“Where did you get that?” he said, eyeing the knife, frowning back at her.
“Didn’t you know?” She clicked it shut, slipped it into her jeans pocket. “They issue these to all mental patients upon release.”
He raised his hands in surrender. “Fine. I don’t want to know. Truthfully, I’m glad you have something to defend yourself with.”
“I don’t need this to defend myself. What the hell happened to Levi? He’s dead? He’s really dead?”
He nodded solemnly, then gestured to the black-topped table. “Let’s sit.”
They did, and he filled her in on what he’d learned and seen. His delivery was understated, but he did not avoid the unpleasant details.
“Butchered,” she said quietly. “Like my family.”
“The use of a knife may indicate the same perpetrator, yes.”
“You think? Mark, he knows we’re looking for him. But he’s found us, before we found him! How does he know?”
“That may come out in questioning.”
She frowned at him. “What?”
He smiled and it was a self-satisfied smile of a sort she’d never seen from him. “I think I got him.”
“What?”
“I got him, Jordan.” He raised a fist chest high and shook it in a victory gesture. “This nightmare ends now. I only wish it could have ended sooner, before what happened to Levi, but... this is what you’ve been waiting for. It’s finally here.”
But it wasn’t what she’d been waiting for, was it? She’d wanted to find the intruder before Mark, before the police, because he had to die. This monster had to die, and at her hands. That was the only way. The only way.
Proud of himself, Mark was saying, “I made an arrest before coming over here — that’s why I’m so well-groomed.” He gestured to his torn, soiled clothing. “I had to tackle his behind.”
“Whose ‘behind,’ goddamnit?”
“Oh. Sorry. Stuart Carlyle.”
“One of Havoc’s coaches.”
He nodded. “He’s in custody now. That was whose picture I ran past you.”
“But I couldn’t identify him.”
“No, but you said it might be the guy.” Mark frowned. “By the way, you may want to forget I showed you that picture, when you’re brought in to pick him out of a lineup.”
“Bending the rules, Detective?”
“For you, I’d throw them all out the window.”
All of them? Would you stand there and watch me kill the man, just as savagely as he killed my family? Because if you want to woo me, Mark Pryor, that’s what it’s going to take.
Her eyebrows went up. “What happens if it isn’t him?”
His eyebrows furrowed. “Well...”
“If it’s not him, when I get a better look at him, what then? I’ll tell you ‘what then’ — it means the real killer’s still out there.”
“Yes,” he said, though he was shaking his head no. “But the evidence indicates it is Carlyle. My work led to Havoc, and your team made suspects out of his staff. It’s a joint effort we can all be proud of. We can all take credit.”
“Credit! Who gives a fuck about credit?” She leaned forward. “We need to talk to the others on the team. I called them like you asked, but didn’t tell them about Levi. Maybe we should call a meeting, and—”
Halfway through that, he had started to pat the air with his palms. “I’m ahead of you. I’ve already called David, Phillip, and Kay, and broken it to them about Levi. I’ve sent uniformed officers to watch Kay and David, as well.”
“What about Phillip?”
“He declined police protection.”
“Well, if you already have the killer in custody,” she said openly sarcastic, “why bother with any of them?”
“Until you make your ID and all the evidence is in,” Mark said, “we have to operate as if the killer were still at large. I could be wrong about Carlyle. You’re right about that.”
“I’m glad you grasp that. Because I’m not sure about that photo.”
Or did she not want to be sure?
Mark shrugged. “As for Phillip, he’s a survivor of a crime apparently unrelated to the family murders. Says since he didn’t join the team until just recently, the killer probably doesn’t even know he exists. He says he’ll be ‘extra-vigilant.’ ”
“That sounds like him,” she said. “But you should talk him out of turning down protection. If there’s any chance the killer is still out there, he needs that the same as the rest of us.”
Mark was nodding. “I agree. If this killer has been watching you... and there’s every indication that this is the case... then he knows all about your support group spin-off team. Might have intended targeting all of you.”
“You’ll talk to Phillip?”
“I will. You know, from what he said on the phone, he must be the last person alive to speak to Levi.”
“Really? Why do you say that?”
“Levi was on his way over to Phillip’s to work on the case. Apparently Levi had some kind of breakthrough. But he never showed. Then Phillip fell asleep waiting for him, didn’t wake till morning, and... not surprisingly... got no answer when he tried to call.” Mark shook his head. “Poor guy sounded shattered, hearing the news.”
“I wouldn’t have been surprised,” Jordan said dryly, “if Levi called and said he was coming over, and then didn’t show.”
“Why’s that?”
“We all knew that piece-of-shit car of his was a problem. Anyway, Phillip’s going to be key from here on. He’s the one with the computer skills.”
Mark shook his head. “That shouldn’t be necessary now. Even if I’m wrong about Carlyle — and I doubt I am — the one good thing that comes from Levi’s murder is that a real police investigation is going to be mounted. Finally what I’ve been doing... what we’ve all been doing... will be recognized as valid.”
She asked, “How did the killer — whether he’s this Carlyle person or not — even know about our support-group team?”
He touched her hand and she drew it back quickly, but he reached for it, trying again, and this time she let him. He squeezed gently.
“Jordan,” he said, “I’m afraid this predator may have been watching you since your release.”
She frowned. “Why do you think that?”
He took a few moments, selecting his words. “There was a waitress killed in this neighborhood a few days after you got out of St. Dimpna’s. She had a vague resemblance to you.”
“God. How... how was she killed?”
“With a knife. Multiple stab wounds.”
“You mean she was butchered, too?”
He nodded. “We can’t be sure there’s a connection. Sergeant Grant has a few suspects from the young woman’s life — a married man, and she had her share of dates, some of them paying for the privilege.”
“A prostitute?”
“Not hardcore, apparently. More casual than that, but yes. That she was found in this part of town, and that she had dark hair and your general build... her death may have been a message to you.”
She winced in thought. “What, that he was still out here?”
“Yes. A kind of terrible, sick... ‘welcome home.’ ”
Her eyes flashed and her nostrils flared. “How long have you known this?”
He put up his hands in surrender. “Hey, I didn’t keep anything back from you. I knew about her death from Sergeant Grant, when he asked me to talk to you for him. But at the time, neither of us saw any connection. Now that Levi’s been killed, in much the same way... well. It’s still just a theory.”