Page 137 of I'm Watching You

‘Suit yourself.’ He started inside the car and she immediately relaxed, chiding herself for being so sensitive. But still, she was going to play it safe.

She decided to get back in her car and drive around to the front entrance of the hospital. She’d pay for parking on the street.

Lindsay had taken five steps when a damp cloth clamped over her face. The sick, sweet scent of chloroform invaded her senses. Her hands rose up to the ones clamped over her mouth and nose and she tried to pry them away.

She struggled to hold her breath, and when she couldn’t any longer, she inhaled a lungful of the chloroform. The drug invaded her system. She couldn’t move. Was helpless to scream or fight.

She heard the rumble of male laughter. It was a frightening sound. Evil. Malevolent. He was enjoying her helplessness.

Her brain spun. Her knees buckled.

As she began to lose consciousness, she was aware that the man scooped her up and dumped her into the laundry basket.

He dropped her purse beside her and covered her with a handful of towels. ‘Now the fun begins, Lindsay.’

She passed out completely.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Friday, July 11, 10:30A.M.

The cemetery’s surveillance tapes for the past year had arrived around eight last night and Zack had reviewed them most of the night. Slowly he’d been able to piece together a chain of events. He rewound the footage and stopped the tape on February eleventh. The landscape on the screen was covered in a dusting of snow. Icicles hung from the trees. The sky was as dull and gray as the headstones.

The homicide team assembled in the conference room. Zack stood and ran his hand over his head.

The entire division had worked all night. No one was going to sleep until this guy had been caught. Detectives from other divisions and uniforms were now helping them run down leads.

Ayden, Ricker, and Vega sat down. ‘So what do you have? You said it was important.’

‘I spoke with the cemetery director yesterday because I noticed cameras posted in several of the trees and by the front entrance. It seems he installed surveillance equipment right after Christmas last year. He’d had trouble with someone spray painting satanic symbols on some of the headstones. His graffiti artists haven’t reappeared or beencaught on tape. But, he did catch us another fish,’ Zack said.

Ayden frowned. ‘Where’s Warwick? I want him to see this.’

‘He’s at the Department of Motor Vehicles,’ Zack said. ‘He’ll be here soon.’ He hit ‘play.’ On the television screen a grainy image showed a white van rolling down a distant snowy road into the cemetery. ‘Pay attention to the vehicle entering the back entrance of the cemetery. As you can see, this segment was recorded on February eleventh. The vehicle enters but stops at the crest of the hill.’ He touched the screen where the vehicle stopped. ‘The driver doesn’t pull up far enough for us to get a shot at the plates or a look at his face. But if you look closely, you can see that the driver is carrying roses, which he leaves on Deb Hines’s grave. Lindsay O’Neil’s mother’s grave.’ Everyone in the room leaned forward and watched the driver. ‘He keeps his head low as he lays the flowers on the grave. He pauses for a moment of prayer and then leaves through the back entrance.’

Ayden leaned forward. ‘He’s paying his respects.’

Vega folded his arms over his broad chest. ‘What time is this?’

‘Eleven fifty-eightA.M.’ Zack hit the fast-forward button. ‘March sixth. The van appears again. It’s about noontime. The driver again is careful to keep his face from the camera and the van out of close view. He leaves flowers and again leaves by the back entrance. The Guardian has already proven he’s savvy with surveillance equipment, so he must realize the front entrance is covered by a camera.’

Ayden muttered an oath. ‘How the hell are we going to catch this guy?’

Zack grinned. ‘Stay with me. Now we’re coming to April second. Lindsay arrives at the grave. She leaves flowers and stays twenty minutes. She begins to leave. The van arrives. They almost meet this time. But she exits via the front entrance. She said she’d seen a van that day and had thought it was the caretaker.’

‘She never noticed the flowers before?’ Ricker said.

‘The cemetery has a policy stating that all live flowers are to be removed every Saturday. Cemetery maintenance always cleared away the old flowers before she arrived.’

He hit the fast-forward button again. ‘It’s May third. Again he leaves flowers.’

Ricker cocked her head. Her curly hair was twisted up into a high ponytail and her face pale from too little sleep. ‘May third is the day the article on Lindsay appeared in the paper.’

Zack nodded. ‘Yes. And on this day our mystery man lingers at the Hines grave for over an hour. He seems to be talking to the headstone. His body language suggests that he’s agitated. He doesn’t show his face, but this time he starts to leave through the front entrance. He catches himself and backs up. But before he does, he gets close enough for us to pull a partial on the plates. That’s why Warwick is at theDMV.’

Warwick came into the room. He had a file tucked under his arm and was breathless, as if he’d sprinted across the parking lot and up the stairs to the second floor. ‘Did I miss anything?’

Zack nodded. ‘Right on time.’

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