some sacred line has
been crossed and things won’t ever be the same again.”

“I know, Maddie, and I’m powerless to help
you. Powerless to change it. Nothing I can do will make it
better.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Maddie said,
looking at Erik with love and longing in her eyes.

Erik, glad to see Maddie had removed the
unreadable mask she so often wore, watched emotions cross her face
and settle in her blue eyes. “What can I possibly do to make this
better?”

“Hold me,” Maddie said on a whisper.

Erik sighed and pulled her onto his lap,
cradling her tenderly against his chest. Maddie rested in the
secure comfort of his arms, relishing the feel of being surrounded
by his love. Erik hadn’t said the words, but she knew he loved her.
Deeply. Without reserve. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be sitting here in
this kitchen holding her while a maniac plotted the best way to
kill them all.

Opening her eyes, Maddie looked at the photos
scattered across the table and began to truly study them. Sitting
up, she picked up one, then another, then another.

“What is it, Maddie?” Erik asked, feeling the
excitement racing through her as her body tensed.

“These photos. The ones he took of me in my
apartment, while I was sleeping, these were taken before Devin
died.” Maddie picked up a photo of her asleep in her bed. “See this
comforter. I bought a new one the week that Devin died. I was
redoing my bedroom then. I painted the walls and bought all new
bedding. These photos were taken before then.”

“So what does that mean?” Erik asked, still
holding her on his lap while she quickly sorted through the photos,
making piles.

“I’m not sure yet, but there is something
here I’m missing.”

“Well, let’s study them until we figure it
out.” Erik said, watching her sort through the stack of images.

“I’m glad you said we,” Maddie said, looking
over her shoulder and leaning back to kiss Erik. “I’m really glad
there is a we.”

“Me, too, Mad Dog,” Erik teased. “Now, let’s
see what we can find.”

Maddie and Erik sorted through the photos by
the type of shot - work, apartment, shopping, eating, farm and
other. When they had them sorted into piles, they began to piece
them together, like parts of a puzzle. All the photos of Maddie in
her apartment, at restaurants and shopping were before Devin died.
All the photos of her working and at the farm were after. Some of
them were a year or so old. Some taken as recently as a few weeks
ago.

The recent shots let them know that Zeus had
either been commuting between his apartment and Walla Walla or he
had someone in town staking out the farm.

“What am I missing?” Maddie said, staring at
the photos again.

“Your rest,” Erik said, standing up and
setting Maddie on her feet. “It’s late and you’re as tired as I am.
Let this go for the night and come back with a fresh start in the
morning.”

“But I could just…” Maddie said, starting to
sit back down.

Erik swooped her up in his arms. “Yep, you
could just, but you won’t. Go to bed, Maddie. Get some rest.”

Maddie rested in his arms, thrilling at being
held to his chest while his warm, manly scent filled her senses.
While Erik carried her up the stairs to her bedroom, she rubbed her
hands lightly up and down his shoulders. As they neared the top of
the stairs, Maddie pressed a hot, wet kiss to his neck, making him
nearly stumble on the top step.

“That wasn’t exactly fair,” Erik growled.
“You could have made me drop you and that would have been
unthinkable.”

“Sorry,” Maddie said, without a single note
of apology in her voice.

“I don’t think you are sorry at all,” Erik
said, letting her slowly slide down to touch her feet to the carpet
in the hall outside her bedroom door.

“Maybe,” Maddie said with a flirty grin.
“Maybe not.”

“Goodnight, Maddie,” he whispered, leaning
down to warm her lips with his in a passionate kiss that drove all
thoughts of photos and files from her head. When Erik lifted his
head, Maddie grasped it and pulled his lips back to her eager ones,
kissing him every bit as thoroughly as he had kissed her.

“Maddie,” Erik groaned, tugging her flush
against him. Desires he had long buried flooded over him with such
force, he felt tremors start at his feet and work their way up
through his chest. He couldn’t get enough of her lips, of her
scent. He couldn’t pull her close enough. He wanted so much more
than to just kiss her goodnight, but for now, it would have to be
enough.

“Erik, I...” Maddie started to say, but her
words were lost in the kiss Erik pressed to her, his lips needy,
hungry.

“Maddie, I think I better say goodnight.”
Erik took a step away from her and they both felt a sudden coolness
where seconds before heat surrounded them.

“That’s probably a wise idea,” Maddie said,
stepping back into her bedroom. “Thanks, Farmer Man. I don’t think
I’ve ever been swept off my feet and carried to my room
before.”

Erik winked at her. “Anytime, Madelyn.”

When Erik wandered into the kitchen early the
next morning, Maddie was already sitting at the table studying the
photos.

Nuzzling her neck, his breath was warm on her
ear and she visibly softened to his touch. “Did you not follow
orders and go to bed?”

“Yes, I did,” Maddie said, kissing his cheek.
“But I woke up a couple of hours ago and couldn’t sleep, so I came
down to see if I could figure anything out and start
breakfast.”

Erik quirked an eyebrow and looked around the
kitchen. He didn’t see any smoke boiling out of anything and he
could smell the scent of ham on the air.