Carolina Rain (25 page)

Cocking her head, she stared at
J.R.
He wa
s far more in tune with her than
she’d suspected. She’d have to be more careful. Of course
,
she couldn’t stay here forever. She was taken up with her new-found passion, but she wasn’t stupid. She would be a moron to think that Aphrodite wouldn’t eventually be caught,
if
she didn’t watch her Ps and Qs, that is. If she’d learned anything from her dad’s upbringing, it was that complacency breeds mistakes
,
and mistakes will paint one into an inescapable corner. She understood murder
. S
he understood
that
people who did what she did, no matter the reason, were high on law enforcement agencies
’
catch-them lists. In fact, she was surprised she hadn’t seen any real rumblings regarding her new hobby, especially given what Carl’s wife did for a living.

“I never said I was staying until I could draw social security
,
but I’m not walking out the door tonight
,
either.”

J.R.
looked to the floor, scratched his crotch, and looked back at her. “No, I reckon you didn’t say either one of those things. I was just kind of hoping
. . .
well
,
hope, sometimes, is like water
:
you can hold it in your hand for a while, but unless ya put it someplace better, it’ll go right through your fingers.”

“Wow
,
now you’re turning philosopher, or something. You needed a waitress, I need
ed
a job. We both got that, right?”

“Yep, we did.”

J.R.
Saylor stood a little straighter and then hobbled to the kitchen to finish his routine
while
she finished hers, wiping down tables and sweeping the floor.

Fifteen minutes later
,
she stood at the door, waiting for him to walk out with her
,
which was his take on protective chivalry. If he only knew who really needed the protection.
But still, she was struck with a certain appreciation for him
. Lily
frowned. It was odd to admit that
. S
he shook it off as “taught” behavior.

Finally,
J.R.
emerged from the kitchen, his smartphone stuck between his chin and ear, listening.
J
.
R
.
wasn’t one of the older generations that fought the inevitable embrace of technology; in fact, he’d shown her a thing or two about her own phone.

He was reaching to put his other arm in his teal windbreaker, then he stopped and grabbed the phone with his hand.

“Y’all sure? I mean you’d better be if yer calling me with that sort of junk. That kind of news ain’t no damn game. Now. Tell me that again.”

Lily sensed his tension ascend as she waited for her boss to
hear the repeated message.
This time, his face turned a new shade of gray
,
and he let his arm drop to his side.

Not
truly
caring about his emotional state, but curious at what could turn a man’s face that color, she stepped close,
acting out
her best concerned countenance.

“What’s
wrong, J.R.
?”

Blinking glassy eyes, he suddenly appeared as though he bore the weight of the whole free world on his sloping shoulders.

“That was my cop friend from the New
Hanover Sheriff’s Department,”
he whispered. “You know that kid that comes in here that looks like a scarecrow, sorta?”

She
nodded, feeling excitement grip
her insides.
Her newest escapade had gone public
. N
ot that she cared
, and
the emotion
J.R.
was
ro
ll
ing
through piqued her interest. She found his perceived misery a type of tonic.

There was more than one fruit to this tree.

“I waited on him a couple of days ago
. S
o?” she answered with just the right amount of concern.

Shaking his head,
J.R.
spoke ever so quietly, his hands trembling as he grip
ped his phone.
“His name is
. . .
was
. . .
Daryl
Winters. They found him dead in a hotel room on the south end of Wilmington
. H
e was my grand
—
m
y grandson.”

CHAPTER-34

Exiting the SUV, Manny ran his hand through his hair
, shaking
his head.
The
amount of overkill local law enforcement exhibited when discovering
and,
then consequently
,
arriving at a crime scene
never ceased to amaze him
.
Six
squad cars, lights flashing, fifteen blues, and various other CSU units, along with off-duty detectives
,
made the landscape in front of the Trundle Motel resemble a midway at the county fair.
Granted, this killer, this woman, was as high profile as any single case that had hit North Carolina since Blackbeard the Pirate.
T
hen again, it hadn’t been all that long ago that he’d been part of the local cop world
,
and he still possessed lingering recollections of being part of the same kind of circus.

“Damn. Where do I get the cotton candy?”
asked
Alex, moving up beside him
.

“You don’t need no cotton candy, Dough Boy,” answered Sophie, winking.

“Maybe, but what I really don’t need is you winking at me. That’s the stuff that’ll send
me
back to therapy.”

“You can wink at me," said Dean, smiling.

“I don’t suppose we could concentrate on the crime scene, could we?” asked Manny,
amused nonetheless.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll grab that good-looking cop, Garcia
,
and we’ll do some door-to-door and get the other nine thousand cops organized. Meet you back at the room,” said Sophie.

“Good thinking. I’ll go with Alex and Dean and see what we can see. Josh said he’ll be along later
, maybe
. He wanted to talk to Tanner and Ginny about a couple of things to do with the other cases,” said Manny.

“She going to show up here?” asked Dean.

“No. I don’t think so. I think she’s had all of this that she
can stand
, except for catching the woman responsible for taking her husband out.”

“That’d be a hell of
a
way to see your husband for the last time,” said Alex
,
picking
up
his CSI kit from the concrete.

“Not to mention she has to be questioning how he became a victim,” said Manny
,
as they walked toward room sixteen.

“Oh shit. I hadn’t thought about that,” said Dean. “You mean maybe he was getting a little on the side?”

“Could be. In her own bed, no less. If it were me, I’d have too many feelings to sort out over a few days, or maybe even a few years, so I
just
wouldn’t. I’d run from them as fast as I could and find something else to think about. I
believe
that’s why she’s
so
willing to help. If she can focus on the details of what’s happening in these cases, she doesn’t have to dance with the emotions and possibilities.”

“Tough set of circumstances for her. Let’s see if we can help find
what makes
our Goddess of
L
ove tick,” said Alex, rubber gloves in hand.

“Ah, boss? You gonna need both of those?” asked Dean.

Alex looked at the gloves and shook his head. “This is going to take some getting used to,” he smiled. “Snap this puppy on for me.”

Never hesitating, Dean pulled Alex’s glove over his good hand, then reached into his back pocket and pulled something out.

“What’s that?” asked Alex.

“I took the liberty of picking up some super-sized polyethylene gloves that fit over
the
black mitt you got covering your left hand. If that’s okay with you?”

Sophie gasped.
“You’re kidding me.
Well, Dough Boy, you got your wish.
That’s the mother
lode of rubber gloves.
Don’t pee your pants.”

“Bite me, and don’t call me Dough Boy.” A
lex turned his head
,
gave Dean a curious glance
,
and then broke into
a
grin
that showed
something
in relation to
the respect and friendship he and Dean were developing.

“Smart thinking. I hadn’t thought about how my glove
d
hand might contaminate some of the evidence. You get a raise, if there’s any money in the budget, that is.”

“
That
was
good thinking, Dean, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on the raise possibility. Let’s get to work,” said Manny.

Leading the CSIs past the three blues guarding the front door, Manny pulled the yellow crime scene tape aside,
opened
the door, then turned to Alex and Dean.

“I’ll come and get you in a few minutes or so. I need to get a feel for what happened here.”

“You’re the boss
. Just
don’t mess up anything
. I
t’ll give me a minute to see if we have an
y
updates from the toxicology lab on the other cases anyway. That could help us figure out what to look for here.”

Nodding, Manny walked in and closed the door behind him.

The focal point of the dimly lit room was
painfully
obvious. The thirty-something male lie on his back, arms and legs
spread apart
in an-almost
normal position, like he was taking a nap. That’s where any similarity involving
‘
normal
’
ended. Pictures of a body, and what some sick bastard had done to
it
,
was one thing
. B
ut this, well
,
this was hard evidence that all
was
not well with the human race.

He scanned the body from head to toe and then back. Again, there only seemed to be a significant amount of blood near the chest cavity. The corkscrew, the sewing of the mouth,
including the small, sparkling medallion that doubled as Aphrodite’s calling card, were all in place. Exactly in place, as far as he could tell. But the etching on his shoulders
,
his abdomen
,
and his legs seemed different
. L
ike she had been in a different mindset or had been distracted. The web-like design was not as spatially correct and the carving appeared to be deeper, especially around his eyes. She’d been frustrated
or
something hadn’t gone completely to Hoyle. A disruption of t
he plan wasn’t something killer
s like this one appreciated. Control was always a forte for unsubs involved in these cases and
,
if he didn’t know better, he’d say she’d lost that impeccable control. That
. . .
or she was getting sloppy and becoming so immersed in the moment that the result of her actions didn’t matter nearly as much as the act.

Manny contracted an immediate sense that he was right. He shivered. That meant she was evolving, becoming bolder, less afraid of capture and gaining strength and confidence.
M
ost of all, it meant she was reaching a different height with her newly found pleasure, maybe even perverting her actions into a love ritual, as her self-christened title indicated, instead of killing for a more obvious reason. He had suspected she was different
, although
one deviant act was hardly a pattern
. Not to mention,
the second and t
hird victims hadn’t had a snake
sew
n
into their mouths,
br
e
aking the first established pattern
. He knew
the snake
could have been part of the experimenta
tion
that wasn’t uncommon with serial killers like this one.
T
hat seemed to be the case
;
that she’d found her perfect experience and the snake wasn’t part of it.