He twisted away from the window and regarded his elegantly decorated study. From the lush, thick carpet to the dark, rich mahogany furnishings, the room was a daily reminder of how far Elías Mendoza had come. It was his sanctuary, the place he could let down his guard. No one ever entered his study without an invitation, and few asked for one.
Only one person dared to approach him here, and Elías was powerless to prevent it. He came and went as he pleased.
For years, the only time he saw him was in his dreams. The drugs helped to keep those visits to a minimum. Lately, however, nothing kept him out. And his message was always the same.
You can’t hide from me. She doesn’t belong to you, nor will she ever. By holding onto her, you will lose everything.
Elías clamped his hands over his ears, but the voice continued to reverberate inside his head, driving in the madness. He gripped the crystal paperweight on top of his desk and heaved it across the room.
He walked to the bar, poured from the first bottle he got his hands on into a tall glass, and swallowed, hard. The strong Scotch burned his throat, but the pain helped clear his head.
He reached for the keys he always kept with him and unlocked the middle drawer. Inside was a photo album. He set the thick leather-bound book on his desk and flipped through the numerous pages, stopping occasionally to stare at one photo or another. In his hands was a year-by-year pictorial of the life of Jennifer Marie McKenzie, a record of every important event in her life since she was nine years old.
The sins of the father fall on the child.
He flipped to the last page and stared at the picture of the woman that child had become. His body involuntarily hardened. The need for her never went away. It was the eyes that captivated him years before, while she lay helpless in the hospital bed, and it was those same eyes that allured him today. She was a witch, haunting his every waking hour.
It repulsed him to think about the things she did for the sick old woman, who was not even related to her. But her devotion and loyalty to Jared McNeil was the ultimate betrayal.
She had been with McNeil recently. He could feel it in his bones. Raúl had either fucked up or he was lying.
“You think I’m repugnant, evil even. Do you think I don’t feel your panic and fear when you know I’m near?” Elías whispered quietly. “Know this, little one. I will see McNeil shredded in front of you before I allow you to spread your legs for him. You belong to me! Play your silly games. You can’t expose me.” He wiped the sweat off his upper lip. “You know nothing about me, nothing of what I’m capable of doing to you and those in your life—the horror I’ll put you through if you betray me with McNeil again.”
His finger outlined Jennie’s form on the screen. “I believe you have forgotten who you are dealing with, my Jennifer Marie. Maybe I need to remind you again that there are consequences for the choices you make. Your day will come soon. Choose well, mi querida!”
Seven
Fells Point, Baltimore
Two weeks later
* * *
Jennie tapped lightly on the door, unlocked it, and walked into her landlord’s apartment. “Mrs. C., it’s just me.”
Louise Cunningham was sound asleep in her favorite chair by the window. Jennie placed the hot casserole dish on the coffee table, stepped over the plastic tubing lying half-coiled across the carpet, and approached her friend.
“Louise, dinner is ready. I made your favorite lasagna. There’s enough for a couple of days.”
When she received no response, she knelt in front of the chair and called out again. “Louise?”
Jennie repositioned the two prongs of the nasal cannula in her nose. They had a habit of slipping out whenever she slept. Her eyes then shifted to Louise’s chest; one breath, two breaths in a row. Each one labored, more of a gasp than a full breath.
Then she listened for any sign of wheezing— a high-pitched whistle sound when she exhaled—but her own heartbeat drummed so loud between her ears, she couldn’t hear anything else.
Something was wrong. She quickly checked the oxygen concentrator in the corner, focusing on the black ball that bobbed at the number two line in the flow meter. Everything looked fine. She gently shook her friend’s shoulder and called out one more time, “Louise.”
The woman’s eyes fluttered opened and she smiled weakly.
“I’m fine, dear. Just acting like an old woman again.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. Jennie exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
Louise removed the nasal cannula in her nose, fussed with the tubing that fit behind her ear, and repositioned it. “There must be something in all those pills I take that makes me so tired. I think I slept the entire day away. What a waste of a perfectly wonderful day. How long have you been home?”
“About an hour and I made us dinner. Would you like me to bring it over here, or do you want to sit on the sofa?”
Louise considered the dish on the coffee table. “I think I would like to move to the sofa before my behind becomes permanently attached to this chair.”
She pushed up on the armrest while Jennie lifted her under her arm. The six steps seemed to take all her breath away and Louise collapsed onto the sofa.
“Thank you, dear. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Louise studied Jennie closely. “So, still no call from your friend, Jared?”
Jennie shook her head. The moments in the chapel were still so raw, unnerving, she just couldn’t share them with Louise. Nothing in her life prepared her for the moment Jared McNeil pulled her up against him and kissed her. The fire he ignited in her would never burn out.
Every time she closed her eyes, she felt Jared’s lips on hers. His taste and woodsy all-man scent appeared repeatedly in her dreams, driving her mad. And that unquenchable need didn’t go away the moment the sun came in through the windows. Every morning for the last two weeks, she woke with the feeling of his body against hers, his smell all over her. Her poor students—she was useless to them; her mind and body consumed with Jared Thomas McNeil.
He hadn’t a clue how many times she had fantasized about him over the years. Of course, the fantasy of being kissed by Jared didn’t light a candle to reality.
And then the jerk just walked away. If Jennie was honest with herself, she would admit to breaking the kiss. But he didn’t have to hide behind the column. If he was going to disappear from her life again, why did he kiss her? Why did that kiss make her feel like she was the only woman on the damn planet that mattered to him?
The damn, stupid-ass jerk.
Jennie took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind of all things Jared. “I wouldn’t call Jared and me friends. Friends don’t…”
“Don’t what?”
“Nothing. I… he won’t call.”
“Oh, Jennie, then he’s a damn fool.” Louise placed her napkin in her lap. She then picked up her fork, started to take a bite, but slammed the fork on the coffee table. “He’s got some nerve. Taking all your hard-earned money without even having the decency to call and—”
“He re-deposited the check into my bank account,” Jennie whispered.
Louise placed her hand on Jennie’s arm. “Oh, well then. That was the right thing to do.”
“Jared is a good man.” Jennie shut her eyes tightly and willed the tears away.
“And he has you tied up into all kinds of knots. Why don’t you just pick up the phone and call him? I can feel how much you care about him.”
Jennie swallowed and pressed her friend’s hand. “We can’t always have what we want.” She turned to meet Louise’s stare. “Jared can’t be part of my life.” She bit down on the inside of her mouth to keep the tears from spilling. “I can’t be part of his life. Not everyone gets a happy-ever-after.”
“You get to be happy. If you find evidence that will put this Mendoza behind bars, will you then contact Jared?”
“He was never mine to begin with. We were friends of a sort—but he walked away
from me. There was no other option.”
“That can’t be how it ends. If you let this one go, there may not be another.”
All Jennie could do was nod.
Louise broke eye contact to peer at the clock on the wall, her breathing coming in quick gasps. It took her a moment to calm down so she could speak. “Don’t you have choir practice tonight? You better get a move on. You don’t want that lively bunch of teens tearing through the chapel.”
An uneasy feeling settled over Jennie. Louise’s color was off, and every breath seemed to be labored.
“Cole and Marcus said they would be there. Maybe I should let them handle things tonight.”
Jennie loved the challenge of engaging the teens in the neighborhood into a strong youth choir. But preparing for the Easter season was so time-consuming, it left her with little time with Louise. Her friend’s health was fading right in front of her eyes.
“If they need anything, they have my cell phone number.”
“You can’t do that, dear. You’re the one person who gives some of those kids the time of day. When a teen wants to talk, he only gives you one chance to be there for him. I’ll be fine for a couple of hours by myself. I’ll just sit here, eat this wonderful dinner, and find a movie on the TV.”
“I really don’t want to leave you alone. Can I call someone to sit with you? Father Anthony would love to visit. I could also call Mr. Turner. I think he has a thing for you.”
“Oh boy, that’s all I need. No, thank you. I’m not up for company. You can check on me as soon as you get home. Now stop worrying and get up to St. Luke’s.”
“Is there anything I can help you with before I go?”
“You want to do something for me, Jennie? Just think about what I said,” Louise replied with a smile.
Jennie planted a kiss on her friend’s hollow cheeks. “I always do. Try to eat something, okay?”
As Jennie headed down the street toward St. Luke’s, she chewed herself out with every step. No one had been there for Jennie like Louise. Now, her dear friend needed Jennie to step up and do the same for her. The last thing she needed was consuming images about more lip time with Jared McNeil.
She was so caught up in her own private reprimand, she almost missed the chilling sensation that skipped down her spine. Someone was watching her.
Fear coiled deep inside the pit of her stomach and took her breath away. She gulped a breath of cold air. The overpowering scent of car exhaust, combined with the fishy odor from the harbor, permeated her nostrils and made her gag.
Focus. Breathe, remember your training.
As her skin chilled to the bone, she scanned the shadows along the street. But nothing was there. Mendoza was familiar. This was different.
She faced the alley. There you are. What would the police say to her claim that some presence was stalking her, creeping her out? This time, the proof was only a few yards away. Jennie turned her back on him and forced her feet to move down the street toward St. Luke’s.
He didn’t understand why his last girlfriend didn’t love him anymore. She was nothing to him now but a bloody X on his wall. He had a new one, and she’s different from the rest. Her eyes were just for him, her smile just for him. She wanted to be with him as much as he wanted her. Watching from the darkened doorway was the best he could do tonight.
Soon, the need would be strong in him again. It seemed to appear more often these days, stronger, more demanding. Keeping it under control was exhausting.
He had to get close soon, or the hunger within him would become agonizing. When that happened, the monster became uncontrollable. How he hated the monster.
But this time, he would be in control. Watching her tonight was enough. Drawing in a deep breath, he moved out of his hiding place and headed down the street. Tomorrow, he would get even closer.
Eight
Jared’s heart pounded as he zigzagged through three lanes of traffic on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. If Jennie were in danger, Raúl would’ve called.
Muscles in his back and shoulders burned, twisted in knots. The forensic team had spent the last six hours re-working the inward spiral search pattern, digging, inch by inch through blood-soaked carpet fibers with a pair of tweezers, looking for any shred of evidence that could identify Hanna Tu’s attacker. He rolled his shoulders and neck, trying to ease the tension, but nothing helped.
Jared punched the power control for the window and rolled it down. The cool, crisp smell of March flooded the inside of his SUV. He brought his arm up to his nose and sniffed. Damn, it’s all over me.
The pungent smells of blood, semen, and urine—the stench of violence seemed to live on him with each new victim. Bile rose in his throat. He gulped in a breath of fresh air and forced himself to swallow. He dug into his pants pocket, searching for a roll of Tums. Instead, his fingers extracted a wad of paper.
“Damn it to hell.” He tossed the wrapper in the seat next to him. He wished he could flip a switch and everything in his head would shut down for an hour, total oblivion. But no amount of time would ever erase the appalling scene left behind by that vicious bastard. The walls, furniture, and floor were covered in blood splatter. The attacker had slashed Hanna repeatedly with a sharp-edged knife like a scalpel, and they bled. Blood stunk. Taking another cleansing breath, Jared tried to shake the image from his mind, but it stuck like glue, polluting his thoughts.
He sped past the last exit on the parkway that would allow him to turn around. Every fiber of his being needed to see Jennie. He risked every precaution Mac put in place to protect her, but after his day, he didn’t care. One glimpse to make sure she was all right.
As he passed through the center of Baltimore, Inner Harbor, through Little Italy, and into Fells Point, the tension slipped away. Being close to Jennie centered him, purging his mind and heart of the horror of his day. What would it be like to have her waiting for him, to walk through the door at the end of the day?
Shit.
Jared massaged the back of his neck with his palm. A lasting relationship with Jennie—did he deserve something so rare?
Double-parking in front of the brownstone, Jared turned off the engine and listened to the sounds of the surrounding night. The occasional dog barking and door slamming broke the silence.
There was no light coming from the upstairs apartment. It was almost nine o’clock. Where was she?
Jared opened the door of his SUV and got out. His cell phone vibrated in his coat pocket. Leaning his foot on the curb edge, he pulled it out, not bothering to check the number on the small screen.
“What?”
“What the hell are you doing, amigo?” Raúl demanded.
“I have to see her.”
“Like hell you do, buddy. She’s up at St. Luke’s. Now turn your ass around and get the hell out of here.”
“What’s she doing there this time of night?”
“She’s at choir practice. She’ll be home in about ten minutes, so leave, now.”
Jared stared at the brownstone, and then toward St Luke’s. One glimpse of Jennie would have been enough.
“I can’t protect her or you for that matter if you go into that building. Just a little while longer and this will be over.”
“Yeah, right.” Jared ended the call. Glancing up at the apartment one last time, he surrendered and got into his vehicle.
“Jared McNeil, don’t you dare walk away.”
Shit.
Louise Cunningham stood in the brownstone's doorway. “Good evening, ma’am,” he said.
“Don’t you ‘ma’am’ me, young man. I know who you are, and you know who I am.” She descended the three steps of the porch, the tubing following behind her.
Not knowing what to say, Jared just nodded. The woman was almost out of breath. Jared recognized the signs of lung disease. She reached into the pocket of her bathrobe and pulled out her inhaler. She shook it vigorously and placed her lips around the mouthpiece. She tried to push the release on the top,
but her fingers were too weak. Pulling the inhaler out of her mouth, she tried to shake it again, hoping it would work.
Unable to watch her struggle with the device any longer, Jared calmly approached, removed the inhaler from her fragile hand, and placed it back up to her mouth.
“Please allow me to help you, Mrs. Cunningham.” Once she nodded her consent, Jared placed the inhaler back into her mouth and released the medicine.
“Do you need another dose?” Louise nodded a second time. Jared pushed the release again. A moment passed. “Is that better?”
“Yes, thank you.” Her color returned, and she seemed to breathe easier. “I have such a hard time with that thing. Jennie’s correct. You’re a kind man, Mr. McNeil, even if you are as dense as a log of wood.”
“Thank you, I think.” Jared smiled for the first time that day.
“Jennie will be home any time now. You’re more than welcome to come in and wait for her. She would be very happy to see you.”
“As much as I would love to do just that, I can’t wait. I have to be somewhere.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Does it matter?”
“Dense as a log,” Louise said, shaking her head. “Do you care for my Jennie?”
“I would protect her with my life.”
“Why do you insist on making everything so complicated? You have left her alone long enough. Don’t you understand? Jennie won’t reach out to anyone.”
Jared tried to interrupt, but Louise stopped him. “No, let me finish. I can’t leave her alone, so whatever it is keeping you away, get over it, as your generation is so used to saying.”
Her lungs were empty of air again after the brief lecture. Placing the inhaler back into her mouth, she again tried to push the medicine into her. Jared gently reached out and pressed the inhaler.
“She will not be alone, Mrs. Cunningham. No one will hurt her again. You have my word on that.”
In the Shadow of Evil Book 2 Page 6