The Watcher

Following Griff, she stepped over the yellow tape. “He probably laid her on the ground, tied her feet, then climbed up and tied the robe around the limb and hoisted her up.”

“This guy is smart,” Griff said. “And careful. During the five years of the BQK murders, he didn’t leave any clues that would lead us to him. Hell, nobody even realized there were two killers.”

“Not until the end. Not until one partner killed the other.”

Griff jerked around and stared at her. “He didn’t have to kill him that day. My sharpshooter’s bullet would have taken him out. He killed Maygarden because it was part of their game. That tells us that he plays by the rules, even if they are his own rules. He’s organized, methodical, and—”

“Evil,” Nic said. “He’s capable of just about anything.”

“He abducted Kendall and kept her somewhere for three weeks, then brought her here to the park. Where did he take her? Why keep her alive for three weeks before killing her?”

“We need to find out if she was tortured.”

“Do you think that’s why he kept her alive, to torture her?”

“Probably.”

“The BQ Killer’s MO didn’t involve prolonged torture. He moved in for the kill pretty damn quick and got it over with, then left the body there. This is a completely different scenario.”

“A new game,” Nic said.

“A solo game, one without a competitor.”

“No scorecard this time. No one to compete with—” Nic gasped. “That’s the reason he called us.”

“To tell us this game is different, that there are new rules, a completely different—”

“Yes, all that, but more. He wants us to play the game with him. Isn’t that what he said? He even gave us the first two clues. He’s daring us to play the game, to see if we can outsmart him, maybe even catch him.”

“We’re his competitors.” Griff snorted. “That son of a bitch!”

“We don’t have to play his game.”

“Yeah, we do. And he knows it.”

“Why us? How could he know that you and I were the only two people who believed he existed, that believed Cary Maygarden had a partner?”

“It was either a lucky guess or a logical conclusion. Whichever it was doesn’t matter, does it? We were the two investigators who followed the BQK cases for years. We were the two people who knew all there was to know about the murders and the murderer. And he had to know the ballistics reports would show that Maygarden was hit with two different bullets that day and that somebody would get suspicious.”

“He probably felt pretty sure that the bureau wouldn’t try to track down a possible second killer when we had no solid proof of his existence and there were no other BQK murders after Cary Maygarden was killed.”

Griff walked all the way around the tree and Nic followed him. When he stopped abruptly, she almost collided with his big, broad back. She caught herself just in time. Another two inches and she’d have slammed up against him.

“This is useless. We made a mistake coming to Ballinger first,” Griff said as he turned around to face Nic. “We should have started with the first murder, the one that’s nearly a month old. The sheriff in Stillwater will have more info.”

“What makes you think the woman in Stillwater was his first victim?”

Griff narrowed his gaze until his eyes were hooded slits. “Good question. I’m hoping she was, but it’s possible there have been others.”

“We need to know for sure, don’t we?”

“Do you suppose you could find out for us?”

“Are you asking me to use my position as a federal agent to acquire the information?”

“Would you?”

Nic knotted her left hand into a fist and squeezed it a couple of times, damning herself for being in this situation. “I knew hooking up with you would come to this, but I didn’t think it would happen so quickly. Just because you cut corners and push the boundaries as far as possible and steamroll right over the law when doing things the legal way doesn’t suit your purposes does not mean that I will, now that we’ve formed this unholy alliance.”

Griff chuckled. “Unholy alliance, huh? Does that make me the Devil? Probably does. And you’d be—?” When she opened her mouth to protest his taunting, he held up his hand in a STOP signal. “No, don’t tell. I figured it out. I’m the Devil and you’re a fallen angel.”

“You have no idea how much I’d like to slap that stupid smirk off your face.”

“But you won’t slap me, will you? That would require your actually touching me and you don’t want to do that, do you?”

“No. I’m going to resist temptation and avoid possible contamination,” Nic told him. “But I am going to call Doug Trotter first thing in the morning.”

“I take it that Doug’s the supervisory special agent over your squad in D.C. So, why do you think he’ll bend the rules for us?”

“Doug’s one of the SACs. And he will not bend any rules for us. If I can persuade Chief Willoughby to play along with us, all he’ll have to do is tell Doug that he suspects the same person who killed Gala Ramirez in Texas also killed Kendall Moore in Arkansas.”

“You know what will happen if we find out that there were other murders before Kendall and Gala,” Griff said.

“There is a distinct possibility that once all the law enforcement agencies in the states where the bodies were found are informed, then the FBI will become directly involved and a task force will be formed.”

“When that happens, you’ll want to cut me out of the action.”

“You’re smiling.” Nic really hated that smug look on his face. “As much as I do not want you involved, you will be. Not just because you make a habit of sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong, but because the man who called you and me isn’t going to allow me to cut you out of the action.”

“Already figured that out, have you? Yeah, for some reason he wants us to be a team on this one.”

“Maybe he has a giant ego and outsmarting just one of us isn’t enough of a challenge.”

“Maybe.”

“After we finish up here and talk to the first officer on the scene, I want to call Chief Willoughby in the morning and see if he’ll contact Doug.”

“Make it early, okay? I want us on the plane and heading for Stillwater by nine.”

Griff sure as hell hoped that Nic didn’t think he had requested this special romantic dinner. Miss Cleo had pulled out all the stops in arranging an evening under the stars for them.

Griff looked directly at Nic, who sat across from him at the small table decked out with a linen tablecloth. “I hope you know that I didn’t—”

Nic burst into laughter.

Griff grinned. “It seems Miss Cleo is a romantic.”

“Undoubtedly. And delusional as well. How anyone could think that you and I …” Nic laughed again. “We are the last two people on earth who’d ever be a couple.”