CHAPTER EIGHT
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“I left you a message over fifteen hours ago,” Brody censured, knowing it would do no good. It was frustrating as hell. His sister had her own life, made her own decisions, and she never let him forget it. “You’re supposed to be in Daytona working on that sci-fi film, not waltzing around New Orleans wearing Mardi Gras beads with one of those hurricane drinks in your damn hand.”
Brody leaned back in his chair as he awaited Camryn’s answer, all the while observing the video feed that displayed the pond and surrounding area. Remy was on her fourth trek around the property’s inland clearing without seemingly breaking a sweat. That was a feat in and of itself considering the sun was at its highest and deflecting off the water. She appeared at ease and though it was a beautiful thing to witness, he most definitely had made a mistake in being the cause.
Damn it, but he shouldn’t have touched her like that. That was on him, but whatever she was planning fell directly on her shoulders—and she appeared very content with her epiphany.
What was she plotting?
“Sawyer ratted me out, didn’t he?” Camryn asked, pulling Brody’s attention back to the argument at hand. He’d wanted to keep it at a discussion, but it had quickly escalated upon her familiar use of his teammate’s name. Over his dead body would he allow his friend and sister to be anything other than mere acquaintances. “Look, I’m meeting a producer for a television mini-series. That’s all. I’m flying back to Florida tomorrow, that is if my plans don’t change.”
“So you’re telling me that Sawyer just came up to you out of the blue and introduced himself?” Brody didn’t wait for Camryn to clarify. He stood and scratched his chin, already having made the decision to shave. The whiskers were irritating, just like the stupid son of a bitch who was trying to get under his skin. Sawyer could go pound sand up his ass with a hammer. “You didn’t think it was odd that some random guy came up to you and claimed to work with me? Did he ask you out to dinner? Did he tell you he’d heard a lot about you and wanted to get to know you better? Did he even show you any identification?”
“Brody, you’re so fucking annoying,” Camryn exclaimed in irritation, cursing like a sailor when she knew very well he didn’t like to hear his baby sister talk like that. He was so glad that their mother couldn’t hear this conversation, because she would only end up blaming him by saying he’d allowed Camryn around too many of his friends when that was the exact opposite of what he was trying to do. “I’m a grown woman and capable of making my own decisions. Sawyer showed me his identification and also mentioned that you’re still wearing those gawd-awful Hawaiian shirts you wore to Mom’s birthday party dinner at the country club. Trust me, it didn’t take a genius to figure out he was talking about my older brother.”
“Listen,” Brody cautioned Camryn just as Remy stopped in her tracks and slowly began to backtrack from the edge of the water. What was she doing? Images of her being drug into the water by an alligator had him ready to bolt out the door. He relaxed slightly when she picked up her pace once again, able to now put his focus back on his sister. “Sawyer might look like the boy next door type to you, but he is anything but what you think he is. You stay away from him while you’re in New Orleans. I mean it. Besides, he’s working a case, and I don’t want you caught up in the middle of it if he finds what he’s looking for.”
“Seriously, would you stop worrying?” Camryn had softened her tone, knowing full well that would infuriate him even further. She was going to try and make him see reason, but she would never truly comprehend the endless hours of worry she’d caused him over the course of their lives. He sighed in resignation, just as she knew he would. “Sawyer recognized me in the airport, made sure I was safe, and asked if I needed anything before we went our separate ways. I can recognize a good guy when I see one, because I lived with a Boy Scout.”
“I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work,” Brody warned, though he had a hard time staying annoyed. He should have known that Sawyer was fucking with him, and it actually pleased him to know that his friend had gone out of his way to make sure Camryn was doing okay. Brody would never admit that though. “Please keep either Mom or me up-to-date on your schedule. You never know when one of us might need to contact you.”
“I’m only here for another day or two at the most.” Camryn’s name was being called in the background. Their time to talk had come to an end. “I’ll shoot you a text when I’m on my way back to Florida. If I have a couple of hours to spare, I might try to see Mom on my layover in Chicago. Love you. Gotta go!”
“Give her a hug for me,” Brody said with affection, already knowing the line had been disconnected. He sat back down as he set his phone in front of his keyboard. His baby sister always left him feeling as if he’d just weathered a tornado. If she weren’t so important to him, he’d actually get some enjoyment out of watching Sawyer try to handle a woman like Camryn—because one couldn’t control that type of personality. The man who was lucky enough to have her in his life would learn to sit back and enjoy the ride. “Trouble. Women are nothing but trouble.”
Speaking of which, Remy was now stretching her leg muscles on the back deck and looking nothing like the woman he’d come to know over the course of the last nineteen hours. She had on a pair of tight, blue silk athletic shorts with a white tank top that hugged her trim little figure. Her hair was no longer piled high on her head, but instead drawn back in a youthful looking ponytail. And to top it off? She was actually wearing running shoes instead of heels.
Brody wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
The vibration of his phone had him checking the display. Calvert was calling in, and he would want an update on Moss, but he sure as hell wouldn’t be happy about the SITREP he was about to receive.
“Please tell me you have something in hand that can narrow this search,” Brody greeted rather distractedly, doing his usual sweep of the other video feeds. He snatched one of the numerous notepads on his desk that contained the list of times Varan had come and gone from his apartment since yesterday. He’d been absent since zero nine hundred this morning and had yet to return. As for Shepherd Moss? He was nothing more than a mere ghost. “I have nothing. No similar criminal reports have been filed to indicate Moss has taken another victim anywhere within the continental United States, and those women we’re keeping surveillance on haven’t been in contact with anyone other than their usual family and friends.”
“Moss’ prison cell was clean as a whistle.” Townes most likely hadn’t expected to find anything, but it was still a strike against SSI. “I’m about to interview the guards assigned to his cell block over the term of his incarceration, but I wanted to check in with you first. How is our guest?”
“Let’s just say I can see why Ralph Forsythe would want her away from the situation.” Brody weighed over what he should and shouldn’t reveal to Calvert. Remy was his assignment, and he would see it through. His team had bigger fish to fry, and he didn’t want their attention diverted over something he could handle. “Ms. Kinkaid did some reconnaissance of her own this past weekend. She might have stirred the hornet’s nest.”
“You have things under control there?”
Well, that was all a matter of perspective, wasn’t it? Brody didn’t doubt that Remy would stay here with him for a couple of weeks, thus giving her time to come up with some other asinine way to ensure that Varan didn’t go and hurt someone else. She was safe while he was monitoring the one man who’d become the bane of her existence. That thought nagged at him, but it was more of her inability to let past offenses—no matter how unacceptable—rest in the hands of fate.
Becoming obsessed with Varan would only result in her failure to move forward. Remy’s interest in his surveillance equipment would fade in time and the weeks ahead would give him time to make her see reason. She had a life to live, and he’d do his best to make her see that obsessing over the past would only rob her of her future.
“Of course I have things under control,” Brody replied just as one of the entry alarms was activated. It figured. He pushed his chair back to see who breached the perimeter. “Are we expecting a visitor to the estate of any kind today?”
Calvert had very carefully positioned numerous motion sensors around the property. Every foot of ground from the road to the mailbox was properly covered, enabling the sensors to be triggered upon a vehicle tripping the beam—even the USPS mail delivery truck. Right now, a UPS truck was idling at the end of the driveway. Special packages had a separate delivery address at a specific address in town.
“No.” Calvert didn’t seem too concerned, though there was a slight edge to his tone. “We’re not expecting any special deliveries. Who’s at the front entrance? UPS, FedEx, USPS, or some other delivery service?”
“UPS.” Brody switched his gaze between the deck where Remy was now drinking out of a water bottle and the brown delivery truck idling at the entrance of the gravel driveway. Not a sound could be heard on the other end of the line as he waited to see what the driver would do within the next ten seconds. The tension finally eased from his shoulders. “False alarm. He’s leaving.”
“Do me a favor and run a diagnostic test on the security system,” Calvert requested, although Brody had already initiated the sequence. “My first interview is about to begin, so I’ll touch base when I’m through here.”
Brody spent the next ten minutes testing various sensors throughout the property, not surprised when the detailed reports came back signifying that all the equipment was properly working. He stood and stretched, checking everyone’s location and then even taking the time to rewind the recording of the corridor outside of Varan’s apartment. The only presence noted was an elderly gentleman who had returned from one of the nearby restaurants with a to-go bag in his hand.
“Where are you?” Brody muttered underneath his breath, checking the time and noting it on the log he’d created under Varan’s name. He had no outside appointments according to his case officer. “I’ll give you one more hour before I start searching for your dumb ass.”
A quick look at the video feed from Remy’s apartment building didn’t yield any luck in locating Varan, but it wasn’t like the psychopath had any idea of her location. He wasn’t nearly as cunning as Moss, and that gave Brody pause.
What if Shepherd Moss wasn’t looking for the one victim who’d escaped him? What if that son of a bitch wasn’t tracking down Shailyn Doyle, but hunting the man responsible for his downfall instead—Townes Calvert?
Brody suddenly didn’t like the fact that Remy was sitting out in the open, but he couldn’t very well confine her to the house. He also didn’t have any evidence to suggest that his assumption had merit. Had Moss wanted to come for Calvert, he most likely would have done so starting in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.
Either way, Brody could sense something wasn’t right. There was a reason he didn’t like working in the field, and it was that constant itch at the back of his neck telling him something was waiting for him right around the corner. He scanned the monitors one more time, but nothing out of the ordinary stood out. The everyday chaos from the city streets and buildings was ongoing, but what if it was all an illusion?