Eye of the Storm (The Storm Series) (5 page)

Evie was thankful for one less crime scene she had to look at. Hearing about the lives they lived before being brutally murdered made the weight of what they were trying to accomplish even heavier.

Placing another smiling photo in front of her, Anthony continued. “Then we have Heather Roberts. A kick-boxing instructor from Phoenix, Arizona. She was on vacation in the Caribbean. We met at a club one night, hit it off. We were supposed to meet the next day and go sailing. She never showed up. I just figured I’d been stood up. This was another one I didn’t know anything about. It seems she’s still missing. Since she fits the profile, we can only assume that Jeremy was there, too.”

“Oh no! Her poor family. What they must be going through.” Evie didn’t want to think about it.

“It seems that he took a break while I was in prison. So the next one is Christina Cooper, the one found at the carnival. She liked men and was a little wild.”

“Maybe we could go talk to her ex-husband? Since we have extra time before Lexi and Noah get home, we shouldn’t waste it.”

“What could he tell us?”

“Who knows, but it’s better than just sitting around reading these reports over and over. Maybe we can get some little piece of information. Every little piece helps the puzzle come together. We should also go to motels around the area and talk to people who rented him rooms. We’ve gone over all of the police investigations, including the international ones. Maybe we can find something they couldn’t. I know, it’s a long shot, but we don’t have to worry about protocol.”

He sighed. “Well, you are right in the fact that it would be better than just sitting around waiting. So we start tomorrow?”

“Sounds good. Now, I’m sorry, but I need a break and it’s getting late. I think we should call it a night.”

He followed her to the door. “Evie, thank you.” When she started to shake her head, he stopped her. “Don’t say it’s nothing, because you know it isn’t. I really appreciate what you are doing not just for Lexi, but for me, too. She’s got a very special friend in you.”

“I’d do this for anyone.”

“Yes, I believe you would. Now try to get some sleep and forget about this for a little bit.”

She turned and walked out the door. With the screen door between them, she placed her hand on the screen. “Good night.”

Placing his hand on hers he said, “Good night, la mia belezza.”

Evie walked away feeling his eyes on her, repeating the words he said to her all the way up to her room. As soon as she closed the door, she went to her computer and searched for the meaning of his words. She sighed at the translation,
my beauty
.

~*~

Jeremy sat back in the dirty motel room staring at the computer screen. Things couldn’t be going better. Anthony had come to Ipswich. As far as he could tell, he didn’t have any security with him.
Now to have some fun.

“OK, we’re here, what’s the big emergency?” Leigh said as she and Marie walked into the kitchen at Evelyne’s house.

“I have no idea what little Miss Thing is up to,” said Evelyne as she handed them both a cup of coffee.

Evie breezed into the room and got a soda out of the fridge. “Good, you’re all here. Let’s get down to it.”

“I’d like to get down to it, but this is slowing me down.” Evelyne wiggled her arm.

Evie gave her a look. “Haven’t you learned anything after the last time?”

“Nope.”

“Anyway, I need your help. As you know, Anthony is here to find out as much as he can about Jeremy. We spent last night going over all of each other’s information. We decided to work together to try to find him.”

Evelyne jumped up and started pacing the room. “Are you kidding me? Have you thought this thing through? No, of course not. You always leap before you think.”

“I wonder where she gets it from,” whispered Leigh to Marie.

“I heard that! Do you have any idea what could happen to you? And what about Lexi? How is she going to feel about this?”

“Grandma, calm down. Yes, I have thought this through. I know the risks, but really what else could I do? He’s an innocent man that has had a lot of bad things happen to him, and someone is out there planning on causing more pain. It’s not just about Lexi anymore. They
both
deserve that bastard be locked up where he can’t hurt anyone anymore. You all know I’ve always loved puzzles, I think this is something that I could help with. Please try to understand.”

“Honey, we are, but you’ve got to give us more.” Leigh rubbed Evie’s back.

Evie stood up and walked over to where her grandmother was leaning against the counter and grabbed her hands. “You
know
me. You know that I can take care of myself. You know that I have always been the one to figure out who did it before anyone else when watching a movie or reading a book. I might be able to see something that other people can’t. While yes, I do tend to leap before I look, that isn’t always a bad thing. Besides, Anthony and I will be together. I’ll try to make sure I’m not alone. Please understand.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Marie said.

“What? How can you say that?” Evelyne demanded.

“Think about what she said. Take the emotion of the fact she is your granddaughter out of it. Another pair of eyes won’t hurt anything. Besides, we might learn more, Anthony might have some information Noah’s man wasn’t able to dig up. The more we know, the better. They can do things that law enforcement can’t. Lexi will be home soon. It would be nice if we could take this one thing off of her so she wouldn’t have to stress about Jeremy still being out there. And like Evie said, Anthony doesn’t deserve this. What has happened to him is wrong; she can help make it right.”

Evelyne’s eyes were narrowed and her jaw was set. “What about Lexi? Have you thought about that?”

“Oh course, I have. I know seeing Anthony is going to be a huge shock. I’m hoping that telling her before seeing him will help. She’s got Noah; you know he’d do anything for her. She knows that there is a difference between the two. She wants this as much for her as for Anthony. She still feels terrible about her part in the whole thing. She’s strong enough to get through this, I know it.”

“And there is nothing going on between the two of you?” Marie asked.

Evie tried to make sure her face didn’t show anything. In fact, that kept her up more than the nightmares of what she’d seen and they’d talked about. “Of course not.”

“Evie, honey, we aren’t stupid.” Leigh said.

“What are you guys talking about?”

Leigh started ticking off on her fingers, “First, the two of you kept looking at each other all through dinner the other night.” Before Evie could interrupt she continued, “Second, he went searching for you all over the place the next day, then you two spend hours together alone. Finally, you are doing whatever you can to help him, even putting yourself in danger. That adds up to something going on. Besides, even though the killer has his face, you have to admit, he’s pretty hot. There is something about how he carries himself. You can tell he’s used to being in charge, giving orders and getting what he wants. There is something animalistic about it. You just know he’d be great in the sack.”

Evie tried to keep her imagination in check as the others laughed and agreed.

“You guys don’t have to worry about me. I’ve got this.” Evie only hoped it was true. She was afraid of what might happen between them and what it could mean to the people she loved.

~*~

When they pulled into a motel parking lot, Evie turned to Anthony. “Now, let me do this. You stay here, I’ve got a plan.”

Grabbing her arm before she could make a move to scoot out of the car, he had her look at him. “What do you mean ‘you’ve got a plan’ Why didn’t you share this with me?”

“Because I knew you’d try to stop me.”

“I can still stop you.”

“But you won’t.” She batted her eyelashes at him and laughed when he growled at her. “Seriously, look here.” She handed him her phone and tapped an app on. Up on the screen came a view out the front windshield of the car.

“What in the hell?” He looked at her when he heard his voice come out of the phone.

“See I’ve got this hooked up so you will be able to see and hear everything that I’m doing.” When he didn’t say anything she just looked at him and said, “Well, where are the protests now?”

“Give me a minute. I’ll think of something.”

“Nope, I’ve got to get going. I’ve done my research, Hank is in there now. He’s a middle-aged good-ole boy who likes the ladies.” She unbuttoned a couple of buttons on her shirt so that her cleavage was showing. When he growled again she looked at him while fluffing her hair up. “What? I’ll have him eating out of my hand in no time.”

“That’s what I am afraid of. How did you know this person would be there?” He watched in fascination as she applied a bright red lipstick to her lips.

She leaned over close to him and patted his cheek. “You’re not the only one who can do research. Be a good boy and stay here.” She threw back her head and laughed as he growled again. “Now, watch me work.” She got out of the car and with an extra sway to her hips, she walked towards the motel office.

~*~

Evie took a deep breath before entering the office. Squaring her shoulders so her boobs stood out even more than usual and she added a small flirty smile as she opened the door. She was satisfied that it was working by the way Hank’s eyes bulged almost out of his head.

“Hey darling.” She said playing up her Boston accent as she crossed to the counter and leaned over the counter so he would have the perfect shot down her shirt. “I was wondering if you could help me.”

“Umm... sure... what can I… umm… do for you?” He rubbed his hand over his lunch stained shirt that was stretched tight over his belly.

Evie looked around before leaning even further over and dropping her voice. “Are we the only ones here? No one else can hear us right?”

Coughing, he tried to recover quickly, “Yes, it’s just us. How can I do you? I mean what can I do for you?”

She let a high-pitched giggle come out and covered his arm with her hand and started rubbing it. “Well, see, I’m so embarrassed. This was a mistake.”

“No, honey, don’t worry about it. I want to help, tell me what you need.”

She wanted to shiver and get as far away from his leering as she could, but she knew she had to finish what she started for Lexi. “So I think my loser of a fiancé is cheating on me. The guy is loaded, so if he is, I want proof so I can get my cut, you understand?” When he nodded she continued. “No one treats me that way. I want him to pay, with money. So, I was wondering if you could take a look at this guy and tell me if you’ve seen him around, and if he ever had a chick with him.”

She slid the picture of Anthony across the counter, it was the best they could do since they didn’t have anything good of Jeremy. Watching as his shaking fingers picked up the picture, she held her breath hoping for some kind of information they could use.

“Hmmm, yeah, he’s been here.”

Evie moved and covered her mouth with her hand jabbing her fingernail into the underside of her chin effectively making her eyes tear. “Oh no!”

He took one pudgy hand and awkwardly patted her shoulder. “Honey, it’s not that bad. I remember him from last year. He paid cash, stayed for about a week. He didn’t bring any woman by.”

She opened her eyes wide. “Really? Are you sure? How can you remember?”

He turned red and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “Well, see, he’s not the typical clientele I get here. You could tell he was used to money. He had to have his room cleaned at a specific time every day and a certain way, otherwise, there was, I don’t know, a coldness to him if it wasn’t right.”

Sighing she said, “That does sound like him.”

He leaned over the counter to get closer to her. “You know, you don’t need him, you need a real man, one that would treat you like the queen you are.”

“Did he leave anything behind?”

“Nope, in fact I think that was the cleanest the room had ever been. Now honey, why don’t you come back here and let me take care of you.”

Evie knew it was time to make a retreat. “Thanks for the info, hun. I’ve got to go.” She turned and walked quickly out the door ignoring his pleas for her to come back.

~*~

“Where to now?” Anthony asked.

“What climbed up your ass?”

“Gee, I don’t know. Your little performance?”

“Oh come on, we got the information we needed.”

“Yeah, in about another thirty seconds I was going to have to come in there, then what would you have done?”

“I’d have figured something out. Anyway, let’s go to this little B&B up the road a bit.” She took a brush out of her purse and started to comb her hair.

“What no hoochi-mama this time?”

She burst out laughing. “Hoochi-mama? Oh god. That is hysterical in your slightly proper British accent.”

“Can we get back to business?”

“Sure can, Sweet Cheeks.” She enjoyed pushing his buttons and wondered how far she could push before he pushed back.

“Here make yourself useful, plug in the address in the GPS.”

“Oh, I’m very useful.” She put the address into the GPS. “There. It’s not too far away. It’s lucky we know his real name and that he didn’t use something different.”

“Hopefully that will be his undoing; he’s a bit too cocky for his own good.”

She watched as his knuckles became white on the steering wheel. Wanting to sooth him and take his pain away she reached over and placed her hand on his shoulder. “I know Anthony, we’ll catch him. He can’t keep this up forever.”

“But how many other women have to die first? How many more is he going to torture?”

“We just have to work harder. We’ve got to do this.”

They rode the rest of the way in silence.

~*~

Anthony looked over at Evie who looked like her normal self again, wondering what she was going to do this time. “Don’t do anything stupid.” That last one had almost given him a heart attack.

“Who me? Come on, out of everything, this is the easiest part. Chill dude.” She chuckled as she got out of the car and slammed the door shut.