Plain Jane (6 page)

He inched the car forward and checked the mirror again. Still no movement. Damn her. Hitting the gas, he squealed out of the garage.

He did not need anyone that badly.

CHAPTER 15

Nicole was surprised to find her feet still planted solidly on the ground as Kent drove off. The detective let out a breath that she did not even realize she was holding. She had done it. She had stood her ground.

A small smile spread across her lips until Nicole realized she had no way to get home to celebrate this historic moment. She was not about to go upstairs and beg a ride off Ruben. She could check, but Nicole knew she did not have cash for a cab. It was a hell of a walk home, especially with her ankle still sore from the near fall in the stairwell.

With no palatable options, Nicole just stood there. Tired and a little shaky. If this was what victory felt like, it was not exactly motivating her to go for another win.

Was that the sound of a car? Engine sounds echoed off the garage’s low ceilings. Nicole’s mood brightened. Maybe a squad car was coming in for the night. With luck, she could get a lift home from a uniform.

But the arrival turned out to be far more complicated. It was Kent, backing her car down the ramp. Nicole stayed in place not so much from stubbornness as from shock. Kent had never come back.

Never.

Kent stopped the car right beside her. “O’Fallon recognized me.” His gaze met hers. “And, well, I was not exactly welcomed.”

If she were in a better mood, there was probably a story in there that would be quite amusing. When she did not respond, Kent continued, “The brain incident of 2010? I trust you remember?”

Oh, Nicole remembered it all right. Not an era that she wanted to revisit. “And you want my help for…?”

“A distraction.” He shrugged. “I need some quality time with the body.”

“Imagine my surprise that they didn’t let you in.”

All the humor left his face. “The trophy…” The words caught in his throat, and the profiler had to restart. “I have to know if he has his prize.”

There it was. Kent’s siren call. Everyone else, herself included, was willing to wait until the morning for the report. What did Kent understand about the killer that the rest of them did not? Normally that intrigue would have been enough to lure her into the car. But now, tonight?

She was just tired and sore.

The more Kent massaged his ego, the more hitching a ride with Ruben sounded appealing.

Nicole headed toward the stairs. “Read it in the report like everyone else.” The profiler’s eyes narrowed. Kent had that lean and hungry look. Nicole wasn’t impressed this time. “Waiting four hours for the autopsy isn’t going to kill you.”

CHAPTER 16

No, but it might get another brunette killed.

Kent watched Nicole walk across the garage to the stairs. What was she thinking? The nation’s most prolific serial killer had been interrupted.

How could he gauge the killer’s reaction if he didn’t know his level of frustration? Was he happy, coveting his latest trophy or back on the prowl? Didn’t Nicole understand?

Obviously the detective didn’t since she kept walking. He was losing her. Kent had only one card left.

“I’ll come back tomorrow,” he called out.

Nicole stopped but did not turn around. What more did she want from him? What more did he have?

“To the morning briefing.” She still refused to turn around. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

Nicole turned the upper half of her body, but kept her toes pointed toward the stairwell. Toward Ruben. “On time?” He couldn’t help but smirk. “Don’t push it.”

CHAPTER 17

Ruben watched Nicole drive away with Kent.

Why was he not surprised?

He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. He had come down to apologize. But then, imagine that, he found Kent standing right next to her. Just as he had predicted. Ruben had thought he was just being sarcastic during the fight with Nicole, but obviously a part of him feared that she quickened to the profiler’s ultra-dangerous aura.

Worse, Kent was not just a bad boy. The profiler was a downright awful boy. Harbinger did not just ride motorcycles, he would hot-wire one to bring on a date.

How could anyone sane compete?

When Kent had driven off, leaving Nicole standing there all alone, Ruben’s heart skipped a beat. For once, the profiler was showing his true colors. The deep selfish streak that for some reason seemed beyond anyone else’s comprehension to see was shining through.

Ruben knew he could never be Nicole’s knight in shining armor, however, tonight he had the chance to at least be a guy with a silver Lexus who could make sure she got home safe and sound.

Those hopes were dashed in their infancy when Kent backed all the way from the street to Nicole’s parking spot. An action that spelled the end to Ruben’s rescue fantasy.

He’d seen it in his partner’s eyes. Instead of being pissed that Kent had not only stolen her car but left her with no ride home, Nicole had somehow seemed content. Maybe even a little gratified. Maybe a lot.

After everything Harbinger had put her through, Nicole seemed ready, even eager, to get back on the profiler’s emotional merry-go-round.

Ruben knew a lot of men would just give up on her. Back off. But he was not most men. It was not arrogance or some masochistic urge that kept him in the game. No, Kent’s allure, ultimately, whether Nicole wanted to admit it or not, was that the profiler would hurt her. Not just hurt her, but jeopardize her career again. Ruin her life again.

And when that day came, Ruben would be sure to be there to catch her.
Again
.

CHAPTER 18

Nicole knew that assisting Harbinger was a bad idea. A
really
bad idea. Helping Kent break into the morgue was possibly the worst idea since…

Well, since the brain incident of 2010. But the truth was she never felt more alive than she did right now, knowing that Kent was somewhere in the shadows behind her.

Following her.

Unlike the profiler, she knew the door code and let them into the morgue without incident. They made their way to the intake desk, keeping to the back halls. Nicole in the lead. Kent trailing in the darkness.

Even she needed to avoid old man O’Fallon. He might be well past retirement age, but the security guard would know if she showed up at the morgue in the middle of the night, Kent could not be far behind.

Instead they targeted the new attendant. It didn’t hurt that the kid had a crush on her. While Nicole tried to avoid the morgue after the ugly incident several years ago, her job brought her here frequently. Between the memories and the rank odor, Nicole always had to go home and take a hot shower afterward. She had no idea how anyone could work here full-time. You would have to be a morbid son of a bitch with a poor sense of smell.

Yet here she was approaching the desk, making certain that O’Fallon was not nearby before she showed herself. Luckily the elderly guard seemed to be off on one of his many catnaps he took during the long night shift.

Nicole came out of hiding. “Hey, Joshua.”

The younger man continued to stare straight ahead at the bank of security monitors. Well, they couldn’t have him doing that if Kent was going to break into the crypt. Nicole tapped the young man on the shoulder.

“Joshua.”

The attendant practically fell out of his seat. The kid jerked the buds out of his ears and the tinny sounds of death metal floated on the air.

“Detective Usher! I didn’t hear you buzz me.”

“Nah. I know the codes.”

Joshua fumbled with his iPod, trying desperately to turn it off as he spoke. “Yeah, duh. Of course you do.” Finally the music stopped. “Do you have a new body? Because I’m all about new bodies. I mean I’m—”

“I need to review the paperwork on Plain Jane.”

The attendant’s chest puffed up. “No worries.”

“Torres and I got our wires crossed, and we didn’t double-check it.”

“I’m telling you, everything is five-by-five.”

“This is the city’s most prolific serial killer, Josh. The documentation needs to be more like ten-by-ten.”

Nicole forced a flirty smile.

CHAPTER 19

Kent watched as Nicole leaned forward on that last “ten.” She had pushed some cleavage together.

The attendant’s eyes dilated and his cheeks blushed. Nicole didn’t have a lot going on in the chest department, but what she had, she knew how to use.

After several seconds completely slack-jawed, the attendant snapped back to attention. “Of course, let me get it.”

As Joshua turned away, Kent snuck down the hall, past the desk, and into the corridor to the right. Silently, up on the balls of his feet, he easily eluded the kid. Even in the pitch black, Kent made his way to the crypt without a single misstep.

Not hesitating, Harbinger pushed open the door and strode across the crypt to the rows of coolers. Rapidly, he read the names on the doors. The attendant had not been exaggerating, they had nearly a full house. Kent did not linger on any one name. These others did not concern him. The only one that mattered to him was Joann Forme.

The woman he had stalked for over a week. Nicole was not the only female whose bathroom he snooped around. He even knew that Joann was only two days from bleeding. That was how he knew the killer was going to strike tonight. Besides the trophy, Kent was beginning to form a theory that Plain Jane wanted his women at their sexual peak.

As much as Kent loved to cultivate the perception that his insight was near psychic in origin, it actually arose from long, boring hours of observation. Sometimes so many hours that other lives were lost in the interim.

You could not rush genius.

Kent had come so close to saving Joann because of the hundreds of hours he had logged on the last three victims. Claudia Simons, Julie Gamos, and Maria Villa. From them he had learned that it was not just their petite forms that drew the killer, but their pert breasts, high on the rib cage. The killer also required a fairly narrow waist sloping into full hips. A nice ass did not hurt, either.

All of those characteristics plus one other that still eluded Kent drew both the profiler and killer to Joann. It was then that the profiler realized he had been standing in front of the brunette’s crypt, a hand on the lever.

Kent did not have the luxury to brood. Nicole’s cleavage was not going to keep the young attendant fascinated forever. She just did not have that much to go around.

He jerked open the door and rolled Joann’s body out of its temporary tomb. The sound echoed in the small room, filling it, making it seem even smaller. Cool air rushing out from the interior gave rise to goose bumps along his arm. Or was it the sight of the woman’s pale face that stood out against the bright red slash across her neck?

The press might have dubbed these victims as Plain Janes, but to Kent each held their own beauty. Joann’s small button nose. Her baby-smooth skin, now marred by bloody hair matted against her cheek.

Despite his sense of urgency, Kent gently pulled back the unruly strands. Joann would have been horrified to have her hair in such a mess. Unlike Nicole, this woman only used one brand of shampoo and conditioner. A boutique brand, priced at over a hundred dollars a bottle, just like the celebrities used. A price she should not have been able to afford on a bookkeeper’s salary.

As if hiding some state secret, late at night, Joann would go online and buy the expensive products on eBay. Hell, just last night she had gotten free shipping thrown in. Kent could not help but grin. Joann had looked so proud. A small victory in a small life.

Pulling her purple scarf from his pocket, he draped it over her slashed neck. A small tribute to their bond.

Quickly the smile fell. This was not a wake. He had work to do. Snapping on a pair of latex gloves, Kent silently apologized to the brunette for what he was about to do.

CHAPTER 20

Nicole read the intake form again. For the fifth time. Where in the hell was Kent? A piece of paper tossed into the hallway was supposed to be the signal that she could wrap up this charade. Each time she glanced to the hall, still no paper.

She was not sure how much longer she could keep Josh distracted. For what seemed like forever, while she had been checking out the paperwork, she had made sure the attendant was checking
her
out.

However, there was only so much shifting and strutting in an underwire bra you could do before it began cutting off circulation. She needed a new strategy.

Then movement on the security screen caught Josh’s eye. Over his shoulder, Nicole could see the image of Kent moving around in the crypt.

The attendant pointed. “Oh man, that freak again!”

Before she could stop him, Joshua flew down the hallway. Nicole had no other option but to rush after him. She caught up right at the door to the cooler, praying they burst into an empty room, but they found Kent elbow-deep in the brunette’s belly.

The most shocking sight, however, was the sheer joy on the profiler’s face as he pulled pink tissue to the surface.

“It’s still here.” He urged the mottled tissue toward her. “He didn’t get it.”

Several moments passed before the surprise wore off and Nicole realized what Kent was showing her.

Joann’s uterus.

CHAPTER 21

Kent tugged at the ovarian ligament, trying to expose the womb better. Didn’t Nicole realize what this meant? The killer had been thwarted. Denied his prize. His trophy. Kent’s mind reeled with the implications.

“Dude, get another hobby!”

The attendant’s outburst brought Kent back to the present circumstance. “It’s still here.”

Joshua pointed. “Um, that’s against the law, right?”

“Uh, oh yeah.” This seemed to break the detective out of her shock. She drew her gun. “Step away from the body.”

Kent did not like taking orders, even if they were fake ones. “What? At least I put on gloves this time.”

Nicole tilted her head to the side.

“Um, you know how to use the gun, right?” Josh asked.

Oh, she knew how to use it all right
, Kent thought as Nicole leveled her aim at his head. “Step away. Now!”