Cold as Ice, page 23
They lay that way, their bodies beneath the surface of the water, limbs entwined, steam rising around them, until the frigid bite to the air had his nose turning numb.
At least they’d managed to forget about the murders for a time.
On cue, his work cell phone started to ring inside the cabin.
He swore. “I better get that.”
Darby pushed away and ducked her head beneath the surface before standing, oblivious to the effect she had on his body. Or maybe not so oblivious. She grinned at him as she climbed out of the tub and grabbed her robe. Pulling it around her shoulders but not doing up the belt.
His phone rang again.
He swore and pushed himself to his feet and saw her wide-eyed expression as she spotted his erection which his briefs did nothing to hide. He grabbed the robe, tied it and ignored the uncomfortable state of his body. He pulled the cover back on the hot tub, gathered up the bottles and picked up his Glock.
Darby held the door and he could see she wasn’t quite sure how to act now. He hustled her inside and then pulled her in for a quick kiss. He checked his cell which was on the kitchen counter near the door. Frowned when he saw the number.
“I need to return that call after I clean up. You want to grab a shower first or second?”
As happy as he would be to mess around in the shower, the stall was barely large enough for one body, let alone two.
“I can wait. You go first,” she said, going to stand in front of the wood stove.
He made sure the doors and windows were all locked. His backup Glock was with his pile of clothes on the couch. He pressed it into her hand. “Keep it close until I’m done. Bathroom door will be unlocked so don’t hesitate to come in if you see anyone lurking. Whatever you do, don’t answer the door no matter who is on the other side. Promise?”
She nodded, her green eyes wide.
He grabbed his clothes and service weapon and placed them on a shelf in the bathroom.
He needed to return that phone call ASAP, but something told him the last thing he wanted was to be naked or horny when he did so.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Eban’s cell rang again as he pulled his t-shirt over his head. He answered. It was a Virginia number. Quantico. “SSA Winters.”
“This is ASAC Lincoln Frazer. I’ve been trying to reach you for the last half hour.”
“Sorry, I was busy.” Eban wasn’t sorry. His mood soared at the memory of Darby coming apart in his arms and then crashed at the implications that this man was calling him.
Lincoln Frazer was a legend in the Bureau as both a profiler and as a personality. He was ruthless. Aloof. Focused. He had the ear of the president and called a billionaire media magnate, friend. Frazer did not suffer fools or mistakes, or other agents ignoring his calls.
Eban had met the guy several times while on secondment to JEH last year when FBI HQ had come under attack. He didn’t expect Frazer to remember him. Eban opened the bathroom door to reassure himself Darby was safe. As he went into the kitchen, she snuck past him to wash off the chlorine from the hot tub. He sent her a reassuring smile—one he wasn’t feeling.
“What can I do for you, ASAC Frazer?”
Darby had left his backup weapon on the kitchen counter where it was clearly visible. Eban checked it and put it in his ankle holster as he spoke to the other man.
“You entered some information into ViCAP earlier today.”
Eban frowned. While he’d hoped for some kind of hit in the system this was not the response he’d anticipated. “That’s right. Two murders here in Fairbanks.”
“I thought you were a negotiator based at Quantico?”
Wrong about not remembering him then. “Correct.”
“Can you tell me your interest in these cases? Why are you even in Alaska? Why were you the one to enter the details and not the local cops?”
That was a lot of questions from a man more famous for querulous silences.
“The first incident involved a friend of mine,” Eban explained.
“The O’Roarke woman?”
“Yeah.” Of course, Frazer would make the connection. Eban cleared his throat. “CNU has a professional interest in Miss O’Roarke’s welfare after she was rescued last year.” He was sick of hiding how he felt about her. “And she means a lot to me on a personal level. Why?”
Eban didn’t know if the pause was in response to the fact he’d declared he had feelings for her when he shouldn’t, or something else.
“Are you with Miss O’Roarke now?”
“Yeah, but she’s in the shower.”
“Good. I don’t want her to hear what I have to say next—not yet anyway.”
Damn. Eban stayed silent. He wasn’t about to keep secrets from Darby, but he wanted to know what Frazer had to say.
“I’m head of BAU-4, which is responsible for ViCAP and investigating crimes against adults.”
“I know who you are.” Everyone in the FBI knew who Lincoln Frazer was. Arguably, he was more famous than the director who was new to the job as of January and still finding her feet as the first female director the FBI had ever had. Hoover would be twirling in his grave.
“My unit has been tracking a serial killer through Alaska for some time now.”
Not what Eban wanted to hear.
“And I think there may be a connection between our killer and the two murders that took place in Fairbanks.”
Fuck.
Eban walked over to the window and looked outside at the wintry landscape. “What makes you think there’s a connection?”
“First, the use of the knife. Stabbings are not uncommon, however, there’s an almost ritual element to the first murder in Fairbanks, one we have observed before. Even after deciding to set up Darby O’Roarke as the fall guy, the killer kept the mode of death eerily similar to several other homicides that have occurred across the state, and it seems to be an integral part of their signature.”
Eban’s mouth went dry. “The way they re-inserted the knife into the exact same wound…”
“Exactly. This killer likes to kill with a single strike. The location isn’t always the same, but the single stab wound has been a common factor. In the case of Martin Carstairs, the killer decided, probably after the murder, to frame Darby by putting her fingerprints on the knife handle and then replacing the knife in the wound he or she had already made. Case closed. No one would think to connect that crime to unsolved homicides in other towns and cities across the state or even to bother entering the details into ViCAP the way you did.”
“This killer doesn’t want to be caught.”
“Despite the popular myth, serial killers rarely want to be caught and those that do, generally turn themselves in.”
Eban ran his hand through his wet hair. “How do you explain the second victim, Adele Surrey? She had multiple stab wounds.”
“That one is more interesting.”
Eban wasn’t sure that’s how he’d describe a body that was barely cold.
“The timing I think is key.”
“Timing?” Eban prompted, drawing on his negotiation skills to draw out as much information as possible.
“The press revealed the O’Roarke woman was being released and a few hours later there’s another victim? That murder smacks of rage.”
“So, what? They doubled down with another victim who could also be linked to Darby and planted physical evidence at the scene to ensure her arrest?” Pressure squeezed behind Eban’s eyes as the implications took hold. Had they stolen other items from Darby to further implicate her in other crimes?
“Yes. But multiple stab wounds suggest they lost control when they realized Adele Surrey had called the authorities. They didn’t have the time they usually had at a scene to make sure they hadn’t made any mistakes. Now we have a knife and a voice recording which is a lot more than we’ve had to work with in the past.” Fraser sounded excited at the prospect.
“Why fixate on Darby?” asked Eban. Hadn’t she been through enough?
“I don’t know. Either they somehow identify with her as a fellow victim, or they decided it might be fun to torture her even more than she already has been.”
Eban’s mouth was so dry he couldn’t swallow. “Do you think she is in danger?”
“Immediate danger? If I had to place a bet I’d say, no. The UNSUB’s actions have been merciful up until now, after all, Darby is alive. However, the killer might blame her for things not going the way they’d planned.”
Fear crashed along Eban’s veins. It was bad enough knowing Darby had been in the same space as the individual who had murdered Martin Carstairs, it was a thousand times worse to realize she was possibly in the presence of a serial killer who’d eluded the FBI for “some time.”
“I need to get her out of here.”
The silence on the other end of the line lengthened. Eventually Frazer spoke again. “As far as we can tell, and it is almost certainly an underestimate, this killer has murdered six male victims in the last four years and, with Adele Surrey, we have our fourth probable female victim. I believe they’ve been active for much longer than that.”
What the hell? Eban let go of a huge breath. Why weren’t the media up in arms?
“These new cases make it eleven murders and this is the only time they have ever left the knife behind—again, assuming it is the killer I think it is.”
Eban swore silently. “Did the killer assume the police would blame Darby for the other murders?”
“Perhaps. They might have gotten lucky if Darby had been in the vicinity of some of the previous murders without a strong alibi. Circumstantial evidence has been enough to incarcerate people in the past.”
And Darby might have ended up behind bars for years as they worked to prove her innocence.
Eban frowned. “You don’t sound suspicious of her.”
“From what I managed to ascertain from reviewing a copy of her resumé and talking to a professor from her undergraduate degree, she was on field trips to Hawaii and the Aleutians for at least two of the other murders. He also vouched for her character as do several other FBI personnel whom I trust.”
The guy had already checked her out and cleared her. Eban could kiss him for that.
“She doesn’t fit the profile we’ve constructed either. She’s a high achiever who is devoted to her career, and, up until last summer she’d never caused even a blip on the radar. We believe the killer is also smart, but not as smart as they’d like to think.”
And yet, they hadn’t been caught. Eban let Frazer talk.
“My major concern is that if Darby disappears, the killer won’t have any reason to stick around Fairbanks. Or they’ll realize we are onto them, vanish or lay low for a while, or adapt their killing style so we don’t immediately link any new homicides. I mean, who knows how many people this UNSUB has actually murdered.”
Dammit. Getting Darby out of here might be good in the short term, but what about long term? She already had an international terrorist to worry about. Now this killer, who was able to blend in and hide in plain sight without an FBI “Most Wanted” poster hanging in every police station across the country.
Frazer sounded as if he was pacing. “I looked at your investigative record. You were a very successful field agent.”
“Uh huh?” Eban wasn’t about to succumb to flattery when Darby’s life might be at stake. What did this man want?
“You might be our best chance of catching this killer.”
His grip tightened on the phone. “I’m not taking over this investigation. I work for CNU now. I need to get Darby somewhere safe.”
“Safe?” Frazer scoffed.
“Quantico is pretty damn safe.”
Eban could hear the irritation seeping into Frazer’s tone. “This killer is focused on her. Do you think he won’t follow her? She studies volcanoes, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then she can’t hide at Quantico forever. How hard do you think it will be to track her down once she leaves? It might take a year or two but eventually… Unless she doesn’t mind changing her career path and giving up her dreams? Maybe changing her identity?”
Eban dragged his fingers through his hair. Darby loved studying volcanoes as much as he enjoyed resolving situations without bloodshed. Asking her to give it up would be like asking her to cut off a limb.
“Maybe we will have done our jobs by then and caught the sonofabitch,” he said bitterly.
“Catching them will be a lot easier if we control the bait he’s fixated on right now.”
“Bait?” Fucking bait?
“I am not suggesting we leave Miss O’Roarke unprotected. I am not even suggesting we put her in danger. I’m suggesting that the UNSUB doesn’t realize she’s well protected or that we have created a decoy in her image until after we have them in cuffs.”
Eban’s blood pressure eased a little. A decoy? That might work.
“Why do you want me to take over this investigation? The locals are not going to go for that.” Neither was he.
“Fairbanks PD is not equipped for this scale of an investigation. Once we inform the Chief of Police of our suspicions, he will be more than happy to have the FBI assist fully in the investigation. It won’t be for long. I have a team of agents getting ready to fly in from Anchorage and I’ll fly up there tomorrow with an associate. The BAU admin will book a suite of rooms at a hotel where we will set up shop, away from the local cops. After that I’ll need you to act as liaison between them and us so we can stay out of sight.”
Eban closed his eyes. “Unfortunately, that’s not going to work for me.” He couldn’t act as liaison and protect Darby the way he needed to. He’d talk to Quentin and figure out a 24/7 bodyguard. Or get her somewhere safe in a way that didn’t involve the sort of protective custody the DOJ usually prescribed in these circumstances—the idea of forcing Darby to do anything made his gut churn.
“Arrange for the decoy to get here ASAP and once I know Darby is safe, I’ll discuss the other options with my boss.”
“I’ve already run my plans through the FBI Director’s Office. It’s been approved.”
Quiet rage filled him. Eban cooled his temper with calming breaths. Went back to his training which had taught him all about handling difficult people. “I can understand why you might have been desperate enough to think that pressuring me might be a good idea.”
“You do work for the Bureau, do you not?”
Eban ignored Frazer’s growing ire.
Darby came out of the bathroom fully dressed with a towel wrapped around her wet hair. Her emerald eyes were huge and she’d obviously overheard some of the conversation.
“Here’s the thing about negotiations, ASAC Frazer. You need to be in possession of all the facts before you make your opening offer, otherwise you run the risk of a black swan completely derailing your carefully crafted plans.”
“Black swan?”
“The thing you didn’t realize you didn’t know.”
Frazer was silent so Eban continued, confident he had the man’s full attention. “The black swan in this particular scenario is the fact I would rather disobey an order and quit my job than jeopardize Darby’s safety. I will not allow her to be dangled as bait.”
Darby’s eyes grew wider.
“I’ll quit before putting her at risk even to catch this killer.”
“Catching the serial killer will keep her safe, not to mention others.”
“She is my first priority.”
“Are you disobeying a direct order, SSA Winters?” Fraser’s tone was frosty.
Eban laughed. “If you can get Quentin Savage to repeat that order to me then I might be impressed enough to consider it. He’s my boss. Not you.”
Frazer must have already put together the connection between Quentin, Haley and Darby. Frazer knew the head of the CNU wouldn’t go for this idea either and had gone over all of their heads to the new director.
Eban certainly wouldn’t put Quentin in a position where he might lose his temper and quit in rage. The Bureau needed him.
“My counteroffer is this. I will go into the police headquarters here and work with the locals in an advisory capacity to help review the evidence and get it processed as a matter of priority—using the FBI labs where appropriate—and help direct the investigation until one of your team gets here. Darby O’Roarke stays under my protection or the protection of someone I trust at all times. I’m not your liaison, I’m a temporary intermediary.”
Frazer was quiet, obviously listening.
“Your team sets up in a hotel as you suggested. I’d use false names as this might be a city, but it has a small-town vibe when it comes to everyone knowing everyone else’s business. If the media pick up your arrival your cover is blown. Rent two adjoining suites and Darby can work in one room during the day while we use another to work the case.”
“And?”
Eban strode to the window and looked out at the snowy landscape. “Once I’m satisfied the decoy idea is going to work, Darby can fly to Quantico with a protection detail that Quentin Savage and I arrange. You and I will continue the investigation and try to catch this sonofabitch before he kills anyone else.”
Frazer was silent for a moment. “I can work with that, SSA Winters.”
“Good.” Eban watched Darby taking everything in via the reflection of the glass. “You better call Chief Jacobs and warn him what’s about to happen.”
“I will. You better get ready for the vigil.”
Shit. Eban closed his eyes as he remembered the vigil for Adele Surrey planned for tonight. Serial killers often turned up at vigils and memorial services and graves. “How exactly do I attend that with Darby by my side and most of the town still believing she is somehow responsible for these murders?”
Frazer gave a humorless laugh. “You’re the hotshot negotiator. I am sure you’ll come up with something.” The ASAC hung up and Eban wanted to smash the phone into the floor.
“What’s going on?” asked Darby with her arms crossed tight across her chest. “Has someone else been hurt?”
