“Why wouldn’t he know?”
“It’s a little game we play. Our version of hide-and-seek. We’ve been playing it for months.”
“Months? How long have you been in town?” She willed her fingers to flex but discovered they barely moved. She kept trying, hoping to break through the drugs numbing her system.
“On and off for weeks.”
“Have you been with Elijah the whole time?”
Maura smiled, but did not answer.
“How will Elijah know we are gone?” Ann said.
“He’ll know.”
The longer she could keep Maura talking, the more her brain cleared. She would not totally be right for hours, but if she could just summon enough function to get out of here, she could get help. “How?”
Maura squatted in front of her and laid her hands on Ann’s shoulders. “He asked me to put cameras in your house, and I did.”
The idea that Elijah had been watching her in the privacy of her own home made her stomach turn. “When?”
“When do you think?” Maura chuckled. “When I was cleaning.”
“And Edith Scott? Did you or Elijah kill her?”
Maura leaned so close her warm breath brushed against Ann’s ear. “I did. I couldn’t have her stirring up trouble.”
“And the other women?” She drew within herself, distancing herself from the fear. “You drove Nena’s car to Paul Thompson’s motel.”
“When he interviewed Nena, she drove him around town. I knew his prints would be in the car. All I had to do was stock it with a little extra evidence.”
“Does Thompson know you’re working with Elijah?”
“I’m working on behalf of Elijah, not for him. I’m the one who’s in control.”
“You’re good at controlling things—I can see that.” Ann’s mouth felt dry, and she blinked slowly several times to shake off the brain fog. “I understand why you would be drawn to a man who’d been in prison. But your name is not on the Firefly list.”
“Maura Ralston isn’t the first fake name I’ve used.”
Ann struggled through the last bits of haze in her brain. Fragments from the case files, Paul Thompson’s interviews, and forensic evidence melded into a clear picture. “The one interview missing from Thompson’s file was Judy Monroe’s. Her photo was also blurred.”
A smile twitched the edges of her mouth. “That’s a good guess.”
“Judy,” she said softly. “You deleted all records of you, didn’t you?”
“I’m good with computers. And when Paul drinks bourbon and takes a sleeping pill, he sleeps really hard.”
The subtle edge of anger hinted at her rage. “And the woman in the bar who met Thompson?”
“I hired her. I needed him distracted and out cold.”
Treading lightly was critical. She remembered the injuries to Sarah Cameron. The killing wasn’t well planned, and the facial mutilations were sloppy and fueled by rage. “When you found out he had slept with Sarah, you had to hurt her.”
“He used me. He took my story and my body, then he betrayed me. Now he’s not going anywhere, is he? And Sarah’s pretty face is nothing but pulp.” Her lips split into a wide grin. “I’ll be sure to write Thompson when he’s locked up for the rest of his life.”
“Elijah is free. He’s not as controllable anymore.”
“He will be when I become you.”
“If you become me, do you really think Elijah will love you?”
Maura nodded slowly. “I know he will.”
Ann held her gaze. “He will let himself pretend for a while. But in the end, he’ll use you and toss you aside.”
Maura jerked back as if she had been slapped. From her pocket she removed a switchblade. A press of the button, and the blade popped open, gleaming bright and sharp. She pressed the tip to Ann’s temple and drew it gently downward, drawing blood instantaneously.
When Elijah awoke at 1:30 a.m., he hit the bathroom, washed his hands, and went to the kitchen and made himself a bowl of Cheerios. Carefully, he poured just the right amount of milk on the cereal before heading over to his computer.
He rarely slept more than two hours at any stretch. As much as he sometimes wished he could shut down and let the world fall away, he never could steal more than the short bursts of downtime.
Elijah sat in front of his computer and clicked on the camera in Ann’s house. He noticed the lights were still on and wondered why she was up so late. Normally, she was asleep by now.
As he studied the room, he noted the cell phone lying on the floor by the front door.
Setting his cereal aside, he backed up the tape until he reached the 1:00 a.m. time stamp. The doorbell rang and Ann opened it.
As he watched the next few minutes unfold, anger rolled over him, and for a moment he could not think clearly. It had been like that in the first days of prison. He had been so blinded by outrage he could not think, and he had gotten his ass beaten a couple of times before he wised up and learned to distance anger and arrow his thoughts toward the target.
He observed Maura carrying a sleeping Nate toward the door and then pausing in front of the camera. She winked as she rubbed her hand over the sleeping boy’s head. She mouthed, “Find me.”
Elijah froze the frame of her face and leaned closer to the screen. He replayed the tape and watched Ann’s desperate struggle unfold in horrifying slow motion. He winced when Ann’s body seized and dropped when the Taser touched her midsection.
He had miscalculated badly. He had thought Maura was like the others, needy and easily malleable. He’d assumed he was controlling her. But she was the one manipulating all of them.
His heart butted against his chest as he tried to slip into Maura’s mind. He had studied psychopaths, lived among them, and likely was one, so he should be able to outthink her.
What had Maura wanted most from him? He had recognized the need in her, just as he had the other Fireflies. Once he’d established what they wanted, the rest had been easy. Maura had pretended she craved only sex, but he had sensed immediately her desires ran far deeper than the sensual. She had been intrigued by the media attention, what she perceived as the fame she associated with him. However, notoriety had not been her endgame. She not only wanted him—she wanted to control him.
He had spent the last six months getting his house in order. He’d thought he had anticipated all potential land mines, but he had ignored his initial distrust of her and miscalculated.
She might have taken this unexpected move, but she had a weakness for attention, which she craved like an addict desired a drug.
Once Elijah distanced himself from any unnecessary panic or fear, he felt certain that Nate would be fine for the immediate future. Maura was using him as bait.
Ann, however, was a different story. Maura saw her as a threat and a roadblock to her happiness. He calculated she had less than a couple of hours, if that, to live.
“If you think you know who you’re playing with, Maura,” he said, “you’re dead wrong.”
Elijah grabbed his keys and hurried to his car. He drove toward Ann’s house but opted to park on the adjoining street. He settled a ball cap on his head and tugged on gloves before he moved along the sidewalk, keeping his head low. He rounded the corner and then raced toward her front door. It was unlocked.