Secret is in the Bones (Paynes Creek Thriller Book 3)

by Heather Sunseri

  When my phone rang, I assumed it would be Luke. But when I grabbed it, I saw it was Aunt Leah.

  “Hi, Aunt Leah!”

  “Guess again,” the gravelly voice said.

  I sat up, setting my computer to the side. “Who is this?”

  “A friend.”

  “You’re no friend of mine, John Paul.”

  “Well, well, well. Aren’t you the clever girl?”

  I heard the sound of a baby cooing in the background, and every ounce of blood in my veins ran cold. Oliver. “Of course, I know who you are. I remember you from Colorado, too.” I tried to suppress the fear from my voice, but I continued to hear Oliver in the background. He sounded like he was on the verge of getting upset. “If you lay a finger on my nephew…” My heart picked up speed as I let my voice drop off.

  I tried to concentrate on my breathing. In… Out… Nice and slow.

  “You’ll what?” John Paul’s voice sharpened, shifting from playful to angry in a flash. “You’re in no position to make threats, Faith.”

  “What have you done with Leah?” I asked.

  “Oh, she’s fine… for now. If you want her to survive, and if you want to make sure Oliver sees his first birthday, you’re going to follow my instructions.”

  “Okay,” I said. In through the nose, out through the mouth. He was right about one thing. I would do whatever I had to do to keep Oliver and Leah safe.

  Oliver cried out in the background.

  “What are you doing to him? Where’s Leah?” I nearly screamed, then I lowered my voice. “You don’t need to hurt them. I’ll do as you ask.”

  He ignored my questions. “Good. Listen carefully. I know there is an agent parked outside the main entrance to the barn.” John Paul clearly knew where I was. “Exit the opposite end of the barn. Take the path over to your property.”

  “And then what?”

  “We’re waiting for you in the barn. If you alert the police, I’ll do to Oliver what I did to that bitch at the funeral home. And Faith, I will know.”

  The line went silent.

  I jumped up from the sofa and tapped my phone to my forehead. “Think, Faith,” I said to myself. I had to think how a lunatic like John Paul might think.

  What did I actually know about him, other than he’s suspected of killing Steven, Darren, and Miss Shepherd?

  He might have access to a police scanner. I had to assume that he could see the agent’s vehicle parked outside the barn. Probably had binoculars trained on the property.

  He’d worked for Coop, so he knew the land. I remembered the man in the orange hoodie at the edge of the wooded area.

  I had no idea what this man wanted from me, but he was going to a lot of trouble to make sure I came alone.

  I scanned the room for a weapon I could easily hide. I ran to the kitchen and opened the top drawer. In it was a mixture of knives, serving spoons, and other common kitchen utensils.

  I settled on a paring knife. I bent down and slid it into the inside of my right boot. If he found it, he found it. But I had to at least give myself a fighting chance.

  I darted for my bag and grabbed my wireless headphones. I placed one in my right ear, thinking I could swing most of my hair to that side to hide a single headphone. Next, I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door.

  Outside the apartment, I glanced left toward the exit I would normally take out of the barn. Sure enough, the agent wouldn’t be able to see me leaving. I jogged to the other end, but before I stepped out, I called Luke.

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  LUKE

  Ethan’s home was a modest, brick ranch home with a one-car garage in an established neighborhood.

  Coop and I marched up to the front door. Coop knocked loudly. It had taken less than an hour for the search warrant to come through for both the bar and Ethan’s house.

  Along with convincing the judge that we had enough evidence to issue an arrest warrant for John Paul Matisse for the murders of four individuals, Agent Crain established enough probable cause of a connection between Matisse and Ethan to add a search warrant of Ethan’s home and business. Getting the judge to sign off on the warrants was a challenge. He’d asked a barrage of questions to make sure we weren’t on a blind fishing expedition. He’d been around when Ethan was wrongfully convicted and was nervous when it came to Ethan. Especially since Ethan’s wrongful conviction lawsuit against the Paynes Creek Police Department was currently being negotiated.

  We’d also wanted to question Ethan about his involvement with Matisse since his release, but we’d been unable to locate him.

  There were no vehicles in the driveway or parked on the street in front of his house. His vehicle could be in the garage, I supposed, but there were no windows to the garage.

  When there was no answer to the door, I walked the perimeter of the house. I peered in each of the windows and saw no movement. It appeared that no one was home.

  I decided to call the Spotted Cat, hoping Ethan had come in during the hour since we’d left.

  A woman answered. “Spotted Cat.”

  “Is Ethan around?” I asked, attempting to keep things casual.

  “No,” she barked. “He won’t be in today.” The woman didn’t even try to hide the irritation.

  “Do you know where I can find him?”

  “Look, I’m not Ethan’s secretary. He called and said he wasn’t coming in. It’s his place, so if he wants to take a day off, he takes a day off.”

  “This is Special Agent Luke Justice with the FBI. We really need to find him.”

  “In that case, Special Agent Luke Justice with the FBI, I definitely don’t know where he is. Why don’t you assholes leave him alone?”

  “You have a point, Miss…”

  “Miss is fine.”

  “Well, Miss, if you see Ethan, tell him to call me.” I gave her the number before hanging up, then glanced at Coop. “She was pleasant.”

  He laughed. “Sounds like it.” He went to the front door again. Tried the knob.

  Locked.

  I shrugged. For the second time, I walked around the house. Coop followed. This time, I looked more closely inside the windows, stopping when I saw what looked like a messy home office.

  I cupped my hands around my face, trying to see past a screen and into the dark room.

  I could easily see an upright rolling suitcase up against the wall. Papers were scattered across a desk. And there was a map on one wall with thumbtacks sticking out of it. It reminded me of a map hanging on one of our evidence walls.

  We continued to the back door. When we tried that door, it was unlocked.

  We had the right to forcefully enter Ethan’s house, but we weren’t assholes who needlessly destroyed property if we didn’t have to be.

  With a way in, we returned to our vehicle, gloved up, grabbed a couple of boxes before entering through the unlocked door.

  We walked through the house. Like his office, his house was tidy except for a couple of dishes in the sink.

  Inside the home office, I went to a small carry-on suitcase and lifted. Empty.

  I flipped through some papers on the desk. A couple of recent boarding passes lay haphazardly on top of bills and junk mail. I snapped some pictures of the boarding passes, then tossed them into the box.

  “What do you make of this?” Coop asked, pointing at the map on the wall.

  There was a thumbtack over Long Key, where Faith traveled first after she left Paynes Creek last year.

  I knew that she visited college friends in Atlanta, Nashville, and Kansas City, before she settled in Colorado for a chunk of time over the winter. And there were thumbtacks in each of those cities.

  “Dammit,” I said. “He was tracking her.”

  “You think he was helping John Paul?” Coop asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “We can establish Ethan’s involvement with the Whiskey Mafia. We can paint a picture of a guy who’s obsessed with a woman he raped when they were seventeen.” I pi
cked up a boarding pass for a flight to Denver a couple of weeks ago. “We can place him in Colorado around the time that Darren Murray was murdered. We can establish that he’s been infatuated with Faith since they were kids, and that he’s stalked her around the country.”

  “Why kill Steven Champagne?” Coop asked.

  I looked at the map. “Faith went off the grid. She wouldn’t even take my calls after she left Colorado. She was convinced that someone was following her. And one of the last conversations I had with her in Colorado was about the fact that Gentry had fallen off of our radar.”

  “You had someone watching him?”

  I shrugged. “A friend owed me a favor.” I turned back to the map. “We couldn’t follow him 24/7, but when Faith reported strange occurrences, this friend had a way of making sure Ethan was where he was supposed to be. Usually he was.”

  I continued as I studied the map. “Faith was paranoid that Ethan wanted revenge against her for her part in putting him behind bars for twelve years, though he insisted that he didn’t. If I could ease her worry, and mine, I wanted to. And while my buddy lost him briefly, Ethan was back in Lexington soon after that.”

  I stared at the tack over Antonito, Colorado. “That was right about the time that Faith went off the grid.”

  “He lost her,” Coop said.

  I nodded.

  “And had she not already been living out at the Horse Park when Penelope and Steven were attacked…”

  “She would have returned to Paynes Creek to be with her friend anyway,” I finished Coop’s sentence. “They laid a trap for her.”

  “And now he hasn’t shown up for work the day after John Paul vanishes. Coincidence?”

  “No fucking way.” My phone rang just as the words were out of my mouth. I answered it. “Faith?”

  THIRTY-NINE

  FAITH

  “Luke,” I cried. I held the phone down at my left side, hidden in the sleeve of my jacket. I smoothed my hair over my right ear with my other hand.

  “Faith, what’s wrong?”

  “Matisse has Oliver, and he’s done something to Aunt Leah.”

  “What? Where?”

  “I need you to listen. I don’t have much time. I’m afraid he’s watching me.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “He threatened to kill Oliver if I notify the police. I’m trusting you.” I squeezed my eyes tightly closed. “God, I’m trusting you. He instructed me to leave out the back entrance of Coop’s barn and walk toward my property.”

  “No, Faith. Don’t you dare head that way. I can get word to Agent Donovan that you’re in trouble. Stall.”

  “No! You can’t tell the agent out front. Any movement from him, and John Paul will know I contacted the police. I have to go, or he’ll hurt Oliver.” I tried to talk without moving my lips much.

  “Okay. Keep talking. Tell me everything he said.” Thankfully, he was thinking rationally, and stopped trying to talk me out of going. He had to know I would do everything I could to protect my innocent nephew.

  I could tell he was already on the move. I could hear Coop on the other phone calling for help, telling them to gear up but to stand back and wait for further instruction.

  Tears stung my eyes. Was I doing the right thing by calling Luke? If John Paul harmed Oliver…

  “You can trust us,” Luke said, as if reading my mind. “Tell me everything you know,” he repeated.

  “I know he has Oliver. I could hear him in the background. He called me on Leah’s phone, but he wouldn’t tell me anything about her.”

  “I’ll send someone to her house.”

  I closed my eyes, taking a brief moment to pray Leah was all right. “I’m on the path between the farms. Before I enter the clearing, I’m going to dump my phone. I have a headphone hidden in my ear. Hopefully, the phone will be close enough to keep a connection with you.”

  “You do whatever you have to do to stay safe. We’re coming,” he reassured me.

  “Luke? I’m scared.”

  “You listen to me! No one is going to get hurt. Not you. Not Aunt Leah. And certainly not Oliver.”

  As I exited the woods that separated Coop’s land from mine, I lowered my voice and did my best to speak without opening my mouth, fearful that John Paul would be watching out for me through binoculars. “I can see him. He’s watching me with binoculars. I think he’s alone.”

  “You don’t see Ethan?” Luke asked. “He could be with Matisse. You were right about Ethan. He’s been tracking you around the country. He was in Colorado recently.”

  “Are you sure? Was he in Colorado when Darren was killed?” I had started to think I was wrong about Ethan.

  “We’re checking the dates.”

  “I’m dropping my phone now. Hopefully, you’ll be able to hear me for a bit longer.”

  “Okay. You stay strong. Don’t make any sudden movements, and don’t underestimate him.”

  I stopped talking. I could only listen to Luke because I had gotten close enough that John Paul would certainly hear me.

  For a brief moment, John Paul lowered his binoculars, and I took the opportunity to let the phone hidden up my sleeve fall into the tall grass.

  My heart raced, and I struggled to keep panic at bay. I focused on the man standing in front of me—a man I wouldn’t hesitate to take down if there was even the slightest chance my nephew would be harmed.

  FORTY

  LUKE

  I drove while listening for conversation between Faith and Matisse.

  Coop was on his phone relaying what little information we discovered at Ethan’s. We needed to know what we were walking into. Were we preparing to face a team of two killers?

  Meanwhile, Chief McCracken was assembling a group of his most highly trained officers, tactically speaking, to move in on Faith’s farm. Paynes Creek was way too small to have its own SWAT team.

  Coop handed me his phone. “It’s Chief McCracken.”

  “Chief, we know Faith is walking into a situation with John Paul Matisse. He has Leah Nash’s 6-month-old nephew with him. The whereabouts of Nash are unknown. Tell your men to prepare to move in but keep a distance until I give the word. I still have contact with Faith. Stay on the line.” I handed the phone back to Coop.

  I listened as Matisse greeted Faith. My fingers tightened around the steering wheel at the sound of his voice. If he put one mark on Leah, Oliver, or God help him, Faith…

  FORTY-ONE

  FAITH

  Luke relayed everything I told him, plus barked orders in hushed tones to someone on another phone, probably Coop’s. He was no longer talking to me but waiting to hear if John Paul or I said anything that would help the team that was assembling. I silently prayed that the tactical team kept their distance until told otherwise. John Paul had instructed me not to contact the police. I hated to imagine what he would do if he learned I had disobeyed, and he got backed into a corner.

  “Ethan always said you were more beautiful in person.” John Paul said as I approached.

  He’d shaved his head recently. He’d had dark brown hair in the photo Luke texted me, and blond hair when I saw him in Colorado.

  The binoculars hung around his neck, freeing up his hands. He cast his dark, nearly obsidian eyes along my entire body, starting at my feet and moving slowly, calculatingly, up my body. He ran his tongue over his lips that curled into a grin that sent a shiver down my spine.

  “Where’s Oliver?” I asked.

  His face hardened at my harsh tone. “The kid’s fine. Amazing that such a cute boy came out of two killers. You think he’ll take after his parents?” The question seemed to excite him.

  Luke whispered in my ear. “Ask him if Ethan’s with him.”

  “I have no idea,” I told John Paul in answer to his question, then turned my head in an exaggerated effort to look around. “Did you bring Ethan with you? I’ve been trying to reach him all day.” Though I struggled, I kept my voice casual.

  He cocked his head
. “You tried to track Ethan down? That’s interesting.”

  “He and I have unfinished business,” I said, not really knowing how to talk about my relationship with Ethan. “But you didn’t answer the question.”

  “Oh, he’s here,” John Paul said. “Let’s go inside.” He made a sweeping motion with his arm to invite me into my own barn—the barn I had entered very few times in the last thirteen years.

  Finch and Uncle Henry always made sure the barn was maintained, and that any rotten wood was replaced or repaired. It stored an old tractor for mowing and some small farm tools, but that was about it.

  I walked past John Paul and entered the barn. There were overhead lights inside, hanging from the rafters, and since the sun had dropped lower in the sky, the lights cast a warm, though dim, glow.

  “Stop,” he ordered. He approached me slowly from behind.

  My entire body stiffened, and the little hairs on the back of my neck rose as I felt his hands on my shoulders and neck.

  He started at my shoulders and slid down my arms, pressing against my body as he went. He reeked of body odor and cigarette smoke.

  Squatting down, he ran his hands along the outside of my legs, then moved up the inside of my legs until he reached the top. He left no part of me untouched as he shifted to run his fingers along my waist and back. The last thing he did was run a hand along my breasts and ribcage. He moved to stand in front of me. He opened my jacket and raised my shirt. I shifted my head slightly, praying the move kept the earbud hidden from his view.

  “Just making sure you didn’t think you’d play hero and bring a weapon. Where’s your phone?”

  “I assumed you would get rid of it, so I left it at home.”

  He angled his head. A cautious grin lifted at the corner of his lips. “Let’s go.” He led me down the center of the barn. “I’ve put in a lot of hard work to get you back to Paynes Creek for this very special moment.”