Her Darkest Nightmare (40 page)

“No, hasn't been in all day, which is why I'm stuck on the blasted phones.”

“I'm sure it's a big help to have you there,” she said. “Can you tell me where he is?”

“Last I heard he was over at Hanover House. You haven't seen him?”

Both Penny and Linda had gravitated to her office. She'd been too preoccupied to bother closing the door.

“No,” she told him. “But I haven't been in my office for most of the day.”

“Hang on. I'll get him on the radio.”

“Thanks.” She waited two or three minutes. Then Phil came back on the line.

“He's with the warden, arresting Officer Kush, but he'll stop by soon.”

“Is it true what Dr. Fitzpatrick said?” Penny asked when she was off the phone.

Evelyn frowned, her mind going in a million different directions. “What?”

“That you're infatuated with Sergeant Amarok?”

She rocked back. “Would that be so hard to believe?”

“Not really,” Penny replied. “I mean … I guess I just never imagined you as…”

As being anywhere close to his age? Was that what was coming next? Evelyn braced for it, just in case. “As?”

“As having any interests outside work,” Linda supplied.

Evelyn hadn't—until she'd met Amarok. That was what frightened her. She was falling in love with entirely the wrong person, someone she could never hope to keep even if she remained in Alaska. She had trust issues. Getting with a younger man, one so many other women desired, wasn't going to help.

“Sometimes things change,” Evelyn said.

“We all need outside interests,” Penny said. “You can worship at his feet along with the rest us,” she added as if that were all Evelyn could ever hope for.

Evelyn glanced away. Little did Penny know she was doing a little more than that.…

 

26

The more I looked at people, the more I hated them.

—CHARLES STARKWEATHER, TEENAGE SPREE KILLER

Anthony Garza lay awake in solitary confinement, staring at the ceiling while waiting for the man he was expecting. That man had promised to let Anthony out of “the hole,” out of the entire prison, so that he could do what he wanted to do more than anything else in the world—which was get his hands around Evelyn Talbot's throat.

He rested his arm over his eyes as he listened for footsteps. Where was the bastard? Couldn't be much longer now. The note Anthony had been passed had indicated it wouldn't be late when it happened, and he had no reason to doubt the promises in that message. For one, he'd since been provided with a guard's uniform. For another, he'd received directions to the place Evelyn was most likely to be when she wasn't at the prison—the Alaska State Trooper's house where she was currently staying. Why would he be given those things if he wasn't really going to be freed?

Besides, the person he was dealing with had an exemplary track record. Anthony had been asked to shank Hugo Evanski and had been shuttled out of solitary and into the yard, hadn't he? Why would this be any different?

There was some serious shit going down in this prison.…

He remembered Dr. Talbot glaring at him when she said,
I've been attacked by much bigger and stronger men than you.
How dare she taunt him! He'd show her just how minimal her previous experiences had been. And he couldn't wait. He'd kill her slowly, enjoy every moment. He could already feel her pulse weakening beneath his fingertips as he crushed her windpipe, which caused his own heart to race with excitement.

She'd tell him exactly what Detective Green had on him—with her last breath. That would be good information to have in case he was ever caught again. But he didn't plan on returning to prison. He'd be gone by the time they found her body, and the guy who was letting him out knew it, said he needed the diversion. With one of the guards fudging the morning count, there should be just enough lead time.

The footfalls, when Anthony heard them, sounded steady and confident. This was a man who knew what he was doing, a man who could get things done.

Anthony could respect a dude like that.

*   *   *

Evelyn seemed far more remote than Amarok had expected, after last night. He'd been dying to see her again, but when he tried to catch her eye, to get her to smile at him, she wouldn't even meet his gaze. After he walked in, she closed the door and gave him a wide berth as she circled to her desk—very professional, all business, as if they'd never slept together.

“Phil said you wanted to see me,” he said. “What's going on?” He'd hoped it was for personal reasons. Despite all the pressure he was under, he'd been anxious to catch a glimpse of her. But he could tell this wasn't an “I miss you. Last night was great.” It was something else, something far less welcome.

“Did you know that Dr. Fitzpatrick has packed up his office and left?” she asked.

He felt himself stiffen as he bit back a curse. “When?”

She glanced at her watch. “About an hour and a half ago.”

Shit.
“What'd he say?”

“Nothing. He did it while I was on the prison side. Penny told me when I came back—and I checked. His office is empty, except for a number of files on old patients that couldn't be very valuable to him, anyway. He took the one on me.”

Amarok shoved a hand through his hair as he tried to decide how this might impact his case. What was going on with Fitzpatrick? Was he running? “Actually, I've got that file. I spoke to him earlier, made him give it to me.”

She seemed to breathe a little easier. “What'd he say when he found out you knew?”

“He was humiliated. He has a lot of pride. Have you tried to reach him?”

“He's not answering at his house. Penny mentioned to me—”

“Penny's your assistant, right?” He had so many names, places and people in his head right now, and he was going on so little sleep.…

“
Really?
” she said. “As crazy as she is about you?”

Evelyn didn't act like she was teasing. Amarok got the impression that Penny's admiration wasn't working in his favor where
she
was concerned.

“Why would I remember
her
?” he asked. “She has nothing to do with this case. And she's not the woman I'm interested in.”

She looked up at him then,
really
looked at him for the first time since he'd walked into her office. “Who
are
you interested in?”

“Who do you think? I want
you,
Evelyn.” He was tired of messing around, of second-guessing what she might be thinking or feeling or what she might do if he revealed the level of his interest. He didn't want to scare her off, but as far as he was concerned, it was too late to pretend it wouldn't sting if she rejected him. When he thought of her, he felt something he'd never felt before. And if last night had shown him anything, it was that there was something about Evelyn Talbot that fit him perfectly—despite all the reasons they could both list as to why that should be otherwise.

“Even if we could get past the age difference—” she started.

He lifted a hand. “Don't even bring that up. Just answer me this: Do you want to come home to me at night?”

She bit her lip.

“You look scared,” he said. “And that scares me. It's a simple question. Yes or no?”

“We've got so much going on right now, Amarok. Why don't we wait until—”

“I'm not waiting for anything,” he broke in.
“Yes or no?”

When she covered her mouth, he scowled at her. “Is it that hard to figure out?”

“No. It's not!” she snapped. “It's hard to say.”

“Because…”

“Love hurts!”

He lowered his voice. “Not always, Evelyn. Give me the chance to prove otherwise.”

After briefly closing her eyes, she nodded.

His heart was pounding. He hadn't meant to come in here and lay it all on the line like this, wasn't sure what had gotten into him. They had been spending time together for a few days. But somehow he'd known even before she'd come to stay with him that he wanted her. “So you'll move in with me on a more permanent basis?”

“That's a big step.”

“There's no reason to wait.”

She fiddled with her belt. “What about my cat?”

“Sigmund's invited, too.”

“Makita might not like it.…”

“I say we introduce them, see if they can get along. Makita will adjust.”

She studied him for several seconds.

“What do you say?” he asked.

“Okay.”

He drew a deep breath, hardly able to believe that, in the end, she'd capitulated so easily. “Then we'll start there. I don't know what you're going to do, how long you'll even stay in Alaska. But I want to be with you while you're here. It's that simple.”

Her eyebrows gathered. “It won't stay simple. Romantic relationships never do—”

“It's simple right now,” he said. “And we're going to leave it at that.”

She seemed taken aback. “I didn't expect this. Not so soon.”

“I figure if I want you to lower your defenses, I have to lower mine first. One of us has to take the lead. I can't put that on you, not after all you've been through.”

“So you're going to be our fearless leader?” she teased.

“I'm going to fight for what I'm feeling,” he said. “In spite of Jasper. You already mean too much to me. I don't want to lose you.”

He wasn't sure how she would've responded because Penny knocked before leaning into the room. “Dr. Talbot, I've tried Dr. Fitzpatrick's house a dozen times. If he's there, he won't pick up.”

“Thank you, Penny. You can give it a rest.”

Her assistant's gaze traveled to him. Then she blushed and ducked out.

He ignored her interest and was grateful when Evelyn did, too.

“Did Fitzpatrick leave because of that file?” she asked. “Or is he involved in something else, something worse?”

“I can't answer that quite yet. What I can tell you is that Tim Hancock isn't the Tim in Danielle's book.”

“You're sure?”

“Positive. He has an airtight alibi. On the date his name shows up, he was in California, attending his mother's funeral.”

Her eyes widened. “You're not … I mean, there's no way
Fitzpatrick
slept with Danielle.…”

“He did. He admitted it.” Fortunately, Fitzpatrick hadn't realized he could lie.…

“I can't believe that.” She shook her head. “Or maybe I can. I talked to Glenn Whitcomb, one of the COs I'm friendly with. He said he overheard Fitzpatrick saying something strange to Hugo. Tim's name seems to be popping up a lot.”

When she explained what Glenn had told her, Amarok said, “I'm not surprised.”

She tucked her hair behind her ears. “So … Fitzpatrick must've quit, right?”

“Looks that way to me. I'm guessing he couldn't face you. And, from his perspective, there's not much point in waiting to be fired.”

“I wonder what Janice will do when she finds out what he's been up to.”

“Janice?”

“My boss at the BOP.”

“You haven't talked to her?”

“She's been out of the office.”

“When will she be back?”

“Next Wednesday.”

“That doesn't give us a lot of time to get the answers she's going to demand.”

“I know. It feels like I'm strapped to a time bomb. But first things first. Shouldn't we stop Fitzpatrick, in case he's trying to flee? He could be guilty of more than having sex with Danielle.”

“‘Could be' is the key phrase.”

“It's looking more and more likely. I wouldn't want him to go on the run, Amarok. We have to catch whoever is behind these murders. I can't live with Lorraine's death ending the way my other friends' did. It'd be like having another Jasper out there.”

Amarok wished he
could
arrest Fitzpatrick, hold him at least until they sorted everything out, but it was impossible. They had nothing solid on him. “I understand. I'd have Tim watched, if only for the manpower. But I don't have the help, and I can't do it myself. I have to keep digging. There's still the chance he's not the one.”

“Everything seems to be pointing his way.”

“I'm not completely convinced. There's one thing that bothers me.”

“And that is…”

“He admitted to having dinner with Danielle on Saturday night—”

“That means he was the last person we know of to see her alive!”

“But when he left, she was fine.”

She moved a stack of files off to one side. “How do you know?”

“She had the chance to put him in that book of hers. And I don't think she'd risk adding his name while he was there. If he'd been aware of that record, he would've taken it.”

“I agree.”

“He was surprised when I told him about her size obsession and the number of other men she'd been with.”

“But she was killed sometime between Saturday night and Tuesday, when her arm showed up in my bed. He could've gone back.”

“What would've triggered his return? He considered her beneath him, which gives me the impression he'd only be with her if and when he desperately needed a woman. I doubt he'd feel the need to see her again that soon.”

“Maybe he told her not to tell anyone they'd been together and they got into an argument over it.”

He shook his head. That didn't seem to jive with the feeling he'd gotten, talking to Fitzpatrick. “I'm not sensing enough anger. He believed their encounter was a simple, private ‘release.' You should've seen him. He was stunned when I revealed what she'd been doing with other guys. I guess he thought she had a thing for him and him alone.”