Perreth grunted out a yes.
Bobby did his best to nod. Louis Ingersoll didn’t stand a chance, not with Bobby on his heels, and not with all the law enforcement agencies in southern Wisconsin scouring the area for him. But somehow that didn’t make him feel better.
It didn’t make him feel better at all.
The Copycat Killer
Louis Ingersoll had always known he was taking a risk. That’s what exceptional people did. Took risks. Confronted the world on their own terms. And sometimes that didn’t work out as well as they’d hoped.
That’s why he had a fallback plan.
As he approached his apartment and saw unmarked police cars parked at the curb about a block away, he took the next right. After putting a few blocks between him and the cops, he pulled up the find-my-phone app on his cell phone and logged in.
Louis had a place up north. He had money socked away. Food. Some good wine. Dryden’s newest, the one Louis had taken last night, was there. But he could take care of her ahead of schedule. Dump her somewhere she wouldn’t be found. Then they’d have the lighthouse all to themselves.
A regular honeymoon.
Louis logged into the tracker website. The map came up. A moment later, the pin showing him where to go.
It was time.
Louis had grown into who he wanted to be. He didn’t need Dryden anymore. He didn’t need instructions from prison. He didn’t need to follow a hunting ritual he no longer found satisfying. He had his own plan. His own fantasy. There was only one more thing he needed.
His Diana.
Diana
“I’ll have a large black coffee, please.”
The barista crooked a brow. “Venti?”
“Oh, yes. Sorry.” Diana paid for the drink and moved down the counter to wait for it to be made.
Sitting around the taskforce offices doing nothing had driven her nuts, but she had nowhere else to go. Finally she’d settled on a trip to the Starbucks across the street. A chance to stretch her legs, get some decent coffee, and be back in less than ten minutes.
She checked her phone for the fifth time since she’d stepped through the coffee shop door. No texts from Bobby. No missed calls.
Could the police have found Louis, and Bobby was just too busy to let her know quite yet? It was a nicer thought than that he simply had no news to tell. That Cerise Copeland was still caught in her nightmare. That Louis was still out there. That he was still—
“There you are.”
At first, Diana thought she must have imagined his voice. Then she turned.
Although a storm was rolling in outside, light from the floor-to-ceiling windows cast him in shadow, but she didn’t have to see his face clearly to know who he was. “Louis. Hi.”
“What’s wrong? You look upset.” He slipped his hand into his pocket.
Diana couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She glanced around the coffee shop, but everyone seemed to be going about their business. A mother scolding her daughter for kicking the counter. An older man reading a good old-fashioned print newspaper. A teenage girl who should be in high school rather than skipping to get her caffeine fix. Innocent people going about their normal lives with no idea there was a serial killer standing amongst them.
Remain calm.
Remain calm.
“How did you know I was here?” Diana’s voice trembled. She hoped he didn’t notice.
“I always know where you are.”
“How?”
“You and I… we have a connection.”
“Louis… I…”
“You know it’s true. It’s always been true. What can I say? I’m a romantic. The moment I saw the apartment next to you was for rent, I knew it was meant to be.”
Diana shook her head. That was over a year ago now. Before she was kidnapped. Before Bobby and she split up. Before police found the first victim of the Copycat Killer.
He’d been stalking her all this time?
“How did you know who I was… I mean back before you moved in. How did you…”
“It’s okay.”
Diana shook her head again. If this was anything, it was not okay.
“I’ve been a fan for a while.”
“A fan? A fan of whom?”
“Your father.”
At first Diana’s thoughts went to Norman Gale. A petty, controlling, cruel man in his own right, but then…
Of course.
“Ed Dryden told you about me?”
Louis smiled. “Right after you visited for the first time.”
She supposed some people would say she brought this on herself too. She’d done one thing, a normal thing people who were adopted did every day—look for her birth parents—and it had pulled not just Dryden into her life, but Louis, Professor Bertram, and even Perreth.
“Your father wanted me to keep an eye on you. Take care of you.”
“Manipulate me, you mean.”
“It wasn’t like that. Not for me.”
Sirens screamed from somewhere outside the coffee shop.
“We should go now.” Louis put his hand on her arm.
Reflexively, Diana pulled away. “I… I’m still waiting for my coffee.”
“Fuck, Diana. Do what I say.” Louis grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the door.
Diana yanked back, slamming her arm into the woman and little girl.
The woman glared at her. “Watch where you’re going.”
Louis caught her wrist, his grip strong as a vise.
Diana was about to start screaming when Louis dipped his free hand into a pocket. When he withdrew it, he was holding a knife. He flipped open the short but very sharp-looking blade. “I won’t hurt you. But these others…”
“Hey, honey. Is he bothering you?” the older man said.
Great. Now someone noticed. Diana faked a smile. “No, sorry. We were just leaving.”
Louis nodded. “We have so much to catch up on.”
“Deena?” The barista called.
Diana held up a hand. “Just let me grab my coffee, okay? You know how I love my coffee.”
Louis kept his hold on her wrist.
“Please?”
He gave her a little smile. “I guess… if it’s ready…”
Diana threaded through the handful of people huddled around the counter, Louis in her wake. Everything inside her was screaming for her to run. Just take off into the crowd. Race out the back door. Leave these other people to take care of themselves.
But she couldn’t.
Of course, she also couldn’t go with him. That was the first thing they taught in self-defense classes. Don’t get in a car with someone you don’t trust. Never let him take you to a secondary location. Make a stand in a public place.
And risk letting him hurt all these people?
Diana picked up her coffee cup. She needed to think of something. Anything.
She had an idea.
“I need a little cream. Do you mind?” She managed to give Louis what felt close to a genuine smile.
“Go ahead. But hurry.”
Diana stepped over to the creamer and pulled off the cup’s lid. She never took cream with her coffee. On the other hand, the couple of times she’d offered Louis coffee at her apartment, he’d always asked for milk. She suspected it never occurred to him that she would have her own preferences.
Come on, sirens. Head this way. Come on.