For three years he carried out his plan flawlessly, eventually turning to list-making as a more effective and economical way to keep the town in line. When the first family left Bates to try to escape what he’d created, he worried that others would follow their lead, now that people knew it was no longer mere accidents claiming their loved ones’ lives. He had to make sure others didn’t get any ideas about leaving. He followed them, killed the children all at once, and set an example out of them.
He watched happily as the town grew fearful and began to understand just how far his reach spread. He was in complete control.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
Jordyn
Jordyn fumbled with the wallet and her newfound discovery. She turned around to see what Kate was doing. On the ground, she clutched her shoulder.
“Kate!” Jordyn shouted, clutching her arm, momentarily forgetting about everything else.
Her sister jumped at her touch. “Ouch,” she cried out. “I’m okay. It barely grazed me, but it stings.” She pulled her hand away from the wound, her palm lightly covered in blood.
Jordyn pulled her up, helping her to stand. She turned to Sullivan, who was now clutching Melissa’s lifeless body in shock. “You need to move her,” she told him firmly. “Move her body and radio your chief. You need to tell him to give me a name. I need to know who’s doing this. Tell me who she was talking about.”
He didn’t look her way, his face and hands soaked in Melissa’s blood. “She was just a child,” he said again.
Jordyn grabbed his hand, making him look up at her. “You need to move her. There’s nothing that can be done now. Get yourself somewhere safe. Call me once your chief has a name.”
He nodded, though he still seemed to be in shock. Jordyn pulled out her phone as she and Kate made their way to the car. “Did you see the others? Allie? Carrie? Erin?” Jordyn asked.
Kate shook her head, opening the car door and sliding inside. “No. We all scattered when hell broke loose. You’re the first person I saw after that.”
Jordyn dialed Connor’s cell phone number, whipping out of the parking lot. She wasn’t going to die without making up with her husband, that was for sure.
“Where are we going?” Kate asked, wincing in pain.
“Back to Melissa’s. I need to find out who is doing this and I think she’s the only one in this town with answers.”
“We’re going to break into her house?”
“What choice do we have? Besides, there’s a spare key in her wallet, I’ll bet it goes to the house.” They pulled into Melissa’s driveway within minutes. Jordyn threw one of Connor’s shirts to Kate to press into her shoulder. His phone went to voicemail and she searched her contacts, calling his work phone.
“Thanks for calling First Financial. Can you hold?” A voice finally came over the line.
“Sure,” Jordyn mumbled, fumbling with the key to the house. Thankfully, it fit perfectly. They entered the living room, being greeted once again by the familiar lab. Jordyn left the door open, letting him run. “No one’s coming back for you, bud,” she told him sadly.
“I’m going to go in the bathroom and see what I can find to clean your shoulder. Even if it’s not deep, I want to clean it up. See if you can find anything to help us figure out what’s going on.”
Kate nodded without question and opened the cabinet underneath the TV, pulling out old picture albums. Jordyn found the laundry room and a closet before she finally opened a door that led to the bathroom. She pulled open the only cabinet in the room. There was a half empty bottle of peroxide but no bandages. She looked through the bottled medicine. Jars of allergy pills and Tylenol, prescriptions for anti-depressants made out to Aaron Billson. She pulled out bottles, looking for anything that may be able to help.
Finally, the voice on the phone returned, startling Jordyn so that she tossed a bottle into the sink.
“Thank you for holding. This is Karen. How may I help you?”
“Yes, could I speak to Connor please?”
“I’m sorry, who?” the lady asked politely.
“Connor Atwood, please. This is his wife.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the woman said, hesitation in her voice. “There’s no Connor Atwood working here.”
“Excuse me? Maybe I called the wrong branch. Are you on Second and Commerce?” She glanced at the number on her phone.
“Yes, ma’am, but there’s no one by that name here.”
Before she could respond, Kate’s voice cried out from another room. “Jordyn!”
She slammed her phone down, racing toward the living room. “Kate? What is it? What’s wrong?”
“In here. Come quick,” her sister shouted.
Jordyn followed her voice, past the living room and into a bedroom. “Kate?” She gasped when she opened the door, her sister standing in front of her. The walls were lined with newspaper clippings, article after article about the deaths in Bates. It looked like Melissa had drawn hearts around several of them, most likely ones she knew.
She had a framed wedding photograph of a very young Melissa and a man with a full head of blond hair and a big, bright smile. Melissa’s hand was on her round belly. Another image showed a brown-haired infant smiling in her arms. Another of a blonde toddler being held by her father. The children favored Melissa extensively. Jordyn studied the photos, trying to imagine Melissa in a happier time, when her cheeks weren’t hollow and her eyes weren’t empty.
Her eyes drifted to an obituary and then to two more. One for each of her children and then another just two years ago for her husband. She recognized the young girl’s name, Christina Billson, from the children whose names they’d found on tombstones. Her heart hurt, wondering if the List Maker had taken both of Melissa’s children like they had Carrie’s.
“Jordyn,” Kate said, her voice shaking, “You need to see this.”
Jordyn turned to face her sister, taking the photo from Kate’s hands. Upon touching it, she immediately let go, as if it were piping hot. “Oh God.” Cold chills ran over her body.
“Is that—” Kate began, but before she could speak, the closet door flung open. There he was.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
HIM
When the second family left Bates, it took him longer than usual to find them. It was a young mother and her daughter, two who probably would’ve survived had they stayed in Bates. When he finally tracked them down, they were in Atlanta, Georgia, staying with her grandparents.
After the girl was dead, he went to see a Tyler Perry play and then got a bite to eat at a place called Johnathan’s. After dinner, he decided to get a hotel room and sleep off his buzz, though he wasn’t positive that the alcohol was even the cause. These days, power excited him and death thrilled him more than any other substance. He was high on loss of life. It was all like a game, a game that no one could win but him.
It was the next morning on his way out of town that he’d seen her. She was incredible, nothing like the girls back home. She wore her red hair in a loose ponytail, her skirt swinging down around her ankles. She was wearing large sunglasses, but he could see the freckles peeking out from underneath them. She smiled at him casually as he passed her, more out of what seemed like habit than anything. He turned around, watching her go into a book store. Without a thought, he followed her, standing back as she sifted through the shelves, idly twisting a piece of hair around her finger.
“Excuse me, sir, could I help you?” a worried-looking clerk asked.
“No, I’m just looking,” he answered honestly, not bothering to peel his eyes from her. The woman turned around to face him, her sunglasses now up so that he could see her green eyes.
She smiled at him, her head cocked to the side in a way that he found alluring. “Hi.”
He smiled back, approaching her slowly. “That’s a good one.” He pointed at the book she held in her hand. “He dies in the end though.”
Her jaw dropped. “Ha
ve you actually read this or was that a joke?”
He smiled at her coyly. “Guess you’ll have to read it to find out.”
She was silent, her cheeks turning a bright shade of red, which only made her green eyes shine brighter. She placed the book back on the shelf, pulling a new one out. She raised her eyebrows at him. “Any spoilers on this one?”
He thought for a moment, glancing at the book. “Just one.” He smiled up at her. “In the beginning, you’ll agree to go out with me.”
She flushed darker, pushing a piece of hair out of her eyes. “I’m Jordyn.” She held her hand out for him.
“Hi.” He shook her hand slowly. “I’m Connor.”
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Jordyn
Connor walked out of the closet holding his gun high.
“Connor?” Jordyn’s voice was high and shaky, her reality standing on its axis. The picture of him with Melissa lay on the floor, broken pieces of glass scattered everywhere. “What are you doing here? What in the world is going on?”
“You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?” he asked, a vein in his neck throbbing, “Even after all the warnings, even when I begged you to stop. I had everything under control, Jordyn. Everything. This is all your fault.” He pointed the gun at Kate suddenly, pulling the trigger before Jordyn or Kate could react.
“No!” Jordyn screamed.
Kate crumpled into a pile on the floor, a pool of blood immediately forming around her skull.
Jordyn froze, the gun now pointing her way, preventing her from moving. “You? How could you? She was my sister, Connor.” Hot tears formed in the corners of her eyes, her whole body shaking. “And all of these kids? You were behind it all? Why? How could you?” Tears poured down her face. She stared at him in disbelief. “What? Are you going to shoot me now? Is that your big plan? Ollie too?”
“Of course not, Jor.” He lowered the gun slightly. “Don’t you see how much I love you? I got us this house, brought you somewhere safe, away from the city.”
“The city was my home! You brought me here because you got transferred.”
He looked uneasy, but didn’t speak.
She remembered her call to his office. “Do you even work at First Financial?”
No answer. The gun twitched in his hand.
“Why here? Why Bates? It can’t have always been you, right? I mean, we just moved here. Surely it can’t have been you ten years ago. You were just a kid. You couldn’t have.”
“I can and have done anything I want. You don’t know these people, Jordyn. You don’t know what they’re like. You’ve known them for a year. I’ve known them my whole life. You have no idea what they’re capable of.”
“People like Melissa?” Jordyn took a step forward, wanting to reach for the gun.
His reaction was immediate. The gun came back up and his face grew hard. “Don’t talk about her,” he warned her.
“What did she do to you, Connor?”
Before he could answer, there was a commotion in the front of the house.
“Jordyn? Kate?” Rick’s voice rang out through the house. She opened her mouth to scream, to warn them.
Connor lunged, his hands over her mouth in an instant. He shook his head, telling her not to speak, and then with his gun held out, he reached for the bedroom door. Jordyn ran for him, jumping onto his back, digging her elbows into his neck. She reached for the gun, clawing his arms and face. He fired two shots in the air, screaming out in pain.
“Jordyn?” Carrie shouted.
Several sets of footprints echoed through the house, headed her way. Jordyn held onto Connor, struggling to keep him from leaving the room. She placed her feet on the door, pressing it shut with all of her might. “Get out of here,” she screamed. “Please, get out! He’s going to kill you. Get help!”
Connor pressed free, swinging his arm around and hitting her with the butt of his gun. She fell to the floor with a bang, the wind knocked out of her. Connor bolted through the door, his heavy footsteps baring warning for what was to come.
“Run!” Jordyn screamed, attempting to stand.
A gunshot rang out in the house, then another. Jordyn pushed herself up from the floor. She grabbed Kate’s purse from the bed, praying her gun would be in there. She touched the cool metal, pulling it from her bag with gusto.
I’m about to kill my husband. The words rang through her mind, asking her if she was truly willing to go there. She pushed every thought from her mind, focusing solely on saving her friends.
She ran out of the bedroom, the weight of the gun feeling odd in her hand. Her finger shook on the trigger as she made her way into the kitchen.
“Don’t shoot,” Allie cried out.
Jordyn gasped when she saw them: Henry, Rick, Allie, Carrie, Officer Sullivan, and two other men Jordyn recognized from the men Rick brought to the rally. They looked like the cover an action movie, all blood covered and with guns raised. She looked to the floor where her husband laid, blood streaming from his chest. His eyes were open, the same eyes she’d looked into so many times before and felt nothing but love, and his breathing sounded hollow.
Jordyn dropped her gun, suddenly feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds. Sullivan knelt down next to his body, checking his pulse. “I have backup on the way,” he said to no one in particular. “An ambulance too.”
Rick bent down next to him, unbuttoning Connor’s shirt slowly. He lifted him up a bit, Connor heaving a sigh. “The bullet didn’t go through. It should have missed his heart at this angle, but I can’t be sure.” He looked to Sullivan. “That ambulance needs to hurry.”
“What are you doing?” Jordyn asked, trying to pull Rick back. “Don’t you realize who he is? What he’s done?”
Rick pushed her back gently, still attending to Connor’s wound. “We know who he is, and we know what he’s done. That doesn’t change my job.”
“Or mine,” the officer agreed, his face solemn. “Enough people have died here today.”
Jordyn was silent, watching the men work. A lump formed in her throat, tears in her eyes. “He killed people. He killed your children. Why would you help him? He doesn’t deserve any of your help.”
Rick pressed on Connor’s chest rapidly, his breaths coming out as heavy wheezes. “I need a knife,” he said hurriedly. “I need to see the wound better. His lung may have collapsed.”
No one in the room moved. Jordyn looked at Carrie, whose fast was pale white. Allie and Henry stood huddled together, guns still in each of their hands.
“He’s going to die,” Rick cried again. Finally, Carrie stepped up, walking toward the counter and opening a drawer. She walked like a ghost, almost in slow motion. She pulled a knife from the drawer, looking over it before handing it to Rick.
“Carrie, don’t,” Jordyn whispered. “You of all people know what he deserves.”
“He deserves a lot worse than this, Jordyn.” She met Jordyn’s eyes. “But not on my hand. I pulled that trigger for my girls, but it’s not my decision whether he lives or dies, it’s not any of ours. I won’t have that on me.” She stepped back, watching Rick work.
“Where’s Kate?” Allie asked suddenly, looking around the room in fear.
Jordyn opened her mouth to answer, but couldn’t pull her voice from her throat. She shook her head, covering her mouth in horror, finally allowing herself to feel what had happened.
Henry instinctively approached her, arms open. He patted her head against his chest as she began to sob violently.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” She repeated it over and over again, looking away as her husband, a man she barely knew, lay bleeding out on the floor.
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
Ten Years Later
Jordyn
Jordyn rushed to the door, excited to see her face just beyond the glass. She pulled Carrie into a hug. “Come in. Oh, I’ve missed you.”
Carrie and Charles came into the house, t
heir six-year-old daughter Bethany following close behind.
“I’m so glad you could make it,” Jordyn told them, hugging Bethany.
“Of course. You know we wouldn’t miss Christmas. Traffic here is getting so bad. I swear it’s worse every time we come back to Bates.” She laughed, looking at Charles. “I never thought I’d say that.”
Jordyn laughed, taking their bags from them and placing their presents around the tree. In the kitchen, Ollie stood at the sink beside of Derek Taylor, Henry’s nephew and Jordyn’s new husband.
“All right, kiddo. Let’s take this over to the table.” He handed Ollie a stack of plates, kissing Jordyn as they walked past. Erin’s husband, Mike, Henry, Rick, Lorelai, Jordyn’s parents Sarah and Patrick, Allie, and Jordyn’s three-year-old all sat around the table, ready to dig in.
“Before we eat, I just want to say something,” Jordyn announced. “It’s been ten years since—”
“Jordyn,” Carrie started to interrupt her, patting her hand. “You don’t have to say anything.”
“No.” Jordyn shook her head. “It’s okay. It’s been ten years. I don’t want to get all emotional, but I want you all to know how much I appreciate each of you. After what happened, I thought you’d all want me to leave.” Her eyes began to burn. She fanned herself, trying not to make a fuss. “I guess I’m just trying to say thank you, all of you, for keeping me. You changed my life.” She looked around the table, so much love in her heart. “I love you all.”
“You saved our lives too,” Henry said. “You saved this town and you saved us. No one even asked you to, in fact most of us asked you not to, but you did.”
“I wish I could’ve saved more of you. More lives.”
“We love you, Jordyn,” Allie said. “You’ve given some of us the families we never thought we’d have.” She leaned into Henry’s shoulder, and he kissed the top of her head lovingly.
The List (The Carolina Killer Files Book 2) Page 20