Virgo: Zodiac Killers #10 Read online

  Ethan gave him a sideward look. “No, you’d only be bitching at yourself. I’m not to blame this time.”

  “I am not used to driving in this shit,” said Nate. “And it sucks I don’t know where the exit is.”

  “I remember. We should have taken a cab and not used the rental for this.” They had always liked to have a rented car so they could go where they wanted while in town, but when they had somewhere important to be, they had usually relied on cab drivers who knew their way.

  “Well, look at it this way,” said Nate, inching the car forward a couple of car lengths. “You might just get to skip rehearsal.”

  “That would be fine by me. I can wing it. I want to play the show and then get the fuck out of there anyway.”

  “You have to stay for a few photo ops.”

  “I’m bringing Raven. We wanted to duck out as early as possible.”

  “You’re bringing a date? What the fuck, Ethan? The press is going to see this as bad form. You’re going to be on the cover of every magazine on the stand, pulling some insensitive shit like that.”

  “Nah, the fans will be glad I flaunted someone in her face. They’ll eat it up.”

  “You don’t know the way this game works apparently. You should know how quickly fans can change their opinions of you. One day, you’re a face. The next day, you’re a heel. This move, you’ll turn heel in a fucking New York minute.”

  Ethan sighed. “This is not professional wrestling, and I’m not about to kayfabe my way through this show for them. I’m tired of the act for Shannon’s sake. I want to be me.”

  “I’ve told you a million times; you could learn a lot from watching wrestling.”

  Nate had dragged him to shows back in college, and while it was fun for a while, he’d outgrown it while Nate hadn’t. “You need a new hobby.”

  “You need to stop whatever it is you think you’re doing with this Raven girl.”

  “I’m helping her. As a matter of fact, I wanted to call her and see how her meeting went with her cousin or nephew, or whatever he is.”

  “She doesn’t know if he’s her nephew or cousin?”

  “Cousin I think, but he calls her Auntie. She’s much older than him. He’s only four.”

  Nate’s head turned so fast, Ethan thought he might have whiplash. “You’re getting involved with her and some kid? Whoa, put on the brakes. You’re passing out Plan B after every fuck, and now you’re volunteering for fatherhood?”

  Ethan belted a laugh. “Fatherhood? Are you insane? I’m simply helping her get on her feet. She’s in a terrible situation, and I can help. I’m not trying to be involved with a kid.”

  “How are you going to help her?”

  “I made her an offer. At first, I thought she might want to come and stay with me, but she didn’t want any part of that. But I told her about the property I bought last fall.”

  “The old farm?”

  “Yes, I told you I wanted to make it into a bed and breakfast. She can help with renovations and have a place off the radar for a while, which is what she needs. It would be good for the boy too.”

  Nate’s upper lip stiffened. “You didn’t think it would be a good idea to run that by me?”

  Ethan hadn’t involved his manager in his personal business too often but had always sought his advice. “It just sort of happened, and as you know, I’m under no obligation to discuss anything with you regarding my home and personal finance. I would hope that you’d trust and respect my decisions, though.”

  “Don’t you think it would be best to just play nice with Shannon at this event and amuse her a little?”

  “Absolutely not, which reminds me. I was about to make a call.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He hit the button for Raven’s number.

  When she answered, her voice sounded weary. “Hello?”

  “Hey, pretty lady. I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”

  Raven’s light giggle sounded on the phone, the noise a pleasant sound to his ears. “It’s not bad. I didn’t have to work today, so I was doing a little shopping for new clothes. I left my wardrobe in St. Louis.”

  “Ah, I wondered why you sounded tired when you answered. Are you going to shop till you drop?”

  “If I’m lucky,” she said. “I wanted to pick up a few things for Noah too and show them I can support him and me both.”

  “Yeah, I wondered how your meeting went.” He hadn’t wanted to blurt it out from the beginning and hoped that she was willing to talk about it.

  “It went well. He warms my heart. The poor little thing hasn’t been sleeping much, but he curled up in my arms and fell fast asleep. I think the kid knew how much of an impact that would make. That and I mentioned that you had made me an offer. That we would want to move out of the city and work the bed and breakfast.”

  “Yeah, we do have a lot of details to discuss. I hoped you’d still be able to come to the event tomorrow.”

  Nate mumbled next to him, “No, no, no.” He held out his fingers, crossing them. Ethan wondered what his problem was.

  “I think it would be fun, so yeah, count me in. And I even bought a new dress.”

  Raven would look hot in a potato sack. “I can’t wait to see you in it.”

  “Yeah, right,” she said. “Come on. Now is the time you tell me how you want to take it off of me, right?” Her voice had gone softer, and she had a cadence to her voice that made his dick hard and his ears tingle.

  “Well, I thought I’d try to be a gentleman with Nate here.” He had held back saying a lot of things to Raven that he had felt like saying since the day he met her.

  She giggled again, the sound making him adjust himself. “He hates me, doesn’t he?”

  “He doesn’t hate you.” He jabbed his fist in Nate’s shoulder as the man nodded. “He just needs to get to know you, which he’ll do tomorrow.” He gave a pointed look in Nate’s direction.

  “Can’t wait to see you there,” said Nate, raising his voice. The car slowly rolled forward, stopping again before it got too far.

  Raven laughed again. “Okay. Tell him that was almost convincing. Do I have to wait until tomorrow to see you or are you free?”

  “It looks like I’m going to be free if I can ever get out of this traffic jam. What do you have in mind?”

  “Well, since you’re already out, I thought you’d want to meet up for dinner, and then we could hit a club if you want. I need to let my hair down a little.”

  “I think dinner could be arranged. I’m not sure about the other, but maybe we could talk Nate into something if we let him come along.” He wasn’t going to be able to ditch Nate at this point.

  “Oh, good. Then I have tonight to win his heart.” She gave an evil little chuckle that gave Ethan chills as he laughed.

  Nate sat next to him, shaking his head as he drove the car forward again, this time making a lot more ground than before.

  “I’ll pick you up as soon as we break out of this, but it looks like it’s moving a bit faster now.” He looked over at Nate, who was still shaking his head.

  “We could still make it to your rehearsal, dammit.” Nate let out a long breath of frustration.

  “Tell, fussy bottom we’ll have fun. Talk soon.” With that, she hung up the phone, and Ethan turned to give Nate a dismal look.

  “She wants dinner and then clubbing. I say we make the most of the night. Bay has another club, you know? This one isn’t nearly as fun, but we could have fun in the VIP room there, enjoy some drinks, and you can get to know Raven better?”

  “What’s your fascination with this woman?”

  “She’s a friend. I don’t have many, and I like new ones. Especially when they are drop-dead gorgeous.”

  “You just like playing the hero cowboy. You want to ride off into the sunset with the damsel.”

  “No, it’s not like that at all. I just see a girl who needs help and likes to have a good time.”

  Nate shook his head. “A dime
a dozen, my friend.”

  “Come on, Nate. I’m done letting you choose my female friends. Shannon was supposed to be a nice girl. Then her claws came out.”

  Nate laughed and moved forward, the car finally picking up speed as the traffic started to flow again. “You’re missing the point, friend. She’s a woman. They all have claws.”

  Ethan shook his head. He was determined not to let it get him down. “We’re going out tonight, so be ready. I’m calling Shannon and telling her we’re still stuck in traffic.”

  Chapter 18

  Darek

  With the office clearing out for the day, things were eerily quiet, but that was just how Darek needed it to be. He had wanted some time away from Lizzy and the prying eyes of others while he went over the case files and tried to find a match for Betty.

  Her face was familiar, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint where he knew her from. Was it a bar somewhere? The case? Or perhaps one of the tattoo parlors he’d gone to at the beginning of the investigation.

  Tattoos.

  Something clicked as he opened the file cabinet. The thought of the tattoos and how they were significant came into his brain like he was being slapped across the face with a brick. He went to the first file. “Wait a minute,” he whispered. “I think I know.” He grabbed the file labeled “Alicia David” and opened it.

  The picture of the girl that was clipped inside was of her back with the zodiac tattoo. The image of Emily Johnson haunted him to this day, and this photo was the perfect trigger, the horrible reminder.

  Darek took the stack of photos and flipped through them, and by the time he found the face shots, he knew who Betty was. Alicia David. Even her tits, that perfect little rack, was the same. “Fuck.”

  Justin had been with the first victim, and from what they knew from the photos Bay had, she hadn’t been alone when she had taken them. The shadow he’d found in the image was most likely their killer. Had she been coached about what to do? Her photos had made it look like she enjoyed herself, and she had to have been convincing to Justin. The man was a bit odd, but he wasn’t stupid. He had really felt like she loved him for a reason.

  He stared at the photo until his eyes went out of focus, and just when he’d let his mind take him out of the office and into scenarios he played in his head, something moved behind him, startling him nearly out of his skin.

  “Jesus,” he said.

  “Nope, just me,” said Max. “Walking to his desk.”

  “I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “You didn’t hear me tell you hello and ask if you were going to get as hammered as I am tonight either, did you?”

  “You said all of that?” Darek wondered how long he’d been out of it.

  “Yeah,” said Max, giving him a narrow-eyed look. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  Darek shrugged and looked down to his hand where he held the photo of Alicia David, her dead eyes glossed over like a dead fish and staring at him with her open mouth. “Yeah, I was just lost in thought.” He quickly put the photos away.

  Max looked right at what he was doing, and Darek knew he saw. “Was that the case file?”

  “Yeah, I thought I’d refresh my memory. That first girl haunts me at times.”

  Max walked over to his desk. “I think you and Lizzy both need a break from that case.”

  “We’re just getting back in the swing of it actually.” He thought they should have had it solved already. This was the longest any case had ever taken him, but it also had the most victims.

  Max reached into his pocket and brought out his keys. “So, is the chief going to let you two keep at it?”

  Darek thought the questions were a little odd. “Why wouldn’t he?”

  “With your affair?” he asked with a smirk. “I heard he mentioned it to you.” Had Lizzy told him about that? He hated to ask, but he really wanted to know. Before he could bring it up, Max put his hand on Darek’s shoulder. “Lizzy said she called it off.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “She did.” He didn’t think he should tell Max about him and Lizzy and how they’d still been together, just keeping a lower profile at the office. What he really wanted to know was when and why she had decided to talk to Max about it.

  Max grinned like a snake. “Bummer, man. Oh well. You can come down to the bar and hang with me again if you want to. I’m going play a pool tournament tonight.”

  “No thanks. But do you think you should do that? Go out and get hammered after what happened Monday morning? What if you get called out early tomorrow?”

  “Relax, I’m working an event tomorrow. Security for a fashion gala. I’ll be home early after I skunk everyone’s ass at the table.”

  Darek tried to hide his disappointment. He had asked Lizzy to come to the fashion show with him, and she had said okay, but they hadn’t talked about it since. Now, they’d have to blow their cover in front of Max, which wouldn’t really matter, or hold back on the PDA for the duration of the event. He’d have to let her know what was going on.

  “Well, you have fun with that,” said Darek as he walked to his desk and grabbed his own keys. “I’ll talk to you later, man.” He gave a wave as he headed out, not sure if Max was right behind him or not. When he was at his car, he dialed Lizzy’s number.

  “Hey, sexy,” she answered. “Where the heck are you?” The sound of traffic in the background told him she was still on the road.

  “Just leaving the office. I wanted to look over some photographs of the case.” He started the car and put on his seatbelt.

  “Yeah?” asked Lizzy. “Any reason? Did you think of something?”

  “No, just a refresher,” said Darek, backing out of his space. “You know we haven’t talked much about the first victim in a while. We’ve been so preoccupied. I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t overlooked anything.”

  “That’s smart. It’s been a while. I think we’ll both give it a peek next week. How does that sound?”

  “Great.” He hadn’t wanted to draw too much attention to Alicia, at least not until he figured out everything he needed to know. She had been an escort, and Darek had a good feeling that the killer paid her to be Justin’s online girlfriend. He shook it off and realized he needed to talk to Bay more about it, but first, he had to find out about the fashion show.

  “We’re still on for tomorrow?” he asked. He turned out on the main road and headed toward his house.

  “Yeah, I guess. I doubt we’ll see anyone we know there, right?” She giggled.

  “Well, we might see Max, but if so, we can just tell him that we had it planned and didn’t want the passes to go to waste.” He knew they could think of some excuse.

  “Wait,” said Lizzy. “Max is going to a fashion gala?” Her tone of disbelief brought a chuckle from Darek.

  “No, he’s providing security.” He wasn’t sure how Max had gotten the gig, or why he was providing security on the side for a bunch of fashion snobs, but Max had always been into a lot of things that he didn’t bother sharing with Darek, even back when they were partners.

  “Okay, do I even want to ask how he lands these jobs?”

  “I couldn’t tell you. I wondered the same thing.” He hoped it hadn’t changed her mind about going. “He won’t bother us or rat us out.” He hated having to hide things now that they had just gotten everything back to the way it was in the beginning, minus the whole Raven resurfacing thing.

  “Fine, we’ll go,” she said, sounding half as enthused as Darek wished she would. “But only because I have a new dress I want to wear before the end of this season. I’m almost home. I’ll call you later.”

  “Sounds good,” he said as the phone went dead. “Bye, Lizzy, love you too.” He tossed the phone in the seat next to him and then realized he needed it to call Bay. Shit. He leaned over and grabbed it, jerking the wheel to the right, horns honking behind him.

  He finally had it in his hand and found Bay’s number without killing himself or anyone else.

  Bay
answered on the first ring. “I hope you have good news for me, Blake.”

  “I know who Betty is. We need to talk about a lot of stuff. I was hoping you could meet me tonight at your penthouse suite.”

  For a moment, Darek wondered if the call had dropped, but then Bay gave a sound of indecision. “I can’t tonight. Unless you want to come and talk to me at the club. I’m taking Mia to Night Heat. She’s hoping to rub elbows with a few of the fashion elite who are in town for the gala.”

  “And she thinks they’re going to be there?” He didn’t think the city’s fashionistas hung out in Night Heat. The crowd was a little less than sophisticated there, and that was putting it nicely.

  “She’s hoping. I’m ready to accommodate. It keeps her happy.” Bay’s tone surprised Darek. He had never given two shits what anyone else wanted, but he was going to accommodate Mia?

  “Okay, I’ll be there,” said Darek with a reluctant tone.

  “So, don’t leave me hanging, Sherlock. Who is she?”

  “She’s the first victim, the escort. It’s my theory that our killer hired her and had her fake an online affair to figure out stuff about us.”

  “Is there anyone in the department who you know likes to fuck escorts?” Bay asked.

  Darek still wasn’t convinced that this was a member of law enforcement. “Come on. I know most of these men. It’s possible someone has a dirty past and even that someone likes to fuck escorts. I mean, it happens, but being a killer, let alone a serial killer? I just can’t fathom it. Not any of the men on my watch.” His tone had grown so thick with anger that he had to take a breath to calm himself.

  “Come out tonight, Darek. We’ll have a few drinks and brainstorm together.”

  “Is Ethan going to be there?” asked Darek. He didn’t want to spend a night with awkward conversation while Raven hung on his friend’s arm.

  “Yes, but don’t worry. I think it’s Raven’s night to work. Besides, you shouldn’t blame him. If anyone is to blame, it’s me. I set them up. I thought you were over her, Darek, as you should be. You have a lady love, and Raven isn’t the settling down kind anyway. I saved you from a lot of heartaches.”