Plain Jane (18 page)

Nicole wasn’t sure if she felt pleased or upset by the news. It hurt Ruben’s case, but supported Kent’s arrogant assessment.

Glick continued, “We can’t count on the evidence to prove he’s Plain Jane. We’re going to need a confession.”

By the look on Ruben’s face, Nicole knew they had a hard road ahead of them. Torres was as good as anyone in the room, well, as good as anyone except Kent. But getting a serial killer to confess?

Unless you had a backbreaking tonnage of evidence, it was hard. Unless the perp was an attention seeker, it was nearly impossible. Nicole sighed. It was absolutely impossible if the guy didn’t do it in the first place.

Her partner rose to the occasion, though, and made a show of pressing his earpiece tighter against his ear, as if listening to a long discourse.

Finally Torres lowered his hand, shaking his head. “The case is just stacking up against you. You should have cleaned those drains better, Martin.”

The perp seemed genuinely unimpressed. “You don’t have anything or a DA would be here.”

Good one
, Nicole thought, but Ruben turned it right back on the guy. “Who do you think just told me that he’d be seeking the death penalty?”

That got the perp’s attention. His eyes nervously flickered to the one-way mirror. “Then why aren’t they in here talking to me?”

Ruben wagged his finger at Martin. “If they were willing to cut a deal, sure. But how’s that going to play in the press? The new DA making a deal with a serial killer?” Torres leaned back in his chair. “I wouldn’t wait on them.”

Perhaps Ruben went too far, because the perp nearly peed his pants. “Maybe… Maybe, you know, I should think about getting a lawyer, then?”

Nicole moved in before he actually requested counsel and invalidated his signed waiver. “Need protection? Feeling a little guilty, are we?”

She hovered behind Martin, just out of sight. Yet the man seemed to gain resolve. Her eyes met Ruben’s.

They were losing him. Soon some high-profile lawyer would take the guy’s case just for the headlines, and not only would they never get a confession, but a conviction was equally unlikely.

Then a familiar, sultry voice came over her earpiece. It certainly wasn’t Glick.

“Lean forward,” Kent repeated.

Nicole’s eyes darted to the mirror. Had she really heard correctly? Had the profiler really come back? By the frown on Ruben’s face, he thought so as well.

“Do it,” Harbinger encouraged.

With a feeling slightly akin to a beer buzz, Nicole leaned in. Close enough she could smell the perp’s cheap cologne but was not quite touching his clammy skin.

“Ask him how that feels,” the profiler prompted.

She leaned in so that her lips were nearly brushing his ear lobe. “So do you like your women close?” The perp’s respiration rate skyrocketed. He did not answer.

“Closer,” the voice in her ear whispered as if it were Kent she snuggled up to.

Complying, Nicole brought her chest level with the perp’s cheek. “Or closer, Martin?”

Flustered, the guy tried to keep his eyes facing straight forward. Like a compass to the north, he kept sneaking peeks at her cleavage.

“Let that left breast just lean against him.”

Ruben’s head turned sharply toward the window.

A movement that was not missed by the perp.

“Tell him you found blood mixed with semen.”

Nicole did not hesitate. “No biggie. We found more blood in the shower drain pipes.”

“You did not.”

She tsked-tsked before she continued. “I was not done. It was mixed with jizz. I can only assume
your
jizz.” Nicole moved from the right side of his face to his left. “Did you go and beat off after you killed her?”

CHAPTER 69

“Get that left breast in play,” Kent urged Nicole even though he felt Glick’s disapproving presence. The profiler watched through the mirror as she leaned in.

But her voice was sexy even muffled over the audio feed as she whispered to Martin. “Does it excite you? Proximity? Being this close?”

The detective worked her magic, but this guy was scared. Even more scared than horny. They needed the big guns. And they needed them now. “I’m telling you, Nic. Get that left breast front and center.”

Kent matched his respiratory rate to Martin’s. As her chest glanced the guy’s shoulder, his breaths skyrocketed.

“Yes,” the man exhaled more than spoke.

The profiler could sense that Nicole knew she had the upper hand, for her tone was coy. Her words soft. “You just wanted to be close.”

The guy nearly shook with excitement. “Yes.”

Martin was theirs. He was nothing more than clay to be molded. “Told you. That left one has magical properties, doesn’t it, Julio?”

Kent smiled as Ruben glowered. Nicole, however, had overcome her reservations and was in such close contact with the perp that even he felt a twinge of jealousy.

Nicole sounded as if it were pillow talk. “Tell me.”

Breaking the mood that Kent and Nicole had so carefully cultivated, Torres cleared his throat loudly.

Martin’s eyes darted nervously. “I can’t.”

“You can,” the temptress encouraged.

“I’m not saying another word.”

As the perp crossed his arms, it looked like Nicole’s breast had lost its magic. However, Kent had more in his arsenal than just her mammary tissue. It would take Nicole trusting him, though. Completely. Unquestioningly.

“If you won’t talk to me…”

Nicole dutifully recited Kent’s words. “If you won’t talk to me…”

“Then show me.”

Again the detective parroted the statement. “Then show…” Nicole stumbled, then regained her footing. “Me.”

The harsh metallic scraping of his chair announced that Ruben was up on his feet. “That will be enough.”

Nicole must have known where Kent was leading and she seemed eager to follow. “Maybe you should leave the two of us alone?”

The tall Hispanic clenched his fist. A gesture Kent was sure was meant for him and not the perp. “Never.”

“Then sit down.” Nicole’s tone was dominating. It brooked no argument.
Damn, but she had never been hotter
, Kent thought.

The perp must have thought so, too, as his respiratory rate ticked up and his cheeks flushed red.

Once Ruben was back in his seat, Nicole continued in a cajoling tone, “We’ve got the evidence. We’ve got the break-in.” She sounded almost sympathetic, plus Kent couldn’t help noticing that the left breast was back in play. “You’re going to prison for a very long time, Martin.”

In a move that even impressed Kent, Nicole stroked the perp’s cheek. “When’s the next time you’ll be this close to a woman again?”

Martin looked at Ruben, who still fumed, then back to Nicole. He seemed uncertain, but at least he was not talking about getting a lawyer.

The perp mumbled something.

“Speak up, Martin. Tell me what you want.” Nicole encouraged like an experienced pro that wanted her money.

Martin cleared his throat. “You’ll need to uncuff me.”

CHAPTER 70

Nicole looked toward the mirror. Toward Kent. What the perp asked was well beyond regulations.

“Is it any wonder people think I’m disturbed?” The profiler asked rhetorically in her ear. “If you want a confession, darlin’, you’ve got to go where the weirdos lead.”

With a harsh glare at Ruben to keep him seated, Nicole pulled out her keys. With a click, the perp was uncuffed.

“There you are, Martin.”

The man rubbed his wrists, then looked at Ruben. She had to give her partner credit, he looked away rather than argued and upset the delicate rapport she had built with the creep. Finally Martin turned toward her, but did not approach.

“You’re going to show me?” Nicole asked

He licked his lips and nodded. “Oh, yeah.”

The perp did not move. Kent remained silent on the other side of the glass. She was on her own. “Do you like them facing you or away?”

“Facing me.”

With hands outstretched, the perp came at her. Obviously intent on groping her.

Nicole squirmed, waiting for Kent, but the profiler continued his silence. Had he abandoned her? Was she really going to let this pervert touch her? Her anxiety increased as the man inched forward, almost as surprised that he was going to reach the Promised Land as she was.

“Yeah, like he ever gets that action,” Kent joked.

Relieved, but slightly pissed that the profiler had let it go that far, Nicole knocked Martin’s hand away. “I don’t think so,” she said. “This needs to be
just
like you did it.”

The perp looked frustrated, and his jaw worked back and forth. The guy probably grew up with a retainer. Probably had a tooth guard at home by his bed. Nicole felt gratified. That was the type of insight that Kent might have had. Being this close to a psycho, the detective’s learning curve was steep. Nicole didn’t have to wait for Kent’s instructions. She knew what was needed next.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Nicole circled the perp, running a finger along his shoulders, then his back. “This is what you want but never get, isn’t it?” She came around to face him, her finger still lightly touching his chest. “So close. But they always say ‘no,’ don’t they?”

“Don’t forget the power of that left breast,” Kent reminded her.

As she passed by Martin again, she made sure her breast made contact with his elbow. When the perp spoke, it was so husky that you could barely make out the words.

“They shouldn’t have.”

“No,” Nicole tried to sympathize. “They shouldn’t.”

Martin’s voice firmed. “Turn around.”

Nicole hesitated, suddenly not so sure this guy wasn’t Plain Jane. A possible murderer uncuffed and inflamed.

“Do it,” Kent’s instruction was blunt.

Nicole turned around. “You like them to be surprised?”

CHAPTER 71

Good girl
, Kent thought as Nicole completely turned her back on the freak. For a second there, he thought she might balk, but Nicole had done her duty.

He knew how vulnerable the detective felt, yet those feelings just fueled this guy’s fantasy. In a few moments, Martin would completely forget he was in a police station, and they would see his true colors.

Martin was pressed up against Nicole’s back. His hips thrust slightly forward so his crotch was practically between the detective’s butt cheeks. Still Nicole held her ground, finally understanding how you had to deal with these psychos.

“You like to take them from behind?” Nicole asked again. Again, Martin didn’t answer. Instead his finger traced the length of her neck.

Nicole’s face was angled away from Kent, though he knew she cringed. The detective wasn’t the most comfortable with physical intimacy under the best of circumstances. This type of contact had to be excruciating.

“Draw him out.”

Nicole’s tone was a little flat. “Where’s your knife?”

“We’ll get to that,” Martin said as his hand slipped forward, down her sternum and toward her cleavage.

“Show me,” Nicole urged. “Show me how you did it.”
“Do you
really
want me to?”

Oh yeah, we do
, Kent thought, but it was Nicole who voiced the answer. “Yes.”

With a violence that startled everyone else, Martin grabbed Nicole by the neck and started choking her, screaming hysterically, “You bitch! You’ll pay, just like she did!”

Very un-Plain Jane-like. If there had been doubt in anybody’s mind this was the man, it should have been completely dispelled.

In a single bound, Ruben was over the table, pulling the psycho off Nicole. Glick seemed agitated, but Kent was almost bored. “Told ya so. The ugly, stupid ones are easy to catch.”

The captain rushed in as Ruben struggled with Martin.

“Tell Nicole, next time she should believe me,” Kent said to Glick as he strode out.

CHAPTER 72

Nicole sat on the floor, still choking a little, trying to convince her throat it was safe to breathe again while Ruben was busy slamming Martin against the wall. Her partner was cursing vehemently in Spanish. Seldom did Ruben let his Latin roots show quite so colorfully.

“He’s not Plain Jane,” Nicole croaked out.

With another good shove against the wall, Ruben answered. “Maybe not, but he did
kill
someone.”

Glick called two other uniforms in. At this point they were there to protect Martin from Ruben rather than the other way around. Nicole knew she should be angry at Kent or even scared of Martin, but she was elated.

She could still feel the killer’s hands around her throat. Still feel the adrenaline surge as he closed off her windpipe. It had been a rush. A rush that wasn’t over yet.

Martin was no Plain Jane. His actions under stress had proven that. A serial killer still lurked. A smarter one. A true predator. One that she was now ready to help take down.

“Yeah, but he didn’t kill our girls,” Nicole stated.

Even with Martin recuffed and a uniform on each arm, Torres still shoved the man before releasing him into the other officers’ custody. “Still, we caught a murderer tonight.”

Nicole knew how badly Torres wanted to be the one to bring down Plain Jane. Sadly, it was not to be. That killer was well beyond either of their skills.

“Where’s Kent?” Nicole asked, as she tried to rise.

Dizzy, she had to plop back down. Glick and Torres rushed to her side. “Pulled his ‘who was that masked man’ routine,” the captain replied.

Nicole leaned back, exposing her bruised neck.

“That bastard,” Ruben growled. Nicole was pretty sure that he was referring to Kent rather than Martin.

Now feeling sillier on the ground than excited, Nicole tried to rise again. Ruben put his hands on her shoulders. “The EMTs are on their way.”

“I’m good,” Nicole said as she purposefully removed her partner’s grip. Glick offered a hand also. Nicole declined it as well. She was not a damsel in distress. She was one motivated, ready-to-track-down-a-serial-killer kind of damsel who was not going to let anyone get in her way. “Did he say where he was going?”

Glick shrugged. “Just a ‘hi, ho, Silver! Away.’ “

CHAPTER 73

Ruben watched as the woman he loved walked out, again. Could he blame Nicole, though? He had failed, yet again. Failed so very publicly. Failed right in front of her. It had taken Kent, riding in on his white horse, to save the day.