Evidence of Marriage Read online

  She knew Reed would never believe it, but breaking off their engagement had shattered her heart, too. She hadn’t had much of a choice. All she’d been through in that dark forest had taught her she couldn’t rely on someone else to take care of her. She had to grow up and do it herself. Even now, seeing the concern in his eyes, hearing the solid logic in his voice, smelling the familiar scent of his skin—a scent that used to make her feel safe—made her want to curl in his arms and forget the whole thing. If she’d stayed with him, if she’d married him, it would have been only a matter of time before she’d have slipped right back into need and dependence.

  She’d have been lost for good.

  The door on the far end of the interview room swung wide, and two guards led Dryden Kane inside.

  She hadn’t seen him for nine months, but he hadn’t changed. He still looked much younger than his forty-eight years. Young, and fresh and strangely wholesome. But the aura surrounding him was anything but. The air crackled with an oppressive and dangerous energy that crawled up her spine and trembled in her chest. And Diana knew if she dared meet his ice-blue eyes, she’d stare straight into the flat chill of death.

  The guards led him to the chair that was riveted to the floor and handcuffed him to its arms. Once Kane was secured, a guard with broad shoulders and kind brown eyes peered up at the camera. “He’s ready for you.”

  Diana took a step toward the door, her knees trembling so hard they teetered on the edge of collapse.

  Reed touched her arm. “Don’t agree to anything he asks. Don’t promise anything. And don’t tell him anything personal that he can use against you. At least no more than he already knows.”

  “I won’t.”

  “And be careful.”

  Her throat pinched. So much of her wanted to huddle in Reed’s arms and never venture out again that the desire sucked at her. “Maybe this was a mistake.”

  “You don’t have to go in there. We can turn around, leave right now.”

  “Not that. I mean coming here with you.”

  Reed’s lips pressed into a bloodless line. He let his hand fall from her arm.

  She knew she should explain the weakness she felt around him, the dependence, the need. But she also knew he wouldn’t understand. She’d meant it when she’d told him their involvement wasn’t personal. It couldn’t be. And it scared her that the urge to make it so seemed to be coming from her even more than from him.

  She forced herself to turn away from Reed and focus on Dryden Kane. She couldn’t afford to sabotage herself. Not when she needed every bit of strength to take on the man who was her father. “I’ll be fine.” Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and strode into the interview room.

  A smile curved Kane’s thin lips. “Diana. I’m glad you’re here. It’s been too long.”

  She concentrated on stepping to the chair and lowering herself safely into it before she met his eyes. “I need some answers.” Her voice sounded remarkably steady, much steadier than she felt.

  Kane’s smile remained intact. “Are these answers for you or for the police?”

  “The police?”

  “They are monitoring our conversation, aren’t they? Recording it as well?” He nodded toward the small camera positioned high in the corner of the boxlike room.

  She couldn’t lie to him. He’d never believe her, and she would destroy her credibility with him if she were anything less than candid. If she wanted to get truthful answers, she’d have to give some. “Yes, the police are monitoring us.”

  “So what answers are the boys and girls in blue after?”

  “They want the identity of the Copycat Killer.”

  “Of course. They’ve had a snitch in the cell next to me for nearly a year. Hoping I’ll talk in my sleep. Why they think I have anything to tell them, I’ll never understand.” He shook his head, the fluorescent lights overhead glinting off silver strands running through brown hair. “And what do you want, Diana? Why are you here?”

  “I want to know why you sent that news clipping with Sylvie’s gift. Was it a threat?”

  “Why would I threaten my own daughter?”

  “Then why did you send it?”

  “It convinced you to come visit me, didn’t it?”

  So Reed was right. Kane had included the clipping to manipulate them. He’d controlled the whole situation. Not that it mattered. Even if she’d known his intentions for certain, she wouldn’t have changed her response. She’d be here just the same. And she wouldn’t believe for a second that Kane didn’t intend at least a hint of threat. “Now that you’ve gotten my attention, what do you want?”

  “I want you to tell me about Sylvie’s wedding.”

  She couldn’t have heard him right, could she? “Sylvie’s wedding?”

  “Of course. A daughter’s wedding is special to a father. I should have been there. I should have walked her down the aisle.” He lifted his hands, jangling his shackles against the chair arms as if to illustrate why he’d failed to make it.

  Her mind balked at the image of Kane as father of the bride. She couldn’t imagine it. She didn’t want to. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Of course I’m serious. That’s the worst part about being in here. Missing the important moments in my daughters’ lives.” He heaved a sigh full of regret. “Though I can’t say I’m sorry you rethought your plans to marry that cop.”

  She resisted the urge to shift in her chair and glance at the camera. Kane had made his displeasure about her intended marriage clear the last time she’d seen him—about a month before her wedding. The wedding that had never taken place.

  “He wasn’t good enough for you. Cops think they’re so smart. They aren’t smart. They’re nothing.”

  The deficiencies of cops. One of Kane’s favorite topics. And the perfect segue to a less personal thread of conversation. “The cops seem to think you’re controlling this Copycat Killer.”

  His thin lips stretched into a smile, exposing his straight, white teeth. “So maybe they aren’t totally stupid.”

  “Are you admitting you’re controlling the Copycat Killer?”

  “You know I wouldn’t admit that, even if it was true. My lawyer wouldn’t be happy with me.”

  His lawyer. The last lawyer who represented him was Bryce. That is, until Kane became unsatisfied with him. Days later, Bryce’s brother was murdered. “You have a new lawyer?”

  “A man like me always needs a lawyer. And this one offers a few extras besides legal representation.”

  “Extras?”

  “Nothing you have to concern yourself with.”

  Maybe not, but she was sure Reed would want to look into just what extras his new lawyer might be offering. “So what do you know about this copycat?”

  “Why would I know anything?”

  Now it was her turn to play him. She summoned what courage she could muster. “False modesty? I never would have pegged you for it.”

  His smile widened.

  “So what do you know?”

  “I know he aspires to be me.”

  “Why?”

  “Why not?” He lowered one lid in a wink.

  Even after learning Kane was her biological father, even after several visits with him, she still felt a powerful shiver of revulsion whenever he gave her that knowing wink. Coming from him it seemed profane.

  She drew in a deep breath. She couldn’t let him know he had the power to throw her. Not unless she wanted to lose control of the exchange entirely. “Why is he patterning his kills after murders you committed years ago?”

  “He wants the power.”

  “What power?”

  “The power of life and death. It transformed me. It is transforming him.” He spoke evenly, matter-of-factly, the way one of her former English literature professors would discuss the intricacies of Beowulf.

  But despite his tone, his words clamped down her lungs, making it difficult to breathe. “Why copy anyone? Why not do his own thing?”
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  “Because he doesn’t want to be himself.”

  “He wants to be you.” She suppressed a shudder.

  He tipped his head in a single nod. “He wants to be transformed.”

  “And you are helping transform him?”

  He chuckled low in his throat. “I’ve never even talked to him. Never seen him face-to-face. But I must admit, I can’t help thinking of him as something of a son.” He smiled and glanced at the camera. “Is that enough to satisfy you, Detective?”

  Diana could picture Reed’s scowl. Clearly there was no way to know if what Kane said had any significance, or if he was just toying with the police.

  “Enough of that. I don’t want to waste any more of our time together with police business.” Kane looked around the stark room. “This place…it weighs on a man’s soul. I need to see my daughters. To know you’re all right. I want you to visit more. You and Sylvie.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. Reed’s warning buzzed in the back of her mind. Don’t agree to anything. Don’t promise anything. “I’m afraid that’s impossible.”

  “Impossible? For a man to see his daughters? Why?” His eyebrows dipped low. He actually seemed confused by the suggestion. Hurt.

  He had to be playing her.

  “Bryce Walker doesn’t want me seeing Sylvie, is that it?”

  “Bryce has nothing to do with this.”

  “He really was a lousy attorney.” He glanced around the room. “I mean look at this place. The main building is under construction. The cell blocks are old as dirt. A decent attorney could have gotten me transferred to a decent facility, don’t you think?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “I’d just hate to think he would try to come between a man and his daughter. Sylvie didn’t send me an invitation to her wedding, she didn’t come with you to see me.” He shook his head. “A girl shouldn’t turn her back on her family just because she’s married.”

  Fear for her sister spun through Diana’s mind, making her dizzy. She forced herself to breathe. “Sylvie isn’t turning her back. She isn’t doing anything against you at all. She’s just trying to move on with her life.”

  He studied her, his emotionless eyes boring into her, through her. “On the day you get married, I want to see you in your wedding dress. Sylvie denied me that privilege, but you won’t.”

  “I’m not getting married.”

  “You might change your mind once you find someone worthy.”

  “I’ve worked too hard to control my own life. I’m not giving it up for a white satin dress.” She wasn’t giving it up for the opportunity to visit her serial-killer father in prison either. She pushed up from her chair. “It’s time for me to go.”

  “Are you going to cut me out of your life as well?”

  She had to remain firm. She couldn’t let him push her around. “I have to get on with my life, too.”

  “You need your father, Diana.”

  “Goodbye.”

  “If someone like that professor ever threatens you again, I want to know about it.”

  She paused, memories of Professor Bertram holding her hostage for days, stripping her and hunting her in the forest swept through her mind. “Why? What would you do?”

  “What any good father would do. I would protect you.”

  “From prison?”

  He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I’d find a way.”

  What was he going to do? Sic the Copycat Killer on anyone who crossed her path? Was he forgetting he was the reason Professor Bertram had kidnapped her in the first place? That the man was desperate to avenge Kane’s brutal murder of his daughter? “I can protect myself.” Taking a deep breath, she turned away from Kane and took a step toward the door.

  “He has another one, you know.”

  The tremble in her legs spread through her body, centering just under her rib cage. She turned back to face him. “What did you say?”

  “He took her last night. After stopping in at your sister’s wedding reception to pay his respects.”

  “The Copycat Killer?”

  “Of course.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “I know a lot of things, Diana. Like the desperation a parent feels when kept away from a child. Especially when she needs you most. I could tell you all about it if you would visit me.”

  “Where did he take her?”

  “I’m not asking you to do anything a good daughter wouldn’t do anyway.”

  She didn’t have to close her eyes to see the nightmare she’d gone through in the professor’s cabin play out in front of her like a movie. But where the professor was a grief-crazed father after revenge, the Copycat killed for pleasure. And part of his pleasure revolved around torture and humiliation. “You can’t let him kill another woman.”

  “Can’t I? What am I going to do about it? I’m in prison.”

  Her stomach swirled, with anger, with nausea. As much as she wanted to walk away, as much as she needed to retain control over her life, she couldn’t let an innocent woman suffer. She couldn’t let an innocent woman die. Not if she had a chance to save her. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Visit. Like a good daughter.” Thin lips pulled back in an icy smile. “I’ll see you again tomorrow. We’ll have a nice chat.”

  Chapter Four

  “I told you not to promise him anything.” Reed paused behind their prison escort’s broad shoulders to let the barred door slide open in front of them. He couldn’t wait to get Diana out of this damn prison and as far away from Dryden Kane as possible. He knew allowing her to talk to Kane was a bad idea. He’d been right and then some. Now it was all he could do to keep himself from throwing her over his shoulder and hauling her off somewhere the killer would never find her. Door fully open, the three of them stepped up to the next barred door.

  Diana shot Reed a frown. “You heard Kane. The Copycat Killer has kidnapped another woman. What would you have me do? Turn my back and let her die?”

  The door slid closed behind them, enclosing them in a sally port between two sets of iron bars. Trapped. Exactly how Reed was feeling right now. Trapped by Kane’s manipulations. “You’re assuming the copycat actually has another woman.”

  Diana’s eyes flew wide. “You think Kane lied?”

  “I didn’t say that. But I think he would say anything it took to convince you to visit.”

  “You must be able to find out, though, right? I mean, can’t you check missing-person reports or something?”

  “Nikki’s already on it. If this woman exists, if she’s been identified as missing, we’ll find her.” The door slid open in front of them, allowing them to continue down the long hall to the prison entrance.

  “I want to help.”

  She couldn’t be serious. “Like you helped with Kane?”

  “What do you mean? I did help with Kane. Weren’t you paying attention?”

  “Enough to hear you promise to visit him every day.”

  “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You had a choice, and you made it.”

  She pushed a stream of air through tight lips. “Didn’t you hear anything else he said?”

  “I heard it all.” He tapped his jacket pocket, his fingertips rapping against the videotape from the camera in the interview room.

  “Did you notice what he said about his lawyer? And the copycat? Did you hear him say he thought of him as a son?”

  “I heard.” And his mind was already whirring wildly, trying to figure out what it all meant. Or if Kane’s slips were merely leading them down another path Kane wanted them to take.

  “What are you going to do?”

  As if he was going to share those thoughts with her. Or worse yet, include her in the investigation. He might not be able to keep her away from Kane, but he could insulate her from the rest. “I’m going to look into it.”

  “I can help.”

  They reached another set of bars blocking their way. The broad-shouldered g
uard, Corrections Officer Seides, punched a button on the wall and all three of them faced the camera, waiting to be buzzed through.

  Reed glanced at Diana out of the corner of his eye. “Sylvie and Bryce checked into a hotel. They booked you an adjoining room.”

  “I’m not going to sit around in a hotel room.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “This is my fault, Reed. If I hadn’t had to find out who my birth parents were, if I hadn’t visited him in the first place, none of this would be happening.”

  “You’re more powerful than I ever guessed.” He let the sarcasm slide thickly off his tongue. “Kane would have found his copycat no matter what you did.”

  “Sylvie wouldn’t be in danger.”

  “So that’s what this is about. Guilt?” Something he knew far too much about. “So now you’re set on sacrificing yourself? You feel you need to visit Kane daily to pay for your sins?”

  “Don’t psychoanalyze me. I feel like I might be able to help. That’s all.”

  “Congratulations. You helped. Now you’re going to stay safe.”

  “This isn’t personal, Reed.”

  “No, it’s not. In this case, it’s my job.”

  “Your job is to serve and protect the citizens of Madison. Not just me, all of the citizens.”

  Her words stung far more than he wanted to acknowledge. He’d given up everything to join the force, devoted everything he had to the job. Being a cop was more than what he did. Being a cop was who he was.

  And no one knew that better than Diana.

  “What do you want? To spend the day hanging out in a police station that smells like sewage, fetching coffee? Because if you insist on helping, that’s all I can offer.”

  “Sounds like heaven.”

  “Right.”

  “I can’t think of a safer place for me to be than a police station, can you?”

  He blew an impatient breath through his nose. He couldn’t argue there. And judging from her victorious smile, she knew it. “If that’s what you want…”

  “That’s what I want.”

  He waited for the last barred door to slide open. But when he and Diana stepped through it, instead of feeling relief for getting her away from Kane, he couldn’t shake the sense that he was only leading her deeper. And that there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.