Valentine Killer: Die For Me Part 39

Meadows faltered.

"Has anyone seen Anthony Ross?" Dane demanded.

The cops stared blankly at him.

Dane yanked out his phone and tried to get the marshal on the line. Ross would want to know about Valentine-but h.e.l.l, when they'd brought the killer to the station, the reporters had been waiting for them. Valentine's new face was already splashed on all the TVs in town.

Ross would have heard the reports. He should have been there.

And Ross wasn't answering his phone.

Dane's fingers tightened around the phone. Ross had been at the explosion on Oakland, but Dane hadn't seen the guy since then. "Was he taken to the hospital after Oakland?" The scene had been chaos. So many injured cops...

No one answered. s.h.i.+t. Dane called Mercy General, got the attendant to check, but there was no record of an Anthony Ross being treated.

Dane glanced around the room and saw John Baylor. He was d.a.m.n glad John was there-the man was the best tech support they had. "Trace his phone," he ordered John.

"I don't think that's necessary," Meadows began. "If a man doesn't answer when you call, that doesn't mean-"

"Valentine is too smug, too d.a.m.n confident for a man who should be looking at death." Dane shook his head. "Anthony Ross has been on this case for three years-three years-but he's not here now, when we actually have Valentine?" No, that wasn't the way the scene would play.

Sweat beaded near the DA's temples. "Fine. John, get a trace on his phone. Show the detective that he's wrong."

Dane wanted to be wrong.

"He's not afraid of us," Mac said. "That a.s.shole should be afraid."

"He's not afraid because he doesn't give a s.h.i.+t what we think." Dane took his gun out of his holster. Put it on the table. If he was going in that room, he wanted to remove temptation from his grasp.

Because I want you dead, b.a.s.t.a.r.d. When he got close to Valentine, the temptation to shoot just might be too strong for him.

"He only cares about Katherine," Mac added as he scrubbed a hand over his face. "She's the only one-"

"And we just might have to get her in there." Dane's jaw ached from gritting his teeth. "He's not going to tell Forrest and Smith anything. We're wasting too much f.u.c.king time."

Valentine stopped grinning. "Tick, tick, tick."

Screw this. Dane shoved past Meadows and pushed the b.u.t.ton for the intercom. "You took someone."

Valentine raised his brows. "Did I, Detective Black?"

"He's got them both," Mac said. "Both."

"You're jumping to conclusions," Meadows told them, but his voice was shaking. "We have no proof that..."

John cleared his throat and put down the phone he'd had at his ear. "Sir, a trace wasn't necessary. We just located Ross's phone." Meadows looked relieved. "I told you-"

"The ME found it in Evelyn Knight's coat pocket. She heard it ringing when Detective Black called-"

"Sonofab.i.t.c.h." From Meadows.

"Tick, tick, tick," Valentine said once more. "If you don't hurry, you're gonna be seeing red." His head c.o.c.ked as he studied the big, round clock on the wall to his right. "And look at that, it's Valentine's Day."

Then Meadows was the one rus.h.i.+ng from the room and heading into interrogation. Mac and Dane were with him, clearing a path.

Meadows shoved the door open, and it banged against the wall. "Do you have knowledge of Anthony Ross's whereabouts?"

Valentine nodded. "I believe I do." His fake drawl rolled beneath the words.

"Where is he?"

Valentine tapped his chin with his right index finger. "He's dying right now. Every precious second just ticking past." Valentine's sigh held no regret. "I kept trying to tell you we don't have time to d.i.c.k around here."

"Where-"

"Ah, Detective Black, I figured you'd join me, if I used the right bait." Valentine's eyes held no emotion. "Now that we're all here and not pulling the ridiculous bulls.h.i.+t of talking through the gla.s.s, this is how the deal is going to work." He leaned forward.

"I don't deal with-" Meadows began.

"You deal with every murderer, rapist, and pedophile that you can." Valentine's voice was mild. "And you will f.u.c.king deal with me. Or I'll make your world a nightmare."

Meadows surged toward him. "You're threatening me?"

"If I were, you'd already be dead." Valentine inclined his head. "Right now, I'm dealing with you. Offering a trade. One life, for another."

"We're not letting you go, b.a.s.t.a.r.d." Meadows glared at Valentine.

"Then I guess that will be one life lost." Valentine didn't look like he cared worth a d.a.m.n. "But the marshal was always expendable, wasn't he? It's the girl, the pretty little blonde. I'm betting she'll matter more."

h.e.l.l. Until that moment, Dane had been holding out some hope that there was a mistake. That Maggie would turn up at the hospital, rus.h.i.+ng to her father's bedside.

The silence in the room was thick and dark and evil. Just like Valentine.

"You're f.u.c.king enjoying this, aren't you?" Dane knew it was true.

Valentine blinked, as if surprised. "Of course I enjoy my kills. Don't you enjoy it when you have the power of life and death over someone? When you have all the control?"

"I don't get off on killing," Dane bit off the words through clenched teeth.

Anger flared in Valentine's eyes, but the expression cooled quickly. Control. Yeah, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d wanted to have it, all right.

"Here's how this deal will work," Valentine said, his voice rumbling. "I'll take you to the marshal, in exchange for your not seeking the death penalty."

"And what will you want for Maggie's life?" Dane demanded.

Meadows had backed away from Valentine. Smart move. The guy must have just noticed the blood on the floor, courtesy of Forrest. Forrest was currently leaning against the right wall. Meadows and Smith and Forrest and the uniforms were all afraid of Valentine. Their body language and their s.h.i.+fting eyes screamed their fear.

And Valentine liked for them to be afraid.

Dane stalked toward the guy. He grabbed Valentine's chair and spun the b.a.s.t.a.r.d so that he had to fully face him. "What do you expect to get for her?"

Valentine blinked. "Isn't it obvious? It should be. I mean, what's the one thing I want in this world?"

Katherine.

Dane shoved his hands down on Valentine's shoulders. The pressure would ensure that Valentine didn't lunge up and attack him the way the guy had done with Forrest. Then Dane leaned closer to him and whispered, "You're not getting near Katherine."

"Then your captain will find his little girl's body." A bitter laugh. "Or maybe he won't. Maybe he won't ever know what happened to her. Maybe he'll spend his whole life searching for her bones."

Dane stared into the man's eyes. There should have been a soul there. There should have been emotions. Hate. Fury. Fear. There should have been something. "How the h.e.l.l did you wind up this way?" he asked.

"Maybe I was always like this." But Valentine's eyelids flickered. "Now bring Kat to me, and let's get this show on the road."

Dane shook his head. Valentine was talking now. That was what they wanted. Step one was a success. As far as Katherine was concerned, never gonna happen. They'd keep the guy talking. Maybe break through that wall of ice he was using for protection, and then he'd slip up. Give them a clue to Ross's or Maggie's whereabouts.

The door opened behind him. Dane didn't glance back over his shoulder. When a snake was about to strike, you d.a.m.n well didn't look away. Everyone knew that lesson. Every. One.

Footsteps shuffled toward him. Slow.

"Where is she?" The captain's voice. Weak.

f.u.c.k. "You shouldn't be here, Harley." The captain still should have been in the hospital.

"Heard...you brought him in...had to come see...the others told me...on the way...can't find...my Maggie..."

He'd never heard the captain sound so lost.

"She was crying for him when I left her," Valentine said.

The captain sucked in a pained breath.

The guy had just d.a.m.n well confessed to hurting Maggie, but Dane knew he had to push for more, so he said, "That's bulls.h.i.+t. You put duct tape over your victims' mouths. You don't let them talk or cry or beg." Maybe the guy didn't have her. Maybe- "I let Evelyn talk. When you got there, did you see duct tape on her mouth?"

No, there hadn't been any duct tape on her.

"She confessed to killing Savannah Slater and Amy Evans." He exhaled slowly. "Such a troubled woman. Dr. Knight was so very broken."

And you're not?

"Where is...Margaret?" Harley's hand closed around Dane's shoulder. Dane let the guy haul him back.

But then...

He never expected the captain to move so fast. In an instant, the captain had his gun out and the barrel shoved right against Valentine's head. Dead center in the middle of his forehead. "Where is my girl?"

It seemed as if every cop in the room had stopped breathing. Except for the captain. His breath sawed in and out. In and out. Heavy and too hard.

Dane's hands were in the air. Frozen. "You don't want to do this, Harley."

"He told me...I did...nothing."

Dane took a cautious step toward the captain. The guy's body was trembling.

"I let you...get hurt...all those...years." The gun dug deeper into Valentine's forehead. "I won't...do nothing now." His finger was squeezing the trigger. "Where is she?"

"If you kill me, she just dies a slower, more painful death." Valentine's voice was mild and even. He's taunting Harley.

Harley's face crumbled. Dane lunged forward, grabbed the gun, and pushed the captain back.

"Good job, Detective," Valentine murmured. He didn't look even a little worried. "There just might be a hero in you yet."

Pull the trigger. The temptation whispered through Dane's mind. One quick pull, and everything would be over.

His gaze held Valentine's. Do it. The challenge seemed to be right there, but that didn't make any sense. Valentine was fighting to get the death penalty off the table. So why would he also be pus.h.i.+ng for death-by-cop?

"Bring Katherine Cole in here, now!" Meadows yelled. He pointed his finger, a shaking finger, at Harley. "And get the captain out of here."

Smith and Forrest were only too happy to comply.

Dane didn't move. He wasn't sure he could. Shoot the b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

"Detective, you need to step back," Meadows told him.

Yes, he supposed that was what he needed to do.

"Want to pull that trigger, don't you?" Valentine whispered to him.

"Yes." His own voice was just as soft. The captain was gone. Only Dane, Mac, and Meadows were in that room.

"Making a deal with him will be a mistake," Mac rasped.

"And if I don't," Meadows said, "then a man I've known for twenty years will probably eat his gun before the night's over."

Yes, Harley would.

More footsteps were heading toward them. Not heavy this time. Light.

Valentine's nostrils flared, as if he were drinking in a scent.

"Dane?" Shock coated Katherine's voice.

Because he had a gun at Valentine's forehead.

"She's seeing you for what you are," Valentine told him with a flash of that maddening grin.

Jaw locked, Dane stepped back. He shoved the gun into the empty holster under his left shoulder.

"Ms. Cole," Meadows began. "I'm very sorry to bring you in."