Tainted Mind (30 page)

“Does anyone else know?”

She shook her head. He played a couple scenarios over in his mind then gave a quick nod. “Good, I'd like to keep it that way, if you don't mind.”

He could feel her eyes on him, studying him. Slowly, she nodded. “You don't want anyone to know not just about the cause of the accident, but about what we think about you being targeted because of me.”

“I want whoever it is we're hunting to think we're still chasing false scents. And, make no mistake, Vivienne, we are hunting. We know he's in my territory, we know he's close enough to know about us. That, in and of itself, narrows things down a bit,” he said as he pulled into a parking spot at the veterinarian's.

When he switched the ignition off and Vivienne didn't move, he turned to her. “Vivienne?”

It took her a heartbeat or two, but she swung her gaze to his. “I hadn't thought that far ahead, Ian.” He didn't know what she was talking about, and it must have shown on his face. “I mean, I get Nick's theory about me being the target, although I still find it hard to believe. But even accepting that, I hadn't let myself think about what that really means.”

Ian clumsily unclipped his seatbelt and turned to face her. Taking her hand in his good hand, he raised her palm to his lips. He knew where this was going and it wasn't going to be easy. Not for anyone, but especially not for someone like Vivienne who ‘fixed’ things for other people, who based her career and life around helping to bring closure and some sort of peace to everyone she worked with.

“If he's here,” she continued, looking straight out the front window. “And you were a target, then anyone close to me could be a target.” He felt her hand contract in his in protest of what she herself was saying.

But she took a deep breath and shook her head. “But that's not right. If he's obsessed with me and it's sexual in nature, it makes sense that he'd only go after you.”

Her eyes met his again and she added, “So, the good news is, most people around me are safe. The bad news is, you're not.”

He thought about going all macho and saying he could take care of himself. But for him, the number one priority wasn't keeping himself
safe, but keeping Vivienne safe. She'd object if he told her this so he said nothing on the matter.

“The other good news is that he's on my turf now,” Ian added. “He may have dumped one body here and killed one woman when we weren't on the lookout. But we are now. And while I may not know everything there is to know about police procedure, believe me, I know how to hunt.”

Vivienne's eyes searched his and Ian knew some of the feral, primal emotions he felt were clearly displayed on his face. But he hadn't been lying and he hadn't been talking about hunting deer.

She nodded, leaned forward, and brushed a kiss across his mouth. “I'm glad you're on my side, Ian.”

“I can say same the same for you, Dr. DeMarco.” She gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand before opening her door and sliding out.

They liberated a lively Rooster from the kennel and, after dropping him off at Ian's parents’, headed back into town. When they entered the station, Wyatt was filing some paperwork and Carly was in an office on the phone.

“Hi boss, Vivi,” Wyatt said, closing a file drawer. “Had some paperwork from last night to finish up.”

“Anything I should know about?” Ian asked, taking off his jacket and hanging it up on the rack outside his office. He was never a big fan of his uniform, but even with his arm in a half cast, he much preferred this short-sleeved uniform to what he'd had to wear in the desert.

Wyatt shook his head and his eyes trailed to the cast. “How's it feeling?”

Ian shrugged as Carly exited the office. “Carly,” he said with a nod. “Anything new we should know about?”

“No, not since last night. Daniel stopped by early this morning to talk to Nick, then left for Albany. Nick's upstairs doing something, and Naomi popped by earlier and brought everyone some bagels and mochas from Frank's. What's the plan for the day?” Carly asked.

“We need to get the timelines up on the board, or in the computer so it can graph it out for us. After that, let's see what happens,” Ian answered.

He ushered everyone upstairs where they found Nick hunched over at one of the tables—a folder in one hand, a pen in the other—
madly scribbling something. He looked up at their arrival, but did nothing more than offer a gesture of acknowledgment before turning back to his file.

Grabbing a mocha and ignoring the bagels, Ian turned to the board. He wanted timelines, knowing they would help establish a pattern and, when they caught the guy, would help establish guilt. But the name of the game had changed and Ian hadn't been making nice when he'd said he was hunting. All his old instincts kicked in and he could feel the familiar sense of anticipation growing, his senses sharpening, and his focus honing in. Up until now he'd been playing defense. That wasn't the case anymore.

After making the appropriate comments and spending enough time on the details, Ian excused himself and, asking Nick to accompany him, headed back down to his office—ignoring Vivienne's questioning gaze.

“Viv told you,” Nick stated as soon as the office door closed behind him. Ian stared at the other man. Nick cocked his head.

“The man is a dead man, he just doesn't know it yet,” Ian said.

“You were very good at your job, weren't you, guv?”

Ian inclined his head. “Yes.”

“So what now?”

“Now, I want you to look into Brian, Travis, and Vivienne's Uncle Mike,” Ian directed.

One of Nick's eyebrows shot up.

“After she told me last night, neither of us were going to go back to sleep, so we watched some more video. All three of them were at the university; all three of them were at the fundraiser.”

“What does Viv have to say about that? Surely she noticed?” Nick asked.

Ian wagged his head and sat down. “Her uncle sometimes guest lectures at the university, Naomi and Brian do security for it, and Travis was scouting.”

“And the fundraiser?”

“It's one their whole extended family was involved in.” Ian's voice was flat, and judging by Nick's expression, he found it about as convenient as Ian did, but a knock at the door prevented him from saying anything. Ian sighed, then called for whoever it was to enter.

“The information on the two houses you requested,” Carly said, holding up a file and stepping into the office. “One is owned by Simon Willard. He's a widower and an author. The other is owned by Timothy Howell. He's unmarried and a master woodworker,” she added, handing the documents to him.

Ian flipped the file open and scanned the information. He could see Willard coming up on Naomi and Brian's radar. If he was a famous author, he probably did writing tours and traveled around. But a local woodworker? And then he saw it. Timothy Howell volunteered regularly with a low income housing organization—something that could take him all over the world.

“Thanks, Carly. I'll follow up on these.” She eyed them both before nodding and leaving, closing the door behind her.

“You want me to take those, too?” Nick asked, gesturing with his head to the file in Ian's hand. Ian shook his head.

“No, if our board is anywhere close to being accurate, the killing started right around the time Vivienne was seventeen. I want you to look into all the people who might have known her since then. Not people she met in the last five or ten years, but people who have known her that long.”

“Ah, guv, you know Viv started college when she was sixteen, right?”

Ian blinked. He hadn't known that. He knew she must have started early in order to have finished everything by the time she was twenty-eight, but he hadn't realized it was that early.

“Shit.”

“She turned seventeen a few months after she started,” Nick offered. Ian looked up.

“So maybe it was someone she met her first year?” he suggested.

Nick lifted a shoulder. “Maybe.”

“Then find out.” Ian issued the order easily. “Look at her professors, the kids in the classes, see if any of them crop up in her life over the years. If he's obsessed with her, I'd have a hard time believing he's stayed completely in the shadows all these years.”

“Right, got it. Look into three of the people Viv trusts most in her life as well as her entire college class. When shall I report back?”

Ian met the man's sarcasm with a flat look. “It's Vivienne.”

Nick sighed. “I'll see what I can do. Call in some favors. I assume this is between you and me?” Ian nodded. “Don't you want to know about the shots fired at your Jeep?”

“Not unless it's going to tell me who this son of a bitch is?”

Nick frowned. “Probably not, but it does tell you he's a good shot.”

“Military background?” Ian asked.

“Possibly.”

Ian considered this. It would be easy enough to add it to the list of factors to consider, and he told Nick as much. Nick seemed to agree and didn't put up much fuss, so within two minutes, the agent was out the door, headed somewhere more private to do his digging. And Ian was left in his office with only a file and the sounds of Vivienne and his officers moving around upstairs.

*   *   *

Vivi looked at the murder board, at the women's faces, their names, and the times and dates of their deaths. Something niggled in her mind, but she couldn't get it to focus into a coherent thought. And, since she'd agreed to keep the others in the dark about her possible involvement, she couldn't talk it out with anyone. On a sigh, she gave up and hoped that, in trying not to try so hard, it might come to her.

She picked up her cell and dialed Naomi. “How's the recognition program running?” she asked without preamble when her cousin answered.

“Well, hello to you, too. I assume, since you didn't call last night, Chief McStudly kept the boogeyman away. Not that I was worried.”

But she was, Vivi could tell by the tone of her voice. “I'm sorry I didn't call you yesterday. It was a long day, to say the least.” She felt an almost overwhelming urge to tell her cousin everything, but calling on years of training, she managed to bite her tongue. “But I'm back at the station and I was hoping your miracle computers might have come up with something?”

“Mmm, maybe,” Naomi answered, as Vivi heard the clack of the keyboard in the background. “Brian was double-checking some things, but he should be done in an hour or so.”

“Is he there with you?” Vivi moved to the window facing Main Street and looked down on the small town. And frowned. Daniel was walking up the street. She glanced at her watch. It was only nine o'clock. According to Carly, he'd gone to Albany that morning—to be back already would have made it an awfully short trip.

“Hello-o?” Naomi's voice cut into her thoughts.

“Huuh, oh, what did you say?” Vivi asked.

“I was saying that Brian stepped out for a little while. Not sure where he went. I saw Travis this morning. I think he went to some bar last night, intent on scouting, but maybe had a bit too much to drink. Anyway, he was going to head down to New York today and will be back tomorrow.”

Vivi heard Ian's footsteps on the stairs and saw his head appear over the rise. Turning her back to Carly and Ian, who'd started talking quietly, she continued her conversation with Naomi.

“Okay. What are your plans?” she asked her cousin.

“Vivienne?” She turned around at Ian's voice. At the look on his face, she froze.

“Naomi? I'll call you back. Or you call me when Brian gets back. I have to go.” Not taking her eyes from Ian, she ended the call.

She saw him swallow before he spoke.

“We have another body.”

C
HAPTER
21

VIVI GESTURED TOWARD THE STAIRS
with her head. “Tell me about it on our way there.” And in an instant, she and Ian and his two officers were back down in the main station room, gathering their tools of the trade and a few extra items Vivi thought they might need. When Daniel walked in, they were headed out. Without asking, he turned and walked with Carly, climbing into the backseat of her police car as Wyatt slid into the front.

Vivi and Ian went to his Jeep and as soon as they exited the parking lot, he began telling her the sparse details.

“It's Meghan from the ice cream shop.”

Vivi's heart broke. “How? When?”

He shook his head. His good hand clenched and unclenched the steering wheel while his casted hand lay in his lap, his fingers curled tightly over the edge of the plaster. “We don't know. All we know is she was at work the day before yesterday. The shop was closed yesterday so no one thought anything of it.”

“What about her mom or the baby?”

Again, Ian shook his head. “I don't know, Vivienne. I don't know.” He made a fast turn onto one of the county's innumerable dirt roads with Carly right behind them.

“And who found her?” Vivi asked.

“Rich Caston. He owns a construction company but has a lot of property. He and one of his boys were up four-wheeling this morning and found her in a gully.”

She could tell Ian didn't know much more; there wasn't anything more to say. Within minutes, they were bouncing up a track intended
for the much smaller ATVs, but Ian was so focused, Vivi doubted he noticed.

She was out of the car before Ian had even put it in park and jogging toward where an older man stood waiting for them. His eyes were cast down and his hands gripped his worn hat. He looked up when Ian and Vivi approached.

“She's down there,” he said quietly with a gesture behind him. Vivi walked to the edge of the gully and looked down. With Ian beside her, she took in the body of the young woman.

Lying naked on her stomach, it looked like Meghan had been rolled down the hill. Vivi looked at Ian to point this out, to point out they'd want to protect the crime scene, but his eyes were already tracking up the hill in recognition of the same idea.

Vivi turned her attention back to Meghan, her arms were raised above her head, one leg bent out. Bruises marred her backside, but there were no obvious fatal injuries. Vivi started to head down the hill. Ian stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“I need to get down there,” she said. “I'll go first, scout the area, and then you can come down with a camera.” Ian looked at her and the surrounding area, as if assessing the threat to her, then let her go.