Vile: The Faces of Evil Series: Book 8 Read online

  “What’s going on?” This was a crime scene but not really? The area had been cordoned off and cops were everywhere but no crime scene techs and no protective wear. Didn’t make a lot of sense. “Is the woman out front the mother? Where’s the father?”

  Dan shook his head. “We don’t know who the parents are. We don’t even know who the child is. She hasn’t said a word.”

  Jess frowned, scrubbed at her furrowed forehead with the back of her hand. “Did she just wander into the shop?” If that were the case, there was probably a dead body around here somewhere after all, or a missing person at the very least. Her frown deepened. This wasn’t Spears’s MO. This couldn’t be him. Even as the words filtered through her brain, the knowing look in Dan’s eyes chilled her blood.

  “She was waiting on the sidewalk outside,” Dan explained. “The clerk noticed her and went out to see if she was okay. There was a note pinned to her dress.”

  Jess didn’t need a crystal ball to predict the rest. “I take it the note was addressed to me.” Outrage rushed through her.

  Dan reached into the pocket of his elegant silk suit jacket. No matter that it was hot as blazes outside, the man always dressed impeccably. Even with all that was going on, Jess resisted the urge to smile. He was ever the statesman. The charcoal suit looked good on him. A blue shirt and darker blue tie set off the color of his eyes. From the moment she’d first met Daniel Burnett at seventeen she had been mesmerized by him. He was handsome, charming, and so very kind. How could she have been so fortunate to have him still waiting for her after all this time? His three failed marriages notwithstanding, of course. To be fair, she had a failed marriage of her own.

  He passed her the evidence bag. Part of her didn’t want to look. It was easier not to see, but that choice wasn’t hers to make. She accepted the piece of paper enclosed in the plastic evidence bag. She read it twice, the words stealing away the warmth and hope being near Dan always prompted.

  Take me to Deputy Chief Jess Harris.

  Jess turned to look at the little girl. Please don’t let this be a sign that he knows. If Spears had learned of her pregnancy, he would use that vulnerability against her.

  Her second thought was the child’s mother could be the third hostage being held by the monster. The child might very well be the notification he loved providing to rattle the family and friends of his latest victim.

  “A representative from Child Services in on the way.”

  Dan’s words nudged her from the painful musings. Jess nodded before moving back to the worktable where Officer Rice spoke softly to the child, reassuring her with kind words. Jess took a picture of the little girl with her phone. She stared at Jess but didn’t seem to mind.

  “Hello,” Jess said. The little girl looked up at her and Jess smiled. “I’m Deputy Chief Jess Harris. What’s your—”

  The little girl abruptly held out her arms toward Jess.

  Startled, Jess looked to Dan.

  “Excuse me, Chief.”

  Jess turned to the officer.

  “I think she wants you to pick her up.” Rice shrugged, embarrassed or uncertain if she’d overstepped her bounds. “I have a three year old at home.”

  “But I…” Jess hoped she didn’t look as startled by the suggestion as she felt.

  “Something about you makes her feel safe,” Rice suggested.

  Feeling way out of her comfort zone, Jess’s attention settled on the little girl whose arms were still outstretched. Jess smiled, shifted her bag higher on her shoulder, and tentatively scooped the little girl into her arms. Her small legs went around Jess’s waist, and her little head went against Jess’s shoulder. With the emotional vise that had clamped around her chest, it was all Jess could do to draw in her next breath.

  Someone somewhere would be frantically looking for this child.

  Unless they were missing… or dead.

  3

  Jess tried three times to hand the little girl over to Officer Rice. The child was having no part of it. Each time Jess attempted to put her down or hand her off, she screamed at the top of her lungs.

  Harper stood by stoically, but Jess didn’t miss the amusement glittering in his eyes. Like the officer, Harper had a three year old of his own. Not that his experience was helping in the least little bit right now. Dammit.

  Desperate, Jess turned to Dan with a questioning look. He shrugged and reached for the little girl.

  She whimpered and held onto Jess more tightly.

  Jess sagged with defeat. “Fine. I’ll just hang onto her for now.”

  As if the good Lord decided to take pity on Jess, a woman entered the storeroom, the heels of her leather pumps clicking on the tile floor. Before she said a word, her stiff posture and polyester blend suit announced she was from Child Services. Or maybe it was the stern expression.

  Considering a woman in her position witnessed all manner of child abuse, who wouldn’t wear some form of armor?

  “Lois Wettermark, Jefferson County Child Services investigator.” She looked from Dan to Jess and then to the child. “We still don’t have a name?”

  Jess shook her head. “She’s not talking.”

  Wettermark walked straight up to Jess and reached for the little girl. The moment Wettermark’s hands landed on her, the child started to wail. The investigator manufactured a smile about as fake as the one Jess had been shoring up all morning. “This sort of reaction isn’t unusual. No need to be concerned, Chief. She’ll be fine. You can let her go now.”

  “Okay.” Despite the child’s desperate attempts and the wailing, Jess relinquished her hold on the little girl. Oddly, her entire being felt bereft somehow at the loss. Maybe it was just the little girl’s obvious unhappiness. More likely, it was hormones. If Jess survived the first trimester, she might make it through this pregnancy.

  “If someone can bring my car around to the back,” Wettermark suggested, “perhaps I can avoid the prying eyes of the press on our way out.”

  “Sergeant, would you see to that, please?” Jess instructed.

  “Right away.” Harper took the woman’s keys and headed out.

  Jess wished she were going with Harper. The way the little girl looked at her, reached for her was tearing at her heart. Jess scrubbed at her brow again and looked away. Dan appeared as unsettled as she felt. Though she doubted either of them felt as unhappy about this as the little girl did.

  Focus, Jess. “I’d like to interview the clerk when… this is finished.”

  Dan nodded.

  Wettermark’s efforts to cajole the child continued to fall on deaf ears. Jess hated to stand here and do nothing.

  Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. She walked over to the other woman and reached for the child. The little girl’s wails quieted as she stretched toward Jess, making her heart ache all the harder. “Why don’t I hold her for a minute?”

  Wettermark shook her head. “That’ll just make leaving more difficult for her, Chief Harris. It would be best if you went into the other room. You may remind her of someone she knows and that could be upsetting her.”

  Jess didn’t see how her presence would be upsetting since the child stopped crying whenever she held her. Then again, she had little or no experience with children. What did she know? Obviously, everyone in the room, except maybe Dan, knew more than she did about the subject. “Well, all right then.”

  As wrong as it felt, Jess made her way to the front of the shop. Every step was a monumental exercise in self-control. She didn’t dare glance back. Apparently, she had a lot to learn when it came to children.

  If this was any indication of her nurturing side, she was doomed.

  “It doesn’t get any easier.”

  “Excuse me?” Jess turned to the officer who’d followed her. She hadn’t realized Rice was right on her heels.

  “Whenever a child is involved in something like this it’s hard.” She hugged herself as if she felt a sudden chill. “I’ve been a part of dozens of situations whe
re kids are abandoned or left behind after a tragedy, and it doesn’t get any easier.”

  “I don’t usually work with children.” And I’m pregnant, Jess wanted to shout. Her emotions were untrustworthy. Everything felt personal and too difficult. She was used to analyzing the details of a killer’s work. Her job rarely involved children unless they were missing or deceased. She’d had a case a few weeks ago involving a young boy but not this young. This was uncharted territory on more than one level.

  “I’ve been watching you on the news,” Rice said. “Your story is very inspiring. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to work with you.”

  The smile Jess managed this time was genuine. “Thank you.”

  Maybe Gina Coleman was right when she said the world needed to know the whole story about the past few months. Jess had given that interview over the weekend. For the first time since returning to Birmingham, she’d told someone besides Dan the story of how her life had come to be entangled with a serial killer.

  Rice hitched her thumb toward the storeroom and the still wailing little girl. “I’ll just make sure everything’s okay in there.”

  Jess gave her a nod and shifted her attention to the clerk. Ellen Gentry sat on a stool behind the counter. She had wrung her hands until Jess was reasonably sure the skin was chapped.

  “Miss Gentry, I’m Deputy Chief Jess Harris.”

  Gentry nodded. “You’re that lady from the news.” Gentry jerked her head in what was probably a nod. “The one the serial killer is after.”

  Wasn’t being a celebrity fun? “That’s me. I’d like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.” The sobbing in the back room faded, signaling the little girl was gone, and somehow making Jess feel sad. Damned pregnancy hormones.

  “Like I told the other cop, I don’t really know anything. I noticed her out there and got worried.”

  Jess pulled her pad and pencil from her bag and flipped to a clean page. “Did you notice her more than once?”

  Gentry seemed to think about that question for a moment, then she nodded. “I had a bunch of orders to fill, but I remember glancing outside and noticing her there. A good while later, after I’d filled all those orders, I noticed her again. That’s when I got concerned.” She glanced outside. “I hope no one’s tried to come for their order yet. I can’t afford to have my business being turned away.”

  “We’ll be finished in a few minutes,” Jess assured her. “Would you say you went out to check on her a half hour or an hour after the first time you noticed her on the sidewalk?”

  “Close to an hour I think, but I can’t say for sure.”

  “What time do you open the shop?”

  “I get here about eight-thirty and I open the doors at nine.” She fidgeted with her nails, picking at a cuticle. “I would’ve checked on her sooner. I had no idea her parents had just dumped her out there.”

  “You couldn’t have known,” Jess offered. “Did you come in through the front or the back this morning?”

  “The back.” Gentry’s right foot started to pat the air. She was nervous or upset. Understandable. “Something like twenty minutes later when I unlocked the front door, I walked out onto the sidewalk to pick up a McDonald’s cup someone had tossed and she wasn’t there then.”

  “You unlocked the front door around nine?”

  Gentry nodded.

  “As you went about filling your orders, did you notice anyone passing by? Did anyone come inside and place an order or just browse?”

  The clerk wagged her head from side to side. “All my orders were made by phone. I had a couple from yesterday that were done on the Internet. No one came in the shop this morning.”

  “Did you notice anyone on the sidewalk when you went outside to see about the little girl? Maybe someone who had just passed your shop? Someone walking away?”

  Gentry shrugged. “Sorry. I didn’t see anyone but I wasn’t really looking.”

  Most people didn’t. “Did the little girl say anything at all to you?”

  “No. She wouldn’t tell me her name. She just looked at me. I thought maybe she was mute until she started crying back there.”

  “She wasn’t crying when you found her?” Jess remembered the little girl’s eyes being red as if she’d been crying.

  “I think maybe she’d been crying, but she wasn’t when I went out there. She started crying when the cops—” she cleared her throat “—when the guys in uniforms showed up.”

  “I’d like you to write down your address and contact numbers for me.” Jess passed her the notepad and pencil. “If anyone calls or stops by and asks anything at all or even mentions the child, I want you to let me know.” Jess placed her business card on the counter. “Watch for anyone suspicious hanging around outside. Call us if you feel anything at all is out of the ordinary.”

  Gentry handed the pad back to Jess and picked up the card. “You think they’ll come back for her?”

  “It’s not likely but we can hope.”

  “You think that serial killer took the little girl’s mother?”

  Jess wished she could say no, but the truth was she had no idea. Eric Spears was capable of anything. “I’m sure we’ll have some answers soon.”

  Thankfully, two of the officers had disbursed the crowd outside the shop. Jess doubted the reporters had gone very far, but she had a job to do. That job included having a look around outside. But first, she had an idea she hoped might help them learn what happened. She went in search of Dan. He and Harper were still in the storeroom. Probably discussing strategies for keeping Jess off the streets—despite Dan’s outward reasonableness about her work of late.

  She hated, hated, hated this incessant need for everyone around her to protect her. She could protect herself.

  “Harper and I are going outside to have a look around,” she said to Dan. “Can you check with your source and find out if the area in front of the shop is on the city surveillance system the mayor had installed?”

  That would be a huge break. The mayor had had a system installed several years ago to monitor certain downtown streets, but not all areas and angles were covered. If they were really lucky the shop would be.

  “I’ve already made the call,” Dan let her know. He glanced around, clearly reluctant to go. “I’ll drop the note off at the lab. Anything else you need?”

  Jess shook her head firmly. “I’ve got this. You go be Chief of Police.”

  He gave her a little two-fingered salute. “All right. I’m out of here.”

  As he passed, he squeezed her hand. That simple touch sent heat surging through her. No matter how wrong things between them had gone in the past, she was so grateful for what they had now. It was going to take them working together to get through this.

  “Looks like the coast is clear outside, ma’am,” Harper said.

  “Thank you, Sergeant. Let’s see what we can find.”

  Outside they walked the block and found what she’d fully expected. Nothing. There were a good number of offices and shops in the area. They started on the end of the block nearest the floral shop and began a grid search. The first officers on the scene had already canvassed the area, but Jess had questions the officers might not have thought to ask.

  Did any of the businesses have security cameras that might have picked up anyone walking along the sidewalk? Had anyone with a child stopped in that morning? Did anyone recognize the child in the photo she’d taken? A resounding chorus of no’s were the only answers.

  Her cell rang and Jess dug it from her bag. Dan. “Hey.” She hoped he had good news for her.

  “The cameras got something. It’s being sent to your office right now.”

  Anticipation mounted. “Great. Thanks. I’ll keep you posted.” Jess tucked her phone back into her bag and turned to Harper. “We may have a lead from the city’s security cameras. They’re sending a copy to the office.”

  “Looks like we have trouble headed this way.” Harper nodded toward his SUV. “Stay be
hind me, ma’am.”

  Jess groaned when she recognized the TV reporter, Gerard Stevens. She did not like the man. He was one of those guys who would do anything to get ahead, even if it meant stepping on his own grandmother’s toes. He’d taken two major pot shots at Dan and the department already. Jess considered herself fair game since she was the one to bring Spears to Birmingham. Dan, on the other hand, didn’t deserve any of this.

  “Chief Harris,” Stevens proclaimed in that big, deep, condescending voice of his, “is it true that Spears remains in contact with you?”

  Harper stayed between Jess and the cameraman shadowing Stevens.

  “Didn’t you watch Gina Coleman’s story?” Jess asked, rubbing in the fact that Stevens didn’t scoop the big story.

  He smiled. “Is that a yes, Chief?”

  They had arrived at Harper’s SUV. He’d opened the door. Jess could have gotten in without saying another word, but she just couldn’t help herself. “That’s a no comment, sir. If you want the facts on Eric Spears, you should check with Gina Coleman.”

  Satisfied she had spoiled his day, Jess settled into the passenger seat. It felt good to give it to a guy like Stevens. She suspected that might be the only highlight of her day.

  Birmingham PD, SPU Office, 1:48 p.m.

  The team gathered around the monitor and watched as the video from the city’s security cameras played on the screen a fourth time. A woman in jeans, a nondescript t-shirt, and sneakers walked hand in hand with the little blonde girl. It was impossible to get a good description of the woman. Her hair was tied back and covered with a scarf. She wore large sunglasses to shield her eyes and a good portion of her face. And she puffed on a cigarette.

  “She doesn’t move like a runner,” Lori noted.

  “Not enough muscle mass for that,” Hayes agreed.

  The woman was practically skin and bone. The tight fit of the jeans and the tee as well as her bare arms confirmed that assessment. Her lips were painted a deep Marilyn Monroe red.

  “I can’t tell if she has dark hair or it’s just that black scarf,” Cook said. “Her eyebrows are dark. That could mean her hair is too.”