Page 51 of Scorched

Alex turned the sound up on the television, oblivious to Kendall and Elise.

“Mrs. Klaus, did you know your husband was a serial killer?”

“No.” Elise’s lips formed the words the woman on the screen said, the sound from the television echoing in her head as though it came from a cave.

Another reporter shoved a microphone in her face and demanded, “How could you live in the same house with a killer and not know it?”

“Please, leave us alone. I didn’t have anything to do with it. I knew nothing.”

The segment cut to a well-coiffed reporter. “Here in Riverton, North Dakota, with the banks of the Red River overflowing in what’s been the worst flooding since 1997, authorities are searching for the body of the Dakota Strangler, thought to have perished in afarmhouse fire. In the background, the FBI and state police are transporting the killer’s wife to the police station for questioning. She claims to know nothing of her husband’s connection to the deaths of five Riverton women.”

The video cut to another reporter outside a school gymnasium, rain dripping off the edges of his black umbrella. “It’s rumored that the Dakota Strangler’s wife, Alice Klaus and her two sons are taking refuge in this evacuation shelter. Meanwhile, the body of the Dakota Strangler has yet to be recovered.

“Experts say he may never be found, his body may even be carried as far as Hudson Bay. Remnants of the house in which he’d last been seen have been found rammed against a railroad bridge crossing the Red River. No signs of the strangler himself. Authorities say the debris is too unstable to pick through at this time. With the snow melting and the continued rain, the river isn’t expected to crest for another twenty-four hours.”

Elise collapsed in the chair behind her desk and laid her face on the cool wooden surface. “Please, turn it off. Please.” Tears spilled out of the corners of her eyes, dripping onto the calendar desk pad, smearing the ink of a note she’d jotted in a hurry.

Kendall ran for the television and hit the power button. “Ms. Johnson.” Her hand touched Elise’s shoulder, but Elise could barely feel it. Her entire body had gone numb. Nightmares of reporters hounding her and the boys, the terror of outrunning the flooding in thestreets, losing everything in her home and life, the accusations by the police and the press all jumbled in her mind.

“Ms. Johnson?” Alex called to her.

Elise couldn’t lift her head. She moved her lips but couldn’t force words to come out. I’m all right, she wanted to say but couldn’t.

She wasn’t all right. Nothing was all right. Her secret was out and soon all of Breuer would blame her for the deaths of women she didn’t even know. Wasn’t she to blame? She’d come to this town hoping to escape the death that found its way here.

“Alex, go get the principal,” Kendall ordered somewhere on the other side of the haze that crowded her.

No. Elise cried out, but no sound came out. She couldn’t tell the principal. With parents like Gerri Finch ready to file lawsuits, she wouldn’t want that kind of scandal at her school.

“It’s okay, Ms. Johnson,” Kendall’s voice came as if from a long way off, though she stood beside Elise. “I have the disc in my pocket. Alex and I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want us to.”

Tainted relief flooded in on a wave of blackness and the world went dark.

Paul strodeinto the office by eight-thirty that morning. That’s where Mel cornered him.

“Tell me you have something,” Paul said without the usual greeting.

“Wish I could. All I know is this guy has to be a copycat. From what we knew about Stan Klaus, he killed women who were smart because he didn’t want his wife, our Elise, to get ideas about going back to school or getting smarter than him.”

“We still can’t rule him out.” Paul pushed his hand through his hair and paced the room. “I don’t like being away from her any more than we have to. My gut tells me that he’ll eventually make a grab for her.”

Melissa crossed her arms over her chest. “Then why are you here?”

“I have a job to do. I can’t run a department from Breuer.”

“Don’t worry about the department right now. These guys have assignments. They’re big agents who can operate independently. You said so yourself.”

Paul snorted. “Everyone except maybe Agent Cain.”

Mel nodded. “True. By the way, what’s up with him?”

“He’s been playing a disappearing act with Alvarez. I plan to get to the bottom of it tomorrow morning first thing.”

“Just what you need when you have so much more on your mind.” Melissa’s brows rose. “Want me to check it out?”

Paul nodded. “If I’m not in first thing in the morning, tail him. See what he’s up to.”

“Will do.” Melissa jerked her head toward the door. “But right now, you need to get back to Breuer. Elise will be biting her nails until you get there. After seeing the writing on the wall, I don’t blame her.”

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