The Seventh Victim by Mary Burton Read Free Book Online Page B

mine.”
    He shoved his hands into his pockets and rattled change. Finally, he said, “She lives outside of Austin. In a small place she inherited from her grandmother.” He supplied the address. “She wasn’t much help after the killings in Seattle. She didn’t remember her attack or her attacker.”
    Beck set his coffee on a ledge, pulled a notebook from his pocket, and scribbled down the address. “You think she was telling the truth?”
    “At first, no. I thought she was scared and might have even known her attacker. But as the weeks went on and she still had no memory, she agreed to hypnosis, hoping it would help.”
    “Did it help?”
    “No. We kept coming up empty-handed. I had an army of forensic psychologists who worked with her. Toward the end she was pretty sick of dealing with cops and doctors.”
    Beck checked his watch. He could clock in and be at Church’s place within the hour. “She’s gonna have to deal with another cop.”
    “I’d tag along, but I think you’ll get more out of her if you see her alone. She was pretty angry with me toward the end. I’m not good at letting go.”
    “Really? Never would have thought it.” Beck shifted his stance toward Raines. “Let me make myself clear, Mr. Raines. She is my witness now, and I want you to stay away from her.”
    Raines smiled. “I’ll stay clear for now. You have my word.”
    “What does ‘for now’ mean?”
    “You get the job done, and we won’t have an issue.”
    Beck didn’t like threats, even sugarcoated ones. “You don’t lift a finger on this case, period, while you are in Texas.”
    “If you were to ask my former commanding officer, mother, or wife, they’d tell you I could be stubborn.”
    “I intend to place a call to your commander.” He tucked his notebook in his side pocket.
    “I would too. Like I said, you don’t know me from Adam.” He opened a small briefcase and removed a thick, weathered file. “My case notes on the Strangler case. I’m giving you what I have because this guy needs to get caught. I don’t give a shit about my ego anymore.”
    The file, now pressed against the Fisk file, felt heavy in Beck’s hand. “Thanks.”
    Raines smiled. “I suspect we’ll get to be good friends before this is over.” He removed a card from his breast pocket. “Call me anytime. I’m in town for a while.”
    Beck glanced at the card made of a nice thick white stock. Embossed in black and gold was R AINES S ECURITY and below it a P.O. Box and a phone number. “Stay out of my case, Raines.”
     
     
    The first call Beck made when he got to his desk was to Seattle. Cannon was not on duty this early, but after fifteen minutes of introducing and reintroducing himself, he got Captain Ron Grayson.
    “What can I do for you, Sergeant Beck?” Grayson, who’d be ending his night shift soon, sounded tired and annoyed.
    “I got a visit from one of your former detectives this morning. Mike Raines is in Austin, Texas.”
    After a moment’s hesitation, Grayson sighed into the phone. “He called in yesterday out of the blue and asked me and Cannon to lunch. We said yes and your call came up during the meal.” A chair squeaked in the background. “Him showing up in Texas ... that’s classic Mike. He always was like a dog with a bone.”
    “It’s one hell of a bone for him to get on a plane and fly down here to see me.”
    “That case got to him. Hell, it got to us all. Six women strangled in six months. The press ate us alive and the public was furious. But no matter what we did, we couldn’t catch the guy. Drove Mike nuts more than any of us.”
    “Why’d he leave the force?”
    “The job had drained him, and yet it still wanted more. He just didn’t have more to give. And he’d pissed off too many higher-ups. He was offered early retirement and he took it. His security business is one of the best in our area, and he’s done real well for himself. I was kidding him yesterday that he didn’t look like a