Cold Feet. Brenda Novak
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“Caleb, don’t do this to me,” she replied, openly crying. “I haven’t bothered you for anything since our last divorce.”
Caleb rolled his eyes. Wasn’t that the general idea? It wasn’t as if they had children together. And contrary to her claim of not bothering him, she called often. She called to borrow money. She called to ask how to file her income tax returns. She called to see if he could remember what happened to the X rays that had been taken of her leg when she’d had that waterskiing accident. She even called to see what his plans were for certain holidays.
“I don’t understand what you want from me,” he said in frustration.
“I haven’t been able to reach Susan for almost a week. Mom and Dad haven’t heard from her. Lance, the guy she’s dating, hasn’t heard from her. She hasn’t called in at work—”
“Skipping work is nothing new for Susan, either,” he pointed out.
“Caleb, she was living near the university.”
At this Caleb sat forward, feeling his first flicker of alarm. Eleven women had been abducted and killed near the University of Washington over the past twelve years. Holly had lived right next door to one of them. That was how he’d met her. He’d been working for the Seattle Police Department, canvassing the apartment building of the strangler’s ninth victim, looking for leads, and he’d knocked on Holly’s door to check if she’d seen or heard anything.
But Caleb was certain the man who’d committed those murders was now dead. He should know. He’d spent three years on the task force investigating the case and another four continuing to help after he’d quit the Seattle PD. “Holly, the Sandpoint Strangler shot himself in his own backyard over a year ago.”
She sniffed. “If you’re so sure, why didn’t you ever finish the book you were going to write about him?”
“There wasn’t enough hard evidence to connect Ellis Purcell to the killings,” Caleb admitted. “But you saw him drive away from your apartment building the night Anna was murdered. You’re the one who gave us the partial plate number.”
“But you could never place him inside the apartment.”
“That doesn’t mean he was innocent, Holly,” Caleb said, making a halfhearted attempt to organize his desk while they talked. “Purcell couldn’t account for his whereabouts during several of the murders. He failed two different lie-detector tests. The geographical profile done by the FBI indicated the killer lived within a five-block radius of him and his family. And he was secretive, kind of a recluse. I talked to him twice, Holly, and it always felt as though he was hiding something.”
“I know all that, but when you worked for the department you searched his place three different times and never found anything.”
“Some of the task force searched it. I was young enough, and new enough to the force, that I did what Gibbons told me, which was mainly behind-the-scenes grunt work. Gibbons was lead detective. He always dealt with the really important stuff. But the murders have stopped since Purcell’s death,” Caleb said. “That should tell you something.”
“They stopped for several years after Anna’s body was discovered, too,” Holly argued.
“That’s because the police were watching Purcell so closely he could scarcely breathe. The murders started up again as soon as that custodian, John Roach, killed a kindergarten teacher at Schwab Elementary downtown and almost everyone on the force, including Gibbons, suddenly believed we’d been barking up the wrong tree. But it was only wishful thinking.”
“Then what about the woman who went missing from Spokane a couple of months ago?” Holly asked. “How do you explain that if the strangler’s dead?”
“I haven’t heard anything about it,” he said.
“I just read an article the other day that said the police found some of that date rape drug on the floor of her car. Roach is in prison and Purcell is dead, but that sounds like the strangler to me.”
Caleb still had several close friends on the force. If anything interesting had developed, Detective Gibbons or Detective Thomas would have called him. This case had meant a lot to all of them. “Have they found her body?”
“Not yet.”
“Then they don’t know anything. Roofies are only about two bucks per tablet, and they’re easy to buy. We saw them in that pharmacy when we were in Mexico, remember?”
“So what about Susan?” she asked, with more than a hint of desperation.
She was baiting him, trying to tempt him back into her life. But it wasn’t going to work this time. He no longer felt the same compulsion to rescue her that had drawn him to her in the first place. “I don’t know what you want me to do.”
“You used to be a cop, for God’s sake! A good one. I want you to come out here and find her, Caleb.”
Shoving his mouse away, Caleb turned in his new leather office chair to stare out the picture window that revealed a breathtaking view of San Francisco Bay. A panorama of blue-green, undulating ocean dotted with at least twenty colorful sailboats was spread out before him. “I live in California now, Holly.” As if to prove how necessary it was that he remain in his current surroundings, he added, “I have someone coming to lay new carpet next week.”
“This could mean Susan’s life!” Holly cried.
Another over-the-top statement? Given Holly’s penchant for theatrics, he figured it was…. “I’m not a cop anymore. I write true crime books. I don’t know what you think I can do.”
“I know what you can do,” she said. “I married you twice, remember? It’s almost uncanny how you turn up whatever you’re looking for. It’s a talent. You’re…you’re like one of those journalists who’ll stop at nothing to uncover a story.”
Caleb wasn’t sure that was such a positive association, but he let it pass because she was still talking.
“You could come if you wanted to. Lord knows you’ve got the money.”
“Money isn’t the issue,” he replied.
“Then what is?”
His hard-won freedom. He’d had to leave the Seattle area to get far enough away from Holly. He wasn’t about to head back now, even though his parents still lived on Fidalgo Island, where he’d grown up, and he loved the place. “I can’t leave. I’m in the middle of another book.”
She seemed to sense that he wasn’t going for the panicky stuff, and made an effort to rein in her emotions. “What’s this one about?”
“A girl who murdered her stepfather.”
She sniffled again. “Sounds fun.”
At her sarcasm, he felt his lips twist into a wry grin. “It’s a living. Somebody I know hated being a cop’s wife and encouraged me to go for my dream of becoming a writer.”
“And is that so bad? Now you’re rich and famous.”
But still divorced. No matter how much Holly professed to love him, he couldn’t live with her. She was simply too obsessive. He’d married her the first time because he’d thought they could make a life together. He’d married her the second time because his sense of honor demanded it. But beyond their initial few months together, their relationship had been fractious at best, and they’d spent more days apart than they’d ever spent as a couple.
“You should come back here and do some more work on the Sandpoint Strangler,” she said in a pouty voice.
“No, thanks. I’ve learned a bit since the early days.” Caleb started doodling on an empty message pad. “Now I typically write about crimes that have already been solved—by someone else. It’s a hell of a lot easier.”
“You