MONDAY. GRAMERCY HOUSE, Seattle, Washington.

Kyle shoved the SUV into park and pushed the driver’s side door open. He had to get in there. Now. They might not be too late.

Ryan and Vito were nowhere to be seen. Kyle had blown through stop signs and red lights to get here. He just prayed they were in time.

He jogged up to the front door followed by the others.

An unfamiliar black town car sat in the drive.

The owners of the house? Or someone else?

“Elijah Hunt’s car,” Shane whispered.

Fuck.

What were they walking into?

Had the girls arrived, seen the car, dumped the phone and gone elsewhere? Or were they about to walk into a family war?

Kyle reached the porch first and put his back against the bricks.

Shane moved to stand in front of him while Felix and Isaac took position just behind the brick wall.

Kyle tilted his head, but didn’t hear anything. The lack of screaming and yelling was, in theory, a good thing. He still didn’t like the utter silence.

He checked Bethany’s phone. The two dots were right on top of each other. Here.

He reached over and tried the door.

The knob twisted.

He pushed the door open and charged inside, gun up.

The living room was empty.

The door to Megan’s room stood open.

No one was there.

Shane, Isaac and Felix moved in silently, fanning out behind him.

The furniture wasn’t right. This wasn’t how it’d been left when he’d last been here. Someone had moved it.

Kyle used hand gestures to send Shane and Isaac to Megan’s room.

Before Kyle could make a move for the hall a loud bang from the garage stopped him in his tracks. He turned and glanced at Felix.

“Clear, window is open,” Isaac said from the bedroom.

Shit.

Kyle crossed to the garage door in the kitchen. Once more he stood to the side of the door. This time he had to unlock it. Felix yanked it open and Kyle stepped into the doorway, gun up.

Elijah Hunt sat slumped up against a beat up old sedan with a towel pressed to his side and a puddle of blood around him. His wife whirled from the metal shelves, her eyes wide.

“Man down,” Kyle said.

Felix responded first, rushing to the downed man’s side.

Kyle focused on Mrs. Hunt. “Where is he? How long ago was he here?”

“They went out the garage ten minutes ago,” she said. She knew exactly what he wanted to know.

“They? They who?” Kyle’s heart beat in his throat.

“That man. That man and Megan.”

“What about her roommate?”

“I don’t know.” Mrs. Hunt shook her head. Her hands were stained with her husband’s blood. Her calm mask cracked and tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Fuck,” Kyle snapped.

“The rest of the house is clear,” Isaac said through the headset.

They’d missed him. And now he very likely had all three women.

Kyle pulled out his phone and jabbed the one number he wished he didn’t have to call.

The line rang.

He paced down the hall into Bethany’s neat retreat. The room where she’d made herself a new home.

The line kept ringing.

No one was going to answer.

“Kyle,” Ryan Brooks said.

“He took them. All three. I don’t know what to do. Please. Please, you have to tell me what comes next. What do we do?”

“He? The unsub?”

“Yeah.”

“The women?”

“Yes. All three are gone. What do we do? He’s a ghost.”

“I can’t—I don’t...” Brooks stammered

“Please? These cops, they don’t care about getting the girls back alive. They want to bag the killer and they’d rather follow the clues after the bodies are found than track him before it happens.”

“Tell me everything that’s happened since yesterday morning.”

Kyle started from right after the phone call. He detailed the media attention, how their trust had been abused, the betrayal that had sent Bethany out into the night and now the girls.

“Mrs. Hunt. Did she see him?”

“Yeah, I think so. Does that matter?” Kyle failed to see the significance.

“That’s different. He’s never allowed himself to be seen before now. You’ve disrupted his plans. Everything he’d carefully laid out, you messed that up. I can see this going in one of two ways.”

“Hit me with it,” Kyle said.

“Either he’s going to do it quick for the rush, or he’ll go back to his roots. Where it all began.”

“You think he’ll go back to where the first body was found?”

“With someone as ritualistic as this, chasing a new high, maybe. It’s a guess, Kyle.”

“The first body was found outside what has been added to the Washington State Fair. We’ll check it out. Thanks for everything, Brooks.”

MONDAY. UNKNOWN, SEATTLE, Washington.

Bethany shifted her arms the best she could. Her hands had been numb for hours. The restraints were too tight, and she didn’t have enough freedom of movement to take the pressure off them. Not with the way she was chained to the pipe running up the wall.

Something skittered across the concrete in the darkness. She could hear all its little creepy crawly legs.

She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes.

If she’d have been calm and rational about their discussion last night, she wouldn’t be here.

If she’d stopped being afraid for five minutes and thought things through, she’d have understood.

Kyle was doing the best he could with the hand he’d been dealt. It was all he ever did.

He probably thought she just walked away. Her luck, he wasn’t even looking for her. No one was. This psychopath would kill her and no one would miss her. She’d made sure of that with the way she’d cut out her family. Even Megan and Faith would only miss her so much. They’d hidden such big parts of their lives from each other.

Would Anthony make a scene in front of the cameras when they announced she was dead? Would he finally move on from mooching off her parents? Or would they adopt him as her replacement? Had they already?

She’d fucked up.

One of the most important things she’d taken out of her relationship with Anthony was to not act out of fear. That was when mistakes happened.

The last thing Kyle was going to remember about her was that she was a pathetic, scared woman looking for someone to blame. She hadn’t trusted him over her demons, and that was the real shame. Because deep down she did trust Kyle. He’d come through for her in every way possible. He couldn’t control what Roger did. And Kyle was right. He did have to play by a set of rules everyone else was ignoring. That was what made Kyle better.

Her fear with Kyle wasn’t that he’d turn out like the rest. She’d been around him long enough to have seen signs that he wasn’t what he presented to the world. He was the genuine article. Her real fear was that she wasn’t good enough for Kyle. That she’d screw up her shot at the one good guy who’d clicked with her. She cared for him. Too much maybe. She’d let herself fall into liking him when she knew better and now? Now those emotions were out of control. Sex had changed them. Learning about him, his mother, the years he’d spent growing into the man he wanted to be, she’d found a new respect and admiration for him. He really was the kind of man she wanted to fall in love with and spend the rest of her life with. And how she wasn’t going to get that chance to find out if it was possible.

She sucked in a breath through her nose. She’d made the mistake trying to breathe through the gag and that hadn’t gone well. The cloth was dirty and whatever was on it smelled foul. Unlike the mask the man had hurriedly put over her head the gag wasn’t as easily removed.

How long had she been here?

The hours blurred together. They’d driven for what felt like a year. When the van finally stopped, it had still been dark.

Was it still night? Or had the day come and gone?

She had to pee. She was thirsty, hungry, exhausted.

How had Megan survived this? She’d had Bethany and Kyle looking for her. Bethany doubted anyone would bother looking for her.

This was all her fault. Every second of this hell was of her making.

MONDAY. WASHINGTON State Fairgrounds, Seattle, Washington.

It was well past noon by the time Jay pulled up to the security gate at the Washington State Fair. He’d picked this week specifically because the security staff would be at a minimum. Two guards at a time on twelve-hour shifts. They’d been easy to handle, too concerned about what was going on with their little screens than anything else.

Jay eased the van to a stop at the entrance and checked his mirrors. The service entrance was shielded by trees and a fence. No one was around to see him.

The fearful whimpers from his two passengers sent a thrill up his spine. He bounced out of the driver’s seat positively giddy.

Finally!

This wasn’t his perfect plan, but it was still a step in the right direction. Something new. Something fresh.

It was going to be so damn good.

He skipped through moving the van through the gate and securing things. He’d worked too damn hard to get to this point to let an open, unlocked gate ruin it now.

Jay hummed as he steered the utility van through the park. It had taken some legwork to have the two vans all nice and neatly in place for just such an opportunity, but when Bethany had fallen into his hands, he’d known it would be necessary.

The hours of preparation were paying off. He’d thought through everything, and while this exact scenario had never occurred to him—he was ready.

His cell phone rang again from the cup holder where he’d dumped it.

Mom.

Again.

He grit his teeth and focused on the lane ahead of him. She would not ruin this for him. He’d waited so long for this perfect opportunity and he wasn’t going to give it up. If he was going to smile and bear the next few years he had to have this fix. It was his only way of dealing with Mom. She was driving him out of his mind.

The phone stopped ringing.

Jay eased the van to a stop outside the food vendor booth he’d stashed Bethany in. The thick, cinderblock walls were ideal for not catching fire in case the grease got too hot. They also made a perfect prison.

The vibrating of his phone put his teeth on edge.

What the fuck?

He muted the call, sending it to voicemail, and took a deep breath.

His plan all along was to wait until tonight. Showtime. Seven pm. His life had revolved around that number for decades. At exactly the right hour he’d begin and all the pent up frustration, rage and pain from the last three years would come out. It was his personal performance. The expression of his inner self Mom had talked on and on about.

But how many times had Mom called today?

His duty to her was at odds with his needs.

What if he did a matinee? He’d never done one of those before.

That was an interesting idea, but he’d always been a nighttime performer.

It was a thought worth considering.

Jay turned the van off and got out.

He wanted things to go his way. Three girls, at once, center stage, prime time. He’d already given up his preferred venue, why should he give up his time as well?

The back door of the van creaked open.

Faith and Megan stared, their wide, fearful eyes soothing him. He was their god now, the thing around which their worlds revolved. He held their lives in his hands.

Jay grabbed Megan’s arm and slid her out of the van. She didn’t get her legs under her in time and went down hard.

“Come on, you lazy bitch,” he snarled.

Mother’s line used to be, Come on, you lazy dog. Bitch seemed more appropriate in this rendition.

He hauled her to her feet and marched her the few feet into the vendor booth. The front area was dim, the rolling window not tight enough to cut out all the light. He guided Megan into the back and flipped on the lights.

Bethany sat up against a pipe, her eyes screwed shut.

The mask lay on the floor.

“What did you do?” Jay shoved Megan ahead of him until he could stand over Bethany. “Look at what you’ve done.”

Mother’s face lay on the pavement, all the live gone out of it.

This was unacceptable.

“Sit the fuck down,” he snarled at Megan.

He shoved her to her knees then secured one arm to a stainless steel table.

“You’re going to regret that.” He thrust his finger under Bethany’s nose and snatched the mask up.

These weren’t something that could be purchased off the street. He’d had them made years ago, so long that the woman who’d done them was dead. He couldn’t have them redone. Not with how famous he was about to be.

He placed the mask on the prep table with the other two then returned to the van.

“Fucking hell,” he muttered.

Faith lay on the pavement several yards from the back of the van. Judging by the scrapes on her arm and face she’d tried to roll herself away.

Jay did not have the patience for this shit.

He hooked his arm in hers and dragged her toward the vendor stall. She kicked her legs and tried to cry out.

“One of the first things I learned when I hit puberty was how to tie a gag.” He glanced down at Faith, her pretty blonde hair slicked to her skin with sweat. She could almost pass for Mom if she were more beautiful.

Mom always had been the most stunning woman in the room.

Jay couldn’t understand why more people hadn’t noticed. Why they hadn’t wanted her to star in their shows or movies. It was a crime that she’d been relegated to small parts, bit roles. It was unfair.

He hauled Faith back into the booth with the other two while his phone vibrated against his thigh.

Again?

For fuck’s sake, what the hell was going on?

Wasn’t this why he paid a nurse to watch her?

He was going to have to stop his preparation and talk to her. It wasn’t what he wanted, but at this rate he couldn’t keep ignoring her.

Jay shoved Faith into the corner so all three women were in a line. He secured Faith to the leg of the deep fryer with another set of zip ties then stood back to take it all in.

“No, no, no. This is wrong.” He turned and snatched up the masks.

Time had not been kind to them, but he didn’t care.

He crossed to Megan who shied away from him.

“You know what I do if I’m angry,” he said.

He’d dispensed with the need for a mask on his part. That was only useful until he’d prepared everything. Now, as they worked toward his final performance, it wasn’t part of the act.

Megan shut her eyes and sobbed.

He pulled the mask down, covering Megan’s face and neck with the likeness of Mother.

“There we go. So beautiful.” He cupped her cheek.

This was perfect. Their cries of despair were sweeter than anything he’d ever tasted.

He took the next mask to Faith. She kicked her feet a bit and tried to turn away from him, but Jay knew how to direct his talent. She didn’t fill the mask out as well as he’d have liked, but it would do.

“Bethany, Bethany, Bethany.” He stood over the last remaining woman, the defiled mask in his hands. “It’s your fault this isn’t going a planned, and then you do this? You’ll be the first.”

Jay bent down with the mask in hand.

She whipped her head forward, cracking her skull against his.

Jay staggered back, pressing a hand to his forehead.

“Fuck,” he snarled as the pain radiated through his head.

It was like that one time he’d wanted to watch cartoons and had to keep asking because Mother was otherwise distracted. She’d grabbed the heavy candlestick off her dressing table and cracked him in the skull with it. She’d made him stand in the corner all night.

“No. No!” Jay shook his head.

This was his show. He called the shots. He got to do the action.

He grabbed Bethany’s throat with one hand and pushed her up against the wall. He covered her face with the mask until he was staring at his mother.

“Not tonight, bitch,” he snarled.

The God damn phone was going off again.

He couldn’t keep ignoring it.

He got the mask on Bethany then stalked into the front of the booth.

“What?” he said into the phone. What could she possibly need?

“Mr. Diaz?” a man said.

Jay stopped in his tracks.

The nurse was female. Jay did not allow male aids into the house. It put Mother’s mind in a state.

“Yes,” Jay said slowly.

“This is Officer Wilson with Chicago PD.”

“What’s wrong? Where’s my mother?”

“She was found wandering in the road a couple blocks from your home.”

“What?” Jay braced his hand on the counter.

“We’ve taken her to the hospital. As I understand you’re away on business?”

“Yes, yes I am.”

“When will you be back? There are some next steps we need to take with you present.”

“Tomorrow.”

Jay and the officer spoke a few minutes more. The kind tone did not belay Jay’s bad feeling about where this was going.

Mom was a shrew and a whore, but she was all the family he had left. He couldn’t let them take her away.

There could be no evening performance.

This had to happen now.

A one time, special performance, never to be done again...