Page 12

K ylie woke up the next morning with a start. She had slept in yoga pants and a sports bra, just on the off chance that she would have to get up and run from an intruder. She rolled over, felt decent, and had slept well surprisingly. Frowning, yet delighted, she got up and headed for a shower. After scrubbing herself top to bottom and feeling a whole lot better, she got dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, pulling her hair back into a ponytail and heading down to the kitchen to put on coffee. Porter was in the kitchen already, sitting there with a cup of hot coffee.

He looked up and smiled. “You look better.”

“Right,” she muttered, with an eye roll. “Regardless, I do feel better.”

“You were pretty rough physically last night,” he noted, “emotionally as well.”

“That I was,” she admitted. She walked over, poured herself a cup of coffee, and then leaned against the counter to face him. “Was it a quiet night?”

“It was.” He smiled. “You seem surprised.”

“I am surprised that I slept. I didn’t think I would.”

He nodded. “And sometimes”—he picked up his cup—“sleep is the best thing for you.”

“Oh, it absolutely was the best thing. I just didn’t think I would get any.” She brought her coffee over to the table and asked, “What are you working on?”

“Researching your aunt,” he replied.

“Oh, that’s probably completely boring. I’m telling you, the woman didn’t have a life,” she muttered.

“She did though. I just think it’s a life that she wouldn’t share with anybody for whatever reason.”

“Because she was scared of the killer who realized she was helping the police? Maybe my stalker is that killer. He did say he was looking for my aunt, so he knew who I was.”

“Yes, maybe he realized that—or not, considering your aunt might have any number of nieces and nephews.”

Kylie frowned. “So, are you thinking that maybe my stalker didn’t know I was the one whose family he killed?”

“That’s possible,” Porter acknowledged. “We don’t know exactly what he knows and what he doesn’t.”

“But we’ll assume that he knows a hell of a lot because he’s clearly not stupid, since he’s still free after escaping while being transported to prison so long ago.”

“Exactly,” Porter agreed. Just then his phone rang. He looked at the screen and noted, “It’s the captain.”

“Probably wants to know if we’re still alive,” she muttered.

He tossed her a quick smile. “Probably,” he agreed cheerfully. “I’ll take it outside.” Hopping up, he answered it and carried on, walking out to her deck.

She wanted to follow and get details but figured it would be rude. Then deciding that she didn’t care if it was rude or not, she headed out onto the deck a few minutes later, just as he was ending the call. “And?” she asked.

“Everything is quiet so far. No sign of him, and, so far, no more killings.”

“As I mentioned earlier, I can’t imagine he’s put out a blanket call, looking for work, not while the police know he’s here.”

“Wouldn’t be a smart way to run his business,” Porter conceded, “but it doesn’t mean he isn’t doing something along that line regardless.”

“He did say something about my aunt.”

“I know, and again I’m not sure how to take that.”

“Did you tell the captain about your theory that I am somehow family to my stalker?”

“I did,” he admitted. “He’s not very happy with me either.”

“Oh, good, finally we agree on something.”

Porter let out a sigh. “The captain agrees, though that it could make for a good opportunity to try and catch this guy.”

“Sure, I always love being the bait,” she said in a mocking tone.

“It’s not that bad,” he replied.

“No, of course not. How bad can it be? He’s just a mercenary, after all, so what do I care?”

He frowned at her. “Are you really upset with me?”

“No, I’m not really upset at you,” she stated in frustration, raising both hands. “I’m upset at him. He’s destroyed my peace and quiet in the nice little cocoon of a world I had built up.”

“Ah, that kind of upset.”

“What did you expect, genius? That I would wake up, and everything would already coalesce into something I could understand and deal with? Resulting in a sketch maybe?” she asked, her tone rising an octave. “If that’s what you were hoping for, I’m sorry to tell you that it didn’t happen.”

“I think you probably came a whole lot closer to it than you realized.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I’ve had two seconds to even ask questions or to come up with the questions that I would want to ask,” she explained.

“Whatever you come up with then, you can always ask,” he suggested. “I’ve been waiting for you to get up. So, do you want to cook breakfast here or do you want to go out for breakfast?” She frowned, and he frowned right back at her. He shrugged. “Hey, I need food.”

“ Great ,” she muttered, as she stared down at her coffee. She chugged back the last of it and asked, “Is it safe to go out? I haven’t done enough grocery shopping lately to feed you.”

He laughed. “We have multiple sets of eyes on us, so we can go outside.”

“ Right ,” she grumbled. “So I can be bait.”

Porter ignored that and added, “We can stop on the way back and pick up some groceries.”

“That’s fine,” she conceded. “You’ll be back at your house anyway.”

“Not until we’ve caught this guy,” he stated, his tone hard. “So don’t even try to talk me out of it. The captain firmly agrees.”

“That’s because you got yourself insinuated into my life,” she noted, glaring at him. “Now it’ll be hard to get you out.”

At that, his face split into a big boyish grin. “You could be right. Come on. Let’s go. I need food.” And, with that, he nudged her toward the front door.

“And where is it you want to go for this food?” she asked in exasperation, now out the door and walking to his car.

“I don’t know. Do you have a favorite brunch place around here? I’m talking about a big breakfast with the whole works—pancakes and eggs, sausages, ham, and bacon.”

She frowned at him. “How are your cholesterol levels, ham-boy?”

“Just fine,” he said, with a beaming smile. “My body is more than happy with all that good food.”

“ Good my ass,” she muttered under her breath.

“Yeah, your ass is pretty darn fine too, now that you mention it,” he replied cheekily.

She glared at him. “That was highly inappropriate”—then she laughed—“but thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, with a chuckle, “and, oh, by the way. I am now officially on guard duty, assigned to look after you.”

“Oh, right .” She gave him an eye roll. “That’ll make everybody bloody damn happy to hear the budget money was allocated for me.”

“Most people don’t know about it,” he noted.

“What about your partner? Neil probably already feels left out.”

“Yeah, I’ll touch base with him today,” Porter replied. “He’ll understand.”

“Will he?” she asked. “I’ve been worried about that.”

“I wouldn’t worry about him. He’s been through a lot already, and he knows who’s on his side and who isn’t.”

“That doesn’t sound good either,” she muttered. “You guys are partners, and you should be there for each other.”

“We should be, and we will be.” He waved his hand about. “Most of the time we are, but right now I have to fix this. I’m the one who got you into this, and I’m not leaving until it’s solved.”

She groaned. “Of course, since you made the mess, I hope you’ll clean it up.”

“Exactly. I’m glad you understand.”

“No, I don’t understand. That’s the same motto my aunt used all the time. If there was a mess to be cleaned up, and I made it, believe me that I cleaned it up, and I cleaned it up fast.”

“She sounds like a real winner.”

Kylie shrugged. “And I’m probably doing her a disservice. It was a cold and lonely upbringing, but I was safe, and I had food and a roof over my head,” she explained. “Sometimes I think I had it better than a lot of kids had.”

“And you probably did. Some kids have it way worse, but that doesn’t make your situation any easier just because other people were worse off,” Porter noted. “That’s one of the things you have to remember. Just because other people have it bad doesn’t mean that you aren’t entitled to recognize that your own life was pretty rough too.”

“Whatever. It’s over and done with, and I, for one, am very damn glad.”

“Me too.” Porter smiled. “After brunch, I want you to contact your aunt so we can talk to her.”

“Oh, that’s just peachy. I hope you have her number because I don’t. And you still don’t understand. She doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Let’s give it a try, and we’ll see.”

He drove to the restaurant she suggested, another place she went to every once in a while. As she got out, she asked, “Have you ever been here before?”

He nodded. “Yeah, most of these are places I’m fairly well-known in.”

“Interesting. I’ve come here a couple times, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you.”

He nodded. “That’s just a sign of the universe arranging things as they should be.”

“What? So that we don’t see each other?” she asked, laughing.

“Yeah, but now so that we do see each other all the time,” he noted, with a beguiling smile. “Come on. Admit it. I’m getting under your skin.”

“I don’t have any trouble admitting that,” she snapped. “Of course you’re getting under my skin. I was just hoping that you would take a long walk and disappear for a while and leave me alone.”

“Not happening,” he declared, with an easy smile. “I won’t leave you in danger, especially not when I put you there.”

“Oh, so now we have guilt at work too.” She sighed. “That’ll get damn irritating as well.”

“Yep, it certainly will,” he said. “I’ll make sure of it.”

She groaned, as he laughed and opened the restaurant door for her to walk in. She walked in a few steps and stopped dead in her tracks.

He leaned in and asked, “Anything?”

“No, it’s fine, but isn’t that your partner?”

Porter looked over to see Neil sitting there at a nearby table, all alone, nursing a coffee and staring out the window. “It sure is.” Porter walked over and smacked his partner on the back.

Neil looked up, and a big grin crossed his face. “There you are. I wondered what the hell happened to you.” He noticed Kylie there and smiled at her. “I heard what this genius here did. Sorry about that. He tends to act first and think later.”

“ Ya think ?” she quipped, sliding into the booth across from him. “He needs more self-control and to learn when to put on the brakes.”

“I could tell him that until I’m blue in the face,” Neil replied, “but he doesn’t listen to me. Maybe he’ll listen to you.”

She laughed. “Not likely or more like never. This guy definitely won’t listen to anybody.”

“Hello? I’m right here, you two,” Porter stated in a mocking tone.

“Oh, really,” Neil replied, “and here I thought you were somewhere else.”

Porter laughed. “Seems you two are off to a great start.” He called over the waitress and said, “I’m starving.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “I think I heard that the last time you were here.”

“Maybe,” he noted and quickly ordered breakfast. He looked over at Kylie.

She shook her head. “No thanks. I’ll just have coffee.”

“No way,” he argued, then quickly placed an order for her too.

When he was done, Kylie glared at him. “That’s pretty high-handed of you.”

“Of course it is,” he agreed, “because, if you get your way, you won’t eat. Then later today you’ll start moaning and groaning and crashing when things get tough, and I won’t have time to feed you then.”

“I’ve been looking after myself for a very long time now,” she declared, glaring at him. “I’m hardly a child.”

“Nope, you aren’t,” he confirmed, admiration in his tone as he grinned at her. “I can see that for myself.”

She closed her eyes, feeling the heat rushing to her cheeks, and Neil’s laughter broke the spell.

“Wow, look at that,” Neil said. “You two are great together.”

She turned and glared at him, but Neil was laughing too hard to pay any attention. “Don’t you start,” she muttered. “That’ll just get Porter going again.”

“He’s not getting me going… again,” Porter clarified, “because I never stopped.”

“You’re supposed to though, anytime now.”

“Oh, I could, but I probably won’t.”

The waitress came back just then to bring their coffee, so Kylie stopped huffing at Porter. She really didn’t have any reason to be upset. Compliments were coming all around, but just something about Porter still pricked at her every time. She turned to Neil and asked, “So, what have you been working on?”

“One of us has to work,” he declared, with a look in his partner’s direction, “so I’ve been assigned the case of the dead woman found in her apartment.” Neil turned to Kylie and added, “Your latest sketches that you’ve drawn to date.”

At that, Porter leaned forward. “Did you find any connection with the other posed woman?”

He nodded. “Yeah, they were good friends,” he murmured, keeping his voice down. “So, your supposition could be correct.”

“Meaning?” Kylie asked.

“I had two theories. I wondered if he’d killed the wrong woman or if the second one had witnessed him killing the first one,” Porter began. “If both women were at the casino…” He turned and looked at Neil, and he nodded.

Neil added, “According to her father, she had been there, and she came home hysterical, saying something about having seen her friend killed.”

“Damn.” Kylie shivered. “So, the two women knew each other. And the second woman was killed because of witnessing the death of the first woman, both posed after death by the same killer?”

“That’s what we’re wondering,” Porter shared. “It would mean that the second shooter saw her, then followed her and took her out at home.”

“Damn,” she muttered, as she thought about what that young woman went through. “I mean, she was already horrified at having survived the mass shooting, seeing her girlfriend killed like that, then to be killed by the same guy?” Kylie shook her head. “Sometimes life is just out to get you.”

“And sometimes it’s not,” Porter declared, “as in, not out to get you .”

“Sure,” she muttered, as she again rolled her eyes at him.

Neil jumped back in again. “I’ve spoken to the second woman’s father on the phone, but I’ll go to his place after breakfast and have a deeper talk with him. He’s pretty shook up. His daughter was upset over the casino murders, and then it just seemed to coalesce into her murder as well. Her father’s pretty confused and stressed about it all.”

“And no wonder,” Kylie noted. “She survived that horrific mass shooting only to come home and get taken out as well.”

“Exactly, and that’s something we all need to take a closer look at,” Porter said.

“But it was your hypothesis,” Neil pointed out, “and you were correct. So, if you’ve got anything else in that brain of yours that we can use…”

And that’s when Kylie realized Neil knew about Porter’s abilities and often questioned or relied on him for direction or ideas. “It’s nice that you can do that,” she said.

“Hey, we can’t use it in court, but, if Porter can help us sort out what these assholes out there are doing, I’m all for it,” Neil admitted, looking around. “It isn’t so cut-and-dried in this world, and I’ll use any help I can get.”

She had to admire that. “At least you understand it.”

“Hell no, I don’t understand any of it,” he said, with a choked laugh. “I don’t have any abilities myself, and I don’t have any interest in having them. From what I have seen, they seem quite torturous.”

At that, Porter leaned closer and whispered to Kylie, “Neil also knows my sister.”

“Ah, one of these days I would like to meet her,” Kylie shared thoughtfully. “It sounds as if we have something to talk about.”

He smiled. “When this mess is over, it will be my absolute pleasure to introduce the two of you,” he said, with a smile. “She can always use another friend.”

She looked at him. “She has a cop for a husband and as her best friend.”

“Absolutely, but it’s not the same thing as somebody in her own field.”

She frowned at that. “Does she have any connection to Dr. Maddy?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never really quizzed her on that. I know that Dr. Maddy had something to do with my sister back when she had been sectioned but since then?… I don’t know. Why?”

“I’m not sure. I just thought that maybe, if Annalise has been into helping all these animals and people in need, then maybe Dr. Maddy had given her some pointers on how to help them further.”

“Maybe,” he said, eyeing her, “but it’s a good idea if she wanted to do more.”

“Doing more is helpful,” Kylie stated. “It gives you that sense of purpose that is often missing otherwise.”

“ Hmm .”

At that, Neil spoke up. “Can you guys describe him? Your stalker who may be our serial killer?”

She gave him the same description she had given Porter earlier, but Porter stopped her and added, “Now, think about what you saw, then repeat that to me.”

She looked over at him and frowned. “Why?”

“Because I think you have this image of him in your head, but it may not match the person we saw at your house.”

“But that could mean it’s a different person,” she noted.

“No, I’m pretty sure it was still him, but I think you’ve learned to do things by memory, and it may not necessarily be matching up with what you’re seeing before you.”

She frowned at him and shook her head.

However, Porter continued. “You describe him then, the stalker standing in front of you at your house, holding a gun on you.” Porter nodded at his partner, knowing they both had seen the shooter while on trial and later in prison, before his escape.

Kylie frowned. “Late forties, fifties, potentially a little older. He was very well put together. His beard was trimmed, his mustache was trimmed, he looked good, and he appeared to take care of himself,” she began. “It was the look in his eyes that really set him apart.”

“Yes,” Porter agreed, “that I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude.”

She nodded. “Definitely something about his eyes was very different,” Kylie agreed. “I’m not even sure I can explain that part, but he was dressed in black jeans, a black pullover, and had some hat over his head, but it wasn’t a baseball cap, more like a fedora.”

At that, his partner’s eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?”

“Yes,” she confirmed, “and that would make him fairly distinct, so he probably ditched it as soon as he left my house.”

Neil nodded. “That’s possible too.” He looked back at her and asked, “Anything else to add?”

She sighed. “The anger and the shock he exhibited when Porter said I was family or related or whatever revealed even more about him. He was holding the gun as if it was an extension of his hand,” she described, “and it was so shiny. That really surprised me. I kept staring at the handgun pointed at me, as if it would explode. And, of course, it was about to,” she said, “but it had a different look to it.”

“That was a silencer,” Porter interjected. “And it looked to be a custom job too.”

At that, Neil leaned forward. “Can you tell me anything about it?”

Kylie shrugged. “It was long, bigger than I imagined. When he held the gun along his thigh, and he took off, it was, I would say, a good four to five inches long.”

“ Huh .” Neil thought about that for a long moment, and the two men continued to discuss it.

Kylie grabbed a napkin and took out the pencil that she always kept with her and started to sketch. Very quickly she had a picture of the entire handgun. She turned it around and said, “This was it.”

Porter snatched the napkin from her and took a closer look, then nodded. “Actually that’s very close,” he murmured. “Nice job.”

She shook her head. “There was just something about it.”

“What about it?” Neil pushed.

She winced, then added, “I think a lot of it was… If I say energy , would that be understandable?”

“To me it would,” Porter replied, “but not necessarily to Neil.”

“Energy? What does that mean exactly?” Neil asked.

“Energy clung to that gun,” she said. “In other words, if you get ahold of that weapon, you’ll find it’s been used in several crimes.”

“Which we already know,” Porter pointed out, “and, of course, it would be nice to confirm with forensics, but we have to get it first. These guys are well known for ditching their tools.”

“Not this one,” she argued. “My drawing pencils are something that I hang on to, even if it’ll be a problem. I still prefer to use my own than to get a new one. Same for our shooter.”

“So, your stalker had a favorite weapon,” Neil stated. “That’s not uncommon.”

“No, it’s not,” she agreed. “I’m just saying that this one is special to him. You want to piss him off? Then you’ve got to grab that gun and take it somewhere and deep-six it because, for him,… it’s almost his lucky charm.”

Neil nodded. “Let’s hope we get a chance to take it from him and to really piss him off. Maybe, if he doesn’t have it, it’ll be like clipping his wings a little bit.”

“I don’t think so,” Porter countered. “Something about the way he moved, the way he walked, makes me think he’s done martial arts. I would swear to it. So, while he may use weapons most of the time, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he doesn’t have the ability to take us out very quickly and easily with just his bare hands.”

“And yet he doesn’t,” Neil stated, staring at his partner. “He didn’t engage you, and we don’t have any records of him going after anyone without a gun.”

“Have you looked though?” she asked. “It’s a different MO and not what you’ve been finding so far.”

“Maybe.” Neil made a note to himself on his phone. “I’ll take a look when I get back to the office. You guys take care of yourselves, okay?”

“We can certainly try.”

“Try harder. I’m not sure what you’re doing about it at all, but let’s not have any more deaths around here.” And, with that, Neil tossed back the bulk of his coffee and got up and left.

She watched him walk toward the door and then bolted to her feet. “Neil!”

He spun around, just as a bullet shattered the glass window beside him. He dropped to the floor as if a rock, while the place erupted into shrieks, and everybody scattered. Under the table now, Kylie stared around her, as everybody froze, waiting for the next bullet, wondering who would be shot next and how to ensure it wouldn’t be them.

Porter yelled at her to stay there, and this time he booked it out the back door. She wasn’t planning on going anywhere. Yet no way could this shooter be her stalker asshole because he wanted Kylie, not Neil. However, if it were her stalker, why did he go after Neil? Maybe as a warning because that would be a connection to Porter, and Porter had pissed off her stalker.

And one thing she was quickly learning was to never piss off a serial killer.

*

Porter raced out the back of the restaurant and around to the front, hearing tires squealing as the shooter took off. The driver gave Porter the middle finger in the air as he drove past him. No point in hiding his identity because it was perfectly obvious who he was. Keefe Hogan . And that meant Hogan didn’t give a shit who saw him. An unhinged killer was something they really didn’t want to deal with, but nothing was stopping Hogan now. Porter noted that the shooter had ditched the fedora, now wearing a different hat.

Hogan was a chameleon in appearance and seemed to switch in and out of facades quite comfortably. He also appeared to have absolutely no problem stealing vehicles quickly and efficiently. Porter knew this getaway vehicle would be dropped in a heartbeat and another one picked up as he moved along. This shooting made it all the more important to go talk to Kylie’s aunt, even though Agatha refused to have anything to do with Porter’s previous phone calls.

Porter made his way back inside the restaurant, as the patrons slowly came together again, having heard the gunman take off in a squeal of tires. Porter found Neil sitting down now, having a second cup of coffee beside Kylie. “Are you okay?” Porter asked Neil, as he reached them.

Kylie looked up with relief when she saw Porter. “When you took off, I wasn’t sure what to do.”

“The good thing is you did what you were supposed to do, which was stay put,” he stated, with a note of humor.

“Did you see him?” Neil asked.

“I did. He gave me the finger as he drove past me. He was in another stolen vehicle, and he had changed to a cowboy hat.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Kylie said. “He has that weird ability, doesn’t he? He blends in and out very quickly, and he’s very good at changing somehow, fitting in wherever he is.”

“Exactly,” Porter agreed. “That just makes it that much harder to stop this guy because it’s harder to catch him.”

“We certainly didn’t expect him to be here for coffee,” she pointed out, staring at him, her face ghostly white.

He smiled. “No, but that’s not a mistake we’ll make again.”

“What’s that? Coming to eat?”

He could tell that she was still rattled, and why wouldn’t she be? There’d been a shooting in the restaurant. It was a conversation that everybody here would talk about for days.

Even then, the waitress ran over. “Are you okay?” she cried out excitedly. And she looked at Neil. “How about you? Was he trying to shoot you?”

“I think it was a warning shot as much as anything,” Neil replied.

And Porter agreed with that totally. It was a warning shot that they would be foolish to ignore. He looked over at Kylie, whose face paled even more. “Can you bring us some more coffee?” he asked the waitress. She nodded and quickly came right back with a pot, refilling Kylie’s cup.

Neil shook his head and gestured to Porter. “None for him. He’s had enough excitement and doesn’t want the jitters all day after the shooting.”

Kylie laughed as if it were the best joke ever, and it was obvious that now that all the danger was past, it would provide a steady stream of excitement all day.

“Best thing they’ve had happen to them all week,” Neil noted.

“All year,” Kylie muttered. “God, I’m totally okay to not have that happen again. If hearing it was awful, I can’t imagine being in it. I can’t believe that you just managed to duck out of it, Neil.”

“It’s also why I think it was a warning shot,” Neil stated, and he gave his partner a hard stare. “He could have shot me. That warning was for you, Porter, not me. So you need to watch your back.”

“I know,” Porter said, with a slow nod. “You better go tell the captain what happened.”

“Yeah, that’ll be fun. You can expect he’ll want your sorry ass in his office.”

“I’m working the case, and I’ll come in when I have something to tell him. Right now we have nothing, and, until we do, really no point to call,” he explained.

With that, Neil got up and headed out the front door again. Several people watched and waited, and then, when he made it through the door safely, a rush of people followed behind him.

She watched the exit and sighed. “I don’t think we needed that today.”

“I don’t think anybody ever needs a shock like that in their day,” Porter noted, with a smile. “The good news is, it was literally a warning shot.”

“Yeah, but it’ll be the only one you get.”

“And, if that’s the case,” he said, studying her intently, “what is it he wanted?”

She frowned at him. “I guess that’s the real question, isn’t it? If it was a warning shot, why? What would it tell you, outside of Watch your back and I can get you anytime ?”

“That’s a pretty good one,” he admitted. “Also that he’s pissed off at what I said, and he wants answers.”

“But you don’t have answers to give, do you?”

He laughed. “Sure I have some answers to give,” he said, eyeing her strangely, “but they won’t be any answers that he’s happy to hear.”

“Right, so, in other words, you’ve got a pissed-off gunman after you,” she noted, with an eye roll.

“Maybe. Are you ready to go?”

“I thought I was getting more coffee?”

“Let’s get it to-go,” he suggested.

“Where are we going now?” she asked, as she stood up.

He quickly arranged a coffee to-go with the waitress, and then he turned to face Kylie. “Going to your aunt’s now.”

“You know where she lives?” Kylie asked. When he nodded, she stared at him. “Ah, shit. I was really hoping you would forget about that.”

“I know you were,” he murmured, “but you and I both know that we can’t. It needs to happen, and it needs to happen now.”

“Maybe,” Kylie muttered, “but God help you when she finds out who you are and why you’ve come because that will piss her off.”