THE BRIDGE (14 page)

Then she realized tears, not just water, were coursing down her cheeks.

She nuzzled against his chest, the sprinkling of dark hair ticking her nose. “You have nothing to be sorry about. You just took me somewhere, someplace—” she dug her fingernails in his firm buttocks “—I don’t know.”

He chuckled and wedged a knuckle beneath her chin, tilting her head back. “Would it be too cliché to say ‘paradise’?”

“You felt it, too?” She rubbed the water from her eyes.

“You’re kidding, right?” He cupped her face in his hands. “Do you think it’s every day I howl at the moon during sex?”

The happiness that welled in her chest overcame her, and tears sprang to her eyes again.

He kissed one of her eyelids. “If you keep crying, I’m going to think I’m a brute.”

She slapped his chest with her hand. “Are you kidding? Do you think it’s every day I break down and cry during sex?”

The smile dropped from his face, and his dark eyes kindled. “It was special, wasn’t it? I don’t generally go in for the mushy stuff, but you make me feel...mushy.”

Her fingers traced the ridges of his pecs. “You don’t feel mushy at all.”

“You just ruined my mushy moment.” He smacked her backside. “Let’s get out of here before we both look like prunes.”

Sean tucked a towel around his waist and padded out of the bathroom, returning with a fresh towel for her.

He held it out for her as she stepped from the shower. “You do realize that if I towel you off, it’s going to ignite that fire down below all over again.”

She fluttered her lashes. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

He wrapped the towel around her body. “You do have school tomorrow, right? You don’t want to come in with a sex hangover.”

“I don’t know.” She dropped the towel. “Is that the kind of hangover that can be cured with the hair of the dog?”

Sean made a move but stopped when his cell phone rang in the bedroom. “Oops, that’s my work phone. I’d better pick that up, but hold that thought.”

She gathered her towel from the floor and followed him into the bedroom. He was right. She had to get it together and return to Courtney’s to get ready for school. They’d have another chance to be together. Wouldn’t they?

Despite being half-naked, Sean had already morphed back into the dedicated cop with the phone call. He sat on the edge of the bed, the cell pressed to his ear, his face creased into lines of worry. “Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Do you think I asked him to contact me? Do you think I want it?”

A sick feeling twisted her gut, and she edged out of the bedroom, tucking a corner of the towel in the edge at her chest. She couldn’t take any more, not after what they’d just shared. She wasn’t ready to crash to earth just yet.

She wandered into the kitchen and collected the plates from the table while Sean’s voice rumbled from the other room. As she ran water over the dishes, someone pounded on Sean’s front door.

She dropped the silverware in the sink with a clatter and grabbed a dish towel, twisting it in front of her on the way to the door.

Sean stalked out of the bedroom, clutching his phone in his fist. “Who the hell is that?”

Elise reached the door before he did and peered through the peephole. Her heart galloped in her chest as she fumbled with the dead bolt.

“Wait, Elise. What are you doing?”

“It’s Ty.” She yanked at the door. “And he’s hurt.”

“What?”

She got the door open and Ty stumbled into the room, his face battered and pale, a white T-shirt, seeping blood, wrapped thickly around one hand.

She caught him in midstagger and he almost took her down. “Ty, what is it? What happened to you?”

He raised the hand swaddled in the bloody T-shirt and aimed it at Sean. “He happened to me. His henchman attacked me, and then the SOB chopped off my finger. He took my finger.”

Ty collapsed face-first on the floor.

Chapter Fourteen

Elise’s face took on a shade of green as she swayed over Ty collapsed at her feet.

Sean didn’t need two unconscious people on his floor. He took Elise’s arm and led her to a chair. “Sit.”

Crouching over Ty, he punched in 9-1-1 on the phone still clutched in his hand. He unwound the stained T-shirt from Ty’s hand and swore at the bloody mess. He’d been telling the truth about one thing—someone had hacked off his left ring finger.

Why had the idiot come here instead of calling 9-1-1 or driving himself to an emergency room?

“I-is he okay?”

“Passed out from a loss of blood.”

“His finger?”

“Gone.”

“Oh, my God. Oh, my God.” Elise bounded from the chair, but Sean held out his hand.

“Sit down, Elise. There’s nothing you can do for him. The ambulance is on its way.”

She plopped back down on the chair, knotting her fingers. “Why? What happened? Who did this?”

Given Ty’s missing finger, Sean had a clue but Elise didn’t need to hear it right now. “If you want to help, bring me a clean dish towel from the kitchen...and my pants.”

She looked down at her own towel slipping from her body and jumped up once again. She headed into the kitchen first and returned to the living room, tossing a terry-cloth towel at him. While he loosened the T-shirt from Ty’s hand and replaced it with the towel, binding it tightly around the gaping wound, Elise disappeared down the hallway.

Back in her skirt and sweater, she dropped his jeans beside him. He looked up. “If you’re feeling up to it, can you hold this towel in place for a few seconds?”

Nodding, she curled her legs beneath her and sat next to Ty.

Sean placed her hands around the towel. “Squeeze as hard as you can.”

He yanked on his jeans and tossed the bath towel aside. He squatted next to her and nudged her hands away from the makeshift bandage staunching the flow of Ty’s blood.

She slumped back, her hands falling in her lap. “Why did this happen, Sean? This can’t be a coincidence.”

“I don’t think it is.” She’d realize just how unlikely a coincidence if she found out about Katie Duncan’s finger.

Sirens wailed down the street. “Can you go outside and meet them? I phoned it in, but tell them he lost a finger and a lot of blood.”

Elise scrambled outside, and minutes later the EMTs bustled through the front door with a gurney. They peppered Sean with questions as they loaded up Ty.

As they wheeled Ty to the ambulance, one of the EMTs called over his shoulder, “Do you know where the finger is?”

“Nope. Like I said, it didn’t happen here.” But if Sean could guess, it might be arriving in a package for him soon.

Officer Ashford, the cop who had been quietly talking to Elise, emerged onto the porch. “Can I ask you a few questions, Detective Brody?”

“Of course. Here? Back inside?”

“Here is fine.” He jerked his pencil over his shoulder. “Ms. Duran said the victim blamed you for his attack, said you hired someone to assault him.”

“Yeah, he did say that. I don’t know why he believes that. He passed out before we could question him.”

“What do you know about Ty Russell?”

“He’s Elise’s former fiancé, and he’s here to convince her to go back to Montana with him. That’s about it.”

“And you and Elise are...friendly.” Ashford’s eyes flicked across Sean’s bare chest.

His jaw clenched. “Yes.”

Ashford tapped his pencil and licked his lips. “Elise Duran is the first victim of the Alphabet Killer. The case you just got pulled from.”

“Yep.” Sean folded his arms. If this pip-squeak patrolman thought he could intimidate him with his leading questions, he needed to go back to the academy.

“You haven’t been too busy to know he struck again, have you?”

Elise gasped behind him. “Sean?”

“Captain Williams notified me just before Russell showed up on my doorstep.” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Elise creeping closer to him until he could feel the warmth of her presence on his skin.

The cop’s face fell a little. Then he puffed out his chest again. “The two victims have last names beginning with C.”

“Well, then I guess he’s working backward through the alphabet, isn’t he?”

“Those victims were also missing their fingers.”

Elise sobbed behind him, and Sean lunged for the cop, grabbing the shirt of his uniform. He breathed heavily in Ashford’s startled face. “You need to go back to school, son. That’s privileged information about this case. We’re not revealing that to the public.”

Ashford wriggled out of Sean’s grasp and stumbled backward off the porch. His face reddened and he blustered, “I’m reporting you, Brody. I may even have you arrested for assaulting a police officer. You detectives think you’re something special. You’re special, all right. You’re neck deep with the Alphabet Killer. Hell, you may even
be
him. A killer—just like your old man.”

Sean’s eye twitched and his muscles coiled. He felt Elise’s warm hand pressed against the small of his back.

He tilted his head back and forth to crack his neck, and then he said, “Whatever.”

Turning his back on Ashford, his mouth still gaping, Sean took Elise’s arm and pulled her into the house.

“Don’t listen to him, Sean.” She wrapped her arms around his waist, and his house never felt like such a home before.

He squeezed her tight. “What he says doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is that the killer tracked down Ty, and we have two more dead bodies.”

“It’s awful.” She hid her face against his chest. “Two people killed today on six, twelve. Wh-where were their bodies found?”

“Not on the Golden Gate Bridge, so those coordinates were just a tease. The bodies were found in the Bayview area.”

“You were right. He was just toying with us.” She leaned back to look into his face. “Who were they, Sean? Did Captain Williams tell you their names?”

“A man and a woman this time.”

She closed her eyes and her lashes fluttered on her cheeks. “Was that cop right? Were their fingers missing?”

“Just like Katie Duncan’s.”

“You never told me that.” Her nostrils flared as her eyes flew open.

“That was supposed to be confidential information. How that moron found out and why he’s spreading it around, I don’t have a clue. I’m no longer on the case, as he pointed out.”

“Then why did Captain Williams call you at this time of night to tell you about the bodies?”

He left the circle of her arms and paced to the window to stare out at the dark street. “Because the killer left me another message.”

“What was it this time?” She pressed her fingers against her lips.

“Elise...”

“Just tell me, Sean.”

“He left me the same type of note that he left you at the school, but with slightly different numbers. They’re working on it, but the location was a joke last time so we can’t trust him.”

Two vertical lines formed between her eyebrows. “Where did they find the note?”

He clasped the back of his neck and chewed on his lip. Did Elise really need the visual of a note wrapped around a severed finger and shoved into one of the victim’s pockets? “He left a note on one of the bodies.”

“What does he want with you?”

“I already know that. The bigger question is what does he want from you?” He tapped on the window with his fingernail. “How did he know about Ty? How did he know about you and me, about our spending time together?”

She knotted her fingers together. “I don’t know. He didn’t get all that from my purse, or from my house. He must’ve been the one who attacked Ty. He probably told Ty he was working for you. Where else would Ty get that crazy idea?”

“When Ty regains consciousness, we can ask him. Maybe he can give us a description. How did the guy even approach Ty?”

“It’s like he’s dancing around me, us. He’s playing some kind of game with us that started the night he attacked me.”

“And that game has its roots in the past, twenty years in the past.” Sean blew out a breath, crossed the room and took Elise’s hand. “I’m sorry the night had to end this way. I’m sorry about Ty.”

“Me, too,” she whispered, and tears welled in her eyes. “For a moment there we pushed it all away, didn’t we? For a moment it was just the two of us.”

He kissed her trembling lips. “It can be that way again, Elise. This will all be over soon.”

She nodded, her eyes widening, and he had a feeling he’d just made a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep. Would it ever be over for him? In his gut, he knew it would never be over until he found out what happened twenty years ago in this city.

He stroked her hair back from her face. “I’m going to get a shirt on and see you back home. You still have two more days of school to get through, right?”

“You don’t have to follow me back. I’ll head straight to Courtney’s place and drive right into the garage. It’s a secure building. I’ll be fine.”

He walked into the bedroom and pulled a clean T-shirt from his closet. Yanking it over his head, he returned to the living room and said, “I’m not comfortable with you driving alone at night. It’s late.”

He scratched the stubble of his beard. This whole incident with Ty Russell had spooked him. How the hell had the killer gotten a line on Ty?

As far as he knew, the only time Elise had seen Ty since he’d been in the city was the day he swooped down on her in front of Courtney’s place. He hadn’t seen his name in her phone contacts, and he doubted Elise had anything in her house with Ty’s name on it.

“Well, I guess I could always use a police escort. I’m obviously not very good about noticing a tail since the Alphabet Killer managed to follow me from the Golden Gate to Chinatown that day.”

“He did, didn’t he?” The coil in his gut wound tighter. “You said you were careful that day.”

“Absolutely, and then when I got close to Chinatown, it was such a big mess because of the parade I had to take a million detours. For each turn I made, I checked my rearview mirror. I even drove down a couple of little alleys—nothing.”

“Elise, how many times did you see Ty since he came here?”

“Twice—once on the sidewalk in front of Courtney’s place and just now.” She combed her fingers through her hair. “Why are you asking? I certainly never told him anything about you or where you lived. I didn’t even know where you lived until I followed you here tonight.”

“You followed me here tonight.” He dug his fingers in his hair.

“Um, yeah.”

“There’s only one way your stalker could’ve known about Ty.”

“My stalker?”

“He saw him at Courtney’s place—with you, with me.”

Her head cranked back and forth. “No. That can’t be. He doesn’t know Courtney. He doesn’t know where Courtney lives. How could he? He couldn’t be that good, to be able to follow me around the city when I’m on the lookout for him. No way.”

“He’s not physically following you, Elise. He’s tracking you.” He barreled toward the coat closet by the front door and reached for the shelf for a flashlight.

“Tracking me? How?”

When he turned with the flashlight in his hand, he almost knocked her over.

Her eyes took up half her face as she grabbed his arm. “How is he tracking me?”

“I have a hunch.” He threw open the front door with Elise hot on his heels. “Your car was parked in your garage when he broke in after the attack.”

“My car... Yeah.” She hooked her fingers in his belt loop. “Oh, God, you can’t mean he put something on my car.”

“That’s exactly what I mean.” He nudged her shoulder. “Pull it into the driveway next to mine so we can get it into the light.”

Elise dashed to her car as Sean juggled the flashlight from hand to hand. If the killer had put some kind of tracking device on Elise’s little hybrid, it would explain so much. It also meant he knew where she was staying and he knew she was here—right now.

His gaze scanned the street of empty cars parked at the curb. One car idled in the driveway, but that one belonged to his neighbor’s teenage son who raced up and down the street daily.

Elise parked and exited her vehicle. “Where would he put something like that? Inside the car?”

“Most likely attached to the undercarriage of the chassis.” He handed her the flashlight. “Hold this.”

He dropped to his hands and knees, rolled onto his back and scooted under the front of the car. His nostrils flared at the smell of oil and gasoline, strong even for a hybrid. He thrust out his arm and wiggled his fingers. “Flashlight.”

“Flashlight.” Elise smacked it against his palm as if they were performing surgery.

He trailed the beam along the wheel wells and the undercarriage. He knew a bit about cars, and he didn’t see anything amiss.

Maybe his instincts were off this time.

He shoved out from beneath the car and walked on his knees to the back. He ducked beneath the vehicle and swept the light back and forth. Rolling to one side, he aimed the beam at the wheel well.

“Bingo.”

“What? You found something?” Elise’s voice had risen to a frantic pitch.

He wrapped his fingers around the black box and yanked it from the metal, breaking the magnetic force. Gathering his legs beneath him, he rose to a crouch and cradled the device in the palm of his hand.

As Elise drew closer, he illuminated it with the flashlight.

“What is it?”

“It’s a GPS tracking device.”

She gasped and fell back on her hands. “It’s been there since the night of the attack. He’s been following me, tracking my every move. That’s how he followed me to Chinatown. That’s how he knew about my school. That’s how he found out about Ty.”

“It should’ve occurred to me sooner.”

“That some killer would just happen to have a GPS tracking device handy?”

“He’s a clever SOB.”

“Sean!” She tugged on his arm, nearly toppling him over. “We have to warn Courtney. He knows where she lives, knows I’m staying there.”

“Not anymore you’re not. Give Courtney a call. You’re staying here tonight, and I’ll take you back to her place early tomorrow morning so you can get your things and get to school.”

She jabbed her finger at the tracking device. “What are we going to do with this thing?”