Hunting Fear by Kay Hooper Read Free Book Online Page A

Luke?”
    “Of course I want to know.”
    Samantha shrugged. “Okay. I saw a chessboard. Not a lot of pieces; it was an endgame. Two players. I saw their hands moving the chessmen. And then I saw the face of one of the players.”
    “Who was it?”
    “It was you, Luke. Get it? Get the joke? You’re here because he wants you to be here. It’s not about the money. It was never about the money. He’s playing a game. He’s matching his skills and his wits against you. You, personally. And he won’t stop until the game has a winner.”
    Metcalf said something profane under his breath and then, louder, said, “If you expect us to believe any of this—”
    “I don’t expect you to believe a thing, Sheriff,” she said without taking her eyes off Lucas.
    “Why me?” Lucas demanded. “Why would he fix on me?”
    “Because you’re the best. The past few years, you’ve really made a name for yourself in solving kidnappings and abductions. And since those crimes tend to be high-profile, you’ve gotten a lot of press, other media. You’ve been very visible. I guess he’s been watching.”
    “No,” Lucas said. “I just don’t buy it.”
    “Maybe you just don’t want to buy it.” She seemed to hesitate, then said slowly, “Why do you think he kills them?”
    “He didn’t kill them all,” Lucas said immediately.
    “He didn’t kill the first one,” Samantha agreed. “Let her go once he had the money like a nice little kidnapper, even though she’s convinced he’d planned to kill her. If he had planned to, he must have changed his mind. But I guess he found something lacking in the way that ended, huh? Because he’s been killing them ever since.”
    Lucas was silent.
    “So what was it, Luke? Why did he start killing them? They never see him. They couldn’t identify him, so they aren’t a threat. He gets his money, or has almost every time. So why does he kill them? Come on, Luke, you’re a natural profiler. What possible reason could he have for slaughtering these people once their ransom is paid?”
    Despite his own antagonism, Metcalf found himself watching the federal agent and waiting for his answer.
    Lucas sat back down in his chair without looking away from Samantha, and after a moment said slowly, “According to the official profile, he’s not willing to take the risk that they might be able to identify him.”
    “What about the unofficial profile? You must have your own ideas. Don’t tell me you and Bishop actually saw eye to eye on this one?”
    “It makes sense, Sam.”
    “Sure it does. It makes perfect psychological sense. And I don’t have a degree in psychology, so maybe I’m the last person you should listen to. It just seems to me that broken minds don’t work the way they’re supposed to. That’s why they’re broken.”
    Jaylene said, “Broken minds. Good description.”
    “He wouldn’t be kidnapping and killing people if he didn’t have a few screws loose.”
    “We can only hope.”
    Lucas said, “The point is that the profile fits what little we know about the kidnapper. It makes sense that he kills them to avoid the risk of identification.”
    “But if he knows he’s going to kill them, why bother to keep them blindfolded?”
    “We have no proof that he does.”
    “I’m telling you. He does. Right up until the moment they find out they’re going to die, he keeps them blindfolded.”
    “And we’re supposed to believe you?” Metcalf demanded.
    “As I said, Sheriff, I don’t expect you to believe me. But Luke knows I’m telling the truth.”
    Eyeing the federal agent, Metcalf said, “You two obviously have a history of some kind. Do you believe her?”
    The silence dragged on much longer than was comfortable before Lucas finally replied.
    “Yes. I believe we can trust what she knows. What she sees.”
    Samantha, hearing the qualifiers, smiled wryly. But all she said was, “So why keep them blindfolded if he knows he’s going to kill them anyway? Why