Chapter 5
Clary did a quick clean-up of the house. She didn’t have enough lettuce for a salad, and she was out of potatoes. So she had run out and picked up enough to get through dinner. The men were supposed to bring the steaks, but that didn’t mean she expected them to bring everything for a full meal. She decided baked potatoes and a Caesar salad would be ideal. As she considered the temperature outside, she chose to do a potato salad instead. The potatoes were peeled and in the now-boiling water, as she turned around to look at what else might need to be done.
Hearing a sound at the front door, she realized Talon and Laszlo were back already. She turned down the fire under the potatoes and walked out to the front to welcome them. But nobody was there. She opened the door wider and stepped outside. Their vehicle wasn’t here; nobody’s vehicle was here.
What had she heard? Frowning, she looked around the front yard. On the walkway toward the driveway was a mouse. A dead mouse.
With her heart in her throat, she walked a little closer and gasped. She backed up several steps, then turned and raced inside, slamming the door shut. She leaned against the wood panel, reaching a trembling hand to her forehead. She didn’t know what to do. Should the men see that? Or should she just dispose of it so nobody would see it? The trouble was, that wouldn’t erase the memory of it from her mind. She doubted anything would do that.
All of the limbs had been cut off the mouse, placed slightly apart from the torso so it was obvious what had been done to it. She could only hope for the poor thing’s sake that he had been dead before being mutilated. She pulled out her phone and checked for Talon’s and Laszlo’s numbers. They had given them to her before they left. Finally she found them. Her fingers trembling, she quickly sent Talon a text. Where are you, and when are you coming back?
Going for steaks. Be there in 30 minutes.
Fine.
She debated telling them about the mouse, then realized they would probably cut short their shopping trip and come straight to her home.
She wished she knew if that asshole who had left the mouse was gone. She suspected he was sitting somewhere so he could watch and get a full view of everyone’s reaction. Otherwise why do it? Few people like to leave presents and not see what kind of a reaction they got.
She forced herself back to the kitchen to check on the potatoes, but she couldn’t help looking around the corners to ensure nobody had slipped into her house. It was just too damn easy, as the men had pointed out. With a door unlocked, a window open, somebody had taken the measure of the security in the house and had let her know how easy it was to enter.
She glanced around but, seeing nothing, walked to the stove. Using a fork, she tested the potatoes, then drained them. When they were dry, she tossed them with Italian salad dressing and popped the whole mess into the fridge to cool. Normally she liked to let the potatoes chill in cold water before she did that, but there was no time, and her mind was too drained at the moment.
She kept checking the time on her cell phone, counting the minutes until the men arrived.
Finally she heard a vehicle. Instead of opening the door, this time she ran to the living room window and peered through the curtains, relieved it was them. Then she opened the door and ran down the porch steps and along the walkway, stopping protectively over the mouse.
As they walked up, talking and joking, Talon took one look at her face and froze. “What’s the matter?”
Laszlo walked around to stand beside him, both of them looking at her. She pointed to the mouse at her feet. The men walked closer and dropped to their knees. She heard their sucked-in breaths and saw their hard glances as they exchanged looks.
“Is that a message for you or for me?” she asked in a quavering voice. “Or is that a threat of what he’ll do to me?” She watched Talon’s jaw work as he tried to come up with an answer that would satisfy her.
And then he shrugged. “Unfortunately it could be many things. I would suspect it’s a message for me and Laszlo.”
She cried out softly, “Why would anyone do something like that?”
“The friend of ours who died, he was part of our unit, and his nickname was Mouse,” Laszlo said. “And this asshole is taunting us with the fact that he killed him. And, in this case, this is what he did to the rest of us. The cut-off limbs are definitely a symbolism of that.”
She wrapped her arms around her chest, unaware of a slight keening sound coming from the back of her throat.
Talon motioned for her to go inside. “Come on. Let’s get these groceries inside, and we’ll come back and clean this up.”
But it was almost impossible to move. Finally she came to her senses as he spoke again. “Here. Grab these.” He placed a bottle of wine and a set of wineglasses in her hands.
She hurried up the porch steps ahead of him, casting one last look at the poor animal on her sidewalk. Talon wasn’t giving her any chance to stop and stare. He nudged her forward, back to the kitchen.
“When did this happen?”
“When I texted you,” she said. “At the time I thought I should tell you. I decided to hold off because I didn’t know exactly what you were doing and if you needed to finish it.”
He didn’t say anything, just put down the groceries, and, in an effort to keep her busy, he took the wineglasses from her hands and put them on the kitchen table. “Put the wine in the fridge to chill.”
She glanced at it to see a popular California rosé that would be lovely with the steaks. She opened the fridge and froze. She stared at the wine bottle, and tears came to her eyes. It was the wine they always used to drink. She’d learned to love it from her parents. Even Chad had enjoyed it. But to think Talon had remembered … Not wanting to make too much of it and not wanting him to see her reaction, she made room for it in the fridge, then reached for the rest of the groceries he’d bought. “Why so many groceries?”
“Because we’re staying here tonight,” he said, his tone implacable.
She turned in outrage to see him waiting for her to argue. But what was the point? If nothing else, seeing the mouse outside had convinced her that this asshole could come here anytime he wanted to.
“What if it’s you that’s bringing him here?”
“I wasn’t here a month ago, was I?”
She had no answer for that. She slammed the fridge shut and handed him a cutting board.
He took it from her hands, opened the steaks, laid them down, trimmed off the edges, and, with a bunch of ingredients he’d bought, mixed up a dry rub and coated one side. She was fascinated to see him work with such skill.
“When did you learn to cook?”
“I took it up as a hobby after my accident,” he said quietly. “I’ve always appreciated good food. But I wasn’t about to go out in public to eat, so it seemed like a good idea that I learn.”
She marveled at the change in him. He did so much with his left hand that she couldn’t even imagine could be done. It was very mechanical. He could easily grab a knife, pick up a salt shaker, even hold the meat. She imagined it would be a pain to clean, but he seemed very adept at it.
“You’re good with the hand.”
“I am now. In my case, it’s not just my hand that’s missing.”
She frowned.
He pulled his shirt-sleeve flat to show the bulge in his arm where it shifted from flesh to metal. “In the accident, one of the pieces of metal completely sheared off my arm,” he said. “One of the other guys is missing the arm a little bit lower down, just under the elbow whereas I lost mine just above.”
“Isn’t stuff like that expensive?”
“It is. One of our guys found an incredible prosthetic designer in Santa Fe. It’s one of the reasons most of us settled there. Because she’s been working on our prosthetics, we have so many visits to get properly fitted. She designed products just for us.” He glanced down at his foot. “She just brought me in a blade runner model, so I could go back to jogging a whole lot easier.” He glanced up at Clary’s face. “I don’t know if you remember, but I always loved to run.”
She nodded. “We used to run in the morning together.”
“Do you still?” There was curiosity in his voice, as if he really wanted to know.
“Yes, but not as much as I should,” she replied. “I used to run from my demons after Chad was killed, but it was more a necessity than an enjoyment.”
“I understand that feeling. Most of us are doing the same at various times.”
She stared, fascinated at his prosthetic fingers. “Does it hurt?”
He shook his head. “No, not now. And as I’ve grown more adept with it, it’s much easier. The pain was in the frustration to begin with. I wanted my arm back, a hand that followed my commands instantly, fingers that would do what I could have done before. And that won’t happen.”
“They’re doing hand transplants,” she said impulsively. “But I don’t know about whole arms.”
He nodded. “I know about the hand transplants. And, if something like that was ever a possibility, it’s something I would consider. But I don’t think the science is quite there yet. It would be a dream though.” He turned and handed her the board. “These are ready for the barbecue, but it would be good if we could let them marinate for a good twenty minutes to an hour.”
She took the board from him and carried it to the counter. “The potato salad will need that long anyway.”
“Potato salad, yum,” Laszlo said. Coming inside, he walked into the kitchen and scrubbed his hands thoroughly.
He must have removed the poor chopped-up mouse from the walkway. “I don’t suppose the mouse left a suicide note or the killer left a note to say, Hey, it’s me, and signed his name?” she asked in a half-joking tone of voice.
Laszlo shook his head. “Wouldn’t it be nice if killers did that? Most of the time they just torment their victims and carry on.”
There wasn’t much she could say to that.
Laszlo finally finished scrubbing his hands, turned with his hands up in the air, looking for a towel.
She got him a paper towel. After she showed him the garbage can, he turned around, leaning against the counter. “Now tell us exactly what you heard.”
Surprised, she said, “I didn’t really hear anything.”
The two men waited.
“Okay. Fine. I thought I heard a noise, like you guys coming back. I walked to the front door, opened it, but it wasn’t you. I didn’t see anyone, so I stepped out on the front step. There were no vehicles. I looked around. Nobody was there. Then I saw something on the sidewalk. I walked toward it to take a closer look, then backed up and immediately came inside. That’s when I texted you.” She waited. She was pretty sure they wouldn’t like that answer. As they straightened and both stared at her, she rushed to add, “What else was I supposed to do? Why wasn’t I supposed to go out there? I mean, you hear somebody at your door, you go to your door.”
“That’s true,” Talon said. “So you won’t be answering your door for the next few days.”
“Why not?”
“Because he needs to know you’re not alone.”
She frowned, not understanding what difference it would make. “He’s probably here now because you’ve arrived,” she accused. “It’s not me that he gives a damn about. It’s you.”
Talon nodded. “That’s right. It’s me who he cares about. It’s me who he wants to hurt,” he emphasized. “And, therefore, he cares about you.”
She laughed, but there was no humor behind it. “Then he doesn’t understand you very well, does he?”
“Or he understands you very well,” Laszlo said to Talon.
Laszlo always seemed to be running interference between the two of them. She appreciated his presence. He was the oil on troubled wheels at the moment. But he was still wrong.
“If this guy knew anything, he’d realize there’s no love lost between the two of us. You really cared about my brother but not about me, so, if I get killed off, it won’t hurt as much.” She couldn’t seem to leave it alone. She glared, jutting her chin out toward Talon. “Isn’t that right?”
He gave her a lazy smile. “Of course not. I love you now as much as I always have.”
But the flippant tone of his voice pissed her right off. “And that would be exactly zero,” she snapped. And once again the heavy silence descended on the kitchen.
He knew he deserved that. But it wasn’t the truth. One didn’t share as many years together as he had had with Clary and her brother, Chad, without loving them. And he did love them. He was afraid he was still in love with Clary. The fact that it could even be possible was a stunning admission on his part. He knew Laszlo was hoping for something along that line, but Talon swore he’d taken those feelings, ripped them out of his heart, and stomped on them, so he wouldn’t feel such pain again.
But apparently, somehow, it still dwelled within him. And that was not good. To be exposed like that was to have a weakness. And he realized that was exactly what this killer wanted. He was poking and prodding at Talon’s weakness. And the serial killer would have no problem doing to Clary what he had done to that mouse. And Talon couldn’t afford to have that happen. Not only because she was the woman of his past but because she was also Chad’s sister. And Talon owed his best friend at least to protect his sister while Talon was here. He hadn’t been able to help Chad, so Talon must help Clary.
He turned around, completely ignoring her, cleaned up the mess on the table, and walked to the garbage. It was almost full, so he pulled out and tied up the bag, and, without another word, walked past her to the front door, opened it, and headed toward the garbage bins.
As he stepped outside, he took a good look around. He noted the two SUVs across the road, the large F-250 parked in front of the neighbors to the left, and a couple small cars parked on the road, as if they belonged to guests or additional vehicles to the houses. Nobody was in any of the vehicles that he could see. Talon then turned slowly, letting his gaze roam. He’d perfected the art of seeing without actually staring.
He turned and walked slowly toward the house. He deliberately emphasized a limp. He wanted whoever was watching, and definitely someone in particular that was watching, to think he was injured and weaker than they expected. Limps didn’t always mean that. As Talon accentuated his sore lower back by rubbing it and wincing, he figured that was about all he could do for the moment, especially since he was steps away from the house.
But, if their serial killer or his associate or hired gun thought Talon wasn’t as strong as expected, it would make the killer act foolhardy. And Talon wanted this asshole to be more than foolhardy. Talon wanted this guy to be completely arrogant and to think he didn’t need to prepare. Somewhere, somehow, this had to end. Talon’s mind even now reached for suspects. And he was coming up empty. It made him angry.
He walked into the kitchen after slamming the front door. “Laszlo, how many people actually know the details about your family?”
Laszlo looked up at him from the kitchen table. “Not many. You guys. That’s the extent of it.”
Talon sat down on a chair beside him. “Same here. Without any family, there was just Chad and Clary for a long time.”
“And then there was just Chad,” Clary added snappishly.
Talon ignored her again. She was a bit of a temper pot, and he could live with that. She would have to get over her anger though, because he wasn’t leaving. Not until they figured out what was going on.
“We also have to remember,” Laszlo said quietly, “this guy has no problem hiring others to do his dirty work. So even though somebody was stalking Clary before and then killed Chad, it doesn’t mean this particular guy is the mastermind. It just means, another man could have been hired.”
Clary said, “So you’re saying the guy I sketched might not be the same man around here now?” She drummed her fingers on the table. “That actually makes sense. I was thinking my neighbor was looking at me rather creepily the other day.”
“Which neighbor?” the men asked in unison.
She sat back, raising an eyebrow at them. “Lots of men look at me in a creepy way,” she snapped. “You can’t just go jump on all of them.”
“We don’t have to jump on them,” Talon said. “Just lean on them.”
But his tone of voice left her no doubt about what he would really do.
“What about security cameras?” Laszlo asked her.
“I don’t have any.”
“What about at your parents’ house?” Laszlo asked.
She stopped, looked at him wide-eyed. “Yes. Actually, yes.”
They hopped to their feet.
She snatched the keys to her parents’ house. “Let’s go take a look.”
As she went toward the front door, Talon leaned forward, stepping in front of her, opening the door for her. He held her back slightly and stepped out to take a quick look. Then he reached back with his good hand, holding it out for her. She stared at it, then brushed past.
He rolled his eyes as she swept away and whispered, “Always so stubborn.”
“Just not a doormat,” she snapped back.
“Being a lady is being a doormat?”
Her back stiffened, and he realized she’d taken it as an insult. He hadn’t meant it that way. But they used to hold hands all the time. Obviously she had no intention of returning to that. Also he used to call her his lady all the time.
She shot him a hard look. “Being independent does not mean I’m not a lady.”
He frowned, wondering where this rough edge came from. “Did your husband not appreciate independence?”
“No, he didn’t. He wanted somebody to look after him. But that wasn’t me.”
“So why did you marry him?” He really wanted to know the answer to that.
She tossed him a look as they crossed a small grass strip between the two driveways. “Because it was comfortable.”
That shut him up. That made no sense to him. She was a beautiful, attractive, smart young woman. He glanced at his feet as they continued to the house next door while keeping his peripheral vision on his surroundings.
Surely somebody out there set her nerves on fire. Wasn’t passion better than comfort? He had to ask himself about that too because he wasn’t sure. He’d had lots of passion with Clary, but there’d been nothing left of their relationship at the end of the day.
That was probably why he didn’t allow himself to have any emotions after their breakup. He hadn’t wanted a serious relationship when he was in the military. Since he’d been out of the dating scene for the two years after the land mine accident, it might be time to reconsider relationships again. But, even overcoming his depression issues and then his physical issues, including adapting expertly to his prosthetics, all those successes didn’t add up to be enough. He no longer felt he was in a position to offer a woman the same things he could have before.
Apparently Badger and Erick didn’t have that problem—Cade as well. Maybe Talon would get to that point himself. But, at the moment, he wasn’t feeling too confident.
She unlocked the door, and they walked into her parents’ house. Talon smiled, as it was like stepping back in time. It was still decorated from the 1970s when they’d bought it. “Do they still live here?”
“They come for about a week every year,” she admitted. “But that’s it.”
“Have they even talked about selling?”
“All the time since Chad passed.” She shook her head and winced. “I don’t need two houses, so, if they ever run out of money for their research, this will be the next thing to go.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“Before I would have been heartbroken. But with Chad gone now …” She shrugged. “Maybe it’s not the place I need to be either.”
“But all your family memories are here,” Laszlo said, standing at her side.
She turned to look at him. “The memories are in my heart. I don’t need a physical location to remind me of what I love.”
Laszlo shot Talon a look and a raised eyebrow.
Talon shrugged irritably. There wasn’t anything he could say to that. But it was true. And he was glad she was at least settled enough over Chad’s death to realize she didn’t need to cling to his things. Chad wouldn’t have wanted her to suffer. He would have wanted her to go on and to have a happy, fulfilling life. It was the same thing Chad would have wanted for Talon.
The house had a musty smell, as if the windows hadn’t been opened for a long time. “How often do you come over here?”
“Not very often,” she answered. “I collect the mail but take it to my place. I handle the bills, pay the taxes, pay the utilities. Most of the time everything’s turned off anyway.”
“Not the power?”
“No, the security system is connected, as are the exterior lights. I needed those on, so I had to keep the power live. But it’s an empty house. There’s really not a whole lot I can do to make it look lived in. Most people on the block know it’s my parents’ house, so I don’t expect any trouble from them. If anybody saw the furnishings—well, unless you were a 1970s’ fan—there’s really not much here worth stealing.”
He glanced around the living room and realized there were no electronics—no TVs, no digital anything, just like when he used to visit.
“Did they not watch TV?” Laszlo asked.
“No, they were huge proponents against it. They do love their laptops for their work though. They are very connected to the world. But the house is old and just getting older.”
“It’s kind of sad,” Talon murmured.
They walked through the kitchen and into the back room where the security camera monitors were.
She pointed at the equipment. “Because they’re gone all the time, they did set this up. It’s not really connected to a security system, but it has its own cameras, so they can see what happens inside the house. For a long time, they carried an app on their laptop that let them connect to the routers here, so they could check in on the camera feeds. I guess, by rights, I could set that up at my home too.”
In front of them was a small security system, and, indeed, there was a laptop dedicated to it. It was split in four screens that showed the four cameras. She sat down, backed up the video feed to about a half hour before she found the mouse. Then she hit Play.
They sat back and watched all four cameras to see who had left the gift. As it got closer to the time, two of the cameras continued to play normally, but, all of a sudden, something blocked the view of the other two.
“So he blocked the cameras so nobody can see. Then goes about his business.” Laszlo was pissed. “I expected it, but there was almost the hope that he’d forget about the neighbors’ cameras.” Except, as she had said, everybody knew it was her parents’ house. “Okay, so we can’t tell anything from this house’s point of view. What about other neighbors? Anybody else have any cameras?”
They wandered back outside again, and she locked up the house. As Talon stood there, he checked the various nearby houses for security systems, and, sure enough, there was one across the road. With Laszlo and Clary at his side, they walked to the neighbors. He asked Clary, “Do you know who lives here?”
“The Farnsworths. They also travel a lot.”
They knocked on the door, and a sixty-something-year-old man answered.
He saw Clary and smiled. “Clary, what can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you could check your security system from about an hour and a half ago. Somebody left a mouse on my pavement, and I wanted to see if it was something to be worried about.”
“Oh dear. It was probably just the neighborhood kids, but, yes, let’s go give that a check.”
They followed him inside at his insistence. He walked over to take a look.
In direct contrast to Clary’s parents’ house, this one was completely stocked with electronics.
“Shortwave radio?” Laszlo asked in surprise.
Farnsworth turned and looked at him in delight. “Yes. I’m a bit of a geek,” he admitted. “I keep the cameras here.” He pointed to four monitors dedicated to the system.
They noticed he also had access for games. Laszlo chuckled. “Now that’s a nice setup.”
Mr. Farnsworth nodded. “Let me just click into the security system and see what pops up.”
He brought up four cameras, the same as Clary’s parents’ house. Within minutes, he had it backed up to the needed time period, and they could see what had been going on. They watched for a good five minutes, then a small car pulled up. It was a blue Audi. The driver had parked almost on her parents’ driveway and got out. He was a young man, maybe early twenties, and he carried a paper bag in one hand and a couple towels in his other. He snuck up under the security camera and tossed the first towel over the lens, then repeated it for the other camera at the front of the house. Then he measured off his steps as if he’d been given explicit instructions as to where to place the mouse, all the while keeping his face turned away from the cameras. Then he gently opened the bag, dumped out its contents, rearranged something on the pavement, and then backed up, keeping the bag with him, got in his vehicle, and left.
Clary sat back. “Wow. Well, that was the guy.”
Talon leaned forward. “Would any of your cameras catch that license plate?”
The man flicked through one of the other cameras, brought the feed to when the car pulled up, and enlarged it ever-so-slightly. “We can’t get all of it, but there’s the first letters and numbers.”
Laszlo wrote them down to research later.
They thanked Mr. Farnsworth, and walked back to Clary’s house in complete silence.
Settled now at the kitchen table, Clary asked, “Did you guys recognize him?”
“I didn’t,” Laszlo said. “Talon, did you?”
“No, but we should also check with Faith to see if she recognizes this man as the one who came to her door. He fits the general description she gave us, but to have her ID this photo would be huge.” He was already sending the image to Faith. “Have to remember, she was so excited about Elizabeth calling her she didn’t take much notice of him.”
“Still, let’s see what she says.” Laszlo frowned, shook his head. “I guess he would have flown here. Otherwise that’d be a lot of driving if it’s the same guy, first appearing at Faith’s apartment back in Santa Fe and now here at Clary’s home in San Diego,” Laszlo said as Talon’s phone beeped.
“It’s Faith. She says, possibly but she can’t be sure. The guy at her door had a different hat and facial hair.”
The two men looked at each other. “Not helpful,” Laszlo said. “But doesn’t take him out of the running.”
“It’d be about a twelve-hour drive one way. That’d be a long trip to do in one day by himself, but, if he had a partner, they could swap out the driving when one got tired. Regardless the trip could easily be done in two days.”
At that Laszlo nodded. “True enough.”
They turned to look at Clary sitting quietly at the kitchen table, as if lost in thought.
Talon remembered her question and sat down beside her. “Do you recognize him?”
She shook her head. “But there was just something about him.” She got up, walked to the living room, grabbed her sketchbooks, flipped to the page where the two men were at the table in the coffee shop and tapped the photo. “I think it’s him.”