Cavanaugh Stakeout Read online

  “Let’s hope Harley was right,” Finn said, starting up his car.

  He’d lost her. “About what?” she asked as they made their way out of the elegant neighborhood.

  “About Valri practically living in the computer lab,” Finn answered.

  They were on the main thoroughfare now. “What do you need her to check out?” Nik asked.

  “Lightning Movers. I need the address of the company plus their hours of operation.” He glanced at the clock on his dashboard. “They might not be open at this hour.”

  “Oh, hell, you don’t need Valri for that. I can check that out for you,” Nik told him, typing in the moving company’s name into the search engine on her phone.

  Because he didn’t have a destination yet, Finn drove toward the precinct.

  “Well?” he asked as she typed.

  She had just finished inputting the name, and was scrolling through the information that had come up.

  “It says here that their office opens at nine on Mondays. They open at eight all the other days of the week—except for Sundays,” she added. “Looks like they’re closed Sundays.”

  Finn nodded, continuing toward the precinct. “Okay, we’ll stop by the precinct, see if either Harley or Ramirez have any updates, then tell them about what Anderson had to tell us.”

  Nik could feel excitement mounting as they drove. “This is like a giant jigsaw puzzle, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” he answered, nodding. “Except nobody dies in a jigsaw puzzle if you can’t get all the pieces to fit together,” he pointed out grimly.

  She thought of the women who had already died, and then she thought of Marilyn, who may or may not still be alive—her fate was still unknown. “Yes, there is that,” she agreed quietly.

  * * *

  “I was just going to call you,” Ramirez said, rising to his feet the second that he saw Finn and Nik walking in.

  Finn searched the other detective’s face, wondering if this was good news or bad that Ramirez was going to relay.

  “About?” he asked.

  Harley broke in, not allowing Ramirez to finish. “We were combing through some of the old open cases on the books, trying to see if there were any similarities to our case.”

  “And?” Finn asked warily.

  “We found five women who were killed the same way that these latest victims were. The killer used the same MO,” Harley said. “They were all young women, each dressed up for a night out on the town, except that it turned out to be their last night out on the town,” he added grimly.

  “Why didn’t we find these other victims before?” Finn asked.

  Ramirez shook his head. “It turns out that these five women were killed in or around Palm Springs approximately two years ago. It was a spree, and then it apparently stopped.”

  “Find out just when Dr. Garrett transferred to Aurora Memorial,” he said to the two detectives. “Text me the answer as soon as you find out.”

  Ramirez looked at Finn. “Where are you going to be, boss?”

  “Kowalski and I are going to go talk to the moving company that moved Dr. Garrett to his new residence and find out exactly where that is. With any luck, we’ll find the cocky SOB there and bring him in.” He looked at Nik. “You ready to go?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” she said, falling into step beside him as they left.

  Chapter 24

  Armed with the address that the assistant working in Lightning Movers’ tiny general office had been persuaded to give to him, Finn drove himself and Nik to Dr. Garrett’s latest place of residence. It was located in an even more exclusive neighborhood than the previous one.

  There appeared to be no one around walking a dog, jogging or even driving anywhere.

  “Wow, that’s his new house?” Nik said, craning her neck to get a better view of the large, three-story building. She turned toward Finn. “It looks more like a castle than a house.”

  “A castle that comes with its own evil ogre,” Finn said under his breath.

  Pulling up in front of the towering wrought-iron gates, Finn parked along the curb, then got out of his car. Nik was already out on her side.

  Inspecting the gates, he didn’t see a buzzer to press in order to announce himself and gain access to the front door. “Talk about not wanting to be disturbed,” he said to Nik.

  Because there didn’t seem to be a way in, on a whim, she tugged on one of the gates. It gave way and opened. Nobody could have been more surprised than she was. “I guess he didn’t have time to install a security system,” she said to Finn.

  “I guess not,” Finn responded, pushing the gates farther apart. Then they walked onto the property.

  “This doesn’t seem right,” she said, looking around as they approached the house. “Did he know we were coming?”

  “Doesn’t seem likely. My guess is that the good doctor would have had the gates wired in that case,” Finn said.

  Taking in everything, he quickly circled the perimeter of the house. Nik matched him step for step, being his second set of eyes.

  “It doesn’t look like there’s anyone home,” Finn concluded when he had made a full circle all around the structure.

  “Not on the ground floor at any rate,” she agreed. As she watched, she saw Finn take out his phone. Her curiosity aroused, she waited to hear him talk to someone before asking questions.

  “Ramirez, I want you to get a search warrant for the address I’m about to give you. It’s the doctor’s new den of inequity,” he said, then rattled off the address to the other detective.

  Ramirez’s voice carried on the phone. “We need probable cause, boss,” the detective reminded Finn.

  “Probable cause is that both the missing woman and the dead woman we found yesterday were last seen in this guy’s company. We need to find this creep now,” Finn insisted.

  “You don’t have to convince me,” Nik heard the other detective say.

  She waited until Finn put away his phone. “So what do we do until Ramirez gets here with a warrant?” she asked.

  He looked up at the towering structure. “We hang around and make sure that if someone is in there, they don’t try to escape.”

  She nodded, going back with him to his car. “Too bad I didn’t bring a deck of cards,” she said, resigning herself to a possibly long wait. She really hated wasting time.

  * * *

  Ramirez and the warrant were there less than an hour later. Harley had come with him.

  Taking the warrant from Ramirez, Finn quickly headed back to the front door. “Okay, let’s search the place,” Finn declared.

  They hadn’t seen anyone leave the premises, but he pounded on the door anyway. There was still no response. It really did seem like there was no one home.

  “Are you going to break the door down?” Nik asked just as Finn seemed to be getting ready to do just that.

  “There’s nobody home,” he told her. “You know a better way to gain access?”

  “Maybe,” she answered, surprising him. “Just let me give this a try.”

  Finn scowled. Before he could ask her what “this” was, Nik had dropped down to her knees in front of the door’s lock. She started using something she had pulled out of her wallet. Finn moved closer, watching her. Before he could say anything, he saw that she had managed to jimmy open the lock. She turned the knob and pushed open the door. Then, holding on to the doorknob, she got back up to her feet.

  “You’re really handy to have around, Nik,” Harley told her, genuine admiration in his voice.

  Finn was staring at her. “Where did you learn how to do that?”

  “That’s a little something my father taught me,” she said in an offhanded manner. “He said it might come in handy someday if I locked myself out of somewhere important,” she explained.

  Finn wasn’t
a hundred percent convinced of the veracity of her story. “When this is over, I think we should have a little talk regarding your background and your family,” he said as they all crossed the threshold and entered the house. Once inside, Finn raised his voice and called out, “Aurora PD. Anyone here?” No one answered.

  Going to the bottom of the staircase, he called up the stairs with the same exact result. No one answered him and there was absolutely no sound coming from any other part of the rambling house.

  If this was Garrett’s new residence, it didn’t look as if he was anywhere on the premises.

  “All right, you know what to do,” Finn told the other two detectives behind him. “See if you can find anything that could tie Garrett to any of the dead women we’ve recently found. A photo, an article of clothing. Anything that doesn’t belong. Who knows, he might have gotten sloppy, which means we get lucky.”

  The detectives began to head in different directions, one taking the top floor, the other the second floor.

  “What do you want me to do?” Nik asked Finn.

  For a second, he’d almost forgotten she was here. “Raise your right hand.”

  Nik looked at him, a little bewildered as she did what he told her.

  His voice took on a formal tone as he said, “I hereby appoint you to the post of temporary rookie with the Aurora Police Department with the understanding that you are exclusively attached to only this investigation. You can put your hand down,” he told her, then said in his regular voice. “Now you can help with the search. If you find anything,” he went on, “I want to know the second you do.”

  “You got it.”

  * * *

  Two hours of methodical searching yielded absolutely nothing that was useful in the slightest way. They had all come up empty.

  “I don’t get it,” Harley complained as he joined the others on the first floor. “There are no personal effects, no photographs, no souvenirs to commemorate his kills. Nothing. This might as well be a movie set,” he told the others in disgust. Shaking his head, he repeated, “I don’t get it.”

  Finn saw Nik working her bottom lip, the way she did when she was thinking. She looked as if she was going to bite clean through it. “What are you thinking?” he asked her.

  “Maybe he has a storage unit somewhere where he keeps all that kind of stuff,” Nik mused. “This way, when he moves from house to house, he doesn’t have to pack that up—or run the risk of one of the movers finding it. Everything is tucked away,” she concluded, looking at Finn. “Nice and safe.”

  That had to be it, Finn thought. There was no other explanation. “You know, the way your mind works is beginning to worry me,” he told Nik. He was only half kidding.

  She wasn’t sure if he was being serious, but she was taking no chances. “It shouldn’t,” she told him. “I like to read murder mysteries in my free time.”

  Finn turned toward the other two detectives. “Okay, see if either one of you can find a key to this possible storage unit.”

  Nik had one more idea on the subject. “It might not be here,” she told Finn. “The doctor might have it on his person. You know, keeping the ‘stuff that dreams are made of’ close,” she said, theorizing.

  “Makes sense,” Ramirez said, rolling over the possibility in his head.

  They searched the various rooms anyway, just in case Garrett didn’t have the storage unit key—if he even had such a unit—with him.

  They came up empty.

  Finished going through the rooms, Finn said, “Harley, I want you and Ramirez to watch the premises. My guess is that he’s got to come back to his new ‘home’ sooner or later. According to the most up-to-date information about the good doctor, he’s going to be returning to work in a week. I’ve got a hunch that he’s going to want one or two more women to pay the ultimate price for knowing him before he puts a lid on his bloodlust, at least until the next time,” he said, thinking of what had been discovered about a possible previous killing spree.

  “Sure thing,” Ramirez agreed just as Finn’s phone buzzed, announcing an incoming text.

  Finn quickly scanned his screen.

  “Anything good?” Nik asked, forgetting protocol and standing on her toes to get a better look at Finn’s cell phone.

  There was a grim smile on his face as he put away his phone. “That depends on your point of view.” He looked at the other two detectives, letting them in on the text as well. “Garrett’s Porsche was just spotted parked in the vicinity of The Greek Isles Restaurant.”

  Nik was ready to fly out the door. “I take it that’s our next stop.”

  Finn nodded. “We’ll set up surveillance near where his car is parked.” His eyes shifted to Harley and Ramirez.

  “You two do the same across the street from this house. The bastard’s luck can’t last forever,” he said as he strode out of the mansion, Nik following behind.

  “Hang on,” he told Nik as he started up his car. His adrenaline was amped up. “I want to get there before he has a chance to take off.”

  “Don’t you have an officer on the premises?” she asked him. Worst-case scenario, the officer could follow the doctor’s vehicle.

  “I want to be there,” Finn insisted.

  The car revved to life in less time than it took to say the words. Nik braced her hand against the dashboard, her heart racing.

  “You weren’t kidding about hanging on,” she told him. “Birds have slower takeoffs than you just executed.”

  She thought she saw a glimmer of a smile on Finn’s lips, but he didn’t say anything in response. He just focused on the road and drove. Fast.

  “That has to be some kind of a record,” she told him as he pulled into the parking lot across from the restaurant less than ten minutes later.

  Her heart was still pounding. Nik scanned the area and although she saw the Porsche parked several yards away, she didn’t see the patrol car.

  She said as much to Finn.

  “That’s the whole idea,” he told her. “I don’t want to scare Garrett away.” Turning off his own car’s lights, Finn sat back in his seat. “Hope you’re in the mood to wait,” he told her.

  “If it means dragging this guy off the streets and into the police station, hell, I can wait all night,” she told him.

  That’s what he’d figured she’d say. “Let’s hope we don’t have to.”

  * * *

  But they nearly did.

  Finn had begun to give up hope, thinking that for some reason Garrett had decided to abandon his car and use another vehicle to make his exit, when he felt Nik suddenly stiffening and coming to attention right beside him.

  “We’re in business,” she told him, whispering the words as if she was afraid that the doctor might overhear her. “Over there,” she said and pointed, just in case Finn didn’t see the threesome in the distance. They appeared to be approaching the doctor’s Porsche.

  From where he sat, Finn could make out a well-dressed, handsome man and a slightly shorter, attractive blonde woman, each with their arms around another woman, who was between them. The woman would have surely fallen to the ground if they weren’t actively guiding her toward the newly waxed, gleaming white vehicle parked several yards away from them.

  “That’s them,” he confirmed. “And they’ve got another candidate.”

  Finn was immediately out of his car. Nik lost no time in joining him. Striding ahead, Finn reached the threesome first.

  “Is there a problem?” he asked, sounding helpful as he indicated the woman between the couple. The former looked as if she could hardly walk without help from her human bookends.

  “I’m afraid that my fiancée’s sister has had a little too much to drink,” Garrett told the so-called Good Samaritan. “Thanks for your kind offer, but we won’t be needing any help. I’m a doctor,” Garrett announced proudly. “We’ll
just get her home and into bed. I’m sure she’ll be fine by morning,” he told them with confidence.

  “My guess is that if I let her go with you two, she’ll be dead by morning,” Finn said.

  “That’s absurd,” Marilyn protested, her voice cracking. She looked very unsteady as she tried to hold up the other woman. “What are you talking about? Please get out of our way,” she demanded. She looked nervously at the man who was helping her hold up the barely conscious woman between them.

  That was when Nik stepped out of the shadows. “He can’t do that, Marilyn. And you don’t have a sister,” Nik said with finality.

  Fear and horror washed over Marilyn’s already ashen face. “How do you know my name?” Marilyn cried.

  “Look, the longer we delay getting this poor girl home, the worse off she is probably going to be.” The doctor’s voice hardened. “Now, good intentions or not, I want you to step aside, do you hear me?” he demanded.

  “Afraid I can’t do that, Dr. Garrett,” Finn told him. “I suggest that you let her go,” he ordered, drawing out his service weapon from the holster at his waist. “Now, before things get any worse.”

  Garrett’s face darkened. Shouting out a curse, he shoved the woman he’d chosen to be his next victim, pushing her straight into Finn. The latter made a grab for the falling woman with the intent of placing her on the ground and giving chase after the homicidal physician. But he found he didn’t have to. Executing what he could only later refer to in his report as what looked like an intricate dance move, Nik whirled around, knocked the doctor off-balance and wound up tripping him. He went down with the full force of his weight, hitting the asphalt hard and screaming obscene curses at her.

  The next moment, Finn was cuffing him and the doctor was swearing that Finn was going to live to regret ever having been born.

  Finn didn’t even bother answering him.

  “You, too, honey,” he said to Marilyn as he restrained her and snapped a pair of cuffs on her. “You’re not going anywhere, either, except to jail along with your boyfriend here.” Pulling out his cell phone, he handed it to Nik. “You get to call for backup,” he told her. “Just press two,” he instructed, raising his voice over Marilyn’s anguished sobs and Dr. Garrett’s very vocal predictions of what the doctor was going to do to him to make him regret ever being born once the charges against him were dismissed.