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Alex was silent while Logan, Mike, and Monty ate breakfast and discussed the case. She’d ordered a waffle and coffee, and she was trying to choke down the waffle. But she couldn’t drink the coffee. The waitress had touched the side of her cup with the carafe’s spout. Didn’t she realize this was how germs were spread from one person to another? Alex had used hand sanitizer after handling the menu, but what if the silverware wasn’t really clean? All she could do was wipe her fork with her napkin. She kept her hands under the table so no one would see her do it.
“Don’t like the coffee?” Logan asked her.
She shook her head. “I’m sure it’s fine, but I had coffee in the room. Too much caffeine makes me nervous. Decided I didn’t need it after I ordered.”
Logan nodded, but she caught the odd way he looked at her. Did he know? She took another bite of her waffle. Thankfully, the syrup came in small plastic packets. She wiped them off with hand sanitizer, then tore them open. And she forced herself to stop wondering if the plate was clean or if the person who made the waffle touched it with unwashed hands.
She was aware that she was getting worse. She’d been able to control her germ phobia for years, although the COVID-19 pandemic had made her really paranoid. But she’d fought her way through that. At least she thought she had. She’d finally convinced herself her fears weren’t real and ignored them ... for the most part. She still sanitized hotel rooms and used hand sanitizer in restaurants. But that was it. Lots of people did that, right?
Last night the nightmare she’d had over and over since she was a kid had made a reappearance. It had been a while since she’d had it. In the dream, she walked up to her mother’s open casket. Even though they’d applied a lot of makeup, it didn’t completely hide the rope burn around her neck or the blueness of her skin. In contrast, her dark red lips and matching nails seemed to stand out as if a small spotlight were aimed on them. Her mother had never worn red lipstick or nail polish when she was alive. Why did they put it on her now? It looked like blood against her pale skin.
Suddenly, from beneath her mother’s still body, roaches wrestled their way up from inside the casket. They poured out, running over the coffin’s sides like water. They came for Alex, so she turned to run although her legs felt heavy, and she could barely move. As they got closer she screamed. And then she woke up gasping for breath. The nightmare terrified her every time. She’d spend the rest of the night sleeping fitfully, forcing herself awake. She’d never told anyone about it. It was disgusting. What kind of person has a dream like that?
Finally, the men finished their meals and left, driving to the CP in their separate cars. Styrofoam cups sat next to the coffee maker in the back room. She could take one from the middle of the stack and then pour her own coffee, never touching the spout to her cup. She used a napkin to pick up the handle of the pot. She’d lied when she said she’d had coffee in her room, and she really needed a shot of caffeine now. She was still tired. Before she met the men in the hotel lobby, she’d found the ice and vending machines and purchased an energy drink, which she guzzled down. That had given her what she needed to get going, but she was beginning to crash. Coffee would have to get her through the rest of the day.
Harrison waved them over, motioning to the table. But first Alex went over to the coffee table and filled a cup with fresh brew. Logan looked at her strangely when she sat down. She smiled and shrugged, hoping he wouldn’t read too much into it.
“I want to bring you up to date,” Harrison said. “We’re still contacting churches in the area, giving them the photo of Walker as he was and several ideas of what he might look like now.” He frowned. “I’m not sure about this idea that his next sacrifice might be a Christian. Seems a little far-fetched, but it’s as good as anything else we’ve got.”
He took a breath. “Got a call from the ME in Wichita. As you know, doctors there thought Nettie Travers would recover from the blunt force trauma inflicted during the attack, but she didn’t, and the ME felt something was off. She did a toxicology screen, but it showed nothing. So she went back over the IV equipment Travers was hooked up to and found a small hole in the tubing. She looked closer at the body and now believes someone injected air into the IV and caused an embolism. That’s what actually killed her.”
“So she was murdered,” Alex said. “I thought so.”
Harrison nodded. “You were right. But by whom? You don’t think it was Walker.”
“No,” Alex said. “For the reasons we already stated. The question is whether the person who killed both women was working with him.”
“Like you said, not too many serial killers have partners.”
“That’s true,” Alex said. “But we have to remember he’s been part of the Circle, and they all believe there will be a Destroyer. That makes it more likely he might have help from someone who, like him, believes they’re a demon, not an angel. The chemist in Ethiopia, who we think was part of the Circle, helped him. Why not someone here in the States too?”
“Everyone in the ICU that night was questioned. An orderly remembered a doctor he didn’t recognize going into Nettie’s room before you and Logan got there. Said the man was in there for only a short time. He didn’t raise any alarms because ... well, he was a doctor.”
“I probably saw him,” Mike said. “I was sitting outside the ICU much of the time.” He shook his head. “Several doctors went in while I was there.”
“Would you recognize him if you saw him again?” Harrison asked.
“Maybe.” Mike sighed. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t worried about Mrs. Travers because she was supposed to be safe in the ICU. It seems I messed up.”
“I don’t think that’s true, Mike,” Logan said. “You did everything you could. Our killer was really bold walking into Nettie’s room like that.”
“And remember, we don’t know everyone in the Circle,” Alex said. “What if one of the nurses did this? It’s possible.”
“You said Nettie spoke to you,” Harrison said to Alex. “What was it she said again?”
“She said, ‘he’s here.’ I think she was telling us someone was in the ICU who shouldn’t have been. Probably the person who attacked her.”
“It’s really hard to make that jump,” Harrison said.
“Well, someone injected air into her IV. My guess is Nettie saw her killer.”
“It still could be Jimmy Gedrose,” Logan said, making Alex wonder if he’d had second thoughts about letting the man go when he showed up at their hotel. “After all, Nettie recognized Alex’s sketch. That one young nurse said he was there, and then he admitted it to Alex and me when he came to our hotel in Wichita.”
“He’ll be here within the hour,” Harrison said. “We’ll question him then.” He turned his attention to Mike. “We’re sending you back to Wichita. As you’ve said, you didn’t see Jimmy at the hospital, but you may have seen who killed her if it wasn’t him. Being back there could trigger a memory. Maybe the killer interacted with one of the staff. Seeing them might spark something. I’m not ruling out that Walker did this, though, and you might be the only one who can tell us what he looks like now.”
Mike frowned. “You know, I believe Nettie was collateral damage. Willow was the main target.” He sighed deeply. “I’ll never forgive myself for allowing her death to happen.” He looked at Harrison. “Of course, I’m more than willing to go to the hospital if you think it might help.”
