The Trade

©2013 Colby Marshall

All Rights Reserved

ISBN 978-0-9888777-3-3

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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An Armchair Adventurer book

STAIRWAY PRESS—SEATTLE

Cover Design by David Zampa, www.pensivedragon.com

Interior image www.mipan.orgfree.com via iStockphoto.com

www.stairwaypress.com

1500A East College Way #554

Mount Vernon, WA 98273

For Ashlee,

Because Everything Happens For a Reason

PROLOGUE

The word “sociopath” doesn’t scare me much since I’ve known for quite some time that I am one. For someone who is starting to tap his potential, however, here are my fundamental truths:

Liars aren’t made. They’re born. But a lot of talented liars think because they’re born liars they’re good at it. Lying is a craft to be practiced and shaped every bit as much as painting or writing. Or acting.

The second truth is the eyes. Your eyes can betray you faster than your tongue. Why do you think so many poker players wear sunglasses?

The last truth is the most important of all. It’s a rule, so pay close attention.

Don’t lie to another liar. Because he knows the rules of the game, too.

CHAPTER 1

A rat scurried across Liza’s foot.

She blinked twice to help her eyes adjust to the darkness. What the hell was this place, and how did she end up here? She’d been walking through Central Park on her way home—

Her right hand swatted her left arm.

Fire! Fire!

When her palm connected with her bicep, she realized there were no flames. She’d be engulfed if there were. The sensation of her arm on fire didn’t make sense.

Stop burning so I can think for a minute!

Maybe then, she could figure out where she was.

She wanted to roll onto her side, but the bottom half of her body refused. Her legs were disconnected from her brain.

Liza’s mind lit like a stick of dynamite.

The baby!

Her hands shot to the bulge that had been growing in her tummy for the past eight and a half months.

Heat seared from her arms and up her neck as her hands reached her stomach. The bump was gone. She fingered the bottom of her shirt and lifted it a few inches. Her face prickled. What she felt reminded her of the time when she was little and her mother had let her pull the insides out of the Halloween pumpkin.

She closed her eyes and bit her lip hard. In the darkness, she could tell the thick, viscous substance coating her fingertips was her own blood. White noise rushed in her ears as answers jarred into place. Tears formed, dribbled down her cheeks, and streamed off of her nose into her mouth. She opened her eyes again.

She’d cut through the park on her way home like she did every day. James had told her to call a cab. The stories on the news had him worried. She’d promised she would, but when the time came, she’d toddled toward the subway. They’d already discussed breaking into her childhood piggy bank. The baby was only a few weeks away. Cab fares wouldn’t help a thing.

Halfway through the park, the sky had burst. People around her scattered like pillbugs under a lifted rock, but running wasn’t an option for her. She couldn’t even see her feet, much less force them to a jog.

Liza had waddled and tried to wrestle an old brochure from her purse to hold over her head for cover. She’d looked up right in time to dodge a man in a suit passing her.

He seemed to glimpse her out of the corner of his eye. His pace slowed.

“Would you mind holding this?” he’d said as he extended his black umbrella. “I’m losing my notes.”

The man made a show of stuffing papers down in his briefcase, but nothing was falling out. He didn’t want her to refuse his umbrella. When he was finished, Liza offered it back to him, but he waved her off.

“You’re headed for the subway, right? You can carry it for me,” he’d said.

She’d thanked him.

Nice people still exist in the world.

Now, as she lay in the suffocating blackness, she tried to remember what happened after that. It was all so fuzzy, like the noise in her ears.

Think, Liza. Think!

Her skin recoiled as something scuttled up her pants leg. She squinted, her eyes burning.

“Help me,” she whispered. Her voice came out with a sound like crackling paper. God, she was so thirsty. “Help me!”

A face burned bright in her mind for a second before it died out like a cigarette butt on the pavement. Another memory crashed over her: a knife slicing into her arm.

Come on, brain!

The faces of riders as she had drifted in and out on the subway. “You’ve had some day. haven’t you, honey?” the voice had asked.

Liza’s eyes flew open. It wasn’t white noise pounding in her ears.

“Help me!” In her head, she screamed louder than ever before, but her voice was so weak, it didn’t manage to make an echo against the walls around her

The clamor built, and the darkness thinned. “Someone!” she gasped, even though she knew no one was coming.

Trash glowed around her feet, and an old Metro card blew across her chest. She was in the spotlight, her scarlet hand finally lit up for her to see.

“I’m sorry, James,” she whispered as the train thundered toward her. “I’m so sorry.”

CHAPTER 2

“I’m moving as fast as I can, Morton,” McKenzie McClendon huffed as she jostled through people toward the subway tunnel. A few months ago, she’d have been demoted to the police blotter if she’d called her boss at The Herald by his first name. Amazing how uncovering an assassination plot could boost you overnight from glorified slave to corner office with a view. It had turned out to be a lot lonelier up there than she’d imagined it would be.

Her high-heeled boots clacked against the sidewalk as she strode faster. She caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection of a store window. Her auburn hair blew in the wind, split ends screaming for a trim. One day she’d have time. Maybe.

“I’m on my way into the subway station now, so I’m about to lose the signal. Be there soon,” McKenzie said. She clicked the “end” button on her phone.

That’s for all the times you sent me to cover ribbon-cuttings at Whole Foods.

She didn’t bother to take off her sunglasses once she reached the platform. Better to go unrecognized these days. She hopped on an R train and took a seat. Before, all she’d wanted was the front page by-line. By the time the initial hearings were over, all she wanted was her anonymity back.

The doors closed and the subway rocked towards Manhattan. She grabbed the pencil tucked behind her ear, opened her notebook to a fresh page, and tapped the eraser in a slow drum roll against the paper. Next to her, two women chattered about the very same thing for which McKenzie’s editor had called: another body had been found.

“The police should really release details about where they found her,” one said.

The other woman clicked her tongue. “They’re doing it on purpose. Don’t want people scared to go out. They did say she was like the others. Sliced like deli meat.”

“I don’t even like to run errands anymore,” the first woman whispered. “I can’t imagine how scared they must’ve been. I won’t even chop onions with a paring knife. I’m that afraid of cutting myself. I use a mini-processor.”

“I doubt you have anything to worry about,” Tongue Clicker responded. “You’re not pregnant.”

McKenzie jotted the word on her page.

“What kind of person gets off on killing pregnant women?” Mini-Processor girl wondered.

Tongue Clicker grunted. “The same kind who can leave a girl on the edge of the roof of the Edison Hotel butchered to a pulp. Even if she hadn’t bled to death first, if she’d rolled over another inch, the fall would’ve killed her. It’s sick.”

McKenzie scribbled: He doesn’t kill them outright.

This murder marked the fourth body in two months. All of them in their third trimester, all of them gutted at the womb. McKenzie scratched another couple of notes: Mommy issues? Desperate for a child?

The subway squealed to a stop, the doors opened, and the gossipers exited the train. Good thing having a baby was about as far down her to-do list as burning off her own fingerprints with battery acid.

The prescribed ten seconds passed, and yet, the doors stayed open.

What now?

A moment later, the robotic voice of the Metropolitan Transport Authority crackled through the speakers. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are being delayed because of an earlier incident. Please be patient.”

Whoever said patience was a virtue had never worked as a journalist. Patience meant waiting, and waiting meant she might miss an important story. She hopped off the seat, left the train, and trotted up the stairs to higher ground.

The second she reached street level, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” bleated from her phone. She ripped it from her pocketbook.

“Morton, the damned subway is delayed. I’m coming as fast as my Stuart Weitzmans will allow me. I’d be faster if I didn’t have to answer my cell every two seconds.” She ended the call. Dang, she’d grown some balls.

As she scrambled into a cab, the Rolling Stones taunted her again. Maybe she had pushed her boss too far, but unless he had hired Inspector Gadget to drive this cab, the constant phone calls weren’t helpful.

“620 Eighth Avenue, please,” McKenzie told the cab driver before she jammed her finger into the green button. “What?”

“McKenzie? McKenzie McClendon?”

McKenzie pressed the phone harder against her ear. The caller was obviously not Morton Gaines. “This is she,” she said.

The man replied, but his voice was muffled by static and his own slurring.

“Could you repeat that?” she asked.

“Do you remember me? I’m Jonas Cleary. We went to school together.”

McKenzie held back a gasp. Remember him? She’d ended up in the back of a Cherokee Blazer with him after their junior prom.

“Rings a bell. It’s, um, nice to hear from you?” She was unable to stifle the way her voice hitched up at the end, a question.

What the hell?

“You’re reporting now, right? For the New York Herald?”

“That’s right.” It was the same answer she gave anyone who asked her about the Herald. It was no secret dozens of other papers had been trying to steal her out from under the Herald, so it was only natural for people to be curious. No way she would tell them she wasn’t about to go anywhere, that even she wasn’t confident she wasn’t a one-trick pony.

A one-trick pony who gets everyone around me in trouble.

Plus, on her previous career-making story, she’d had help.

“I need you to do something for me,” Jonas said, his voice jolting her back to the moment.

Oh, perfect. That’s all I need.

Not only was she running late, but she didn’t have an angle for this new story. Now, her high school sweetheart called in between tequila shots for a favor. People sure had come out of the plumbing systems these past few months.

“Look, Jonas, I don’t know how you got my number, but I’m in a rush today. Maybe you can tell me how to reach you, and we can catch up sometime when things are less hectic. Maybe when your blood alcohol level is less than ninety percent. I have a deadline, and I—”

“I know. That’s why I’m calling you,” he slurred.

Though his words teetered on the slope of incoherence, the next statement jolted McKenzie from annoyance to rapt attention. “You’re writing about the serial killer, right? The guy who kills the pregnant women? I think…I think he killed my wife.”

CHAPTER 3

As McKenzie pulled out a chair across from Jonas at the Jersey diner, she was already having second thoughts. The liquor on his breath would catch fire from across the table if she lit a match.

Never walk away from a possible angle.

She sat down.

“McKenzie. ’S good to see you. You look exactly like I remember. Same copper eyes, same auburn hair. I guess it’s a little shorter now, though, right? But you’re mostly the way I remember.”

She wished she could say the same. Jonas had aged three decades since they’d crossed the stage to receive their diplomas. His dark-as-night hair hadn’t changed much, though it had to have been months since he’d had it cut. His broad shoulders were similar, but he’d gained a few pounds around the middle to even them out. His eyes were sunken and the white sliver of a scar snaked down his right arm.

Still, she wasn’t here for a high school reunion. “Thanks, Jonas. So, you said on the phone you wanted to talk about your wife.”

Jonas grunted and plunked his coffee mug back down on the table. “You don’t mess around, huh?”

“Time isn’t your friend when you report for one of the biggest papers in the country.”

Jonas shifted in his chair, his right hand twisting the thin gold band on his left. “Noelle would probably tell you that if time isn’t your friend, you should make some new ones. She was like that. Even if it took an extra thirty minutes, she’d walk rather than take the bus.”

His laugh sprinkled McKenzie’s arms with goosebumps. “In fact, she used to tell me cabs would shorten my life span. She’d say one day when I was watching her run around from my wheelchair, I could blame the lack of exercise and air.”

“What happened?” McKenzie whispered.

“The freaking air got her killed is what happened. She was taking one of those mommy and me yoga classes. Walked to and from it every day. Found her in an alleyway not too far from the gym.”

McKenzie swallowed the lump in her throat. Even as she said, “I’m sorry,” the words felt wrong. None would feel right.

Jonas’ fists clenched the napkin in his lap. “You’re sorry. You’re sorry, and I’m still here with a dead wife and no one to listen to me.”

“Whoa, now,” McKenzie said, “You called me, remember? You wanted to talk to me.”

The guy who’d pinned a corsage on her awful, magenta prom dress now hung his head and blew out a deep breath. “I know, I know. I’m sorry. I’m frustrated out of my mind, okay? That’s why I called you. You’ve got clout. Maybe if you did a piece on it, they’d look into it harder.”

“Why do you think the Cradle Robber has anything to do with your wife? I made a few calls on my way here, Jonas. I know this isn’t your first theory.”

Jonas’ dilated pupils met hers. His nostrils flared. “Look, I know everyone thinks I’d rather have a fifth of gin than go to therapy. They’re probably right. And yes, I’ve been down to the police station one or two times when a woman’s been murdered. But damn it, this time it isn’t the Jack talking. I know it’s him.”

Jonas banged his fist on the table with the last words. McKenzie flinched. Other patrons shot glares at them.

McKenzie lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’m listening to you now, so stop raving. Tell me what you know. How did they find her?”

His chest rose and fell with another slow breath. The tension in his shoulders eased marginally. “They didn’t find her anywhere. I did. Went looking for her when she didn’t come home. Gibb was nowhere to be found.”

“Gibb?”

“Our son.”

McKenzie nodded, a knot forming in her stomach at the mention of the little boy who’d been kidnapped. Still, she couldn’t help but notice this case already had an obvious difference from the Cradle Robber murders: the child had already been born. No need to harp on that yet. “How did she die?”

The napkin Jonas had been tying into a knot was now ripped cleanly down the middle. “Not how you’d think, considering how she was cut.”

“She was stabbed?”

“No, she was cut. Everywhere. Gashes all over her body. She didn’t bleed to death, though. The coroner’s report said cardiac arrest. That fucker scared my wife to death.”

McKenzie winced but shook the mental image. Stay in the game. “Excuse my wording, but there wasn’t anything weird about the death? The killer didn’t leave her in a way that killed her later? That sort of thing is this guy’s signature.”

“No, James Bond, he didn’t tie her to the conveyor belt at the rock quarry. But I do have a reason for being sure it’s the same guy.”

“And…?”

Jonas slashed invisible marks over his left thigh. “They said on the news all the women have been found with some type of symbol carved in their arms. The M.E. reported a gash on Noelle’s leg that was shallower and less haphazard than the others.”

McKenzie frowned. “The symbol thing is a rumor.”

“Some rumors are true.”

It was a stretch at best, desperation at most. “Listen, Jonas, I’m not sure I can help you. I’m sorry about Noelle, but if the FBI had any reason to believe her murder was connected to the new ones, they’d be all over it by now. They run violent crimes through their systems to determine if they’re similar. If their cross-referencing database hasn’t connected Noelle to the Cradle Robber’s victims, then chances are she’s not.”

Jonas shoved back from the table, which sent the coffee mug crashing on its side. Hot liquid scalded McKenzie’s lap.

She shrieked, jumping up and grabbing the napkins on the table to mop at the mess.He threw his hands in the air. “Right. Because the Feds know everything, don’t they McKenzie? They solve all the crimes in the world, right? You should know better than anybody—to be the one to die, that’s one thing. But to be the one left behind, to be the one who can’t follow, that’s another. And to know my son could still be out there somewhere…”

Jonas’ voice boomed louder until it echoed off the diner walls. He leaned forward toward McKenzie, a vein pulsing in his throat, his face purple with fury. The diner owner ambled out from behind the bar as others in the restaurant stared, transfixed.

“I don’t really give a damn what the Feds are doing,” Jonas shouted, “but the least anyone can do is listen. You don’t know what it’s like to find your wife in an alley, slashed almost beyond recognition. I know exactly what I look like to everyone, McKenzie. I even know what I look like to you. But you don’t know what it’s like to lower your mouth to your wife’s to give her mouth to mouth and smell on her lips the garlic from the lunch you had together at the corner bistro. To feel how cold they were. It ripped my heart out, McKenzie. Ended my life!”

The owner had reached their table. “Maybe it’s a good idea for me to walk you outside for a bit of fresh air, sir,” the guy said. He placed a firm hand on Jonas’ elbow.

Jonas jerked away, straightened his jacket, and threw a five dollar bill onto the table. “Never mind. I’m leaving.”

He stormed away, kicking the wall before he reached the exit. As he pushed the swinging door, he turned back to the diner owner. “By the way, fresh air can get you killed.”

“Where in the name of all things sacred have you been?” Morton Gaines asked. He waddled behind McKenzie through the Herald office.

“Visiting an old friend.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Morton, I was tracking down an angle for the story. It turned out to be a wash. A guy I dated in high school thinks the serial killer offed his wife a couple years ago. But apparently that’s been his take on every murder suspect brought in since his wife died.” McKenzie paused for a second at the water cooler and poured herself a drink. “Are alcoholics more obsessive than sober people?”

“I don’t know. Probably. Forget that for now, McKenzie. We have other things to talk about, like how they released the name of the girl found in the subway.”

“It’s sad how he’s still hoping—expecting—the cops to find his wife’s killer. The file is probably collecting dust somewhere—” McKenzie stopped. “Wait. She was found in the subway?”

Morton nodded. “Finally, you listen to me. Yes. What was left of her after the L Train, that is. We’ll have to wait for the autopsy report to be sure, but the impact of the train is probably what killed her.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Yeah, I’m almost positive Jesus wasn’t around for this.”

“And the fetus?”

“Taken out, but gone like the others,” Morton supplied. “I’m telling you, one day they’re going to find this guy’s house with a bunch of dead babies in the freezer. Pleasant thought.”

“About to make me puke,” McKenzie choked out. “I hope when they do, they kill the asshole on sight. Probably be better than he deserves, but we’d be rid of a baby killer. Come to think of it, that was one weird thing about this guy’s story. His wife was killed and their baby was taken. Granted, the wife wasn’t pregnant when she was murdered. The kid was already born. Still, they never found the child. ”

“Right. So, if old lover boy isn’t a good angle, then what is?”

Damn good question.

“I thought I’d see if any local obstetricians can sit down with me and explain what someone would need to know to cut a baby out of a woman. I don’t know if this sicko kills the moms and then the babies later or some screwed-up woman or couple who can’t have kids is killing off the moms to snatch the kids. Either way, an OB might have a clue who could pull this off.”

CHAPTER 4

Dirk Harris eased his motorcycle into a parking spot. He glanced at his watch and grinned. One o’clock. Somehow, he’d finished the job, dealt with a problem, and still had time to go home to shower and shave.

Hot damn.

He lifted off his helmet. In its reflection, he caught a glimpse of the black wavy hair matted to his forehead. He tossed it out of his face and plunked down the helmet. Adrenaline still ripped through his veins as he dismounted the bike and strode toward the main entrance. His only regret was that the setback meant he hadn’t been able to hang around and watch. Watching was his favorite part.

Dirk passed through the double doors and made a left toward the Staff Only entrance. With a quick scan of his employee access card, the door buzzed and unlocked. At the nurses’ station, he slid a stack of folders off the counter and wandered down the hallway. A surgeon moonlighting as an ER doc. Such a do-gooder, he was.

He rolled his head in slow circles as he reviewed everything again. At least the next could come sooner now. Discipline was important, of course, but could he help it if things hadn’t gone entirely to plan?

Everything happens for a reason.

A short blonde nurse sidled up to him. The smell of cheap watermelon body splash tickled his nostrils as he glanced down at her. She was about the same height as the girl this morning.

“Dr. Harris, we need you in exam three. Looks like a clean break in the kid’s right arm, but we should probably take care of him first. He’s screaming like a howler monkey.”

Dirk’s mind filled with the shrill squeal the girl had let out as he dug his knife into her flesh. He shot the nurse a grin. “Maybe we ought to give his mother a break and put him down.”

She giggled. “Dr. Harris, behave yourself!”

He chuckled and winked. “I’ll do my best.”

In his thirty-seven years on this earth, Trevin Worneck had probably swallowed his own weight in pills. Now, he dumped an arbitrary amount of Xanax into his palm and threw the handful back with a sip of black coffee. He wasn’t gonna make it.

This was supposed to make things easier, not harder.

Ollie buzzed in on the intercom. “Mr. Worneck, the Petersons are here to see you.”

He slammed his head to his desk and jabbed his finger in the general direction of the intercom button. “Did they bring rum?” he mumbled.

“Sir?”

“Send them in, Ollie.”

Trevin tapped his head against the mahogany a couple of times for good measure. Maybe if he had a giant welt on his forehead, the blasted Petersons would be afraid he had something contagious and leave sooner. His grandmother had once told him people who cursed weren’t intelligent enough to structure their thoughts in a more positive way. His grandmother had never been buried in the pile of steaming shit he was now.

“Afternoon,” Rodney Peterson said as he stepped through the door. His wife trailed behind him, meek.

Trevin stood and extended his hand. “Good to see you both.”

“Trevin,” Sarah Peterson greeted him with a tight smile.

He gestured to the chairs across from him and watched Rodney plop his stocky frame down between the arms. Sarah perched daintily on the chair’s edge as though it might bite her. Even though her graying tea-colored hair was perfectly coifed and sprayed, she brushed an invisible strand behind her ear.

“What can I do for you kids today?”

Sarah’s thin smile lingered while Rodney took the lead, as usual. “We’ve found a good situation. The girl is young, but she’s had a hard life. She appreciates the thought of having someone to take care of her for a while.”

Trevin’s brow furrowed. “Over eighteen, of course?”

“I’m not a moron, Worneck,” Rodney shot back.

At Trevin’s sharp look, Rodney conceded. “I’m sorry. This has been a stressful few months. It’s getting to me.”

A dry laugh escaped the young lawyer’s throat. “Tell me about it.”

Rodney scrunched his nose, confused, then shook his head. “Anyway, after talking to her, we’re pleased with her thoughts on the process, what she feels her role would be, and the head on her shoulders in general. She’s agreed to a closed adoption.”

Trevin nodded. Thank God the Xanax was starting to kick in. It wasn’t much, but at least the vice squeezing his lungs was letting up. “Brilliant. How far along is she?”

“Twenty-eight weeks,” Sarah whispered.

“Superb,” Trevin answered reflexively.

He choked down his sarcasm and forced a grin. “That’s great, folks. All I need is some basic information, and I’ll draw up the paperwork.”

CHAPTER 5

“Dr. Schwetzer will be with you shortly, Ms. McClendon,” the receptionist said.

At two-fifteen, McKenzie was right on time for the meeting she’d set up, but she couldn’t complain. The obstetrician had not only been kind to squeeze her in on such short notice, but the business of birthing babies didn’t allow for perfect scheduling.

“Thanks,” McKenzie replied.

On her way to an empty chair she passed a dozen other women in the waiting room, all of them in varying degrees of pregnancy. One couple had a newborn in a carrier at their feet. They probably all thought she was pregnant, too, but not yet showing.

Or, I’m here to pick your doctor’s brain about how a psychopath would go about stealing your babies from inside your bellies.

She snagged Avid Housekeeper—the juiciest magazine on the lobby table—and settled in next to a girl with a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. If it wasn’t for the bulge of her belly that made her look very much grown up, McKenzie would’ve figured her as pre-pubescent.

The girl nodded toward McKenzie’s magazine. “Not exactly Time, huh?”

At this, McKenzie glanced at the girl a little harder. Her ears were pierced three times each, her dishwater blonde hair pulled into a sloppy ponytail. Kinky curls framed the youthful face.

This girl reads Time?

McKenzie’s gaze fell to the book in the girl’s lap: an open copy of Pride and Prejudice.

“They could stand some new reading material,” McKenzie answered. “This thing is from April two years ago.”

The girl nodded, but her gaze shifted to McKenzie’s stomach. “Pregnant?”

Images flashed into McKenzie’s mind. Her Uncle Sal. Levi.

As if I could do something as simple as have a family.

Losing Pierce and Levi was one thing, but her own child? Impossible. Besides, it wasn’t like her love life was booming these days. She didn’t exactly have a dad-to-be lined up. The closest to it was Noah, and whether he was father material or not was questionable at best. And that was if they were even a couple. At this point, she had no clue what they were.

McKenzie shook her head. “Nah, just meeting one of the doctors. What about you? When are you due?”

“About two months to go,” the girl answered. “Not a minute too soon. After that, I can relax some.”

“If the baby cooperates, you mean,” McKenzie mused.

The girl smirked. “Not mine. I’m having the baby for another couple.”

McKenzie’s ears perked up. “Like a surrogate?”

Entrapment, McKenzie. You know surrogacy contracts are illegal in New York.

“Not exactly—”

“Ms. McClendon?” the receptionist’s call cut the girl off.

“Yes,” McKenzie called, standing. She turned to face the freckled pregnant girl. “Good luck.”

“Likewise,” the girl said, her focus returning to her book.

McKenzie followed the receptionist through the corridor and into a dim office. The lady gestured to an armchair across from the doctor’s desk. “He’ll be right in.”

Pictures covered the soothing blue walls of the study, Christmas cards bearing photos of infants. She could still remember the first Christmas card she’d gotten where her cousin Levi was featured front and center, his dark head poking out of a red-wrapped box in front of the Christmas tree. His mother would never again take his Christmas card picture.

The father of the baby of the girl in the subway this morning wouldn’t even see the child, much less send out Christmas cards.

Jonas had been alone for two Christmases now.

“Ms. McClendon.” The doctor’s greeting broke her thoughts.

“Dr. Schwetzer.” She offered the white-haired man her hand, which he took into his firm grip. “Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today.”

“Of course,” he replied. He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his thin nose. “Have a seat. I hear you’re working on an article about the Cradle Robber.”

“Floundering for an angle would be more apt. Do you mind if I record our interview?”

“Oh, not at all, not at all,” he replied, his gaze on McKenzie’s hand-held voice recorder. “I’m happy to help.”

She clicked the record button, then set the device back into her purse. “What sort of knowledge would it take to remove a fetus from a woman? From what I understand, the victims that aren’t mangled from their—um—true causes of death are stitched up from where he’s—” McKenzie’s voice trailed. No words would sound right. “From where he’s done what he’s done. He cuts out the infants, then moves the victims to the location where they themselves die.”

Dr. Schwetzer sat forward in the leather arm chair and perched his chin atop his fist. “Yes, yes. But honestly, anyone who’s taken a few sewing classes could manage that.”

“What about the actual—is cesarean the right word in this case?”

The doctor shook his head. “I don’t know that there is a word for this particular case, my dear. But to answer your question, I’d say a great deal depends on how rudimentary the procedure is.”

Hard to get more information when you only know half the story. “The police haven’t released details on the removal of the fetuses, but for the sake of speculation, let’s say he cuts out the fetus to torture the mother but not kill her. How much medical knowledge would it take to excise the baby without the mom bleeding to death?”

The doctor shrugged. “The knowledge of how to operate a chainsaw? It would be different if we thought he was delivering these fetuses rather than removing them, but he’s a serial killer, not a nursemaid.”

“Could you expound a bit?” McKenzie coaxed.

“I apologize,” Dr. Schwetzer said. He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “An anatomy class or two, and the perpetrator could probably see his way around any immediate complications. Then again, don’t bet your mother’s jewelry on the classes. If he planned on killing the women anyway, he could’ve learned by trial and error.”

“Makes sense,” McKenzie agreed. “We don’t know if they’ve been consistent or become cleaner as they go.”

A visible shiver rippled through Dr. Schwetzer’s body. “Hate to think what that means for the fetuses.”

McKenzie’s jaw clenched. “We’ll assume he doesn’t use a chainsaw for now. What sort of pain are we talking about if it’s a ‘normal’ cesarean?”

Dr. Schwetzer grunted. “Let’s just say epidurals and Demerol are regular because they’re needed. C-sections are common, but they’re still major surgery. He’d have to have the women knocked out or restrained in some fashion. For them to still be alive and transported to a second location, the surgery would have to be somewhat well-executed. That doesn’t leave much room for squirming.”

McKenzie tried to focus, but her cell phone vibrated in her purse again. This was the third time it had rung. Something was up.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Schwetzer, but I have to take this,” she said, fishing in her purse.

“Of course,” the doctor replied, though annoyance was written on his face. He pushed back from the desk. “I’ll take my next patient in the meantime.”

He exited the room in a huff and slammed the office door behind him.

“Shit,” she muttered. God help the bastard screwing up a cooperative interview. She punched the pick up on her cell.

“I realize you’re taking certain liberties with me these days, McClendon, but let’s not forget that cell phone of yours is on the company dime.”

“Right, Morton,” McKenzie replied. She swallowed her retort about how many company dimes he’d spent on Oreos the past couple of years. “Article interviews must take a backseat. I’ll answer on ring two next time. What’s up?”

“Save the tone, McClendon. One of my contacts from the NYPD called. They found another body.”

“Already?” she gasped. “You’re kidding.”

“Sorry to say I’m not. But it isn’t another woman,” he answered. Her boss took a long pause. “It’s an infant.”

CHAPTER 6

Everitt crossed another block toward the two-story brownstone on the Upper West Side. The stone pathway to the townhouse seemed to take hours longer than it should after her long afternoon at the doctor’s office. Settling into bed for her first night in her new home sounded perfect. Her thoughts strayed back to this afternoon’s examination.

She propped her feet up into the stirrups and let her legs fall open. Sure, she hadn’t had to have a pelvic exam today, but unfortunately, they didn’t make the ultrasound tables for anything besides showing off your hoo-hah.

Oh, well. Might as well let anyone take a peek who wants. I’ll never look the same after this.

“Everything’s been going well, then?” Doctor Shwetzer had asked. He touched a gloved hand to her belly as he squirted warm jelly onto her stomach.

“Well, I can’t see my feet when I stand up, and I pee more than a five-year-old after a six pack of soda. Other than that, yeah.”

“All normal,” he said. “The joys of being pregnant.”

“Oh, bliss,” she said. A tiny dot blipped rapidly in the center of what looked like a Rorschach ink blot test on the black and white screen. The heartbeat.

“Where’s the head?” she asked. She’d loved puzzles ever since she was a kid, but this one she couldn’t figure out.

The doctor used the hand not sluicing the transducer over her belly to outline a body. As he did, the picture in the clouds that was the kid’s nose finally clicked in Everitt’s brain. Against her will, her legs trembled.

She pressed her palms against her knees. “Cold in here.”

“Still don’t want to know the sex?” the doctor asked.

“Nope,” she replied, though she did request a printout of the ultrasound. They’d probably like that sort of thing, after all.

Now, she clutched the printout in her hand as she approached the door of the prewar townhouse. Before she had a chance to knock, the cherry wood flew open to reveal Sarah Peterson. “Everitt! Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick. I told you we would pick you up at the doctor’s office, but then you weren’t there. What happened?”

Everitt rolled her eyes. Two months with these people ought to be a blast. “I told you there was no need for that. I took the subway.”

“But, Everitt, dear,” Sarah simpered, “I told you we’d take care of all of your expenses until the baby is born. That does include travel.”

“I know,” Everitt replied. She pushed past Sarah into the dark foyer. “But it isn’t necessary.”

Damn, this woman was weird. “Oh,” Everitt said, remembering the paper in her hand, “I brought home a keepsake for you guys.”

She held out the ultrasound image, which Sarah slowly took from her fingertips. The prim lady stared, unmoving, at the picture for a full minute. Finally, her mouth curved at the edges.

“Beautiful,” she whispered.

CHAPTER 7

McKenzie spent the hour after she left Dr. Schwetzer’s office trying every contact in her God-forsaken Blackberry, but no one had information on the dead infant some poor old lady had found on the subway. The baby had been inside a zipped duffle bag. The woman who found it had been taken to the hospital to be treated for an anxiety attack. Other than that, there wasn’t much to go on. The police wouldn’t acknowledge a possible connection to the Cradle Robber, even though everyone with a TV or radio suspected it.

Now, she had her source from the NYPD on the line. Missy Cambridge was usually a sure thing, but even she was giving McKenzie the run around.

“Missy, I realize you can’t tell every reporter who calls, but it will leak somehow. You know it, and I know it. When it leaks, you have to think about what kind of damage it’ll do to your investigation if it’s put out by someone who doesn’t actually research and report accurate information. I’ll sit on it until you tell me I can move, I swear. Just let me be prepared.”

Never mind that I already signed a lease on a new apartment for twice my current rent based on that raise I was promised.

Guaranteed promotion or not, McKenzie wanted this article. She was no one-trick pony. Plus, that little voice in her head reminded her day in and day out of what she’d sacrificed for this job.

Morton stood in her office doorway chewing a fingernail. His eyes narrowed, calling her on her bullshit, as on the other end of the line, Missy shut her down, too.

Hang up before you start cussing.

“Fine, Missy. Fine. I appreciate your time. Give me a call if anything changes.”

She slammed her phone down and shoved back from her desk. If Missy didn’t come through, she’d have only one more source who might be able to help her. It would not come to that point. She wouldn’t let it. To get to that source, she’d have to call him. “I’m going home. I can’t think here.”

“Whatever you need to do,” Morton replied. “But I need something on this ASAP, McKenzie. Like, at three o’clock this past afternoon, ASAP. I know I already told you about the promotion, but don’t think I can’t change my mind.”

“It’s tattooed on my forehead,” McKenzie shot back. She snatched up her purse and headed out the door.

Apparently almost dying for a story wasn’t enough for Morton, nor was her managing to drag her friends and family into harm’s way. Maybe he’d prefer it if she’d toss a few more loved ones under the bus for every story she was assigned. Too bad she was fresh out.

Her neck burned as Levi’s sweet little face popped to mind. How insulting to his memory would it be if everything that had happened in her pursuit of her last headline-making story had occurred just so she could go back to writing sidebar stories? Embarrassment she could handle. But the knowledge her cousin had died in her pursuit of her career would haunt her forever if she didn’t at least maintain the place she’d managed to get him killed trying to attain.

McKenzie leaned back in the papasan chair and flipped her phone over three times in her hand. If Pierce were still here, this problem wouldn’t exist. A computer hadn’t been made her former roommate couldn’t hack. Sometimes, she still half-expected him to come waltzing through the door, trying to get her to taste some disgusting new kind of fish he’d bought at the corner market or try to talk her into going to karaoke night at some skeevy bar. But no, he was in the ranks of the people who’d laid down their lives for her stupid career.

At her feet, her hundred-pound Great Dane rolled onto his side.

“I’m aware this is a bad idea, Carbon, but it’s not like I have more attractive options.”

The dapple dog blinked at her lazily, then plopped his head onto the hardwood.

“Don’t give me that. I’m not in a rush. I just know better than anyone that all it takes to lose your place as the top dog is one nosy reporter with one lucky-ass, random lead.”

Carbon lolled his head onto her foot.

“As long as you realize this is a last ditch effort.”

She punched send on her cell and closed her eyes. His voice would hit her ears any second now.

On the third ring, right as she was ready to chicken out, he picked up. “Whoa! Mac. Not a call I was expecting today.”

“Well, Lieutenant Hutchins, it’s good to hear your voice, too.”

McKenzie had spent the most significant and terrifying moments of her life with Noah Hutchins last year, but she found out soon after he moved away that his wise-assery didn’t translate well over long distances. The calls had become fewer and further between, to say nothing of the visits.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Mac?”

Deep breaths. He might not say no right away. “I need Jig.”

“Right. And after I put you in touch with her, I’ll chop off my nuts and send them on over, too.”

Of course. He’d never told her how exactly they knew each other, but from the way Noah and Jig talked, it didn’t take Stephen Hawking to put that puzzle together. Still, Jig was the only person McKenzie knew of who could dig up the sort of information she needed on the dead infant.

“Noah, I’m onto something here, but I have no access. You of all people should know how much that sucks.”

“I appreciate your predicament, Mac. I really do. But surely a big name reporter like you has plenty of contacts.”

“If Pierce were still alive, we wouldn’t be talking. But he’s not. My best friend could’ve helped me, but he died trying to help you find the truth when it mattered most to you. Now I need the help of the only other computer genius I know. I wouldn’t call if I didn’t need this. Believe me.”

There was a long pause on the other end before Noah spoke again. “Look, Mac, even if I tell you how to contact her, there’s no way of telling if Jig would talk to you. That’s not me being an asshole. It’s the truth.”

“Well, lucky for you, this time it won’t be your problem.”

CHAPTER 8

“Patient in renal failure, coded during dialysis. Ambulance is four minutes out.”

Dirk nodded to the nurse. “Size seven and eight trach tubes ready in two, then.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dirk turned to the sink to scrub up, stomping the pedal below the sink for sterile foam soap. Normally, he wouldn’t scrub his hands, but he did have four minutes and something to decide. Hurry, hurry, little girl.

The motion sensor activated the faucet. Dirk held his hands under the barely tolerable hot water. He smoothed suds on the backs of his hands, between his fingers, his fingernails while the tune of “Happy Birthday” played in his head. To think, some surgeons only washed their hands for nine seconds. Then again, even the good ones didn’t clean up quite as thoroughly as he did.

“Happy birthday, dear someone. Happy birthday, to you.”

He took his hands out of the stream of water, and the faucet shut off. Too bad for the dialysis patient. Some days you got the fast nurse, other days she didn’t make it back soon enough.

Dirk called for the patient’s chart. A nurse shoved her way through the activity of the busy ER, and the folder found his hand. He ducked around the corner, already skimming the open file, though he didn’t read a single word.

Ever since he could remember, he’d been a brilliant mimic. At eight, he could listen to his next door neighbor’s Spanish and reproduce it perfectly regardless of the fact that he didn’t know what the words meant. He could watch his cousin practice karate kicks and copy them so well that all the kids in his homeroom thought he took karate, too. This talent extended to everything he needed: dialects, demeanors—human emotions.

He produced a paper from his lab coat, a paper he kept ready every day, just in case. One quick swish with his pen, and he was back amongst the fray in the ER right in time to see the EMTs crash through the door with the dialysis patient.

Dirk dropped the file on a counter and rushed toward the gurney. “What measures have we taken?”

An EMT with a mustache and goatee answered. “Regular procedure with calcium chloride, plus an amp of sodium bicarb. Got her back for a minute, then she crashed again.”

“Right,” Dirk said. He touched a hand to her throat to check for pulse, breath. “Get me the ET tubes—”

“Dr. Harris…”

“ET tubes. Now!”

A tech at his side put the tube into his hand. He tilted the patient’s head back and opened her mouth, depressed her tongue with a finger.

“Dr. Harris!” the nurse called again, this time louder. Panicked.

Hand still holding the tube poised at the patient’s mouth, Dirk wheeled around. “What?”

It was the same nurse who hadn’t made it with the tubes before he was finished washing his hands. She piped up again, timid. “Dr. Harris, I don’t know how I missed it, but there’s a DNR on file.”

He widened his eyes, adopted the face of shock mixed with anger. “Are you sure?”

The young brunette’s head bobbed up and down, and her eyes filled with tears. “Yes.”

Dirk let the trach tube fall out of his hand. He bit his lip hard and looked at the floor. “What time is it?”

“Six-fifteen,” a tech replied.

“Time of death, six-fifteen,” he whispered. Then, for emphasis, he added, “Fuck!”

As Dirk trudged away from the gurney, one of the nurses he’d worked with a long time caught stride with him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Dr. Harris, I know that must’ve been difficult for you.”

Oh, really, now?

“That’s my Mom. But for the grace of God, that’s her.” He said it, because he knew it was what the nurse wanted to hear. He said it, because the statement would keep him treading through the status quo.

He said it, because it was so easy to make all of them believe.

CHAPTER 9

Cup of coffee in hand, Carbon snoring on her feet, McKenzie flipped the page of her high school yearbook. The Jonas Cleary at the cafe was like a specter compared to the one pictured on page eighty-seven. Then again, she’d changed quite a bit from the smiling, vivacious girl on page ninety. She glanced at her reflection in her computer monitor. Yep. Eyes more sunken, something missing behind them. Or maybe something added, like the knowledge of what it feels like to lose someone. Loss could change a person.

Maybe after this serial killer story died down, she’d have some time to do some more digging into Jonas’ wife’s case, see if she could turn up anything. An image of her cousin Levi popped into her mind, his limp form staring up at her the way it had after he’d died. Questioning. Accusing.

She shook the thought away. McKenzie wiggled her mouse to wake up her desktop monitor. The chances of this attempt going well were about as good as the chances of Morton Gaines becoming the new spokesman for Weight Watchers. She’d been stalking her Skype all evening, but Jig’s icon remained unavailable. Nevertheless, she opened Skype one more time.

Her heart leapt into her fingertips at the sight of the green light. Her fingers flew faster than her thoughts.

Jig?

A solid sixty seconds went by before the pencil on the screen signified Jig was replying.

to what do i owe the pleasure, mckenzie mcclendon?

What the hell?

How do you know who I am?

The pencil moved again.

lmao. because i’m a wizard.

McKenzie replied again, wary of boring or pissing off Jig.

You’re the only person I know of who can help me.

Before she could send the next thought on her mind, Jig had already replied.

i’d love to commiserate with you that noah hutchins followed his—erm—sniper rifle—to greener pastures, but i happen to know the ammo wasn’t that powerful…

McKenzie half-choked on her coffee, then hit backspace to clear what she’d written. She typed again.

It’s not that, though I’d love to share war stories with you sometime. I’m looking for information on the infant who was found in the New York subway.

Then, as an afterthought:

The autopsy information.

The pencil icon hesitated before moving.

you and every other reporter in the country.

McKenzie tapped her fingers on the edge of the keyboard.

Fortunately for me, not every other reporter in the country has been indirectly introduced to your internet handle before.

No hesitation of the pencil this time.

ha. i like you.

This was a delicate balance not to be upset. Jig was the most skilled person she’d ever found at ferreting out hidden information. Even better than Pierce had been. She was also the most evasive, prickly, and secretive. Still, McKenzie’s impatience won out.

Does this mean you’ll help me?

McKenzie knew what was coming even before the response displayed on the screen.

what’s in it for me?

Of all times to have not prepared for a quiz.

Um. A steak dinner and my eternal gratitude?