Skin (20 page)

The alley turned into a T. When she got to the intersection, Lilith still saw no one.

But she heard footfalls behind her. She whipped around. Saw movement in the shadows.
Didn’t hesitate.
Ran for her life.

The slap-slap of leather on pavement followed.

She could take care of herself. She could fight. But mentally, she simply wasn’t prepared. Not for this moment. Not for this place. This would be on
his
terms. She wanted them on hers.

So she kept running, darted down a gangway between two apartment houses.
Down several steps of an underpass beneath the first floor apartment.
Breathing hard, she grew desperate to lose whoever followed.

She could do it.

Face him.

Beat him.

Just not now.

She flew up several steps into a cement backyard.

Where to go?

Another alley.

Catching her breath, she slipped out of the yard and crouched behind a lineup of black resin garbage cans on wheels. She rolled into a tight ball and tried not to breathe.

In the pooled yellow alley light between cans, she saw dark-clad legs stop nearby. He was breathing heavily. Inching back slightly from the crack between two garbage cans, she prepared herself to start running again.

The man’s legs turned one way, then the other, as if he were trying to decide which way to go. Finally, he moved off.

Lilith stayed put.
Waiting.

Agonized.

Demoralized.

She could have ended it right there, one way or another, but she’d let fear take hold of her.

Would she do any better if she finally met the killer face-to-face, even if it was on her terms?

oOo

IT WAS DAYBREAK by the time Lilith got back to Hannah’s place.

Disappointed in herself, she slammed the front door and threw the dead bolt. Dropped the raincoat on the couch, went back to the bedroom where she rescued the tiger cat from the floor and brought it back to bed with her.

She’d convinced herself she could do this, but could she or was she fooling herself?

Good thoughts of Hannah, she told herself as lay there for who knew how long. Her mind kept going over and over the chase through the alleys. Eventually, exhaustion overtook her. She drifted off thinking,
No more nightmares.
The phone ringing woke her sometime later.

Groaning, she rolled over and checked the clock. 9 a.m. She’d slept a few hours.

No
name on the caller ID.
Her stomach churned as she picked up the phone anyway. Suspecting it was
him
, she demanded, “Who is this?”

“You haven’t danced for me yet,”
came
the electronically altered voice.

She sat straight up in bed. “What do you want?”

“You may not be afraid for your own safety or your sister’s, but what about the girl’s?”

“What are you talking about? What girl?”

“She says her name is Carmen. If you want to see her alive again, you’ll dance for me.
Tonight.
”

The click on the other end of the line told Lilith he’d hung up on her.

“Carmen!”

Panicked that the killer had even known the girl’s name, Lilith called her home.

“Mrs. Vargas,
it’s
Lilith. Can I speak to Carmen,
please.
”

“She’s not here. She
don’t
come after the class last night. I try calling you.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

The woman must have called while she was working. Why hadn’t she checked for messages on her cell?

“Did you call the police?” Lilith asked.

“No. She’s probably with a boy. If she gets pregnant...”

If only that were the situation.
“I’ll let you know if I hear from her.” She couldn’t tell Carmen’s parents a killer might have her. She couldn’t panic them before she knew for certain.

“Gracias.”

After hanging up, Lilith sat there, feeling more than a little lost. What was she going to do now? If the killer had Carmen, that was
her
fault. She never should have taken the waitress job and made herself up to look so much like her sister. Never should have taunted the man who’d taken her. It was one thing to put
herself
in danger.
Another to put Carmen in danger.

The whole situation was spinning out of her control. No matter which way she turned, she seemed to make it worse. She was beginning to understand how a woman could feel helpless, like a victim who didn’t know if she could get herself out of a mess she created.

She couldn’t stop now, not when she was responsible for saving both Hannah and Carmen.

Dear Lord, what if they died because of her?

What was she going to do?

Only one thing she could think of.

She was going to dance.

oOo

PUCINSKI WAS IN HIS OFFICE, going over everything he knew about The Hunter Case when in walked Lilith Mitchell, undoubtedly to give him another going over. At least that’s what he thought until he saw her face.

Uh-oh
.

“Miss Mitchell.” He sat back in his chair like he didn’t know she was about to unload on him. “Sit. What’s on your mind?”

She didn’t sit. She paced.

“Carmen Vargas. She’s the teenager I’ve been mentoring. She disappeared last night.”

Where was she going with this? Pucinski wondered. How was it connected to the case?

“Her parents make a complaint?”

“They think she’s with a boy.”

Her eyes looked watery, like she’d been crying. Ah, hell, he hated tears. Next thing he knew he would be patting her on the back, comforting her. He gripped the arms of his chair so he wouldn’t.

Instead he asked, “And what’s your theory?”

“He has her.
The killer.
He called me this morning and told me.”

“He called you?” And him with no tap on that damn phone. “What else did he say?”

“That if I didn’t dance for him – tonight – both Carmen and Hannah would die.”

“Did he let you talk to them?
Proof of life?”

She shook her head. “He hung up too fast.”

“Where was this Carmen last seen?”

She was looking shaky now, like she was going to puke. He hoped not.

“Last night, Carmen was at the gym with me.
The Street Survival class.
Afterward, I told her that I couldn’t see her today. I was worried that something would happen to her. I-I couldn’t explain. She was hurt and angry and stormed out of the locker room.”

So she thought it was her fault.

Pucinski had some thoughts on that, too – playing amateur detective just wasn’t smart – but he wasn’t going to share them with her. She was hauling a big load of guilt as it was.

“Sit.
Really.
Please.” He indicated a chair at the edge of his desk and found a lined tablet. “You’re not related. I can’t officially take a report from you.”

“So you’re not going to do anything?”

“I didn’t say that. As soon as you give me the information I need, I’ll send my partner on this case to take a report from the girl’s parents. I’m assuming they don’t know anything about your involvement in The Hunter Case.”

“Of course not.”
Lilith started writing. “I couldn’t tell Mrs. Vargas.”

“She’ll know soon enough.”

Lilith’s expression tightened, but she kept writing. When she was done, she handed him the tablet. He checked over the information.

Just then, DeSalvo wandered in, saying, “I was gonna get some lunch. You want anything?”

“Perfect timing.
I want you to do this before you do anything else.” Pucinski handed over the tablet and explained the situation.

“Crap!” DeSalvo said. “Uh, sorry, Miss Mitchell.” DeSalvo shook his head. “I can’t believe he’s got two of them now.”

“Neither can
I
.”

“The faster you get going, the sooner we can start looking for her,” Pucinski said.

“You got it.” DeSalvo nodded to Lilith and left.

“I need you to do something else, Detective. Get a search warrant for Paul Ensdorf’s home and business.”

“On what grounds?”

“If he’s guilty, he has a heart-half that belonged to Hannah. He left the chain for me in my case at the club.”

“How do you know it was him?”

“She was wearing it the night she went missing. I saw it on her myself. And before you ask, yes, I’m absolutely positive it was hers.”

“But you haven’t seen the chain or heart in Ensdorf’s possession.”

“No.”

“Sorry. I need probable cause to go before a judge.”

“I was afraid you would say that.” Lilith sounded discouraged, but she wasn’t finished.
“One more thing.
What about Rudy Barnes?”

Pucinski started.
Sounded like she’d been a busy amateur sleuth.
“You want a search warrant on his place, too?”

“Is Barnes a suspect?”

“He’s a person of interest.”

“If you have a folder on him, I need to know. He figured out what I was doing at the club.
Challenged me over it last night.
Said he didn’t want to see any more dead girls. So what do you have on him? Is he someone I should be watching or not?”

“You shouldn’t be doing any of this.”

“A little late for a lecture!” she snapped. “If we’re lucky, we have a matter of a few days left to find my sister. And who knows about Carmen since he’s not taken two together before.
Now what about Barnes?”

Pucinski couldn’t see a reason not to tell her. All she had to do was get on the Internet, and she would find it. “Barnes lived with his family in a far suburb until a couple of years ago. A cousin lived with them, too. She disappeared. A couple weeks later, her body was found in the nearby woods. Her neck was broken. Barnes was a suspect, but there was no proof. The case is still unsolved.”

“Wait!
A girl dead in the woods.
Isn’t that awfully like the victims killed in the forest preserve? And you haven’t arrested him?”

“I have no proof. I can’t arrest him on a hunch. But he’s being watched.”

“You think he’s the one, then.”

“I didn’t say that. I’m just covering all my bases.”

oOo

DEPRESSED ANEW AFTER LEAVING Pucinski, Lilith stopped for some fast food on the way home. It was nearly two, and she hadn’t eaten yet. Not that she was hungry. But she needed energy to meet the demands of the rest of her day, and forcing herself to eat would help provide that.

As she approached the entrance to Hannah’s place, she saw a brightly wrapped package leaning against the door. Her heart began to thunder. Had someone left something for Hannah? She brought the package inside and saw
LILITH
scrawled on an envelope.

Her hand shook as she pulled the card free from the wrapping and opened it.

FOR A CLASS ACT.
WEAR THIS DRESS TO DINNER AT GRANDMOTHER’S TONIGHT.
SIX SHARP.
DON’T BE LATE AGAIN, OR YOU’LL BE SORRY.

The message was followed by an address.

Lilith tore open the package, muttering, “Oh, God, dinner.”
And pulled out a long, flowing flower-print dress that seemed vaguely familiar.
“Paul Ensdorf
is
crazy.”

She went to the closet and, rummaging through the dresses on the rack, pulled out the one she’d considered wearing to the tea.

The two dresses were almost identical.

Any appetite she’d had was gone.

Could she really do it? Go to the home of a potential killer?

And then, later, dance for him?

She would do anything, she reminded herself.

Anything to save Hannah and Carmen.

oOo

LILITH ARRIVED at the Ensdorf Funeral Home building exactly on time. It was the old kind of setup, a century old business with the apartment on the second floor. She rang the doorbell and within seconds was buzzed up. Climbing up the dimly lit stairwell, the weird, musty smell made her think of death. Her anxiety rose with each step.

The door opened before she could knock. “I knew that was you.” Wearing a dark suit and tie, Paul held the door open for Lilith and indicated she should come inside. “You wore the dress. It looks perfect on you.”

Perfect fifty years ago, she thought. “Thank you. It was so thoughtful of you to buy it for me.”

His hair slicked down around his face, Paul beamed at her. “Come, come. Grandmother is anxiously waiting to meet you.”

Paul put a hand at her waist and pushed her forward. She tried not to shiver in response. He took her straight through the living room, filled with an ancient stuffed sofa and chairs, all with doilies on the arms to keep them protected. The equally old-fashioned dining room was growing dark, but the overhead crystal chandelier remained unlit.

Already sitting at the head of a massive wooden table with carved legs with animal feet, Paul’s grandmother wore an even more matronly version of Lilith’s dress. In the shadows, the old woman looked spooky, with tufts of white hair sticking out from little twists surrounding her head.

“Lilith, this is Grandmother Ensdorf. Grandmother, this is Lilith. Now isn’t she everything I promised.”

“We’ll see,” the old woman said in an unnaturally strident voice. “The food is getting cold, and I’m hungry. Sit.”

On their plates already set before their chairs: peas, lumpy-looking mashed potatoes and what looked like overcooked liver. Despite the fact that she’d only eaten a single piece of chicken earlier, Lilith’s stomach turned over at the rank smell.

“Here, Lilith,” Paul said, pulling a chair back for her.

Lilith sat and gave him a little nod. He took the seat across from her.

“Thank the Lord first,
then
eat,” Grandmother said.

Paul bowed his head and did as she ordered, ending with, “Thanks for these and all the gifts you give us. Amen.”

Grandmother forked a piece of meat and stuck it in her mouth with enthusiasm. “I’ve always been fond of organ meat.” She smacked appreciatively.