Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 Karen Whiddon (best fiction books to read TXT) 📖

Anna continued, “All he talked about was the Darcy Owens case. He read about it in the paper, watched the news to catch whatever he could—it became an obsession, I guess you might say.”

“Do you have any idea where he might be now?” Julia asked.

“None. That’s why I called you. I thought you might know something.”

“I’m sorry that I don’t, but I do want to talk to your husband. It’s important.” Julia paused.

“Me and the kids have been staying with my parents. I only stopped by today to see if my husband was around.”

“He’s missing?” Luis whispered. “What are the chances that he’s another victim?”

Julia shushed Luis with a finger over lips. Then she asked, “Is there anything you can tell me that might help me find Robert?”

“This won’t exactly help you know where to look,” said Anna, “but a few weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night. Robert had come home after I’d gone to bed, but I could hear him in the living room. It was half-past two in the morning and he was having a grand old conversation with another woman.”

Julia winced. Spending a lot of time away from home and work—especially if that time was at a hotel—could mean many things. None of them had to do with being obsessed with a serial killer. “I can imagine that’d be stressful to you, Mrs. Carpenter.”

Luis mouthed a single word. Affair?

It was exactly what Julia thought. She shrugged.

“Stressful? Hell, I was furious. I stomped downstairs ready to yell at Robert and his friend and tell them both to get the hell out of my house. But I didn’t.”

“Why is that?”

“Because there was no other woman. It was just Robert alone, talking to himself and answering in a woman’s voice. Now, that was stressful. I confronted him, but he told me I was mistaken. I wasn’t, but I dropped it and went back upstairs. Then I stood at the top in the hallway and listened. After a minute, he started talking again. His voice. The woman’s voice. It gave me chills, but that wasn’t the worst part,” said Anna. “When Robert spoke again, he had a name for the voice he was mimicking... It was Darcy Owens.”

* * *

An APB had been sent to every law-enforcement officer in the state to be on the lookout for Robert E. Carpenter. His car had been located hours before, abandoned in a ditch on the outskirts of Pleasant Pines. The vehicle had been searched—nothing of importance had been found—and now sat in the impound lot.

Despite the fact that everyone was looking for Carpenter, he was still missing.

Luis had set up a meeting with Wyatt Thornton. Thornton had been briefed on Anna Carpenter’s interview. As a former behavioral specialist with the Bureau, Wyatt now worked with Rocky Mountain Justice, creating profiles of their suspects. He had a long history with Darcy Owens—he’d been the lead agent on her case several years ago. He’d made a wrong call—and it had cost him his job. When she surfaced in Pleasant Pines, Wyatt teamed up with RMJ to finish the job he’d started. Now, using the evidence already gathered, and this latest briefing from Anna Carpenter, he’d been developing a possible etiology of Robert Carpenter’s own drive as a killer. All three of them sat in Julia’s office, and so far, Luis didn’t like what was being said.

Wyatt said, “According to the FBI, there are four types of serial killer. There are those who are thrill seekers and those who are drawn to the control of the kill. One is the mission-oriented killer, like Darcy, who’s on a mission to make the world a better place. Never mind that her brutal tactics, or in killing innocent men, she was accomplishing the opposite of her goal.”

“But Darcy sees the men as a threat, because of what happened with her father, and that’s why they have to die. Is that right?” asked Luis.

“More or less,” said Wyatt.

The bit about Darcy was interesting, but she wasn’t their target anymore. Luis asked, “What about Robert Carpenter?”

Wyatt sat back in his chair and folded his arms. “His motivations are a little murkier than Darcy’s. From everything I’ve heard, he’s a visionary killer—as in he has visions, auditory or visual, that instruct him to commit crimes. Most documented cases have a religious association. As in ‘A demon told me to kill my neighbor.’ But it’s not always true. Also, there’s usually a triggering event.”

“So in the case of Robert Carpenter, it could be Darcy’s arrest that started the visions,” said Julia.

“Don’t forget, he worked at the White Winds Resort,” Luis reminded her. “For me, he’s her accomplice, his alibi be damned.”

“Either of those could definitely be a traumatic trigger,” said Wyatt. “My sense is that Carpenter feels as if he has to save Darcy. Maybe he feels guilt for what happened to her with her father.”

“You think that he’s committing copycat murders to make it look like Bethany was involved?” Luis suggested. “That if he can cast doubt on Darcy’s guilt, she’ll go free?”

“It’s more than possible,” said Wyatt. “It’s probable that those are his motivations. And maybe he’s after revenge—that’s why he’s stalking Julia.”

His words hung in the air, and Julia suppressed the need to shiver.

“I have something else I’ve been wondering,” said Julia as she leaned forward at her desk. “Could the visions tell the person to change their looks? If Robert Carpenter is our killer, he dressed up to look like Darcy. Is that possible?”

“Sure. But it gets worse. Often, visionary killers start to think they’re the being that has been speaking to them. Robert Carpenter might not simply be dressing up like Darcy Owens—he might actually be becoming her, as well.” It was a lot for Luis to comprehend. “So, is this associated with his gender identity? Sexuality?”

“For a visionary killer, gender or sexuality don’t matter. Darcy, and what she represents. That’s what’s important.”

“That brings up something else.” Everything Luis heard just