He watched as she drove off, oddly encouraged despite the fact that he’d been shut down. She found him quite attractive. It wasn’t much, but it was a beginning...something he could build on. All he needed was a little persistence, a little patience and a lot of charm, and he had a feeling he had a possible chance to change Marlene’s no-dating rule.
* * *
He stood with his back pressed against one of the trees in the woods near the back parking lot of the Roadside Stop, watching the tall, beautiful blonde and the detective together.
They liked each other. It was obvious in the subtle way they leaned toward each other as they spoke, in the way he’d made her laugh.
Hatred ripped through his body, twisting his guts and making him feel half-nauseated. Even after Marlene Marcoli and Detective Frank Delaney had left the parking area, he remained against the rough tree bark, his entire being filled with his rage.
She was nothing more than a cold, uncaring witch and Frank had enough sins on his head to weigh him down straight to hell. There would be no angels singing at the pearly gates for the two of them when they died, and he would see to it that they didn’t die a natural death.
They didn’t know it yet, but he was an avenging angel. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips. Avenging Angel. He liked that.
Killers who had special names always attained notoriety, from the Night Stalker to the Craigslist Killer; regular people loved to have special names for their monsters.
He sniffed and wiped his nose, a chill letting him know he was on the verge of getting dope sick. Time to go home and take care of himself. Once he was strong and well, driven by his hatred and the heightened senses and endless energy that cocaine always gave him, he’d put together his plans to destroy the two people he’d just seen in the parking lot.
Chapter 4
Frank, Steve Kincaid and Jimmy Carmani all sat in the small confines of chief of police Brad Krause’s office. Krause was a young man for his position. He wore his thick brown hair slightly shaggy, and Frank suspected nobody had been more surprised than Brad himself when he’d won the election two years ago.
He appeared young until you looked into his eyes...they were those of an old soul, and a startling green that shone with a keen intelligence. He was not only a leader in the squad room but was also a savvy politician when it came to dealing with the difficult, fiery, aptly named Ralph Storm, who served as mayor of the small burg.
Brad sat behind his desk as he eyed the three men before him. “I have a Storm chewing on my butt. The tourist season will soon be here and the mayor doesn’t like the fact that one of our own is missing, and I need an update on the Liz Marcoli case.”
“We have no update,” Jimmy said flatly.
“There’s nothing new to report,” Steve added.
Frank said nothing but felt the frustration he knew both of his partners felt.
“No movement on her finances?” Brad asked.
“None,” Frank replied, since he was the one monitoring Liz Marcoli’s bank account.
“And still no word on Ramona Marcoli?”
“She’s completely off the grid,” Frank said. “She apparently doesn’t own a car and doesn’t have a job, and I’ve been unable to track her down anywhere.”
“What do you think the odds are that Liz is with Ramona somewhere?”
“Zero,” Steve replied without hesitation. “If Liz was with Ramona she would have found a way to call Roxy or one of her sisters. There’s no way Liz would want those young women to suffer the unknown. They are like daughters to her.”
Brad sighed and stood from his desk. He moved over to the window, where he looked out on the alley between the police station and the local grocery store. He certainly hadn’t taken the job for the spectacular view from his office.
He turned back to look at them. “I know you were comparing the case of the missing Agnes Wilson to Liz’s hoping to find some intersection that might take you someplace closer to what happened to the two women. Anything come of that?”
“Nothing worthwhile yet,” Steve answered. “They both shopped in the same grocery store and both spent time at the Roadside Stop and Roxy’s restaurant, but that’s not unusual in a town this size. The two women’s lives intersected in dozens of ways.”
“We’re in the process of checking out everyone who works at those places.” Jimmy shifted his position on the hard-backed chair. “We also haven’t ruled out Edward Cardell as a person of interest in Liz’s disappearance.”
“We’re attempting to find out if Cardell was dating Agnes Wilson two years ago, but people have short memories and Agnes had no family members who might know about her love life at the time of her disappearance,” Frank said.
“So, what’s next? Give me something I can take back to the mayor.”
“Tell him we’re actively working the case,” Steve said as he raked a hand through his sun-streaked shaggy hair. “Tell him if he’s got any ideas we’re open to hearing them.” His voice held a slight edge of sarcasm.
“We checked out Edward Cardell’s cabin, but maybe it’s time we start checking out some of the others,” Jimmy suggested.
“There are hundreds of little abandoned or seasonal cabins in the mountains,” Steve protested.
“But any one of them might be a perfect place to keep a woman captive,” Brad replied. “I’ll assign three more men to help with the search of the cabins. I’ll give you Joe Jamison, Wade Peters and Richard Crossly. You all figure out the details, but I want a search of all those cabins started first thing tomorrow morning so I can let the mayor know we’re pulling out all the stops to solve this missing-persons case.”
He walked over and sat back down at his desk. “Maybe while you’re at it you could stumble across Agnes Wilson and close that case, as well. Now, get out of here and get to work.”
“I know you’re disappointed,” Frank said to Jimmy as they left the office.
Jimmy frowned. “Disappointed about what?”
“That Chelsea wasn’t assigned to work with us.”
Steve laughed as Jimmy delivered a karate chop to Frank’s arm. “Shut your mouth,” he said as a blush darkened his neck before creeping over his face.
Chelsea Loren wasn’t just a fellow officer; she was also a woman on a mission―a mission to find a husband. She’d first set her sights on Steve, but when he’d hooked up with Roxy, Chelsea had directed her charms at Jimmy, who had no interest in the striking blonde who was well-known for her penchant for cosmetic enhancements. At the moment she sported a pair of duck lips that she pursed and pouted whenever she didn’t get her way.
“I’m just hoping if I give her enough rejection she’ll focus her love addiction on you,” Jimmy said to Frank.
“She does smell like desperation,” Steve said. “And speaking of desperation, we need to get Wade, Joe and Richard in here and figure out a plan.”
The next couple of hours passed slowly as the six men used a conference room and a map of the area to draw up grids to be searched. It was agreed that Joe, Wade and Richard would work as a team, checking out each place together for safety purposes.
Although most of the cabins were marked on the map they worked from, they all knew that there were many lean-tos, sheds and small structures that were not on the map.
Frank spent much of the afternoon in the assessor’s office, pulling up the properties and finding out owner names, a tedious job that had him exhausted by the time he had enough information for the three searchers to begin the task the