When Tony reached Kate’s house, he didn’t bother to knock. The front door was unlocked and he ran inside, calling her name. A quick look made it clear she wasn’t there, and neither was Bobby. Realizing he needed backup, he pulled out Gil’s phone and called Batterson since he didn’t have numbers for the LEOs onsite. No one answered, so he dialed 911. After he identified himself, the operator connected him to the local U.S. Marshals’ office. They put him through to one of the deputies on the scene in Shelter Cove.
Deputy Dan Harper responded to Tony’s call.
“This is Deputy Marshal Tony DeLuca,” Tony said. “I need to speak to Deputy Bennett right away. It’s an emergency.”
A few seconds later, Gil’s voice came through the phone. “What’s up, Tony?” he asked.
Tony quickly brought Gil up to speed.
“Are . . . are you sure about this?” Gil asked.
“Yes. I’m positive. I need you to ask around. See if anyone has seen Kate in the last few minutes. See if they have any idea where she might be. She’s in extreme danger.”
“I’ll do it right away. And what are you going to do?”
“I’m going over to the resort. I’ll check in with you after I get there. If you don’t hear from me in the next fifteen minutes, send someone over there.”
“Will do.”
Tony ran out Kate’s door and back to the other side of the park. His car was still next to the café, so he got in and drove quickly over to the resort. He pulled up next to the office, got out, and ran inside.
“Kate!” he yelled. “Kate, are you here?”
He looked around the front office, but no one was there. He pushed open the door behind the front desk and let himself into Bobby’s apartment. Although Bobby had made Tony think he had no technical expertise, the computers and equipment in the apartment said otherwise. He ran back out into the office and was about to leave when he saw something on the front counter. It was a laptop sitting open with Play Me scrolling across the screen. He clicked on it and a picture came up. It was the same picture he’d seen on Gil’s phone. A boy with dark hair and dead eyes. Tony moved the mouse to the face and right-clicked. It opened a video. A man appeared and began to talk. This was a man Tony didn’t know. He looked like Bobby, but Bobby’s innocence wasn’t there. His clumsiness had vanished. The lisp was gone. This was an educated man, smooth and sure of himself. The antithesis of Bobby.
“I’m sure by now you know the truth, Tony,” the man said. “Sorry to lead you astray. I know you liked Bobby. I do, too, but alas, I’m not Bobby. My name, as you may know by now, is Darrell R. Fisher. The R is for Robert.” He smiled, a cold, soulless smile. “I know, I shouldn’t have given in to vanity, but one likes to keep at least a part of their identity if they can.” Darrell shook his head sadly. “Hope you’ve located Kate by now. No worries. She’s still in Shelter Cove.”
“Tony?”
Tony turned around to see Kate standing in the doorway. He paused the video.
“Thank God you’re okay. What are you doing out by yourself?”
“Bobby went home, and I wanted to see you. Before you get mad, I took my car so I wasn’t in any danger. When I couldn’t find you, I thought maybe you’d come here. Is everything okay?”
Tony walked away from the laptop and put his arms around her. “No. I was so worried about you.” He pulled his head back and gazed into her eyes. “I came very close to losing you today, Kate. It made me realize how important you are to me. I’m determined to keep you safe.”
She looked confused. “I don’t understand. Has something happened?”
He let go of her. “I think you need to see this,” he said, gesturing toward the laptop.
“What is it?”
Tony started the video over. Kate’s eyes grew large and her mouth dropped open as the part Tony had already watched played.
Tony paused the video again. “I think we’re about to finally get the answers we’ve been looking for.” He pushed the play button and the video began again.
“Let me start from the beginning,” Darrell said. “I grew up in Garden City, Kansas. My father killed himself when I was nine years old. My mother blamed me. Told me my father would be alive if I’d never been born. That could be true, I don’t know. Mother started running around with men. Drinking, taking drugs. She hated herself. She hated me more. The abuse was constant. She would lock me in the closet for days. When she finally let me out, she’d punish me for soiling myself by making me clean up the mess before I could eat or drink. Many times, I actually passed out in that closet. She also liked to burn me with cigarettes. Eventually I learned how to endure pain without flinching. After a while I stopped feeling anything at all. Until one day when my uncle was at the house. He knew what was going on, but he’d never lifted a finger to help me. My mother was standing at the top of the stairs that led to the basement, yelling at him, demanding he give her money so she could support me. Of course, any money he gave her was used to buy liquor and drugs. As she railed and carried on, she lost her balance. She reached out to him, expecting him to catch her. But he didn’t. He looked at me and then gave her a push. She fell down the stairs and broke her neck. It was the only time any human being had ever tried to help me.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “It was the best day of my life.”
“What are you watching, Tony?”
Tony turned around to find Gil and a couple other deputy Marshals standing behind them.
“It’s a video left by the man you know as Bobby Wade. His real name is Darrell Robert Fisher. I’m guessing he’s been the man pulling the strings of the Blue-Eyed Killer for years.”
Gil looked at him as if he couldn’t understand what he was saying. “That mild-mannered man? I don’t believe it.”
“Keep watching,” Tony said. He pushed the button that started the video again.
“As I watched my mother die, I realized I wanted to kill her myself. She needed to be punished. My uncle had taken that privilege away from me.” Darrell shrugged. “Even though he was trying to help me.”
Darrell looked away, as if he’d heard something. It was the sound of a siren. Probably the ambulance that had picked up Warren. The video shut off. Then it came back on again.
“So, Tony, you’re talking to Warren. I guess he’s telling you who I am. Great minds think alike, I guess.” Darrell laughed as if he’d said something really clever. “I’ll have to speed this up a bit. You’ll be here soon, won’t you?” Darrell took a deep breath and began again. “So there I was. A boy without a mother to kill. I’d always had the desire, but to be honest, I couldn’t seem to do the deed myself. Couldn’t bring myself to end her life. I don’t know why. But the urge kept growing. Wouldn’t go away. So I enlisted help. My best friend, Stinky . . .” Darrell shook his head. “Sorry, you know him as Malcolm Bodine. He offered to do the killing if I helped him. Mentored him, so to speak. Our first kill was Tammy Rice.” Darrell sighed. “It was messy and amateurish. We realized afterwards that we had to find a better way. I’d always been an avid reader. I added the topic of forensics to my impressive pile of books. I learned how to kill efficiently. How to keep the crime scene clean of trace evidence. I began to teach Barney—” He put his hand over his mouth as if he’d said something he shouldn’t. “I mean I taught Malcolm how to kill without getting caught. Our next victim, Ann Barton, was done perfectly. No one could find her body. In fact, no one ever found any of my bodies.” Darrell pointed a finger at the camera and shook it. “Don’t be impatient. I’m going to tell you where they all are once I’m done here.” He inhaled deeply. “Now let’s see. Where was I? Oh yes. I taught Barney how to kill. And we were good. We killed my mother over and over and over. . . . Well, you get the idea.” Suddenly he snapped his fingers. “Oh, the song. My mother’s favorite. She used to sing it constantly.” He grinned. “She sang worse than Bella, Kate. I assume you’re watching, too.” He paused for a moment, and for the first time, something that looked like regret showed on his face. “I’m sorry about Bella. Truly. Alan did that. It wasn’t my idea at all. He went looking for you and found her. Just one of his many mistakes.”
“Tony,” Gil said.
Tony paused the video again.
“Don’t you think we need to be looking for this guy before he gets too far?”
Tony shrugged. “I’d bet every penny I have you won’t find him. He’s smart, and he’s already figured out how to get away without being caught. But it’s up to you.”
“You two go ahead and watch the rest. I’m going to talk to the feds and the local LEOs. We need to locate this man. I’ll be back.”
Tony waited until they’d left, then started the video again.
“Well, to make a long story short, things were great until Barney grew tired of killing. I don’t know why. I thought serial killers grew more thirsty for blood as time went on, but for some reason, the opposite happened with Barney—or Malcolm. Whatever you want to call him is fine. Then I met Alan Gerard. He was malleable, easy to train, and he had a real thirst for blood. In fact, he took care of Barney for me.” Darrell’s eyebrows shot up. “What? You wonder how I could have my best friend killed?” Darrell shrugged. “Wasn’t hard. Maybe it should have been, but after twenty years, things change. He became a liability. If we hadn’t gotten rid of him, he would have gotten careless. Been caught. And I couldn’t take that risk.” Darrell frowned and looked up for a moment. “Let’s see, where was I? Oh yes. Alan. Well, my first impression of him was correct, but he had a fatal flaw. He couldn’t seem to understand the rules. I pick the targets. I decide destiny. Instead of waiting for my instructions, he went after Kelly O’Brien, not realizing she had a twin sister. And he made a mess of it. Got caught.” Darrell peered into the camera. “I’m sorry about that, Kate,” he said. “I really am. That wasn’t your destiny. It wasn’t Kelly’s, either. Alan broke the rules, and I had to get rid of him. When he got caught, I convinced him it was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Even though he was going to jail, he would be known all around the world as the Blue-Eyed Killer. And that was enough for him. For a while.” He stopped talking and looked behind him. “Hey, gotta go. No more time. But there’s more to tell. You’ll hear from me soon.” With that, Darrell stopped recording.
“Excuse me, sir?”
Tony turned around to find one of the FBI agents staring at him—and at the laptop.
“What can I do for you?” Tony asked.
“I’m Agent Phillips. I’m going to have to secure that laptop. It’s evidence in our investigation.”
Tony raised his hands in mock surrender. “No problem.” He and Kate both backed up while Phillips and another agent took the laptop. They were careful to put it into a plastic bag using gloves so fingerprints and other trace evidence wouldn’t be destroyed.
Although it was procedure, Tony found the whole scene rather ironic. He could tell them right now what they’d find. Tony’s fingerprints. And that was it. There would be no trace of Darrell Fisher’s prints—or anything else linking him to the video. He was a ghost.
And just like a ghost, he’d disappeared.