Target (5 page)

LIAM WANTED TO hold her hand, but he held himself back. “It’s not going to look like her, so don’t expect that. All I need is for you to tell me, yes or no, if it’s Kiera.”

Andrea nodded, a jerky motion that he’d seen before when a person was barely hanging on.

“Ready?”

It was a stupid question, but no one wanted to be bombarded with the visual of their dead loved one. When she’d taken a full breath in and let it out, Andrea said, “I’m ready.”

The Medical Examiner pulled back the white sheet. Kiera’s hair had been cleaned, her face now free of the blood and dirt that had been there when she was found. Her skin was pale white, showcasing the cloud of freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheekbones.

Andrea’s whole body shuddered. Liam caught her and she fell against him, but not with all of her weight. Even now she held herself up, self-contained in a way he didn’t know whether to be proud of, or fear for when she was going to break.

“It’s her.”

**

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Andrea was in the backseat of Liam’s car instead of the front seat, where both Liam and Caisey were waiting for her to decide. How was it they were so finely tuned to her emotional state?

She didn’t want to do this, but she was going to.

Her phone, tucked away in her briefcase, beeped twice. But emails could wait. As could the two voicemails she’d gotten from missed calls while she was identifying Kiera’s body.

She blinked away that mental picture, hoping she would never see it again and stared out the window. The house she and Kiera had grown up in looked the same. Why had she expected it to look different? Kiera was dead, and yet the impact would barely make a ripple in any of their lives. That was what got to Andrea the most—that Sunny could move on, for all intents and purposes, unchanged.

While she was...stuck.

“Andrea?”

“I’m sure.”

She got out of Liam’s expensive SUV. She’d overheard two of the HR guys at work talking about that model once, so she knew it wasn’t quite her annual income, but it was pretty close. She preferred her little two-seater car. At least until she picked up Kiera from a club about a month ago when she needed a ride and Kiera puked in it. Now there was the faint odor of up-chuck every time the heater warmed up.

Andrea stopped on the concrete step that was flanked by two bushes. The door was within reach, but she didn’t knock. She stared at the door handle and sucked in deep breaths, not naïve enough to think her parents were going to be overwhelmed by grief. There would be some kind of reaction; she just had no idea what it was going to be.

Caisey laid a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to do this today.”

“If I don’t, I won’t want to come tomorrow.”

“Ah, I see you’re a, “rip the Band-Aid off”, kind of girl.”

Andrea didn’t get the chance to knock before the door opened and Morton stood there, skinny as always in a suit that would put most male models to shame except that his thinning hair was combed over and his cheeks were permanently flushed.

“Andrea.” The butler’s smile shone in his eyes.

“Hello, Morton.” If it was anyone else, Andrea would have hugged him and he’d have hugged her back, but as it was, neither of them was big on touching. Instead, Andrea held out her hand they settled on a long grasp. Why did that mean more to her than any familial embrace she’d ever had?

Kiera had hugged him, once, back when her head barely reached his chest. He’d been so caught off guard he fell back and they both landed sprawled on the carpet. The memory brought a smile to Andrea’s face.

“You should come in.” Morton stepped back and held the door open.

“How are things?” He knew she meant her parents.

“As per usual.”

Great.

Andrea strode through the lobby to the reception room where her mother kept the largest supply of spirits in the house. She heard Morton greet Liam and Caisey, and a low whisper she took to mean they were telling Morton about Kiera. Morton sucked in a breath which broke in the middle, and then his dress shoes clipped the tile floor as he retreated to his wing.

The curtains were drawn in the reception room. Andrea strode to the windows and pulled the heavy drapes back.

Liam and Caisey stopped just inside the doorway, but Andrea knew the moment they saw her mother draped across the settee with a bottle hanging from one hand. Caisey apparently didn’t feel the need to hide her wince.

“Mom.” Andrea crossed to her, set the bottle on the table and tugged her mom upright. “Mom.”

She didn’t wonder that her voice was stern. Andrea was past being concerned about how people would view her because of her family. Her only sister was dead. And after the morning she’d had, she didn’t feel the need to be the bandage that held them all together.

Andrea sat on the coffee table, while her mom blinked and struggled to focus.

Finally her gaze settled on Andrea. “What is it?”

The slur in her mom’s voice made her want to cringe, but Andrea kept herself straight and emotionless. “They found Kiera.”

Something flashed in her mother’s eyes, the last vestiges of a mother’s love for her wayward daughter.
“And?”

“She’s dead mom. The killer should have taken me, but he got Kiera by mistake and now she’s gone.”

Andrea had to say it out loud. Not that it was her mistake, or that she’d asked for it, but she was an integral part of what had happened. Kiera was dead because of her and it was important that she acknowledge her culpability.

Her mom slumped back on the couch. “Well.”

The news washed over her mom, but there was nothing Andrea could do to help. It wasn’t worth trying to comfort her with a touch, or even a hug, so Andrea just sat there beside her.

When her mom’s eyes fluttered closed, Andrea wondered if the period of lucidity had been
real. When she woke up later, would she even remember? Andrea never felt the need to escape to the point she was unaware, but both her mom and her sister had. What flaw did they share that they succumbed to it? Andrea simply closed herself off to the pain and buried herself in work, like her father.

The study door was closed, but she didn’t bother knocking. Her father spun from the window, an empty glass in his hand. Maybe there wasn’t such a big difference after all. How long would it be before Andrea was tempted to drown her sorrows in a bottle? Would she be strong enough to stand on her own? Her steps faltered and she stopped two feet from her father.

His eyes were dark, almost hard. “She’s gone?”

“Kiera has been gone for a long time, Dad. But yes, Sunny is dead.” It felt better to say it like that, to acknowledge that the person Kiera had made herself into was the person who had passed away.

His lip curled at the mention of Sunny, but they’d never even seen her since they severed all contact. Kiera had cut and streaked her hair and the short, sleek look resembled Andrea’s hair more than her former style. She’d been flattered at first, especially when Kiera told her she’d done it to try and borrow confidence from Andrea. Now that she knew it contributed to Kiera’s death, Andrea had to bite her lip because her eyes started to burn.

She sucked in a breath. “I wanted to be here, to be the one to tell you both. I’ve done that now.”

Her dad stepped forward, sweeping her into a hug. “I’m so glad it was all a mistake. When the agents told us you’d been abducted, I didn’t want to believe it.” He gave her a squeeze that was a little too tight and then released her. “I’m glad you’re okay, Andrea.”

He looked happy, as though released from what had weighed him down. Andrea opened her mouth, but bit back the words. What good would it do? They had considered Kiera dead for a long time.
But still…

“I’m not okay, Dad. Kiera’s dead, and not because she put herself in a bad situation. She was safe at my apartment eating pizza, for goodness sake. She should have been fine, not the victim of a—”

Her voice broke. She turned from her dad to Liam, who had crossed the room. He didn’t say anything, just put a hand on the small of her back and led her out while she struggled to breathe. Her face itched and when she scratched at it, she was crying.

In the hall, Andrea bent forward with her hands on her thighs and sucked in air. Liam rubbed up and down her back, but she didn’t think anything would cut through the chill of the fact that she was alone.

Her parents were too wrapped up in themselves to worry about growing their relationship as a family. Kiera might have been self-destructive and generally a wreck, but Andrea had needed her sister almost as much as Kiera needed her.

And now Sunny was gone.

A tissue was pressed into her hand. Andrea wiped her face and straightened. Both Liam and Caisey stood in front of her, but it was Liam who motioned to the front door. “Let’s get some air.”

“We should just leave.” Andrea took a breath. “I’ve said what I came here to say. It’s done now.”

His eyes softened, where Caisey looked like she wanted to punch someone. They made a good pair, opposites working together and balancing each other out.

Andrea wondered if they’d ever been more than partners, but figured if they had there was no way it would have ended without completely destroying their working relationship. They
were both way too strong-willed to part amicably.

When she was settled in the back of the car, Caisey looked back from the front seat. She’d argued, wanting Andrea to sit up there. But being by Liam would be a bad idea when her emotions were this close to the surface.

Caisey’s eyes were soft. “You need anything?”

Andrea thought for a moment. Was it too early to ask?

“Just say it.” Caisey smiled. “How bad could it be?”

“I need the key. Kiera’s key. It would have been on a gold chain around her neck.”

Caisey’s face flashed with surprise. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Andrea turned to the window. She stared at the sidewalk and the trees as they blurred past, but all she saw was Kiera’s face. Pale.
Lifeless.

Emotion burst from her throat again. Andrea leaned forward and put her forehead on her knees. She needed Kiera’s key. She needed to see her sister happy again, even if it was only in the pictures she kept in storage. Otherwise all she would ever remember is what Sunny did to herself and the part Andrea had played in her sister’s death.

Her phone rang, but she left it in her briefcase. The real world could wait until later. This place was a whole lot more scary and exhausting, a place where she needed constant protection from FBI agents, but at least she didn’t feel like the robot she usually was.

It rang again.

Andrea pulled it out to look at the screen. The number was blocked. Who would bother to restrict their number? Unless they didn’t want to be found.

She swiped the screen. “Hello?”

“Think you’re so smart, don’t you. Well, you’re not.” His voice sounded like pure evil, and nothing else. Nothing at all. “I can hear you laughing from here.”

Andrea’s body jerked. Liam slammed on the brakes and pulled to the side of the street. “Give me the phone.”

She looked up at Liam, but didn’t move.

“Who was that?” The Chloroform Killer sounded ready to snap. “It doesn’t matter. I’m coming for you. No one makes a fool out of me.”

The line went dead.

LIAM WAS SO MAD
he had to fold his arms to contain the urge to do something he shouldn’t. “When I tell you to give me the phone, you give me the phone.”

Caisey stepped between them. They’d made it back to Andrea’s apartment, but only because it was closest to where they’d been when the call came in. “Let her be.”

Liam didn’t need to be told she was having a rough time. It was plain on Andrea’s face that she was about to bolt somewhere she could lose it in private. “What were you thinking?”

Andrea’s face was completely red. “I was thinking he killed my sister! If I want the chance to talk to him, that’s up to me.”

“Liam—”

“No, Case.” He pinned his partner down with a stare he knew was hard because he saw her flinch. “She doesn’t get it. You don’t understand a guy like that.”

Andrea said, “He’s angry he got Keira and not me.”

“And now he’s going to come after you again, try and finish what he started.”

“Good!”

Liam snapped. “No. It’s not good. How can you say that?”

“You don’t want to arrest him? Now that Kiera’s gone are you going to leave me here, a sitting duck, waiting for him to come back and abduct me this time?”

“Of course not.”

“Then what’s the problem? You think I don’t want the chance to look my sister’s killer in the eye, even though it scares the ever loving crap out of me? I want to kill him right back for what he did to her.”

“You think I’m going to let him get within ten feet of you?” Liam jerked his head, side- to-side. “There’s no way.”

Caisey turned so her back was to him. “He’s right, Andrea. There’s no way that’s going to happen.”

Andrea looked around Caisey, at him. “Neither of you can control the future. You can only put up safeguards. If he tries to take me again, you might not be able to stop it.”

“You want to die?” Liam pushed Caisey aside and moved in close. “You want to go through what Kiera went through?” He swallowed the sick feeling.

Maybe his boss would let him put her on a plane to Australia. But that wasn’t likely, not if they wanted to catch the Chloroform Killer. If he lost Andrea it would be so much worse than some nameless, faceless victim he didn’t know.

“I’m not just going to sit here.”

“You will if I tell you to. I’m in charge, and don’t forget that. I’m the thing that’s standing between you and an insane serial murderer who wants to kill you.”

The noise that burst from Andrea’s throat was a mix of grief and frustration. She spun around and strode from the room. A second later her bedroom door slammed.

“Good going, champ.”

Liam’s head whipped around to his partner.

Caisey’s eyes widened and she lifted her hands.
“My bad. Yell all you want. But maybe this will penetrate, and I pray it does.” She pointed at the door Andrea had slammed. “That girl has nothing but her grief and helplessness. If she needs to get angry and rage about how she’s going to kill the killer the first chance she gets, then who cares? She needs to get it out, to feel like she has some control over all this. It doesn’t mean either of us will ever let that happen.”

Liam pressed his fingers against his eyes. “I don’t want her to do something stupid.
”

“You really think she would? Andrea James is prob
ably the most level-headed woman either of us has ever met.”

“Or it’s just a front. You saw her family.”

“Yeah, that was a train wreck.” Caisey shook her head. “I thought my lot were dysfunctional, but Andrea’s family takes the biscuit. The mom’s on another planet and the dad is seriously disconnected. Andrea’s holding herself separate from the whole world, avoiding relationships and living her narrow life of work and a boring apartment just so she’s not like them. I’m thinking Kiera was the only honest one among them. At least she knew she had problems.”

Liam sighed. “So what do we do?”

“Apart from everything we’re already doing? I already emailed Burkot about the trace on her phone. I’m waiting to hear back if we got anything.”

“So we just hang around for him to make his approach?”

“I hope it takes weeks. Andrea’s couch is way more comfortable than my old mattress.”

Liam didn’t respond to that. “Did you ask about the key Andrea mentioned?”

“I asked for the list of Kiera’s personal effects. If the necklace was there, we should be able to get it to Andrea. Although we’ll need to see what the key is for, first.”

Liam nodded. When was his brain going to start catching up? “I’m going to run home, take some time. I’ll relieve you before dinner so you can go home to eat.”

Caisey nodded, like she knew why he wanted some time to himself. Liam didn’t request concessions much, so she’d know when he did that it was important. “Sounds good.”

Liam grabbed his backpack and opted to walk through the complex toward his apartment. He needed to clear his head, get a little distance from a frustrating woman who was tying him up in knots with her reactions to everything. He felt like crying and laughing at the same time. Crying for Andrea, growing up in that crypt of a house raised by the walking dead, her only solace a troubled sister bent on self-destruction. Laughing for the sake of helping her heal, watching her find strength in fighting for her own life and the legacy of her sister.

Liam’s phone rang, the screen flashing with the five stars of his father’s rank. “Hi, Dad.”

“Liam,” he yelled. “My plane just landed. I have s
ome business in town, how about dinner?”

Liam dropped onto his corduroy couch and closed his eyes. Why did his dad feel the need to bellow like he was commanding troops? Of course, Liam was going to drop everything on a whim. “I’m busy, Dad.”

“Bah. Too busy to see your old man?”

“I’m going to be working tonight.” It wouldn’t feel like work, eating dinner with Andrea and spending the evening with her. But he had to remember it was.

There was silence on the line. A measured, weighty quiet that Liam was familiar with. “Maybe we could have lunch tomorrow?”

The old man sighed. “No can do. I’ll be in meetings all day. I’m staying downtown. They’re putting me up in some swanky hotel. Come by for dinner tomorrow, you can say hi to everyone.”

“Everyone who?”

“I brought my staff, didn’t I? They’re all excited to meet my son, the Special Agent.
Especially Elaine. She’s my new assistant, you know. Graduated Harvard same as you.”

“I’m not being set up, Dad. So don’t even bother.”

“What, you’re not dating someone are you?”

Liam squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Technically no, but that doesn’t mean I want to meet someone who lives in D.C. Or that I’m even in the market for a long distance relationship.”

“Well, come by anyway.”

“Dad.”
He drew out the word, registering his displeasure. Why did he feel fifteen every time he spoke to his father? He was a grown man. When would that ever change between them?

“Suck it up, son. I’ll see you at six.”

**

Caisey waited thirty minutes after the shower shut off before knocking on Andrea’s bedroom door. Not everyone got ready as fast as she did, but then she only pulled her hair back and didn’t usually bother with much makeup beyond mascara and lip balm.

Andrea opened the door a crack.

“Liam went home for a while, so it’s just me. Do you need anything?”

She sighed. “A new life? A different family?”

Caisey gave her a small smile. She wasn’t too good at empathy, but even she knew a soft touch was what Andrea needed, not yelling at her and telling her what to do. Sometimes Liam was such a man. “I have tea bags. You want a cup?”

“That sounds great.”

Caisey boiled the kettle and added sugar to Andrea’s mug. She only had skim milk in her fridge, so that would have to do. Caisey preferred full fat, because life was way too short to worry about calories. She just ran enough miles to break even.

Andrea came out, walking slowly like it hurt to move. Caisey had felt that way after her dad was killed. Shot in the line of duty, there wasn’t a more noble way a Special Agent could go out. Even if it sucked they had to die at all. Senseless death was so much worse.

She set Andrea’s mug in front of her. Andrea frowned. “This is tea?”

“Yep.”

“With milk?”

Caisey sighed. “It’s not that herbal crap, if that’s what you’re asking. I buy these pyramid shaped tea bags from the specialty store. Try it, it’s really good. A proper English cup of tea.”

Andrea smiled, but it didn’t brighten her eyes any. “Thanks.”

“No problem. It’s not much, just tea.” What more could she do? She wasn’t really good at this part of her job. Caisey was better at running down leads and getting answers when people underestimated the short blond chick, never imagining she was packing a gun and a badge.

On the fridge behind Andrea was a collection of papers. A weights and measures conversion chart, a menu for the local Greek restaurant and a magnet with a Bible verse on it.

She looked at Andrea. “You’re a Christian?”

Andrea nodded. “Not a very good one.”

Caisey smiled. “Me either. I go to church, but there seems to be a disconnect between my life and how it is for other people who go there. The super-spiritual types, you know?”

“I had a friend in college who went to all the meetings and Bible studies. I like the sentiment, peace and joy.
Freedom. I just never seemed to be able to get it to sink in enough that I actually felt free.”

“And then in the unlikeliest of places, you meet someone who feels exactly the way you do.”
Caisey paused. Andrea’s face said she knew what Caisey meant. “Who else could that be, but God? I don’t believe in coincidences, or magic, or destiny, or any of that. Life is just too…raw.”

Andrea took a sip of her tea and placed the cup back down. “I can’t live with
no hope, that’s all I know. There has to be something good and it isn’t us. We’re too capable of awful, ugly things to be the source of goodness in the world. There has to be something more under the surface that we’re not seeing. Otherwise, what’s the point? There’s no way all of our trying to do good and pay it forward, or whatever, outweighs the atrocity even one single person is capable of.”

Caisey studied her face, marveling that someone who had never seen half of what she’d seen could understand that there was no way the good in the world outweighed the bad.
Unless there really was a fundamental good behind everything. Otherwise they were all lost, waiting for something more, something that would explain the whole confusing, ugly beauty of the world. Which made no sense, but it was what it was.

Caisey didn’t get it any more than that. If there was something more to fall back on, something bigger than people or even the heights of goodness or even true love that so often failed, then it meant that—even for a second—she could let go and trust more than just herself. It had saved her life more times than she could count.

Andrea took a deep breath and sighed. “Let’s talk about something else.”

Caisey was willing to concede that, even if she was having an existential moment.
People didn’t always appreciate it. “Sure. What do you want to talk about?”

“Why don’t you tell me about Liam?”

Caisey grinned. “Boy, do I have a story for you.”