Knox nodded. “I want every member of the Force who’s monitoring the home of a single mother to go inside her house and check things out.”
“I’m on it.” Keenan whipped out his cell phone. “They might not necessarily know if the woman is being controlled.”
“Missy said she cried,” said Knox. “I would say they’ll see in the mother’s eyes if something is wrong.”
Keenan crossed to the corner of the room to take the call.
Levi looked down at Janelle’s body and then glanced around. “Where’s her cell? If we’re lucky, she’ll have taken pictures of her and her partner. She may even have his number logged in her phone. We could track him that way.”
“It’s here.” Larkin nabbed it from the nightstand and pressed a button at the side of the phone, causing the screen to light up. A picture of a smiling couple stared back at them. “That’s him. Clyde. His name is Clyde Quincy. I know it now that I’m looking at him. He’s a nightmare, like Piper.”
“We need his number,” Knox reminded the harpy.
“I’ll need Janette’s fingerprint to unlock the phone.” Larkin bent down and very gently placed Janelle’s thumb on the cell’s screen. “Done.” She scrolled through the contact log. “Yep, got his number.”
“Get tracking his cell,” said Knox.
“I’ll need my laptop for that,” Larkin told him.
“Then let’s get to your apartment.” Knox sighed at Janelle’s body. “I’ll have someone come here and take care of her body.” The Prime pyroported them all to Larkin’s apartment.
They waited impatiently while she used her computer software to track the male nightmare, her fingers flying over the laptop keys. Levi had already forgotten the bastard’s name and face again—both felt just out of his reach.
Report after report came in from members of the Force who’d checked in on the single mothers. All said the coast was clear.
Keenan rubbed at his nape. “He could have gone after two sisters again, although I doubt it. Last time, he deemed it a mistake. Maybe he picked a single mother outside of our lair instead. Or it could be that he simply hasn’t made his move yet.”
“There’s no saying he’s hunting anyone,” said Levi.
Larkin cursed, her body going still. “He’s here.”
Knox’s brows snapped together. “What?”
“He’s in this building somewhere,” she replied.
Levi blinked. “That’s impossible.”
“Not according to the tracking software,” she said. “He found some way to get past the security measures.”
Levi shook his head. “There’d be no point in him even doing that. No single mothers live here. There’s no one he could possibly want …” Levi trailed off, his gut filling with dread as a thought occurred to him. “He could have come here to see me. If he did, if he’s at my place right now, he has Piper.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Her injured cheek throbbing, Piper stared at the newcomer in shock. Even her demon was stunned. They’d never considered him a suspect. Not once.
An icy burn sliced through her brow this time. A hiss of pain whistled out of her. And he loved that—she saw it in his eyes.
“Just a little ability I bought,” said Enzo. “They call it a psychic scalpel. Takes a lot of concentration to use—I’m not yet accustomed to wielding it—so it isn’t much good in a fight. But it will certainly be of much use here and now.”
“It was you all this time?” Piper asked, her voice unintentionally quiet. “You tried to kill me?”
“Over and over,” he easily confirmed.
Her thought processes faltered as she struggled to understand. “But … why? I never did a damn thing to you.” She barely knew him. And she’d never once pinned a crime on him using her gift.
“It was never about you, Piper,” he said. “Levi made that assumption. A mistake on his part. Though I suppose it was natural for him to conclude that you were the true target. Really, you were the weapon I needed. He hurts when you hurt.”
She blinked. “This is about Levi? But … you work under him, you—”
“Respect him? Obey him? Show him loyalty?” Enzo pursed his lips. “Of course it seems that way. I’ve spent many years convincing him and everyone else of that. Not that I drew this out for the fun of it. I’d have struck at him years ago if there’d been a real way to hurt him.”
The psychic scalpel once more sliced her face. She ground her teeth, biting back a cry. He’d get no more sounds of pain from her. None. “Why? I don’t understand.”
“You weren’t part of the lair when my brother was alive. Gian was a good kid. He struggled socially and never really found his own tribe. He was too shy to approach girls, so … he’d take pictures of them from afar. Not of them changing clothes or anything. Just pictures. It was harmless, really.”
Uh, no, not really.