Skye Cree 02: The Bones Will Tell Read online

  Over the next several hours, he fixed himself a plate with cheese he found in the fridge and some unopened sesame crackers in the cabinet. When he got thirsty, he drank from a carton of orange juice still in date. All the while he read through her journals. When that was done, he opened up the laptop. It took him less than fifteen minutes to crack her password and discovered she seemed to be as obsessive-compulsive as he was in keeping notes and searching websites.

  When bits of sun began to stream through the only source of light, the sliding glass door, he got up from the bed to stretch his back. Tidying the mess he’d made, he felt confident he could use everything he’d found to his advantage.

  But first, he had to go back to doing what he did best. He’d pinpointed his next victim. Because of that, come nightfall, his evening was already booked.

  Chapter Fourteen

  No doubt the residents tucked inside the gated section of Seattle known as Brittany’s Landing felt safe and secure. After all, the gate at the front of the complex was supposed to keep out the riff-raff. The eight-foot brick wall surrounding the little enclave didn’t hurt either.

  Designed to make sure the inhabitants didn’t have to put up with annoying door-to-door salesman—or the awkward face-to-face contact from people pushing their religious beliefs—or those on foot dropping off advertising flyers, in order to get past the gate, one had to enter a code into the keypad or press a handy remote for access.

  Frank De Palo didn’t have either. He didn’t need them.

  But he could have used a nice over-sized umbrella. By midnight the fine mist of early evening had turned into a heavy drizzle.

  The rain made the barrier in the back of the neighborhood a slick mess. Slippery, but not impossible to climb and vault over. Frank stood there gauging its height. But since he’d been here before, it wasn’t a big deal.

  He threw his bag over first then dropped down on the other side into a row of bushes. Strolling along the sidewalk as if he belonged there, he moved in the shadows past a common area, a clubhouse with a sparkling swimming pool and a playground for the kids.

  The neighborhood had everything the residents could want within easy reach of their front doors. Everything that is, except a guard out front or surveillance cameras to keep an eye on the perimeter.

  After tonight, the real estate agents might want to reconsider the advertising campaign that living behind a gate kept anyone out. Truth was, if he wanted to get in, he found a way in, simple as that.

  He made his way to the cross streets of Xavier and Allen as if he’d gone out for a breath of damp Seattle air. Because he already had mapped out his target, there was no need to scour the rows and rows of upscale homes.

  As soon as he reached Kathy Monroe’s two-story Mission Revival, or rather the house that belonged to her mother, he spotted the light burning bright in a downstairs window. He veered off in the direction of the side yard. He pushed the handle on the back gate, and kept to the fence line. Moving along the side of the brick structure, he hid in a row of bushes he could use as cover.

  From the backyard, he noted Kathy had left her blinds open. The little brunette would be his youngest yet. Well…except for that other one. But she didn’t count. She’d lived in another state—and was ancient history.

  From his spot, he could see all the way into the kitchen and beyond into the open living area. He watched through the glass as Kathy, the just-turned twenty-year-old, fidgeted with her cell phone.

  Standing as still as one of the bronze statues in Ravenna Park, Frank lifted his head to peer into the house.

  As always, he waited at the fringes—and for his opportunity.

  Still living at home, Kathy Monroe poured her third glass of merlot and settled down to call her mom, Louise, who had flown out of Sea-Tac just that Sunday morning for an all-inclusive vacation to Hawaii. Maui to be exact. With the three-hour time difference between Seattle and the island, it was only a couple of minutes after nine o’clock there. Because it was still early, and because her mother had specifically left instructions for Kathy to call, she couldn’t wait until morning to hear the details of her mother’s first trip to paradise. Besides, her mother was her best friend. Kathy wouldn’t think twice about pestering a friend on her first night in one of Kaanapali’s best beachfront resorts. So why not bug her mom.

  And even though Louise had only checked into the fancy hotel that afternoon, Kathy itched to get the low-down about the flight over, the accommodations, what the place had to offer. In other words, everything she was missing out on sitting back home alone in Seattle on a rainy night.

  Kathy had wanted so badly to make the trip with her mother that she’d considered giving her notice at the design firm where she worked. But quitting didn't make any sense when she had a car payment due. She couldn’t put Visa off either, even if her grump of a boss was a tyrant.

  She could only hope her mother would give her updates while she was on the island and take plenty of pictures. She knew, of course, that photos weren’t the same as experiencing all the pristine sandy beaches, the crystal clear water, and seeing the beauty of Maui firsthand. But it would have to do for the time being.

  Just because Kathy worked as a lowly go-fer for a crabby boss known for his CD cover designs didn’t mean she shouldn’t get to take a vacation. Considering she’d only been employed there for the past ten months didn’t make a difference to Kathy. She usually got the crap jobs no one else wanted to do anyway. She felt like her boss could’ve made an exception. He could’ve let her take a holiday two months before her anniversary date. But he hadn’t done that.

  With all the work she had piled up on her desk, Kathy didn’t stand a chance of seeing anything tropical unless it was a pineapple in the produce section at Safeway.

  When the call to her mother went to voicemail, Kathy sighed into the phone. She left a long message about how she wanted to hear each and every perk, all the amenities that came with the resort package Louise had booked.

  Knowing her mother was more than likely out having a blast, sitting around a fire at the first-night, get-together luau with the rest of the group members, didn’t help Kathy’s mood any.

  Draining her glass of wine and setting it in the sink, she decided it was time to head to bed. Kathy snatched up her cell phone just in case her mother decided to return the call whenever the luau ended.

  With thoughts of hula dancers and bare-chested hunks flitting through her head, Kathy climbed the stairs to the second floor. She couldn’t help but wonder if Louise, right at that moment, was sitting on a sandy beach sampling her first taste of poi. She knew her mother wouldn’t dare pass up a nice Mai Tai either.

  Heading into the bathroom to take off her makeup, the same makeup she’d painstakingly applied to drop off her mother twelve hours ago at the airport. Which was silly she thought now, she’d never even left the car.

  As she lathered up her face she realized in less than eight hours she’d have to put the stuff back on when she got up to go to work the next morning.

  It was then Kathy decided life was too short to sit on the sidelines. She smoothed face cream onto her cheeks and forehead and realized she hated her job. She spent eight long hours every day working for a man she didn’t like very much.

  As she pulled back the covers on her bed, she came to a decision. If she ever got the chance to see Hawaii again, she was ditching her asshole of a boss and taking the trip anyway.

  Unfortunately for Kathy Monroe, Frank De Palo had other plans for the woman’s future and a vacation didn’t enter into play.

  Like any good cat burglar, he waited until he saw the lights go out in Kathy’s upstairs bedroom before he made his move.

  Instead of walking back around to the front door and coming in that way, which he’d done on numerous occasions to other houses, Frank decided tonight he would use the roof. Maybe because the French doors on the second-floor balcony made a perfect entry point. Not only was it the darkest part of the backyard, but on
one of his previous visits he’d fixed the lock there to where it would easily stay open. That is, if no one else had tampered with it.

  He pulled on a pair of gloves from his bag then went over to pick up a deck chair from the back terrace that he thought would easily hold his weight. He carried the furniture over to the lowest roof point and positioned it so that he could reach the overhang.

  He went back for his tool bag, grabbed the mask and stretched it over his head. He zipped the bag closed then hurled it up and over the railing where it landed with a slight thud on the concrete.

  Hoisting himself up to the eaves, he grabbed on to the drainpipe, shimmied along the rim until he could throw his leg onto the roof. Balancing like an acrobat on the narrow ledge, he finished his climb the rest of the way across, edged his way around, no more than five feet, and dropped onto the balcony where his satchel already sat.

  He checked the double doors and found the latch just as he’d left it. A simple piece of Scotch tape over the mechanism had prevented it from locking. He loved homeowners who didn’t bother securing every door in their house before going to bed.

  He picked up his bag, turned the handle and stepped into the master bedroom where Kathy’s mother, Louise, normally slept. But since Frank had done his homework he knew Louise was three thousand miles away and that Kathy was alone.

  The carpeted floor muffled his footsteps as he narrowed his eyes, scanning the already familiar surroundings. Since this would act as his staging area, he began to shed his clothes. He stripped down to skin. From the bag he took out his knife and this time, a Beretta.

  He left the mother’s bedroom and walked down the hall to Kathy’s.

  Kathy had left her door open. And she wasn’t asleep yet.

  Kathy thought she heard a scraping sound outside, and then a thud. She tried to get comfortable again. But when she heard the same noise again, she lifted her head to try to pick up where the bump-in-the-night came from. It sounded like someone walking on the roof—which was impossible. Kathy knew that. But then she heard what sounded like the floor creak, maybe down the hallway. Once again, she convinced herself she had to be imagining things. Her mother wasn’t home so it had be the house settling. She rolled to her back.

  And that’s when she spotted him.

  She blinked and tried to focus on something other than the dark figure looming in the doorway. Her eyes locked onto a man wearing a mask over his head. The knife he held in his fist glinted silver.

  She panicked and grabbed for the phone on the nightstand.

  But Kathy wasn’t quick enough.

  The man had already closed the distance. With his gloved hand, he brought the blade down, slicing a gash into Kathy’s arm. Blood flowed from the wound which seemed to piss him off.

  “Damn it! Look what you made me do!” Frank screamed as he yanked the charger from the outlet along with the cell phone and threw both up against the wall.

  By this time, Kathy realized her attacker was naked—and fully erect. Even with what little light the bedroom offered, she noticed the deep brown of his eyes—and how empty they were.

  She felt a muscular hand clamp down around her neck to drag her to the floor.

  “You’re lucky it isn’t your hair,” Frank hissed as he leaned over and then straddled her torso.

  When she started to scream, he slapped her face. He put the cold blade of the knife under her chin and made sure she felt the skin prick and the trickle of blood it left.

  “Try to fight me, and I’ll slice your throat open right this minute. Nod if you understand?”

  Terrified, Kathy nodded.

  Kathy saw the knife move as he used it to cut the T-shirt she had worn to bed down the middle of her chest, exposing her breasts. He squeezed a nipple hard several times and then wrapped his fingers tighter around her neck. “You want to make me happy, right?”

  Kathy’s head bobbed up and down again. She could tell he got excited at that. But the pressure increased around her throat. She could barely breathe. She thought she might lose consciousness.

  Right before that happened though, he loosened his grip. “Good. Now this is what I want you to do.” In spite of the blood streaming down her arm and neck, he took her hand and brought it up against his lower belly, then slowly glided it down to his hard penis. He raised her head up slightly so she could put it in her mouth.

  “But…but…my arm is bleeding. It hurts,” Kathy protested.

  “Huh, I didn’t notice that. Stupid bitch,” he snarled. “Of course, you’re bleeding like a stuck pig. You made me cut you, didn’t you? Do what I tell you. Put my dick in your mouth.” When the young woman balked again, rage took over. “I thought you said you understood. Apparently you have a problem with basic instructions. Looks like you’ll need a lesson in following directions.”

  And with that, Frank started carving.

  Chapter Fifteen

  By eleven o’clock, the rain had turned to a steady downpour and forced Josh and Skye to retreat back to the warmer, drier confines of the loft, making for an early night.

  While they spent what was left of a quiet Sunday evening at home, the couple had no way of knowing what kind of grisly scene played out in another neighborhood a mere eight blocks away.

  They’d taken their showers to wash the street off, fixed hot chocolate with little marshmallows, and were now stretched out in the king-sized bed with their laptops resting on their legs while ESPN rehashed the Seahawks game, quarter by quarter, on the flat-screen TV. Every so often Josh looked up from his computer screen to see the fifteen-yard touchdown pass completed in the second or the fumble at the goal line in the fourth.

  “Nothing like football in the fall,” Josh murmured as he finished his email to his marketing team and hit send.

  “We’ve mined data from every source we can think of and we still don’t know anything about this sick bastard,” Skye groused as she took another sip from her mug.

  While the announcer on TV went over the other late scores on the West coast, Josh shut down his computer.

  And suddenly the temperature in the room dropped—noticeably. Like an Artic wind whipping out of the frozen tundra it nipped and bit.

  “Did you feel that?” Josh asked.

  In tune with the jolt and each other, their heads turned to stare.

  “You mean that intense cold chill? Hard not to,” Skye said. “Especially when it brings the temp in the room down a good ten degrees.”

  “Something just happened to cause the room to turn into a freezer section.”

  Instead of reaching for the covers, Skye bolted off the bed, snatching up her cell phone off the nightstand as she went. “Death. Darkness. Another victim.”

  Understanding had him leaning across her side of the bed. “Do you really think Harry will believe you, Skye?”

  “After pulling us into this thing, Harry had better. Did you get anything just now? Any bursts of energy, or flashes?”

  Josh didn’t have to ask what she meant. “Darkness, same as you. That’s what hit me first. Second, a life ending. Next, a subdivision with a gate out front. A man peeping through an open window. He uses a chair to get up to the roof. The door’s unlocked.” Josh frowned. “She left her door unlocked. No, wait. He’d been there before and did something to it so it wouldn’t close properly. I saw a knife, lots of blood. That’s it. That’s all I got. Not that much really. How about you?”

  Disheartened, Skye pushed the button to disconnect the call before Harry ever had a chance to pick up. “This is crazy, Josh. What do I tell Harry? This guy could be anywhere, in any number of neighborhoods that have a gate. Your parents live behind one.” She visibly shuddered at the thought of that. “It isn’t Laurelhurst, is it?”

  “No. That much I know. What did you see just now, Skye?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing we don’t already know. Darkness first, then a man standing in a house, carrying a knife, wearing a mask, and not a stitch of clothes on. I couldn’t get a read o
n the neighborhood though, Josh. No landmarks. Nothing.”

  “See, this is exactly what’s so frustrating. As we sit here watching Sports Center, our guy is out there torturing another victim.”

  Skye slumped back down on the bed. “He could be forty miles from here or forty blocks. He got undressed in that same room where he made his way into the house.” She chewed on her lip, trying to think of what she wanted to say. “Josh, there has to be a reason he wears that mask all the time at every crime.”

  “To scare the bloody hell out of his victims and get them to cooperate.” But Josh thought about that a minute longer before adding, “What are you thinking?”

  “Could he be some type of local celebrity afraid of getting recognized?”

  “Holy shit, wolf girl. You might be on to something. He’s lean, fit, athletic. Local sports star maybe?”

  “Maybe. Enough of a star that he thinks someone might see him without his mask and put two and two together.”

  “Talk about crazy but his general description is perfect for some type of athlete.”

  “Well, we know he doesn’t play football.”

  “How do we know that?”

  “You just watched highlights. The Seahawks were on the road.”

  “Good deduction, wolf girl.”

  “Stop calling me that! I could return the favor, you know, and call you wolf boy. How would you feel about that?”

  “Come here and I’ll show you.”

  “Is that all you think about?” she asked with a grin as she settled against his chest.

  “Only when I’m awake,” he replied, kissing her hair.

  She angled her body, reached up, draping her arms on both his shoulders. Their eyes locked as she crawled over his legs and onto his lap. She grabbed the end of her top, jerked it up and over her head, letting his eyes go wide at her boldness. She took his hands, guided them to each breast. “I need you to touch me tonight, Josh. All of me.”