Shadow of Perception (13 page)

Hudson stood, then moved to the coffee pot and filled two mugs. After he offered one to Rachel, he sat at the edge of the desk. “I know,” he said with a deep sigh. “She’s still pissed at me for what I did during the Winters case, but that’s no reason to put herself in a potentially bad situation.”

“So you sat here all night watching. How do you think she’ll feel about that?”

He winced. Knowing Eden, and how she liked her privacy, she’d be doubly pissed. “She doesn’t have to know.”

“Huh,” Rachel grunted as she stared at his laptop. “Then how are you going to explain knowing about the guy dropping a package at her front door?”

Hudson rushed to the computer and squinted at the screen. “Holy shit. I gotta go.” He grabbed his jacket and keys, then reached for the computer.

Rachel stopped him. “Leave the laptop. I’ll see if I can find out who this guy is.”

Five minutes later, he drove the Trans Am out of the parking garage. After making a quick turn, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. As he was about to call Eden, the phone rang. He checked the screen. Eden.
 

“Morning,” he answered, trying to keep his tone light, even as his heart raced.
 

“Hudson, thank God,” she said in a rush. “There was a man at my door just a second ago.”

“I’m on my way, and will be there in less than fifteen. Don’t answer the door until I get there.”

“I won’t. I didn’t. When I was going to take Brutal out to go potty, I checked the peephole first and saw him. Scared the shit out of me.”

Damn, there was a lot of shit scaring going on this morning. Not knowing the identity of the man or his intentions, and that Eden was alone and unprotected, scared the shit out of him, too. He might have used her as bait during the Winters case, but she’d been surrounded by CORE agents and never in a position where harm would come to her. This time around though…this time there were too many uncertainties.

He decided then and there that under no circumstance would she be allowed to remain alone. At any time. Screw her dates, real or imagined. He refused to lose her twice. Being near her again had solidified what he’d known all along…he’d never stopped caring.

Hudson remained on the phone with her, listening to Eden’s nervous babbling about the poor rat dog’s bitty bladder, until he reached her townhouse. He ended the call and raced up the steps. A newspaper sat at the front door.
 

The door swung open as he was about to pick up the paper. “Is it another DVD?” Eden asked in a hushed, conspiratorial tone.
 

 
“Looks like your morning paper.”

“I don’t get the paper.”

He looked up at her, took in the fear brightening her puffy eyes, then glanced back to the paper. With the cuff of his jacket, he gave the folded paper a shove. A blur of black and white opened, revealing a familiar manila envelope.
 

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “He’s killed again.”
 

*

Eden’s stomach cramped as she sat inside CORE’s evidence and evaluation room. The DVD jacket had been checked for fingerprints, but as before, nothing had been found.
 

While Rachel readied the DVD for viewing and Hudson finished talking with Ian in the hallway, she waited with nervous anticipation and morbid curiosity. Maybe the doctor hadn’t killed someone this time, or maybe, if he had murdered another victim, they’d find new clues to help them stop him from killing again.
   

She clutched her churning belly and wished for the umpteenth time that she hadn’t drank all those beers last night. What had she been thinking? And when she’d woken up and found her cell phone lying next to her with Hudson’s number on the screen, she’d panicked. In her drunken stupor, she’d almost called him. Thank God she’d passed out before that mistake had happened. With the mood she’d been in last night, she might have thrown herself at him.
 

And if they’d had sex, what then? Would they fall back into their old pattern of having mind-blowing sex on a regular basis while tiptoeing around their emotions? She honestly didn’t think she could handle another relationship with Hudson on those terms. But she also wasn’t sure she could expose her emotions, her reasons for having been so disgusted and angry with him after the Winters debacle, either. Even her family had no clue what had happened to her when she’d been in high school, or how that event had shaped her—good and bad—into the person she’d ultimately become…an obsessive-compulsive, introverted loner. No one had needed to know how she’d made a fool of herself, or how she continued to let that night rule her existence. Her family had always admired her strength—why disappoint them, or herself, again?
 

 
She smoothed her hair, then tightened her ponytail. Besides, what would be the point of telling Hudson anything? By the end of the month she’d move to New York to take the Network job. When that happened, there would be no future with Hudson. He was just as married to his career as she was to hers.
 

The door to the evidence and evaluation room opened, and Hudson entered. Wearing his ugly shit kickers, jeans and another thermal shirt—this one a lighter shade of gray—he made her heart jump and her stomach coil with something other than hangover nausea.
 

She tamped down the lust coursing through her veins and shifted in her chair. “Is Ian joining us?”
 

“No, he’s heading to D.C. for business and doesn’t have time.”

“Poo,” Rachel said. “He’s going to miss the early morning matinée.”

Hudson cracked a small smile. “Bummer for him.” He looked to Eden. “Ah…you don’t have to watch this. Actually, Ian suggested you use his office while we review the DVD.”

She folded her hands and let them rest in her lap. A part of her wanted to jump at Ian’s offer, but the investigative reporter in her demanded she sit through the damned thing. Besides, the killer had sent the DVD to her house. He’d targeted her. And this time, she wanted to be part of the team that stopped him. Not the bait.

 
“I appreciate the offer, but I’d rather stay.”

With his mouth set in a grim line, he stared at her for a moment, then said, “Suit yourself. Ready, Rachel.”

With a nod, Rachel hit PLAY, and within seconds, the TV screen came to life.
 

“Oh my God,” Rachel murmured, and without looking, slumped into a chair.

Eden suppressed a gasp while a cold shiver momentarily shook her body.
 

 
“Damn,” Hudson muttered with disgust. “Pause it.”

Rachel hit a button on the remote and the TV went still. A man, grotesquely bound to a chair, filled the screen and Eden suddenly wished she’d taken Ian’s offer. Her empty stomach rolled and sweat beaded along her upper lip. She swiped at her mouth, then looked away.

“Do you think there’s any way to ID him?” she asked, trying to take her mind off the inevitable. Barfing in CORE’s evidence and evaluation room, in front of Rachel and Hudson, was out of the question. She was Eden Risk, damn it. Hard core. Tough as frozen dog shit. She’d seen dozens of horrific crime scenes and had earned the respect of Chicagoans along with CPD and other law enforcement agencies. She wasn’t a puker unless it was purposeful. And she’d stopped shoving her fingers down her throat years ago when her dentist told her the enamel on her teeth had begun to wear due to acidity.
 

Dentist.

She shifted her gaze back to the screen. “Wait, the victim’s a dentist.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Rachel said, then winced. “Bad word choice.” She stood and approached the screen with a pointer. “We’ve got a drill in his lap, his head is taped to the chair and his mouth…God, this is like something out of the movie
Hellraiser
.”

Hudson crossed his arms and rested his ass on the edge of the desk next to her. “Okay, so first he gives a guy, who we’re thinking is a plastic surgeon, breast implants, now he’s performing dental surgery? I’m wondering if there’s a connection between the two men or if he’s choosing them at random.”

“If that’s the case, then there goes your theory about vengeance,” Rachel said.

“Unless he knows them somehow,” Eden countered. “Based on the OR this guy’s created, his equipment, the drugs…maybe he’s in the medical field and that’s how he knows the victims.”

“Maybe. Makes sense. But without a body or ID…” He trailed off, then nodded to Rachel. “Start it up again.”

Once more, the screen came to life. Low, painful moans filled the room. Silver tape wrapped the victim’s head. His cheeks were bloodied and swollen, and in the shape of a gruesome grin. His jaw dangled at such an odd angle, she couldn’t tell what the man looked like before the killer had tortured him. She touched her own cheeks, unable to imagine the pain the man must have endured.
 

“Open wide and say, ahh,” the killer said as he took the drill from the man’s lap. “I’m not going to lie. You’re
definitely
going to feel some pain.”

Anticipating what the doctor had in store for his victim, Eden’s skin crawled as the drill came alive, whirring and humming. “God, no,” she whispered, then clapped a hand over her mouth in horror.
 

The man strapped to the chair released a high-pitched, painful scream as he raised his torso and tensed the rest of his body. Blood poured from the holes in his cheeks and ears. With each touch of the drill, more blood oozed from his dangling jaw.
 

The scene ended as quickly as it had started. But, based on the tools lying on the workbench next to the chair, she suspected the killer was far from finished.
 

The doctor set the drill back in the man’s lap. With his back still to the camera, he reached for a pair of pliers. “This won’t do.”
 
He shook his head. “Looks like we’re going to have to extract a few of your teeth before we can proceed with the veneers.”

“No way,” Rachel said on a gasp.
 

More screams rocked the room as the doctor ripped a tooth from the man’s head.
 

Eden’s stomach flipped. She looked away, and caught Hudson’s gaze.
 

“Doing okay?” he asked, and reached for her hand.
 

She didn’t pull away. Instead, she held onto him, seeking his comfort and strength. Not a fan of the dentist to begin with, she doubted she’d enter a dental office of her own free will again.

Nodding, she held onto his hand, then turned her attention back to the TV just as the doctor dropped the tooth into a bag. He reached for the pliers again and, while the man released a painful scream, pulled another tooth free.

“There, that wasn’t too bad,” the doctor said as he placed the next tooth into the bag. “I think we’re ready to prep your teeth for the veneers now.”

He withdrew a large, metal file from the workbench, then paused. “Like I said, I Googled veneers and saw an entire procedure on You Tube. So I’ve got a pretty good idea how to do right by you. Unfortunately,” he said as he waved the file. “I don’t exactly have the proper equipment. For our purposes though, this should do the trick.”

Eden tightened her grip on Hudson’s hand. She couldn’t begin to imagine the pain the victim had endured as the doctor proceeded to file the man’s teeth. With each scrape of the file, she winced and fought the acidy bile burning her throat. After what seemed like an eternity, but according to the timer on the DVD player had only been about a minute, the doctor stopped.

He dropped the file on the man’s lap, then rubbed his chin with the back of a Latex gloved hand. After a few seconds, he flicked the victim’s nose. The man didn’t make a sound or flinch.
 

“Holy crap,” Rachel said, and leaned closer to the screen. “I think he’s dead.”

Eden looked to Hudson. “We didn’t see him kill the last victim. We only assumed he was dead. This time, we have him torturing a man to the point where his body gave out and he died.”

“That’s felony murder. After what this guy’s done, it’s too bad Illinois doesn’t have the death penalty anymore,” he said.

Rachel paused the DVD and turned to them. “Doesn’t matter. We still don’t have a body, and without physical evidence…” She shrugged, then said, “I can understand why your cop friend suggested the first DVD might be a hoax. First, no one wants to believe anyone could be capable of such atrocities. Second, with the way they can do special effects, who’s to say this isn’t fake?”

“You don’t seriously believe that, do you?” Eden asked, shocked Rachel would even suggest what they’d witnessed wasn’t real. Sure, she agreed that the special effects shown in movies had become eerily realistic, but would an amateur be able to create a film like this, or the one with the breast implants? When she realized the answer was “yes,” a seed of doubt took root. Maybe the whole thing was a hoax used to gain her attention, or better yet, gain the attention of someone in Hollywood.
 

“I’m not saying I do,” Rachel responded with a shake of her head. “I don’t know what to think. Maybe—”

“Let’s just finish the damned thing,” Hudson interrupted. “We’ll discuss all of this afterward.”