Dead Ringer

TWO

Eli had caught only a few hours’ sleep in his motel room when someone banged on the door. Still bleary-eyed, he pulled himself off the bed and swung the door open.

“Wake up, Susie Sunshine.” Detective William Springer flashed a smile. “We got work to do.”

While he leaned against the door frame of the motel, Eli shook his head, trying to clear the fog of sleep. He hadn’t showered. His stomach was growling, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Lucy. He hadn’t met someone like her before, an intriguing mixture of strength and vulnerability. Plus, her resemblance to the other victims made him concerned for her safety. “Are you kidding me?”

“One of our suspects is in town.” William rocked back and forth on his feet. He was a short man with blond hair so curly it almost looked like ringlets. “We’re on surveillance in about twenty minutes.”

With the exception of three undercover female officers, William Springer was the only Spokane detective Eli had been authorized to bring with him for the investigation. Right now he wished he had left him at home. “I need shut-eye.” Of course, William was exuberant; he was functioning on a full night’s sleep.

William tilted the paper bag he was holding in Eli’s direction. “I brought breakfast.”

The sticky-sweet scent of doughnuts woke Eli up a bit. “Which suspect?”

“Greg Jackson is going through town. He has a breakfast date at a place called Lydia’s Café. Just got word of it. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity.”

They’d narrowed the suspects down to four men who fit a profile, used the same online dating service and lived in this area where the murders had taken place. A woman who was a friend of one victim and a relative of another had brought the online dating service to police attention. Local police had submitted the specifics of the two murders to the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime and found three similar murders within a day’s drive of one another. Eli had picked Mountain Springs as a base of operation because it was central to all the other small towns where the murders had taken place.

William shoved the doughnut bag toward him again.

Eli held up a hand of protest. This time the smell made his stomach churn. “I need protein.”

“Suit yourself.” William strode across the motel parking lot and yelled over his shoulder. “We’re taking my bug.”

After brushing his teeth and splashing water on his face, Eli left the motel room and ambled toward the car.

William leaned against the driver’s side door, feet crossed at the ankles. He handed Eli a manila folder. “For your review, nothing new, other than the photos of the victims, pre-postmortem. We got them from family members.”

Only William would use a term like pre-postmortem. The interviews of family and friends had been done by various police departments. The surveillance Eli would oversee would happen on two levels. Several female officers with undercover experience had spent a month establishing a cover in the small towns that fell within the area the murders had taken place. The officers had signed up for the service so they could get access to the suspects. Also, watching the four men for suspicious activity and to see if they favored dark-haired women might give them the break they needed.

The groundwork had been laid. They were closing in. Though much of the investigation had been handled by other departments, the ball was now in Eli’s court to gather enough evidence for an arrest and to prevent another death.

Eli slipped into the passenger side of the bug, hunching slightly in the tiny car. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. The investigation could last months. The thought of living in a motel that whole time did not appeal to him, and it didn’t make him look much like a small-town cop, either.

William shifted into first and pulled out of the lot. “Restaurant is about eight blocks away.” He grabbed a doughnut out of the bag and munched. “We lucked out. One of the local officers recognized Greg Jackson when he was in the convenience store, struck up a conversation and got the details about this date.”

As much as Eli hated going without sleep, William’s call to do impromptu surveillance had been a good one. “We’ll get a read on the guy, see how he operates. Then we can set the protocol for how we keep eyes on the other three guys, given the amount of manpower we have to work with.” Eli’s stomach growled again. “Maybe I can get a decent breakfast at this Lydia’s Café.”

Ten minutes later when they entered the café, Greg Jackson and his date were already seated. With the manila folder still in hand, Eli took a table so he was within earshot of Greg. He had a clear view of Greg, but could only see the back of his date, a woman with her hair all bunched up in a baseball hat. William sat opposite Eli and pulled out a notebook. Eli pretended to read a free local newspaper he’d picked up at the door and tuned in the conversation.

Lucy stared at the plate of pancakes and sausages in front of her. She lifted her head and smiled at Greg Jackson, sitting opposite her. It was a weekday morning, so the restaurant wasn’t very busy. Two old-timers sat at the counter, sipping coffee. A mom with two small children, and a man occupied with his newspaper, sitting with a short man with curly blond hair, were the only other patrons.

Greg said something about one of the accounts he handled. She didn’t quite understand his job. He lived in a town some distance from Mountain Springs and traveled here often for his job. He was a sales rep for a feed company or something. His work involved driving across the state and talking to farmers and agriculture supply stores. A breakfast date was a little strange, but he was in town for some sort of work thing, so they had decided to get together.

Getting out of the house had been a good idea. If nothing else, the date took her mind off the robbery.

Greg struck her as a sweet man, a stable man, but nothing went zing inside when she was with him.

“I was thinking, Lucy. I’m sometimes traveling through Mountain Springs on Sunday for my Monday meetings. Would you like to go to church together?” He leaned a little closer to her. “Maybe?”

She had promised Heather she wouldn’t dismiss Greg so quickly. “When is the next time you’re in town?” Maybe zing happened later.

“I have some clients to visit here in a couple of days, but that won’t be a Sunday.”

Going to church together felt too serious. “I don’t know…maybe.”

Behind her, the waitress asked the man with the newspaper what he wanted to eat. His newspaper rustled as he set it down. Lucy perked up when the man ordered pancakes and bacon. She knew that voice, the warmth of it. She removed her hat and turned toward him.

Detective Hawkins’s face blanched, but then he recovered and nodded in her direction. He held up a glass container of maple syrup. “I heard this was a good place to eat breakfast.”

“Best in town.”

The other man, the one with the curly blond hair, cleared his throat. He shifted in his seat and lifted his chin toward Eli in some unspoken signal. As she turned back around, Lucy felt a tightening in her rib cage.

Greg shoved a large piece of French toast in his mouth. “Your pancakes okay?”

“They’re great, thanks.” Lucy took a bite. The sweetness of the huckleberry syrup did nothing to deter her suspicion. The knowing glance that had passed between Eli and the other man bothered her. She couldn’t pinpoint it, but something about it felt strange, conspiratorial.

Greg chatted more about his work and the family ranch he had grown up on in Colorado. Lucy talked about helping a seventy-year-old widow learn how to fly fish. She angled in her chair so she saw Eli in her peripheral vision. Was he watching her?

Greg excused himself to pay the bill.

Lucy took a sip of her coffee. Any sense of trust she’d felt with Eli last night was gone. She set her coffee cup firmly on the table. Why had she thought Eli was different? A cop was a cop. People’s concerns and their fears were just a big, funny joke to all of them.

Lucy rose to her feet and gave Eli a backward glance.

He looked up from the manila folder he’d been flipping through. His eyes searched hers. She couldn’t quite read what she saw in his expression. Was it fear?

Greg slipped his arm through Lucy’s and guided her toward the door.

When they were outside the restaurant, Greg spoke up. “Maybe I’ll call you when I’m back in town in a couple of days. We can get together then.”

“Sure,” Lucy said absently. The look of fear on Eli’s face was etched in her mind.

Eli watched Lucy pass by the restaurant window. He had nearly choked on his water when she had glanced at him. He scanned the pre-postmortem photos from the file again. His heart squeezed tight.

William doodled on his notepad. “That guy Jackson, Mr. Ordinary, huh? You know what they say. Beneath that smooth surface lurks the heart of a killer.”

Eli continued to examine the photographs, taking in a deep breath to quell the rising panic. “Who exactly says that, William?”

“You know, it’s always the guy who is quiet and keeps to himself who is the killer.” William rested his elbows on the table and narrowed his eyes at Eli. “What is it, man? You look like you just took a left hook to the jaw.”

One by one, Eli passed the photos to William. Though the women had all died in different ways—poisoning, strangulation, stabbing—their appearance and membership in the online service linked them together. “Do you see it?”

“Yeah, they all are beautiful, dark-haired women.” William’s tone had become more insistent. “We established that.”

Eli took in a breath in an effort to slow his thudding heart. “I think I know who the next victim could be.”

“You mean, the woman Jackson was with…’cause of the dark hair.”

“I answered a robbery call at her house last night. I noticed the resemblance, but didn’t realize how closely she matched her victims until looking at the photos.” His mouth went dry. “If she is dating Jackson, she probably met him through the service.” Eli hadn’t failed to notice the daggers she shot toward him as she left the restaurant. Her distrust of police ran deep, and it took only the smallest irregularity to trigger it. She probably thought he was stalking her.

More than anything, when he’d seen the veil of protection fall across her eyes, he had wanted to explain why he was in the café, but he couldn’t. They had put too much manpower on the case to blow it. Going public with the investigation could cause the killer to go underground, then years from now after three or four more women died, they’d have to connect the dots all over again.

Eli spread the photos across the table. He could not shake the anxiety coiling through him. He tapped his finger on one of the pictures. “Look. Same hair, same eyes. Lucy Kimbol is a dead ringer for these other victims.”

The sense of justice that had led him to want to be a police officer rose up in him. They were going to get this guy. No one else was going to die on his watch. “I think we need to keep our eye on potential victims, too.”

“Manpower is limited, remember.” William rested his elbows on the table. “We’ll be watching potential victims when they are with suspects.”

Eli gathered up the photographs. “Not always. We have to rotate surveillance as it is.”

William shook his head. “You have to let go of the belief that you can protect everyone all of the time. You are not supercop. None of us are.”

“I just think when someone fits criteria for being a potential victim, we ought to do something about it.” Who was he kidding? Lucy wouldn’t accept police protection if it came tied up in a silver bow.

He’d have to find some other way to keep her safe.

THREE

Eli’s heart kicked into overdrive as he brought his car to a stop outside of Lucy’s duplex. He was probably the last person Lucy wanted to see right now. If the department wasn’t going to spring for the manpower to keep an eye on her, he would do it on his own time. Besides, his solution solved two problems. Two days in a motel was two days too many, and she had a duplex for rent.

In her front yard, three teenagers lined up, all holding fly rods. Lucy moved from one student to the next, adjusting their grip on the rod handle or demonstrating the casting.

Her long, dark hair cascaded down to the middle of her back. The vest with all the pockets, a T-shirt and khaki pants was probably the official uniform of fly fishers everywhere. Her cheeks were sun-tinged. Even in the bulky clothes, her narrow waist and the soft curve of her hips were evident. He liked the way the students seemed responsive to her instruction, remaining quiet and focusing on her while she talked.

Part of solid police work involved not jumping to conclusions. He could be wrong about Lucy being the next victim, but he didn’t want to take a chance with her life. How many dark-haired, blue-eyed women could there be in an area that probably had more cows and sheep than people?

The three teenagers held their poles midair and stared when Eli pulled into the gravel driveway.

Part of the profile of the killer was that the dark hair and blue eyes were symbolic in some way. The other aspect of his personality was that he probably traveled for his job or had enough time and money to cover the area where the killings had taken place. On the online sign-up forms, there was an option that allowed an applicant to restrict match choices to a geographic region.

Eli and the other officers had joked as they looked at the matchmaking Web site for “investigative purposes.” They all agreed that a guy would have to be pretty desperate to sign up for something like that. He noticed though that the number of single guys on the force who mentioned having dates seemed to go up quite a bit after that.

William had even signed Eli up, but he’d missed the only two dates he’d agreed to because of work. He’d been twenty-six when he had caught the Spokane killer; now at thirty, his life was his work and that was fine with him. He couldn’t imagine a woman who would put up with the kind of hours he kept. He had nieces and nephews and mentored kids through the church youth group. He never sat at home, twiddling his thumbs and thinking about taking up watercolor painting.

Eli got out of his car and sauntered toward Lucy.

Her granite gaze told him all he needed to know. After a few words of instruction to the kids, she walked over to him. “The guy who called asking about the rental didn’t sound like you on the phone.”

“I had my partner call in and ask about it when I saw the newspaper ad.” She probably would have hung up on him. “I do need a place to live.”

Her chin jerked up slightly. “Wouldn’t you rather get a place closer to town?”

He had counted on meeting some resistance. “It’s not like there are a ton of rental choices. I like how quiet it is out here.”

She studied him for a moment. Her expression softened. “That much is true.” She kept her voice level, completely neutral. “It’s been vacant for a couple of months, and I really do need the income.”

If it was about money to her, fine. He’d stay close any way he could.

She stepped onto the wraparound porch, pulled a key from her pocket and opened the door. The house was clean and airy. Like her place, it had a loft. He would have taken it if it had been a dump.

“It’s nice. I like that it’s a furnished place. I didn’t bring a whole lot with me from Spokane,” he said. “I like being out in the country, but still minutes from town.”

“I like it, too. I’m close to the river, close to my work.” Lucy’s voice lilted slightly when she spoke about the river.

Eli wandered through the house, opened and closed the bathroom door. He had to at least look as if he was considering. He pointed at another door.

“That leads to a half basement—sump pump and hot-water tank are down there,” Lucy offered.

After a cursory glance into the bedroom, he opened the back door and stepped out on the porch.

“Be careful.” Her voice grew closer. “The floorboards on that side are old.”

Eli pressed his boot against a board that bowed from his weight. Several of the planks were broken and there were some gaps where wood should have been. He lifted his head. The air smelled of pine. The breeze brushed his cheeks. A guy could get used to this. “I definitely want to take it.”

Lucy came to the open door. “I’m glad to hear that.” She pointed to a hole in the porch. “My friend Nelson is coming this afternoon to help me fix this. I do upkeep as I get the funds.”

“The porch is not really what you notice when you step out here.” He pointed to the view of the open field and the surrounding evergreens.

“It’s the reason I stay.” A faint smile graced her lips.

Ah, so the way to this woman’s heart is to mention the beautiful landscape.

“I have rental forms for you to fill out. The lease is month-to-month.” She stood, twisting the knob. “Does that sound good to you, Detective Hawkins?”

Obviously, her name choice indicated she wanted the relationship to be about business. It would be nice though if she would call him by his first name. “I did a little digging into your robbery.”

“I did some work, too. I wrote out a description of what was taken. There wasn’t anything else missing from the room besides the jewelry and the fishing rod.” She stepped out on the porch and stood three feet from him. “What did you find out?”

“Couple down the road had a laptop and money taken a few weeks ago.”

She crossed her arms. The breeze stirred the wispy hair around her face. She gazed at him with wide, round eyes—blue eyes, just like the other victims.

“I don’t know if this is important or not, but I wasn’t supposed to be home the night of the robbery. I delayed a fly fishing clinic because of the storm. It rains a lot in May.”

“Who would have known you were gone?”

Lucy let out a gust of air. “Everyone.”

He chuckled. “Oh, I forgot, small town.”

She stepped away from him and stared out at the forest that surrounded her property. “What made you want to leave the city? I’m sure work in Spokane was more exciting.”

He chose his answer with care, not wanting to reveal more than he had to. “Change of pace.” He pressed on a weak floorboard with his foot. “So, the robber might have been surprised when you came down those stairs?”

“I hadn’t told anyone other than the clients that I decided to cancel.”

He hadn’t seen any sign of forced entry. “Your doors were unlocked?”

“I never had a reason to lock them…until now. I’m looking into getting a security latch for the window, too.”

Eli recalled the layout of Lucy’s house. “The thief could have entered from either door?”

Lucy shaded her eyes from the sun as she stepped farther out on the porch. “He probably entered from this side, the back side. There is a road beyond that forest where he could have parked his car.”

“So he entered by the door that led into the kitchen and left by the bedroom window.” If he had come up on the front side, neighbors might have seen his car. There had been some premeditation to the whole thing. Somehow, it just didn’t feel like some kid wandering the neighborhood looking for unlocked doors.

One of the teenage students, a girl with hunched shoulders and chubby cheeks, peeked around to the back side of the house. “Miss Kimbol, Tyler got his line snagged on a bush.”

“I’ll be there, Marnie.” She turned toward Eli after jumping off the porch. “Rent is due on the first, and there is a three-hundred-dollar deposit.”

She disappeared around the corner of the house.

Eli leaned against a porch post. That had gone better than he had hoped. She hadn’t been warm, but she hadn’t been hostile, either. He’d have to find a way to change that. It would be easier to protect her if she trusted him.

Solving her robbery and recovering the stolen items would go a long way toward rebuilding her confidence in the police. Finding out why her trust had been broken in the first place would help even more.

Shortly after a parent came for the last student, Lucy heard Nelson’s truck pull up and she bounded out onto the porch. Even before she had made her way to the truck, Lucy heard Eli’s tenor voice behind her.

“I could help out. I worked construction during college.”

She whirled around to face him. Eli’s hands hung at his sides. He squared his shoulders like a soldier waiting inspection.

Why was he being so nice? “I know I said I didn’t like the police. Believe me, I have my reasons. Are you offering to do repairs to prove to me that cops are okay?” If that was why he wanted to help, he would want to hear the whole story and she had no desire to revisit that part of her past. “Don’t feel like you have to be the police ambassador for Mountain Springs.”

Eli’s shoulders slumped. “I’m just trying to be a good neighbor.” He offered her a megawatt smile. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

She tilted her head skyward. Partly to show exasperation and partly so she didn’t have to look at him. There was something puppy-dog cute about him that she didn’t want to give in to. “Don’t you have moving in to do, Mr. Hawkins?”

He held his hands up, palms to the sky. “All done.”

Eli had a certain charm, but something about him didn’t ring true. What kind of a person gets moved into a place in less than an hour? He must have brought the stuff with him, which meant he had intended to move in regardless of what the rental looked like. Suspicion sparked in her heart. She took a step back.

As if he had read her mind, he said, “The move was kind of fast. I heard at the last minute that I had the job. So I just threw everything in my car and drove from Washington.”

She hadn’t thought her apprehension was noticeable. He sure was good at reading her signals. While Eli wasn’t at the top of her list for renters, she had been grateful when he’d shown up. Since the robbery, she’d been jumpy, uncomfortable in her own home. Having a close neighbor might make her feel safer. Now she wasn’t so sure if Eli was the right choice.

Nelson got out of the truck and ambled toward Eli and Lucy. Nelson was one of those men who showed up well groomed even for something like fixing a porch. He’d gelled his hair. His jeans and work shirt looked pressed. When they had known each other in high school, Lucy had joked that he was the kind of guy who dressed up to go to the Laundromat.