Karen Rose - Have You Seen Her?

"I don't think I'd go that far."

Jenna whirled around and held on to the headstone when the world kept spinning. She blinked hard and brought a face into focus. And narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Josh, what are you doing here?"

Friday, October 14, 6:15 P.M.

"You can't come in here!" Mrs. Lutz stood at her front door, clutching her collar to her throat.

"We can, ma'am, and we will. We have a warrant." Steven pulled it from his pocket and handed it to her. He pushed past her, looking around, knowing he had uniforms covering every exit of the house in case any of the Lutzes decided to bolt. "Where is Josh?"

She clutched her collar tighter around her throat. "He's not here."

"And Rudy?"

"He's not here either. I'm going to call my husband."

"You do that, ma'am," said Sandra, right behind Steven. "Any limits to the warrant, Steven?"

"None," Steven said with satisfaction. Liz had done an exemplary job.

"Good old Liz," Sandra said affectionately. "I'll take Rudy's room."

"And I'll take Josh's," Steven said, then turned when Mrs. Lutz screeched bloody murder. He was just in time to see the woman leap against Davies and pound her fists on his chest. Two uniforms pulled her away, wringing her hands. Probably hurt her fists on Davies's Kevlar vest , Steven thought, again with satisfaction.

"You!" Mrs. Lutz screamed. "You ruined our lives by setting my son up in Seattle!" She leapt again and the uniforms pulled her back as Davies just stood there, impassively.

"I never set up your son," Davies said calmly. "I simply targeted the wrong one."

She went white at that and tugged at the restraining hands of the officers. "You're lying. My Joshua would never do anything wrong. It's all that bitch teacher's fault. She's to blame."

"For what, Mrs. Parker?" Davies asked.

She spluttered, then seemed to calm before their eyes. "For failing my Rudy. Neither of my boys touched her. She's a conniving liar if she says they did."

"We're not investigating the school vandalism," Steven said mildly, his hand on the banister. "We're investigating serial murder." He had the unmitigated joy of watching Mrs. Lutz swoon.

Steven trotted up the stairs, Davies close behind him.

"Do you always make such devoted friends?" Steven asked.

Davies shrugged. "What can I say? I'm unforgettable."

They found Josh's room impeccably neat and clean. Davies walked right over to the nightstand and pulled a thick volume from the drawer.

"Please tell me that's not a Gideon Bible ," Steven said dryly and Davies smiled.

"No, it's I , Claudius . You ever read it?"

Steven riffled through a drawer of socks. "Does it have comics like Captain Underpants ?"

"No," said Davies. "Claudius was about twentieth in line for emperor of Rome. Everybody around him was being killed, so he played dumb so he wouldn't be perceived as a threat." He opened the book and flipped through the pages, then set it aside. "He outlived them all and became emperor. Ruler of the world."

Steven pulled a sketch pad from beneath neatly folded shirts and held it up so Davies could see the pages of sketches of the prep school emblem Josh had tattooed on his victims' heads. "Look."

"He was practicing," Davies commented, then pulled open the closet door and stopped. "Oh, my God. Thatcher."

Steven pushed the drawer shut and came to look.

And found the shrine to Jenna.

Friday, October 14, 6:15 P.M.

Josh took a step closer and Jenna noticed the blood on his hands. "Josh, what's wrong? Are you hurt? Did your father or Rudy hurt you?"

And then he smiled. "No." He lifted a brow and she knew something was different today. "Miss Marshall," he added.

It was his eyes. Not blank. Not downcast. No sign of mortification. Sharper, somehow.

It took her a minute. A full minute. Then she gasped. " You . It was you in my apartment."

"It was I," he said silkily and pulled something white from his pocket. "I'd thought to do this relatively painlessly, but you have really left me with no choice."

Jenna glanced from side to side, panicked, remembering the strength of the hands that held her down that night. The sound of the knife slicing into the mattress where she'd been sleeping just moments before. Then she realized Seth was not there and her heart stopped. Seth . The blood on his hands was Seth's. "You monster," she hissed, thinking fast about her options. Seth had the key to the car so she couldn't get away, unless it was on foot. She needed to get help back to Seth. If he was still alive. Please, God, let him still be alive . Her only hope was to run.

Now.

She took off toward the main road at a sprint and didn't look back. Then flew forward as something heavy hit her in the middle of her back. She hit the ground on all fours, a split second before she was pushed flat to the ground, his knee in her back. His hand came around to grab her chin, and her head was jerked back and she could hear his heavy breathing.

"Don't make me run, Miss Marshall," he said, his voice rough and… uncontrolled. It was different than the night in her apartment, because that night he'd had icy control. She could only hope she could use that fact to escape. To get help. Seth. Oh, God, Seth. Please hang on .

Then another face flashed in front of her eyes. Steven. I never got a chance to tell you I'm sorry , she thought just as Josh pressed something scratchy to her face and held her nose. She struggled, holding her breath until she could no longer, until her reflexes took over and she gulped a lungful of air through her mouth.

"That's the way," he said soothingly. "Ten, nine, eight," she heard him counting. "Five, four…"'

Then nothing.

Friday, October 14, 6:25 P.M.

Steven pulled the string on the lightbulb and his gut clenched. The closet door was covered with photos, some cut from the Roosevelt yearbook. But most were snapshots of Jenna. Close-ups, above the shoulder shots with her apartment in the background. His blood ran cold realizing Josh Lutz had been stalking Jenna, watching her through her patio door. He thought about the neat hole cut in the glass. Josh had stalked her through that glass door, then came through it to try to kill her.

"Sonofabitch," he whispered.

Silently, Davies pushed back the clothing hanging in the closet to reveal more pictures.

"Lorraine, Samantha, Alev, and Kelly," Steven murmured. Before and after. The after shots were taken at various angles. The photos of Alev showed Josh had experimented to get just the right layout of body parts before leading them to the clearing. "He's developing his own pictures, just like Jenna said. I wonder where his darkroom is."

" I wonder where he's keeping his souvenirs. You know he's kept something to remember his victims by," Davies said, pulling the blanket from the bed and lifting the mattress up. " Hello" he said. "What have we here?"

Pills, Steven saw. Hundreds of little pills. He held one up to the light. "Mellaril," he said softly, then looked at Davies. "Pretty powerful antipsychotic. When taken consistently it can suppress cognitive function, sometimes down to the level of an eighty-five IQ. But somebody hasn't been taking his meds. And I bet you somebody's mother thought her boy was under control. But he isn't. Maybe he was, but he sure as hell isn't now."

"That might explain why he took a sabbatical," Davies mused. "If he was on the pills during the years between Seattle and here."

"And this stash would certainly explain the fact that he's started again. He stops taking his pills and acts like he's still dull-witted to keep anyone from realizing he's changed."

"A la I , Claudius ," Davies said.