Forever Mine (28 page)

It seemed strange, even spooky to be completely alone in the house. For the past two weeks, either Ben or Detective Thompson had hovered nearby. She wondered where Ben was and if he had caught up with Dave. Would he return to the house for one last night of guard duty if Dave was still on the loose? Would his captain allow it, with a manhunt taking place all over the city and Ben an integral part of it? She had confidence in Ben and the local cops high; she had to believe they’d capture Dave.

A quiet as profound as the ocean’s depths hung over the house, something it had never bothered Allie before. After a hectic day, she’d always relished the tranquility. But tonight, the total absence of sound spooked her. For once, even the Great Highway seemed devoid of traffic noise.

She checked her watch. It read close to midnight. She stood and pondered her next move, totally without purpose. When had thinking become such a chore? She ought to change out of her clothes and put on a nightgown and robe. However, even performing tasks as mindless as walking into the bedroom, opening a drawer, pushing aside a closet door, overwhelmed her. Her legs felt leaden, refused to move. Exhaustion ripped deep into her bones. The silence grated on her nerves.

Maybe music was the answer, something soft and soothing, one of the CDs she played in the background when she worked. In the evening, when she wanted to kick back and clear her mind, her favorite selections helped her relax. Tonight, music held no appeal, in spite of the advantage of relieving the silence. Perhaps a cup of herbal tea might fill the bill. She had nothing stronger in the house.

She entered the kitchen, shrugged off her jacket and hung it over the back of a chair. No moon shone. Mist had obscured its silvery light, as if a dark curtain draped the window. She ran water from the tap, filled a mug and set it in the microwave. Had it been almost a week since Ben had brewed her a cup of tea? Where was he now? Was he giving Dave the third degree or whatever policemen did after an arrest? Was Dave even in custody? The object of a city-wide search, the strong possibility existed he no longer posed a threat to her. He wouldn’t dare turn up at the house.

It made going into hiding a moot point when she returned from Cabo. Her little house was as impregnable as a fortified castle. At least, it had always seemed that way to her. By the end of her vacation, she expected to have her energy restored. Unlike this feeling of bucking the tide, as if she walked neck deep in water. She’d need all her energy for the final round of competition.

She massaged her temples while she waited for the water to heat, pressing her fingers deep into the muscles, working to ward off a headache.

The microwave pinged. She removed the mug of hot water and reached for the box of tea bags. A soft thud came from the far end of the hall.

It took a moment to process the sound. Finally, she turned toward the kitchen doorway. A man’s body filled it.

She dropped the mug. The crockery hit the floor with the sound of a gunshot and broke into dozens of pieces. Steaming water splashed the russet-patterned laminate, stinging drops spattered her legs. She sucked her breath back into her throat.

“Hey there, Allie Cat.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Allie stared, frozen. Immediate recognition flooded her mind. He had the same pug nose and unruly thatch of greasy, medium brown hair that almost brushed his shoulders. A light beard covered his lower face. His body had filled out, the chest much broader. Once scrawny arms were now sculpted with thick muscles banded by the sleeves of a soiled black T-shirt. Silver lightning bolts, shooting out of a skeleton’s head, spread across the front. Worn jeans hung from his narrow hips. At one time, they were almost the same height, but he must have had a growth spurt during the past two years. He easily topped six feet.

“Jimmy.” Her fisted hand pressed against her chest while her heart jumped against the wall. Her breath came hard and fast. She fought her way out of the haze of shock. “How did you get in here?”

He smiled, rummaged in his pocket and produced a key chain, which he held aloft and jiggled. Three keys dangled from the metal loop. He fingered one, separated it from the others. “How do you think?”

What she thought was a total impossibility. She shook her head, refused to believe she had left one nightmare behind only to stare at another.

“I used my key.” Pride in his accomplishment tinged his voice.

Allie’s pulse danced to a mad rhythm in her throat. How could he have entered the house, and she’d heard nothing? No door opening or closing? Not even the creak of a step as he climbed the worn staircase. Was he alone? Had Dave escaped from the police? More horrifying, was Dave somewhere in the house? An involuntary shudder ripped through her body. A sense of menace overcame her.

“Are you alone?” She forced the words out through a throat that felt stuffed with wads of cotton. Her eyes remained forged to his in fear of what might lurk beyond the kitchen doorway.

“Yeah.” He frowned as if surprised by the question.

Relief should have flooded her body but didn’t. Her raspy breath escaped through her parted lips. “Where did you get a key to my house?”

A pleased look flitted across his face. “I found out where you hid it. One day, you locked yourself out. I can’t even remember when, maybe it was five or six years ago. You came out from the garage and put a plastic bag near the curb then couldn’t get back inside. I saw you kept your spare key in a cup in one of the cupboards.”

He sauntered further into the kitchen. With every step he seemed to grow taller, more menacing. “Sometimes you left the garage door up, maybe for only a minute or two, like when you brought home groceries and stuff. I snuck in one time and borrowed the key and had a copy made. Put yours back first chance I got, and you never knew what I done.”

Saliva dried inside Allie’s mouth. Wariness tensed her body. “Why?” Her voice cracked.

He pinned her with his eyes. “Hey, why do you think, a smart chick like you? So I could get inside.”

He’d had a key to her house. Still had it after all these years? A wave of fear pulsed through her.

“Were you in here all this time?” She pinched her brow tightly as pain radiated through her forehead.

“I let myself inside earlier. Nearly pissed my pants when I heard people come in with you. Who was it anyway? Sounded like cops.”

She ignored his question.

“Doesn’t matter.” He tapped the side of his head and continued into the kitchen. “Quick thinking saved the day. Or should I say night.”

He chortled. “I remembered these houses have a crawl space under the roof. I used to hide in ours when my mom was mad at me. Whew. Just about had time to haul myself up through the ceiling opening in the hallway. I stuck the panel back before whoever it was came upstairs.”

She had never been afraid of Jimmy. He’d always been that lost kid who lived next door, who later on roamed the neighborhood, looking for a handout. Those times, when she’d given him food or money, she’d considered him no more than an occasional annoyance in her life. She’d never thought of him as threatening, as dangerous. But she had never found him inside her house before. Nor, to her knowledge, had he ever palled around with a serial killer before. Panic skidded up her chest and jumped into her throat, clogging it as if fear were something tangible. The tendons in her neck tightened. She forced herself not to gag.

“Now don’t get mad. I never done nothing like this when you were home. Of course, you would’ve known if I did.” He made a clucking sound with his tongue. “Then I don’t know what would’ve happened.” He cocked his head, and a silly grin puckered his lips. “Once, I stayed almost half an hour. Pushed the envelope, like they say. I touched some of your stuff, but I never stole nothing.”

Although he hadn’t touched
her
yet, his very presence felt like a violation to Allie. She was more frightened than she could ever remember being.

He shoved the keys into his jean’s pocket. “I used to watch you a lot from our front window or track you from the dunes across the street. Sometimes I’d follow you when you jogged on the beach. You never knew it was me back there, pumping away like I actually wanted the exercise. But I only did it to get close to you. When you worked in your garden I’d peek through a hole in the backyard fence and watch you.” He stepped in closer to her. “This is a whole lot nicer. It’s just the two of us together, like I’d always hoped.”

Allie had not allowed herself to think ahead, to think about being alone with him, to think of what he had in mind for her. The tension pulled taut every muscle and sinew in her body, pulled them so tight she thought something inside her must snap.

He reached out and slid his fingers down her bare arm. His eyes gleamed with excitement. She jumped back and hit the sharp edge of the counter. The pain barely registered. Her thundering heart slammed against the wall of her chest.

“Dave is going to be in for a big surprise tomorrow. Won’t he be royally pissed off when he finds out he missed the party? Except he was never included. I’m not stupid.”

She swallowed her disgust, fought against the fear scraping her spine like a crone’s spidery claw. Somehow, she had to keep her composure and her wits if she was going to survive the coming hours. She wasn’t on Ben’s radar any longer. Even the two cops who’d brought her home would have no inkling of her immediate danger when they drove by to check the house. Not unless she could somehow coax Jimmy downstairs and signal them from the office window. What were the chances of that? Probably none. No, the few comforts the house possessed were upstairs.

Her cell phone lay on the kitchen table, tantalizingly close. Would she have time to reach it and call 911?

Jimmy’s eyes followed her gaze. He scooped up the phone and jammed it into his pocket.

Now, her only chance was to keep him talking. Give herself time to plot an escape.

Her private phone line in the master bedroom rang, giving her hope. But Jimmy stood between her and the kitchen doorway. If she tried to bolt for the hallway, he’d stop her in an instant. She’d never make it into her bedroom, and she refused to give him an excuse to put his hands on her.

The answering machine in the rear downstairs room clicked on and picked up a message. The voice was too far away to distinguish the words or differentiate if the caller was a man or a woman. Possibly it was her mother who couldn’t wait another moment to get an explanation of the evening’s disastrous conclusion. Or maybe it was Ben, calling her to say they’d apprehended Dave. In that case, there would be no need for him to return to the house. No reminders of him remained here except possibly a leftover Coke in the fridge. There was nothing here important enough to draw him back.

The machine clicked off.

Thoughts ricocheted through Allie’s mind. She had to distract Jimmy. Her life depended on her staying calm.

“I’ll bet you didn’t hear Dave was arrested tonight. He’s in a lot of trouble,” she said.

“You kiddin’ me?”

“No. Detectives here in the city have been on the alert for him ever since you left Seattle. They caught up with Dave at the fashion show.” She spoke as if she were certain he’d been captured, although she had no such assurance. “The police are looking for you, too, Jimmy. Right now you’re not in any trouble.” Her tone was soothing, convincing. “I know a detective I can call…”

He waved that off.

“Cops.” He spat out the word. “We dodged them with no trouble. Dave was good about staying out of sight. Knew how to find a place to spend a couple days, steal a car and switch license plates with another one. Dave said people hardly ever look at their plates, but, just in case someone did, we dumped the car every couple hundred miles. He thought he knew all the moves.” Jimmy laughed. “Pretty clever, but it looks like it turned out I was smarter than him.”

Allie nodded as if she agreed with Jimmy’s intelligence assessment. “Well, right now, yes. That’s why we need to call the police, so they’ll know you haven’t done anything wrong.”
Yet.

“You never had to worry about Dave. I never told him the truth about where you lived, only that the house was near the beach. Once we got to San Francisco, I figured I didn’t need him anymore to like…show me the ropes. He thought you lived way up near the Cliff House. We were supposed to hook up at our hotel later tonight then drop by there tomorrow.”

Allie frowned. What Jimmy said made no sense.

“You’re mistaken, Jimmy. Dave knows my address. Otherwise, how else could he have sent me flowers?”

Jimmy’s wide grin wiped away the momentary confusion that had crimped his face. “He didn’t send you no flowers, Allie. They were from me.”

Allie’s mind latched onto the memory of the enclosed heart and the message
Forever Mine
. The same paper heart message Dave had left near the bodies of the women he killed. She froze as if her spinal fluid had turned to ice. Jimmy must have known about those two diabolical words. Every fiber in her body begged her to scream, but he’d be all over her in seconds. Haste was her enemy. She needed time to figure out something and stay alive.

“I bet you wondered about the ’Guess Who’. I couldn’t very well use my own name. I planned to clear up the mystery once I got here. Did you wonder about the message? Dave clued me in about how he left his ’calling card’ when he was through with a woman. A heart signed ‘
Forever Mine’.
Get it? After him, there’d never be no one else. Same with me now.”

Allie’s heartbeats seemed to trip over themselves. Barely having exhaled, she sucked in another frenzied breath.

“How much you wanna bet the police are gonna blame Dave?”

Chapter Forty

Ben sat in a dreary interrogation room opposite Dave. Earlier, he’d phoned Allie on her private line to assure her they had Dave in police custody. Since it was after midnight, he wasn’t surprised her phone went unanswered. She must have been exhausted and gone straight to bed the moment she reached home. The two policemen who’d escorted her home had done a thorough search of the house. At least he’d left a message on her machine confirming Barnett’s capture, and she could breathe easy.