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Chapter Ten
“That’s it.”Ethan disconnected the call and shoved his cell back into his pocket with barely concealed frustration. “Officer Mallard was the last to check in. We covered the busiest clubs in the city. No one saw JeanetteLawler.”
The trepidation in the pit of Alexa’s stomach knotted. They were standing in the lobby of the Piedmont Hotel, where Lawler’s crew was staying. She, Ethan and Nyle had returned here after they’d covered the clubs on their lists. The woman could have left an establishment before the team had started the search. She could have gone home with someone. She hadn’t returned here. Lawler wasn’t responding to phone calls to her room or repeated hammering at herdoor.
“Nothing says she would have brought her date back to her room.” Nyle’s face flushed a bit at the euphemism for a one-nightstand.
“Right.” Ethan’s voice was flat. “No way to be sure for a few more hours.” A few of the clubs stayed open until foura.m.
“We may as well get rooms here. We’ll just need to come back in a few hours.” Alexa stifled a yawn. It seemed cavalier to allow exhaustion to override her concern for Lawler. But there was nothing to be done now but wait. Andhope.
Ethan’s expression lightened. “I look forward to explaining my expense report for a night in the most expensive hotel inHalifax.”
“At this point, I’d spring for a room on my own dime. Not that I expect to sleepmuch.”
Ethan nodded at Nyle’s words. “I’ll get us checked in. We all need to rest. It’s going to be a shortnight.”
* * *
But in contrastto Ethan’s earlier words, sleep proved elusive for Alexa. There were too many questions flashing into her mind. Too much second-guessing.
It was the what-ifs that proved to be the mostdisturbing.
After a couple of hours, she surrendered and took her laptop out of its case. Booted it up. There were a dozen constructive things she could be doing, not the least of which was catching up on correspondence and updating the offender profile victimologypattern.
She tackled the emails first. Communications from Raiker’s agency and members of this task force were formatted so they would come directly to her phone, but others that she used for social and professional networks had to be accessed online. She quickly scrolled through the emails for the different accounts. Found nothing that waspressing.
She opened the final one, which was used only for emails from her professional organizations and for media inquiries. There were four new messages in the inbox. A yawn overtook her as she clicked on the top one. Perhaps she’d given up on sleep too soon. Maybe there was time to salvage an hour ortwo….
Her stomach did a slow roll as she read themessage.
Hello, Alexa. I hope you don’t mind the familiarity. I don’t know you well yet, but now that my mission here is accomplished, I’ll be remedying that soon. I knew as soon as I saw you on television yesterday that your being here was preordained. What a delight that we have so much in common. You cannot yet understand that I’ve been appointed a prophet to the nations. But soon…. You will knowme.
She wasted precious seconds staring at the message in shock before she finally leaped up, grabbed the laptop and her key card before rushing out thedoor.
Ethan was two rooms away. She pounded on his door, her eyes glued to the screen as if the message would disappear before her eyes. And perhaps it would. Fornier had mentioned something about Anis Tera sending emails that latervanished.
“What?” Ethan stood framed in the open door, clad in nothing but a pair of gym shorts. His tone was grim, but his expression was alert. Perhaps, like her, he’d been unable tosleep.
“He emailed me.” Alexa brushed by him to enter the room and sat on the edge of the rumpled bed, indicating the laptop sheheld.
“Who?”
“The offender.” She felt an unfamiliar rush of impatience. “He used my professional account that’s public, although rarelyused…”
Ethan was at her side, sinking down next her before she finished the sentence. “How can you be sure it’s him?” She waited for him to read the message. Watched his expression go from grim to dangerous. He bounced from the bed, crossed the bedside table for his phone and returned to take a picture of the screen. Then he reached out to press the reply command. The screen wentblank.
“It’s gone.” Alexa closed out of the window and returned to the inbox, but the message had disappeared. “Just like Fornier said. Vanishing emails. Forensic IT analysts can do something with this, right? Maybe track down thesender?”
He stared at her. “I think you’re missing the most critical point. He reached out to you. That means he has you in hissights.”
“Yes. Well…” She couldn’t say that the idea didn’t discomfit her on several levels, but the psychologist in her was oddly thrilled. “Do you realize how much we can learn about him if he continues to communicate withme?”
Ethan’s face went thunderous. He picked up the phone and pressed a speed-dial number. “Yes, we’re about to learn that you’re his newest obsession. Excuse me if I don’t share your enthusiasm at the prospect.” He spoke a few terse words into the phone and thendisconnected.
“He said his mission here was accomplished.” Her stomach did a slow roll. “Do you think he’s saying that Jeanette Lawler isdead?”
“We’re soon going to findout.”