30. Luke
CHAPTER 30
Luke
A few days after the murder victim was found, it was confirmed that law enforcement believed the perpetrator was the same. Garrett said it looked like he was escalating.
Without much of a description, and very few clues, I had no idea how they were going to find the guy. He’d attacked women across three towns, leaving them in different places each time. Two had been taken at night, two in broad daylight. No one knew how he was doing it without being seen.
It made me want to stick to Melanie like glue.
She’d be going back to her regular job sooner rather than later, and I was dreading it. I wanted her with me, where I could protect her.
I walked up the sidewalk in the heat, on my way to the Copper Kettle. I’d decided to run out and grab lunch for me and Mel. I went inside and the diner was packed. There seemed to be more than the normal bustle of staff and customers. Some people were eating at booths or tables, but the entire lunch counter was dominated by a knot of people, some sitting, others standing. It looked more like they were having a meeting than eating a meal .
Absently, I rubbed my midsection. My ribs were healing well, but I could tell when I’d overdone it or slept wrong. They’d been aching all morning.
Heidi, the hostess, came to the front. She was young with a bouncy dark blond ponytail and a Copper Kettle name tag pinned to her shirt.
“Are you with them?” She gestured to the men and women buzzing around the counter.
“No, I was just going to grab a to-go order. Who are they?”
“The SPS.” She didn’t elaborate, as if that were self-explanatory.
“What are they doing?”
Her eyes widened. “Don’t you know about The Whisper?”
“The what?”
“Not a what, a who. The man attacking women. There was another one, you know.”
“Please tell me you don’t mean there have been five.”
“No, four. But the last one…” She winced.
“Yeah, I heard. I think everyone’s heard by now.” My brow furrowed. “What did you call him? The Whisper?”
“Yeah, that’s what everyone is calling him. It’s because he whispers in your ear when he gets you.”
“What are the SPS doing?”
“A whole bunch of stuff. You should go talk to them. I bet they could use your help. Oh, do you still want to order?”
“Yeah.” I put in my order, then went over to see what the SPS members were up to.
The owner of the Copper Kettle, Rob Landon, was dressed in his SPS T-shirt and carrying a clipboard. He nodded along as he conferred with several other similarly clad SPS members, and wrote something.
“Hey Rob,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“We’re responding to the crisis.” He gestured to the other SPS members. “Obviously, we can’t sit around and do nothing. This is our town, damn it, and we’re not letting this happen again. We’re setting up a booth in Lumberjack Park to hand out whistles and pepper spray to anyone who wants them. We’ve got sign-ups going for a buddy system, so women don’t have to be out and about alone. And volunteers are on hand to walk women to their cars after work and so forth, especially if it’s after dark.”
I had to admit, I was impressed. “That’s great stuff. I’m sure everybody appreciates it.”
“We’ve got the sign-up sheet over there if you want to take a shift.”
“I’ve already been assigned a special detail. It’s kind of a twenty-four seven thing.”
“Understood. You need any help, just let us know.”
“I will. Thanks, Rob.”
“Does your girlfriend want a whistle?” He grabbed one, dangling from a bright red lanyard, from the counter. “We’re out of pepper spray, but Mayor Bill is working on getting more as soon as possible.”
I took the whistle. “I’ll give it to her.”
“You can have one too, if you’d like. So far, the victims have been women, but we’re not ruling out anything.”
“I’m good, but thanks.”
“Stay safe out there,” Rob said.
“You too.”
I went back to the front of the restaurant to wait for my lunch order. It wasn’t long before Heidi brought it in a to-go bag. I paid, thanked her, and headed back to work.
What was going on? Tilikum wasn’t immune to crime, even violent crime. But incidents were usually few and far between. This guy had taken four women in a matter of weeks. Granted, they hadn’t all been from Tilikum, but the fact remained that a potential serial killer was on the loose.
The heat pressed at me as I walked. I noticed a squirrel splayed out on the sidewalk, flat on its belly, legs sticking out .
“Are you hot, little guy?”
I took one of the bottled waters out of the bag and opened it. Crouching down, I trickled some water near its face and sprinkled more on its back. It perked up, lifting its head to drink, so I gave it a bit more.
It popped up onto its back legs, bushy tail twitching. I gave it another drink, trying not to douse it. It wiped its face with its front paws and scampered away between two buildings.
“You’re welcome.”
Closing the water bottle, I stood and walked the last block to my shop. I rolled my eyes as I walked in the lobby door, thinking about The Whisper. They shouldn’t have given him a nickname. He was probably getting off on it.
Melanie looked up from the front desk and a smile lit up her face.
“There’s my girl,” I said as the door shut behind me. “Hungry?”
“Starving. I didn’t know you were surprising me with lunch.”
“It’s for my own good. No one’s safe if you’re hangry.”
She stood. “I’d be offended, but you’re not wrong. Did you get pickles?”
“All the pickles, my beautiful weirdo.”
We went into my office and got our lunch out, using my desk as a table. The hot weather was dragging on, so nothing had sounded good except cold sandwiches. And pickles for Mel, of course.
I pulled out the whistle Rob had given me and handed it to her. “The SPS is over at the Copper Kettle. They’re handing out whistles for safety. This one’s for you.”
She held it up. “That was nice of them.”
“They’re also organizing sign-ups for a buddy system, so women don’t have to be out and about alone.”
“I guess I’m glad I spent so much of my mom’s money on you at that auction. It was for a good cause.” She took a bite of her pickle.
“People are calling the perpetrator ‘The Whisper.’ It seems like a bad idea to give him a nickname. It’s just giving him attention.”
“Why do they call him ‘The Whisper?’”
“Apparently, he whispers in the victim’s ear when he first attacks them.”
The color drained from her face. “He does?”
“It’s just what I heard.” I hesitated. I had a bad feeling I knew why she looked so shaken. “Is that what happened to you?”
She nodded. “Just as I was starting to black out, I heard him say, ‘Don’t be scared, it’s going to be okay.’”
“Well, that was a fucking lie.”
“I know, right?” The fire returned to her voice. “If you’re going to whisper something creepy in your victim’s ear, at least be honest. Everything was not going to be okay.”
“Not for him, either, as it turned out. He picked the wrong woman.”
She picked up another pickle. “I think I just got lucky.”
“I think you’re a badass and should give yourself some credit. Also, fuck that guy.”
“Indeed,” she said, gesturing with her pickle, then took a crunchy bite. “I keep wanting not to think about this, because despite my tendency to be dramatic, I actually don’t want to make everything about me. And I really don’t want this to be about me. But…”
I knew what she was getting at. “The similarities.”
“Yeah. Garrett said the first victims had been drugged and put in the trunk of a car. And now whispering in their ear? That has to be a coincidence, right? It couldn’t be the same guy.”
I met her eyes. I didn’t know the answers, but I was wondering the same thing. Could it be him? Was that even possible? The chances had to be astronomical.
“I wonder what he whispered,” she asked.
“Garrett might know. Do you want me to call him and ask?”
Thoughtfully, she took a bite of her pickle and chewed slowly. “Yes, but also no. I’m a little bit afraid of what he’ll say. But not knowing isn’t going to help. And it’s not going to change anything.” She met my eyes again. “You don’t think I’m overreacting to at least wonder?”
“No, you’re not overreacting. And I think Garrett needs to know what happened to you.”
“Okay. Call him.”
I pulled out my phone and called, putting it on speaker so Melanie could hear.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“Sorry to bug you if you’re working, but I have a good reason.”
“Go ahead.”
“Is it true that the guy who’s been abducting women whispers in their ear when he takes them?”
“Yeah, it’s true.”
“Do you know what he said to them?”
“Why?”
“I just need to know. Was it something like, ‘Don’t be scared, it’s going to be okay?’”
“Hang on.” He paused for a moment. “That’s exactly what all three victims reported him saying. How did you know?”
Melanie buried her face in her hands. A hit of anger rippled through me. I wanted to rip this guy to pieces.
“Fuck,” I breathed. “Eleven years ago, Melanie was abducted outside her apartment. It happened in LA, but there are some weird similarities, including that one.”
“What else? ”
I met her eyes, and she nodded. I could tell him what I knew.
“She was alone at night in a parking lot. He grabbed her from behind and choked her until she blacked out. He whispered the same thing in her ear when he did it. He drugged her, and she woke up in the trunk of a car. She got away before he could do anything else. She didn’t see his face, and they never found him.”
“You said LA?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I want to get in touch with the agency down there who worked that case.”
“It couldn’t be him, could it? Here? What are the chances?”
“I don’t know what the chances are, but it’s worth investigating. We need every bit of information we can find. Where’s Melanie staying?”
I met her eyes. “With me.”
She didn’t protest. Just pressed her lips together and nodded.
“Good,” Garrett said. “We don’t know what this guy’s game is or where he might strike again. Pinecrest and Echo Creek are watching out for him as much as we are. They’ve got neighborhood patrols and retired cops keeping watch, especially after dark.”
“The SPS is handing out whistles and set up a buddy system.”
“Yeah, we’re aware. It should help. I don’t want the whole town freaking out, thinking they can’t leave their homes. But be cautious. You especially. Don’t leave Melanie alone until we catch this guy.”
“I won’t. Keep me posted if there’s anything else we should know.”
“I will.”
“Thanks.” I ended the call .
A second later, I was out of my chair, scooping Melanie into my arms. We settled on the couch, and I held her tight.
“What if it’s him?” she whispered. “What if he’s here? How could he be here?”
“I don’t know. But he’s not getting anywhere near you.”
She took a deep breath. “It might be someone else. This could be a big, unfortunate coincidence.”
“It could be. But I’m not taking any chances. Come stay with me.”
“Honestly, I don’t think I’d be able to sleep by myself right now.” She nestled her head against my chest.
“We’ll stop by your place this afternoon and grab whatever you need.”
She nodded.
Keeping my arms around her, I took a few breaths. Anger burned hot in my veins, chasing away the ache in my ribs. Whether or not this psycho was the same guy who’d abducted Melanie, he needed to be stopped.
And he wasn’t going to touch my girl.