Predator (21 page)

H
enry Hearne heard the sirens as they approached the Hampton Inn. Were they coming for him?

He pulled out of the parking lot and drove away as fast as the speed limit would allow. He stayed away for fifteen minutes, but then curiosity compelled him to go back.

He drove past the hotel, saw four police cars in the parking lot. None of the cops loitered there, so they must have gone in.

Maybe it wasn’t about him. He kept going and parked in the lot of a grocery store a few blocks down. Watching that triangle on his laptop, he waited for Krista to leave.

Finally, the triangle began to move. He pulled out in traffic and followed her route. When he went back by the Hampton Inn, the police cars were gone.

The uneasiness returned.

He followed a mile behind her, watching the triangle on his computer navigate its way down streets and around corners. Finally, it came to a halt.

As it did, he realized where she was. The police station.

Something had happened. Had they figured out who he was? Surely not. He had covered all his bases, and there was no way they could trace him. He had used different vehicles for every incident. He’d even hired thugs to chase down Ryan. He kept a low profile, despite his money and his position. He hadn’t had his picture taken in years, and he never did interviews.

Megan would have no way of stumbling upon his image.

No, she probably just wanted to talk to the cops one more time before she left town. If her parents were indeed the ones she’d gone to see at the Hampton Inn, then maybe they had called the police to encourage them to look harder for him.

It was nothing to be afraid of, and he wouldn’t let it distract him from his goals.

It wasn’t wise to go to that area, so he turned at the next red light and headed back to Krista’s house. He would wait there, watching to see when her father left home. If he did, he would go inside.

Maybe, if he was lucky, Megan would come home with her.

T
he revelation of who the killer was sent the police department into a tailspin. Krista sat with Megan, Ryan, and Ian, as the police chief himself questioned them. He seemed reluctant to believe that a man as rich and powerful as Henry Hearne could have done such horrific things.

But it all made sense. Hearne had gathered all the data he needed to target the girls he would torment. That data had made him aware of Ella. And she had played right into his hand.

The knowledge gave Krista no relief. Instead it inflamed her grief, and she wanted to go sit in a dark room and rail out her anger to God. At some point during the questioning, she called her father and told him. Within minutes, he was at her side. His hand was icy as he held hers, yet sweat glistened on his face. His eyes looked glazed and haunted.

When the questioning died down and the police force had been dispatched to pick up Henry Hearne, Krista had the presence of mind to ask Megan if she still wanted to fly home.

“I think so,” she said. “The flight’s not for three hours.”

“We can wait at my house for word,” she said. “You can put your leg up and eat something. It’ll be more comfortable than sitting here.”

Megan agreed, and the two of them left. Her father stayed behind to talk to Detective Pensky. Ryan and Ian were being interviewed by the FBI about the information they’d uncovered.

As Krista and Megan walked out to her car, Krista fought the rush of emotion. She didn’t want to upset Megan more than she already was. But as she got behind the wheel, tears assaulted her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’s just all hitting me. That man…what he did to my sister…to you and to Karen. And who knows how many others?”

Megan’s eyes were red and puffy from crying. “I hope they put him in the worst prison with the most vicious criminals. I hope he gets a taste of what he’s done.”

Krista started her car. “I hope he gets the death penalty.” She pulled out of the police department’s parking lot and started home. By now, they may have already found him. Maybe he was at work when they arrived at his office. Maybe they’d paraded him out of Willow in handcuffs. She hoped the press would show up and capture his stunned expression.

Soon everyone would know.

“So much makes sense now,” Krista said. “Ryan said Hearne never does media for Willow, so his face hasn’t been on the news or in the papers. He keeps this low profile, acting
too humble for the limelight…When all along, he was hiding from people who could identify him.”

As she drove, she tried to think how he did it. Yes, he’d learned of Ella’s and Megan’s whereabouts by reading their Thought Bubbles, but he hadn’t been on their Friends Lists. He’d been watching from behind the scenes, not even needing to masquerade as a Friend. That was how he’d gotten Megan’s new phone number. He’d read her private GrapeVyne emails.

Megan leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “If they find him, if they can keep him, maybe I can stay. Maybe I can finish my degree.”

“Oh, if they find him, they’ll keep him. Between your identification and the evidence Ryan and Ian turned over about his activities with GrapeVyne, he won’t get away with it. Maybe now we’ll all have some closure.”

Megan looked out the window. “I have a feeling closure is not all it’s cracked up to be.”

Krista turned onto her street. “It won’t undo anything. You’re going to need counseling. But it’ll help. Just knowing there really is such a thing as justice…”

She pressed the button on her garage door opener, then pulled into her garage.

She got out and helped Megan out, got her crutches from the backseat. She followed Megan to the door, then unlocked it, and let her in.

Her father had left the light on in the kitchen, and the television on. She imagined him dropping everything and racing out of the house when he got her call.

As Megan lowered into a chair at the kitchen table, Krista changed the channel to a local station. “Maybe they’ll cut in when he’s arrested,” she said. “This will even make national news because of who he is.”

“Is the press going to hound me?” Megan asked. “Because I honestly don’t think I can talk about it.”

“You won’t have to.” She filled the coffeepot and started it percolating, then sat down next to Megan.

She heard movement in the other room, a subtle shifting of air, the tap of a footstep. Was her father home after all? Where was his car? She turned toward the door and called, “Dad?”

A shadow moved into the doorway from the living room. She stood up slowly, took a step toward it…

Megan screamed.

Henry Hearne stood there with a smile on his face. He was holding a gun.

K
rista couldn’t seem to draw in a breath. Her gun, she thought. Where was her gun?

She’d left it in the glove box in her car.

Sweat broke out on her skin, beading on her lip, dripping down her temples. “What…do you…want?”

His eyes were pure evil. “I enjoyed your sister, so I thought I’d come and see how much you’re like her.”

“You evil monster…”

He turned and looked at Megan, who sat frozen, no color in her face. “And Megan, what a joy to find you here. I’ve always detested unfinished business.”

Megan got up, took a step, then wobbled, and dropped to the floor. Krista fell to her side. “They know about you!” she bit out. “The police are looking for you right now. They know who you are.”

He laughed. “Nice try. But they don’t know me. Megan doesn’t even know my name.”

Megan’s eyes fluttered open. “You’re Henry Hearne,” she said. “I told them what you did to me!”

The glee left his eyes, and a flicker of fear passed over his face. “Even if that were true, they wouldn’t believe you. I’m a powerful man. I own people.”

“It is true,” Krista said. “If anything happens to us they’ll know it was you. There’ll be nowhere for you to hide. Your money will be useless.”

She noticed a tremor in the hand holding his gun. The news shook him. “But if you leave us alone right now, you could walk out of here, disappear, and access your money before they freeze your accounts. You could get out of the country.”

For a moment, he seemed to consider it. Then the grin returned to his face. “Once the only eyewitness is dead, they’ll never be able to pin this on me. Get up, both of you!”

Megan’s face twisted, and a low, deep moan came from her throat. Krista helped her to her feet.

Hearne wiped his forehead on his sleeve. “We’re going to your car,” he said. “You’re going to drive, Krista…and Megan will sit in the passenger seat. I’ll be in the backseat ready to put a bullet in her brain.”

“Where are you taking us?” Krista asked him.

“Somewhere private,” he said. “Somewhere where we’ll have plenty of time.”

Yes, Krista thought, if they got in her car, she’d be able to get her gun.

But Megan was trembling so fiercely that Krista doubted she could walk. She held her close to herself and helped her limp to the door. She turned the knob, praying her father would come.

When she opened the door, his bay was still empty. Where had Hearne left his own vehicle? How had he gotten in here?

“Don’t open the garage until we’re in the car,” he said.

Krista’s mind raced. Maybe she could get someone’s attention. A neighbor…the mailman…

“Both of you. In the car.”

Krista felt the barrel of the gun in her back, and she opened the passenger door. “Get in, Megan,” she whispered.

“I can’t,” Megan sobbed. “I can’t do it.”

He rammed the gun against Krista’s kidney. “Now, Megan, or I’ll finish my business with you right here.”

She sucked in a breath and got into the car. He got into the backseat, his gun to Megan’s head, as Krista went around and slipped into the driver’s side.

“Now, open the garage and pull out slowly. And if you do anything to call attention to yourself, you’re both dead. I have nothing to lose by taking two more lives.”

She pushed the button, and as the garage door came up, Krista glanced toward her glove box. If she could just reach it…

She met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “Let’s go,” he said.

She started the car and backed out, praying that God was watching. He knew the number of her days, just as he’d known Ella’s. She prayed Henry Hearne’s wouldn’t be the last face she saw.

R
yan had spent so much time at the police station lately that he knew most of the staff by name. Today he and Ian had spent hours with the detectives and the FBI, going over the details of the Data-Gather program and the access Henry Hearne had to GrapeVyne sites.

When they were finished with him, he learned Krista and Megan had left moments before. He called Krista to make sure she was okay. Her phone rang through to voicemail. That didn’t make sense. She would have her phone with her, waiting for them to tell her when they’d made the arrest.

He decided to drive over to her house and check on her. She was probably grieving more than any day since Ella’s body was found. He wanted to comfort her.

When he pulled into her driveway, the garage door was
up, but there were no cars in the bays. Alarm bells rang through his mind. Every time he’d been there before, the garage door was closed, even when they were home. She wouldn’t have left it open.

He knocked on the front door, but there was no answer.

Maybe she had taken Megan to the airport. Her phone could have died. Maybe in all the excitement, she’d forgotten to close the garage door.

He’d turned to go back to his car, when her father pulled into the driveway. David shot him a harsh look as he pulled his car around Ryan’s and into the garage. Ryan waited for him to get out.

David slammed his door. “What are you doing here?”

Ryan almost winced at his tone. Identifying the killer hadn’t changed the man’s attitude about him. “I was looking for Krista. She told Detective Pensky she was going home, but she’s not here. And she’s not answering her phone. I’m worried about her.”

David stared at him. “How did you get the garage open?”

“I didn’t. It was open when I got here.”

David’s brows drew together as he looked at the door. “Krista knows better than that. She always closes it.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialed her on speed dial.

When he lowered the phone, Ryan said, “No answer?”

“No.”

Ryan felt sick. “This isn’t right.” He walked down the driveway, looked in both directions for…what? A police car? Henry Hearne?

David followed him. “Ryan, you don’t think—”

Ryan walked out into the street, looked to the left. No cars were parked on the street in that direction. He turned to the right. About eight houses down, he saw a black SUV,
like the one Henry Hearne parked in his reserved space at Willow. “No, don’t tell me…”

He started running toward it.

David’s feet pounded the blacktop behind him. “Ryan!”

Ryan reached the car, looked in the window. Hearne wasn’t there. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. On the seat, he saw a laptop.

David was out of breath as he caught up to him. “Ryan…what are you doing?”

“I think this is his car,” he said, going from one door to another. They were all locked. “It’s Hearne’s SUV.”

David’s jaw dropped. “Aw, no…”

Ryan grabbed a large rock from the garden near a mailbox. He picked it up and slammed it into the driver’s side window, cracking the glass. Rearing back, he crashed the rock into it again, this time shattering it.

David froze as Ryan reached through the broken glass and unlocked the door. He dusted glass off the seat and got in, grabbed the laptop and opened it.

A map of the area filled the screen, and he saw a moving triangle, curling down the interstate. “That’s them!”

David’s voice was hoarse. “What is?”

“He must have a transponder on Krista’s car. He’s been following her.”

“Then…where is
he?
”

Ryan got out of the car with the laptop. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s with her. Come on, we have to go after them.”

They ran side by side, back to the house. Ryan reached his car first, and he popped the lock. “You drive, Mr. Carmichael.”

David took Ryan’s keys and got in, started the car. Ryan slipped into the passenger side and opened the computer. “Head toward Avery Boulevard.”

He called the police, told them what they’d found, and where the car was. “Don’t touch anything,” the dispatcher said.

“I already have. I have his computer that’s tracking Krista’s car.”

“Just wait there until the police come.”

“No!” he yelled. “I’m using it to track them. You’ve got to help us. They’re traveling north on Firon Street in a navy blue Kia.”

David screeched around corners like a stunt driver, until he reached the interstate. “The police haven’t picked him up yet?”

“No, not yet.”

He stomped the accelerator and flew at a hundred miles per hour, weaving in and out of lanes, with no patience for traffic. “Please, God…”

Ryan kept the phone to his ear as the dispatcher put him through to Detective Pensky.

“Ryan, what’s going on?” the detective asked.

Ryan told him as he watched the triangle make a turn. “They’re going east on Hampstead Road.”

“There’s nothing there!” David said. “Just trees. He’s going to kill her.”

Ryan thought of the terror Krista must be feeling right now, and the added trauma for Megan, if she was still with her.

Lord, please protect them!

Would God allow Krista to be snatched away now, when he was falling in love with her?

No, that couldn’t happen.

Jesus, stop this! Help us find them…

David flew through the city, screeching around corners, until he reached Hampstead Road. He soared down the long, lonely road, shaded by bare branches of oak trees.

“They’re turning,” Ryan said, watching the green triangle slow and move across the screen. He zoomed in on the road name. “It’s Carson Street.”

David slowed enough to read the signs. When he finally got to Carson Street, he turned.

“They’re turning again,” Ryan said.

“Where?”

Ryan tried to zoom in, but there was no street where they had turned. “I don’t know. It’s off the road somewhere.” He looked up as they flew past trees. “Slow down. Look for a dirt road, a driveway, anything…”

“Where are the police?” David yelled.