Chapter 23
Zane
With our debriefing concluded, I now sat with Peyton in my small home office, awaiting Lucas for the call to Boston.
She clutched my hand. “Do you think this will help? It didn’t before.” Her grip on me tightened.
Looking into her eyes, I gave her the truth I knew she was strong enough for.
“I don’t know. I’m guessing they know more about this guy than we do.
Any extra piece of information increases our chances of catching him quickly.
” I hoped calling him the guy made him sound less scary than the Boyfriend Strangler.
Lucas joined us and closed the door. “We’ll keep your current name secret and only use your real name, okay?” he told Peyton.
She nodded and sipped from yet another glass of wine.
He dialed the number Jordy had gotten for Sergeant O’Connor in the Boston PD homicide unit.
It took several rings for O’Connor to answer. “Hello?”
“Sergeant O’Connor,” Lucas began. “This is Lucas Hawk with Hawk Security in California.”
“I don’t need any more help from you private-dick assholes. At least the other guys have the decency to call during work hours. I’ll be at the office by eight tomorrow. Call me before then, and you’ll regret it.” The line went dead before Lucas could respond.
“Pleasant fellow,” I said.
“I didn’t want to have to do this,” Lucas said while he scrolled through his contacts and selected one. He put it on speaker again, but put a finger to his lips.
“Hey, Lucas, you old dog, how are you doin’?” said the person who answered.
“Good, Senator, sorry to be calling this late.”
I flinched, and Peyton’s eyes widened. Lucas had called a frigging senator.
“Glad that Syria extraction worked out the way it did,” the senator noted. “How is our boy doing?”
They had to be talking about Pete.
Lucas rubbed his hands together, the first sign of worry I’d ever seen on him. “As well as can be expected at this point. He’s tough. He’ll get through it.”
“Good to hear. Maggie is always bugging me to ask when she can send you a pie.”
Lucas sighed. “Tell her anytime is good.”
I’d have to get Jordy or Duke to fill me in on the connection between our boss and the senator and Maggie, who I supposed was his wife.
“You called,” the senator finally noted. “What can I do for you?”
Lucas leaned closer to the phone. “Tom, I’ve got an urgent problem affecting the citizens of your state.”
Ah, so this had to be United States Senator Tom “T-Rex” Tigard of Massachusetts.
The man’s voice lost all frivolity. “I’m listening.”
“I’ve got information that could result in the capture of a serial killer stalking your citizens, and currently believed to be here in our state, but a Sergeant O’Connor with the Boston PD homicide unit doesn’t want to talk to me.”
“No shit? A serial killer?”
“Affirmative.”
“Well, let me see if I can get him to show you more respect. Anything else?”
“No. That’s it. Appreciate it, Tom.”
“Always good to hear from ya, Lucas. Sine Pari.”
“Sine Pari,” Lucas echoed and then hung up.
Peyton shot me a quizzical look.
“Latin for without equal,” I explained. “The Delta Force motto.”
She nodded.
Lucas checked his watch. “It shouldn’t be long.”
It took three minutes for his phone to ring.
“Lucas Hawk,” he answered.
“Who the fuck do you think you are trying to pull rank on me by calling my fucking chief? I told you I don’t want any private-dick help.”
Lucas’s words were slow and measured. “Do you want to catch the Boyfriend Strangler or not?”
O’Connor stumbled over his response. “What the— You have… I mean, what do you have for me?”
“Like I said, my name is Lucas Hawk with Hawk Security in Los Angeles. Your Strangler is currently here in our fair city.”
“I doubt that. He only operates around Boston.”
I already didn’t like the way this guy jumped to conclusions.
“He may only operate in your city, but he’s currently hunting a witness here.”
Peyton looked nervous, so I patted her leg and gave her a smile.
“What makes you think it’s my guy?”
“Because the witness, who can identify him from the Cassandra Moulton murder, saw him today.”
A huff came across the line. “I wish we had a witness, Mr. Hawk, but we don’t.”
Looking at Peyton and me, Lucas shook his head. “You do.”
I would have told the guy he was a fucking idiot.
“Leighton Clarke was a friend of Moulton,” Lucas continued. “She called you and reported that she’d seen the man with Moulton the night she was killed.”
“Clarke, yeah, I remember that one. We couldn’t confirm that sighting.”
I rolled my eyes. He couldn’t confirm it because they were incompetent for not following up with the determination it took to catch a psycho serial killer.
“Sergeant, she’s here with me right now. Leighton, did you or did you not see your friend Cassandra Moulton eating dinner with a man the night she disappeared?”
“Yes, I did,” Peyton said confidently, but with a bit of a slur.
I stepped in quickly to prevent her inebriated state from affecting her credibility. “She called the tip line about it and later told Detective Flynn. He wanted her to return to Boston, but she was too scared, because the Strangler had already threatened her.”
“And you are? How many people are on this call?”
“Zane March, Hawk Security,” I filled in.
“Zane is assigned to Leighton’s security,” Lucas explained. “And Zane, myself, and Leighton are the only three on this call.”
“How did he threaten you?” O’Connor asked. He seemed reluctant to believe Peyton.
I put a hand on her knee and spoke for her. “Because he sent her the same flowers and handwritten note that he’d sent her friend Cassandra.”
“Hmm… What flowers?” he asked.
“Pink roses,” I said. “A dozen of them.”
Peyton nodded. “Blush pink.”
“Shit.” The sergeant blew out an audible breath. “Sorry to sound like I didn’t believe you guys. For as long as we’ve been on this investigation, we’ve been getting a dozen tips a week, and none of them fucking pan out.”
Still, that was no excuse for not following up on every single one. Police work could be hard and tedious, but that was the job.
“Do you believe us now?” Lucas asked.
“Absolutely,” O’Connor said. “No hard feelings, I hope. The pink roses and the handwritten card are details we’ve never released. So tell me more about this sighting of my guy where you are.”
“He sent Leighton a double batch of flowers and a card today,” I told him. “It was the same handwriting, right?”
“The same,” Peyton confirmed as she set her glass down.
“And she saw him when he followed her to a local shop.” I didn’t elaborate that it was a pawnshop, or that she’d been on the way out of town. “He was gone by the time we arrived to escort her home,” I added.
“Okay, but hey, we’re keeping those flower details under wraps, understood?”
Lucas shook his head at O’Connor’s paranoia. “It’s your investigation. Getting back to this guy. We believe he’s been in town for at least a few days and hired some local thugs to terrorize Leighton.”
“We’d still like to talk to you, Ms. Clarke.”
Peyton shivered under my hold.
I made the decision for her. “You’ll have to come here for that. She’s not going back to Boston, period.”
“Got it. We really want to get this guy, so I’ll send somebody. You said you’re in LA, right?” he asked.
Lucas relaxed. “That’s right. Your guy can reach me day or night at this number. Have him bring a copy of your entire case file for us to review.” It was a long shot, and Lucas held up two crossed fingers.
“I don’t think we can—”
“You can and you will if you want to interview the witness,” Lucas said firmly.
“Okay.”
Lucas pumped a fist in the air.
“I’ll be in touch when I know the timing,” O’Connor said. “Thanks for calling on this.”
“Sure thing. Lucas out,” the boss said before ending the call and sitting back. “What do you think?” he asked, looking over at me.
“I didn’t like the way it started out, but it sounds like he believes us now. Letting us have the entire case file is a win.”
Lucas nodded and stood. “It is.”
Peyton trembled as she rose.
I stood as well, keeping a protective arm around her.
“What now?” she asked as we exited the office.
I brushed her hair behind her ear. “We keep you safe and wait to see what material he has on this guy. Don’t worry, we’re on the road to putting this behind you forever.”
She looked up at me, smiling. “Say that again. I like how that sounds.”
I repeated the words for this woman who had entrusted her life to us. A lot of people would have already crumbled under the pressure she’d endured.