COPYCAT KILLER CLAIMS TWO
Diana hadn’t expected Ed Dryden’s silence to last forever. But this…
“Is Sylvie okay?” Lisa looked down the hall, eyes glowing with predatory interest.
“Maybe we should see if she needs anything,” another friend offered.
“What’s in that card?” asked a third.
Waving off their questions, Diana glanced at the gift, still shrouded in its silver-and-white wedding-bell paper, and then made a show of looking at her watch. “Why don’t you guys head down to the restaurant?”
“The restaurant? Now?” Lisa shook her head. “I think we should help Sylvie.”
“Bryce is helping her.”
“There’s only so much a man can do.” Lisa stood up from her chair and plopped her hands on her hips. “I’ve been friends with Sylvie longer than any of you. I’ll take care of it.”
Diana tried to tamp down her annoyance. “Making sure the restaurant doesn’t give away our table will be the most help, Lisa. Really.”
Lisa frowned. Apparently she wanted more excitement than securing a spot for brunch would provide.
“Lisa, please.” Diana offered her best pleading smile, praying the woman had the sense to stop pushing. “We’ll be there before you know it.”
“All right. But if the three of you don’t join us soon, I’ll be back to check on you.” She gathered her posse and headed out of Diana’s apartment.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Diana set the card on the counter and rushed to the bathroom door. “Sylvie?”
Bryce stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him.
“How is she?”
“Sick. I’m sure all of us feel that way to some extent.”
Diana couldn’t agree more. But Diana’s nausea was mixed with a heavy dose of guilt. “Is she going to be okay?”
Bryce paused, studying Diana’s face. “We were going to wait to tell people, but you might as well know now.”
“Know what?”
“Sylvie’s pregnant.”
“Oh, Bryce! That’s wonderful. I know how much you both want a family. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” Bryce smiled despite the concern still cloaking his brow. “But I’m worried about her. Especially with all this.”
“You’re leaving on your honeymoon tomorrow. She won’t have to worry about it. At least not for a few weeks.”
“If I can convince her to go.”
“She has to go.”
Bryce shrugged. “You know Sylvie. She’s worried about you.”
Her sister’s concern would be touching if Diana weren’t guilty of bringing this evil into Sylvie’s life in the first place. “I’ll be fine.”
He gave a shallow nod, as if he wasn’t so sure.
“Trust me. I can take care of myself this time. I will. You and Sylvie have a baby to think about.”
He nodded, but again, his agreement wasn’t convincing.
Diana knew he was remembering last October, when he and Sylvie had saved her after she’d been kidnapped from her own wedding. But that probably wasn’t all. “You’re thinking of your brother.”
“I promised him… I promised myself that I’d find his killer. Dryden waving this Copycat Killer in our faces is a little hard to take.”
Bryce believed the man who’d killed two women last fall was also responsible for his brother’s death, a theory the police were still looking into, as far as she knew.
“You have to go through with the honeymoon, Bryce. Sylvie needs you. And she doesn’t need to be thinking about…”
Bryce held up a hand. “Believe me, my priorities are in order.”
“What did the doctor say? You know, about her heart condition?” As a child, Sylvie had suffered from heart problems, the reason she had been left behind in the foster care system while Diana had been adopted. In the year since they’d been reunited, Sylvie hadn’t had any health problems, but that didn’t mean the extra stress of dealing with Ed Dryden piled on top of her pregnancy wasn’t a recipe for disaster.
“He said she should avoid extra stress. And I aim to make sure she takes that advice.”
The bathroom door opened and Sylvie stepped out into the hall. Her cheeks looked flushed, her eyes a bit glassy. “If the two of you are done deciding my future, why don’t we see what's in that package?”
Bryce cupped her elbow gently in one hand and searched her face. “Are you sure you’re up to it?”
“I’m pretty sure I’m not up to it. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to see what he sent. I’m sure my heart can take that much.”
“I didn’t mean anything by that,” Diana said. God knew that of the two of them, Sylvie was the strong one. Diana had only to think back to that cabin in the woods for proof.
“I know. You’re just watching out for me. What families do, right?” Sylvie offered a smile. “I’m still getting used to that.”
“Yeah. What families do.” Diana took a deep breath, trying to quell the flutter in her chest and stomach. After all she’d been through in that cabin last fall, Diana had sworn she would become more like her sister. Strong. Independent. And eight months later, she finally felt as if she was making some progress.
If Sylvie was willing to face Dryden’s gift, so was Diana. “Okay. Let’s open the thing.”
The three of them returned to the living room. Bryce and Sylvie took their places on the couch.
Diana propped a hip on the couch’s arm.
Grabbing the gift from where she’d left it, Sylvie took a deep breath, and then tore a corner of the paper free and slid out a simple black frame holding a family portrait.
A father, a mother, and two little girls around three years old smiled for the camera. Soft blond hair curled around the children’s identical features. One of them cradled a clown puppet. The other tangled her fingers together in her lap, her face chalky and frail looking. The mother held her blond head high, her lips pressed into a commanding smile. The father stood behind the three, staring directly into the camera with ice-blue eyes.
“It’s us,” whispered Sylvie. “My God, it’s us.”
Diana stared at the portrait, a mixture of heat and nerves descending into her chest. “I’m so sorry, Sylvie.”
“For what?”
“For bringing him into your life.” She rubbed her forehead. “What was I thinking? When I found out he was my biological father, why couldn’t I have just left well enough alone? Why did I have to see him?”
“Because you needed to know where you came from. You needed to understand who you were.”
“Which is what?” The daughter of a serial killer? Her mind shuddered at the thought.
“Which is my sister.” Sylvie touched her hand to Diana’s arm, her trembling fingers belying the steadiness in her voice. “Sometimes we just need to know. No matter what the consequences. I would have done the same thing, Diana. You know that.”
She did. But that didn’t make her feel any less responsible. “I have to stop him.”
Bryce looked from one sister to the other. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet. But I know who might.” Although eight months had passed since Diana had given back his ring, sometimes it felt like yesterday. “I’m going to take the portrait and card to Bobby.”
Sylvie thrust to her feet. “I’ll go with you.”
Diana held out a palm as if that would hold Sylvie in place. “You have a baby to worry about.”
“I’m pregnant, not crippled.”
“No, but you’re sick.”
She gave a shrug, as if morning sickness was nothing. But the pale sheen to her skin told the real story.