Secrets of Redemption Box Set

by Michele Pariza Wacek

  I was on my own.

  “You were at the bar,” I said. “You were in disguise.” The bearded, tattooed guy floated through my memory. Even then, I had felt like there was something off about him.

  He smiled delightedly. “Yes! That’s the ticket.”

  I thought about the guy who had bumped into me, knocking my drink over. What was his name? I couldn’t remember now.

  “So, you got a guy to knock over my wine so the bartender would bring me a drugged glass? What did you say to get him to do that? Or was that a lucky coincidence, as well?”

  “I told him I kept asking you out, and you kept turning me down, so would he mind distracting you so I could surprise you with a ‘present.’ Of course, he didn’t know the ‘present’ was drugged wine. I had intended to slip the drug into the wine you were already drinking. Getting it into the new glass was just a small challenge.”

  “You surprised me all right,” I muttered.

  “I know. It worked out better than I expected. Other than ruining your shirt,” he said with what looked like a small frown. “And if I hadn’t been able to slip you the drug in the bar, I was planning on chloroforming you in the parking lot.”

  Great. Just great. “So, you drugged me and then drove to Gwyn’s to kill her.”

  JD looked pleased with himself. “Yep. Although it wasn’t much of a challenge.” He looked faintly regretful. “I surprised her while she was sleeping. It was over before it barely started.”

  Every part of me was screaming to get away. I wanted to shove myself under the dresser and squeeze into the tiniest space possible to get as far away from him as I could. It was so surreal, lying just inches away from a murderer, talking about his kills.

  And what was he going to do to me when he was through talking?

  Oh God, I was going to be sick.

  Steady Becca, another voice inside me said. Your hands are tied. You’re on your stomach. You can’t get away, at least not right now. Right now, the only thing you need to focus on is keeping him talking.

  Keeping him talking. Right.

  “You did all of this to set me up,” I said. “You wanted everyone to think I killed Gwyn and Ellen.”

  “Yep.” He seemed inordinately pleased with himself, and my hands itched to slap the smug expression off his face.

  Not helping, Becca.

  “But ...” My voice trailed off as I noticed the expectant way he was studying me. He was enjoying watching me make the connections, I could tell. But I had absolutely no idea why JD would do all of this to me. He just arrived in Redemption. He barely knew me.

  Unless ...

  Find the evidence. My aunt’s voice floated through my head. Your life is in danger, unless you find the evidence.

  What if it was someone who knew Jesse? Daniel had said, sitting across from me at the kitchen table.

  Oh God, Daniel! Why couldn’t he show up now?

  My mind was spinning ... what if he was on to something? Could there be a connection between JD and Jesse?

  JD was too young to have been friends with Jesse. He would have been a child when Jesse disappeared.

  Unless ... what if Jesse was JD’s father? The “secret” girlfriend could have been pregnant when Jesse disappeared.

  “Are you ... is this about Jesse?”

  His face twisted. “Jesse? God, no. He was stupid. Weak. This has nothing to do with Jesse. God, why would you even think that?”

  “I ... I ...” Oh no. I didn’t want to make him angry. But, if not Jesse, then ...

  Find the evidence. Your life depends on it.

  Realization washed over me like a tidal wave.

  “You’re Jonathan’s son, aren’t you?” I asked.

  His face lit up and he shot a fist up in the air for a second time. “Yes! She shoots; she scores!”

  I half-smiled, trying desperately to keep myself from drowning in panic. All at once, I was acutely aware of how much danger I was in.

  My aunt killed this man’s father and buried him in the basement.

  I tried to shift unobtrusively, fumbling with my bonds. How could I get away?

  JD didn’t seem to notice. “I probably should be thanking you,” he said conversationally. “You did what I wasn’t able to.”

  I licked my dry lips. “Which was?”

  His expression twisted. “Getting the truth out of your aunt.”

  “I didn’t ...” Did he somehow know about Aunt Charlie’s nightly visits? That she came to me in dreams? No, that was impossible. “What do you mean?”

  JD rose to his feet, suddenly agitated, and began pacing back and forth. “She refused to tell me what happened to my father. I knew she had something to do with it. I knew it. But she just kept insisting that he left.”

  Wait a minute. JD was making it sound like he had actually spoken to my aunt. While she was still alive. “Did you meet her? My aunt?” I asked cautiously, not wanting to upset him any more than he clearly already was, but needing to get to the truth.

  “She was the most frustrating woman,” he said. “I have no idea what my father saw in her.”

  “So, this isn’t your first time in Redemption,” I said.

  He frowned at me. “How could it be? This,” he raised his arms up, “was the last place my father was seen alive. I had to come back.”

  “I don’t blame you,” I said, shifting so I was more on my side than my stomach. I tried to make it seem like I was doing it so I could more easily have a conversation with him, but in reality, I was trying to hide my frantic efforts to get my hands free. “You needed the truth.”

  “You’re damn right I did,” he said. “I knew you’d understand. That’s why you dug in the basement for me.”

  I didn’t bother to correct him. If he wanted to think I was digging in the basement for him, then let him. I was more focused on my back pocket. There was something in there. I could feel the bulge when I shifted to my side. What was it? My phone? “The truth needed to come out,” I agreed. The ropes weren’t budging. I needed some sort of cutting device to get loose. My mind raced. Could I somehow angle myself just right to use a corner of the dresser without him noticing? “When was the first time you returned to Redemption?”

  That far away expression returned to his face again. “Jessica.”

  I froze. Did he just say “Jessica”?

  “You knew Jessica,” I said, forcing myself to keep my tone conversational despite the urge to scream. How could he possibly have anything to do with what happened to Jessica?

  “She looked a lot like her uncle. Did you know that?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” I said.

  “I couldn’t believe it, the first time I laid eyes on her,” he said. “You have to understand; I had been dreaming of coming back to Redemption ever since my mother took us away. We went to live with my son-of-a-bitch grandfather on his farm in the middle of nowhere. I had to stay there way longer than I wanted. I had to protect my sister from that bastard.”

  My head was whirling, balancing the weight of his words with the desperation building inside me to get away. “Of course you did,” I said. “That’s what a good brother does.”

  “Damn straight,” he said again. “So, Jessica was already sixteen when I first saw her. So were you.”

  My eyes widened, and involuntarily, I sucked in my breath sharply. “You were here that summer,” I said, my voice squeaking. I tried to get myself back under control. I had a feeling the worst thing I could do was show JD my fear. I tried again. “I don’t remember you.”

  “I got a job that summer with your neighbors, the Jones’.”

  I nodded. He was talking about our one-and-only neighbor who owned the farm next to us. “I did it to keep an eye on your aunt,” he continued, “I wanted to talk to her, ask her what happened to my father
. It took some doing, but eventually, I was able to get her alone to ask her my questions.”

  “Did she answer?”

  He frowned, and I could see the rage lurking below his expression. “She lied. But it doesn’t matter. I know the truth now. And that summer was better than I could ever have imagined.”

  “Because of Jessica,” I breathed. “You saw Jessica.”

  He stopped to stare at me. A slow, cruel smile spread across his face. I felt myself shrinking. Oh God, had I messed up? “I was there,” he said.

  I blinked. “Where?”

  “In the forest. With you and Jessica. That night.”

  Stunned, I could only gawk at him. It all came back in a rush—the darkness, the sour taste of terror in my mouth, how sure I had been that I was being watched. Something else was in the woods with us that night.

  Something evil.

  And that something was now standing right in front of me, grinning, in my oh-so-empty house.

  I’m going to die.

  Until that moment, I had thought I would find a way to get out of what was happening. Maybe Mia would come home unexpectedly, or Daniel would swing by, or I would figure out some way to talk myself out of it. But, right then, I knew.

  JD was going to kill me. And there was nothing I could do to stop him.

  “So, you saw what happened to Jessica,” I said.

  He nodded slowly. “Every single moment.”

  “What ...” I swallowed, tried again. “Did you see what happened to Jessica’s body?”

  “I took her.”

  “You took her?”

  “It wasn’t one of my smartest moves.” He sighed, glancing away, clearly lost in thought. “I wanted her to be alive, of course. I wanted to bond with her like my father and Jesse had bonded. I wanted that symmetry with someone. and Jessica … well, she was just so beautiful. There was something different about her. So different I even thought I could still have that connection with her even when I knew she was dead. But it didn’t work out that way. The smell.” He made a face. “Well, it was dumb. Even keeping her in a giant cooler with a ton of ice and air conditioning running full blast didn’t help.”

  I swallowed, trying not to gag as I thought about the smell. This man drove around in the middle of summer with a dead body in his car. I couldn’t even imagine. “What did you do then?”

  “I drove her to Lake Michigan and rented a boat. Took her out in the middle of the night. When I first took her, I knew I couldn’t stay in town, so I immediately loaded up my truck and started driving. I had no idea where I was going, but right as I realized I needed to do something about her, I found myself at the banks of Lake Michigan. I wished it could have ended differently but …” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug.

  The longer I listened, the harder it was to keep myself from screaming. How could we have missed how crazy he was? It was so obvious. Were we really that blind? Was he that good of an actor?

  I thought about Jessica. Her dead body stuffed in a cooler and dragged around the state by a psychopath. She was my friend. I could hardly stand it.

  The word “symmetry” floated through my head.

  Wait. JD had said he wanted the same symmetry Jonathan had shared with Jesse. Was that confirmation that Jonathan did kill Jesse?

  Was there a way to ask him without tipping my hand?

  I steadied myself. “I knew Jessica, but not Jesse,” I finally said. “I know they looked alike, but what about their personalities? Were they similar?”

  “They were very different,” JD said. “Jessica was a lot cooler than Jesse ever was. Jesse was weak. He didn’t understand power. Jessica did.”

  Power? What was he talking about now?

  “Charlie didn’t understand power either,” JD said. He had resumed pacing, and the more he talked, the more agitated he became. “And she was the worst of all. My father trusted her. How could she do what she did to him?”

  Was he wanting an answer? I wasn’t sure. I struggled with my bonds and watched him pace. Could I reach my phone? If I could, would I be able to use it? Text Daniel?

  Find the jade.

  That’s when it hit me—it wasn’t my phone in my pocket. It was the jade. And it had a sharp point … maybe even sharp enough to cut through the rope around my wrists. I reached toward my back pocket.

  “You understand, Becca, I had to do what I did,” JD continued, seemingly oblivious to my fumbling around. “Charlie left me no choice. After I said goodbye to Jessica, I continued my quest for my father. Charlie had told me she thought he went west. Idaho or Montana. Maybe Wyoming. Or even Texas. He wanted space, she told me. So, I went west too. I searched for him. For years. I thought I had found him a few times.” His hands clenched into fists. “You can imagine my heartbreak when I discovered I was wrong. Over and over again.”

  My fingers slid into my pocket. I felt the smooth, cool stone on my skin. I managed to get ahold of it with two fingers and slowly started easing it out.

  “I probably would still be searching now, but my sister called,” JD said. “My mother was on her deathbed. Could I come home to say goodbye? I didn’t want to interrupt my search, but I also knew it would be the last time I could ask her if she knew anything. I had been begging her to tell me whatever scraps of information she knew for years, but she always refused. This would be my last chance.

  “So I came back. And I asked her. Again, she refused to tell me anything. But, this time, she let something slip.

  “Charlie. Charlie knew something. Charlie did something.”

  The jade was out of my pocket. I almost lost my grip, and for a moment, I panicked. If it landed on the floor, I didn’t think I’d be able to grab it again with him so close. Luckily, I was able to shift it into my palm.

  “As soon as I could, I came back to Redemption,” JD said, still pacing, still ignoring me. “But this time, I decided I was going to do things differently. Charlie had lied to me before. She wasn’t going to again.”

  My eyes widened as I tightened my grip on the stone, barely feeling the sharp edge cutting into my skin. Oh God, what did he do to Aunt Charlie? “How did you keep her from lying to you?” I was amazed at how calm my voice sounded while my insides were screaming.

  He paused his pacing and gazed down at me, his eyes gleaming. “It was such an elegant plan, Becca. I made her sick.”

  I wanted to retch. I could feel the contents of my stomach threatening to spew out of me. I clamped my jaws together to try and physically keep myself from throwing up.

  Oh my God, what did he do?

  “You ...” I forced myself to swallow back the hot bile. “You made her sick?”

  He smiled wider. “I did.”

  “How ... how did that keep her from lying to you?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? She was sick! She was vulnerable! When people are sick, their defenses go down. Of course she would tell me the truth then.” JD was pacing again, his hands twitching.

  He made her sick. My heart ached as I wondered how long she had suffered, alone, while he tortured her.

  I watched him warily. What to say? Clearly, his plan hadn’t worked, but did I dare point that out to him? Risk making him even angrier?

  I heard Aunt Charlie’s voice in my ear, like she was whispering to me as I lay on the floor. I wish I had told him the truth. If I had, then maybe he wouldn’t have ever come after you. Tell him how sorry I am.

  I swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry Aunt Charlie didn’t tell you the truth,” I said, with as much sympathy and compassion as I could possibly muster. Unsure of my words, but willing to try just about anything, I continued. “I’m so sorry she reduced you to this. I wish she had told you the truth.”

  JD’s face softened slightly, and his pacing slowed. “I knew you’d understand,” he said.

  I do understand, Aunt Charlie’s voic
e continued whispering in my ear. She tricked me too, you know.

  “I do understand,” I said. “She tricked me too, you know.”

  “I did the world a favor,” JD said.

  Could this possibly work? “You did,” I said. “And I’m glad you know the truth now.”

  He nodded, slowing down his pacing even more. “Yes, it’s time to move on. Speaking of which,” he pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at it, “we have to get a move on, too. It’s getting late.”

  “Where are we going?” I asked, hoping I still sounded conversational. Inside, I was frantic with terror. What was going to happen to me?

  He glanced at me, his expression regretful. “I made a mistake with you.”

  My heart stuttered. “Mistake?”

  He nodded, before crouching down next to me. “You know, a part of me knew you would understand. I should have trusted that. If I had known then what I know now ... well, it’s too late.”

  “What’s too late?”

  He reached over and helped me to my feet. His touch was surprisingly gentle. I tucked my hand that held the stone into my other hand, praying he wouldn’t see it. I could feel the sharp edges cutting into my skin. Please God, keep me from drawing blood. That would definitely give me away. “You understand, I have to finish it. Otherwise, there will be too many questions.”

  I was having trouble breathing. “I don’t understand. What do you have to finish?”

  He put his hands on my shoulders and turned me around. I gasped, even though I tried hard not to.

  There, in the corner, tied to one of the exposed beams in the ceiling, was a noose.

  Mad Martha hung herself in this room, after she killed Nellie, her maid.

  Oh God. I really was going to die.

  JD eased me forward from behind, toward the noose. Toward my death. “This is the only way it can end. You see that, don’t you? You’re distraught about Gwyn and Ellen, so you kill yourself.”

  It took me a second to get my voice to work. I was numb with terror. “What about a note?” I asked. “How will they connect me to Gwyn and Ellen?”