Page 68 of Last Resort

Chance nodded. “You’re right. Let’s make sure everyone is safe, then we’ll figure out a further plan. Start pressing your PD contacts. Let’s see what we would need for them to make an arrest.”

“Once I show all this to my colleagues on the force and they see it’s a serial killer, believe me, they’ll want to make an arrest. You guys be safe and keep me posted.”

Chance ran up to say goodbye to Maci, but she was sleeping. Good, she needed the rest.

He reached over and kissed the top of her head. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.” He was talking to both mother and baby.

And he meant every word.

LESSTHANFORTY-FIVEminutes later they were back in LeBlanc’s office.

“Gentlemen, should I call in Dorian and his team?” LeBlanc asked. “I’m hoping you actually have something useful for us this time.”

The man was frustrated. Chance couldn’t blame him.

“We’d actually prefer to speak to you alone, if that’s okay,” Chance explained. “We’ve had a breakthrough in the case, and we have reason to believe the stalker may be working inside your organization.”

LeBlanc’s eyes got wide. “What?”

Chance didn’t want the man to panic, so he chose his words carefully. “We’ve found some similar cases from the past few years that we believe were committed by the same person.”

Brax gave the man his most comforting smile. “We have some questions we think will help us nail down who the perp is. But first—do you have confirmation Stella is still safe?”

Once they started making their case against Rich, it was going to tip him off. They needed to have everyone secure before that.

“Yes, I spoke to her not long before you arrived. She’s safe, but we’re not going to be able to keep her out of the limelight much longer. She’s doing a photo shoot at castle ruins in Scotland. That will hold her off a few more days.”

Chance glanced over at his brothers. “And Rich? He didn’t go over there, did he?”

“No, he stayed here in case he was needed.”

“That’s good. We might need him. What can you tell us about Rich?”

“He’s worked for me for five years. Stella responds well to him so I’ve kept him around. My one rule was that he wasn’t allowed to sleep with her and he’s not broken that. Why do you ask?”

Brax shot Chance a look. Chance understood what his brother was communicating: this needed to be handled delicately.

“Before we get into specifics, we need to run a few dates by you and see what you, Stella, Rich, Jason Rogers and your office manager were doing on those days.”

LeBlanc was confused. “Marguerite?”

Chance nodded. He’d tossed Jason, one of the main security guards, and Marguerite Frot into the mix for subterfuge. If Rich was listening or had means of accessing what they were talking about, maybe it would throw him off the scent.

LeBlanc sat down at his desk. “Okay, fine. What are the dates? My system will allow us to pull up schedules. It should list what security teams were working also.”

Chance wasn’t a huge computer person, but he was thankful for this program that was about to make their lives much easier.

Luke read off the dates. They waited as patiently as they could as LeBlanc started with himself and listed what he’d been doing on each day. Then moved to Stella.

Chance grit his teeth when he next listed what Marguerite then Jason had been doing the dates of the murders. Since both of them were red herrings, they didn’t matter.

Finally, he got to Rich.

“On the first date, Rich wasn’t working. He generally takes Mondays and Tuesdays off since Stella’s calendar doesn’t tend to be full for those days.”

Chance glanced at Luke and Brax. Rich not working meant he’d been free to commit the murder.

“Date two, it looks like Rich had a doctor’s appointment. I vaguely remember that. A few weeks later he had a spot taken off on his shoulder that he was concerned might be cancer. Stella was distraught and did a six-week segment on different sunscreens.”

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