Kiss the Girls

This
was
Hotel California.
    “It’s a beautiful spot for it, Alex. Whatever in hell he’s up to.”
    “He’s up to six. He’s looking for victim number seven,” I said.
    Far below, on an inaccessible beach, we could see sea lions, brown pelicans, cormorants. I wished that Damon and Jannie were here to see them, and I wished the circumstances of my being here were completely different.
    Out on the terrace, I took Kate’s hand. “Makes us look like we belong,” I said and winked at her.
    “Maybe we do.” Kate gave an exaggerated wink back.
    We watched Rudolph approach a striking blond woman. She was the Gentleman’s type. In her early twenties. Shapely. Beautiful face. She was also Casanova’s type, I couldn’t help thinking.
    Her wavy, sunbleached hair fell to her tiny waist. She wore a red-and-yellow flowered dress Putumayo’s that flowed down to a pair of black European workboots. She flowed when she moved as well. She was drinking champagne by the glass.
    I hadn’t spotted agents Cosgrove or Asaro yet, which was making me a little nervous, a little nuts.
    “She’s beautiful, isn’t she? She’s just perfect,” Kate whispered at my side. “We can’t let him hurt her, Alex. We can’t let anything happen to that poor woman.”
    “We won’t,” I said, “but we have to catch him in the act, nail him for kidnapping, if nothing else. We need evidence that he is the Gentleman Caller.”
    I finally spotted John Asaro at the crowded main bar. He had on a bright yellow Nike T-shirt and fit in okay. I didn’t spot Ray Cosgrove or any of the other agents—which was actually a good sign.
    Rudolph and the young blond woman seemed to have hit it off immediately. She appeared to be gregarious and fun-loving. She had perfect white teeth and her impression was dazzling. She couldn’t help but make an impression across the crowded room. My brain was sliding into overload.
We were watching the Gentleman Caller at work, weren’t we?
    “He’s hunting… and just like that” —Kate snapped her fingers— “he picks them up. Gets almost any woman he wants. That’s how he does it. So simple…
    “It’s the way he looks that gets them, Alex,” Kate continued. “He has a rebellious look about him
and
he’s very handsome. That combination is irresistible to some women. She let him think it was his line of small talk that won her over, but it’s because he’s such a hunk.”
    “So, she just picked
him
up?” I asked. “Our killer hunk?”
    Kate nodded. She wouldn’t take her eyes off the two of them. “She just picked up the Gentleman Caller. He wanted her to, of course. I’ll bet that’s how he gets them, and why he never gets caught.”
    “It’s not how Casanova works, though. Is it?”
    “Maybe Casanova isn’t good-looking.” Kate turned and looked at me. “That might explain the masks he wears. Maybe he’s ugly, or disfigured, and ashamed of how he looks.”
    I had another thought, another theory, about Casanova and his masks, but I didn’t want to say anything just yet.
    The Gentleman and his new girlfriend ordered ambrosia-burgers, the house specialty. So did Kate and I. When in paradise…. They hung around the café until around seven o’clock and then got up to leave.
    Kate and I rose from our table, too. Actually, I was half enjoying myself, considering the eerie circumstances. We had a table that overlooked the water. Down below, the Pacific crashed against a black wall of slippery rocks, and we could hear sea lions barking loudly.
    I noted that there was no touching between the two of them as they walked out to the parking lot. It suggested to me that one of them was secretly shy.
    Dr. Will Rudolph politely held open the door of his Range Rover, and the blond woman was laughing as she hopped in. He performed a tiny, elegant bow at the car door.
The Gentleman.
    She chose him,
I was thinking.
It wasn’t kidnapping yet. She was still making choices for herself.
    We had nothing to go after him for, nothing to hold him on.
    Perfect crimes.
    On both coasts.

Chapter 69

    W E TRAILED the Range Rover at a discreet distance, straight back to the cabin. I parked about a quarter of a mile up the road. My heart was hammering hard and loud. This was the moment of truth, the real deal was going down now.
    Kate and I ran back through the woods and found a safe spot that was well hidden from view. It was less than fifty yards from Dr. Rudolph’s hideaway, and we could still hear the