Chapter 29 Halloween Crossover  (Stars Over Pagosa) 

The Tower, the Magician Reversed, King of Swords 

~~~~

Tim watched his daughter's odd behavior and asked, "What's wrong, mermaid?"

Tiana pulled the book out. "Some weirdo keeps sending me these books with a card inviting me to a discord chat. Willow checked it and it was some erotica readers chat room. This..." She waved the book with a bound and blindfolded woman floating in a pool. "This is next month's book. I know girls my age are supposed to be all into this stuff but after..." Tiana ripped the book down the spine as she vibrated in rage and beat it on the counter as she ranted. "I don't know how any girl in her right mind would think this shit is romantic. Who in their right mind thinks being tied up and raped is okay? Or that anyone who has been raped could be convinced that this is fine? I've seen the real side of it, and I pray to god that all these stupid girls who think this is romantic, never ever go through what I did." She stopped to choke on a sob, "I hate it... I hate them... I hate him."

Hugging his daughter, Tim tried to soothe her. "Easy, Tiana, I'll track it down and stop them from coming."

"I tried, Dad. I emailed the publisher. I messaged Discord help and the room moderator. No one seems to know who is sending the books or inviting new people." She looked up at him with eyes, the same as his mother's eyes, leaking tears. "Why are they targeting me? Did they think I liked it when Donnie raped me for three nights?"

"I don't know. Maybe because you're famous... Maybe because you're beautiful... But I'll find out," Tim promised as he held his broken daughter while she cried.

After Tiana went to bed, Tim looked at the tracking number. He searched the number and found it had been mailed from Carlsbad, New Mexico. They didn't know anyone in Carlsbad.

~~~~

Tim hung up from talking to the Postmaster of the Carlsbad Post Office. They couldn't tell him who sent the package other than it had been paid for with cash at a Mail and Parcel Depot and they recommended he talk to the local Post Master and Postal Inspector since it was a stalking case involving a minor. He was about to dial the number he had been given when his phone rang with a familiar ringtone.

"Hey Lloyd, what's up?"

"Are you alone?" Lloyd demanded without even greeting him.

Something in his tone made Tim sit up straighter as he answered, "Yeah, Tiana is at school. What is going on?"

"Yesterday, Mack Beal was having his security system upgraded and they discovered there are cameras on the Singing Goat Dairy, and we suspect there is at least one contract killer in Pagosa Cliffs, possibly two. They are going after Audra this weekend."

Tim swore, then demanded, "What can I do?"

"I am about to talk to her about it, but I might need a place to stash her tomorrow night during the carnival."

"She can stay here, or I can take her to the ranch." Tim offered looking at the book and parcel box again. His meeting with the Postal Service Inspector would have to wait. He needed freshen up the guest room and get a few groceries for his guest.

"Thanks, Tim. I'll tell her. Bye," Lloyd hung up before Time could ask anything else.

"Hey Sheridan, wanna help your granddad go shopping?"

His granddaughter clapped then asked, "Are we going to see the secret lady?"

"Not today." He grinned at the most precious person in his world. "But you need slumber party snacks for tonight. Are you excited to spend the night with Willow and Gracie?"

"Yash!" She clapped enthusiastically, announcing, "I loves my aunties and they loves me."

"They do love you. Now go get your coat and boots, there's a storm coming."

Tim went out to warm up his SUV. He threw the box and book in the center console so it wouldn't be in the house. Going back inside to retrieve his granddaughter, he knew he needed to get Audra's favorite tea and a fruit tart from The Wild Anemone Bakery.

As they drove through the town, he glance at the Sheriff's Office and prayed Lloyd could catch the people who had come a fifth time to kill his friend, the pharmaceutical researcher turned whistle blower.

~~~~

'They came tonight.

She is okay.

Her house has no power.

Bringing her to you.'

After getting the text from Lloyd that the assassins tried to get Audra tonight, Tim paced nervously while he waited for his cousin to bring Audra Grean to his house. The wind was howling as a blizzard buried the Southwestern Rockies. He glanced out the front window into the weather and saw a vehicle turn onto his street. It had to be Lloyd, no one else in their right mind would be driving tonight. He turned on the porch light and opened the door. Audra got out and Nero the dog jumped out behind her. She walked toward the light streaming from the door in the swirling snow. Tim waved and Lloyd blinked his lights. Closing the door, Tim took her coat and bag, hanging one on the hook and setting the other by the door. He hugged her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Just cold and tired." She stepped back and peeked at him through her thick glasses. "Do you have a towel? I need to wipe Nero's paws."

He wrinkled his brow at the strange request. "Sure." He went into the kitchen and came back. He was amazed that Nero stood very still and held up his paws so Audra could wipe them clean and dry them. "Wow, he's a good dog.

"Jay said his elderly Aunt Hiddleston had him trained after his sister died." She patted the dog's head then she rubbed his fur dry. Her eyes were haunted as she handed the towel back. "He tried to help that woman killed me, then he got in a shootout and burned his house rather than go to jail."

"Oh, Darlin', I'm so sorry."

She nodded then looked at him, it was the most hopeless expression he had ever seen on a person. "Tim, are you really my friend? You aren't tempted by the money?"

He reached out and hugged her again as he assured her. "I am your friend. Let's get you into bed, you've had a rough evening."

After settling her and the dog, Tim went to the dining room turned office to watch the weather. A while later, he muted the sound and listened to Audra pacing upstairs. Finally, Audra sat down on the bed and Tim could hear her as she wept.

Going up the stairs, Tim knocked on the door and opened it quietly. "Audra darling are you okay?"

"N-no," she stammered in a small voice.

He came in and knelt in front of her. "Do you want to talk about it? I know the last three years have been very difficult."

Audra sighed and squinted at him, but he was again amazed at how beautiful she was without her thick glasses. She sounded resigned as she answered, "What's there to talk about? They want me dead, they came, and they will again. I'm just glad Autumn is safe. She will be very upset that Jay is dead, but I can't tell her he was helping that woman who tried to kill me tonight."

Tim nodded, "I won't say anything to Tiana either, we'll let the girls think nothing happened at your house and the fire was accidental."

"Thank you, Tim. I don't know what I would do without you and Tiana helping Autumn." Audra resisted the urge to start crying again, she felt useless and helpless, and she hated it.

Tim squeezed her hand. "Audra, you need to talk to someone too."

"Why waste someone's time until I'm sure I won't be dead next week?" She looked like someone giving up then she blinked at him, "Can I ask you something... about Lloyd?"

Tim stood up. "Sure. But if we are going to talk about my cousin and his issues, we both are going to need something to drink. Do you want some tea?"

"Do you have something stronger?" She tipped her head as she asked, and he grinned.

"I have a fully stocked bar and am an excellent bartender. I was the best on the offshore rigs I was stationed on," he bragged on himself. "Come on, I'll make you whatever you want and tell you anything you want to know about that idiot."

"He's not an idiot. He wouldn't be sheriff if he was an idiot," Audra defended Lloyd as she went into the den ahead of Tim, who just smiled broader.

"Oh ho," Tim chuckled, "You don't know how big an idiot he is. I have some stories for you." He knew he could make her laugh by talking about their childhood misadventures.

Hours later, Audra went to bed while Tim washed the cocktail glasses. After the third drink, Audra had admitted she liked Lloyd a lot and that she was pretty certain he almost kissed her then she confessed she would have let him. Tim knew he might not find love again but maybe he could give his cousin back the thing he stole from him almost two decades ago, by showing an amazing woman that his by-the-book cousin had a funny and a soft side.

~~~~~

Tim drove Audra to her house and while she tended the goats, he walked over to the property Jay Lancaster had rented for almost a year. Lloyd was leaning against his truck watch a young woman in a heavy parka inside.

"Tim."

"Lloyd... She find anything?"

"Nothing more than Matthias found last night, or I found this morning... We have no clue where he went," Lloyd scowled.

"Where who went?" Tim asked and Lloyd realized only he and Matthias knew the worrisome truth.

"The guy in the house wasn't Jay and we don't know where Jay went. Only that he was working with that hitwoman and... he might be connected to two other open cases," Lloyd gritted his teeth as he spoke. He would wait on the evidence before he let himself feel like a fool. It seemed evil people had a talent for hiding in plain sight, like Gilliam Beal had.

Sensing his cousin's line of thought, Tim shook his head, "Why do these people keep coming to Pagosa Cliffs?"

Lloyd snorted derisively at his tone. "Tank says even criminals like the beautiful scenery."

"There's nice scenery in other places." Tim growled then rubbed his jaw with his thumb. "Can Audra go back in her house?"

"Yeah." Eyeing his cousin, Lloyd asked. "What?"

"What, what?" Tim responded as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Well either your beard is itching again, or you don't want to talk about whatever you want to talk about," Lloyd retorted. "Is Tiana okay?"

"Yeah, it's not her... Lloyd, how do you feel about Audra?" Tim muttered the question.

"She's a decent, hardworking, single mother who is too smart for her job but I'm grateful to have her as a dispatcher. Why?" Lloyd wasn't sure he like where the question was leading because it gave him a very strong sense of Déjà vu. Tim had asked him the same question about their mutual exwife when they had both been in high school.

"I mean as a person; do you like her or?" Tim stopped nervously.

Lloyd cut him off. "Tim, if you want to date Audra then do, but know that witness protection might move her again."

"I don't want to date her, I... I want you to date her." Tim announced firmly as Lloyd looked shock. He looked about to refute him, so Tim chastised him. "Don't make that face at me. You almost kissed her." He watched Lloyd blink as he continued, "Last night, after a few drinks to calm her nerves, we were talking, she told me that and that she likes you... but she is also terrified she will get you killed like John."

Lloyd gaped at his cousin, then swallowed slowly. He gave his cousin all his reasons to deny his attraction to her. "Tim, I can't. She's an amazing woman, but she is way to smart for someone like me, and it's my job to protect her. It wouldn't be ethical to take advantage of someone who is in as vulnerable a position as Audra. I can't date her, and I can never tell her how I feel. I'm her boss for gawd's sake."

Tim shook his head as he turned and walked away. "You're an idiot, just like you were with Milli."

As Tim started back to Audra's house he heard Lloyd inhale to retort, but CSI Lopez called out to him, "Sheriff, you need to come see this."

Audra wasn't in the barn then he saw movement in her greenhouse, he knocked before he came in so not to startle her. "Hey Audra, they are done with your house. Do you want me to stay and help clean up?"

She was gathering all the vegetables. Tomatoes, chiles and peppers, squashes and zucchini, and lastly all the spices to hang and dry.

"I don't want to be any trouble but... But I need someone who can see to make sure Autumn won't know what happened. I'd really appreciate it." Audra begged and Tim understood her need to keep her daughter's peace of mind intact.

"No problem... I just need to leave by four so I can help with the carnival set up," Tim revealed. "Wow, the cold really did a number on your plants."

"Yeah, with only the little heater by my orchids after the power went out... Well, that's what I get for wanting a garden all winter up in the mountains," Audra tried to make light but her weakened eyes betrayed her and a tear leaked out.

He asked, "Do you need a hug?"

She wrung her hands together as she looked around with almost blind eyes then nodded. "I'm sorry I'm so weak."

Hugging her as a friend would, Tim disagreed, "Oh Darlin', you're anything but weak. Not even twelve hours after someone tried to kill you, you're back here like nothing happened. Cleaning up after the storm and... what? Are you going to freeze or can these?"

"I had jars and two stove top canning pots delivered last week. I was hoping I wouldn't have to harvest everything yet but... It's a shame the power went out in the storm and froze everything," Audra declared as she stepped out of his arms. "If you could carry the totes of vegetable, I need to get my orchids inside."

"Okay," Tim agreed. He carried the first totes in while she was wrapping the delicate plants in plastic. He relit the forced air furnace and turned it up high to force the cool air out of the house.

Audra came in with the first two, so he followed her back to the greenhouse. Six totes of vegetables later, he carried in the two Roma tomato plants she thought she could save and went back for her Cheyenne chilis and herbs. The inside of her living room was filled with her plants. He happily chopped tomatoes and chilis for jars of picante salsa, and fetched onions and okra from the basement to make gumbo base. He listened and watched fascinated as Audra prepared all the jars from memory. He regretted when there was no more to do to while they waited for the canning time. Together they cleaned up the crime scene.

As Audra use peroxide to get the blood out of the wood floor and rug, Tim asked, "Do you remember the first time you met Lloyd?" He held a hot air gun pointed at where he spackled over the two bullet holes from Audra missing the hitwoman, it needed to be dry so he could paint it.

Audra squinted at him through her thick glasses. "Yes, why?"

"You never told me what you said that had him laughing," Tim pried.

Sighing Audra, repeated the event. "You mean after you went to get the truck and trailer so we could bring the girls back from the clinic?"

"Yeah." Tim grinned facing away from her.

"I was going to wait for you out front and walked into him coming around a corner. He made an offhanded remark about not seeing me there and I said, actually it's the other way around because I'm kinda blind. He just stared at me for a minute then said, he was sorry, he guessed he'd stuck his boot in his mouth. So, I told him I hoped he didn't walk through the barn first and he laughed." Audra never looked up from where she was scrubbing. She sat back on her heels. "Then you came and introduced us. Why?"

"I just hadn't seen him laugh like that in a long time," Tim commented, realizing that moment was the spark and his crazy idea to put his cousin with her might work.

"He laughed because I'm an idiot who uses humor as a defense mechanism when I'm embarrassed." Her tone was self-deprecating as she stood up. "Someone just pulled in."

Tim turned off the handheld dryer. "I didn't hear anything."

"It was Matthias' cruiser followed by Lloyd's SUV." Audra opened the door, "Hello, come in." She held the door as they came in.

"Audra, we need to talk to you," Matthias had a tone she had heard before.

"No," vehemently answering, she scowled at him. "I'm not moving again. Autumn is happy here and she's safe... That woman said she wasn't a target anymore."

Lloyd shook his head, "It isn't about that... please, sit down."

"Just tell me." Audra folded her arms across her chest, pressing them in and Lloyd tried not look at cleavage he could see bulging out of the v-neck of her teeshirt.

"Jay is alive." Matthias announced coolly.

Audra leaned again a chair, panting. "But last night... he... his house. How in the fuk is he still alive?!?!" She yelled the question at them as she clenched her fists and stomped her foot.

"We don't know how he got out of his house but the body in it wasn't his. It was Dean Markham. He's been dead for a while, probably since he missed that shift a few weeks ago," Lloyd answered tightly. "I called Carlsbad PD. Someone who was not Dean did apply for a job there, the Chief identified Jay as the man he interviewed." Lloyd's jaw ticked as he revealed. "I don't think Jay Lancaster was who he said he was."

Audra's left hand clenched around her right fist in a tight ball. "We need to call Helena and get the report on June's death... and call the academy and get Jay's physical records."

"Can't you just look them up online?" Tim asked with a frown she heard.

Audra shook her head. "I... no. Jay showed Tiana and Autumn his graduation picture from the academy online. If Jay isn't Jay, then he somehow switched the pictures."

"How?" Tim demanded.

"Altering digital media is one of the easiest things to do. We did it all the time. We did it for Audra when she went into witness protection. There are no digital pictures of her on the internet that don't come from a scanned or photographed print. Audra's aversion to having her photograph taken saved us a lot of work. The photograph on the contract for her life is from her work ID badge because there were no others." Matthias declared drolly as if it was common knowledge. He shrugged when they all stared at him. "It's true. Most people don't even realize they are looking at an altered digital image, even of one they've seen before."

Audra sighed and shook her head as she sat down, "So we're exposed again."

"Yes and no... He knows who you are and how much you are worth, but he wants the payout for himself, so he won't tell anyone else about you," Matthias assured her. "You will be safe here until he comes back."

"Until he comes back? Are you kidding?" Tim was shocked Lloyd would even consider leaving them in harm's way. "You can't just leave her and Autumn here."

"Tim, she'll be safe. Matthias and I have a plan," Lloyd tried to calm his cousin.

"I assure you, Mr. Ballard, Audra and her daughter will be safe. The security system at the winery will cover the dairy and since I will be the new resident at former residence of Jay Lancaster, she will be protected at all times. I have already talked to the owner," Matthias declared in an emotionless voice.

"Stop it." Audra hissed, "Stop talking about me like I'm not here. You can't live in that house and I don' have another bedroom you can use until they put something in... He could come tonight or next week or next month or..."

Matthias held up his hand and she quieted. "Audra, calm yourself. He will not come back for you because we will be hunting him now that we know his secret."

"What secret?" Audra demanded.

"Jay is the serial we're chasing... Matthias suggested we use your talent for solving puzzles to catch him." Lloyd waited for her to refuse as she twisted her hands around each other before folding her fingers together tightly.

"He was the pervert behind the erotica killings?" She hissed out between gritted teeth.

"We found boxes of the books and totes of props. We also have a box of identities going back five years," Lloyd revealed.

Tim interrupted, "What books?"

"He was using scenes from different book by an author going by Mayibe Chained. We think he was planning to drown his next victim... Tim? Where are you going?" Lloyd stared after his cousin confused as Tim stomped out the door.

A few moment later Tim hurried back with a parcel, he pulled out a torn in half paperback, Drowning Bliss. "Someone keeps sending this book to Tiana, she had a break down. I was going give it to Matthias... That maniac is stalking my daughter."

"Ohgawd," Audra gasped, "If he's stalking Tiana, do you think he's after Autumn for another one of his sick..." She didn't finish the question.

"He's not going to touch them," Vowing, Matthias explained, "John said you had a gift for unraveling the most tangled problem. Help us, Audra, help us catch him before he kills anyone else and before he comes back for Tiana and Autumn."

Audra nodded. "Anything I can do to protect them."

"I want to help to," Tim insisted.

Matthias nodded, then glanced at Lloyd, "With your permission, Sheriff?" Lloyd nodded so Matthias went on, "Unfortunately, there is only one agent in the FBI who considers this to be a real threat until we have sufficient proof for the NCAVC to give it to a BAU investigator."

"We're on our own. Having him kill Dean Markham will help but it only proves he is a cop killer and not a serial killer." Lloyd hated to burden Audra and Tim, but they were the smartest people he knew and with Matthias's experience to guide them he prayed they could catch Jay-whomever before he killed again.