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He grabbed her hand. “You’re staying with me, right? That’s decided.”
“Courtney invited me to join her in her fabulous suite.”
“Would you rather be with Courtney in her fabulous suite, or with me in my not-so-fabulous house?”
She ran her tongue along her bottom lip and stared deep into his dark eyes. “Your house was about the most fabulous place I’ve ever been—especially your shower.”
“Such impure thoughts from a kindergarten teacher.” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “Do you need to go back to your place or Courtney’s to get anything?”
“Probably not a bad idea to drop by my place even though I packed enough the first time around to get me through the week.”
“You know—” he ran his knuckles down her forearm “—it might not be a bad idea for you to get out of the city when school’s over. Did you have any plans before all this broke?”
“I was actually just going to take a week or so and drive down the coast—you know, through Monterey, Big Sur and maybe as far south as Hearst Castle. I’ve never been to any of those places.”
“That’s a great drive. You’ll love it. Can you do that sooner rather than later?”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Trying to keep you safe.”
She hunched forward. “Sean, tell me you’re going to catch this guy.”
“Me?” He jabbed his chest with his thumb. “I’m not allowed to catch him. I’ll be picking up other cases and leaving the Alphabet Killer to the task force—the task force I’m not on.”
“That’s crazy.”
Sean’s eyebrows collided over his nose. “Fifty-one fifty.”
“Huh?”
“The call for picking up someone mentally unstable—fifty-one fifty.”
“Okay, if you say so.”
He shoved the napkin in front of her. “Fifty-one fifty. It’s in the note.”
“Is he telling us he’s crazy? We already know that.” She folded up one edge of the napkin as she studied the other numbers. “Could this be a coordinate again?”
“I don’t know, Elise. Could be anything and could be a total red herring like the coordinates for the Golden Gate Bridge.”
She tapped some ice from the cup into her mouth. “I wonder what he thought when he tracked my GPS right into the bay.”
“I hope he realized two can play stupid mind games.” He rolled up the napkin and stuffed it in his pocket. “He loves those mind games.”
“And fingers.”
“Is Ty going to be okay?”
“He’ll get over it. Like you said, I think he’s beginning to realize he’s lucky to be alive.”
“And he’s beginning to realize it’s over between the two of you? Is it over?”
“Of course. Did you think I’d feel so much sympathy for his finger I’d go back to him?”
“I think he was hoping you would.”
“I set him straight.”
Sean pushed back from the table. “Unless you want to eat hospital cafeteria food, let’s get going.”
“I’m in the parking structure below.”
“Not a great idea, Elise.”
“We got rid of the GPS. He’s not tracking my movements anymore.”
“We don’t know what he’s up to.” He patted his pocket with the napkin. “He’s obviously on the hunt for a new victim.”
“Does the task force have any idea how he finds his victims?” She dropped her cup in the trash. “Any idea how he found me?”
“We...they’re looking into everything, Elise.” He glanced up and pointed. “That guy can tell you more than I can now.”
Detective Curtis was barreling into the cafeteria and didn’t notice them until Sean raised his hand.
Curtis’s eyebrows jumped. “You didn’t drop in on the vic, did you?”
Sean placed his hand on her arm. “She did. Don’t worry—I stayed well away.”
“Was Ty able to tell you anything, Detective Curtis?”
“You can call me John.” He skimmed the top of his short hair with the palm of his hand. “He couldn’t tell us much. Guy came at him out of nowhere.”
“Are you heading up the task force now?” Elise shifted from one foot to the other, brushing Sean’s arm. He seemed to be taking his removal from the task force well, but his body still seemed tight and tense.
Curtis shot an apologetic look at Sean. “Yeah, the captain has me running the show. Hey, did you see Jacoby wandering around? I thought he was coming down to get prints on the vic. Sorry, Ty.”
“I didn’t. Why, did you find a finger?”
“Not yet. I hope it doesn’t wind up in the mail to you.”
“What is this guy’s obsession with fingers, anyway?” Elise shoved her hands in her pockets.
Sean snorted. “Who knows? Maybe he got sick of people pointing fingers at him and decided to lop them off.”
“It’s sick and weird.”
“And right now, it’s Curtis’s problem.” Sean grabbed her hand. “Let’s get the rest of your stuff and move it to my place.”
Curtis coughed. “Elise is staying with you now?”
“I told you, her friend’s place was compromised. Her friend’s in a hotel, and I think Elise would be safer with me.”
“You know there’s going to be hell to pay when the captain figures out you tossed that GPS device into the bay?”
“Had to do it. Do you think we would’ve gotten anything from it? The Alphabet Killer is too careful with his fingerprints, and if he’s that careful with his prints he probably knows to file off the serial number on any device he uses.”
“You’re right, Brody. That’s why you should be heading up this case.”
Sean smacked him on the back. “You’ll do fine, Curtis, but in the meantime Elise is coming home with me, and you can tell the captain that, too.”
“The captain doesn’t have to know everything.” He winked and then rubbed his hands on his way to the hot-food counter.
Elise turned to Sean in the elevator and said, “I can’t figure out if John is happy he’s got the task force or upset.”
“Probably a little of both. It’s always good for your career to lead a task force, but he’s worked in my shadow for a long time.”
“Do you think he resents that?”
“John?” Sean stabbed at the elevator button for the parking garage a few more times. “He’s too good-natured for that.”
“Still, I get the impression that you’re the superstar detective in the homicide department.”
“I’ve solved a few big cases, but it’s all a team effort. I couldn’t do my job without all the support people.”
“With all the little people?”
The elevator doors trundled open on the second floor of the parking garage, and Sean wedged his shoulder against one side of the opening to hold the door open for her.
“Is that how it sounded to you?”
“Not at all. You sounded very modest, but I just wonder if everyone sees it that way.”
“Curtis knows the score. He’s good at some things and I’m good at other things.”
She clicked her remote. “Where are you parked?”
“Out front. Give me a ride to my car and I’ll follow you back to your place.”
“My place. I don’t even know where that is anymore.”
* * *
WHEN THEY’D COLLECTED her things and returned to Sean’s place, he stepped over the brownish spot on his carpet where Ty had collapsed. “I don’t think that stain will ever come out. I’ll have to get the carpet replaced or forever be reminded of Ty accusing me of hiring someone to attack him before passing out on my floor.”
“Ty was crazy with shock and confusion. Obviously the guy planted that in his head.”
“You know that accusation made my blood boil even though I knew there was no chance that you or anyone else would believe it. I’d fight to the bitter end to clear my name if someone unjustly accused me of a crime.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I just can’t understand why my father didn’t do the same.”
“You just can’t know what was going through his head, Sean.”
Elise dropped one of her bags in the corner next to the only plant in the room, making its leaves wave.
Sean snapped out of his reverie. “Hey, watch it. That plant’s barely alive as it is.”
She flicked her fingers at it as if to dismiss it. “Looks like it’s doing as well as the plants in my classroom. Just one more day of school.”
“And then you’re going to take that trip down the coast?”
“Maybe.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Do you think he’ll stop sending you messages when he knows you’re off his case?”
“You haven’t been watching Ray Lopez. I think everyone in the city knows I’m off the case. He’s not going to care about that.”
“I guess not, since he left you a message with the bodies last night.”
“Exactly.”
“Fifty-one plus fifty. Fifty-one fifty.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Forty-two plus fifty-eight. That can’t be a date. He’s not going to commit a murder on April second and tell us about it today.”
“Tell us?”
“You know what I mean.” She reached for her purse. “That’s my phone. It’s Courtney.” She picked up the call. “Hey, did you get checked in?”
“It’s like a minivacation. You can join me if you like.”
“I’m good where I am.” Her gaze wandered to Sean, checking the messages on his phone.
“I’ll bet you are.”
“Thanks so much for letting me stay with you. I’m sorry I led a killer to your doorstep.”
“How were you supposed to know the creep had bugged your car? Are you going to stay there with Detective Tall, Dark and Handsome until this guy is caught, or what?”
“I’m thinking of taking my vacation a little early.”
Without looking up from his phone, Sean flashed her a thumbs-up.
Courtney concurred. “I think that’s a great idea. Oscar should be home next week and I think that he’ll be around all summer, not that he would be much help in an emergency, but at least you won’t be coming home to an empty house.”
“Maybe it’ll be safe by then.”
“Oops. Hold on a minute. The restaurant where I just ordered my dinner is calling me. They forgot to take my address.” The phone beeped on the other end and then Courtney came back on the line. “Four twenty-five, eighth floor.”
“What?”
“Oh, sorry. Wrong line.”
“You sound busy.”
Courtney huffed out a breath. “It’s that needy new client. I’m seeing him after hours again.”
“Well, you go figure out his craziness. I’ll talk to you later.”
She ended the call and pointed her phone at Sean. “Anything new?”
“I called for the autopsy report on Dr. Patrick.”
“And?”
“Preliminary report suggests heart attack.”
“Then maybe that’s all it was—a heart attack and bad timing.”
“A heart attack and an incredible coincidence.” He stretched and perched on the edge of a bar stool. “Is Courtney working late tonight?”
“Yes, her demanding new client.”
“That’s a whole lotta crazy I couldn’t handle.”
“And that’s from someone who gets a package with a finger in it.”
“Come here.” He crooked his finger at her.
She eased out of the chair and sauntered toward him, his dark eyes drawing her like a magnet.
He drew her between his open legs and pinned her. “I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad you’re safe.”
“I don’t know what I would’ve done without you, Sean.” She rested her hands on his thighs and leaned in to kiss his lips.
His legs tightened around her thighs. “Let’s go out and get something to eat. It’s getting late, and we both have to work tomorrow.”
Nodding, she slipped away from his clinch, missing her opportunity to ask him about their future. She didn’t want to push him into anything. Right now they needed each other, but when that need ended, what did they have?
“You okay?” He chucked her under the chin.
“Greek.”
“What?”
“I want to try that Greek restaurant, if that’s okay with you and if it’s still open this late.”
“Greek it is. I think they stay open until eleven for dinner.”
An hour later they were sitting at a corner table in a noisy establishment in North Beach.
“I can’t believe it’s so crowded at this time of night—and on a Wednesday.” Elise leaned across the table. “Are they going to start breaking plates?”
“Do you want them to?”
She scooped more tapenade onto her plate. “That’s okay.”
Sean checked his phone for about the third time since they sat down to dinner.
“Are you expecting a call or a message? Something about Dr. Patrick?”
“I sent my brother—the FBI agent—a text about Dr. Patrick.”
“So, let me get this straight. You’re a homicide detective, you have one brother who’s a P.I. and another who’s FBI?”
“That’s right.”
“What’s the fourth one?”
“Actually Ryan is the third one, and he’s the police chief of Crestview.”
“I guess the Brody blood really does run blue. Is there something the FBI agent can do in his position to get more information?”
“Not sure, but I’m asking.”
She felt in her purse for her own phone. “Courtney was going to check in with me when she finished with her client.”
She checked the display, but Courtney hadn’t called or texted.
“Did she call? She’s more than welcome to join us for dinner. We haven’t gotten to the main course yet, and her office is close by, isn’t it?”
“I’ll invite her if she ever finishes up with this client. She hasn’t called yet.”
“She sure goes all out for her patients, doesn’t she?”
“She comes across as a party girl, but she’s really very serious about her work and very caring. And since she’s a therapist, she calls them clients instead of patients.”
“She can’t prescribe medication, but I’m sure she has some clients that need it, right?”
“She refers them to a doctor she works with. She’s had a few certifiably crazy clients, and she ended up transferring them to a psychiatrist she knows.”
“Must be hard to deal with the really crazy ones.”
“I don’t think crazy is the term the professionals use.” She bit into her cracker and dabbed her mouth with a napkin.
“Well, that’s the term cops use.” Sean drew his brows over his nose. “You did say Courtney’s office was nearby, right?”
“Yeah, the address is forty-two something or four, two, something on Market.”
Sean balanced his fork on the edge of his plate. “What floor is she on?”
His voice was so low it barely cut through the din, but the urgency behind the words had her looking up from her plate sharply.
“Floor? I don’t remember.” She gave up trying to stab the olive with her fork and pinched it between her fingers instead. “Why are you asking? Are you suggesting we bring the food to her?”
“No, I...”
She snapped her fingers. “Wait. She was getting food delivered to her office, and she thought I was the delivery guy and she rattled off her address and floor number. It was four, two something and the eighth floor, but I don’t think she needs...” She trailed off, her gut twisting at Sean’s tight face. “What is it?”
“The message, Elise. The message from the Alphabet Killer. Fifty-one plus fifty equal 187. Forty-two plus fifty-eight equal 187.”
She blinked and gulped some water to wash down the sour taste of fear. “I don’t get it.”
“We already guessed that the fifty-one, fifty might mean crazy, as in the type of clients Courtney might see. If her address is four, two, five on the eighth floor—forty-two plus fifty-eight—we have a problem.”
She’d already shoved back from the table. “You mean Courtney has a problem. She’s in danger.”
Sean pulled out his wallet and dropped several twenties on the table. “I’m going to call this in, but let’s head over there now.”
Elise kept stabbing at the redial button on the way out of the restaurant, but the call rolled over to Courtney’s voice mail every time. When they hit the sidewalk, Elise took a deep breath after Courtney’s recorded greeting. “Courtney, it’s Elise. I don’t want to freak you out or anything, but once you’re done with your client, don’t see anyone else and just wait in your office with the door locked. Sean and I are heading over there right now. It’s about ten-thirty. Call me as soon as you get this if we don’t see you first.”
By the time they reached Sean’s car, Elise’s breath was coming out in short spurts.
Sean buckled his seat belt and chucked his phone against the dashboard. “They won’t come. The lieutenant on duty thinks it’s a wild-goose chase and is refusing to send a patrol car.”
“What about John?”
“He’s off duty. I tried him at home, but he’s not there or he’s not picking up.”
“Hurry, Sean. It’s not that far. Maybe she’s still with a client. I told her to stay in her office and lock the door.”
Sean’s tires squealed as he shot into the street, horns honking in his wake.
“Elise, did Courtney ever tell you anything about this new client of hers, the one who was so demanding?”
She clamped down on her bouncing knees. “No. Why are you asking me that?”
But she knew why. The same thought had been niggling at her brain since Sean started putting together the puzzle of the note.
“She started seeing that guy right after you were attacked, right after you moved in with her.”
Elise doubled over, sinking her face in her hands. “He found her because of me.”
“Maybe. This is all just supposition right now.”
She shot up, pain pounding behind her eyes. “Courtney did mention something about him today.”
“Description, name?”
“She wouldn’t break that confidentiality.” She stared unseeing out the car window. “She told me how he picked her out.”
“How?”
“Her name.” She dug her fingernails into Sean’s thigh. “He chose her because he liked her name, Sean. Courtney Chu. Two Cs. He’s still on the Cs.”
With this last bit of news, Sean whipped around the next corner and tossed his phone at her. “Try calling Curtis again. Leave him a message. Tell him we’re on our way to Courtney’s and give him the address again.”
Elise followed his instructions and by the time she ended the call, Sean had pulled up in front of Courtney’s office building.
Elise scrambled out of the car before it came to a complete stop. She grabbed on to the two long silver handles of the glass doors and yanked. They didn’t budge. She pressed her face against the glass, her eyes searching the lobby.
Sean joined her and picked up the phone to the right of the doors. “This is SFPD Homicide Detective Sean Brody. We’re trying to get into the building to see Courtney Chu on the eighth floor.”
He listened for a minute and then replaced the receiver. “That was security. They’re sending someone down.”
Elise kept hold of the door handles as if that could make them arrive sooner. “It’s dark, it’s locked up. Maybe Courtney left already. Maybe she’s out with Derrick. It’s so late.”
“Here’s the security guard.” Sean opened his ID and pressed his badge against the glass.
The doors clicked, and the security guard swung one open. “Is there a problem?”
“We’re here to check on Courtney Chu, eighth floor. Have you seen her? Has she left for the night?”
“I know Ms. Chu. She had some food delivered a while back, but I haven’t seen her since.”
“Did anyone come to the office to see her? Anyone you had to let in?”
“No, sir. We lock the doors at ten o’clock. If she had a client before then, I wouldn’t have opened the door for him or her.”
“Okay, thanks. We still want to check on her.”
“Sure thing.” He swung the door open wide and they stepped into the building. “From this point, you can go on up to the eighth floor.”
“Can you come with us in case we need to get into Ms. Chu’s office?”
“I have my rounds, but—” he pulled a key from his keychain “—this is the master and it’ll get you in.”
“Thanks.” Sean took the key and pounded the button for the elevator. “One more thing.”
The security guard stopped at the door to the right of the elevators with his hand on the doorknob. “Yes?”
“Has anything unusual happened tonight? Anything out of the ordinary?”
The guard cocked his head. “As a matter of fact, yes. An emergency buzzer sounded for one of the side doors about an hour ago.”
Elise swallowed and curled her hand around Sean’s arm. “What does that mean?”
“Means someone left the building by way of an emergency exit. Who knows? Maybe it was Ms. Chu.”
“H-has she ever done that before?”
The security guard shook his finger. “That Ms. Chu likes to break the rules.”
As they rode up to the eighth floor, Elise said, “Maybe that’s it. Maybe Courtney’s not even here.”
“Maybe.”
The doors opened, and Elise tugged on Sean’s sleeve to steer him to the right. The silence enveloped them, and Elise held her breath. When they got to the door of Courtney’s office, Elise let out a breath on a whispered prayer. “Please, God, let her be safe.”
Sean tried the door handle first. Then he pulled out the key the security guard had given him and shoved it into the lock. He turned the lock and pushed the door at the same time, staggering into the small waiting room.
Elise had been in here once before and it looked the same—undisturbed. Courtney had fanned out the latest magazines on one low table and had stacked others in a holder on the wall. Two fake plants bobbed in the corners, and someone had left an indentation in one of the leather love seats.
The needy client who liked Courtney’s name?
Elise marched toward the door to Courtney’s inner sanctum, but Sean put out a steadying hand.
“Wait.”
He drew his gun from his holster and crept toward the same door. Shoving Elise behind him, he eased open the door.
More silence.
Elise’s nostrils flared and the blood thrummed in her eardrums.
Sean aimed his gun at the three closed doors off the hallway and whispered, “Which one is her office?”
The whisper sent a chill up her spine, but she shook off her fear and pointed to the first door on the left.
“Stay back.”
Sean twisted the handle of the door and inched it open. He’d stepped into the office, but Elise was no longer watching him.
A slight movement on the floor to her right caught her eye. Her gaze darted to the tile in front of what she knew was the bathroom floor.
A trickle of dark liquid meandered from the crack beneath the door. As if in a trance, Elise stepped over it to push open the bathroom door. The door swung freely and then stopped.
She heard Sean’s voice coming from the office, words she couldn’t comprehend, words coming at her in a fog.
She opened her mouth and managed a small sigh. She ran her tongue along her teeth and tried again.
This time she managed a scream, a scream so loud it echoed and bounced off the walls of the small bathroom where Courtney’s lifeless form couldn’t hear her at all.
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