Insidious

“Doc standing over Markham’s dead body?”

“And maybe his wife’s as well,” Cam said.

“He’s already killed, and don’t forget the man we found in his house, all he was to Doc was a means to an end. That makes him a psychopath. And he’s desperate.”

“No backup here yet and we can’t afford to wait. Let’s go.”

They ran bent over toward the garage, hidden in the shadows. One of the three bay doors was open. They stepped inside and saw a new Mercedes in one of the bays, a Beemer in another. The third bay was empty. The door to the house was locked. They went around to the front door, hugging the side of the house, barely visible in the faint moonlight reflecting off the swimming pool. A huge glass window stretched out beside the front door. They looked in, saw only darkness.

Daniel turned the lion’s head knob on the front door. It was unlocked. “Not good,” Cam whispered. “He left it open.” She didn’t want to think about what he’d left behind. They went in high-low, guns at the ready, but saw nothing at all. They paused at the foot of a grand staircase.

“Daniel, I heard something coming from upstairs.”

They climbed the stairs as quietly as they could, straining to hear, and hugged the walls on opposite sides of the wide hallways at the top of the stairs. They eased open doors as they walked, looked inside. Two of the empty bedrooms were probably for the two Markham sons off at UCLA, but all the detritus of teenage boys was gone, replaced by bedrooms so magazine-perfect, they looked dressed for Hollywood sets. At the end of the hall, Daniel opened the large double doors, listened, and heard a woman’s groans.

When he turned on the light switch they saw a woman tied to a chair staring back at them, blood dripping down her face from a gash at her temple, her eyes frantic. A man’s tie was stuffed in her mouth and pulled painfully tight around her head. Her hands and feet were bound to the chair with men’s ties. She strained wildly, trying to speak though the gag.

Cam ran to the woman, went down on her knees to untie her hands and feet as Daniel undid the gag.

For a moment, she couldn’t speak, trying to get saliva in her mouth. “You came,” she whispered. “I thought he was going to kill both of us, but he didn’t. He took Theo.”

“How long ago?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes.”

Daniel lifted her in his arms and set her down on an art deco chaise longue covered with lacy pillows. He crouched down on his knees beside her. “Mrs. Markham, you said he took Mr. Markham and that means we don’t have much time. Did he hurt your husband? Was he still alive?”

“Yes, yes, I think so. But he hurt him, knocked Theo unconscious, dragged him out. I don’t know where he took him, I don’t know.”

Cam said, “We’ll figure it out, Mrs. Markham. Tell us what happened.”

They heard voices downstairs. “Our backup.” Cam raced out of the huge bedroom and down the stairs, holding up her creds. Two young officers, their hands on their guns, stood spread-legged, staring up at her. “Cam Wittier, Federal Agent. We’ll need an ambulance for an injured woman upstairs. And check the rooms downstairs and the grounds outside. Be on the lookout for a Caucasian man in his midthirties, tall and thin. Be careful, he’s a murderer. He’s holding Mr. Markham hostage.”

As she stepped back into the bedroom, she heard Mrs. Markham’s hoarse voice. “Neither of us was asleep. Theo’s a night owl, he never goes to sleep until after midnight. He was still upset over Deborah Connelly’s murder; it was bad, he was half out of his mind. I really tried to help him, not that he wanted much of anything from me, even comfort. He was still dressed, lying here beside me, not talking, staring up at the dark ceiling.” Her breathing hitched. “The lights went on and I was blinded a moment, then I saw a man standing in the doorway, aiming a gun at us.

“I think I screamed, I’m not sure, but Theo, he leaped out of bed and started yelling. The man seemed crazy—he was yelling back at Theo, both of them cursing each other. I couldn’t believe it—the man laughed and he told Theo to sit back down on the bed and be quiet or he’d shoot him right then and there.

“I’ve never seen Theo so angry, he was shaking with it, but he was scared, too. The man came up close and I saw him clearly. I didn’t recognize him.”

Cam quickly called up Doc’s photo on her cell. “Was this the man?”

“Yes, yes, that’s him. Who is he?”

“We’ll get to that, Mrs. Markham. What happened after he approached you and Theo?”

“He told Theo to get some of his ties and tie me to the chair, and if he didn’t tie me up tight, he’d shoot me.” She was swallowing convulsively.

Daniel stroked her hands, trying to calm her, and kept his voice soothing. “That must have been terrible, Mrs. Markham. Then what happened?”

She closed her eyes a moment. “He didn’t say anything while Theo was tying me to the chair. Then he told Theo to get on his knees.

“Theo was cursing him, but I could see how scared he was. I thought the man was going to murder him right in front of me. The man pointed the gun at his head, and then he said in a scary calm voice I’ll never forget, ‘Tell your wife about how you murdered Deborah Connelly.’

“I didn’t understand, it was crazy. I mean, Theo had cast Deborah Connelly in a title role in his next movie. Why would he kill her? And then Theo yelled right back at him.” ‘I’m not the murderer, you are!’ ”

Tears streamed down her face, and she swallowed yet again. “The man ran up to him and hit him in the head with his gun and Theo fell down, but the man kept hitting him, kicking him. Then he stood back over him and yelled. ‘Tell your wife you killed Deborah Connelly and do it now or you’ll kill her, too. Get up on your knees, face her!’

“Theo managed to pull himself to his knees, the man screaming at him over and over, ‘Face her, you bastard, have the balls to face her!’

“Theo looked up at me and said straight out, ‘I killed Deborah Connelly.’ I made noises through the gag but he couldn’t understand me. Then the man leaned down and hit Theo again, hard on his head this time, and he fell over and didn’t get back up. I didn’t know if he was dead or not. The man came up to me, bent down and put a knife to my throat. I knew I was going to die.” Her voice clogged in her throat and she began shaking.