Cold Silence, page 18
Alex nodded thoughtfully.
“Do you really think Yael is in danger?” Shane asked, disquiet filling him at the prospect.
“EG likes to play games and believes he’s smarter than the rest of us. He saw her face. He’ll be doing everything he can to identify her. The more difficult he finds it, the more intrigued he’ll be.”
“He did access Yael’s machine. Maybe he already knows who she is.”
“It’s possible but I doubt it. Why give himself away if he’d infiltrated her computer without her realizing?”
Shane shrugged.
“I checked her systems and they were all clean. EG knew where we were going to be and what we’d be searching for. He made it so we focused on trying to save Anya Baker rather than treading more cautiously when, in reality, Anya was already dead. He used our humanity against us.” Alex squinted at the sun that was strong despite the low temperature and gathering storm clouds.
“Could someone inside the task force be helping him?”
Alex’s gaze sharpened and hooked onto his. “Did you suspect Yael? Is that why you attached yourself to her?”
Shane felt his hackles rise and reminded himself they were on the same team. “My best friend was murdered. I suspect everyone.”
Alex slipped a bullet magazine into his back pocket. “Yael has no motive and doesn’t like violence. She isn’t involved and if you hurt her, I will personally make you wish you’d never left Georgia.”
“Well, you can try.” Shane sent him a tight smile. “And I have no intention of hurting her. I don’t think she’s involved.” Not anymore. “I am concerned about this asshole targeting her though.”
“Which is why we need to get on with our jobs.” Alex closed his trunk. “How do you want to do this?”
Shane scoffed. “You’re asking me now?”
“You’re the senior FBI agent on scene,” Alex countered.
Shane snorted. “Sure.”
He could tell from how Alex Parker handled himself that he was more than capable of doing this alone. Presumably he wanted Shane’s legitimacy as well as Yael’s computer skills.
“Let’s keep it simple to avoid any panic or speculation from the other guests,” Shane said. “Stroll up there and check through the window see if we can spot any evidence of explosives—which I highly doubt as it’s one entrance in and out and EG murdered his explosives expert. Then we’ll knock on the door and pretend to be housekeeping. See if there’s any movement inside.”
“Sounds good.”
“EG has no reason to believe we could locate him this fast,” Shane pointed out. “He might be holed up here.”
“He knows we’re looking for him,” Alex argued. “He planned his getaway before he went to Zenko’s yesterday. I highly doubt he’d backtrack.”
Alex Parker seemed to have a keen appreciation for how someone might cover their tracks.
“You know there are a lot of rumors circulating about you and your time at the CIA, right?” Shane said softly as they walked across the tarmac.
“Rumors? Such as?” Alex asked, checking his own weapon. A M1911 pistol. Nothing fancy but it would definitely get the job done.
“About why you were locked up in that Morocco jail. And what happened when you and Agent Rooney tracked down that serial killer in West Virginia.”
Alex shot him a quizzical frown. “What about it?”
Shane watched the guy but Alex didn’t give away anything in his manner or his words. Shane would swear the guy didn’t have a clue about the speculation that he’d done wet work for the government. Except Shane saw how this man operated. Like a professional. Like a man who was confident he could take care of himself no matter who he was facing.
Shane held Alex’s clear gray gaze and then nodded. “You know what, it doesn’t matter.”
Alex’s lips twitched. “You were Special Forces, right?”
“Correct.”
“I was infantry.”
Shane flashed him a look. He hadn’t known that.
“Never had much time for the CIA when I was a soldier.” Alex’s expression turned pensive. “All these years later, I can’t say my opinion has changed.”
Shane nodded, no closer to finding the answers regarding the mystery that was Alex Parker than he had been before he’d started probing. But something told him Alex deserved to keep any secrets he held and Shane was fine with that. The fact the man placed such trust in Yael reaffirmed Shane’s own conclusions. She was innocent. Whatever she was hiding had nothing to do with this case, but he’d still like to know what it was.
They reached the door to unit eleven and both drew their weapons. Shane peered through the window. The handheld radar told them there was still no one inside but it paid to be cautious. Electronics could be tricked.
Shane had a good view of the inside of the door through a gap in the drapes. “It doesn’t look as if it is rigged.”
Alex pulled on latex gloves and then knocked. “Housekeeping.”
Shane watched for movement through the window.
Nothing stirred. He nodded to Alex who slid the master key into the deadbolt and eased the lock open. He turned the handle and pushed the door wide. The stench hit them immediately.
Shane twisted away and swallowed hard. They both silently kitted up before going inside. The bedroom was empty. The scent of bleach was apparent beneath that of decay. He pushed open the bathroom door and forced back a gag.
Alex didn’t flinch.
A body of a man was in the bathtub, his head covered in a transparent plastic bag that was taped tight around his neck. The smell of bleach was even stronger here and it looked as if the killer had sprinkled some over the man’s torso. Shane hoped the guy had been dead at the time.
“Wayne Stockwell? The night clerk?”
Alex backed up a step. “Looks like.”
They headed outside, closing the door before walking over to a nearby patch of grass to steal a few lungfuls of cold clean air.
“That guy was, what, nineteen?” asked Shane.
Alex stared unseeing into the distance. “Took the job to help pay his way through college.”
Shane fixed his gaze on the horizon. “EG is killing anyone who can identify him.”
Alex nodded curtly. “I need to call Frazer. See if the profilers can come up with something more solid to go on. You call Sloan and inform her we have yet another crime scene.” He paused. “You know, if those rumors were true, these are the sorts of monsters I’d have gone after. Psychopaths like Evi1Geni-us.”
Shane nodded. He wouldn’t have blamed him one bit. The wind rustled the brown grass as a crow cawed loudly from gnarled branches. The charcoal clouds and nearby woods had an ominous feel now that seeped into Shane’s flesh and ran down his spine like a trickle of ice. As if this killer had left a residual malevolence behind that marred the landscape and tainted the very air they breathed.
Yael copied the footage first and made sure she kept the files isolated from her own machine until she could take a deep dive into the metadata. She wouldn’t put it past EG to plant some worm or virus in the surveillance images to attempt to gain access to her machine again.
It took much less time to copy than she’d anticipated and then she realized why. The timestamp jumped from Tuesday afternoon, all the way until early this morning.
The bastard had somehow wiped any footage that might have exposed his identity and delayed the cameras from restarting until this morning. She wasn’t sure if he’d done it remotely or in person but there was no obvious footage of him.
She leaned back against the chair, frustrated. He seemed to think of everything. She ran the remaining video through a facial recognition program the FBI had access to. It took about twenty minutes, but nothing popped except for an ex-con who’d also checked in Tuesday—the guy was beefy around the shoulders and, she was guesstimating, way shorter than EG. She made a note of the man’s name and sent it off to Ashley Chen to follow up.
Yael checked for some sort of cloud backup system but, not surprisingly, there wasn’t one. This place ran on too thin profit margins to invest heavily in security. Most people would only ever visit once, on a road trip or just passing through, and there wasn’t a lot to steal around here.
Yael searched the motel’s computer hard drive and the online trash looking for anything EG may have overlooked. She found absolutely nothing.
Had he been here, in this chair? Or had he accessed the system remotely?
A text pinged her phone. Shane. The words made her stomach roil. The nightwatchman was dead in unit eleven.
Another childish squeal from beyond the glass door made her glance in that direction. A shiver raced over her skin. If Sunita had been the one to check EG into the motel on Tuesday night, she probably wouldn’t be alive now. Would he have killed the children too?
The inner door opened and Yael jumped in her seat. Shit.
A little girl about four appeared, followed by a toddler waddling along either because of his short legs or the sheer volume of clothes his mother had dressed him in.
“Would you mind watching them in the parking lot for a few moments while I grab my coat and purse?” Sunita asked Yael.
“Sure thing.” Yael stood and went to the front door. The kids darted outside and both immediately knelt to play with a couple of kittens who’d streaked across from the opposite side of the complex.
She smiled. They were cute kids and kittens. She hated the fact EG had plied his sick brand of cruelty so close to them.
Yael leaned against the side of the building and glanced across the parking lot to where Shane and Alex both stood talking on their phones.
Shane turned, saw her, and started heading in her direction. He moved with a smooth gait that she couldn’t really describe except it was fluid, full of confidence and sexy as hell.
Alex moved in a similar way, she realized, and then she recalled he’d been a decorated soldier before he’d become a highly successful security consultant. Maybe it was a military thing. Or an alpha male thing. Still, her boss didn’t make her mouth water the way Shane Livingstone did.
She turned back to the children who were still laughing and squealing with joy as the kittens darted around them begging for food.
She looked up again as Alex and Shane reached the truck and casually tossed their flak jackets into the backseat. Shane caught her staring and raised a brow. She sank her chin deeper into her jacket and watched the kids enjoy their uncomplicated lives.
Sunita came outside carrying a large tote bag. “I’m taking the children to my mother’s for a few days. She said she’d watch them for me.”
She secured the toddler into his car seat and Alex helped clip in the little girl. Then he took Sunita aside and spoke to her quietly.
The woman gripped his t-shirt and bowed her head against his chest.
He’d obviously told her that he’d found her missing night manager.
Emotion grabbed Yael by the throat.
Had the woman been fond of Wayne Stockwell? Or did she understand how close she’d come to death? Judging from the depth of her sobs, probably both.
Yael looked away and once again caught Shane staring at her with an expression she couldn’t decipher. “What?”
“Nothing.”
Alex wrapped his arm around Sunita for a long moment, until she was strong enough to push away.
Shane got another phone call and he walked a few feet away before squatting down to play with the kittens who meowed loudly at him, begging for food. Yael would search for some as soon as Sunita left.
The woman wiped her eyes and Alex said quietly, “The FBI will probably need to talk to you again in the next couple of hours.”
The medical examiner’s vehicle—which looked a lot like a hearse—pulled into the parking lot and Sunita’s eyes once again filled with tears. She stared at the black vehicle until it pulled to a stop outside unit eleven. Then she climbed inside her car and drove away.
“You think she’s gonna come back?” Yael asked.
“It’s her motel. She doesn’t have much choice.” Alex stood beside Yael as the wind pulled at her hair.
“I don’t think I’d be back.” Yael grimaced and hugged herself. “There’s no way EG could be hiding in her apartment, right?”
“Only if he locked himself in the refrigerator.” Alex sent her a glance. “I had the same thought so I talked my way inside earlier—and took a good look around.”
“You bought out the entire place for the night?”
Alex shrugged. “I can write it off as a business expense. These people are gonna be hit hard by the news of a murder on their premises. Least I could do.”
Her boss was a softy even though he’d never admit it. “Where’s the kids’ father?”
“He works for an oil company and is currently on a rig in the Gulf.”
Yael grimaced. That was not her idea of fun. “Could he be our guy?”
Alex shook his head. He’d obviously checked him out already. “Find anything on the surveillance tapes?”
“Not a lot. Someone deleted most of the video.”
Alex swore. “Which makes it nearly impossible to try to track him on traffic cams in the surrounding area as we don’t know exactly when he was here and presumably the van had false plates.”
“Vehicle Identification Number might yield something useful.” Shane joined them having finished his call.
“I can’t imagine he owned that van in his real name,” Yael argued.
“But every clue we uncover gives us the potential to track him down. He only has to make one mistake and we have his identity. Once we have his real name and his face, he won’t be able to hide any longer,” said Alex.
“I assume EG didn’t bring his own cell with him? Or if he did, he never turned it on?” Shane asked.
“Probably used a burner, before stealing Stockwell’s phone,” Alex agreed.
A couple of guests were standing around outside their units now obviously drawn by the medical examiner’s rig.
One family was loading up to leave.
“I’ll go interview them and take their details.” Shane shot Yael another look and then headed across the parking lot.
Yael sometimes forgot that before he’d joined HRT he must have been a regular street agent.
Alex cleared his throat and Yael turned around, realizing she was staring after Shane like some besotted teen.
“Where’s Wayne Stockwell’s car?” Yael asked to deflect attention away from herself and the direction of her thoughts. “Assuming he had one?”
Alex glanced at her as if that was something he hadn’t considered yet. Held up his finger. “Good thought.”
Alex called Ashley Chen with a request for information on Stockwell’s car. Then they looked around the parking lot but there was no brown Buick.
“Presumably EG stole it. Maybe he stashed it somewhere after he killed Stockwell and before he headed to Zenko’s place. Perhaps he didn’t think we’d be onto him so soon. Or maybe he always planned to torch the van and knew he’d need another getaway vehicle that couldn’t immediately be linked to him.”
Alex scanned the area and both their gazes landed on a big box store about a half-mile away across some waste ground.
“EG didn’t kill Wayne just because he saw his face. He also wanted a vehicle and cell phone and he didn’t want to risk drawing attention by stealing another car off the street. He saw the night clerk and decided to use him.” Alex’s eyes glinted like silver in this light. “Or maybe he planned it all along. Maybe he’d stayed here in the past…”
“We need to check the records,” Yael murmured. “Sunita and her kids are lucky to be alive.”
Alex nodded. She wondered if he was thinking about Mallory and their baby daughter.
“It’s like a giant game of chess.” Yael crossed her arms across her chest in an effort to conserve heat. She wasn’t sure if she was cold because of the weather or the fact they were hunting such a sadistic killer. Both chilled her to the bone.
“Only we’re not allowed to see the board,” Alex agreed.
Shane turned toward them. The guy was so handsome. Worse, he seemed like a decent person. Straightforward. Genuine. So competent she wanted to sink into whatever was going on between them and let it take them wherever it wanted to go. It wouldn’t last. He’d said as much on the drive home from the bar last Friday night, but that was probably just as well.
Alex followed her stare. “He seems like a good guy from all accounts.”
She gave her boss the side-eye. “You checked him out?”
“I check out everybody, Yael.” The look he gave her told her there was no point pretending he didn’t know the truth about her past. It would insult them both to believe otherwise.
Yael shrugged. “He’s not looking for a relationship with someone like me.”
“Sometimes people surprise us,” Alex said.
“Somehow I doubt it.” She huffed out a humorless laugh. “It’s not like I was caught shoplifting. My brother shot up our high school and killed ten people.” Saying it out loud made her want to turn away and hide.
“Not to mention murdering your parents.” Alex’s voice was compassionate and tears pricked her eyes.
“Yeah, not to mention that,” she acknowledged, feeling hollow and fragile.
“You weren’t to blame, Yael.”
She looked away. “That’s not how a lot of people saw it.” She’d been charged as an accessory and had stood trial even though she’d had no knowledge of her brother’s plans.
“You were exonerated.”
“The jury were split. I almost went to prison for the rest of my life and the press vilified me. The families…” She swallowed the lump in her throat. She understood their pain but they’d never understood hers. “Every time I’ve let anyone close or tried to settle down, someone figures out my past and the harassment begins all over again.”
“I won’t let that happen.” Alex held her gaze, calmly.
“You won’t be able to stop it.” She pushed away the feelings of failure and self-pity. “What do you want me to do now?”
