They watched her fill the teakettle with water and put it on the burner. After she’d gotten a tea bag out of the canister and put it in the cup, she leaned her hip against the counter and turned back to her brother. "I have to think about this."
"There’s nothing to think about. You’ve got to leave. You don’t have a choice in this, Laurant. I won’t have you-"
Nick quietly interrupted, "Tommy, you ought to call Sheriff Lloyd."
"Yeah, you’re right." He’d forgotten about the sheriff until Nick reminded him. "And maybe while I’m gone, you can talk some sense into her," he added with a frown at Laurant. "She can’t be difficult about this. She has to understand this is serious."
"I’m not being difficult," she argued. "Just give me a minute, all right?"
Reluctantly, he got up and went to make the call. Nick used his mobile phone to alert the police that Laurant was there. Then he called his superior. While he was talking to Morganstern, she made her tea and carried it to the table. Then she sat down again.
"You need to get one of these," he said as he put the phone back in his breast pocket. "We would have known where you were and could have gotten hold of you while you were on the road."
"In Holy Oaks everyone knows where everyone else is. It’s like living in a fishbowl."
"The sheriff didn’t know where you were."
"He probably didn’t bother to ask anyone. He’s very lazy," she said. "My neighbors knew where I was going and so did the two men who were looking after the store while the workmen were there."
She picked up the transcript of the conversation the police had made, began to read it, and then put it back down.
"I’d like to listen to the tape now."
Unlike her brother, Nick was anxious for her to do just that. He left the kitchen to get the cassette player, and when he returned he put it in the center of the table.
"Ready?" he asked.
She stopped stirring her tea. She put the spoon in the saucer, took a breath, then nodded.
He hit the play button and leaned back. Laurant stared at the whirling cassette as she listened to the conversation that had taken place in the confessional. Hearing the stranger’s voice made the horror more real to her, and by the time the tape ended, she was nauseated. "My God."
"Did you recognize his voice?"
She shook her head. "It was such a low whisper, I didn't get all of
what he said. I don't think I've heard him before. I'll listen to it
again," she promised, "but not yet, all right? I don't think I can…"
"Some of what he said was deliberate… calculated. At least
that's what I think. He wanted to spook Tommy."
"And he succeeded. I don't want my brother to worry, but I don't know how to stop him. It isn't good for him… the stress."
"You've got to be realistic, Laurant. A man tells him he's going to kill his sister after he gets his kicks, and you don't think he should worry?"
She threaded her fingers through her hair in agitation. "Yes, of course… it's just…"
"What?"
"It isn't healthy for him."
Nick had noticed her slight French accent when she first spoke to him, but now the accent was more pronounced. She might have looked calm and collected, but that facade, like a thin layer of ice, was cracking.
"Why me?" she asked, sounding genuinely bewildered. "I live such a boring… ordinary life. It doesn't make any sense."
"A lot of weirdos don't make any sense. There was this case a couple of years back. This pervert did six women before they finally caught him. You know what he told them when they asked him how and where he chose his victims?" She shook her head.
"At the grocery stores. He'd stand out front and he'd smile at the women as they rushed past him. The first one who smiled back… that's the one he wanted. Ordinary women, Laurant, leading ordinary lives. You can't look for reasons with these guys, or waste your
time trying to figure out how their minds work. Leave that to the
experts."
"Do you think the man in the confessional is a serial killer?"
"Maybe," he allowed. "And maybe not. He could just be getting started. The profilers will know more after they've heard the tape. They'll have some insight."
"But what do you think?"
"There's a hell of a lot of inconsistencies here."
"Such as?"
He shrugged. "For one thing, he told Tommy he did the other woman a year ago, but I think he was lying about that."
"Why?"
"Because he also said he's gotten a real taste for it," he reminded her. "The one statement conflicts with the other."
"I don't understand."
"If he got off on it-torturing and killing the woman-then he did her recently and not a year ago. He wouldn't have been able to wait that long."
"Nick, what about the letter he said he sent to the police?"
"If he wrote it, and if he mailed it, then they'll get it tomorrow or the day after. They're ready," he added. "And they'll run it for prints, but I doubt he left any."
"I don't suppose they found any prints on the cassette, did they?"
"Actually, there was one, but it wasn't our man's. The kid who checked him out at Super Sid's Warehouse had a record, so his prints were on file. It was easy to track him to the warehouse," he explained. "His probation officer helped him get the job."
"Did he remember who bought the tape?"
"Unfortunately, he didn't," he answered. "Have you ever been to one of those stores? The traffic going through there is unbelievable, and it was a cash-only counter, so there wasn't any credit card receipt or check to trace."
"What about the confessional? Did they find any prints there?"
"Yeah, hundreds."
"But you don’t think any of them are his?"
"No, I don’t," he replied.
"He’s very smart, isn’t he?"
"They’re never as smart as they think they are. Besides…"
"What?"
"We’re going to be smarter."
Chapter 6
Nick radiated confidence, and it suddenly dawned on Laurant that he probably had been trained to present a calm demeanor so that witnesses and victims wouldn’t panic.
"Does anything ever rile you?" she asked.
"Oh, yes."
"You’re sure the man on the tape is serious, aren’t you?"
"Laurant, no matter how many times you ask me the question, the answer’s going to be the same. Yes, I think he’s serious," he patiently repeated. "He’s gone to a lot of trouble researching you and Tommy and me. Like I said before, his intent was to scare your brother, and he sure as hell succeeded. Tommy’s convinced this guy’s crazy, but I’ve got this feeling that most of what he said was carefully rehearsed. Now we have to figure out his real agenda."
She could feel her control slipping and clinched her hands. "I can’t believe this is happening," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Did you hear what he did to that woman? How he tortured her? Did you…"
He took hold of her hand and squeezed. "Laurant, take a deep breath. All right?"
She did as he suggested, but it didn’t help. The impact of what she had heard was finally hitting her full force. Chilled to the bone she pulled her hand away and began to rub her arms.
She was covered with goose bumps and was visibly shivering. Nick grabbed his jacket and draped it around her shoulders. "Better?"
"Yes, thank you."
He had the sudden urge to put his arm around her and comfort her just like he would one of his own sisters if she were scared, but he didn’t know how Laurant would react, and so he stayed where he was and waited for her to give him some sort of signal.
She pulled the jacket tight around her with a death grip on the lapels.