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“What?”she croaked, then tried to swallow through her dry mouth.
“I’m just wondering if Nico is indeed as smart as I thought he was.I was hoping he might’ve been here by now,” he continued.
Well, at least that confirmed what Serge had been thinking all along.
“Nico has been taken off the case.It tends to be a conflict of interest when the serial killer you’re hunting is your own father,” Lacey spat.But she was silently wondering if Nico would indeed work it out.She couldn’t see how.But she needed to make Serge think it was definitely not an option.Perhaps she could sway him away from his idea of an ambush.“How the hell do you think he’s going towork it out?”
“Ah, a little thing like being taken off the case shouldn’t worry him.”Serge waved a hand as if swatting away a gnat.It was the first time Lacey really noticed his French accent.She’d almost forgotten about Nico’s heritage.Nico had lost his accent soon after he moved to Australia as a ten-year-old child.Nico’s mother, Catarina, still had her French lilt, however.Lacey loved to listen to her talk over the phone, that flowery, nasal quality that was romanticized in so many movies and novels.But Serge’s voice was more guttural and hard-edged.
“So, you lied to me,” she accused.“You never really wanted to talk to me at all.You’re just using me as bait.”
Serge merely shrugged in the face of her growing ire.“You are right, of course.You are the prize that will draw my son in.And I don’t need you to talk to me, I already know everything I need to about my son.I’ve been studying him, watching him, learning about him.He is extraordinary, is he not?”
“What?”Lacey was completely lost.What was this man talking about?“Studying your own son.Why would you do such a thing?”Then she nearly laughed at the stupidity of her question.This man was a serial killer.He’d done a lot of sick things in his life, taking the time to stalk his own son was probably one of his lesser evils.
“So I could learn everything there was to know about him.And you of course too, because you are important to him.And it was worth it.He is my bright light.My shining star.He’s turned out to be everything I hoped for.My other two children, not so much.But Nicolas, he’s so determined, so ferocious.”Serge smiled, a ghastly smile, all hard edges and hard eyes.There was no humor in it.
Lacey grunted.From all of Nico’s accounts, Serge was a terrible father, and he’d certainly never been full of praises such as these.Why had he suddenly decided that Nico was the greatest son who ever walked the earth?
“How long have you been…studying him…us?”Lacey asked, suddenly troubled, wondering exactly what Serge had seen.Had he been peering in windows at them both, while they’d been oblivious to his gaze, carrying on their lives, eating dinner at the kitchen table, sitting out on the front veranda toasting the sunset with a glass of wine, making love in their cozy bedroom?She shuddered at the thought of what this voyeur had seen.
“A while.At least two years.”
Oh, shit.That was around the same time Serge had relocated from the mainland to Tasmania.Did that mean he’d come here with that sole purpose in mind?To reconnect with his youngest son?If it was, he had a fucking strange way of doing it.
“We know it was you who broke into our house before Christmas,” she accused.
“Yes, I made sure Nico understood it was me,” Serge replied loosely.“It was a shame.That night was a missed opportunity.I was hoping you might have been home.Alone,” he added with a small smile.“But you and that dog foiled my plans.”
“What do you mean?”She lifted her head sharply.
“Maybe if you’d come home earlier that night, then this might all have been over by now.”He waved his gun in the air, but Lacey failed to grasp what he meant.
“What would be all over by now?”she asked.Then a sudden realization struck her.“Were you planning on abducting me?Is that why you were there?”Serge merely nodded, and Lacey’s whole body shuddered at the thought of how close she’d come to disaster that night.Hell, she’d been about to chase him into the dark night.What an idiot she’d been.
“But because that plan failed, I had to concoct another strategy to get Nico’s attention.And I think this one worked well, don’t you?Perhaps even better.”
It took her a few seconds to work out the meaning behind his words.“You mean abducting those poor innocent girls, murdering one of them and leaving the other one forever traumatized?That was your new plan?”Then the irony hit her.Instead of having to take her by force, Serge had induced her to hand herself over without a struggle, meek as a lamb.He’d achieved his goal in the end, and those two poor girls had ended up paying dearly for it all.
“Yes.And it was a good one.”Serge shifted position slightly, easing out one of his legs, then gave a small grin.“I got to feed the monster one last time, and I made my son work hard to catch me.Such fun, this game we play.”
Lacey felt physically sick.Game?This wasn’t a game; this man was playing with people’s lives.And monster?What did he mean by that?
Before she could ask, however, he went on, “I thought I would add a few unconventional details this time.I don’t normally like to inflict harm.Quick and clean is the only way to do it.Give them what they need and then leave.”
Again, her stomach heaved as his words hit her; the way he was so casual about carrying out a murder.So blunt.But she was a cop, and she needed to clear her mind of her own roiling emotions and analyze his words like a cop.She assumed he was referring to the way he killed the women he took cleanly, without any other form of interference such as rape or torture.Except where Taylor was concerned.He’d inflicted harm on Taylor.Was that what he meant by unconventional details?The million and one cuts all over Taylor’s body.
“But I wanted to make Nico work harder.And to make you feel sorry for her.I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist her.Your compassionate side is so strong.”
Lacey shrank against the wall.Oh, God.Serge had cut Taylor just to draw her in.To make sure she’d do just about anything to try and protect her.He’d tortured her with some sick notion of attracting Lacey’s attention.And it’d worked.But how did Serge know so much about her?Just through studying her and Nico, as he claimed?He must be a master at working out human motivations if that were the case.Nico had warned her that Serge was smart, but this was something else again.
“You’re a sick, sick man,” she whispered.
“I understand that,” he replied simply, surprising her with his candor.“That is why I need Nico.”
“Why?What do you want with Nico?Why can’t you just leave him alone?”she spat, wanting this conversation to be over.This manwasa monster, just like he claimed, and she suddenly wished she’d never wanted clarification in the first place.Understanding why he did these things was almost scarier than not knowing.
“Because Nicolas will be my savior.”
