“I’m seventy-three,” Caleb said. “And then seventy-four.”
Laura tried not to tense up. What would happen when the kid looked at his list and realized he hadn’t been given a seventy-four yet? Or that he had, and the person who had walked in after Laura and Caleb had been a man?
“Okay,” the kid said, jotting down the numbers on his clipboard. He didn’t ask any further questions, but simply waved them through. “You’ll be about forty minutes, at least.”
Laura tried not to look too wide-eyed as she followed Caleb inside. That was far too easy. At no point had either of them been asked for identification, and the log of who was actually here was laughable. All of which meant that if the killer was here and he managed to escape, identifying him would be more difficult than Laura had hoped.
But so long as she didn’t let him escape, it wouldn’t be a problem.
They emerged into a small space behind the stage, with a small number of others scattered around, reading scripts. Caleb grabbed one which had been abandoned and started to read it, effortlessly blending in. Laura, meanwhile, studied the partition which led from the stage, checking the view.
Yes, this was definitely the spot she had seen him walking towards in her vision. She felt her body tensing and wiped her palms on the side of her pants. Sweaty palms could be deadly right now if she needed to draw her gun.
There was a woman standing nearby, a woman with long brown hair reading lines from the script. Her mouth was moving silently as she practiced, concentrating fully on the words, her expression contorting and changing as she emoted through them. Was that her? Was it the woman Laura had seen?
She couldn’t be sure. This woman was wearing a light jacket, and the one in her vision hadn’t. Maybe she was planning to take it off before going onto the stage. Laura watched as another couple of actors came through the partition and then left the backstage area entirely, talking nervously together, and another two were called on. It was just her, Caleb, and the woman now. Was this it? The backstage area had been empty in the vision, Laura thought. But she had brought Caleb here, changed the path of the future.
She had to know for sure, and the only way was to see this woman from behind, to see if she matched the right description. Laura began to move, walking around the edge of the room so that she could approach the other woman from the other side, to see how the back of her head lined up against her vision.
But before she could complete her semi-circle and get behind her, Laura saw a man lurking in the back of the room, just emerging from a door that led in the opposite direction to where they had come. He had dark, dark eyes trained right on the woman, and he had a hulking kind of figure, tall and lanky and hunched downwards. He moved one of his hands strangely, and Laura looked down to see a flash of light against metal.
He was holding a knife.
Laura didn’t waste any time. She didn’t want to give him the chance to strike, to stab her and get away. She sprang towards him instinctively, putting her body between him and the woman. “Freeze!” she yelled as she barreled towards him, using the element of surprise to stop him in his tracks as well as incoming force of her body. “FBI!”
She hit him full-on, knocking him backwards. A well-placed blow to his wrist sent the knife clattering to the floor, and within moments Laura had spun him around and grabbed his wrists in both of her hands to restrain him.
“You’re under arrest,” she said, trying hard to catch her breath as she took the handcuffs from her belt to snap onto him. He didn’t resist. Either he was still in shock about the whole thing, or he knew he had been caught dead to rights and that there was no point in str
uggling now. “For murder.”
Laura pushed the killer against the wall, glancing around to see the woman watching her in shock and Caleb staying far out of trouble on the other side of the room. He was grinning at her. She reached into her pocket to get her cell phone and call Nate.
She’d done it. Finally, one of her visions had come good and shown her what she needed to see.
It was over.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
Laura looked up as the door opened, allowing Nate inside the small dressing room she had found to hold the killer. He had barely said a word since she’d cuffed him, except to protest that he had no idea what was going on.
Which, of course, was exactly what the killer would say to try and get away from her. Laura wasn’t buying it for a second. Not when she had actually seen the target through his own eyes.
“Special Agent Nathaniel Lavoie,” Nate introduced himself, taking a seat next to Laura. She had dragged the room into a new configuration – the killer sitting against the back wall, her and now Nate on chairs facing towards him, blocking the route to the door. He was cornered. If he tried to run, it wouldn’t work.
“Nate, this is Abel Clarkson,” Laura said, by way of explanation, keeping her words formal to avoid any later accusations of misconduct. “I’ve arrested him on suspicion of the murders of Lucile Maddison, Suzanna Brice, and Gypsy Sparks, and he’s been fully cautioned of his rights.”
Nate nodded. “Alright, Abel,” he said. “Can you tell me about what you were doing for the last three evenings?”
“I was at home, rehearsing,” Abel said. “I’ve got a few scripts I’m working on at the moment.” There was a surly kind of twist to his mouth, as though he didn’t appreciate being asked the questions. He could sulk all he liked, Laura thought. It wasn’t going to get him out of this.
“Can anyone confirm that this was the case?” Nate said.
Abel shifted, looking at them sideways through lowered eyes. “I was at home,” he said again. “I live alone.”
“So, that’s a no,” Nate said. He glanced at Laura with a slightly raised eyebrow, an indication that this was good news. “Can you tell me how you knew the victims?”
“I didn’t, really,” he protested. “I’m an actor. Or, I’m trying to be an actor. I just heard of them in passing. I did one of Suzanna’s classes a while ago, but I couldn’t afford to keep going. I’m just trying to keep my head down, work on getting roles. I haven’t got anything to do with this!”