Obsession (31 page)

“We’re not taking any chances.”

Eight minutes were required for the bomb squad to arrive, during which time the building was evacuated. Seven more to determine that the package contained no explosive devices. Two members of the squad opened the 8x8x6-inch box on the small conference table in the chief’s office.

Once the all clear was given, Jess and Burnett simultaneously approached the table and leaned forward to see inside the small package. Resting amid a mass of crumpled off-white padding paper was an envelope with her name scrawled across the front. 

The evidence tech reached in with gloved hands and lifted the envelope from the box. A white card inside included three words that stabbed right into Jess’s heart and twisted.

Congratulations. Let’s play
.

Stone cold fear filled her lungs. This was the way he began. “What else is in there?”

There would be more…a clue to the first victim.

The tech slowly picked through the packing paper. His gaze collided with Jess’s.

He had something.

With deft fingers he unfolded the paper and revealed a gold detective’s badge.

“Jesus Christ,” Burnett breathed the words. He yanked out his cell. “That’s Wells’ shield.”

Jess stared at the gold shield.
I like your friend
.

Lori
.

Oh, God
. All sensation bled out of Jess’s body. Spears hadn’t been talking about Dan…he’d meant Lori.

Wait.

This couldn’t be happening. It was too soon…Jess firmly believed Spears had been killing for years, his cycles annual. If he was escalating, what else about his MO would change?

There was no way to anticipate what those changes would be. And why send the message to Jess? He usually sent his little gifts to the victims’ closest family member. Lori had a mother and a sister.

But he’d figured out that Jess felt a connection to Lori.

That cold hard realty slid over Jess. And this was, after all, about her.

“Harper, find Wells. She’s not answering her cell.” Burnett listened for an endless moment.

Defeat sagged Jess’s shoulders. It would be too late. Lori wouldn’t be at work or home or at a friend’s.

She would be with
him
.

“I’m on my way,” Burnett said before putting his phone away. He turned to Jess. “Harper says he’s been trying to reach her all morning.” Burnett scrubbed a hand over his face. “He just got to her apartment. The door was ajar. There are signs of a struggle inside. Wells is gone.”

Jess stared at him, unable to speak. She had brought this evil here…to the first person in a long time she had thought would make a good friend.

“What can we expect, Jess? What’s his next move?”

The fear and worry haunting Burnett’s eyes had once haunted hers, but Jess had learned not to expend energy on those emotions where Spears was concerned. He tortured and killed, no deviation, no exceptions.

She moistened her lips. “He’ll torture her for however long he finds it amusing. Could be hours, could be days. Then he’ll kill her and leave her for us to find.”

“Sick son of a bitch.” Burnett’s face paled.

“The Bureau has been trying to catch the Player for years. If he doesn’t want to be found he won’t be. And once he’s begun, until he has tortured, raped and murdered five or six women, he won’t stop.”

“There’s no variation?” Burnett asked, “No hope that she might survive?”

“He has never varied before.” Jess looked deep into Burnett’s eyes and gave him the one hope they might have. “But this time is different. He has jumped back into the game more quickly. For some reason his cycle has escalated. There may be other changes. And I think I know why.”

She took a breath, steeled herself. “He’s found something more titillating than the usual routine. His curiosity has incited that twisted need of his. He loves this new rush and he wants more.”

Realization dawned and Burnett shook his head. “That is not going to happen.”

“It’s probably the only chance we’ve got of getting her back alive and even that’s not a given.”

No other cop had gotten close to Spears. Once she had uncovered his identity, which she still could not prove, she had let him draw closer. He was intrigued, curious and obviously excited. If she could keep him excited about the chase, he wouldn’t be as likely to turn to torturing Lori for his pleasure.

Burnett started for the door. “I’ll call our Bureau liaison en route.”

Jess followed. She felt numb.

Daniel Burnett had no idea just how ugly this would get.

The sole advantage they had right this minute was his most recently revealed desire. He wanted to play with Jess.

If there was any hope of saving Lori and the victims that would follow, Jess had to lure him closer. She had to play.

As Burnett issued orders via his cell Jess withdrew her own. She pulled up the
Tormenter
contact info and tapped a few keys. She wasn’t sure it would work. He could very well have tossed that phone days ago. Nonetheless, she hit send and prayed her words would reach the bastard. 

I’m ready to play
.

Before she and Burnett were out of the building, her cell vibrated. She checked the screen.

Your friend will be glad
.

Fury swept through Jess, obliterating the fear. She staunched the trembling in her hands and entered the words she wanted this son of a bitch to read and understand.

I’m coming for you
.

Whatever she had to do. She would get him this time. The vibration against her palm tightened her fingers around her phone as she lifted the screen once more.

I’m counting on it
.

Jess tucked her cell phone into her bag and climbed into Burnett’s SUV. She closed out all emotions that would encumber logical thought. Lori’s life depended on what she did next.

Jess fastened her seatbelt and stared forward.

This time when she had the son of a bitch face-to-face, there would be no worries about evidentiary or criminal procedure.

This time he was dead.

~***~

Continue reading for an exclusive excerpt from, IMPULSE, the next Faces of Evil novel by bestselling author Debra Webb, coming in November 2011.

IMPULSE

Faces of Evil

Debra Webb

“Men cannot always give an account of their impulses.”

Joseph Parker, The Ark of God

Chapter One

Monday, July 19
^th
, 10:31 a.m.

“Did you know that one drop of blood travels from the heart to the toes and back in under sixty seconds?”

Lori Wells tightened her fingers into fists and forced herself to meet the son of a bitch’s eyes. “Did
you
know all that blood rushing through my veins at this very moment is teeming with the urge to watch you die?”

He smiled, made a breathy sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “You are such a brave girl, Detective Wells. I wonder if that’s because your father committed suicide when you were so young.” He inclined his head and memorized each detail of her face like a lover intent on never forgetting the moment. “Did you have to help your mother clean up the blood afterwards? Or did your neighbors jump in to help?
Y’all do that down here in the south, don’t y’all
?”

Lori turned away from him.
Bastard
. How could he know so much about her? He hadn’t known her name five days ago.

A longsuffering sigh hissed past his lips. “You’re quite boring, detective.” He stood. “What should I do about that?”

Renewed fear trickled inside her. Lori snapped her head up and stared into those piercing blue eyes.
No
. She would not give him the pleasure. She hardened her expression, refused to let him see the fissure of terror widening inside her.
Don’t let him gain control
. “What’s wrong, Eric? Can’t get it up if I’m not crying like a scared little girl?”

Fury tightened his lips. He drew back his hand.

She braced for the blow.

He laughed at her instinctive reflex. Dropped his hand to his side. “See, you are a scared little girl. Frankly, I find all that feigned bravado quite tedious.”

“Life sucks like that sometimes.”

He made a sound of agreement. “It does indeed.” For five or six seconds he deliberated as if undecided as to how he would proceed. “You know why you’re here. Why make our time together more unpleasant than necessary? It’ll be much easier for both of us if you cooperate, Lori
Doodle
.”

How dare he call her that! Her father had given her that nickname…this scumbag had no right. She didn’t need him or a GPS to show her where this was headed. “Go to hell.”

She wasn’t making this easy for him. He would kill her anyway.

Spears turned his back and strode across the room.

Lori quickly scanned the space now that the lights were on, searching for any aspect of her surroundings that might provide some hint as to where the hell she was.

The fast-acting sedative he’d injected when he forced her into his SUV had prevented her from assessing the distance or the traffic sounds as he’d driven her here. She still felt a little groggy. Mouth was dry. She squared her shoulders, focused on clearing her head. She had to pay attention, to be ready for whatever came next.
Let your training and instincts guide you
.

Focus, Lori.

A warehouse, she decided. An old one for sure. Brick walls soared some twenty or so feet to a ceiling where steel beams supported the roof. Naked fluorescent tubes glowed from metal fixtures suspended five or six feet overhead. The smell of disuse permeated the air. She tried to get a better look behind her. Couldn’t. Wooden crates lined the wall to her right suggesting the warehouse had been used recently in some capacity. Birmingham had its share of neglected and abandoned buildings…she’d been in a few but not this one. From her position in the middle of the large open room, she could see a door. Maybe an exit. Maybe just an office or bathroom.

One shot at that door was all she needed…if it wasn’t a dead end.

Images of what this bastard had done to those other women rolled like an old-fashioned filmstrip through her mind. Defeat chiseled away at her courage.

Spears grabbed the one remaining chair in the place and dragged it over to where she sat bound, wrists, ankles, and waist, to a similar heavy metal chair. He scooted it close and straddled the seat, his spread knees flanking hers.

Like his subtle aftershave, his wardrobe exuded an understated elegance. The navy suit jacket hadn’t come from a rack in any store where men she knew shopped. The white shirt was crisp and pristine like he’d just picked it up from the cleaners. The jeans fit as if they had been designed and created by his personal tailor.

Blond hair, blue eyes, classic attractive features.

If you want to know what evil looks like, look in the mirror
.

Jess had definitely gotten that right. Spears appeared nothing like the depraved killer Lori knew him to be. Why did he bother abducting women when he could easily charm them into his lair with that killer smile and deep smooth voice?

The hunt. Somehow it fueled him…drove his heinous desires.

Lori wished she knew half what Jess did about this sick piece of shit.

She remembered vividly hearing in the news that not a single one of the Player’s victims had ever escaped alive.

Lori’s chest ached. She didn’t want to die. Her sister needed her. Her mother needed her. At least they were safe from this bastard. As soon as Chief Burnett and Jess knew Lori was missing, they would take steps to protect her family.

She thought of Chet Harper and how he wanted so much more from her than she had given. Would she have made that same choice if she had known this day was coming?

Spears chucked her under the chin, forcing her attention back to him. “Let’s get one thing straight, detective. However much you test me, this isn’t about you,” he explained in that calm, clever tone that belied his every action.

“All your hard work to reach the esteemed rank of detective earlier than most means nothing to me.”

He tugged at a lock of her hair, twirled it between his fingers. “That you are most attractive means nothing to me.”

Lori waited, her heart thudding with apprehension, for him to spell out exactly what he wanted from her besides her life. 

“I brought you here,” he whispered, leaning forward so that he lingered nose-to-nose with her, “so Jess will pay attention. You think I have her attention?”

Fear buffeting ever harder against her defenses, Lori steadied herself. She would not let him use her to get to Jess. No way.

“She told me all about you.” Lori forced a smile, inclined her head and studied his face the way he had done her. “What happened? Did mommy fail to protect you when daddy decided he preferred you to her? Is that why you hate women so much?”

His hand went to her throat; strong fingers closed, cutting off her airway. “Do not toy with me, detective.”

There was nothing amiable about his tone now. The fear she fought to restrain dug its claws in deep even as he released her. She gasped. Her thoughts raced in frantic circles. The things Jess had told kept colliding with her own instincts.

“Do you think I have her attention?” he repeated.

“Yes.” Lori cleared her throat, wished she had a drink of water. “I’m certain you have her attention.”

“That’s better,” he said softly. “Now, tell me about this Chief Burnett.”

Lori swallowed, took another jagged breath. “What about him?”

“What’s his interest in Agent Harris?”

Lori struggled to collect herself. “She’s a top notch profiler and investigator. I imagine he’ll offer her a position in the department.” She looked straight into the bastard’s eyes. “Because of you she’s probably unemployed.”