Page 49 of No Surrender
Just as Simon stepped back outside, he saw Vic come jogging up. “I lost him,” Vic announced and swore under his breath.
“Who?”
“I swear I saw Bert Judd, watching from a distance—which was why I wanted to come tonight.”
“Here, I thought you just wanted to hang out longer, and you were on bodyguard duty.”
“Can’t it be both?”
“Of course.” Simon took Vic’s hand. “What happened?”
Vic shook his head. “He ran into a bar, and I lost him in the crowd. Whatever reason he had for being here, it wasn’t good.”
Simon led Vic back into the shop and looked at Pete. “Did we get any weird packages or letters?”
“Nothing but bills in the mail, no packages.”
Simon helped him close the store, and then he and Vic made sure Pete got on his way safely before driving back to the bungalow.
“What do you think Judd’s up to?” Simon turned to Vic once they were in the car.
“He might be letting himself be seen to rattle you,” Vic said.
Simon feared Vic’s cop instincts were on target. “What do we do?”
Vic reached over and tightened his grip on Simon’s leg. “The IT guys are cross-referencing the fan groups’ members—and once we’ve got a list of suspects, we’ll see if any of the usernames are connected to Judd. My bet is that they’ll all link to him. And tomorrow, maybe we’ll find what we need to put the cold case to rest—and figure out how Judd is tied into all of this.”
Simon rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “About that—” He told Vic about his conversations with the retired reporter and Dante’s reconnaissance work at the Vampire’s Castle site.
“You weren’t supposed to go near there without backup,” Vic chided, with an edge to his voice that told Simon Vic worried about his safety.
“Middle of the day, lots of foot traffic, and I stayed outside a busy ice cream shop on the other side of the street,” Simon replied. “I didn’t even go into the T-shirt shop.”
Vic clearly didn’t like it, but Simon knew his fiancé recognized an advantage when he saw it, and Dante was their inside man.
“So Dante confirmed bodies, ghosts, and trophies? That’s great. I got a text that the warrant will be ready in the morning.” Vic frowned. “Just in case Judd saw you near there, I’m going to ask for a car to watch the building. So he can’t go in and clean everything out ahead of us if he suspects.”
“I didn’t see him. And I was watching.”
“Doesn’t mean he didn’t see you,” Vic warned.
Simon couldn’t help a shiver at the thought. Even if Thompson had been the one to kill the young women, Judd had seen their deaths as a reason for hero worship and had visited the shrine with their trophies. In Simon’s mind, that meant Judd was just as evil—a murderer-in-training.
“I didn’t mean to jeopardize anything.” Simon pulled into the drive, relieved there were no reporters in sight.
Vic shook his head. “I don’t think that you did. I’m just being extra-careful. And it’s a huge advantage to have Dante’s intel. I’ll be honest—Judd freaks me out. I think he’s capable of worse than he’s done—look at who he picked as a role model. The sooner we’re done with this mess, the better.”
7
VIC
“Everything go okay last night?” Vic asked the uniformed officer when he got to the site of the old Vampire’s Castle. He handed off a box of donuts and takeout cups of coffee to the two men in the cruiser.
“Quiet night. No one in or out,” the driver said, happily accepting the treats.
Vic had tapped into the traffic cameras around the building and sent a feed to the uniforms so they could have a 360-degree view without leaving the safety of their car. That made him even more sure that Judd hadn’t beaten them to the evidence.
Ross and John Gordon stood on the sidewalk at the rear entrance, away from the busy T-shirt shop at street level. They’d gotten permission to bring the retired detective since he knew the layout of the upper level. Simon was with them, and while they had declined Walt’s request to accompany them, they had promised to fill him in once they had the evidence in their possession.
