Dark Pursuit

His arms jerked, head snapping up. He looked around dazedly, the taste of sleep in his mouth. Who, what? What time is it?

Kaitlan.

He shoved forward in his chair, groping the floor for his cane, only to remember the phone was a reach away.

A second ring.

Darell snatched up the receiver and punched the talk button.

Dead air. Margaret had answered.

He cursed loudly and slammed down the phone. Danged new systems. Pick up on one extension and you couldn’t hear on the next without some fancy button-pushing.

Darell plucked up his cane, positioned his legs underneath him and pushed up with his left hand. On his feet he swayed, seeking balance, then shuffled across the office. He flung open the door. “Margaret!Transfer the—” He growled in his throat. He should have brought the receiver with him. “Never mind, I’m coming!”

“Here, D.!” Margaret’s voice filtered from the other end of the house. “It’s Kaitlan.”

Well, of course it was Kaitlan. Hadn’t he known she’d be all right?

Relief flooded his limbs.

As he neared the library Margaret’s voice drifted to his ears. “You sure you’re okay?”

He thumped across the threshold and over to his assistant. One of his old novels lay on the desk by the phone. Why was that there?

He thrust out his hand. “Let me talk to her.”

“Wait, here’s your grandfather.” Margaret handed over the receiver.

“Kaitlan.”

“Hi.” She sounded breathless.

“What happened?”

“We went to the party. Chief Barlow threatened me not to say anything that would hurt Craig. I think he knows. And then, um”—her tone turned off key—“Craig brought me home.”

Margaret looked on, forehead creased and both hands to her mouth.

“It’s him,” Kaitlan sputtered. “For sure. He admitted moving the body and everything. First he said he doesn’t know why he kills; then he promised it wouldn’t happen again.”

This wasn’t news. Darell had known Craig was the murderer. Still, hearing the confirmation made him want to sit down and take a deep breath. “All right, Kaitlan, calm yourself. This is what we expected.” He sidled to his leather chair and sank into it. Margaret moved around so she could watch his face.

“No, it’s not what I expected, it’s worse! He said if I told anyone, he’d have to ‘take care’ of that person too, just like he’s going to take care of me.”

Darell gripped a knobby knee. Coward. Arrogant, murderous, lying coward. He would dance a jig—without his cane—when Craig Barlow was behind bars.

“And I can’t run away. If I do, he’ll plant drugs in my apartment. They’ll hunt me down and take me to jail—if Craig doesn’t kill me first. And with Chief Barlow in on everything, I won’t stand a chance, no matter what I say.”

Darell felt the rise and fall of his chest—an old man’s lungs. He focused on the heavy wooden clock on the wall. Nearly eleven. Anxiety spritzed down his nerves. Eleven. He’d been asleep for over two hours. When he was supposed to be creating a plan.

“Grandfather, what am I supposed to do?”

Fear and rage funneled through Darell. “We’re going to catch him, Kaitlan, that’s what we’re going to do.”

“How? I have to … I can’t live like this.”

“I know. Don’t worry, I’ve been studying on it since you left.”

He glanced at Margaret. She gave him a hard look. Darell turned away.

“He told me this body will never be found,” Kaitlan said. “So what are we left with? We can’t even prove someone was killed, and we have no way to tie him to the other murders—”

“Kaitlan, you’ve got to calm down.”

“I can’t! You don’t know what it was like. I thought I was going to die. If he finds out I’ve talked to you he’ll kill me. And he hit me tonight. Twice.”

Darell’s blood drained to his feet. His head buzzed. “He hit you?”

Margaret gasped.

“It still hurts. I’m gonna have a bruise on my cheek tomorrow. He said to tell people I ran into a door.”

Darell stared out the window into blackness. A hollow helplessness opened in his gut. He needed a plan now. This antagonist wasn’t acting as he’d expected. Admitting his crimes, threatening his girlfriend …

“Grandfather, help me!”

Darell’s mind blanked. Utterly emptied. He clutched the phone, heat flushing his face. Not a single thing could he offer her. He could barely even remember the news article he’d read mere hours ago.

Margaret stepped close and held out her hand. “D. Give me the phone.”

She knew. She knew he was useless.

Like a child, he held out the receiver.

“Kaitlan?” Margaret backed up two steps. “We don’t want you alone tonight. Come stay here.”

Darell hung on her every expression. What was Kaitlan saying?

Margaret shook her head. “We don’t know yet. But we’ll come up with something tonight. He has to be caught—there’s no other option.”

She listened. Her face slacked.

Darell swiped at the phone. “Give it back, what’s going on?”

Margaret laid the receiver against her neck. “He took her cell phone and car keys. She’s calling from her landlord’s house. They’re on vacation and she has a key.”

Darell struggled to process the information. This didn’t make sense. Why had Craig left at all? Why not stay to make sure she didn’t go anywhere?

A light snapped on in his brain. “Give me the phone.”

“But—”

“Give it to me!”

Margaret handed it over.

“Kaitlan.” Darell gripped the arm of his chair. His voice came clipped and intense. “Craig doesn’t know you have a key to your landlord’s place?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

She hesitated. “Yes. Why?”

“I just need to make sure this isn’t a setup. That what I’m thinking is correct.”

“I didn’t see him anywhere around when I walked here.”

Darell closed his eyes.

“So what are you thinking?” she asked.

“He could have stayed with you tonight, but he didn’t.”

“Because he has to be at work early. And he didn’t have his uniform with him.”

“You think he couldn’t have planned ahead and brought it? You think he didn’t know he’d have to intimidate you to shreds tonight?”

“I guess. He was different as soon as he walked in the door. All on edge and changing one minute to the next.”

“Because he’s scared. Because he knows you know, and now he’s got to fix it.”

And he would—sooner than Kaitlan realized.

Darell could hardly breathe. “He told you the body wouldn’t be found?”

“Yes.”

“He’d have been too rushed this afternoon to make sure of that. Getting rid of a body takes time, and he was