Aura of night a novel, p.4
Aura of Night--A Novel, page 4
But many respected them; they had a stellar record when it came to solving cases.
Ragnar handed him the box and smiled grimly.
Trent accepted it. He shook his head. “This was delivered to the young woman who was kidnapped and nearly killed? Megan Law? And her sister is Special Agent Colleen Law? Or should I say Colleen Gallagher now? Or is she changing her name?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, it’s lucky they’re with your unit. They’d probably be split up otherwise. Anyway, I’m so sorry for that poor woman! She must be terrified. I assume she’ll be protected night and day.”
“Oh, yes, she will be. I guarantee it,” Ragnar said. “And thank you.”
He hurried out and was surprised to discover Megan was with a group of people in the reception area. She was smiling and animated, her eyes were flashing beautifully, and she looked happy.
He hung back because she was in conversation with the group. But then she saw him. Her smile faded.
Well, he was sorry he was darkening her life. It couldn’t be helped.
She excused herself, saying how wonderful it had been to see them, and then she walked back over to him.
The people in the group stared at them both, whispering.
Speculating.
“Ready?” she asked, heading for the exit.
“Sure. I hate to draw you away from cocktail hour, though,” he said.
She winced. “I know several of the writers who were here today. Novelists tend to be friendly, and it’s a big community. Anyway, I was surprised to see them. I think they thought I was part of the group at first, but then the whole thing about the Embracer kidnappings and killings has been in the news, so they made the connection quickly. I just said I was heading back to do some research.”
“Ah. Mystery writers. You didn’t tell them you’d received a human head in a box?”
She let out an aggravated sigh. “No, of course not. You said to keep it quiet.”
“Right. I don’t want to feed into any monster’s search for fame.”
“No,” she muttered. “Okay, so let’s get Hugo. And I’ll be quick, I promise, but I will need to pack a few things.”
“You can take your time. It will be better if we start out a little later now anyway. I realize you live here, but I have been to New York before. And I do know about traffic.” They got back into his car.
She fell silent, other than directing him to her building. He found street parking about a block from her apartment house. She was on the third floor of a building off the north side of Central Park, and the entry vestibule was empty when they arrived. They didn’t speak in the elevator or as they walked down the hall. But once she had keyed open her door, she seemed to soften.
Of course.
The dog was there and eager to greet her.
“Hugo, he’s a friend,” she said.
The giant shepherd might not have been trained to the nth degree like Mark Gallagher’s Red, but he was obedient. He looked at Ragnar carefully before Ragnar stopped, showed him his hand, and allowed him to sniff it before giving him pats on the head.
“At least you know dogs,” she said.
“At least you told him I was a friend,” he said dryly.
She didn’t reply. “He needs a walk.”
“When you’re ready, we’ll walk him.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Right. Right. I’ll be quick.” It was almost as if she’d forgotten she had received a human skull, and that she did indeed need protection.
She didn’t lie about being quick. Megan got a small bag together in about five minutes and returned to her living room with it to tell him they just needed to lock up—she was ready to go.
“Anything else?” he asked her. “Your laptop—”
“In the bag. I keep some things at Colleen’s place for when I’m there, so... I should be fine. Because...well, this can’t go on forever.”
Not forever, he thought. But it had been going on for years before they had even known there was a strange brotherhood of men who liked to bury women alive.
He didn’t reply.
“I’ll take your bag; you can get Hugo.”
“He’ll need—”
“Yes, we’ll walk him. And we can stop along the way and let him out, too.” He paused just a moment and then said, “We will have to let your sister know. I thought we’d be fine leaving her and Mark out of the loop when I was just going on a gut feeling, but now...”
“Now we have a skull.”
“I believe, from the autopsies I’ve been to and the crime scene photos from previous cases, she’s been dead awhile,” Ragnar said somberly. “But she was dug up and sent to you as a warning—a threat, a tease, or a promise.”
“Okay, so... Hugo! Let’s go for a walk!” Megan said.
As they walked out he noticed she had a little container of bags to collect Hugo’s droppings when necessary.
But Hugo was excited to merely lift his leg here and there as they walked the blocks by the car.
The pooper-scooper bags weren’t necessary.
“Is he good in a car?” Ragnar asked as he opened the back door for the shepherd.
“Excellent. He loves a drive,” Megan assured him.
Hugo crawled in. Out of habit, Ragnar opened the front passenger’s door for Megan.
“I’m really okay,” she told him. “Capable.”
“And I was taught to be polite. I’m afraid you’ll have to get over it,” he told her.
She didn’t reply. He was sure she was gritting her teeth.
He walked around to the driver’s door, but he paused and looked around. Two kids were riding bikes down the sidewalk. A mother was pushing a baby in a stroller. Two college-age boys were discussing something in the sky as they walked along.
Harmless and innocent.
And while night would come soon enough, the sky was a beautiful shade of deep blue only lightly touched by powder-puff clouds.
He took a breath.
Whoever was taunting Megan was not there then. He’d wondered if she was being stalked. But maybe they had only been hanging around outside the publishing office.
Hoping to see the ruckus that might begin when she opened the box, screamed bloody murder, and the place filled with police.
They might have been sincerely disappointed.
And come here.
But if so, they weren’t here now. And perhaps they hadn’t bothered. Perhaps that person had seen her leave the office with him.
Seen him holding the box and Megan calmly walking along beside him.
Maybe the sender thought the box hadn’t even been opened yet.
He didn’t know. And he didn’t believe a place in itself could be safe—any place.
But come hell or high water, he was going to keep Megan safe. Wherever they were.
He folded himself into the car and started to drive.
Traffic was already bumper to bumper.
It was going to be a long night.
* * *
The safe house was inconspicuous, a colonial-style house next to other colonial houses. It did have a gate; and while the cameras that showed every angle of the house were not easily visible, Ragnar assured Megan they were there.
They were greeted by Jackson Crow and Angela Hawkins Crow.
Colleen had once told Megan her field supervisor—Jackson—had been the first agent recruited by millionaire philanthropist Adam Harrison to lead their unusual office. Adam wasn’t particularly talented or gifted—or cursed—as his agents were, but his son, Josh, had been special, and had died far too young in an accident. But after years had passed, Adam had acquired the ability to see Josh. Maybe his love for his son and his generosity to others had given him what he needed.
Crow was a tall, handsome man with ink-dark hair and eyes a deep shade of blue. Steady as brick. Angela was blonde and lovely. Colleen had also told Megan that Angela was proficient in the office running logistics and their tech team. She was equally able to be a supermom to their adopted son and their toddler daughter.
Both were wonderfully courteous, professional, and welcoming—and they were pleased Hugo was with her. They had dogs themselves, they assured her.
Hugo was on his best behavior and happy to meet them.
“I’ve informed Colleen and Mark you’re here,” Angela said. “We felt it would be worse if they found out later, but we’ve assured them you are in the safe house and under guard.”
Jackson picked up the conversation, telling Megan cameras covered all the doors and windows. A state-of-the-art alarm system would go off at any unauthorized attempt to breach the gated wall around the house or the doors. For any entry, they had to enter the code at the gate, then at the house, and use the manual key.
Megan smiled weakly. “It sounds like a very safe house. I know with the Krewe, I’m in the best of hands.”
“There will be an agent outside at all times as well. You and Ragnar will be working together; but anytime he needs to leave, there will be another agent assigned.”
“Um, perfect, thank you.”
“No. Thank you,” Jackson told her seriously. “We might be putting a stop to something that has gone on for more than a decade. A very sick fraternity. With your help, the taunts the incarcerated men are throwing out might just turn on them. And while they obviously know about you and know you’re Special Agent Colleen Law’s sister, they don’t know everything we do.”
“Right,” Megan muttered.
“It’s late; you’ve had a long day...” Angela began.
“Traumatic day. It would be so even for one of us,” Jackson finished. “Not even at our offices are we accustomed to receiving skulls in boxes.”
“Have we heard anything on that yet?” Ragnar asked.
“They’re searching dental records among missing persons. The medical examiner has estimated death at two to three years. They’re analyzing the dirt that was clinging to the skull to hopefully give us a place of burial. We know the skull belonged to a female, and we’re estimating she was in her midtwenties to thirty,” Angela told him. “For now, we’re going to get out of here. We have people working through the night seeing what we can find, if anything, in prisoner phone communications. They are all monitored.”
“We need to check out their attorneys,” Ragnar said.
“We’re doing that, of course,” Jackson assured him. “Anyway, Megan, try to get some sleep.”
“I will try,” she promised.
But first, she had to talk to her sister.
She waited until Angela and Jackson had left them. It was late; she was tired. But she knew Colleen would be awake and waiting to hear from her.
Once the door closed, Ragnar said, “We’d better make a call.”
She already had her cell out.
Her sister didn’t even wait for Megan to speak.
“We’re going to get back right away. Oh, Megan, I am so sorry! I never imagined my life could endanger yours. What you’ve faced already is so horrible, and now to add all this in...I am so, so sorry! Mom and Dad and Patrick—”
“No, no, no! Please, Colleen, tell me you haven’t said a word to Mom and Dad!”
“Well, no, but—”
“As far as they know, I’m writing a book. Please. It’s important. I mean, I am writing a book, and in all this, I will have access to more information. Please, I’m begging you! Ragnar wanted to keep it on the down low. He believes they want the sensation and the notoriety, and denying them will help in the investigation. Please, Colleen—”
Mark had apparently taken the phone from Colleen because his voice came on deep, calm, and assuring.
“We haven’t said a word to your parents. But you have to be with someone night and day, Megan, and I—”
“I’m with Ragnar,” she said quickly. He was watching her from the door he had just closed behind Angela and Jackson.
He put his hand out, ready to take the phone.
She passed it to him.
“Mark, Megan is fine. We’re at the safe house.” He nodded, even though Mark couldn’t see it. “Right. So, we have every possible protection, including an undercover agent watching the house at all times along with someone in the offices having an eye on the cameras twenty-four-seven and an alarm that could wake half the city. Not to mention we have Hugo with us, too. I think he’d bite the throat out of anyone who attempted to come at Megan. And I will not be leaving, I swear it. We’re going to go in and have interviews with the two men we’re holding. At the offices, they’re going over every possible communication to find out how those incarcerated are getting messages to whoever isn’t. We have no idea how deep this goes; but the point is, we must solve it if Megan is ever to be safe.”
Megan couldn’t hear Mark’s response. But Ragnar was nodding.
Finally, he handed the phone back to her.
Colleen was on.
“You’re all right. You’re really all right?” Colleen asked.
“Hey, it wasn’t a pretty sight, but ask Ragnar. I didn’t scream or pass out,” she said, trying to sound a bit light.
“I’m not going to tell Mom and Dad, but we do owe it to Patrick to tell him the truth.”
“But tomorrow!” Megan said.
“All right, tomorrow. Will you call him?”
“I promise.”
“We’ll see you by tomorrow night.”
“Colleen, I don’t want you ruining your honeymoon.”
“You’re really all right with... Ragnar? You two didn’t really seem to hit it off,” Colleen said worriedly. “Then again—”
“I’m fine. I swear it,” Megan said.
“All right. I love you. See you.”
“Colleen! We didn’t want you and Mark—”
She grimaced and stopped speaking. The phone had gone dead.
“Okay, well, they’re coming back,” she told Ragnar.
“Did you expect anything else?”
“I guess not.” She let out a long breath. At her feet, Hugo whined softly.
“It’s okay, boy, it’s okay!” she told the dog.
“I’ll let you get some sleep, then,” Ragnar told her. He pointed to the right. “The agent’s room is the first. It is right next to yours. If anything—”
“Oh, trust me, you’ll know if there’s anything wrong. As you’ve probably noted, I am the world’s worst coward.”
He shook his head. “You’re not a coward, Megan. Your grip on your fear helped us take down the two murderers we’re holding now. Anyway, I’ll, uh, leave you alone. But I’m there. If you need anything at all, let me know.”
He turned and went into his room.
She turned and went into her own, calling Hugo to come with her. He would sleep curled up at the foot of her bed.
If she needed anything...
She dug into her overnight bag for a soft cotton T-shirt-style nightgown.
If she needed anything at all...
It had been the night of Mark and Colleen’s ultrasmall wedding. And it had started off with an argument and then...and then...
She threw herself on the bed. It was too easy to remember why she had fallen into his arms—or they had fallen into one another’s arms—in the middle of it all. Too easy to remember the heat and the impulsiveness, and then after...
They’d agreed it was ridiculous to pretend it hadn’t happened. It had. But they had their lives, and they still had their differences, and they’d put it in the past. They really didn’t need to see each other again, at least not until the trial, and that was in the future. They were adults, intelligent adults, with lives to lead.
And still...
He was closed in his room. She was closed in her room. And they were only together because she was in in danger, and part of the case he was working on.
And yet, as she curled into bed for the night, she couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking, and if there was too much about that night that haunted him as well.
Three
She was running. Running because...
She needed to be running. An animal was in danger. But this time, she was running because she was afraid. Running, running, running...
And then she tripped.
Because a monster had seen to it that she did.
She struggled to rise. To fight against the monster.
And it was a monster staring at her, or something that was monstrous at the very least.
It was a human skull. And it was horrible. Strands of hair were still attached, bits and pieces of dirt and flesh, and more...worms crawled over it. They crawled from what should have been empty eye sockets, but the eyes were there, dark and plaintive and staring at her with such anguish she could almost see tears falling upon what remained of the cheeks.
And the mouth...
The mouth was opened in a horrible, gaping scream, a silent scream that seemed to go on and on, echoing in her head.
Not real!
Megan forced herself to wake. She was shaking and covered with a fine sheen of perspiration.
Tossing her covers aside, she rose. Hugo raised his head, looking at her curiously.
“It’s okay, boy,” she told the dog. But her voice was quavering. It wasn’t solid. She had to work on that. She’d had a nightmare. Just a nightmare. But she had risen from it terribly thirsty. She should have remembered to bring a glass of water into the bedroom, but she hadn’t.
“It’s okay,” she assured Hugo again, forcing a smile. She had no idea if a dog recognized a smile, or rather if he instinctively knew she was upset.
