In the Shadow of Evil Book 2

by Nancy C. Weeks

  Jason’s twin, Emma McNeil Lambert, was a resident emergency doctor at Johns Hopkins. “Yes. I’ll text her and see if she can arrange for Jared to see Jennie without being detected.”

  Jared eased his head against the seat and closed his eyes as Noah left the driveway. No one spoke until Jason broke the silence.

  “I told Emma you would explain when you got there.”

  Before Jared could reply, Noah interrupted. “Tell me what went down with you and Raúl.”

  Jared rubbed his hand over his forehead and the back of his neck. The meeting ended less than an hour, but it seemed like a lifetime ago.

  “He thinks Mendoza grabbed one of Jennie’s students. A young boy named Danny Merlot went missing this afternoon. If Mendoza has the kid, he’s left Raúl in the dark. You need to call Mac and get his wife ready to leave.” He faced his twin. “Mendoza showed his hand tonight. That can’t be good.”

  “It’s a good thing your brain’s working again,” Noah said.

  “Are you okay? I’m so damn sorry…”

  “I’m good, we’re good. Always.”

  No one else spoke for the twenty-minute drive into Baltimore. At the entrance of the emergency room, Noah stopped Jared as he opened the door. “You’ll keep your cool in there, right?”

  “This is my fault.” He swallowed hard. “Noah, you have to be okay with this. I need Jennie in my life.”

  “Jared, you’re not thinking—”

  “No. I’m thinking straight for the first time in months.”

  Sixteen

  “Jared, you can’t mess this up.”

  “I’ll be careful, Emma.” Jared shoved his arm through the sleeve of the white lab coat. “I really appreciate this.”

  “You’re the doctor on call. Did you treat Jennie?”

  “No, but I checked on her twice. For the fifth time, she’s okay.”

  Jared reached for his sister’s hand and tugged her into him. It was his job to take care of her. Not the other way around.

  “This will work.” Emma withdrew a hospital ID from her pocket and clipped it on Jared’s coat. “You’re now Dr. Carl Richman. How to receive a medical degree in ten minutes or less,” she said, patting the badge. “Just remember, do everything I told you. Hopefully, you won’t stand out too much.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Your size alone will draw attention. Just keep your head down.

  “Isn’t it strange that you would check on someone else’s patient?”

  Emma met Jared’s gaze. “I knew Jennie, but until today, I didn’t place her. She was one of my favorite patient’s caregivers.”

  “Was?”

  A deep sadness appeared in her eyes. “I lost her tonight.”

  Jared exhaled a moan and cupped his sister’s neck. “You treated Louise Cunningham?”

  “A few times in the ER.” She fussed with his lab coat. “Remember, you can’t stay in the room very long. Specialists are in and out.”

  Glancing at his ID, he grimaced. “Geez, Emma, I don’t look anything like this guy.”

  “Just don’t get caught.” Emma hugged him. “In thirteen years, your sweet nephews will need college educations.” With one final once-over, she left the lounge.

  Jared waited a couple of minutes before he headed down the corridor to Jennie’s room. He removed the chart from the slot and flipped through the pages. Flashing the ID to the cop, he entered the room and remained by the door until it closed, his eyes glued to the sleeping woman in the bed.

  He leaned over and tenderly brushed a strand of hair off her forehead, replacing it with a kiss. She was pale, and her throat was completely covered with thick gauze.

  His eyes watered, blurring his vision. “What did that bastard do to you?”

  The door opened and a priest stood in the doorway. “Can I help you?” Jared asked. He lifted Jennie’s hand and pretended to take her pulse. The priest gripped his hand, twisting his thumb back almost to the breaking point.

  “I think that’s my question. Who are you?” The priest applied more pressure.

  “Detective Jared McNeil, and I really need that thumb. Can’t hold a gun without it.”

  “Sorry.” The priest released Jared’s hand. “Jennie has mentioned you. I’m Father Anthony.”

  “No need to apologize, Father. It’s good to know Jennie has someone looking after her,” he said, rubbing his hand. “That’s some trick you have there.”

  “It comes in handy. What’s with the get-up?” Father Anthony pointed to the coat and badge.

  “He’s blending in,” Jennie said, barely above a whisper.

  “Hey, you.” Jared pivoted and reached for Jennie’s hand, bringing it to his lips. “You scared the hell out of me this time.”

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to.” She attempted to smile.

  “Oh Jennie,” Jared reached under the bed rail and released the button to lower it. He sat on the bed, holding her hand against his heart.

  “That’s me—the more evil they are, the more I like ’em.” She swiped the moisture from her cheeks.

  Jared drew her close, wrapping his arms tightly around her. “I got you.”

  Tears dampened his shirt, but not a sound escaped her. Every muscle in his body coiled. Where the hell was his rage supposed to go?

  She lifted her head off his shoulder. “I’m okay, really. He didn’t hurt me. Well, he did,” she said, touching her throat. “I wasn’t paying attention. I should have stopped him.”

  “He’s a serial killer: a sick, warped bastard. I don’t know why he targeted you, but we’ll figure it out as soon as we know more about him.” Jared leaned her back on her pillows. “You’re far from okay. Tell me everything.”

  “I didn’t see him, feel him. . . until it was too late. When I woke up, I was tied down, and he held a scalpel against my face.” She subconsciously drew the line from her eye to the base of her throat with her index finger. “He—he was very angry.” Jennie swallowed. “And—he cut me.”

  “Where else did he cut?”

  “Just my throat.”

  Jared couldn’t speak with the horrific image burned in his mind.

  “Something horrible happened tonight besides. . . I keep underestimating him.” Jennie grabbed onto Jared, pulling him tight. Her body shivered as she whispered, “Father Anthony just told me. . . God, Danny. . .”

  “It’s going to be okay, Jennie.”

  “No, it’s not. One of my students is missing, and it has nothing to do with the man who did this to me. Elías Mendoza has Danny.”

  Jared rubbed his hand up and down her back and held her trembling body tight against him.

  “It’s happening again. I drove Mendoza right to Danny. I was trying to trap him, but he knew what I was doing the whole time, and he’s going to hurt Danny like he did Nick, as payback.”

  “I won’t allow that to happen again. I’ll stop him.”

  “How? You’re not involved in his case again, are you?”

  “I’ll explain everything as soon as I get you out of here.”

  “He’s been watching me. That’s the only explanation for Tattoo Guy showing up to execute my attacker.” Jennie dug her nails through his shirt and into his skin. “I can’t be seen with you now. He’ll kill Danny. You told me yourself that Mendoza will hurt me to get back at you. You don’t understand that he’ll hurt me just to hurt me. But I’m going to find Danny…”

  “No.” Jared took a breath, then another one. But it didn’t help one damn bit. “Over my dead body, Jennie McKenzie.”

  His control slipped, and with each word, the volume spiked until the last word was a shout.

  “What’s the matter with you?” Emma stormed into the room. Father Anthony shut the door behind her.

  “This is a hospital. Keep your voice down.” Emma approached the bed and stood next to Father Anthony. “Sorry, Jennie. If I knew he’d be such a jerk, I wouldn’t have let him in here.”

  Jennie rested her head on the pi
llow and placed two fingers on the crease between Jared’s eyes, massaging away the strain until he relaxed. “How could I forget, even for an instant, how pigheaded you could be?”

  Her eyes widened as she looked from Jared to Emma, then back again. “Dr. Lambert is Louise Cunningham’s doctor. How do you know…she’s your sister, Jason’s twin, right? The same eyes, and something else I completely missed.”

  “Jennie, I think you can call me Emma, don’t you?” She squeezed Jennie’s hand affectionately.

  “I have a big favor to ask. If I get you Louise’s medications, can you test them without anyone knowing what you’re doing?”

  “Why, Jennie?” Jared asked.

  “I need to know if anyone tampered with her medications.”

  “Louise Cunningham had end-stage COPD. Why would you think something was wrong with her meds?” Emma asked.

  “At her last appointment, you said she had time, but her condition got worse by the day. She wouldn’t see you or her pulmonologist. It fits that Mendoza would…I have to know.”

  Jennie’s hand clamped on Jared’s until it hurt. He pried her fingers loose and held them between his hands.

  “I have a Ziploc bag of her medications in my shoulder bag. I placed it in there Friday night for the paramedics. It should still be there in the closet.”

  Emma pulled a canvas bag out of the drawer in the small closet and set it on the bed. Jennie unzipped a front pocket and handed Emma a baggie with assorted pills.

  “I have someone who can do this for me quickly.”

  “Thank you,” Jennie said, looking down at her blanket as her hold on Jared’s hand grew tighter. “Mendoza’s here, and he’s planning something for me. If he wants to destroy my life, all he has to do is hurt the people I care about.” She hugged Jared’s hand close to her. “My life is very small. I have my home, my students, my church, and you. In the last few days, two people I love have been struck. I need proof Mrs. C.’s death was from her illness. As for Danny, he’s special and holds a very special place here,” she said, placing her hand over her heart. “Mendoza has him. I know it in my bones.”

  “You lost me, Jennie. Why do you think Mendoza is here now?”

  “I feel him as well as I feel you. And, it’s become clear that I’m his ultimate revenge for the death of Arturo Mendoza.”

  “His father died in custody years ago. You were just a kid.”

  Jennie unzipped the center pocket of her bag and pulled out a large file and a photo. “I met Elías Mendoza the day his father died, and then again six years later. He killed my parents, Nick, Quinton, and maybe Louise Cunningham. He’ll use me somehow to kill you.” She paused, gathering strength to get the next words out. “This file filled in pieces I’ve missed for almost fifteen years. I will never forgive myself nor ask for redemption. But please believe this. Where I am, he is, too. I chose you over him. From that moment, he’s watched and planned…”

  “For what, Jennie?”

  “He lost everything that mattered to him the day his father was arrested and died in custody. I think he wants me to suffer the same pain he experienced. In four days, I’ll be twenty-five-years old.”

  “What possible connection could you have to Arturo Mendoza?”

  She handed him the photo. “Do you recognize this man?”

  “Maybe. There is something familiar about him.”

  “This is Detective Evan Nash, my father. He arrested Elías Mendoza’s father, Arturo.”

  Although no one had sent a hard, fisted punch into Jared’s gut, he felt a hellish pain there anyway. “There are a few blanks in that statement.”

  “I know…”

  “All this time, that’s been the connection between you and Mendoza?” He tossed the image on the bed. “It can’t be that damn simple, or you would have told me.”

  “This is the time to listen, big brother,” Emma whispered.

  “I’ve been through every scrap of information. The case against Elías Mendoza began with a murdered detective, Evan Nash. His body was found in a warehouse in D.C.”

  “Hung from the rafters like a slab of meat, with an upside-down cross carved into his chest. There were so many bullet holes in his body, it looked like someone used him as target practice.”

  Jared tried to grab the file, but Jennie’s grip was too tight. “Tell me you didn’t see those images…”

  “No, I dream it, all over again. As for my first meeting with Mendoza, I had a vague memory of a man standing by my hospital bed. He touched the bandage on my head and said, ‘You live because I allow it.’ This file gave me the connections, but Quinton Torres paid the price.”

  And she kept that from him. But he had his own dreams, his own secret.

  “Your name never came up once. So, somehow you got your hands on that file and made this connection. When did you figure this out? Yesterday? Tell me it was yesterday.”

  “My life before foster care was virtually erased to keep Mendoza from coming after me.”

  “How long?” Jared wiped away the moisture on her cheeks, then cupped her chin.

  “After Quinton’s death, a few months…I was protecting you.”

  And the last blow, the worst. But this wasn’t on Jennie. He left her to protect her. Now, he had to touch her, hold her, do something to ease the pain he caused.

  He intertwined his fingers with hers. “You’re Jennifer Marie Nash? Where did McKenzie come from?”

  Before Jennie could answer, Father Anthony moved from standing in the corner of the room to the other side of her bed. “Jennie’s godfather, Father Michael Sweeney, is my foster brother. Evan Nash, Michael, and I were childhood friends. The moment he learned of Evan’s murder, he contacted me. We arranged for Jennie’s removal from Washington Hospital Center and hid her with our last foster mother, Mrs. Shultz. She was fostering Nick at the time. Her maiden name was McKenzie.”

  “Why would you keep something so crucial from me?” His voice shuddered. “You stood in St. Luke’s…”

  “I was trying to keep him away from you.” She moved her hand to the middle of his chest. “You did the same thing for me. And, damn it, you know me like no one else does. McKenzie or Nash, I could never hide myself from you.”

  Seventeen

  The hurt in Jared’s eyes tore Jennie in two. An infinite number of times saying ‘I’m sorry’ would never make it right. He reached for the file, and this time, Jennie loosened her hold.

  “How did you get this?”

  “One of my student’s parents was a cop on the scene of Quintin Torres’s shooting. He didn’t believe Mendoza was part of it, but when I asked for the file, he gave it to me. And that’s as far as you need to take it, Jared.”

  “Fine, but that never should have happened, on so many damn levels. You know you could have cost him his badge?”

  “We understood each other very well. He didn’t want to believe Mendoza was back in his neighborhood, and I needed data.”

  “Did you find something?”

  Jared’s eyes softened and she couldn’t help resting on his body for support.

  “No, but my memory is clearer now. The day I lost my parents…Mendoza standing by my bed, it’s been an endless nightmare. And for years, I struggled with what was real and what lived in the nightmare.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “One thing I’m sure about is the man in my apartment tonight was the same man who shot Quinton. I saw him often during my stay with Mendoza. I could never forget him.” Jennie removed a drawing from the file. “This is a rough sketch of the cross and dragon mouth eating a skull that runs down the length of his arm. There was a second man with him. I’ve spent months trying to find both men. Hours of surveillance tapes for nothing.”

  Jared’s muscles tensed. “What tapes?”

  Father Anthony cleared his throat. “Well, that’s not exactly true, Jennie.” He pulled a folded printout from his pocket and gave it to her. “I knew you were tied up with Louise, so I retrieved the last set of tapes and had a look
.”

  When she saw the face of Quinton’s killer, a chill raced up her spine. She should have been prepared for the coldness in his eyes, the callous smirk on his lips. Holding the photo, she could sense the evil residing just below his surface. But nothing could have prepared her for the effect he had on her. “This was on one of the last two tapes?”

  Father Anthony nodded.

  “What tapes?” Jared’s voice grew deeper.

  “As soon as I found him, I was going to contact you.” Jennie handed Jared the printout.

  “You should have called me after the drive-by shooting. I would have believed you without the damn picture.” He leaned in close, the printout clutched in his hand. “You needed me, and I would have been there for you.”

  “I had to be sure before I brought you back into this hell. But you’ve been in it all along, haven’t you? You never stopped looking for him. You just stopped us.”

  “I would go an entire lifetime without seeing you, Jennie, if it kept you away from Mendoza. I never stopped thinking about you, wanting to be with you.”

  Jennie let out a frustrated sigh. “And he’s winning because we’re idiots. We can’t fight him on our own and expect to win. That became very clear to me tonight.”

  “What changed tonight?” Father Anthony asked.

  “Louise Cunningham somehow said goodbye to me.” Jennie didn’t dare meet anyone’s eyes. “Maybe there is something to that saying that God works in mysterious ways.” She forced herself to face Jared. He deserved the truth, or at least her perception of that truth. “Why did I trust you eight years ago and not Mendoza? At the time, I had no reason to trust either one of you. Am I crazy to believe my father is responsible for leading me to the one person who can protect me from an evil as powerful as Mendoza and that bastard who works for him?”

  Jared cradled her head against his chest. The strength of his arms around her, the strong pulse of his heartbeat through his shirt, just the feel of their bodies against each other seemed to ease away the fear.