Laying Down the Law

by Delores Fossen

  So, why had he sent it?

  Jericho carefully placed the photo on the desk, and Karina got a good look at the one on top. It was an old Polaroid, yellow with age and worn in spots, but the image was still fairly clear. It wasn’t a posed shot. There was a woman on a porch. Her head was down so it was hard to see much of her face, but she had her hand on her throat and was looking down at two children.

  A boy and a girl.

  Cord jerked back his shoulders. And Karina knew why. The children were wearing clothes exactly like the ones the caller had described. The clothes that Cord and Addie had been wearing the day they disappeared.

  Someone had written “Mom” at the bottom of the photo.

  Oh, God.

  Was that actually Cord’s mother?

  Jericho took out another pair of gloves when Cord reached for it, and Cord put them on without taking his attention off the photo.

  “That’s Addie,” Jericho concluded. “I was eight years old the day they found her wandering around the woods near the ranch, and she looked exactly like that. Well, except when they found her, she had a cut on her cheek. She doesn’t have one in the photo.”

  Not yet. Karina had the sickening feeling that it’d come shortly thereafter. And the cut had been the crescent shape that the Moonlight Strangler had given all his victims.

  Or in the cases of Addie and herself, his near victims.

  Cord picked up the picture and brought it closer, his eyes combing over every inch of it. Especially the woman’s face. “I don’t remember this. I don’t remember her.”

  Since there was nothing she could say to make this better for him, Karina simply put her arm around him and hoped that helped. It did.

  Until Jericho went to the second photo.

  Cord actually staggered back a step, and it took him a second to regain his composure. Karina didn’t even try to regain hers. Because the photo turned her stomach.

  It was the same woman who’d been in the previous shot, but she wasn’t on the porch with the kids in this one.

  She was dead.

  Karina didn’t have a lot of experience looking at dead bodies, but the woman was ashen, not a drop of color on her face. Except for that obscene cut on her face and the bruises on her neck.

  “It could have been faked,” Jericho quickly pointed out. “I’ll have the crime lab examine it, but that could be makeup.”

  Yes, it could be, but Karina doubted it. Judging from the profanity Cord said under his breath, so did he. Like her, he believed he was looking at the face of his dead mother.

  “The Moonlight Strangler told Addie that our mother was dead,” Cord added.

  Karina looked at Jericho to see if he knew about that, and he nodded. “The snake called her months ago to tell her that he wasn’t going after her, that she was safe. But he also said her mom was dead.”

  “Did he kill her?” Karina blurted out before she could stop herself. She wished she had stopped herself because she wasn’t sure it was an answer Cord would want to hear.

  Jericho shrugged. “He mentioned something about spilling blood.”

  She was glad she hadn’t been around for that call, and even though Cord and Addie had had months now to come to terms with it and everything else they’d learned, they must have had their doubts that the killer was telling them the truth. Or rather their hopes that he was lying.

  And maybe he still was.

  Karina was going to hang on to that, and she prayed Cord would do the same. They were dealing with a serial killer here, and if he could murder all those women, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch for him to lie.

  After looking at the first two photos, Karina wasn’t sure she wanted to see the third one. Mercy, she hoped it wasn’t one of the kids being harmed.

  But it wasn’t.

  The third photo was nothing like the other two. It was a man. And it was someone she instantly recognized.

  Willie Lee.

  Now, it was Karina’s turn to feel as if someone had put a knife in her.

  He was young, probably still in his late twenties, but Karina had no doubts that it was Willie Lee. None.

  It appeared to be a selfie shot. The lens was close to his face. No smile. His mouth was set in a tight line, and he was holding up something next to his cheek.

  A knife.

  Oh, God.

  A knife!

  Karina heard the hoarse groan tear from her throat, and she fumbled around behind her until she found a chair. Cord was right there, helping her sit, and despite the jolt he’d just gotten from his mother’s photo, he managed to look a lot steadier than she felt.

  “Again, the photo could be fake or doctored,” Jericho reminded them both. “Or Willie Lee could have been forced to pose like that.”

  It was the first time Jericho had even hinted that Willie Lee might be innocent, and if this had been any other time, Karina would have considered it a victory. Not now, though.

  Not after seeing that knife.

  “I think I should go ahead and take Karina back to the ranch,” Cord said.

  She didn’t argue. Couldn’t. It felt as if someone had taken hold of her heart and was crushing it. Besides, the person who’d sent those photos could still be nearby. Just the thought of that was too much for her to handle.

  Cord helped her to her feet, but before they could make it to the door, she saw someone else she didn’t want to see.

  DeWayne.

  No. Cord and she had been through enough today without adding this.

  Of course, Jericho had said DeWayne was on his way to the sheriff’s office, but what with the phone call and those photos, she’d forgotten all about it. And she didn’t have the energy to deal with DeWayne right now.

  “On second thought, I’ll take Karina to the break room,” Cord said. Probably because his truck was parked right out front. Exactly where DeWayne was walking. That would mean running right into the man.

  Jericho gathered up the photos, note and envelope and put them in a clear plastic bag that he then placed in the desk drawer. No doubt so that DeWayne wouldn’t see them. But then it occurred to her that DeWayne might have known all about them because he could have been the one who sent them.

  Heck, she was latching on to Jericho’s theory that the photos could have been faked. DeWayne could have done that.

  That gave her some much-needed strength, and she didn’t go running to the break room when DeWayne walked in. Even though judging from the scowl Cord gave her, that’s exactly what he had wanted her to do.

  “Taryn’s dead,” DeWayne snapped, and he looked directly at Karina as if she was the one responsible.

  “Yes, I heard. And I’m sorry.” She meant that. Karina was indeed sorry about the woman’s murder, but that’s where her sympathy ended. “Were you the one who killed her?”

  “Kill her?” DeWayne asked, his voice practically a shout. “She was my lover. Why would I want her dead?”

  Karina could think of several reasons, but Cord spoke before she could voice them.

  “Because you want to make yourself look innocent of being the real Moonlight Strangler,” Cord said. “Or maybe because Taryn learned something about you and you wanted to silence her.”

  The anger shot through DeWayne’s eyes. And not just ordinary anger. Rage. “You have no proof of any of that, and you’re grasping at straws.” He jabbed his index finger at Karina. “And it’s because of her. Because you’re sleeping with her, and she’s been feeding you lies.”

  “No, it’s because I’m a lawman, and I can see there’s a problem here. You’re covering up something. It could be your involvement in that old money-laundering operation—”

  “I don’t have to listen to this,” DeWayne interrupted, throwing his hands in the air. “I came here to
find out what she knows about Taryn’s murder.” Karina got another finger jab in her direction.

  Karina didn’t even pause. “I don’t know anything about it. Well, nothing except that it appears she was either murdered by the Moonlight Strangler or by someone who wants us to believe she was. Since you believe Willie Lee is the serial killer, then maybe you just lost your temper with Taryn, killed her and then decided to go with the copycat buzz that’s all over town.”

  “I know something,” Jericho volunteered. “Taryn called me earlier to say you’d been acting suspicious and that she thought you were being blackmailed or something. Want to talk about that?”

  The question clearly threw DeWayne. No rage this time. He seemed to be sizing up Jericho to see if he was telling the truth. He must have decided he was because his shoulders dropped.

  “Taryn was wrong,” DeWayne finally said, “and she shouldn’t have talked to you.” But then, his head snapped up, his attention going back to Karina. “Did you say anything about Taryn to those Bloody Murder club guys? Because one of them could have killed her.”

  “I haven’t spoken to any of them,” Karina answered. But then she rethought that. Maybe she had. Maybe she was talking to one of them now. Or Harley could be a member, too.

  DeWayne made a sound of outrage. “I don’t know how you did it, but you’re responsible for this.”

  “Enough,” Cord declared. He took hold of her arm and led her toward Jericho’s office.

  She expected DeWayne to follow them. And he tried. But Jericho stepped in front of him. “Let’s have a discussion about Taryn’s call. I want your statement on the record.”

  Karina didn’t wait to see how DeWayne would react to that. Cord didn’t let her. He took her into Jericho’s office and shut the door.

  “I’m sorry,” she said at the same moment Cord said it, too.

  Despite the hellish things they’d just seen in those photos, he smiled. Not for long, though. “I need to talk to Addie,” Cord said. “And tell her about the pictures.”

  He was obviously dreading it. With good reason. It wouldn’t be an easy conversation, especially when he told her about the dead woman in the photo.

  “Addie will probably want to see the pictures for herself,” Karina suggested. She would want to see them if she was in Addie’s shoes. Karina only hoped Addie could “unsee” them after that.

  Cord nodded. “Maybe the photos will trigger something in her memory.”

  Though he didn’t sound pleased about that. Still, Addie might be able to tell them something about the photos that they didn’t know. Since Addie and Cord were twins and had therefore been the same age, maybe Addie could remember some fragments of that day.

  Cord pulled her to him, bringing her right into his arms. Not for a kiss this time. He just held her.

  Like the other times she’d been close to him like this, the heat came. Slowly consumed her. But there was more to it now. The heat didn’t cloud her mind. It gave her some clarity.

  She was falling hard for him.

  Not exactly something that she should be doing, but Karina didn’t know how to stop it. Oh, mercy. It wouldn’t be long before she would have to deal with a broken heart in addition to all these other memories from the attacks and the deaths.

  Cord pulled back, their gazes connecting. For a moment, she thought that kiss might happen after all. But it didn’t.

  “Why did he send us those pictures?” he asked.

  Because of the sheer shock of seeing the photos, Karina hadn’t questioned it. She should have, though. “To shake us up, to keep us off balance?”

  Cord gave another nod. “And that must mean we’re getting close. Too close.” He glanced between them, and she didn’t think he was just talking about a serial killer now.

  Was he talking about them?

  Karina didn’t get a chance to find out because there was a knock at the door, and a split second later, Jericho opened it. Cord and she stepped apart, as if they’d been caught doing something wrong.

  However, Jericho didn’t even seem to have noticed, and if he did, he didn’t mention the close contact between Cord and her.

  “DeWayne’s gone,” Jericho explained. “I threatened again to put him in a holding cell, and that got him moving.” He held up a notepad. “I just got a call from a military record’s rep, and he gave me some more info about Harley.”

  That got her mind off the broken-heart possibility. It got Cord’s attention, too.

  “Harley’s scars are from an accident. A live explosive that he mishandled. This happened forty years ago when he was just nineteen. After his injuries healed, he failed a psych exam and was discharged from the army.”

  A failed psych exam wasn’t good, but then maybe it didn’t mean anything. After all, Harley was just a teenager then, and anyone who’d gone through that would have been altered for life.

  “Is there a record of Willie Lee ever being in the army with him?” Karina asked.

  “Well, Willie Lee was in the army, only for six months, though, before he was given a medical discharge for bad knees. Harley and he were in training at the same time in South Carolina.”

  So, maybe that’s how they’d met. Karina carried that one step further. Harley and he could have reconnected after Harley’s discharge. Maybe even gotten involved with money laundering. But there was still no proof of that.

  Or was there?

  The memory came to her in a flash. “Years ago, I remember seeing Willie Lee burning something. He had an old oil barrel outside his cabin, and he would sometimes burn paid bills and such. He said it was better than buying a shredder. But that time, it looked as if he was burning a book.”

  “A book?” Cord questioned.

  “Not a regular book. Smaller. Like maybe a journal or something.”

  Cord stayed quiet a moment. “Did you ask him about it?”

  “No.” And Karina remembered why. “Willie Lee always got this look on his face when he didn’t want to talk about something. And he had that look then, so I didn’t say anything about it.”

  But she certainly thought about it now. Had it really been a journal? With perhaps something in it about the money laundering?

  Jericho’s phone rang, and he was cursing the interruption before he took out his phone. However, the cursing stopped when he looked at the screen.

  “It’s the prison,” Jericho said.

  He didn’t put the call on speaker, and Karina wasn’t close enough to him to hear what the caller was saying. However, she could tell something had happened.

  Probably something bad.

  That’s the way their luck had been running since this whole ordeal had started.

  Karina tried to rein in her fears, but she failed. Thankfully, the conversation didn’t last long, only a few seconds, but even after he pressed the button to end the call, Jericho continued to stare at his phone.

  “That was the prison hospital,” Jericho finally said. “Willie Lee just came out of his coma.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Cord still wasn’t sure that coming to the prison hospital was the right thing to do. Not with Karina anyway. But he hadn’t been able to talk her, or himself, out of letting Jericho handle this.

  He had to face his birth father. And get some answers to all those questions that’d been haunting him for years.

  Well, he’d get answers anyway. But Cord wasn’t sure he could believe anything Willie Lee told him.

  Of course, Willie Lee wasn’t the only elephant in the room. There was the question of Karina’s safety. That’s why Jericho had told Mack to follow them in a cruiser. It was broad daylight so maybe they wouldn’t be ambushed, but the earlier attack had happened in broad daylight, too. Better to be safe than sorry, so Mack was waiting outside in the prison parking lot a
nd would follow them back to Appaloosa Pass when they were done.

  Without saying a word to each other, Karina and he made their way through security and the maze of corridors, each closed off with its own bars. An in-the-face reminder that this was maximum security. And that Willie Lee was here for a darn good reason.

  They made it all the way to the hospital section before Karina stepped in front of him, stopping Cord in his tracks. Cord had been waiting for this, waiting for her to say that no matter what happened, they’d get through this. Or else she’d put a different spin on that pep talk.

  But she didn’t.

  She just leaned in and kissed him. “I think we should sleep together.”

  All right. Well, he sure as heck hadn’t seen that coming. “Now? Here?”

  Karina smiled, making him smile, too. Though there really wasn’t anything to smile about. Except for her. For some reason, she just kept making him smile.

  Kept distracting him, too.

  “Well, I was thinking later would be better timing,” she answered. “You know, after we’ve survived this.”

  Survived. That was a good word for it. She’d survived three physical attacks, a whole host of verbal ones, too. Now, this chat with Willie Lee. If the man confessed to being the Moonlight Strangler, it would tear her world apart.

  “We’re still not on the same side here,” Cord reminded her.

  She kissed him again. “We don’t have to be. We just have to get through this.” She slipped her hand in his.

  And Cord knew she was right. One step at a time. Get through this. Put an end to the danger. Then, he’d definitely haul her off to bed. Even if it meant complicating the hell out of things.

  Which it would.

  Maybe this fire he felt for her would cool some after their chat with Willie Lee. Or not, Cord amended when he glanced at her.

  He finally got them moving again, and when they reached the next security checkpoint, a woman wearing green scrubs was there to greet them. According to her name tag, she was Dr. Dana Kenney.