Page 48 of Be Very Quiet

Cosi typed into his computer. “He’s still a registered guest. His contract is month-to-month, and he’s paid through the end of this one.”

Luca shared a look with Audria. He might not have officially checked out, but he’d cleared his room. Luca didn’t like the implications of what that might mean. Speke wasn’t answering his phone, and now they had no clue to suggest his whereabouts.

“How often is his room cleaned?” Audria asked.

“Once a week, on Fridays.”

Housekeeping wouldn’t enter until tomorrow. Luca took out a card. “Do me a favor, Cosi. Call me when Speke either renews his room or checks out.”

Cosi nodded. “I will, Mr. Russo.”

Once they were back inside the SUV, Audria echoed his earlier thoughts. “He’s on the run.”

“You think he could be the copycat killer?”

“It’s a possibility, especially since he’s from Minnesota, and now he’s disappeared.”

He was a suspect for sure, but Luca wasn’t convinced. There were still too many similarities with Ted Rader’s methods. Still, it was coincidental that Speke knew the phrase that was sure to terrorize Liliana. Luca had never included it in the official police file, so the only other person who would know about it was Rader. Had he passed the information to Speke, along with his kill souvenirs?

“I’ll have Tyler do a deep dive into his background.” He sent a text asking Tyler to mine for any and all details of Douglas Speke’s past.

Audria drove to police headquarters and found parking in the crowded garage. Memories bombarded Luca as they were escorted to a conference room. His station had been much smaller, but the sounds and smells were the same. Coffee. Burned popcorn. Sweat. There had been good times, but there had also been awful ones.

He followed Audria inside the room to see people milling about, drinking coffee, and chatting. A whiteboard had been set up with the pertinent details of the first two cases and Rader’s past crimes.

Luca walked over to study it.

“The differences bother me.”

Luca turned to see SSA Reese Reneau standing next to him. “Yeah, me too.”

“If it’s not him, the perp has access to the stash of items he took from his first victims.”

Luca nodded slowly. “That’s what has me perplexed. If not for that, I would be certain it was a copycat.”

Detective Torres strode into the room with his arms full. He dropped a binder on the conference room table and placed a box of pastries next to the coffee machine.

“Cops and donuts. A little cliché, isn’t it?” Luca joked.

“That doesn’t bother me even a little bit,” Torres remarked. “Try one.”

Luca did and almost moaned. It was delicious. The others crowded around and swiped the treats until the box was nothing more than icing smears.

Torres moved to where he’d stashed the binder. “Thank you all for coming. Let’s get this meeting started so we can get out there and find the killer.”

The occupants of the room took seats. Counting Audria and himself, there were eight people. Torres had them go around the table and introduce themselves, asking Luca to go last. Torres had included a detective from his precinct as well as a deputy from the sheriff’s office. Reese had brought two special agents from the FBI with him.

When everyone else was done, he stood. “My name is Luca Russo, and I work for COBRA Securities. Ten years ago, I was a cop in Minnesota. My partner and I were the ones who caught Rader in the act. We took fire but returned it. Rader was hit twice but got away after he shot his hostage.”

“Damn, how did we manage to score you on the task force?” Detective Harlen Foley asked.

As much as Luca wanted to keep Liliana’s name out of it, it would be impossible with the trinkets she’d received. He told them about Liliana’s involvement and the items sent to her from the previous and current victims.

“It is Ted Rader,” Special Agent Juli Husker concluded. “He’s back.”

“We can’t assume that,” Reese cautioned. “Yes, there are similarities, but there are vast differences too. I asked our Behavior Analysis Unit to update The Mortician’s profile.” He passed around copies of the report.

“Did they deduce it was Rader?” Deputy Phil Bluffton asked without reading the paper.

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