Are you done? Logan asked.
My uncle Jeffrey says Im never done, but as a shrink, Im supposed to be a good listener, so the floors yours.
He held her gaze. What youre supposed to bewhat you should be, Serais scared.
She summoned a faint smile, glanced away. Believe me when I tell you, if I wasnt, I wouldnt be anywhere near you, your outlaw horses or your town. A shiver danced along her spine. Nothing personal, Logan, but I get along very well with cities. Violent death, however, rattles me. I watched my partners ashes being entombed last week. I watched her father break down and her mother lose a hard-fought battle to a bottle of cognac. I saw Sig lose a friend hes worked with for twenty of his thirty years on the force. I did all that with the knowledge that lurking somewhere in my head is a killers identity. If I can retrieve it, no one else will have to suffer at his hands. So, yes, Im scared, but not as much as I am determined to watch the person whos responsibleand whose face I swear Im going to rememberfry.
Unexpected humor glinted in Logans eyes. You must have some outlaw blood yourself, Doc. Ive never met a shrink who wanted to see anyone fry.
Her first reaction was to defend the remark. Her second was to cover a smile with a bite of chicken. I wont tell you what my uncle says about my mouth. I will tell you Im sorry I dumped all that on you when weve known each other for less than sixty minutes.
He moved a shoulder. Dumpings what people do on cops, town, city or state. It rolls off unnoticed after a while Nadine? He spoke to the blonde who was balancing six main courses. You mind wrapping these dinners up for us?
Seras brows elevated. Are we leaving?
Unless you want to get hit on by every guy here, yeah.
For the first time since Sig had gone outside, she looked around the room. Not every male eye was turned in their direction, but more than half were.
She let the amusement blossom. Because I assume theyre not staring at you, Ill go out on a limb and speculate that you dont get many female strangers in this town.
Logan picked up his hat. Oh, we get plenty of strange females, just not many youd call witchy.
The blonde returned with their bagged dinners. You want the steak wrapped, too, Logan?
He finished his beer. No point. Give your dogs a treat, and put the dinner on my tab.
The woman flipped a dishtowel over her shoulder. Your friend beat you to the punch there. He paid the bill on his way out.
Something unpleasant snaked through Seras stomach. Although she recognized it for the blend of dread and certainty it was, she settled for a mild, Hes gone, isnt he?
Logan assessed her as he returned the hat to his head. He told you he wasnt staying, Sera.
And Im just supposed to go with that? With this? She fixed her gaze in the general vicinity of his eyes. With you? No questions asked or really answered, and no choice in the matter? Her control slipped a notch and she leaned forward. Logan, Sig broke a mirror at the safe house and freaked over it for days. We were driving east within an hour of his partners death. Gotta leave fast, he said. Yet, he went ten minutes out of his way because he wouldnt go past the path lab where his partners body had been taken. Said hed rather walk under a dozen ladders. He also didnt tell anyone in the department where we were going, and I know his captain personally. Hes a forty-year man with commendations as long as my arm.
Whats your point, Doctor?
Did she have one? Right then, Seras thoughts were too scattered to collect, let alone organize.
It had to be exhaustion combined with a touch of hysteria that made her want to laugh. You know what? She pushed back. I havent got a clue what Im saying or why Im even talking. I need air, space and no more Willie Nelson for at least twelve hours.
She also needed to be away from the man across the table. The ridiculously sexy cop who disliked cities and personal questions and quite possibly his old friend Sig at this moment.
Standing, Logan drew her to her feet. You look overwhelmed.
You think?
If it helps, Sig left your bags behind my truck.
Sorry, Chief, not feeling any better here.
The shadowed look he cast her brought a sigh coupled with a strong desire to bolt.
Okay, fine. Message received. Sigs trying to keep me safe, as a person and as a potential witness. What Im still trying to process is why he brought me to you. He talked about a potential leak within the department, but please dont tell me he suspects his own captain.
Twenty years in homicide, ten in vice, what can I say, hes jaded.
You sure you dont mean paranoid?
Pressing a hand to her hip, Logan eased her behind him as he forged a path to the door. Sigs a cautious man, Sera. He wants to keep you alive, and this was the best place he could think of to make that happen.
A man with no bottom teeth winked and offered her his drink.
Logans unruffled, Doctor, Billy, had the leer fading to a scowl and the man scuttling backward so fast he almost knocked the plates from Nadines loaded arm.
Sera tapped his back. Care to explain that reaction?
Billys father turned ninety-eight last June. Doc Prichard said he needed a vitamin shot. The old man died that night.
Uhwell, hmm. Unsure how to respond, Sera tried not to grin. Ninety-eight, huh? Billy doesnt really believe it was the vitamin shot She let an oblique hand motion finish the question. Does he?
Yeah, he does, and hes not alone. Most of the people youll meet around here are perfectly normal, but for every fifty, theres a Billy or a Jessie-Lynn. Rumor has it aliens grabbed Jess twelve years ago after the Founders Day parade. Logan opened the doorand closed it in the face of a large, hairy man whose hand had been mere inches from Seras breast.
Removing his hat, he placed it on her head and smiled just enough to momentarily steal her breath. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Dr. Hudson, but youre not in Kansas any more. And while you might think the Emerald City is a little off the mapbe warned, it has nothing on Blue Ridge, Wyoming.
HE SHOULDNT HAVE said that, Logan thought as he started his Explorer. But, dammit, he didnt want the burden of a targeted witnesss safety riding on his shoulders. Add in the fact that she was a jaw-dropping female ofwhat had Sig told himtwenty-nine, with credentials that shouldnt be possible for someone her age and a body just made for trouble, and yeah, you could say he was pissed off. Mostly at himself for reacting the way he was, but partly at Sig for putting him in this position.
He knew she didnt remember him. Why would she? Theyd never met face to face. Their one and only patch of common ground involved the age-old cop versus shrink battle. Was the suspect the police had arrested for a brutal crime fit to stand trial or not? On their particular patch, a trio of shrinks, whose number had included Sera, said no.
Now, the way Logan saw it, he could let old resentments fester or, for Sigs sake, put the past in its place and deal with the current situation.
One glance at her face in profile, and he knew where hed be going with that.
One glance at her face in profile, and he knew where hed be going with that.
Although she had to know his thoughts werent running along pleasant lines, she opted to keep their conversation relevant and, for the most part, impersonal.
The suspect was under surveillance when he disappeared, wasnt he? she asked.
Logan shoved the Explorer in gear and his emotions in line. His names Hugh Paxton, and yes, he was. He dropped out of sight a few months after I came to Blue Ridge.
She regarded him from under the brim of his hat. Did you hear about that from Sig, or did your alien abductee return from the mother ship a gifted clairvoyant?
Humor stirred. Jessie-Lynn has her moments, but the answers no on both counts. Remote as this town is, we have a local newspaper, and believe it or not, Internet access.
Pushing the hat back, she lowered her sunglasses. Im not a snob, Logan, whatever you might thinkand God knows it probably isnt flattering. Im just a littleno make that a lotout of my element here. I dont usually see horses grazing outside San Francisco diners, and unless we wander into the wrong area of the city, big, hairy men seldom make a habit of grabbing womens breasts.
So, no conquest for Charlie, then. Hell be bummed.
She laughed, and the sound of it sparked a sensation Logan didnt need to feel in his groin. Keeping his eyes on the road, he returned to topic. Paxton walked because the arresting officer screwed up, but he was the Blindfold Killer. Every cop on the coast knew it.
Sera regarded the dying orange glow in the western sky. Hed have known the police were watching him, ergo, for a while at least, his desire for freedom must have outweighed his need to kill. Either that or hed achieved his initial goal of eleven people dead. Its possible his more recent victims are unconnected to the first group.
No one ever established a connection between the first eleven victims. Logan chose to ignore the out-of-town driver who whizzed past in a mud-spattered four by four. Any thoughts on that, Doc?
Without getting inside his head, no. But as hed expected, after a moment she ventured to ask, Were the victims primarily female or male?
Eight female, three male.
Ages?
The youngest was twenty, the oldest forty-seven.
And Paxtons age at the time of his arrest was?
A smile touched the corners of Logans mouth. Thats the sticking point. No one knows. He has no official record of birth and the kind of appearance every cop hates.
Changeable?
Big time.
Which explains why Sig showed me multiple versions of ten different men, more than a hundred shots in total. I figured there were disguises involvedbut, big surpriseSig refused to explain. He said the less he told me, the less chance that my memories, when they did return, would be colored. All he really needed to say was that the suspect took his cue from Lon Chaney.
Logan sent her a brief smile. Its not a bad comparison. Twenty pounds more or less, from dreadlocks to buzz cuts, stubble to mustache to beard, tooth caps on or off, contact lenses in or outPaxton knows how to alter his appearance. Its one of the reasons he was so difficult to nail in the first place. The other was the obvious lack of credible witnesses.
I assume thats how he slipped under the radar. In disguise.
When the radio squawked, Logan reached down. Probably, but I was gone by then, and Sig was so disgusted that theyd lost him, he wouldnt talk about it.
Her eyes slid to his, but she said nothing, and he pressed the Receive button. Problem, Fred?
The Bulley boys are at it again, Chief.
Home or town?
Home now, but they came through town on a big old tear. Near as I can tell, theyre riled up over the workers who are camped outquite legally, I might addon their farm. Did some pushing and shoving on Main, went into Tommy Gray Wolfs bar, had a shouting match, punched someone, then took off for home when Tommy threatened to call it in. Which he did anyway ten minutes before Edgar Bulley did the same. Old Edgar says theres no point sending deputies. The boysll just threaten to gore them and carry on til you show up.
Logan glanced over. Ill be there in five. Tell Edgar to fire a couple rounds of buckshot into the barn wall. Might take the edge off.
Always a first time, Fred returned cheerfully. Good luck, Logan.
As the sun dipped below the mountaintops, he switched on the lights and siren. How are you at following orders, Doc?
She dropped his hat on the seat between them. The mood Im in, spectacularly bad. Did I hear the word gore?
Its the Bulleys word for stab. Used to be a kids game involving plastic horns. Now its a drunken threat when theyre feeling ornery.
Sounds like your Bulley boys have serious anger management issues.
You could say, he agreed. Their grandfather grazes a stingy herd of cattle, but the numbers been dwindling over the years, so the boys, six of them, have been forced to find other ways to augment their income.
Ways you smoke or drink?
Drink mostly. Weve dismantled three stills since late March. Last one was five days ago. Supplys probably running low, so Bulley logic would dictate that they down the last of it and take their anger out on someone else.
Like deputies and campers.
Theyve also been known to fire warning shots at trespassers. Logan slowed as the lights of a ramshackle farmhouse came into view. Challenge is to see how close they can come without actually hitting the person. Fortunately, he flicked off the siren, theyre not in love with firearms. Knives tend to be their weapon of choice.
Braking behind a stand of pines, he reached for his rifle, stuck the hat back on his head and caught her chin between his thumb and fingers. Whatever happens, Sera, keep the doors locked and the engine running. Anyone who isnt me shows up, dont check for blood, just turn the truck around and head back to Franks Diner. You got that?
Every word, she said. Uh, tell me, are two of the Bulley boys tall, wiry and left-handed?
A brow went up when her eyes touched on a point over his shoulder. Coming from behind?
Faster than speeding bullets.
Anticipation glimmered. Releasing her chin, he reached for the door handle. This is gonna be fun.
Chapter Three
Logan? As amused as she was amazed, Sera worked her way over the console to the drivers seat. She stared into the rapidly expanding darkness. Forget Jesse James. Houdini must be one of your ancestors.
No matter which direction she looked, she couldnt see him. He was gone, and so were the two men. Obviously theyd vanished into the trees, but talk about witchy peoplethis place had it all over San Franciscoand that was saying a lot.
She was searching for the lock control when a face popped up at the drivers side window. A split second later the door flew open and a pair of grimy hands, one of them wielding a knife, shot inside.
Startled, Sera jumped back. She gave the passenger door a shove and the mans wrist a kick.