Into the Night(18)

And Patrick Remus—the serial arsonist who’d been hiding from the FBI for over two years—must have adopted a new identity while he’d been in hiding. Perhaps that new identity involved a new last name—

“Here he is.” The woman pushed her phone toward Macey. “See him? What will you do now? Get an APB out for him? Put his face on all the news channels?”

Macey stared at the photo before her. On the way there, she’d pulled up Patrick’s old case file and photos on her tablet. The man she was looking at right then had shaved his head and put on about twenty pounds...but she was staring at a face she knew.

Patrick Remus.

“Macey?” Bowen strode toward her. “We need to go back with the sheriff—”

“No.” She took the phone from the woman. “We need to put this man’s face on every news outlet in the area.”

Patrick’s girlfriend gave a quick sob.

“Because he’s been taken,” Macey continued. “And we need to find him.”

Macey turned the phone so that Bowen could see the screen. “Meet Patrick Grace.”

Bowen swore.

“He disappeared from his cabin last night.”

His gaze met Macey’s and Bowen nodded.

*

“SHE HAS NO clue who her lover really is,” Macey said as she stared through the one-way mirror at Lydia Chasing. Lydia was in the interrogation room at the police station, a mug of coffee cradled in her hand. Captain Harwell had just finished interviewing her, and Lydia...she seemed on the verge of collapse.

“The perp we’re after...you really think he snuck into her cabin and took Patrick without her knowing?” Bowen’s arm brushed against Macey’s.

“I think he could have done that.” She’d been considering the matter. “He attacked Daniel Haddox first.” She turned to stare up at Bowen. “You saw Daniel’s place—there were plenty of drugs there.” Syringes, medicines...things Daniel shouldn’t have been able to access, but he had. He’d made his own office in the middle of nowhere. He’d probably catered to low-income families, promising them treatment but...had he just taken more victims? Were there more victims out there waiting to be found? “Maybe our killer helped himself to supplies while he was at Daniel’s. Then all he would have needed to do was sneak into Lydia’s cabin, inject her while she was asleep, and he would have been sure she didn’t wake up and...interrupt his work.”

Bowen raked a hand over his face. “And if he didn’t want Patrick fighting back against him, then he probably drugged that guy, too.”

“It’s always easier to transport prey that doesn’t fight back.”

His gaze jerked up to hers.

“We should get blood work done on Lydia. See if anything turns up.”

“Macey...”

“It’s good that he didn’t hurt her,” she continued quickly. “I mean, it’s showing us that he’s focused on specific victims. If he’d wanted Lydia dead, she never would have woken up.” She drew in a deep breath. “This goes along with him being so organized. He knew exactly who he wanted, and he took that prey.”

“What are the fucking odds?” Bowen muttered. “The Doctor. The Pyro. Both so close together...”

“The odds are against that.” She wet her lips. “So I think we have to assume that our perp set this up.”

Now Bowen’s eyes narrowed. “When the captain was interviewing Lydia, she said she’d won this cabin vacation.”

“And that’s something else we need to investigate because my money—” Macey gave a sad shake of her head “—is on the fact that the killer brought Patrick up here. He lured him here because he wanted to kill him. He wanted him close enough that he could bring him into the plan, the trap that was waiting.”

“First Daniel Haddox, then Patrick Remus.” Bowen blew out a slow breath. “Who is going to be next? And how is this guy finding these serials?”

He’s a step ahead of us. More than a step. “He won’t move onto the next one, not until he’s finished with Patrick.”

A knock sounded at the door. It opened a moment later to reveal Captain Harwell. “Local news is here. They’re going to be running the pics of Patrick.” His jaw hardened. “You two going to tell that woman in there the truth about her boyfriend before the press conference?”

Yes, they were. Because Macey didn’t want Lydia finding out when she turned on a TV. Macey nodded, once, and relief flashed across the captain’s face. She knew he was relieved he wasn’t going to be the one who had to shatter that woman’s world.

The FBI has a lead because of Patrick’s real identity. The serials go to us... And they were going to be the ones to reveal the truth to Lydia. The captain exited and Macey squared her shoulders. She took a step toward the door—

Bowen moved into her path and she couldn’t help but tense.

But he didn’t say anything personal, didn’t bring up the night before, and she tried to act as if she couldn’t still feel him on her skin.

“She’s not going to believe you, not at first.” His voice was quiet. “People never want to believe that they’ve chosen the wrong lover.”

She eased out a slow breath and forced herself to hold his stare. I knew exactly who I was choosing when I went to you last night. “I have pictures. We’ll make her believe us.”