A Caress of Bones: a serial killer thriller (Wren Delacroix Book 9)

by V. J. Chambers

  “I’m sure it’s not,” said Reilly. “You can tell us anything you need to tell us.”

  “I just… I overheard when Maggie came to talk to Brenda. That’s who I live with. She said that you guys were trying to find Indigo, and I don’t know if I can really help with that, but I wondered if…” He squared his shoulders. “Well, I thought maybe you could help me with other things, like, if I helped you with information about her. Like, an exchange?”

  “What things?” said Wren.

  Connor shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t really know how it works. I only know that everyone is afraid of the police and the government, and that Brenda is always saying that they’ll take the foster kids away, and then she won’t be able to pay the bills. But, um, I kind of want to be taken away.”

  Wren’s heart lurched. “Why? What’s going on? Do they hurt you?”

  “Nothing like that.” Connor shrugged again. He wouldn’t look at them. “Maybe it’s not illegal or anything, but it’s just not a great place. They still follow the weird PLL diets, and there’s not a lot of food and I never have any privacy and I just…” He raised his gaze to Wren’s. “She said she was going to take me away. Indigo did. Not to be with her, because she said she would be bad for me, that she would try her best, but there were too many things broken in her, and she could never be good for me, but she had a better place for me. But then you guys showed up, and she ran off, and she never came back after all.”

  Wren glanced at Reilly.

  He was watching Connor, a concerned look on his face.

  “Could you get me out of there?” said Connor.

  “We can talk to social services,” said Reilly. “But it’s not strictly our department. I don’t know if we can make promises, unfortunately.”

  “We’ll talk to someone,” said Wren. “I promise. No matter what you tell us. If you don’t want to be there, we will do everything we can to get you somewhere else.”

  Reilly raised his eyebrows at her.

  Wren ignored him.

  Connor swallowed. “Thanks.”

  “I’m sorry you’ve been stuck there,” said Wren. “Growing up in a cult is not the optimal experience for a kid.”

  “I just need to get away from it,” said Connor. “Knowing what I know now, knowing that Keith is my… that I come from…”

  Wren wanted to give the kid a hug. “I’ll figure out a way to get you out of there. Listen, if you want, you can come with me now, and I will make sure you don’t have to go back there.”

  “Wren,” said Reilly quietly, and she knew he was warning her not to make promises she couldn’t keep.

  “No, I’m not ready to leave yet,” said Connor. “My stuff is all there, and I need to say goodbye, and I… No. I don’t want that.”

  “Okay,” said Wren.

  Connor hung his head. “Damn it,” he muttered.

  “What?” said Wren.

  “I didn’t think you’d be so nice.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I, um, I was just going to make something up about her, about where she is. The truth is, I don’t have anything to bargain with. I don’t even know where Indigo is. She never told me.”

  “That’s okay,” said Wren. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s only that I never even thought I could leave, not until she came to me and told me she was going to get me out of there, and… now…”

  “I’m going to help you,” said Wren.

  SHE spent the next few hours on the phone with various wings of the New York social services, getting transferred from number to number, but by the end of it, there was a plan in place.

  Connor would be send to a different foster family.

  It wasn’t an easy thing to coordinate, as boys his age weren’t exactly the most sought after age group of children, but they found a spot with him with a good family, who liked working with preteen boys, and there was an opening in a month.

  Wren got it all settled ten minutes before they had to board their plane back home. She made sure that someone would get in touch with Connor about it, and she sent herself reminders to follow up with him and make sure that someone was communicating with him.

  And then she boarded the plane, buckled herself in next to Reilly, and promptly burst into tears.

  He wrapped one strong arm around her. “Hey,” he whispered.

  She buried her face in his chest, fisting up part of his shirt. “It’s just… he reminds me of me, but my dad got us out of there, so I didn’t have to grow up in the toxic atmosphere of a cult. And I had a dad. He doesn’t have anyone, except his crazy, sociopathic mother. God knows, maybe she was doing something good for him, but we stopped that.”

  “Because she was also killing people,” said Reilly, his voice rumbling in his chest.

  She pulled away, looking up at him with earnest, tear-filled eyes. “She didn’t mean to, though. She came back for her little boy, and the police went after her, and she had to kill to get away.”

  “Wren, I know you feel sorry for this woman, and I do too,” said Reilly. “She’s had a shitty life. But we all know a lot of people who have been through their share of trauma and don’t turn to murder.”

  “You’re right.” She wiped at her tears, letting go of his shirt. “Oh, these stupid pregnancy hormones. I’m so sick of crying all the time.”

  He kissed her on top of the head. “I’m sorry about that.”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “Um… kinda is.”

  She snickered, looking up at him. “I think we’re equally to blame.”

  He traced the outline of her jaw with one warm, thick finger. “You’re amazing. Have I told you that lately? I am in awe of you.”

  She smiled at that.

  “We have way too much going on right now,” said Reilly. “Maybe we can’t do both of these cases, not at the same time, and not while you’re—we’re—expecting.”

  “I can handle it,” she said, settling back into her seat. She took a deep breath. “We’ve handled worse. We can do this, Cai. If anyone can do it, it’s us.”

  “SO, you’re going to be mad,” Trevon was saying. He was in the lab, standing behind one of the stainless steel tables in the clean, antiseptic room.

  Maliah watched him from the other side of the table feeling nervous. Wren and Reilly stood next to her. They’d just arrived from the airport only twenty minutes before. “Trevon, why don’t you let me explain it? And, just a hint for the future? If you don’t want people to react with anger, don’t start out by telling them to especially look out for something that’s going to make them mad.”

  Trevon swallowed. “Okay, right. Go for it, Maliah.” He had been at the lab late the evening before they found the body of Everly, going over Asha Forrester’s body to collect samples to send off to the lab. Then Everly’s body had shown up, and they’d both felt that like a punch to the gut. He’d been here all night with that, and she’d been here, too, because he was pretty raw, and he needed her.

  They both needed rest, though, and Maliah wasn’t sure if she was even going to be able to explain this in a way that Wren and Reilly would understand. She might be too groggy.

  “What’s going on?” said Reilly. He folded his arms over his chest.

  “Okay, first of all,” said Maliah, “you guys remember when I told you about Kayden Rush, who came into the facility and threatened Trevon?”

  “Oh, yeah,” said Reilly. “You and that guy are fighting over some girl.”

  “No,” said Maliah. “Kayden is abusive to Trevon’s former roommate, and Trevon has tried to intervene, and Kayden—”

  “I don’t see why we’re talking about this right now,” said Wren. “I need to see Everly Green’s body.”

  “You need to hear this first,” said Maliah.

  Wren turned to her. “So it’s related?”

  “Okay,” said Maliah, “so, I’m going to go through the time line for you. Trevon and I went out to the restau
rant where Mischa works. Mischa is Kayden’s girlfriend. We were just checking up on her. After that happened, Kayden came and confronted Trevon in the parking lot outside of this facility.”

  “Why is there not a restraining order on this guy?” said Wren.

  “Well, there should be, but there isn’t,” said Maliah. “The important thing is that after the confrontation, Trevon gathered some samples from Asha’s body, and he sent them off to be tested, and when the tests came back, they included a match for Kayden’s DNA.”

  “No way,” said Reilly. “That fits, doesn’t it? He moved in right before Everly’s first encounter. We never get DNA.”

  “Well, it could be transference,” said Trevon. “I mean, it’s not impossible. However, I didn’t touch him, and he didn’t touch me, and of course, I went through the proper protocol when I came into the lab before I took the samples. I scrubbed and disinfected and wore gloves. Even so… it’s possible that it means nothing.”

  Wren was shaking her head. “But does Kayden Rush have any connection to Hawk or to the FCL?”

  “Why would this make us mad?” said Reilly.

  Maliah sighed. “We should have called you right away. But we didn’t. We tried to set up a meeting with Everly to get her to look at a picture of Kayden. That fell through, and in the meantime, Trevon got very worried about Mischa, and he went out to, um, to warn her off Kayden and—”

  “I tipped him off,” said Trevon. “I tipped Kayden off, and then he killed Everly to keep her quiet. It’s my fault.” His voice broke.

  “Kayden overheard what Trevon was saying to Mischa,” said Maliah. “And Mischa apparently left to stay in a hotel room for the night, so he was probably upset about that. So, if it’s him, we’ve, um, we’ve significantly screwed things up.”

  “Oh,” said Reilly.

  “You’re mad,” said Trevon. “I’m mad too. I’m mad at myself. You have no idea what this all meant to me, my first big job with you guys, and now I’ve completely cocked it all up.”

  “Well…” Wren drew in a breath. “I need to see the body. We’ll determine how cocked up everything is after we look at all the evidence. And of course, we have to go and talk to Kayden.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “I was home last night.” Kayden Rush was at the door to his apartment. “You can ask Mischa.” He raised his voice. “Where was I last night, babe?”

  But instead of answering, Mischa scurried forward, peering over Kayden’s shoulder. “Who is it?”

  Kayden sighed, glancing back at her. “You know what? You don’t need to worry about this. This is just the latest Trevon bullshit. Go back inside. I got this.”

  Mischa put a hand on his bicep. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.” He stepped out onto his porch, closing the door, shutting her inside. Wren thought it was typical abusive posturing, keeping the victim away from anyone who might indicate that her situation was less than optimal. And all in the name of protecting her, of course. Wren already did not like this guy.

  Kayden spread his hands. “Okay, so Trevon Aronsen is obsessed with my girlfriend. He’s been stalking her ever since she moved in with me, and he won’t take no for an answer, even though she’s not interested in him. She moved out of the apartment she shared with him to get away from his crazy ass, and now—”

  “You don’t want to be concerned with Trevon,” said Reilly. “We need to talk about serious accusations here, Kayden.”

  “I’m not a serial killer,” said Kayden. “I don’t even know these girls. Everly Green? I never met her.”

  “You know her first and last name,” said Wren.

  “It’s on the news,” said Kayden.

  “Why’d you want to move to this area?” said Wren.

  “I don’t know. It seemed nice. It’s close enough to the city to go drive to a metro station and see a show or have an afternoon there, but it’s the country. It’s peaceful. And, even if you don’t want to hear this, we wanted to get away from Trevon.” He scratched the back of his head. “You don’t really think I did this. Do you?”

  “I guess you’re aware that your DNA has been discovered on the remains of Asha Forrester.”

  Kayden’s eyes widened in horror. “What?”

  “Oh, you’re not aware?” said Wren.

  “I’m not aware, because that’s not possible.” Kayden clenched his hands into fists. “No way. There is no way. How could that…?” He bared his teeth. “This is Trevon. He faked it.” He glared at them. “But I guess this is par for the course for you two, right? I heard all about how you framed Hawk Marner.”

  “Interesting that you’d bring up Hawk,” said Wren, nostrils flaring.

  “Well, sure,” said Kayden. “This is your playbook. But Hawk got out of jail and beat the two of you, and if you try to put me away, you try to make something like this stick, I will fight it until the end. I’ll get you fired. And Trevon too. God, someone needs to teach that fucking bastard a lesson.”

  “We understand you’ve used your fists on him before,” said Reilly.

  “He comes near Mischa, I do what I have to,” said Kayden. “She can’t protect herself from that creep. I’m all she has. Motherfucker, I cannot believe this shit.” He sank both of his hands into his hair. “You know what? I don’t think I have to talk to you, do I? Am I being detained?”

  Reilly sighed. “No.”

  “I’m not talking to you two without a lawyer,” said Kayden. “And don’t think you can railroad me and put another innocent man in jail.”

  “Do you have contact with Hawk?” said Wren. “Is Hawk the reason you moved out here? You and Hawk Marner pretty chummy?”

  Kayden scrabbled behind himself for the doorknob. He yanked the door open. “I’m done with this conversation,” he said and threw himself inside. He shut the door firmly in their faces.

  “WE’VE got to transfer Everly to a different lab and have someone else run tests,” Reilly said to Maliah. He and Wren had talked this over, and since Maliah was so good with Trevon, they determined that she was the person to break the news to him.

  “What?” said Maliah. “Why?”

  “Kayden’s smart,” said Reilly. “He’s already got his defense planned. Or maybe Hawk’s smart. This is starting to seem very well planned, like we’re walking into a perfectly orchestrated trap. Trust me, we’re in a bad situation here. We’re probably already screwed, but we need to get Trevon out of the evidence chain of custody.”

  “Because he’s got beef with Kayden,” said Maliah. “Shit. Why didn’t I think about this? I swear, I’m not on top of my game lately.”

  “Kayden is going to say that Trevon planted the evidence.”

  “Oh, how would he plant it? What? He’s just got Kayden’s DNA lying around?” Maliah gritted her teeth. “I hate that guy. I’ve only met him once, but it was enough of a meeting to know that I dislike him.”

  “Yeah, he was pretty in our faces about it all,” said Reilly. “Acted very entitled, very righteous.”

  “So, you think he’s working with Hawk? That he’s bought into this Crimson Ram bullshit somehow? That’s where the righteousness is coming from?”

  “Could be,” said Reilly. “That reminds me. We spoke to you about looking into who Hawk was meeting with while he was in jail, who he had phone conversations with, all of that.”

  “Right,” said Maliah. “I pulled all that, and trust me, I would remember if Kayden Rush had been visiting Hawk or talking to him on the phone. He did also write letters, of course. Maybe something coded was being passed on through Deborah Nielson or something.”

  “I just feel like he’s ten steps ahead of us,” said Reilly.

  She tilted her head to one side. “You are freaked out.” Trevon had noticed. Why hadn’t she?

  “Of course I am,” said Reilly. “You know how hard we worked to put him away? And after everything he did to Wren, and now…” He swallowed.

  “And now she’s pregnant,” said Maliah. �
�And you feel vulnerable.”

  “I feel helpless,” said Reilly, staring down at his shoes. “He’s set it up so nice, though, Maliah. We’re fucked. This Kayden guy is going to be some other circus trial, where it’s really me and Wren on trial, not him, and Hawk wins. I could go and find Hawk tonight and put a bullet in his skull and it wouldn’t matter, because he’s already set it all up.”

  Maliah licked her lips. “Come on, Cai, you wouldn’t do something like that.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  “Look, we don’t have evidence that Hawk and Kayden Rush have anything to do with each other.”

  “Kayden Rush is killing using Hawk’s modus operandi, from the knock-out drugs in drinks to the readiness pose.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” said Maliah.

  He sighed. “No, I guess not. Listen, Wren’s getting the transfer of the bodies going. We’ll get them tested in another lab. And you’ll talk to Trevon, huh?”

  “Absolutely,” she said.

  “Good.” He turned to go, and then stopped and turned back around. “Uh…” He jammed his hands into his pockets. “You, um, this isn’t my business, and I don’t care or anything, I just… if it’s a, um, a thing with you and him—”

  “Cai,” she said, glaring at him, embarrassed.

  “It’s good?” he said. “You’re happy?”

  “It really isn’t any of your business,” she said.

  “He’s a little… odd.”

  “We’re all odd, Cai. You don’t do this for a living and not either start odd or get that way from being around it all the time.”

  “True,” he said. “He’s young.”

  “It just… happened.”

  He smirked. “Yeah, I know about that.”

  “Mmm.” She folded her arms over her chest.

  “I don’t know what I’m trying to say,” he said. “It’s just that whatever we were or are now, I’m always going to want to look out for you, so… and I want you to be happy. And I…” He hunched up his shoulders.