Carolina Rain (29 page)

The phone stopped, then started again. She’d only purchased it in the event she needed it for something she hadn’t anticipated
. Also,
J.R.
had told her no phone, no job. So the call could only be from one person
:
J.R.

Laying the object on her
new
lover’s chest, she reached down, pull
ed
the ringing demon out of the side pocket of her purse
,
and began to shut the phone off
. H
er mind couldn’t make her good hand obey.

What the hell?

Instead, for a reason she didn’t understand, she answered the call.

“Hello,
J.R
.”

“Open the door, Lily. Open it now.”

“What door, Boss?”
But the thumping in her chest knew there was no way of fooling him. He knew exactly where she was. He must have followed her. Lily’s mind, which had always been clear, was now clouded with
—
something else. Panic? Fear? Shame?

“Ya know, baby girl. Open it. I didn’t call no cops or nuthin’, just you and me talkin’. I ain’t gonna hurt you, or even try. I’m here to listen.”

Talk? He wants to talk? She pressed the END button, reached for the long butcher knife she’d taken from
J.R.
’s kitchen
—her intended plaything for the evening—
and turned for the door, then stopped. She pivoted around, grabbed her host’s thumb and
hacked it off
before he could blink. The muffled scream should have caused her to smile
,
only
it didn’t. Still
,
she put the thumb in her jean pocket and continued to the door.

Lily stopped as she touched the
brass
handle.
She realized she was
breathing hard,
angry
,
and wanted J.R. dead. She couldn’t remember feeling anything like it before and she wanted to get rid of the source.

Pulling
the door
open quickly, the knife raised in her right hand, her eyes widened at what she saw.

J.R.
was fixed in a kneeling position looking up at her
,
tears running down his whiskered cheeks.

“No more, Lily. Take me instead. No more of my friends. If ya gotta do it, I’m here.”

What the hell was he doing? For one, brief, almost terrifying moment, she wanted to hug him. Then it was gone.

She nodded. “Your call, Boss.”

Raising the knife higher, she brought it down with all of the force she could gather.

CHAPTER-39

The lights reflecting
on
the Cape Fear River stole Manny’s attention as Sophie parked the SUV on the street around the corner from the New Hanover County Courthouse
.
He exited the vehicle and Sophie came around and stood close to him. There was a slight southern breeze carrying the first wisps of blooming
a
zaleas and he found himself mesmerized by the combination of nature and quiet. Quiet wasn’t part of
his
job description. Even when external noise had left the building, the murmurs of all that he’d seen were constant companions.

Looking at the sky, the stars winked back. It was a little colder than the locals were used to, but sixty-two degrees in April felt great. His phone said it was thirty degrees cooler in the fine state of Michigan. Sophie must have been reading his mind.

“What a night,”
she said
, slipping her arm through his. “You just don’t get this in Michigan during the spring.”

“No
-
brainer there,” answered Manny. “Then again, you don’t get many serial killers posing as mythological
goddesses
in the cold weather
,
either.”

“
A
re you saying even the sick and warped among us have enoug
h sense to stay out of the cold?
”

He sighed. “It seems so. You know, at any one
given hour
in the U.S.
,
there are around
two-hundred
serial killers at work?
Practically
every one of them
is
located in warmer states like Florida, California, and Texas.”

“I’ve heard that. Now we can add
Sweet
Carolina to the mix. Good God, Williams, we really should do something else with our lives. Maybe run an orphanage or a dog rescue farm.”

Manny looked at her. “Seriously? Then who would catch the people who give kids and dogs bad dreams
—
and worse? Besides, I don’t see you and a large building of children making life good for each other.”

“
Oh
,
come on. Lock them in their room, feed them, give them the
I
nternet, and a bath a couple
nights
of
the
week. How hard is that?”

“Sound
s
like you’ve put some thought
to
it,” he said, winking at his friend.

“Listen
,
smartass, I know that tone. I’m just saying. It’d be like the typical American family. No one talks; they just do their own thing.”

“Yeah, that’s working out.”

“Okay, good point. Maybe we
should
do the dog thing.”

“
I’m on board with that
. But speaking of family, I’ve got to make a couple calls
, then
I’ll be right up. I think Alex and Dean won’t be far behind
,
so why don’t you get some fresh coffee brewed and see what Josh and Tanner have got?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Sophie loosened her grip on his arm, glanced at her feet, and then headed for the building.

He
’d
pulled out his phone
when he
noticed she
’
d stopped and was facing him.

“Agent?”

“I want you
to
realize how lucky you are to have a family to call. I know losing Louise must have felt like that would never be a reality for you and Jen
. Y
ou got a second chance.”

“I’m thankful for that
too
,
Sophie. It’s not how I would’ve done it
,
but
God knows what he’s doing.”

He walked over to Sophie and hugged her. “You know, you got family. Just not so traditional, right?”

“I know
. A
nd when I thought you were gone, well, let’s just say more than my heart would have been broken.”

The streetlight was enough for Manny to see the glisten in her eyes, and the emotion behind it.

“I know. I know. But I’m here and better for what I went through.
”

“
You think
so
? Maybe
. B
ut someday, I’m going to have what you
have,
even if it means keeping my husband strapped to the bed for thirty years
.
” She turned her head and grinned. “Come to think of it, there could be worse things for him.”

Laughing, Manny hugged her again. “
Now get your ass up
stairs so we can get this meeting set up.”

She saluted. “Yes sir
. . .
and thanks for being there.”

Then she was gone.

“I should thank
you
, girl. You help me in ways you c
a
n’t imag
in
e,” he said under his breath. He shook his head. More emotional clutter wasn’t what he needed now. He had to concentrate on this case or more men were going to check out and
,
unless he missed his guess, in even more gruesome ways.

He dialed and waited for Chloe to answer.

“Hello, Big Boy, about damn time ya know?”

“No small talk, just tell me what you
’
r
e
wearing, or not wearing?”

“Agent! That kind of thing could get you arrested
. B
ut I’ll send a picture if you like
. W
hoops, I already sent it.”

Just then his phone vibrated
,
and he glanced at the s
creen. Chloe’s picture filled the screen.
Manny’s eyes grew large.

“Okay, I got it
. M
an
,
I’ve got to get home.”

“Yeah. You do. That’ll be motivation for ya?”

“Mission accomplished.”

They talked for a few more minutes
. H
e told her to watch Jen and how much he loved them both. She told him she loved him and
that
there were a couple more things to discuss, but they’d talk tomorrow. Fine by him
. H
is mind knew it was time to go back work
. . .
like he
had a choice
anyway.

As he headed up the steps, he thought that maybe Sophie had a point. Leaving Chloe and Jen for this seemed like the least fairest of tradeoffs
. Except
how does one dodge
his
fate
?

Ten minutes later, the nine cops who had met some four hours
earlier
were back in the same place, with one notable exception. Ginny
Krantz
had gone back to her hotel room but not before doing a video on all she had to add to the case. Unusual, but Manny understood. Only a fool wouldn’t.

Dean and Alex had spreadsheets and three stacks of FBI folders sitting neatly between them and were read
y with the preliminary forensic
reports. They were in a deep conversation with Dana on the reliability of a newly-released study dealing
with
hormonal secretions of violent killers. Sophie sat to his left with her notebook open
, scowling at
the page
.
Tanner and
Josh
huddled opposite of him, talk
ing
softly, concerned looks on their faces. Ben Garcia was setting up the
DVD
player so they could review the video shot by Moss Jackson.

It
occurred to him that no criminal in their right mind would think they could get away with what was happening in New Hanover County. They had technology, profiles, DNA, fingerprints,
and
spectrographs that could read minute traces of gases in the air to identify the very deodorant a person wore. They had experience, history, common sense, witness
es, and the
mistakes the killer
s left behind.
Killers
always
made mistakes
, always. But the variable above all of that was the will in this room, and rooms like this all over the country. Good cops were determined to win and this
building
was full of good cops.

Standing,
Manny
cleared his throat. “Folks. I know this will be a long meeting
,
but we need to get going. Our Goddess of L
ove is escalating her privilege and, I thin
k, she’s about to take her love
making to a place she’s not been.”

“Why would you say that?” asked Tanner, frowning at Manny.

“She’s changed her methods
. S
ubtle changes, but changes nonetheless.”

“He’s right,” said Alex. “We’ve got a photo presentation ready to show some of the differences from the first murder to the one we just left. We had another case where the blades for cutting were used with different pressures
. S
o
,
thanks to Manny, the FBI created a database that compares cut or incision pressures with blade type
. H
oping
,
that as we add data to the research, it will help us determine gender, blade type, and even state of mind of the attacker.”

“Thanks, Alex,” said Manny. “In this case, she’s changed how she carves the flesh into the web design on the shoulders, face, and legs
. It
’
s
like, hell I don’t know, like she’s more concerned with what she’s getting out of the end product than the process. I believe that’s a change for her. I think Mor
g
an and Ginny’s husband
, along with the third victim,
were a type of spreading
of
her wings
. For those killings, it was important for her to be precise.
Kin
d of like exploring an
unknown land and making sure she left breadcrumbs behind in the event she got lost. Her step
-
by
-
step method would accomplish that
. Except
in one of th
e
se
killings
, she found something else to motivate her. Thus the impromptu video and the Aphrodite label she’s adopted.”