Stealing Shadows (26 page)

Ben nodded. "Cassie? Is he looking toward any of the stores? Is there a reflection?"

Her brows drew together again, but those wide, empty eyes never changed. "Just… glimpses. Distorted. I think he has on… a blue jacket. Like a… team jacket. There's a white letter, I think. Maybe an R."

Ben glanced at Matt, reading the sheriff's dismay even as he felt his own. The largest and oldest of the three county high schools boasted blue team jackets with white lettering, and they were so commonly seen in the area, it was something of a joke. Hundreds of male students, past and present, wore the damned things.

Ben had one himself, packed away in a trunk out at the old house.

"Cassie, can you see anything else? What color is his hair?"

"He's wearing a hat. I think. A… baseball cap."

Yet another common sight in the area. Ben wanted to swear violently but forced himself to stay steady. He didn't like the growing pallor of Cassie's face or her utter stillness, sensing more than seeing that she was losing strength with every minute that passed.

"We need to know what he looks like, Cassie. Can you help us know that?"

She was silent for a moment. "I don't think – He isn't looking at the stores any longer. Just straight ahead, because… Oh. He's getting more excited. It's filling his mind, all his plans for her. He… has a safe place he can take her, so nobody will… will hear her, and it's all ready for them. He wants to make her strip for him first, so he can watch. And then – "

"Cassie. Who is he thinking about? Who is she?"

"The bitch."

"What's her name, Cassie?"

"Bitches don't have names." That assertion was particularly chilling delivered in her soft, toneless voice. But not nearly as chilling as her next words. "Bitches are only good for fucking. And for killing."

"Cassie – "

"Especially for killing. I like to see them bleed."

"It's nearly four," Sue hissed to her best friend. "If you're going to do something, do it now."

"You just hold Larry's attention for a few minutes," Deanna murmured in response, and wandered one row over to gaze at a fine display of modems.

Obedient, Sue carried the computer program she was considering over to where Larry stood near the door. Within five minutes he was returning to the software display with her, shaking his head at her ignorance.

Giggling, Deanna slipped out of the store.

"Cassie, listen to me. Are you listening? Pull back. Pull back, Cassie." It was not something she had warned him about, but Ben knew instinctively that if her voice had merged with the killer's until they spoke as one, then she was definitely in too deep.

"You could never become a monster."

"I could lose myself in one. What would be the difference?"

Jesus Christ.

"I like to see them – "

"Cassie.Pull back.Do it. Now!"

There was an instant of silence, and then she said, "All right. He's… still walking. But faster now. I think… he knows where she is."

Ben was only vaguely aware of Matt on his walkie-talkie, sending his officers to every exit of the mall. All his concentration was focused on Cassie. He had the terrifying notion that if he so much as looked away from her, he would lose her forever.

"Cassie? Where is he now? Can you tell us?"

"He… just passed the food court."

"Going which way?"

"I don't know."

"Cassie?"

"I don't know. I've never been there before." Exhaustion was beginning to drag at every word.

Ben kept his voice calm. "Try to see the name of one of the stores, Cassie. Can you see?"

"There's a… shoe store beside… a music store. And across is a… bookstore."

"Matt, he's heading toward the north end," Ben said to the sheriff without taking his eyes from her. "Cassie?"

"I'm still here," she said distantly. "His feet are hurting. His boots are too tight. Isn't that funny?"

"Cassie, is he watching anyone?"

"No. She's… he knows where she'll be." "Is he thinking about it? Where she'll be?" "No, he's just – " Cassie's voice broke off abruptly. She didn't even seem to be breathing. Then her eyes closed, her head jerked as though she'd been slapped, and a cry of pain escaped her.

 

FOURTEEN

Hannah Payne glanced at her watch and swore beneath her breath when she saw it was almost four o'clock. She'd tried to hurry, but Conniewould insist on talking to her in detail about every piece of material as she cut it.

And now just look at the time! If she didn't get a move on, there was no way she'd have time to get Joe's supper fixed and on the table by the time he woke up.

Her arms full of material and mind filled with the pros and cons of various excuses, Hannah took her usual shortcut past several boarded-up stores currently being remodeled and headed for one of the lesser-used exits that only a former employee of one of the stores in the mall would know about.

Her summer job had been at the food court.

All too conscious of time passing, Hannah was hurrying when she rounded a corner, which was why she didn't see him until she literally ran into him.

"Hello," he drawled.

"Cassie? Cassie!

Ben was on the point of grabbing her and shaking her when she finally lifted her head and opened her eyes. The pupils were normal once more, but he thought he had never seen such weariness.

"What happened?" he asked, quieter now, hardly aware that he was on one knee by her chair.

"He pushed me out," Cassie whispered.

"What?"

"He knows who I am."

Ben reached for her hand and found it icy. He rubbed it between his. "Are you sure?"

She leaned her head back against the chair, gazing at him without expression. "I don't know how, but… he realized I was with him. He was so quick, and I… I couldn't hide myself. I heard him…. He thought my name just as he pushed me out of his mind."

"Christ," Ben muttered.

Matt was on his feet. "Cassie, is there anything else you can tell me about him? My people will be covering all the mall exits within ten minutes, but telling them to stop any male wearing a Central High jacket is just too vague even if we narrow it to males accompanied by females. Is there anything else you can tell me? Anything at all?"

Cassie looked at him with those exhausted eyes and said, "I think they're already too late."

Deanna Ramsay turned with a welcoming smile that rapidly died. "Oh. It's you. Do you want something?" "Funny you should ask," he replied.

"You didn't have to stay," Cassie said. She sipped the hot coffee Ben had given her and eyed him over the rim of the cup. "I'll be all right."

"You're welcome," he said.

She didn't smile. With an afghan wrapped around her and the hot coffee inside her, she was warmer than she had been, but she was so drained, she just wanted to curl up and sleep.

And, please God, not dream.

"Matt could probably use your help," she told Ben.

"Matt has two dozen deputies and all the mall security out there helping him. I'd just get in his way." He paused. "I'm not going anywhere, Cassie."

She drew a breath and concentrated on forming the words. "I need to sleep about twelve hours."

"All right." He put his cup down, reached for hers and put it also on the coffee table, then came to her and lifted her out of her chair, afghan and all.

"What'reyou – "

"You could never manage the stairs," he told her, managing them easily even bearing her weight.

Cassie's thinking was fuzzy, but she decided that she didn't like being carried by a man when she was too damned tired to enjoy the experience. But all she said was "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Which bedroom?" he asked, apparently unmoved by her shaky question.

Cassie sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "The big front one. I have to take Max out."

"I'll take him out. Don't worry."

"He needs to be fed."

"I said don't worry, Cassie. About anything. Just sleep."

Already half there, she murmured, "Yes, but you can't spend the night here. What would people say?"

"Go to sleep, love."

She tried to say that he shouldn't call her "love" and he certainly shouldn't spend the night in her house, but the only thing that emerged was a sensual little murmur that would have embarrassed her if she had been able to think about it. But thinking was beyond her. Her eyes had closed, and when she felt the softness of her bed beneath her, Cassie just sighed and let go, falling into sleep as though into a deep well.

Ben removed her shoes and used the afghan as an extra blanket when he covered her. He turned on the lamp on her nightstand since it was getting dark but left the light low. She was deeply asleep already, her fragile body completely limp, and for a moment he stood beside her bed and just gazed down at her.

How many more of these dreadful psychic journeys could she take before they destroyed her? Not many. He had known the attempts drained her energy and strength, but until that day he had not known they also consumed her very life force.

And he had not known that the possibility of losing her forever would be a knife in his heart.

He heard a quiet sound and turned his head to find Max standing in the doorway, staring at him with anxious eyes. Ben sent a last look at Cassie and then went to the dog and nudged him into the hallway so he could draw the door almost closed.

"Come on, boy," he said. "Let's go downstairs and leave her in peace."

At least, whatever peace she could find in her dreams.

"Any luck?" Ben asked the sheriff when Matt was called to his cruiser's phone.

"Yeah, and all bad. We've got a missing girl, Ben."

"Who is it?"

"A teenager named Deanna Ramsay. She came to the mall with a friend, and they were escorted by her older brother. The friend is hysterical, but from what I've been able to get out of her, it seems Deanna talked her friend into distracting her brother so she could slip away. She intended to meet someone, the friend claims, but she doesn't know who. The brother swears she couldn't have gone missing more than ten minutes before we got here. We're searching the place, and we've searched every male in the right age group with or without a Central jacket." Matt paused, then added flatly, "Nothing."

Sitting on Cassie's sofa with her dog's head in his lap, Ben stared at the leaping flames in the fireplace and tried to think of something positive to say. Nothing came to mind.

"Shit, "he said finally.

"My sentiments exactly." Matt sounded too tired to swear. "My deputies are going to keep searching the area, and we've got a growing group of volunteers standing by if we have to start beating the bushes around here. I've called John Logan, and he's on his way out here with his dogs. The girl left a pair of gloves in her brother's car, so we'll have her scent. But I'm betting the bastard got her in a vehicle of some kind, so the trail will end a few yards from one of the exits."

He drew a breath. "Nobody saw anything unusual, nobody heard anything unusual. I'm about to head out to the Ramsay place with Larry, break the news to their parents."

"If they haven't heard already." Matt grunted an agreement. "How's Cassie?" "Asleep. Or maybe I should say unconscious. She said she needed about twelve hours, but I'll be surprised if she wakes up before late tomorrow morning."

"You staying out there tonight?"

"Yes."

Matt didn't comment, saying merely, "Okay, I'll call you there if I have any news tonight or in the morning."

"If you need my help – "

"No, we've got enough eyes for a search. There's nothing you can do here." Grimly he added, "So far this bastard's been leaving his bodies where we can find them quickly, but if Cassie was right about his plans for this one…"

"We may be in for a long wait," Ben finished.

"Yeah. And in the meantime, I don't much like the mood of our volunteers, Ben. We've had to disarm more than half of them already. If we have to use them to search, and if that girl's body is found, I'm going to have a mob on my hands."

"I know."

"And now Eric is threatening to put out a special edition of the paper tomorrow, and I just can't make him see it'll only fan the flames."

"I'll call him."

"Yeah, okay." Matt let out a weary breath. "And I'll call you if there's any news."

"Watch your step, Matt."

"I will." Matt hung up the phone and backed away to close the cruiser's door, then looked at Abby, where she leaned against the rear fender with her dog at her side. Before Matt could speak, she did.