Never Forget Me: A Chilling Psychological Thriller (Wolf Lake Thriller Book 7)

by Dan Padavona

  “You really are a dirt bag,” Raven muttered. “If you’re guilty, I’ll nail you to the wall.”

  Rather than returning the shopping cart to the corral, Slater left it behind a green Subaru, blocking the driver. Then he unlocked the minivan and hopped inside.

  Raven caught her breath. He’d used his right hand to pull himself into the vehicle.

  15

  Kaylee wanted to slap the grin off the soccer mom’s face.

  The temperature inside the gym hovered in the eighties, and the rotating fan in the corner did little but blow the heat around. Dressed in gym shorts and a T-shirt, Kaylee faced Camilla on the mat. The soccer mom was a vindictive bitch who thought she ran the place. Her kids attended the karate dojo next door, every one of them brats, and the pudgy businessman husband walked on the treadmills downstairs. They were a family of fake warriors.

  Three months ago, Camilla joined the MMA gym. She probably told her friends what a badass she was while they sipped from wine glasses and compared wedding rings. The woman stared down her nose at Kaylee, though Kaylee had two years of mat experience over her. The soccer mom had even convinced two of her suburban princess girlfriends to join the gym. Camilla always sparred with her friends because they were anorexic wimps, easy for Camilla to toss around. The women reminded Kaylee of every popular girl from Treman Mills High. The sneers, the catty laughter. They didn’t belong here.

  The soccer mom’s friends circled the mat as Kaylee stood across from her opponent. Camilla grinned. The soccer mom figured Kaylee was no match for her. She was in for a surprise.

  The sparring session began with Camilla shooting at Kaylee’s legs, and Kaylee sidestepping the woman and countering with a headlock. The smile disappeared from Camilla’s face when Kaylee cinched a headlock and vised the woman’s skull. As Camilla tried to lift Kaylee, Kaylee tossed the weaker woman over her hip. The friends gasped as Camilla struck the mat.

  “Kick her ass, Tina! She’s nothing!”

  Kaylee flinched and glared at the women cheering for the soccer mom. Confused, she shook the cobwebs out of her head and focused on controlling Camilla. To Kaylee’s shock, the woman rolled her over and scrambled on top. Then she was Kendra again, trapped beneath the bully, everyone against her and shouting derisive slurs.

  “Say it, bitch. Say, ‘I’m a big fat ugly hippo and everyone hates me.’”

  Kaylee stared wide-eyed at the aggressor. It wasn’t Camilla’s face staring down at her. It was Tina Garraway’s. Kaylee glanced around in panic. Georgia Sims, Wade Tenny, and Harding Little watched the fight. Grass and rock replaced the mat, Kaylee suddenly obese and weak. No, she wouldn’t let this happen again. She’d murdered Tina and Harding. This was impossible.

  With a screech, Kaylee bridged and tossed Camilla sideways. Before the soccer mom recovered, Kaylee thrust an open palm against the woman’s chin and snapped her head back.

  “Hey, she can’t do that. Strikes are illegal!”

  Kaylee didn’t look to see which woman shouted for the instructor. A tornado of fury, she dove at Camilla’s legs and lifted the woman in one motion. Kaylee slammed the woman to the mat. Camilla gasped for air and made a drowning sound in her throat.

  Before Camilla recovered, Kaylee snaked her legs around the woman’s abdominals and squeezed. Camilla’s arm extended, reaching for the mat, desperate to tap out and end the beating. Kaylee snagged the arm and twisted it into a chicken wing arm lock, shoving the woman’s elbow up the small of her back, relishing her sobs. Camilla’s legs scrambled for purchase. Her eyes were full moons of terror.

  “How’s that feel, Tina? I told you what would happen if you screwed with me again.”

  Camilla glanced at Kaylee in shock. The surprise morphed into agony when Kaylee drove Camilla’s twisted arm up her back. She squeezed with her legs until the soccer mom couldn’t breathe.

  “Stop, you’re hurting me!”

  Kaylee used her free hand to snag Camilla by the hair. She pulled back, tugging the woman’s hair until Kaylee was certain Camilla’s neck would snap.

  Multiple hands grabbed Kaylee by the arms and shoulders. Camilla’s friends, the burly instructor, and two fighters who’d stopped to help pulled Kaylee off Camilla. After they dragged Kaylee away, the soccer mom sucked air into her lungs and sobbed, lying crumpled on the mat.

  “What’s wrong with you?” one woman asked, glaring over her shoulder at Kaylee. “This is just practice. You aren’t supposed to hurt each other.”

  Kaylee couldn’t believe everyone blamed her. “You heard what she called me.”

  “Are you insane?” the second woman yelled. “She didn’t say shit to you.”

  The instructor lifted Kaylee to her feet and locked his eyes with hers. When he spoke, spittle flew from his mouth.

  “You know the rules, Holmes. Collect your belongings and leave. And don’t come back. You’re not welcome in my gym anymore.”

  Kaylee threw her gym bag in the backseat and raced out of the parking lot. Damn all of them. Of course, they blamed Kaylee for the altercation. Camilla derided Kaylee and had called her fat.

  Hadn’t she?

  Kaylee ran a nervous hand through her hair as she cruised through Kane Grove. She needed to hold herself together.

  “You lost it back there,” she told the sheepish woman in the mirror. “Can’t let that happen again.”

  What if someone heard Kaylee call the soccer mom Tina? They might connect the name with Tina Garraway and tell the police. No, only Camilla knew, and the bitch was too scared to talk after what Kaylee did to her. Kaylee chuckled. It felt great to make the soccer mom tap out in front of her friends. Camilla was another Tina, another Georgia Sims. Girls like that never changed.

  Kaylee flipped on the radio and searched for something fun to listen to. The FM station out of Syracuse broke for the news, and to Kaylee’s surprise, they began talking about Tina Garraway. The Nightshade County Sheriff’s Department believed someone had murdered Tina, and they wanted anyone with information about the attack to come forward.

  Shit.

  Kaylee stopped the car in front of a pizza shop. She fought to control her breathing as sweat poured down her brow. They knew. Somehow, the sheriff had determined Kaylee attacked Tina in the shower. Yet she’d been so careful, coating the bathtub with soap to make the fall appear accidental, then striking Tina in the head, where she’d already cracked her skull open on the faucet. It was the perfect crime. How the hell did Sheriff Shepherd know?

  “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

  She punched the steering wheel and sat with her shoulders rising and falling. How could she screw up and draw attention from the authorities? Now she wondered about Harding Little. To this point, the sheriff hadn’t declared Harding’s death as anything but accidental. If he found out Tina and Harding were friends in high school, he might wonder if the connection was coincidental.

  She’d sliced the sheriff’s tire with a knife. He probably thought he’d run over a nail. But certainly the mechanic already told Shepherd there was no nail, and the sheriff assumed someone had punctured his tire. Good. Let him worry over the mysterious figure stalking him. Anything to keep him busy and distract him from the Tina Garraway investigation.

  What if the sheriff had security cameras in front of the house? Kaylee hadn’t considered that possibility. The sheriff might be watching Kaylee on video right now.

  Except she’d worn the stocking over her face and parked the Alpha Romeo down the road so nobody would read her license plate.

  She was being paranoid. Had the sheriff caught Kaylee on video, he would have pounded on her door already.

  She turned on the engine and backed out of the parking space. The sun fell through the sky, nightfall only a few hours away. Sheriff Shepherd wanted to wreck Kaylee’s plans and prevent her from finishing the job. First, Wade Tenny. Then Georgia Sims. For the grand finale, a bomb at the club where her classmates gathered every summer. Kill them all and make them pay for the way the
y treated her.

  As Kaylee drove home, she thought about how she’d murder Wade Tenny. An idea popped into her head. Her lips curled into a smile.

  If Sheriff Shepherd stood in her way, she’d hurt him. And she’d begin with the people he cared about.

  16

  Thomas finished seasoning the taco meat when the door opened on the A-frame. Chelsey hung her bag over a dining room chair and kissed him on the lips. As Chelsey wrapped her arms around his back, she buried her face in his shoulder.

  “Long day?”

  She released him and tossed her hair back. “It was a slog. But there was some good news. I picked up another infidelity case, and Raven caught Albert Slater using his right hand.”

  “That’s the guy who injured himself at work?”

  “He claims he did. The problem is, Raven didn’t catch him on camera. So it’s our word against his until she gets proof.”

  “More surveillance, I take it.”

  Chelsey leaned back with her arms resting against the counter. “Yeah. Hopefully, Raven catches him soon. We have so many cases to close and a backlog of paperwork to file. And I’m meeting with a woman who claims someone wants to kill her.”

  Thomas lifted an eyebrow.

  “That’s not your line of work.”

  “True, but I feel bad for her. She works with abused women and seems genuine. If I turned her down and something terrible happened, I’d never forgive myself.”

  “Any chance she’s mistaken?”

  Chelsey lifted her palms.

  “I don’t want to form an opinion until I speak with her face to face.”

  “Well, I won’t pry into your case. But if it turns out there’s something to her concerns—”

  “I’ll tell you immediately.”

  Thomas pushed the taco meat around with a spatula. He wondered why Chelsey had taken on so many investigations, three times her normal caseload. Thomas kept the question to himself, sensing Chelsey’s frayed nerves. But they needed to talk about it.

  “When are the others arriving?”

  Thomas checked the clock. LeVar, Scout, Naomi, and Serena were due to arrive in five minutes.

  “As soon as we set the table.”

  A jangling chain announced Jack, the abandoned dog Thomas had rescued from the state park last year. Jack looked like a Siberian Husky, but larger and wilder. The dog drew stares and whispered comments whenever Thomas brought him to the veterinarian. Spotting Chelsey, Jack woofed and padded across the kitchen. Chelsey patted his head. A second later, Tigger bounded into the kitchen behind Jack. Tigger was Chelsey’s tabby. She’d discovered the cat searching for scraps around her garbage cans one night. Tigger had been a kitten then. No tags, no way to identify the owner. There probably wasn’t one. People abandoned puppies and kittens all the time. Tigger meowed as Chelsey bent to stroke his fur.

  At least Chelsey wore a smile now. Thomas had sensed her anxiety when she arrived. Her history of depression forever weighed on him.

  Chelsey helped Thomas set the table. While they carried the dinner plates from the kitchen cupboards to the dining room, the sliding glass door opened. LeVar allowed Naomi and Serena to enter first. Then he lifted Scout’s wheelchair over the lip and pushed her to the table.

  “Shep Dawg!” LeVar said, slapping Thomas on the shoulder.

  “I notice you’re never late for dinner on taco night.”

  “Very perceptive. That’s why you’re sheriff.”

  “One hundred percent.”

  LeVar laughed when Thomas stole his phrase.

  As Naomi helped Scout to the table, Thomas kissed Serena on the cheek. “Thanks for coming. How’s the new house working out?”

  “I love it. When I look out the kitchen window, I can see the lake through the trees. It’s so peaceful.”

  “I’ll cut the trees back and give you a better view.”

  “Nah. It’s perfect the way it is.” Serena winked at Thomas. “I love the privacy. And I don’t have Raven hovering over me all day, waiting for Mom to fall off the wagon.”

  Serena had overcome heroin addiction after entering rehab. When Thomas first encountered Serena, she was dying on her couch from an overdose. At the time, he hadn’t known LeVar and suspected the gang member for murder. So much had changed since then. After solving the case and shooting serial killer Jeremy Hyde, Thomas invited LeVar to live in his guest house behind the A-frame while Serena recovered. Now Thomas and LeVar were best friends, and the teenager had walked away from gang life, earned his GED, and enrolled at the community college, where he studied criminal justice.

  But it was Serena who’d grown the most. She attended Narcotics Anonymous meetings every week, and she met with a therapist. Naomi, who worked for Thomas’s company, hired Serena to lead the sales department at Shepherd Systems, where Serena flourished. After purchasing Raven’s home on the west side of Wolf Lake, Serena finally had her own kitchen.

  Naomi threw an arm around Serena’s shoulder and smiled at Thomas. “Guess who’s salesperson of the month?”

  Serena blushed.

  “I’m not surprised,” Thomas said, extending a congratulatory hand. “We all knew you’d do wonders at Shepherd Systems. Well done.”

  Serena lowered her eyes as she bobbed her head. “Thank you for believing in me.”

  “This calls for a celebration,” Chelsey said as she placed a Finger Lakes chardonnay on the table.

  “Wine and tacos?” LeVar screwed up his face. “Is that legal?”

  Thomas grinned. “As sheriff of Nightshade County, I say it is.”

  “The king has spoken. Long may he live.”

  LeVar’s joke sent laughter through the room.

  Scout glanced at her mother. “Am I allowed to have wine?”

  “Uh, no. No wine for you or LeVar.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you’re fifteen and you work for the state park. You don’t want Darren to see you hungover tomorrow morning, do you?”

  “How about a sip? Just one.”

  Naomi glanced at Thomas, who raised his hands.

  “Don’t look at me,” Thomas said. “She’s your daughter.”

  “But you’re the sheriff. We’re literally serving a minor in your dining room.”

  “I’m off-duty.”

  “Fine,” Naomi said, setting her hands on her hips. “But just one sip.”

  “Or maybe two,” Scout said.

  “Don’t push it.”

  Thomas and Chelsey set the fixings at the center of the table. They passed the taco shells around. After Thomas built his taco, he crunched down, closed his eyes, and leaned his head back. “Oh, man. I missed taco night so much.”

  “White people and their taco nights,” LeVar said, shaking his head and invoking more giggles. “These are terrific, Shep. How did you season the meat?”

  “Chili powder, onion powder, paprika, oregano, salt, red pepper, and a dash of sugar.”

  Thomas could see Serena cataloging the ingredients in her head.

  “Aight.” LeVar pointed at the taco meat. “I’m trying this out next week.”

  “Got the organic onion from the farmer’s market, and the tomato sauce is homemade.”

  “Damn, Shep. You’re a regular Bobby Flay.”

  “Homemade ingredients are key,” Serena said.

  Naomi nodded in agreement. “And organic ingredients. They make all the difference.”

  Chelsey turned to Scout. “How do you like the new job?”

  Scout lifted a shoulder. “It’s fun, I guess. Not much to do except take people’s money.”

  Chelsey snorted. “Sounds like a dream job. I would have killed for a job like that when I was your age.”

  By the time they finished, they’d gone through two boxes of taco shells.

  LeVar leaned back and rubbed his belly. “We should have taco night every week.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and glanced at Thomas. “I caught the news on the radio. You’re investigating the Tina G
arraway case as a murder now?”

  Naomi met Serena’s eyes before she turned to Thomas. “The reporter from the Syracuse news?”

  Thomas clasped his hands over his full stomach.

  “The medical examination team found evidence of an attack. Details of the investigation can’t leave this table, but we believe someone slipped inside her house and attacked the reporter while she was in the bathtub.”

  Scout sipped wine under her mother’s supervision and twisted her face. “I don’t understand why everyone likes wine.” They laughed. “Anyhow, there were two strange deaths in the county over the last week.”

  “Two?” Serena asked.

  “The reporter, and the man who supposedly jogged off a cliff in broad daylight,” Scout said, ticking the deaths off on her fingers. “Did it ever occur to anyone the deaths might be related?”

  Thomas shifted in his seat. The Harding Little case never sat right with him, and now he had a murdered television reporter on his hands.

  “Hon, you’re jumping to conclusions,” Naomi said, sliding the wine away so Scout didn’t test it again.

  “We haven’t connected the cases,” said Thomas. “But the idea they’re related isn’t out of the question.”

  Chelsey stared at Thomas. “How can you be certain?”

  “I’m not. But two unexplained deaths in a week raise suspicion.” Thomas wagged a finger at Scout. “Someone as perceptive as you should work for an investigation firm. A paid internship might be nice.”

  They all swung their attention to Chelsey, who averted her eyes and reached for a wine glass.

  Sensing Chelsey’s discomfort, Naomi said, “Scout already has a job at the state park. And she enjoys her work. Right, hon?”

  When Chelsey raised her head, Scout looked down.

  Thomas noticed the girl’s embarrassment. He didn’t understand why Chelsey hadn’t jumped at the opportunity to bring Scout aboard. “It was just an idea. I’m sure Darren is keeping Scout busy at the park. Anyway, if Scout connects the two cases, she knows where to find me.”