Black and White Truth (The Syndicate-Born Trilogy Book 2)
Page 11
***
Shockhoe Slip Neighborhood
Richmond, Virginia
July 12, 2025
5:00 PM
~~~
Mari spent every second of her off time working on building a case against The Syndicate and their serial killer for hire. Her list of victims continued to grow—that morning, she’d gotten an anonymous tip saying Charles MacAvoy’s former attorney was found dead in her apartment from an apparent suicide.
Mari snuck onto the department’s database and looked up the file on the case. It appeared to be a classic suicide case, but the crime scene photos made her skin prickle with fear. Everything on the woman’s bathroom vanity was lined up by color on her countertop, and was spotless, as if it had recently been cleaned. High-powered attorneys didn’t clean up their bathroom before they slit their wrists.
Then again, maybe Mari was reading into things. Perhaps the woman’s cleaning person had been by before the lawyer had died. As she further reviewed the file, she noted that the ME’s office had stated there were no hesitation marks. It was too late to request a tox screen, but she couldn’t help but wonder what she would have found if she had.
Wait... has the body been taken like the others?
She looked up the funeral information and made a call. Sure enough, the grave had been desecrated. The open case notes showed that the department was going on the assumption that the lawyer had pissed off the wrong criminal.
Where is he keeping the bodies, and how is he removing them without anyone noticing?
The FBI profile classified him as a progressive killer and predicted that his obsessions would raise the stakes of his murders, if he were allowed to continue.
Maybe the funeral homes and cemeteries had someone, or something, in common. Perhaps a person or a job connected all of them, giving the killer unhindered access to his victim’s bodies. Three pages of notes, four cups of coffee, and a donut—which she’d snuck from the secret stash—and she was no closer to getting any answers that she had been when she first started.
Her concentration waned when stiffness in her joints and muscle spasms in her lower back flared. She would rather be spending her time tracking Jason down; Ellie had promised to help find him when she got back at the end of the week.
In the meantime, Mari was late for her meeting with Manny. They were going to compare their research notes. She had grown quite fond of the old investigator and looked forward to their frequent clandestine meetings.
He needed to find the killer and wouldn’t rest until he did. The poor man deserved some peace, and she would work tirelessly beside him to find the man who had killed his wife.
***
Yellow Hat Cabin
Millboro, Virginia
July 14, 2025
4:00 PM
~~~
Jason loved that she kept him on his toes.
Today she surprised him by showing up a little earlier than normal and suggesting they enjoy the nice weather with a picnic out in the back of the cabin, where the grass was soft. After she made up some plates of sandwiches, chips and fruit, she reached into her leather satchel and pulled out a worn library-bound book.
“What’s this?” Curious, Jason snatched it from her hands to get a better look, turning the book over to read the binding. He held in his hands an old, well-annotated and doodled-in collection of poetry from the Ocean City Library. The last time stamp on the library index card read: March 1989. “You stole this from the library!”
True grabbed the book back and clutched it to her chest.
Even though she tended to hide it well, he could tell her feelings were hurt. He reached out and tucked a loose strand of blue hair behind her ear.
Her anger started to melt away. The bunched up lines on her forehead relaxed, but her full lips still pursed together.
He cupped her cheek with the palm of his hand. With deliberate slowness, he drew her face closer to his and tentatively kissed her angry mouth. “I’m sorry,” he whispered against her lips as she began to acquiesce.
Encouraged by her reaction, he stroked the smooth skin of her jaw line with the pad of his thumb while his lips caressed hers. She was everything he had thought he didn’t want but now didn’t want to let go. Not for a moment did he hope she truly cared for him beyond the confines of their sexual relationship. As he broke away from the kiss and looked her in the eye, for a split second he thought he caught a spark there. The skin on his chest prickled and his heart jumped.
She glanced down at the book, her cheeks pinked. “I took it out so many times the librarian said she wouldn’t let me anymore.” She looked back up at him. “So I took it.”
He smiled and gave her a quick kiss to reassure her. “Will you read it to me?”
She rolled her eyes, but then something shifted in her expression. Her features softened and she let out an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, all right, but you can’t make fun of me.”
Jason twisted his body until his head rested comfortably in her lap, and she read him poems by Yeats, Longfellow and Frost. He could listen to her all day and never grow tired of the sound of her voice.
He loved the way her mouth crinkled in a half smile when she read certain stanzas. He wondered if those were her favorites, and what she liked about them. By the time she got to his favorite Emily Dickinson poem, he had become transfixed by her kissable mouth.
“I’m a Nobody. Who Are You?” she read.
When she read the final stanza, she breathed out a contented sigh, and his desire for her swelled to the point of no return. Before she could read the next poem, he began to trace her beautiful lips with his index finger.
Her breath became ragged as she looked down at him with her striking blue eyes and placed the book down on the blanket beside them.
He rolled over onto his forearm and kissed her readied lips, digging his fingers into the hair at the base of her skull. The chaste tenderness of the previous moment vanished and the air around them crackled with their mutual desires.
Jason tugged her sleeveless shirt over her head and pulled the string of her bathing suit top until it fell onto the grass beside them. He paused for a moment to take her in, and a slow smile snaked across her lips. This time seemed different, and it frightened and excited him in equal measure.
He made love to her with a tenderness that brought tears to her eyes. He kissed away her tears—pulled down into the landslide of her emotions. As much as he knew he shouldn’t, he was falling deeply in love with her.
How could he not? She inspired and encouraged him to be better. She helped him get sober and got him writing his best work to date. More importantly, and this was the kicker, she made him happy. He tried not to think of what would happen when this ended; he lived and loved each moment without too much thought to the future.
What would happen to them when he finished and left the cabin behind? Would it be like his boyhood camps, when the strong bonds between new friends would begin to wither away by the first snow of the season?
Either way, I’m gonna miss this... her.
***
MDNA Hacktivist Headquarters
Unknown Location
July 17, 2025
3:00 PM
~~~
Sally nibbled on the end of her thumbnail as she read the latest installment of Jason’s book. She loved his writing and often had a hard time waiting for the new pages.
“Truth is way more fucked up than fiction,” Jude said.
She looked up at Jude, who was reading along with her. “The writing is so beautiful.”
She continued to read in silence, while her newest hacktivist compatriot, Ashton, carefully scanned the pages onto a secured server, where it would wait until the entire book was done and ready to be published to the net.
“Wow, does he know this is about you?” Jude asked.
Her cheeks grew hot. “No, he doesn’t know.”
“What about Zane?”
“I guess he knows enough that this s
houldn’t surprise him.” She didn’t want to think about how this would affect Zane.
“How true is this?”
“True enough.” With a resigned sigh, she continued to bite her nails as she finished reading about her last encounter with Alex.
His shrink wrote very detailed notes over the years about her interactions with her secretive client, and kept them on her home computer. She never used his name, but it didn’t take a genius to know which files belonged to him. Sally had hacked the doc’s poorly secured home network a few years ago and squirreled away the information. After reading the doctor’s account of her patient falling in love, Sally’s curiosity over the widow won out. Against the advice of Jude, she had hacked back into the good doctor’s files. This time they were held at the FBI—her biggest, most challenging hack to date. Apparently, Alex had told his wife everything—deathbed confessional or something. The packet of information she gave Jason on the thumb drive included snippets from both of their therapy notes.
“It seems like just yesterday,” she said under her breath.
Reading the fairly accurate portrayal of the last time she saw Alex brought it all back in aching clarity. He had been so in love, so content. His characteristic restlessness had gone without a trace. Now, seventeen years later, she understood how he felt on that day. There had been a time when she thought she loved Alex, that he was the love of her life, but time and recent life experience had proven her wrong. The infatuations of youth were hollow. Now that she was nearly fifty years old, she saw everything so differently.
“I remember how crazy he made you.” Jude glanced over at her and took her hand in his. “He was so fucking hot.”
She sucked in her bottom lip and let out a short laugh through her nose. “Yeah.”
“What does this Jason guy look like?” Jude waggled his brow.
“Don’t get any ideas.” She shot him a look of warning.
He held up his hands in mock surrender. “All right, all right. I guess that means he’s good-looking, too.”
She pulled up Jason’s author bio on Jude’s tablet and showed him Jason’s picture.
Jude pulled the picture up more closely. “Ooh, he’s cute for an old guy.”
Sally couldn’t help but smile at the picture.
Jude eyed her closely. “Ah, shit. You’re in love with this little man-puppy, aren’t you?”
She shook her head in denial. “Heavens, no!”
“Oh, gurl, yes, you are!” He tapped her bare arm.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sally Ann Ride! You are in love with this man!” Jude stood with his hands on his hips and his mouth agape.
“I am not in love with him, Jude.” She knew her denial was pointless. The jig was up; Jude knew her too well.
“Yes, you are.” Ashton looked up from his work and shot her an annoyed look.
“Fuck you both.” She stalked her way through the warehouse to the back door. By the time she made it outside, hot tears streamed down her cheeks. She sunk down to her haunches. Holding back her true feelings exhausted her.
Of course, she loved him, but it didn’t matter two shits what she wanted.
***
Yellow Hat Cabin
Millboro, Virginia
July 18, 2025
2:00 PM
~~~
It had been four days since Sally’s last visit, and Jason hadn’t been able to write for the last two of those days. The wall, the one he always hit when he was writing his novels, loomed over him. He needed her help to break through his writer’s block. Before he’d found her, he’d always turned for inspiration at the bottom of a bottle of scotch. That option was off the table this time, so while he waited for her to come back, he read and re-read his notes and the new intelligence she’d brought him during her last visit.
It all deeply disturbed and depressed him, especially the information on the group’s involvement in human trafficking. It was so much easier to make shit up. Recording the world’s atrocities wounded him, especially since so much of the story was based on his own life and experiences. He had nowhere to put the pain but onto the paper, but it hurt too much to constantly bleed out on the keys day after day.
The oppressive heat inside and outside of the cabin also limited his choices of non-writing activities. He didn’t want to go swimming that morning, so he made a makeshift hammock in the back between two Jacaranda trees. Their summer-blue blooms made him think of True’s hair and eyes.
As he dozed, he found himself writing horrific poetry about love and loss, an escape from the brutalities of his book.
***
Virginia Peninsula Region Correctional Facility
Williamsburg, Virginia
July 18, 2025
2:00 PM
~~~
Charles walked across the dirty white tile to a woman wearing a blonde wig, sitting in the far right corner. As he got closer she turned her head to him.
“You look well. I like the blonde.” Charles sat down across from her with his hands folded in front of him. “Love looks good on you.”
She squirmed in the chair and looked away from him.
“I hear you have a school-girl crush on our little writer friend.” He smiled at her obvious discomfort. Even in prison, his team had managed to keep him informed.
“I’ve stayed true to the plan. Everything is happening just like I said it would.” She fidgeted in her seat, alternating nails to chew on.
Her defensiveness amused him. Giving her a hard time meant she would just work that much harder at her job, which he needed at this point—especially considering his current mailing address.
“Sal, I only agreed to this because I knew about your past efforts and thought you could do this without letting emotions cloud your judgment. As you can see, I am in no position to currently do anything. That fucking bastard is one step ahead of us.” His blood boiled in rage at how neither of them had calculated for this particular pitfall.
“Calm down, prisoner.” The guard shot him a look of warning.
“He’s almost done. We go live in a couple of days.” Sally swallowed hard and fiddled with the ridiculous wig on her head.
“Good. I need this to go off without a hitch. My freedom depends upon it.”
“I know. I just wanted to let you know that everything is on track.” She avoided making eye contact with him as she got up to leave.
“Sal,” he called out, making her turn back to face him. “Don’t fall for him. Guys like him don’t fall in love with girls like you. Don’t be a fool.”
She nodded with a crestfallen expression before turning on her heels to leave.
Leave it to Jason to turn the most heartless whore in all of Maryland into a mushy love-sick dolt.
***
Highway 81
Just outside Virginia’s Washington National Forest
July 18, 2025
4:30 PM
~~~
Sally stopped at a Harris and Teeter grocery on the way to the cabin and picked up a simple meal, along with some shelf stable groceries Jason would need for the next few days. It had taken some work, but she had worked it out so she could stay the night with him without drawing any unwanted attention to herself.
As she got closer to the cabin, her nervousness grew.
What if it all goes south and he gets hurt in the process? There’s too much that can go wrong. What have I been thinking?
***
Dulles Airport
Dulles, Virginia
July 18, 2025
4:30 PM
~~~
When Ellie walked out of the airport and into the oppressive humidity, it reminded her she was back home. For a moment she thought of turning around and going back to Texas. It may be hot there, but at least she could breathe. She glanced around until she saw her ride.
Marianna stood outside her police-issued vehicle waiting. “Ellie!” She waved.
“Ugh, this humidity
sucks. My ears are sweating,” Ellie moaned.
Marianna popped the trunk and put Ellie’s bags inside. “Let’s get in the air conditioning then, shall we?” Once inside the car, Marianna turned up the air conditioning full blast, adjusted her aviator sunglasses, and glanced over at Ellie. “You ready?”
“Yeah.” Ellie waved her skirt under the vents in an effort to cool off. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard from Jason today?”
“No.” Marianna clutched the steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip.
Ellie put her hand on Marianna’s knee. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
Marianna nodded, keeping her eyes on the road.
“Did you check his grandfather’s cabin?”
Marianna nodded. “That’s the first place I checked.”
An idea suddenly occurred to Ellie, but was too preposterous to be true. “What about Katherine’s cabin? She gave it to Jason since the properties butt up against each other.”
Marianna turned to face Ellie with wide eyes. “What? Why would he go there? Wasn’t that where she was attacked?”
“I know it’s a long shot. He always stays at his grandfather’s place, but I know he hunts on the joint property in the winter.”
Marianna drove on in silence until they pulled onto Jason’s street. “I can’t imagine he would go back there.”
“Maybe you’re right, but it wouldn’t hurt to check.”
Marianna pressed the Bluetooth call button on the vehicle. “Call Millboro PD.”
Chapter 9
Yellow Hat Cabin
Millboro, Virginia
July 18, 2025
5:00 PM
~~~
The sound of crunching gravel made his heart leap in anticipation. He threw everything to the floor and bolted through the front door, which bounced open and shut in its frame. Without saying a word, he descended upon her with his mouth, causing her to drop her helmet onto the driveway. They tumbled en masse through the front door, leaving clothes in their wake.
Even though his body wanted to hurry things along, he laid her down on the bed with great care. Her long blue hair cascaded across the green pillowcases like a sea of Virginia Bluebells in the spring.
She’s so beautiful.