BATON ROUGE (14 page)

Alexander knocked again, this time loud enough to awaken the neighbors. He leaned with his ear against the door but could hear nothing that might indicate anyone was inside. He knocked a final time and then turned to Nicholas.

“I don’t think he’s here. Walk around and check the windows and then get Matt and we’ll head over to Megan’s place. Maybe she knows where the good professor would be at this time of the morning.”

Nicholas nodded and Alexander watched as he, too disappeared around the side of the town house. There was a front window and he moved to peer inside. He holstered his gun and cupped his hands to allow him to see a neat and tidy living room.

He saw no shadows lurking in the room, nothing to indicate that anyone was inside. The garages for the town houses were completely enclosed and without windows, making it impossible for them to check to see if a car was parked inside.

Matt and Nicholas joined him on the sidewalk. “I didn’t see anyone through the back door,” Matt said.

“And same with me in the windows I looked in. I’d say he’s not here.” Nicholas frowned thoughtfully. “I wonder just how close he might be with his assistant? Close enough to spend his nights in her bed?”

“Let’s go find out,” Alexander said.

Alexander read out Megan’s address as Matt pulled away from the curb. “She’ll be arrested no matter what,” he said. “If nothing else she’s an accomplice to Georgina’s kidnapping and the attack on me.”

“Then it’s possible she won’t be home, either,” Matt said. “Why would she stick around if she knows you can identify her as an accomplice?”

“I don’t know. I can’t figure out why she would have let herself be seen by me at all,” Alexander admitted. It was a puzzle he had yet to put together.

“Maybe she’s a victim, too. Maybe Tanner forced her to participate in luring you out and then he kidnapped her as well,” Matt suggested.

“That really doesn’t fit the profile,” Nicholas replied. “But then again, I guess it would be a mistake to discount anything.”

“Maybe she’s going to try to convince me it wasn’t her at the door, but there’s no doubt in my mind that it was her.” Alexander pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Tim’s cell.

“Tim, talk to Judge Warner and get us search warrants for the addresses you gave me earlier. He’s a sympathetic judge, but make sure you tell him we believe the two people who reside at the addresses are a killer holding hostages and his accomplice. See if you can get it done in the next thirty minutes and have somebody from the team meet us at Megan’s address with the paperwork.”

“No fruit of the poisonous tree in this case,” Matt observed.

“We play everything by the book,” Alexander said. “I don’t want us to make a single mistake that might poison the case we have to build to make sure our Bob and anyone else helping him spends the rest of their lives in jail.”

As he dropped the phone back into his pocket, his nerves jangled inside him and his heart beat out the cadence of Georgina’s name.

Megan James’s apartment building was a far cry from Tanner’s town house. Although the outside appeared fairly nice, the hallway smelled of sweaty gym clothes, stale smoke and the day after parties.

Once again Alexander pulled his gun and then knocked on the door. Matt and Nicholas stood just behind him. Alexander’s stomach clenched as the door opened to reveal a young woman with long red hair and clad in a robe. Her blue eyes nearly popped out of her head as she saw the men with their guns.

“Wha...what’s going on?” she asked.

“We’re FBI agents. We understood this was Megan James’s apartment,” Alexander said.

“It is. I’m her roommate.” Her eyes were still huge even as Alexander holstered his gun.

“Where is Megan?” he asked.

“She left just a little while ago to head over to the Humanities building. Professor Tanner called her late last night and told her his mother was ill and she should take over teaching his classes for the next week or so.”

“Thanks,” Alexander replied and turned to leave.

“Is Megan in some kind of trouble?” the woman asked.

“Let’s just say I’d be looking for a new roommate if I were you,” Matt said as the three of them hurried back to their car.

“This is so bizarre,” Nicholas said a few minutes later as they strode toward the Humanities building. “How can she believe she isn’t in any trouble? How can she possibly explain being at your house last night?”

“I’d like to know how Tanner is going to explain having a sick mother when his mother died years ago,” Alexander said tersely. He was ready for this to end. He made a quick call to Tim to let him know they were headed to the college campus.

When they reached Tanner’s office door, Alexander didn’t bother to knock. He opened the door to see Megan at the desk. Her eyes widened as the three men came through the doorway.

“Agent Harkins,” she said in surprise. “I’m afraid if you’re looking for Professor Tanner again, you’re going to have a long wait. His mother is ill and he’s left town.”

Alexander stared at her, wondering if she was completely psychotic. She didn’t appear to be concerned that he was here and acted like she hadn’t seen him since the last time he and Georgina had been here to speak to Tanner.

“That’s funny since his mother died a long time ago. What I’d like to know is what you were doing on my doorstep last night.” Had it only been last night that he’d held Georgina in his arms and told her how much he loved her?

Megan frowned. “Me? At your house last night? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She gave him a confident smile that suddenly boiled his blood. “Surely you’re mistaken, Agent Harkins, I don’t even know where you live. Did anyone besides you see me there?”

The tension that had coiled inside him snapped. He motioned toward Matt. “Take her into custody.”

As Matt moved forward and pulled handcuffs from his pocket, alligator tears began to track down Megan’s cheeks. “Please, I don’t know what’s going on. Why would you think I was at your house? What is it you think I’ve done wrong?”

Matt cuffed her hands behind her back as she continued to cry. “This is all a mistake. Please, explain to me what’s happening. I don’t understand.”

Alexander motioned for Matt to get her out of the office. Nicholas gazed at Alexander with a wry, tight smile. “So now we know her defense. There were three people at your house last night. One of them isn’t talking and her story is she was never there. The word of a drugged-up FBI agent against a sobbing, innocent teacher’s aide.” He shrugged. “It might work for her. I’ve seen defense attorneys work with less.”

Alexander’s phone rang. Terry was downstairs with their search warrants in hand. Alexander and Nicholas took the stairs two at a time down and out of the building where Matt had loaded a still weeping Megan into the back of Terry’s car.

“Tanner’s place,” Alexander said as the three agents once again were in the car. “My gut says we won’t find anything of use in Megan’s place, but if Tanner is Bob, then he might have something in his house that will confirm not only that fact but might also point to where he is holding the hostages.”

Aware of the minutes...hours lost, Alexander wished he could freeze time. It was already nearly ten. Too many hours had passed. They had to find something at Tanner’s. He had to pray that the answers were there.

When they reached Tanner’s town house, Alexander knocked on the door once and then he and Matt threw their shoulders against it to pop the lock. It took three tries before the door sprang open and they all entered.

With guns drawn, they cleared each room one at a time, then certain that Tanner was no place in the house, they began their search for some sort of evidence.

“Matt, you take the kitchen and dining area. Nicholas, check out the master bedroom. I’m going to go over everything in his office,” Alexander said. “Try to do as little damage as possible but don’t leave a single place unsearched.”

The second bedroom had been turned into a home office and the first thing he did was sit at the desk and begin going methodically through the drawers. He didn’t know what exactly he was looking for, but knew he’d recognize it on sight.

The first desk drawer held pens and paper clips and the office materials that were usually in a desk. The side drawer held hanging file folders that contained what appeared to be old lesson plans.

Aware of time ticking by, he quickly searched each and every file. He found nothing in the desk of interest. He opened up the laptop on the desktop and found it password protected. He shut it down, intending to take it to Tim when they left here.

With his heart ticking off the time...precious time that was moving far too fast, he checked the bookcase that held only books from top to bottom.

Hearing nothing from the other agents, he sat back down at the desk and leaned back, a well of grief threatening to pull him in and drown him.

His good friend, Jackson, six other innocent people and Georgina, all gone...vanished as if lifted from the face of the earth. And the only clue they had was that they were certain Bob had sprung from the swamp.

He frowned as he realized he’d been staring at a framed 8 x 10 photo on the wall opposite him. It was a picture of a swamp and what appeared to be an old, crumbling concrete building peeking through the trees.

He jumped up from his chair and grabbed the photo from the wall. “Matt, Nicholas,” he called. When the two agents entered the office, he held out the photo. “Either one of you know where this might be?”

“I have no idea,” Matt replied.

“Doesn’t look familiar to me,” Nicholas added.

Alexander set the photo on the edge of the desk and ripped off the frame and glass. This was it. He knew that this was where Tanner was keeping the captives.

The pit of his stomach burned as he thought of Tanner sitting at his desk and perhaps sipping a fine wine while staring at the place where he’d stashed his victims. He could just imagine the pleasure that swept through the madman when he viewed this photo.

Once the picture was out of the frame, Alexander looked at the back, releasing a small gasp of relief as he saw writing on the bottom.

“Baton Rouge Institute for the Criminally Insane,” he read aloud. “Shelter Swamp, Baton Rouge.” He looked at the two men. “This is it. Matt, get on the phone to Tim and get us a location for Shelter Swamp.”

“Nicholas, call in the troops, have them meet us here.” Alexander’s hands trembled too much to make the calls. He clutched the photo tightly, knowing in his very gut that this was the place and Tanner was their man.

But it would take them an hour or so to pull everything together and get there, and he had no idea how long Tanner had been gone or if he was with the victims.

They were closing in, but would they be in time?

Chapter Fourteen

One thing Georgina realized while she sat on her bunk and listened to the conversations of the others was that they had formed a bond, a bond that would see them through the rest of their lives...if they got the opportunity to live the rest of their lives.

The second thing she’d realized was that she believed she would die here. She knew the lack of clues the team had, the vast area of swampland they had to explore. The odds of the captives being found were minimal in her mind.

In facing death, she realized how much she wanted to live...to really live, not just go through the motions as she’d been doing for most of her life.

Alex’s words of love had done so much to soothe the wounds that her childhood had left behind. She realized she’d been playing a loop in her head for years, telling herself she was a failure, that she was no good to anyone. Words from her past that had made her believe she was not good enough for Alex, that he would be much better off without her.

She had told him that maybe he needed therapy to get over his guilt concerning the Gilmer case, but she was the one who needed therapy to finally heal the inner child inside her who had been abused and abandoned.

Now it was too late for therapy, it was too late to tell Alex just how much she loved him and that she did want a do-over with him. With the self-realizations that had come from this case, she felt better, stronger and was ready to accept Alex’s love and build a life with him.

She supposed she should thank Bob for making her immerse herself in her past. She had come out stronger on the other side. Unfortunately, the only way she might thank Bob was if he released everyone and then sacrificed himself by falling into the swamp and drowning.

As if summoned by her very thoughts, the door on the opposite side of the room opened and Bob walked in. As usual his face was covered by a ski mask. He grabbed the folding chair and then carried it over in front of her cell, opened it and sat.

“Hello, Georgina.” His voice seemed to hold genuine affection.

“Hello, Bob.” Her voice did not.

“I thought we’d have a little chat. I’ve so enjoyed speaking to you in the past,” he said.

“First I’d like you to just answer one question for me. Why? Why are you doing this? Why do you want to be a serial killer?” She needed to know the reason for all of this before she died.

“I not only want to be the best serial killer in the world, but I also want to be the best teacher.” He reached up and pulled off his ski mask and she was stunned to see Professor Jacob Tanner’s boyish face.

His unmasking of himself also rang a death knell for them all. There was no way he’d allow any of them to live now that he’d shown them his face.

“I lied to you when I told you I killed my parents,” he said. “I’ve never killed anyone before, but I’ve dreamed about it, I’ve obsessed about it since I was a very young boy.”

“Then let us all go. Nobody is dead yet and we’ll all ask the judge to go easy on you.” She got up from her cot and stood in front of him, her hands gripping the iron bars. “You’re an esteemed professor, Jacob. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to become a killer.”

“Oh, but I do.” His blue eyes shone with a brilliance that could only be madness. He leaned forward, the intensity of his gaze sickening her. “How can I teach my students about serial killers without creating death myself? How can I tell them about the power you feel when you watch the life drain from a victim’s eyes, when you place your hand on their chest and feel their very last breath?”

“You’re crazy,” Jackson said.

“Shut up,” Tanner replied as he pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed it at Jackson. “I’m ready to begin my new life, as a brilliant teacher and as a killer. I was going to give Georgina the honor of being my first victim, but I’m not adverse to changing my mind and picking you.”

“Then pick me,” Jackson said as he grabbed the bars of his cage and shook them like an enraged gorilla.

“Stop it,” Georgina said frantically. “Jackson, don’t try to be a hero. Professor Tanner and I have a relationship that none of you have, that none of you could possibly understand.”

“That’s right.” Tanner lowered the gun and smiled at her.

“Did you lie about your childhood, too?” she asked. At least as long as he was talking, he wasn’t killing anyone.

His eyes darkened. “No, I didn’t lie about that. I grew up in the swamp and my father was a brutal man who drank too much and then beat me and my mother half senseless. I knew early on that the only way I was going to get out of the swamp and escape him—escape them—was through education. I worked hard and got scholarships that saw me through all of my schooling.”

“Where are your parents now?” she asked.

“Probably living in the same old shack where I grew up. When I left for college, I never looked back. I never went back there. For all I know, they both could be dead.” He straightened tall in the chair with obvious pride. “I was better than that. I was better than both of them.”

“You’ve done so well, Jacob. Why screw it all up now?” she asked.

Once again his eyes glittered with ill-concealed excitement. “I’m not screwing anything up now. I’m just becoming what I was always meant to be. I’ve learned everything I need to know from these men and women. How can I screw up when I have all I need to know how to kill unmercifully and never be caught?”

“Eventually you will get caught,” Georgina replied. “We always catch them. You’ll get arrogant and that will lead to you getting sloppy and you’ll make a mistake.”

“You’re wrong. I’ve been trained by the very best.” He gestured down the row of cells. “It was easy for me to pick them out. Michelle sent me her book chapter by chapter long before it was ever published. I used her research for her book to find three sterling examples of profilers to help teach me.”

“You must have been quite amused when Agent Harkins and I came to talk to you about Michelle and Roger,” she replied.

He laughed, a sound that was jarringly pleasant given the dire circumstances and the surroundings. “I have to admit I was quite amused, although I admired the fact that you’d homed in on Michelle and Roger so quickly.”

“Why me? How did you find me? My phone number and address?” The questions had haunted her.

“I saw you that night at Michelle’s book signing. I heard you and Agent Harkins introduce yourselves to Michelle. The internet is a wonderful tool if you can pay for certain services. It only took me minutes to have your phone number and address at my disposal.”

“Let Macy go,” she said softly. “She can’t hurt you, Jacob. She’s just a little girl. She deserves to have a long and happy life.”

“Not all people get happy childhoods—you know that as well as I do,” Tanner replied. “From what you told me, you suffered tremendously as a child.”

“That’s right,” she said, owning the truth for what felt like the very first time in her life. “I was physically, mentally and emotionally terrorized from the time I was born until I was sixteen, both by my parents and by my older sisters. But that didn’t make me want to kill people. I chose to turn my life around, to make something of myself. And you’ve done that, Professor. Your students adore you. Your classes are the most popular on campus. Why can’t that be enough?”

“Because it’s not,” he cried in sudden rage. “I have a plan that will cause people to tremble when they think of me, to have nightmares about me. I want to make headlines and I want to kill. I have a bloodlust, Georgina, and finally I’m going to satisfy it. I’m done killing gators in the swamp. I want to kill people.”

He stood abruptly and kicked his chair back. He waved his gun in the air and Georgina backed away from the bars. Danger crackled in the air and the only sound was a faint whimper from Macy.

Tanner laughed again, knowing that he was the one in control, knowing that he struck fear in each and every person in the room. His laughter held a sickening glee that Georgina feared would linger in her head even as she died.

“I’m tired of talking,” Tanner said. He stalked up the line of cells, pointing his gun into each one, obviously reveling in the fear he struck in each of his captives’ hearts.

He finally stopped and stood once again in front of Georgina’s cell. “It’s time to quit talking and start acting.” He raised his gun and pointed it at her.

“Freeze!” The achingly familiar voice came from the doorway at the same time Tanner’s gun discharged and a bullet slammed into her chest, throwing her backward to the floor as pain seared through her.

She was vaguely aware of the sound of other shots and then Alex was at her cell door, yelling for somebody to get the key, to get medical help. Frantic, he was so frantic and she wanted to tell him to calm down, that everything was going to be all right.

She knew that something important was happening, but she couldn’t remember what. Cold. Why was she so cold? She wanted to tell Alex to hurry, to come and warm her in his big strong arms, but the words refused to form on her lips no matter how hard she tried to speak.

Finally he was there next to her and she was shocked to see tears trekking down his cheeks. “Hang on, baby,” he said. “Help is on the way.”

She managed to raise her hand and place it on the side of his beautiful, handsome face. “Do-over,” she managed to say, her voice coming from very far away as darkness sprang out of nowhere and took possession of her.

* * *

I
S
THIS
WHAT
DEATH
WAS
LIKE
? Georgina’s thoughts raced as she remained unmoving, with her eyes closed, in a soft, comfortable bed. But, surely, death didn’t involve the soft steady sound of deep snoring.

Familiar snoring. She opened her eyes and realized she wasn’t dead, but rather was in a hospital room. The snoring came from an obviously exhausted Alex, who was slumped in a chair nearby and sleeping deeply.

She closed her eyes once again and thought about what had happened before she’d fallen unconscious. She’d been shot, but Alex had saved her. He’d saved them all.

She remembered the shots that had rung through the structure as she’d fallen to the floor of her cell. There was no doubt in her mind that Professor Jacob Tanner, FBI-trained serial killer, was dead, but little Macy would hopefully live a happy and wonderful life with her parents who so loved her.

Georgina was in pain, but it was manageable. She wondered what medical magic had been done to her in order to keep her here on earth.

She opened her eyes again and turned to look at Alex, his eyes drifted open, going from a sleepy blue to the blue of an electric charge.

“Georgina!” He jumped from the chair and was by her side in two short strides. “Thank God.” He grabbed on to her hand and squeezed tight, his eyes moist with unshed tears.

He looked awful. His eyes were red-rimmed and his jaw sported a growth of dark whiskers. Stress lines dug into his skin, making him look half-sick.

She licked her chapped lips and realized her throat was sore. He seemed to know exactly what she needed as he grabbed a glass of water from a nearby tray and gently lifted her head so she could take a little sip of the cool liquid from a thin straw.

“I’ve got to let the doctor know that you’re awake,” he said.

“Wait,” the word croaked out of her. “How long have I been here?”

“Two long, terrible days.”

“You look like crap.”

He laughed and some of the tension eased from his face, from his shoulders. “Honey, you should look in a mirror right about now.”

A nurse walked in and stopped in surprise. “You’re awake. I’ll go let the doctor know.” As she turned on squeaky heels and left the room, Georgina looked back at Alex.

“What’s the damage?” she asked.

“Two broken ribs, one destroyed spleen...”

“And a partridge in a pear tree,” she quipped.

He smiled and once again squeezed her hand. “Now I know for sure you’re going to be fine.” The smile fell as he released a ragged sigh. “I thought I’d lost you, Georgina. I thought I’d lost you forever.”

“You can’t get rid of me so easily.”

“I don’t want to get rid of you ever,” he replied. “Do you remember what you said to me after you’d been shot?” His beautiful blue eyes gazed at her intently.

She frowned, trying to remember those moments before she’d fallen unconscious. And then she remembered and she grasped the moment in both hands, knowing what she wanted more than anything else in the world.

“Do-over. I told you I wanted a do-over.”

He nodded, the tension creeping back across his handsome features as his eyes darkened. “I didn’t know exactly what you meant, whether you wanted a do-over of the night you were kidnapped, or if you wanted a do-over with me...with us.”

She could tell he was holding his breath, hoping that she answered the way he wanted her to. “I probably need some therapy,” she said tentatively.

He nodded. “We can do that. We can do anything together, Georgina. We belong together.”

She gazed at him, falling into the love that shone from his eyes, believing in the love that was in her heart for him. She wanted to be the one he turned to in the night when demons chased him in his dreams. And she wanted him to be the one to hold her when her own darkness tried to claim her.

“I’m good enough,” she said.

“Damn straight you are. You deserve to be happy, Georgina, and I promise you that I will spend every day for the rest of my life working to keep you happy.”

“Alex, I was a fool to walk out on you...on us. I didn’t believe I deserved to be happy, but after hearing what Tanner said about his past and seeing what hanging on to that pain created in him, I know I’m better than that. I need to let go of my past to have my future and I want that future to be with you.”

He leaned forward and gave her a gentle kiss. “I want to grab you and hug you tight right now, but I don’t think that would be a very good idea.”

“That is definitely a bad idea,” a man who was obviously a doctor said as he walked into the room.

He nodded at Alex and then walked to the side of Georgina’s bed. “Georgina, I’m Dr. Mac Evans.” He placed a gentle hand on her wrist and checked her pulse, then stood back and smiled. “You gave us all quite a scare for a little while, but it looks like you’re going to be just fine.”