Vow to Protect (9 page)

Cord jerked his head back as if she'd hit him.

“After you were washing windows together. He said he wanted you around all the time.”

He rubbed a hand over his cropped hair. “Maybe the two of you should go out of state. Out of the country, even. Kane couldn't find you then. You'd be safe from him.”

It was a good idea, but one that lodged in her chest like a sharp sliver. She forced a nod. “That makes sense.”

“We'll talk to McCaskey.”

 

C
ORD LEANED
against the wall in his spot next to the elevator and eyed the security panel. Hours had passed since his call to McCaskey. Hours since the SWAT team must have checked out Meredith Unger's house. So where was McCaskey?

Cord needed something to think about. Something besides the fact that Ethan wished Cord was his father. Something besides his need to touch Melanie again. Something besides his idea of sending them far away.

When he'd gotten out of prison, he swore to himself he'd never talk to Mel again. That he'd never intrude on her life. She'd made it clear she wanted nothing to do with him. He figured the least he could do was respect that. But now that Kane had forced the two of them together, now that
he knew about his son, the thought of never seeing them again felt like a prison of its own.

The bleat of his cell phone made him jump. He flipped it open and held it to his ear. “Yeah?”

“I'm in the parking lot.” McCaskey's voice sounded muffled, strange, despite being so close.

“I'll be down to let you in.” Cord disconnected the call and snapped the phone shut. He walked into the area that would eventually become the condo's kitchen and dining room and peered through a bay window at the parking lot below.

Streetlights filtered through maple leaves, casting spotty illumination on a dark-colored sedan. Outside the car stood Reed McCaskey.

As far as Cord could tell, he was alone. But although the distance and darkness prevented him from seeing the expression on the detective's face, Cord got the impression through his rigid posture and movements that something had happened.

And he could bet it was nothing nice.

He turned away from the window and made his way back to the elevator. Stopping at the door, he punched a code into the security panel. The screen flickered to life. The lobby below was empty. The door leading outside locked. Everything seemed as it should be.

Then why the prickle at the back of his neck?

He massaged the sensation away. It had to be the tension that seemed to emanate from McCaskey. Or the strange quality of his voice. Or even Cord's own damn imagination.

He removed the pistol from its holster. There might not be reason to worry, but he wasn't going to take a chance.

“Is he here?” Melanie's voice echoed through the barren hall behind him.

He turned around. “Is Ethan okay?”

She nodded. “I guess I can't be too surprised he was curious about the gun. I mean, all boys are fascinated by guns, right?”

He sure had been. But he doubted Mel would want to hear that right now. “That's what I hear.”

She pressed her lips into a slight smile and nodded. “How about Reed? I thought I heard your phone ring.”

“I'm going down to let him in.” He turned back to the security panel and punched in the code to unlock the elevator.

A low hum rose from the shaft and stopped on their floor. The elevator door slid open.

The stomach-turning sight and strong copper smell sank in slowly, like rain into sodden earth.

Meredith Unger lay on the floor of the elevator, her back propped against the back wall. Her platinum hair was brushed back from her face,
the ends tipped in what looked like sticky brown chocolate.

He stared at her hair, trying not to focus on the horror frozen on her face. Or the lifeless shell of her body.

“God help us,” Melanie whispered.

Red and blue lights pulsed in the darkness outside the condo windows and swirled across bare drywall. Melanie kissed the top of Ethan's head and pulled him close. His hair still smelled like chlorine from the hotel water park, and she inhaled deeply, trying to drag the normalcy of the scent into her lungs. Trying to replace the sweet odor of death that hung in the condo even after the elevator had descended to the lobby.

Cord paced the floor. “I knew she was scared. Maybe I should have gone. Tried to stop the bastard.”

“If he was gone by the time the police got there, he would have been gone when you got there, too.” She glanced pointedly at Ethan, making sure Cord followed her meaning. “Can we not talk about this?”

“You're right. I didn't think.” Staring down at the floor, he resumed pacing.

At least Ethan had been in the bedroom area
when the elevator opened. He hadn't seen Meredith Unger's body. And although she had told him briefly something had happened to explain the presence of the police, she didn't want him to know much more than that. It would only give him nightmares, and he had enough fuel for that fire already.

God knew she'd never erase the image from her mind.

The door to the stairwell opened and Reed McCaskey and Nikki Valducci stepped inside. Crossing the floor toward them, Reed looked from Melanie to Cord and back again. “We need to talk.”

Cord narrowed his eyes on the detectives. “I already told you about Meredith Unger's call.”

“Not that,” Reed said. “I want you to show us the security system.”

Nikki's beautiful brown eyes landed on Melanie. “Could you come, too?”

Unease ached deep in Melanie's chest. She couldn't let Ethan out of her sight. Not now. It wasn't that he was upset, he didn't seem to be anything other than curious about what was going on. She was a different story. She needed to be close for her own sake. Her own sense of security. “Can you play the Game Boy with your headphones again?”

“Mom…why can't I hear what's going on?”

She touched his cheek, still baby soft yet start
ing to take on the leaner look of a teenager. So grown-up, yet still a little boy. “You're going to have to trust me on this, honey. Okay?”

He picked up the game, plugged in the headphones and slipped them on his head. A flick of a switch, and his thumbs were hitting the buttons with record speed.

She kissed his forehead, and for once he didn't wipe it off. Climbing to her feet, she focused on Reed McCaskey. “The other end of the room is as far as I'm going.”

“That should work.” He led them to the spot she was standing when she saw Meredith Unger's body.

The air seemed heavier here. And even though the elevator car and body were now several floors below, she could swear a sense of horror clung to the walls and lingered like that unmistakable odor.

“How are you holding up?” Nikki asked.

Not a question she wanted to think too much about. “Okay, I guess. How did he find us?”

“We're trying to determine that.” Reed focused on Cord. “Is there a security camera showing the parking lot?”

Cord shook his head. “Just the lobby entrance and the garage.”

“Where are the tapes kept?”

“It's digital. The cameras are activated by motion sensors.”

“How long are the images kept?”

“They should be there until the hard drive is full. Then the oldest images are erased. Have you talked to the builder?”

Reed shook his head. “We will tomorrow. We want to keep this as quiet as we can until we can get the three of you to a safe place. Do you know how to access what those cameras recorded?”

“You can view them from the panel.” Cord strode to the elevator, Reed, Nikki and Melanie following in his wake.

He punched in the code, and the image of the garage filled the small screen. Cord's truck sat alone among dust and the hulking shapes of construction equipment. “I'll just set it back—”

The image flickered and Cord's truck was suddenly just entering the garage.

The door to the stairwell opened and Detective Stan Perreth barged into the corridor. His face looked pasty, as if he was ill. Chewing on an unlit cigarette, he joined them at the security panel without saying a word. The scent of cigarette smoke hung in the air around him.

On the monitor, Cord's truck came to a halt and the driver's door swung open. A man stepped out of the truck and glanced up at the camera. His dyed red hair glowed in the garage's dim light.

“Kane.” His name burst from Melanie's lips.
But this was wrong. All wrong. “Why is he driving your truck?”

Cord let out a breath but said nothing. The detectives remained silent, as if everyone was holding their collective breath, waiting to see what happened next.

On the screen, Kane circled to the back of the truck. He opened the window of the topper and the tail gate. Reaching inside, he pulled out a large object cloaked in black plastic. She didn't have to see through it to know what was inside.

Meredith Unger.

Hefting his burden to his shoulder, Kane carried it to the elevator. After waiting a few seconds for the doors to open, he disappeared inside.

“You punk-ass bastard.” Perreth's voice growled low and dangerous. “You lent Daddy your truck?”

Cord shook his head.

Melanie narrowed her eyes on Perreth. Kane had used Cord's truck. The evidence was right there on the screen. But it didn't make sense. There had to be an explanation. Cord didn't
give
his truck to Kane. She'd stake her life on that.

Come to think of it, she was. “Is there more on the recording?”

Cord was already reaching for the panel. He touched a few buttons, and an earlier image came to life on the screen.

The elevator door in the garage slid open and Kane stepped out. He walked to the truck. He looked relaxed, as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Melanie focused on the digital time-readout in the lower-right-hand corner of the screen. “That was this morning.”

Reed nodded. “Sure enough.”

On the security screen, Kane climbed into the truck. Using a knife, he dug at the steering column of Cord's truck. A minute later the engine jumped to life, exhaust puffing out the tailpipe. He backed up and drove the truck out of the garage.

“That still doesn't show how he got in the building to begin with,” Nikki said.

“I'll go back further.” Cord punched a few buttons.

The image of the garage flickered to the screen for the third time. The parking space next to the elevator was again empty. Cord's truck nosed onto the screen just as it had in the first image they'd seen.

This time Cord sat in the driver's seat, his shoulders wider than Kane's. And beside him in the truck were two smaller shadows. Her and Ethan. “Are you sure there's not another one? That's when we first arrived.”

“This is it,” Cord said.

On the screen Cord parked the truck, and the three of them climbed out. After loading up with supplies, they disappeared into the elevator.

“That tells us nothing.” Detective Perreth growled.

Reed held up a hand. “Wait.”

Seconds ticked by. Silence hung heavy in the room. Not even the beeps of Ethan's game were audible. Suddenly the window of the truck topper lurched. A hand emerged from the truck bed and pushed it open.

Dryden Kane climbed out into the garage.

Melanie couldn't believe what she was seeing. Panic crashed over her. Her stomach felt sick. “He was in the truck with us? He was here all the time?” She looked up at Cord, hoping for disagreement and explanation, anything that would make what she'd just seen on the security screen not true.

His lips flattened into a bloodless line.

Melanie's throat closed. Of course he didn't have an explanation. There was no explanation to give. Kane had been in the truck with them. He'd been in the building. Neither of them had had a clue.

And if Kane could get that close to them without their knowledge, what chance did they really have of getting out of this situation alive?

 

C
ORD STARED AT THE PICKUP
on the screen, his gut twisting into a hard knot. Kane had been there all along, hidden under the jumble of window-washing drop cloths and buckets in the back of his
truck. If not for the locks on the elevator and stairwell, he could have waltzed right into the penthouse anytime he wanted.

Melanie searched his face as if waiting for an answer. An answer he couldn't give.

Finally she glanced at the detectives. “I have to go. Ethan needs me.” Melanie left the entry hall and crossed the great room to the spot where Ethan sat, still fully immersed in his game. The boy didn't need Mel, not right this moment. It was the other way around. Melanie needed her son close. She needed to touch him and make sure he was safe.

Cord couldn't blame her. Watching her lower herself to the floor next to him and circle her arm around his shoulders, Cord wished he could join them.

Instead he focused on McCaskey. “Melanie and Ethan need to get out of here.”

“I can find a safe location. Same arrangement as before.”

“No. Not like before.”

McCaskey narrowed his eyes. “What do you have in mind?”

“I want them on a plane. Under assumed names.”

“Wait a second.” Nikki Valducci waved her hands in front of her. “You can't do that.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Kane has decided you are to put this reception
together. He wants you to go to the florist, to the bakery. He's pegged
you
as his contact.”

“So?”

“He thinks you might be sympathetic to him, that he might be able to manipulate you the way he did Louis Ingersoll.”

Cord had seen everything he needed to know about Louis Ingersoll on the nonstop television coverage a couple of months ago. Also known as the Copycat Killer, Ingersoll had carried out crimes identical to Kane's while the elder serial killer was behind bars. About the last person he aspired to be was Louis Ingersoll. Or Kane. “So he's chosen me. What does that have to do with sending Mel and Ethan somewhere safe?”

“You said Kane mentioned Ethan serving the cake. Sending him away is going to tip Kane off. It's going to take away what he sees as your vulnerable spot.”

“That's the idea.”

She shook her head. “He's not going to trust you if that happens. He's got to believe he can control you.”

“So you want to do what? Use Ethan as bait for some damn trap of yours?”

“Not him,” Nikki said. “Of course not. I just don't want to tip Kane off. If he feels he controls you, he'll be more likely to make a mistake.”

“I agree there's a place for proactive techniques,” McCaskey said. “But a child will not be involved. You have my word on that, Turner.”

“But you do agree? About using Kane's wedding reception to set a trap?” Nikki shifted her boots on the plywood floor, as if she couldn't keep still.

She had been pushing to set a trap for Kane since the second time Cord had laid eyes on her. Now that Kane had set the table, she was ready to serve dinner.

A thought that made Cord more than a little uneasy. “So if not Ethan, who
are
you planning to serve up as bait?”

“The person he really wants. The person he almost killed before.” She eyed McCaskey.

“You just lost me, Nikki,” he said.

“But, Reed, you know that's the only way a trap will work. He wants Diana. He'll risk a lot to get her.”

“I'm not talking about this again.”

“You could at least tell Diana what's going on, let her make up her own mind.”

McCaskey glowered.

“Time to put up or shut up, McCaskey.” Detective Perreth flicked his cigarette lighter to life and touched it to the cigarette in his mouth.

McCaskey turned to Perreth. “Put that out.”

“It's a private residence. There aren't any smoking laws about that. Yet, anyway.”

“Kane is showing signs of stress.” Nikki's face grew more animated. From the look of things, she was just warming up. “Being on the run, the media coverage, the killing, it all adds up. Soon he'll start getting sloppy, acting on instinct instead of planning. Eventually even psychopaths like Kane make mistakes. It's the perfect time to trap him with his own game. If we give him something he feels is worth taking some risks for, he'll take them.”

Nikki might have the education to back her up, but Cord wasn't sure he agreed with her theory. “What makes you think he feels stress? He seemed pretty cool carrying Meredith Unger's body in here tonight. And when he tried to take Ethan in the hotel, he was cold.” He'd seen it before in the pen. Killers so cold-blooded you'd swear they didn't have a heart in their bodies. But none of them could have held a candle to what he'd seen in Kane.

“He seems that way, but he's not killing the way he likes to kill anymore. He's not hunting. He's not torturing. He likes to take his time. He likes to hear the women scream, taste their fear. That's what turns him on.”

“So he didn't have time. He had to figure I called you. That you were on your way to Meredith Unger's house. Lack of time doesn't equal stress.”

“I don't think it's that simple.”

McCaskey's frown deepened. “You think he's desperate. Desperate to kill Diana.”

Nikki nodded. “He has always fixated on a woman in the past. First his wife, Adrianna. Then Risa Madsen. He killed women who looked like the one he was obsessed with until he worked up the excitement to kill the woman herself. After what happened at Banesbridge with Diana, I can't see him letting that go until she's dead. And likely Sylvie, too.”

“The family. That's what Meredith Unger said when she called, that Kane wanted to be reunited with his family.”