Читать книгу Malicious - Jacob Stone - Страница 19

Chapter 12

Nice building, Morris thought as he parked in front of the West Hollywood condo complex where Heather Brandley had lived. “Nice neighborhood, too,” he told Parker.

The reason Morris had Parker in the car with him was because Natalie had insisted when they met at her office that he take the bull terrier. “You’re the one this killer is obsessed with, not me,” she had said. “Besides, I’ve now got this shiny new bracelet to protect me.”

Morris had tried arguing with her about which of them needed Parker’s protection more, but Natalie was adamant. She’d also put on a brave face over the fact that he was being sucked into yet another serial killer investigation. “Sometimes the stars just align a certain way,” she said, her large, brown eyes melting into Morris’s. “This maniac’s not leaving you any choice. You’re only doing what you have to do.”

Morris felt a lump in his throat as he pictured the way Natalie had looked at him. No matter what else was going on in his life, he was a lucky man, no doubt about it.

He got out of the car, and made sure to hold tightly onto Parker’s leash as the dog scooted out past him. Instead of heading to the condo complex, Morris walked across the street to the small park that was outlined with bushes, flowering coral trees, and another variety of flowering tree that Morris didn’t recognize, this one having paper-thin yellow flowers. Morris used his phone to take a photo of one of the trees. He texted this to Natalie and asked if she knew what type it was. After that, he walked Parker around the park, letting the dog sniff at each bush.

Once the loop was completed, Morris sat on the lone bench in the park. Parker contentedly plopped down by his feet. Five minutes later Walsh emerged from where she’d been hiding across the street and headed toward him. Minutes before Morris had arrived at the condo complex, he called Walsh and they came up with this plan in case the killer was watching for Morris’s arrival. It made sense that the killer might be doing so if he wanted to make sure Morris was involved with the investigation, but Morris hadn’t spotted anyone suspicious while he did his loop of the park, and if anyone had been hiding in the bushes the bull terrier would’ve alerted him.

Walsh approached the bench and first greeted Parker, who made his excited pig grunts as he wagged his tail, and then sat next to Morris. “I didn’t see anyone waiting here watching for you,” she said.

“It was worth the shot,” Morris said.

From Walsh’s expression, she didn’t seem to agree, but she didn’t belabor the point. “According to the doorman, Brandley came back from a run around two-thirty yesterday, then an hour later she left by herself with her face made up, hair done, wearing a sexy green dress and black stiletto pumps. Quoting him, she was dressed to kill.”

“He had that backwards.” Morris peered toward the building’s entrance. “How come I don’t see him?”

“He doesn’t stand by the door. He sits inside by a security desk.”

“Hmm. She certainly made an impression on him. Remembering exactly what she wore. Must be a pretty observant guy. Although I bet if I went over there now and talked to him, he wouldn’t be able to tell me what you’re wearing.”

“Maybe not, but Brandley was the big celebrity in the building. And she was beautiful. It’s not hard to believe he’d pay special attention to her.”

“That could be it,” Morris agreed, “but I don’t like it when a witness uses a phrase like ‘dressed to kill’ as a way to describe a murder victim. Makes me wonder if he’s playing some sort of mind game.”

Walsh was about to argue with him, maybe even tell him he was being paranoid, but he knew Walsh almost as well as he knew anyone, with the exception of Natalie, and he could see the spark in her eyes the moment she agreed he had a valid point.

“Let’s go talk to him,” she said.