“Wh-what was the plan?” If she kept him talking, maybe help would come. Maybe. Please, God. Help me.
“I guess it won’t hurt to tell you.” He sat up straight and chuckled. “I’m dying for someone to know anyway.”
Fear crawled up her spine like a spider.
“Well, the first one wasn’t really planned, and must admit, I panicked a little. But days went by, then weeks and suddenly, I realized how easy it would be to get away with it. Super Sheriff didn’t have a clue.” He laughed again. “All those people walk that trail every day, and no one found her. I thought I’d have to find her myself.” He shook his head side-to-side. “Thanks to you, the second one was discovered right away.” He took a breath. “Super Sheriff thought I was careless.” He crossed his arms over the back of the chair. “But I’m smart. Even left him a clue, and he never found it. Oh well, I can move on with my plan.”
“Wh-what plan?”
Eyes glowing brightly, he thrust out his chest. “How cool would it be to place the blame on someone else? I have the know-how, the guts to do it, so why not?”
“Was Arnold part of the plan?”
His expression went from pleased to thunderous in the blink of an eye. “That hen-pecked idiot nearly ruined everything. I’ll deal with him later.” He pinned her with those dark, volcanic eyes. “I did have some serious hopes for us, though. But, that’s no longer an option.” He waved his gun around in a circle, dark brows drawn together in an angry frown. “I hate it when people screw with my plans. All that work shot to hell. And I really hate having to kill you, Sunshine. I truly do.”
I have to keep him talking. I know Coop will find me. “You said you wanted to blame someone else. Who were you going to blame?”
The sadistic smile returned. “Super Sheriff’s best friend.”
“Billy Ray?”
His lips curled in disgust. “Thinks he’s God’s gift to women. I already got Coop doubting his innocence. Just need a little push.” He tilted his head to one side. “Have you missed your gold hair clip?” He snickered. “I found it in the van after you changed. Slipped it under Billy’s chair after our interview today. When I get back to the office this afternoon, I’ll make sure Coop sees me find it, and I’ll have a search warrant before the sun goes down. Guess what we’re gonna find when we search his car?” He sat up a little straighter, voice eager as a child describing his favorite toy. “I put some of their clothes in his trunk, and I planted some of your hair in his back seat for good measure. Boom! It’s over. Pretty Boy goes down with bang, and I look like a genius because I solved two murders all by myself.”
He shook his head as though to banish an unpleasant thought. “I nearly had heart failure yesterday when Coop said get to his place. Hell, I’d just come from Arnold’s hideaway. With you in my trunk!” He rose and pranced around the room. “Talk about a natural high. Man, watching him sweat and worry about his poor little Sam. All the while you were sleeping if off in the trunk of my cruiser.” He laughed out loud then, an eerie, off-key sound. “See what I mean? I am the master!”
“Why did you kill those women?”
A muscle flicked in his jaw, and his face became a stony mask. “They shouldn’t have pointed at me. I hate it when someone points a finger at me.”
Sam tried not to react. He killed them because they pointed at him?
“We were having such a good time, too. I treated them right, gave ‘em roses and everything. Then they had to go and get all uppity on me; point that damn finger like they was better than me.” He made a tsk-tsk sound. “Not a good idea.”
A sudden blast of cold air made dust float across the floor. Anger, fierce and deep, consumed Sam, and she tried to stand.
“You killed me for that?” A woman’s voice, raspy and deep echoed in the room.
Where did that angry voice come from? Sam looked around but saw only the deputy.
A thick, vaporous fog wrapped around JD’s legs.
“What the hell?” His hat flew off his head as the mist swirled around him.
The air grew colder still, and Sam shook with the ferocity of the anger swamping her.
“Your time has come,” the eerie voice shouted.
Stunned, Sam watched the scene unfold.
Gaze fixed on the mist surrounding him, JD stumbled against a bookcase. “Get away from me!” He righted himself as the haze slowly rose to chest level. “Get away!” The mist completely engulfed the frantic deputy as he spun in circles, slapping at the fog with his gun.
“Drop your weapon!”
Coop’s shouted warning went unheeded as the deputy circled twice, his weapon swiping at the circling mist pressed against his body. “Get away from me!”
“Drop the gun, JD. It’s over. Drop it.”
Sam rolled to the floor when the first shot rang out. Two more followed in quick succession.
The ensuing silence was deafening.
Coop dropped into a chair in the kitchen, fatigue weighing him down. The longest week of his life was finally over. Sam and Eva were both safe and a killer was dead.
Sam moved to his side, placing a cup of coffee and slice of chocolate cake in front of him. “You okay?”
He pulled her onto his lap. “Yeah.” He held her close and tried to control the trembles that erupted each time he recalled how close he came to losing her.
After several moments, she rose, and pulled a chair closer to him. “How did you know it was him?”
Coop sat back in the chair, hands resting in his lap. “The crime scene photos. My gut said I missed something so I kept going over them. I just happened to have them pulled up and one of those you took was on my desk. It was an area near the bush that I shot, too. Only in mine, a piece of paper was in plain sight. It wasn’t on yours.” He sighed. “I called the lab and had them look for it. Turns out it was an old teacher parking pass for Peggy Wallace. The only person besides you and I who was near there was JD.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe I didn’t catch it before now.” He paused to gather his thoughts. “I ran through the tape he did with Billy after I talked with the lab. When the interview was over, JD must have thought he turned the tape off, but it was still running.” Dark brows drew together as he recalled the agony of watching someone he knew and trusted reveal his dark side. “I saw him place something under Billy’s chair after he left. When I looked, I found that gold hair clip you asked me about.”
“How did you know where to find me?”
He looked down, then met her steady gaze. “Peggy.”
