Damien
“Jesus,” I muttered, watching the video Julian had made. “I feel sick.”
“He’s beyond obsessed,” Julian agreed. “The apartment was basically empty except two rooms.” He paused. “The dressing room and the shrine.”
One room was filled with costumes, wigs, props. A makeup table. Shoes, hats, glasses. He’d been at her school, posed as a custodian. A homeless man outside the grocery store she had noticed one night and gave money to. I recognized a hat I had seen a man wearing when we were “fighting” in the park. He’d watched us the whole time.
But the shrine was what frightened me. Pictures of Raven on every wall. Laughing, talking, teaching, walking, crying. Happy, sad, upset. Working at her desk. Teaching her kids. Playing with them outside. Sitting beside me at dinner, my face blacked out with a marker. Anytime I was with her, my face was a black circle. Any of my staff caught in a picture with her had X’s through them. There were a bunch of close-up ones I recognized from the dinner we’d gone to.
“His damn earpiece was a camera. Every time he tapped, it was another picture of her. The twisted bastard,” I raged.
He had her schedule laid out. A scarf pinned to the wall she’d mentioned trying to find the other day. Chocolate bar wrappers I assumed he picked from her garbage. A calendar where he’d filled in “their” timeline. Chat #1. First sighting. First date. He referred to his stalking as glimpses. Each one was marked, the ink soaking so heavily into the paper it bled to the sheet below it.
And the scary part was the crushed daisies pinned everywhere. One for every time he got upset with her.
There were a lot of daisies.
I had to turn away from the phone.
“I took a lot of pictures,” Julian murmured. “For evidence, if we need it.”
Marcus spoke. “The off-site building is basically empty except for what you saw. He has massive storage potential not being used, but I assumed the room I was in housed all he wanted there. I would love to get into those computers.” He shook his head. “Maybe once this is over. I have a feeling there are a lot of answers in those machines.”
“You think he’s done this before,” I stated.
“Yes. Maybe not to this extent, but once he’s taken care of, maybe a lot of other women’s fears could be put to rest.”
“Good idea.”
“I did spot a large fireproof cabinet, but it was padlocked and I didn’t want to draw attention to my presence by cutting it. Plus, no bolt cutters,” Marcus added. “I think that is where he stores all his documents and files.”
Julian nodded. “There was a smaller one in the apartment. I assume the ones he’s using right now are locked in there.”
I looked at Egan.
“I paused the cameras so they didn’t pick up on the drone. I got some footage of the house, the grounds, and the outlay. All the drapes and blinds were shut. I sent in a heat source detector, and something inside was giving off a signal.” He paused. “Not a strong one.”
“She’s cold,” I said, tightening my hands into fists.
“Like Missy,” Marcus added.
Egan nodded, remembering like me how we had found Marcus’s wife that day.
“I was in and out as fast as I could. I got blueprints from hacking into old records, so we know the layout. I can run a program that will override the system so nothing shows when we go in. It will play a loop, so if he looks at the screen, he sees nothing. There is a spot near the back that has little coverage we could access. You can go in while I monitor the system. I can guide you toward the heat source I locked on earlier, and away from him.”
“Can we distract him?” I asked. “Maybe get him with Deb. Get in and out while he’s gone?”
“We’d have to tell her. And have her covered while she’s with him,” Julian pointed out.
“Can she handle that?” Marcus asked. “She was already upset. If she knows the truth, can she remain calm and not tip him off?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. Raven always said Deb wore her heart on her sleeve. She might find it difficult.”
“Then we do it without a distraction.”
“I could call him. Ask to meet him then not show up,” I said. “As soon as he leaves the house, we move in. By the time he gets back, she’ll be safe.”
“That might work.”