Ted Dekker - The Bride Collector

Both saw him. Both watched him. But he acted nothing like anyone who’d want to harm a flea, much less them. And he didn’t have to act, because he really didn’t want to harm them any more than he’d wanted to slap Joshie in the restroom at Elway’s restaurant.

Quinton timed his approach, allowing them both to slide into their seats before he pulled the silenced weapon from behind his back and stepped up to the passenger door.

He shoved the barrel in Theresa’s face. “Get out, please.”

BRAD RAINES STOOD back and watched Roudy make quick work of the photographs, pinning each on a large map of Colorado he’d insisted they hang against the wall. Each time he pushed in a pin, he uttered a soft, “There we go. There we go.” Each of the five victims was already affixed to the map, surrounded by a dozen photos from each crime scene. The pictures formed a large symmetrical shape, but Brad had no clue what that shape could mean.

Next to the files of each crime sat half a dozen artifacts from the scene. The group had already spent twenty minutes poking and prodding, asking endless questions. But thus far, nothing of interest had presented itself to any of them. Getting all the photos up on the wall was Roudy’s inspiration, and he’d tackled the task with an animal-like frenzy. “There we go, there we go.”

Having satisfied some threshold in his mind, he sprang back. “Tell me the first thing that comes to mind. What do you see?”

Andrea and Paradise looked at Brad. Neither had been too talkative, evidently preferring to give Roudy his time in the sun.

“A butterfly?” Brad offered.

“Uh-ha. And now?”

He hadn’t changed a thing.

Brad humored him. “A… flower.”

“Interesting.”

“I don’t see what the point is, Roudy,” Andrea said.

“Understanding Agent Raines’s baseline helps me judge his methodology for perception,” Roudy said in a dismissive tone. “Please, no comments that don’t help the process.” He went back to studying the wall.

At the moment, Roudy’s methodology struck Brad as absurd. Certainly neither brilliant nor particularly insightful. But then, Brad didn’t think the way Roudy did. Either way, he hadn’t come for Sherlock’s insight.

He was here for Paradise.

She’d greeted him cordially enough but remained distant, dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt. Brad smelled the scent of shampoo when she passed. For the most part she stood by the window, watching Roudy and Andrea.

Andrea seemed more interested in Brad than in the case. In fact, the only one really engaged in the case was Roudy, who leaped about the evidence like a tiger dressed in gray corduroy pants and black bow tie. His hair was a rat’s nest, and his goatee had been twisted and bent in all directions by nervous fingers.

Brad’s conversation with Allison several hours earlier had come as a surprise to him. Rather than scold him for requesting a return to CWI, she paused only a second before agreeing. “And Nikki just might be right,” she’d said. “I say so for ulterior reasons, naturally. I care about your case, don’t get me wrong. But I’m more interested in seeing Paradise break out of her shell. What you’re suggesting will challenge her, but I think she could use a good head-to-head confrontation with a man.”

“I’m sorry, I think you’re misunderstanding me,” he’d said. “Nobody’s suggesting a head-to-head confrontation. I would only try to encourage her to trust me so that-”

“Oh, I realize what you’re doing, Mr. Raines. And I’m saying it will lead to conflict with someone like Paradise. But that may be good for her.” Then, after a pause: “Win her confidence, sir. Sweep her off her feet if you can. You have my full blessing.”

Brad had called Nikki at eight fifteen, right after he hung up with Allison, and informed her that the director had agreed. He was heading out to the center with the files as soon as he could get it all together. Nikki was headed to her mother’s for the day, but said she’d be available by phone and would check in the minute she got back in the afternoon. Maybe she could join them then.

Her reaction to finding the note on Brad’s window the previous night had surprised him. He found it interesting that Nikki, whom he’d always considered such a secure woman, had expressed some jealousy over Paradise. How could she have interpreted his care for her as anything more than concern?

Was there something in his voice or eyes that had drawn a question mark in her mind? Had she picked up on something that not even he consciously considered? Thinking about it now, in the same room as Paradise, made him feel self-conscious. The notion that Nikki had picked up on something distracted him from Roudy’s antics. If he looked at Paradise, would she see what Nikki had seen in his eyes? Would she get the wrong impression?

Then again, wasn’t he here to win her trust? He was, yes, but he felt awkward stepping in that direction. The whole idea of leading her on so that she might lower her guard and cough up the images trapped in her mind was offensive to him.

He glanced in her direction and saw that she was staring at him. To avoid any embarrassment, he shifted his eyes to Andrea. But she, too, was watching him. The blond beauty smiled, then looked at Paradise, who still hadn’t broken her stare.

Brad offered Paradise a gentle smile. “So, you’ve been quiet.”

“She’s had a couple of hard days,” Andrea said.

“I’m sorry to hear that. You okay?”

“Well, I’m not sure, Mr. Raines,” Paradise said. “They say I’m mentally ill, but even in my state of insanity I can see that you’re not getting what you came for.” Her arms were crossed and she held his gaze. From the corner of his eyes Brad could see that Andrea was glancing back and forth between them, surely picking up on this strange chemistry. Was this what Nikki had sensed? But it wasn’t anything to be jealous about. He and Paradise simply had an understanding. A connection that bypassed normal pretense. She was bone-deep honest, and he was attracted to people who exchanged society’s shell of propriety for such stark truth telling.

Then again, she wasn’t transparent, was she? Truth hid behind her eyes, in her mind. And if Nikki was right, she might be complicit in that hiding.

Paradise finally averted her eyes, lowered her arms, and walked toward the evidence spread all over the desk and wall. “So, let’s see if we can’t help him out a little. What do you say, Roudy? Right, Andrea?”

Roudy looked over his shoulder. “What do you think we’re doing? We’ve made tremendous headway already. I’m working as fast as humanly possible and then some.”

“Remember what you said,” Andrea said in a soft but firm tone. It sounded like a warning.

“I know what I said, Andrea, but I’ve changed my mind.”

Whatever had been said didn’t sit right between these two.

Paradise faced him, eyes bright now. “So, maybe it would be helpful if I summarized what we have here. Would that be helpful? Get us back on track?”

“Okay. Yes, that would be good.”

Roudy turned and lifted a finger. “The first question I’m considering is, Why? The why before the who. And on that front, I do have some thoughts.”

“If you don’t mind, Roudy,” Brad said, “I would like to hear what Paradise has to say.” The man looked shocked. “Before you offer your full analysis.” That calmed him.

Paradise caught his eye, and for the first time she hinted at a smile, as if to say, That was nice of you, thinking of me without dismissing Roudy.

“Should I give you thoughts on why, then?”

“Yes. Roudy?”

“Yes. Yes, by all means.”

“I have some thoughts, too,” Andrea said, stepping closer to Brad. “They don’t call me Brains for nothing. But I’m good with more than just my mind, as you can probably see.”