Scene of the Crime Read online

  She screamed as a knife sliced out at her from the left, catching her in the middle of her thigh. She pivoted and ran to the left and caught a glimpse of Hannah ahead of her.

  “Stop! Hannah, don’t make me shoot you!”

  Hannah laughed and instantly disappeared from Jordon’s view. Jordon stopped her forward run and instead crept forward slowly...cautiously, unsure from where the next attack might come.

  Her biggest fear was that the attack would come from behind. That she wouldn’t see Hannah coming, she wouldn’t hear her approach until a knife plunged into the center of her back.

  There was no question the surroundings were disorienting for Jordon, and it was equally obvious Hannah was perfectly at home in the maze. Like the mouse that ruled this environment, Hannah was the rodent that knew all the secrets of the mirrors.

  The sticky wetness on her arm and the blood that now had soaked through her slacks concerned her, but she couldn’t focus on that now. She had to figure out a way to somehow disarm and contain Hannah without either of them getting killed.

  * * *

  GABRIEL DROVE AIMLESSLY in his car, the argument with Jordon playing and replaying in his head and sickening his heart. He’d been a damned fool to tell her how he felt about her.

  He should have at least waited until the day before she was leaving. Maybe with another week of spending more time together she would have been more open to the possibility of a continuing relationship.

  She obviously hadn’t been ready to hear what he had to say. Maybe his timing sucked, but he didn’t believe she didn’t care about him. He’d seen love or something very much like it shining in her eyes when she gazed at him in quiet moments of their days. He’d felt it wafting from her when they touched and when they laughed.

  What he hated was that they’d parted with harsh words. While he believed what he’d said to her about being afraid to reach out for love, he’d probably been too harsh with her. He’d let his emotions get ahead of him.

  He hated that her cold, demanding parents and a cheating ex-husband had made her believe that she was unlovable. He hated that she didn’t believe she deserved to be loved.

  He found himself parked back in the Diamond Cove parking lot and realized he was here to apologize to her. He’d pushed her too hard and he didn’t want to go to bed until he told her he was sorry.

  A glance at the clock told him it was a few minutes before midnight. It was possible she was already sleeping. He could always apologize to her in the morning. Still, he didn’t turn around and leave.

  Just as he’d needed to tell her how he felt about her earlier, he knew he needed to apologize to her this very moment. The cold air gripped him as he got out of his car. The same cold had encased his heart since he’d left her room earlier.

  He certainly didn’t intend to apologize for loving her, but he wanted her to know he hadn’t meant to get upset with her and that he just wanted her to be happy. At least that way hopefully there would be no unresolved tension between them in the morning.

  The last week with her shouldn’t be uncomfortable for them both. That wasn’t the impression he wanted her to take away from here.

  As he approached her door, he was relieved to see light casting out from her window. Good—apparently she was still awake.

  He rapped lightly on the door and waited for a reply. When none came he knocked a little harder. “Jordon, it’s me. I’d like to talk to you. Please open the door.”

  Several seconds passed and a rivulet of uneasiness swept through him. There was no way he believed her to be the kind of woman to just ignore him. He knew her well enough to know that if she was still angry with him she’d open her door and meet him with both barrels loaded.

  He froze. Had the patrol car he’d left for her to use while here been in the parking lot? He’d been so buried in his own head, so deep in his own thoughts, he hadn’t paid any attention.

  He turned and raced back to the parking lot. The uneasiness turned to panic as he saw the car was missing. Where could she have gone? Why would she leave her room at this time of night?

  Would she have been angry enough to get in the car and go for a drive? That just didn’t feel right. For several long seconds his brain refused to fire.

  Had something happened after he’d left her earlier? What could have possibly led her to leave her room at this time of night?

  Had the killer made contact with her again?

  He stared across the street where the Overton house was dark. He needed to get into Jordon’s room. He had to see if there was any clue inside as to her whereabouts. Maybe she just needed to get out and clear her head, he thought again as he raced across the street. Maybe she got hungry and decided to grab something to eat.

  However, in winter in Branson on a weeknight, most places shut down early. Besides, he just didn’t believe one of those rational explanations was right.

  Although he hated to bother the Overton family, an alarm bell was ringing loudly in his head, an alarm that told him Jordon might just be in trouble.

  He pushed the doorbell and heard the ding-dong echo someplace inside the house. He waited only a minute and then rang it again. Lights went on inside and Ted came to the door clad in a T-shirt and plaid sleep pants and holding a gun.

  “Chief Walters,” he said in surprise.

  “I need you to open Jordon’s door for me,” Gabriel said without preamble.

  “Give me a minute.” He opened the door to allow Gabriel to step into a small entry and then Ted disappeared down a hallway. He returned a few moments later wearing his coat and jeans and they both left the house.

  “Is there a problem?” Ted asked.

  “I’m not sure.” Gabriel’s gut twisted into knots of tension. He’d half hoped that by the time they got back to her suite she’d have pulled in, sheepish that she’d worried anyone and carrying a bag of goodies from the nearest all-night convenience store.

  “I hope I didn’t wake everyone in your house,” he said.

  “Just me and Joan. It would take a bomb going off to wake up Jason or Hannah at this time of the night,” Ted replied.

  When they reached her room, Ted pulled from his pocket a ring full of keys. He fumbled with them for a moment and then got to the one that would unlock her door.

  Gabriel stepped into the room and gazed around, his heart beating wildly. Almost immediately he saw the white folded piece of paper on her bed.

  His chest tightened. It looked just like the previous note she’d received from the killer. He picked it up and opened it. His blood chilled as he read the sick poem.

  “I’ve got to go,” he said to Ted. “Don’t touch anything in here. Just lock up after me.”

  He didn’t wait for Ted to reply. He ran out of the room and down the path to his car, his heartbeat thundering loudly in his head. He had to find her. Dear God, he had to get to her as soon as possible.

  When he got into his car, he looked at the time. Twenty after midnight. She’d met the killer twenty minutes ago in a place where she’d frozen in a panic attack when they’d been there before.

  She would not only be vulnerable to a bloodthirsty, knife-wielding killer, but also to the horrible demons of her past. Why hadn’t she called him the minute she’d received the note?

  Even as the question formed in his mind, he knew the answer. She’d been so angry with him and the note had said for her to come alone. Dammit!

  He tore out of the parking lot and tried to call her, but the call went directly to her voice mail. What was happening? He glanced at the clock. What had already happened? It had been almost half an hour since the rendezvous was supposed to occur. So many horrible things could transpire in that amount of time.

  He tried to call her again and got the same result. He then called Ben Hammond. The private investigator answe
red on the second ring.

  “You have men on Glen and Kevin Rollings?”

  “Yeah. When my guys last checked in they were both at their homes.”

  “Have them knock on the doors and get a visual confirmation that those two are where they’re supposed to be and then get back to me as soon as possible,” Gabriel said urgently.

  Ben called back just as Gabriel turned into the Mouse’s Maze of Mirrors parking lot, where Jordon’s car was the only other vehicle in the lot.

  “Both men are confirmed at their homes,” Ben said. “My men spoke to each of them.”

  “Thanks, Ben.”

  Gabriel pulled his car to a stop, his brain whirling with not just fear, but complete confusion. If Ted was at home, and Kevin and Glen Rollings were also in their houses, then who the hell was inside with Jordon?

  * * *

  “HANNAH, COME OUT and talk to me,” Jordon shouted. For the last few minutes the girl had been ominously silent. Jordon had no idea where she was in the maze now or how to find her to end the madness.

  She’d wandered down corridors, wound up in dead ends, and all the while her nerves had screamed with tension as she anticipated another attack.

  She thought the bleeding of her wounds had finally stopped, but the anxiety of the situation was definitely wearing on her. She had no idea how much time had passed since she’d first entered the maze but it felt like an eternity.

  The recorded cackle of the mouse split the air and Jordon dropped into a crouch, prepared for an attack that might come from any direction.

  Her own reflections haunted her. Her mind attempted to drag her back into the torment of her past. There were times she saw only herself and other times she saw the ghost of Ralph Hicks just behind her. She wanted to scream with the anxiety that bubbled inside her.

  “Hannah, this needs to stop now.”

  “You’re right.”

  The girl’s voice came from all around her and a sharp pain in the back stole Jordon’s breath away. She jerked around to see Hannah’s reflection in four mirrors. The girl smiled and held up her bloody knife.

  Jordon’s knees tried to buckle as she took a step forward and the warmth of blood worked down her spine. Her gun hand shook as she stared at the four Hannahs.

  Which one was real?

  Time seemed to stand still and then everything happened in the space of a single heartbeat. Jordon fired at one Hannah. Glass shattered to the floor. Damn, she’d shot a mirror.

  She gasped in agonizing pain and tears blurred her vision. If she had to shoot out every mirror in the place, she’d do it. She scarcely took time to breathe before she fired again, and this time her bullet found its mark.

  Hannah screamed and dropped her knife as she bent over to grab just above her left knee. She took a step forward and then fell out of the reflections and to the floor.

  It was over.

  Case solved.

  Jordon tucked her gun into her holster, the simple action taking up nearly all of her energy as her chest squeezed tight and her back screamed in pain.

  She walked over close enough to kick the knife out of Hannah’s reach and then took several steps backward. She was so tired...so very tired as the adrenaline that had pumped through her for so long seeped away.

  She’d just sit for a minute to catch her breath and then she’d call Gabriel. She sank down and leaned back. She was light-headed and cold chills raced through her.

  Hannah continued to yell and curse and cry, but the sound seemed to come from very far away. Jordon saw herself in three reflections and she was vaguely surprised that no visions from her past haunted her, no images of Ralph Hicks and that cellar tried to intrude. She saw only herself, alone as she had always been.

  The pain in her back intensified, making it difficult to breathe. She wondered if she might be dying. The thought made her so sad.

  She should have called Gabriel. Her heart squeezed tight at thoughts of him. He’d have to clean up this mess she’d made. At least Hannah would no longer be able to hurt anyone again.

  White dots like snowflakes danced in her vision. Cold. She was so very cold. She was back in a snow globe, immersed in a brutal, bitter winter.

  She closed her eyes.

  She should have gone home and danced in her underwear.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Gabriel approached the front door of the maze with his heart beating out of his chest. He had no idea what to expect or who besides Jordon he might encounter inside.

  Billy Bond was in jail and all their other suspects were accounted for, so whoever had written that note hadn’t even been on their radar. Who could it be?

  He went into the front door fast and with his gun ready. The small lobby was empty. He shoved through the turnstile and entered the maze. Instantly he heard female cries for help coming from someplace within the mirrors.

  His nerves electrified. Was it Jordon? No...he didn’t think so. Whoever it was, she was not only cursing but she was also crying for her mother.

  Definitely not Jordon.

  His mouth dried. So, where was Jordon? The unknowns of the situation balled a huge knot of anxiety in his stomach. He should call for backup, but until he knew what he faced, he was afraid that the extra manpower might only complicate things.

  He stood in a corridor where he saw nothing but visions of himself. He walked forward and took the first turn to the right. Another empty passageway.

  The cries for help had stopped and a frightening silence ensued. A horrible dread seeped into his bones as he continued walking slowly, aware that somebody could jump out and attack him with every step he took.

  Had the cries for help been a ploy? A ruse to get him to rush to the rescue only to be stabbed by the killer? Was that what had happened to Jordon?

  Oh, God—please, no. She might not want to have a meaningful relationship with him, but he certainly wanted her alive and well and with a future that would hopefully bring her to the point where she could love some special man. He didn’t want her hurt. He prayed she wasn’t hurt.

  Walking the maze was agonizingly slow as he constantly turned first one way and then the other to clear any corridors he came to.

  He finally stopped with his back to a dead end. “Jordon!” Her name released from the very depths of him with more than a hint of despair. “Jordon, where are you?”

  “I’m here. Please help me. I’m hurt.” The female voice came from his left and he suddenly recognized it.

  “Hannah?” he called out incredulously. What on earth was she doing in here?

  “She shot me. I just came here to help her and she accidentally shot me,” Hannah cried.

  “Where’s Jordon?” Gabriel tried to move in the direction of the voice.

  “She’s here. She’s...she’s dead. He stabbed her and then he ran away.”

  Gabriel stumbled into one of the mirrors as all the breath in his body whooshed out of him. No! The single word screamed in his brain. It couldn’t be. An all-encompassing grief pierced through him as he shoved off the mirror and continued walking.

  He couldn’t think about Jordon right now. He had to shove the grief away. He needed to focus. He pulled his radio from his belt and called in the troops.

  From what little he knew, this was definitely a crime scene and the killer was still on the loose. With the call made, he reattached the radio to his belt.

  “Hannah, keep talking so I can find you.” He pulled on every ounce of professionalism he had. Jordon was gone. Jordon was dead. Despite the utter tearing of his heart, he had a job to do.

  Hannah continued to yell to him, and with two more turns, he was there. His brain worked to take in the scene before him. Hannah lay on the floor, bleeding from what appeared to be a gunshot wound in her leg. A bloody knife was also
on the floor not too far away.

  It was the sight of Jordon that once again stole his breath away and squeezed his lungs so hard he could scarcely breathe. She was seated and leaning against one of the mirrors, eyes closed and utterly lifeless.

  He rushed to her side and crouched down, his fingers going to her neck to check for a pulse. Please be there, he prayed. Please don’t be dead.

  Yes! Yes, there was a pulse.

  He grabbed his radio once again. “I need an ambulance at Mouse’s Maze of Mirrors. Officer down. I repeat, officer down!” He touched her face. Her skin was cold and pale.

  “Jordon? Jordon, can you open your eyes? Can you talk to me?” There was no response.

  Her slacks were ripped and bloody across her thigh, but it appeared that the wound had stopped bleeding. He had no idea what other injuries she might have sustained.

  He was afraid to move her to even check. Hannah had said she’d been stabbed by the killer. More injuries had to be in her back or someplace where he couldn’t see them beneath her coat.

  “What about me? I’m hurt. She shot me,” Hannah cried plaintively.

  Reluctantly, he left Jordon’s side and moved to Hannah. The bullet had caught her just above her knee, and while she was bleeding, it was apparent that nothing vital had been hit because there wasn’t too much blood.

  “Just hang on,” he said to the girl. “Help is on its way.”

  “Is Agent James going to be all right?” Hannah asked and there was a glint of fear in her dark eyes.

  Gabriel took a step back and surveyed the scene once again. Hannah shot and Jordon apparently stabbed and the knife was on scene.

  There was no way the killer would have left his weapon behind. It didn’t make sense and the murderer they’d been chasing didn’t make those kinds of mistakes. There was no way he could believe things had happened as Hannah had said.

  A new quiet horror swept through him as he looked back at her. Was it possible that the tall, slender girl was responsible for all the deaths and destruction?