Until Dark - Mariah Stewart [89]
He went on. “A little deeper investigation on Agent Cahill’s part turns up a photo of you that ran in a West Coast newspaper a little more than eighteen months ago, showing you wearing those tiny plastic butterflies in your hair. All this information was relayed to John Mancini. Guess what he found.”
“I’m afraid to ask.” Kendra’s voice was just barely above a whisper.
“There are four unsolved murders in the area between Seattle and Redding, California. The first victim was found almost a year and a half ago. Four beautiful blond women. All single mothers. All were raped, then strangled. All were found with—”
“Small plastic butterflies in their hair,” Kendra completed the sentence.
“You got it. Now, let’s see if you can guess when those killings stopped?”
“I’m almost afraid to.” Kendra’s eyes grew wide.
“The last one was in December of last year. Right after you moved back East. The first one here was four months later.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying it took him a few months to figure out you’d left the West Coast, and another month or so to figure out where you’d gone.”
“And you are positive it’s the same man?”
“All signs point to it,” Adam said, following the signs for the airport. “The only difference is that in the West Coast killings he left no DNA. He must have used condoms for the rapes, and was careful not to let the victims scratch him.”
“Why do you suppose he got careless after he moved east?”
“I don’t think he got careless. I think he got cocky. There’s a difference. I think he believes we will never be able to find him.”
“Adam, what are you doing?” Kendra protested. “You’re headed right back in to the airport.”
“That’s where my car is,” Adam told her as he drove into the garage and pulled the sedan directly behind the Audi. “Now, which of you ladies is going to drive to Kendra’s?”
“I can drive, since I know the way.” Kendra turned to Miranda.
“I don’t mind.” Miranda shook her head. “But Adam, I think we need to finish the conversation.”
“First let me fill you in on where Kendra and I have been for the past several days.”
Adam told her all that had happened from the time he and Kendra met with Sheriff Gamble right through their meeting with Edward Paul Webster.
“So the question remains,” Adam concluded, “if we suppose for a minute that Webster is telling the truth, who killed Ian and Zach?”
“The someone who’s trying to get Kendra’s attention now,” Miranda said without thinking.
Kendra frowned, the phrase ringing in her ears. Someone had said that recently.
I’ve been trying to get your attention. . . .
“The phone call,” Kendra said aloud. “At the hotel. He said something about trying to get my attention.”
“Who did?” Adam and Miranda both asked at the same time.
“The man on the phone, the first night I stayed at the hotel.” She looked at Adam. “The night I fell asleep on the sofa, and woke up and went back to my room. There was a message for me, some man whose voice I didn’t recognize. All friendly, as if he was chatting with an old friend. And the message was exactly what you’d leave for an old friend.” She frowned. “I can’t remember what else he said, but that was the tone. I just didn’t pay that much attention because I assumed he’d left the message on the wrong extension. But when I mentioned it to the desk, they said there was no record of the call, that it had come from inside . . .”
“I’ll have someone check that out with the hotel,” Adam said. “It could have been our killer.”
“Who may hold the key to Ian’s death as well as these most recent killings,” Miranda noted. “He may have you in his sights now, Kendra.”
“Isn’t that a bit of a leap?” Kendra turned around in her seat to glare at Miranda. “Even if you assume that there’s a connection between my brother’s death and the death of all these women, why would it follow that he’s after me?”
“Let’s start with the fact that he’s definitely fixated on you, and has been for years. The murders out on the coast stopped as soon as you left the area.