Page 58 of Go Alone

“Call Circleville,” Kate said, starting toward the car. “Have them go to her house now and put her under protection.”

“Already on it, ma’am.”

Anita drove her cruiser in a way that would have made NASCAR proud. Kate’s heart thudded, and though she wasn’t religious like the killers she hunted, she prayed that they would get to Shawna before their killer did.

***

Multiple police cruisers surrounded Shawna Allman's residence when the trio arrived. Kate sighed with relief when she saw Shawna standing on her porch talking to officers. The woman looked terrified out of her mind, which was better than looking like a corpse with potting soil spilling out of her mouth.

Anita approached the lead officer and asked, “Any sign of suspicious activity?”

The officer, a middle-aged sergeant with a handlebar mustache and a genial tenor voice, replied, "No ma'am, but we'll take this one seriously. Ms. Allman agreed to protective custody, and we'll provide it until the threat is apprehended."

Kate nodded and released another sigh. “Okay. Any units not otherwise occupied should be on the lookout for this man.”

The sergeant peered at the image on Kate’s phone. “Curtis Dalby.”

“The name is fake, but the image is accurate. This is the man we believe responsible for the murders in Columbus.”

“The Gardener. Yes, we heard about him.”

Marcus scoffed. “Wonderful. He has a name now.”

Kate didn't care what they called him as long as they arrested him. "He could be on foot, or he could be driving," she told them. "He usually wears a hat and some sort of uniform that lacks logos. Well, he wears the hat and the uniform once, but the point is he hides his…"

Her voice trailed off when she caught movement in the shadows in between the houses. She shone her light that way and just caught a boot ducking behind the home.

She sprinted after the boot, calling, “Hey! Stop!”

“Kate!” Marcus cried out. “Damn it!”

They followed her, but Kate didn't stop to wait for them. She rounded the corner and saw the killer, looking exactly as he did in the fake Curtis Dalby driver's license. She aimed her handgun at him and shouted, "On your knees! Now!"

He lifted his hands and complied. “I won’t resist,” he told her. “I killed the people I needed to kill, anyway.”

Marcus rounded the corner a moment later. He hesitated a moment, surprised to see their killer complying, then approached and cuffed him. The killer didn’t resist.

He smiled up at Kate and said, “So you’re the Lamb. You’re even prettier in person.”

Marcus yanked him to his feet hard enough to elicit a cry of pain. He shoved him against the wall of the house and jammed a finger in his face, the other hand gripping the killer’s bicep until Marcus’s knuckles turned white. “You shut the fuck up,” he hissed. “You just shut the fuck up.”

“Marcus, enough,” Kate called firmly. “Take him to the car.”

Marcus inhaled sharply. As he exhaled, he relaxed. He nodded and led the man away. The killer kept his eyes on Kate for a moment before turning forward. He gave Marcus no trouble as he was led to the vehicle, but when Shawna cried out upon seeing him, he laughed at her and called, “One hour. One hour longer, and you’d have gotten what you deserved.”

“Shut up,” Marcus snapped again.

This time, Kate didn’t correct him.

EPILOGUE

Kate sat across from the killer in the interrogation room at Columbus Police Headquarters. He returned her gaze with no hint of anger or fear. Marcus stood next to her, burly arms folded across his chest, glaring at the man who had killed four people over the past two weeks and was poised to kill one more when they caught him. Anita stood to Kate’s left, her face once more displaying the stoicism it had when they arrived.

Kate opened the interrogation. “State your name for the record.”

“Ellis Varne.”

No one showed surprise. They’d shown plenty of surprise earlier when Columbus PD confirmed his identity via his fingerprints. He’d been picked up once before for indecent exposure when he was caught urinating in public twenty years prior.