Three (Count to Ten Book 3)

by Jane Blythe

  “Did you rape Annabelle?” she asked seriously, already knowing the answer but hoping she was wrong.

  “Would it bother you if I did?” he asked mildly.

  “Yes. I was sexually assaulted by some kids at my school,” she shivered involuntarily at the memory. “You’re a rapist,” she stated.

  “I am,” he agreed.

  “Are you going to rape me?” She wondered what she would do if he attempted it. Would she kill him? Probably not. Although she would kill anyone else who tried it in a heartbeat. Would she try to stop him? Isabella was shocked to discover that she honestly couldn’t say that she would. She wanted this man to touch her. She wanted more than that. She wanted him to sleep with her.

  “Honey, there's no need for me to rape you; you’re going to willingly give yourself to me,” he drawled confidently, pulling to a stop outside a large house, surrounded by an even larger garden.

  A warm tingling feeling started in her stomach. Nervous and excited, Isabella allowed Ricky to take her hand and pull her from the car and through the garden. Once inside, he didn’t even ask. Before she could process what was happening, they were in the bedroom and Ricky was removing her clothes.

  There was a moment where Isabella was anxious about what Ricky would think of her naked body. But the glint in his eyes and the hungry groan that emanated from his mouth were enough to assuage her fears.

  As Ricky pushed her down onto the bed and climbed on top of her, he paused to whisper in her ear, “Say the word and I’ll kill those kids who hurt you.”

  Disturbingly, at least Isabella supposed she should be disturbed by it, Ricky’s offer to get revenge on the kids who had assaulted her was touching. She couldn’t turn herself in. Not now. Not when she’d just been given the man of her dreams.

  She could have it all.

  Isabella was sure of it.

  Maybe she could give Sophie to Sofia, and then figure out a way to keep both in her life.

  She’d make it work.

  She had to.

  All her dreams had just come true and she couldn’t give that up.

  * * * * *

  7:54 A.M.

  They all looked tired.

  That was the first thing Ryan thought as he walked into the conference room. The room was already mostly full, now that the two cases—Isabella’s and Ricky Preston’s—had joined together, the number of people working the cases had doubled. Belinda was there, and so was Stephanie and Frankie. He also saw Diane Jolly, who worked crime scene with Stephanie. Ryan had worked with her a few times but didn’t know her all that well. Ryan knew they were still waiting for the medical examiner who had been dealing with the Ricky Preston case, Billy Newton. He had worked with Billy plenty of times and admired how the father of seven, which included three sets of twins, managed to make family time a priority.

  They were also waiting on Paige and Xavier Montague. Ryan wondered whether perhaps the two were going to follow their doctors’ advice and take it easy the next few days. He highly doubted it.

  Just as Belinda was about to start their morning meeting, Xavier bundled through the door, moving smoothly without a hint of the gunshot wound in his shoulder. Ryan had spent several hours talking with the other detective last night and already liked him. Xavier was calm and confident and had admitted that he was precariously balancing his work and home life now, as his girlfriend Annabelle struggled to cope with the traumatic events that had brought her and Xavier together.

  Ryan had suggested that Annabelle spend some time with Sofia. He had a feeling that Sofia would be able to help Annabelle learn to deal with what she’d been through. It would also make sure Annabelle was safe. His and Sofia’s house was going to be bustling with people all day as the crew installing the security system would be there working.

  “All right,” Belinda announced, “let’s assume Paige is either staying home today or running late . . .”

  “Let’s not,” Paige offered a tired smile as she entered the room and dropped into the nearest chair.

  “How’s your head?” Stephanie frowned slightly at Paige, her face clearly saying she thought Paige belonged at home in bed—a feeling Ryan echoed.

  “Sore, but I'm fine,” Paige replied firmly.

  “And your wrist?” Xavier asked uncomfortably. He obviously still felt bad about accidently hurting her.

  “It’s all right,” Paige assured him. “How’s your shoulder?”

  “It’s all right.” He grinned, “Didn’t your doctor tell you to rest?”

  “Didn’t your doctor tell you the same thing?” she grinned back.

  “Yep, but I had no intention of listening to her. I'm surprised your husband let you out the door this morning. Last night he looked like he was ready to lock you up,” Xavier said.

  Rolling her eyes, she stated, “Yeah we kind of disagreed on that.”

  “Did you sleep last night?” Ryan asked Paige. Right now he was more concerned about her stalker than the bump to her head.

  “Yes, Ryan,” she replied.

  “I mean, did you sleep well?” He knew Paige would know what he meant without him mentioning the nightmares. He was sure she wouldn’t want the others to know about that.

  “Yes, Ryan,” she replied again.

  “And you ate breakfast?” he continued his assessment.

  “Yes, Ryan,” this time she rolled her eyes at him.

  “And no more issues?” He hoped that whoever was stalking Paige had backed off. Jack and Rose were still looking into it, but so far, without any luck. His partner wasn’t going to like it, but they were going to have to fill Belinda in on what was going on.

  “No, Ryan. Now can we please focus on work? We do have two killers to find,” Paige was all but glaring at him.

  “Just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” Ryan said mildly, not taking his partner’s frustration personally. He knew if their positions were reversed, Paige would be asking him the exact same questions he was asking her.

  “Well, I'm fine and you're not my mother,” Paige grumbled.

  “All right, we’ve established Paige is doing okay despite the fact she looks like garbage,” Belinda shot a smile at Paige who rolled her eyes again. “So how about Detective Montague gives us a brief rundown of Ricky Preston’s case and then we can give him a quick rundown of Isabella’s.”

  “Eight months ago,” Xavier began, “the Englewood family was killed in their sleep, all except twenty-three-year-old Annabelle, who we originally assumed had committed the murders, since she was the only survivor and had only relatively minor injuries. Only forensics hinted otherwise.”

  “We didn’t find the murder weapon on the premises,” Diane Jolly took over the narrative. “There was no blood on her other than her own. No clothes that had been recently washed. She had blood on her feet but it had been painted on; we found horse hairs mixed with the blood.”

  “Then over the next few days, three more families were killed—the Jenners, Ranklings, and the Littletons—all with one person left alive,” Xavier continued. “We had a few suspects but it turned out to be the Englewoods’ next-door neighbor, who had been the one to call nine-one-one when he claimed he saw someone with a knife in the house. We eventually realized it was impossible for him to have seen what he claimed and realized he was our killer. By then he’d kidnapped Annabelle and used her as a distraction because he had one last family to kill. We got there in time to save Annabelle, and Barney and Vanessa Adams, but Ricky Preston disappeared.”

  “What led you to think that these recent newlywed killings were Ricky Preston’s work?” Belinda asked.

  “Ricky Preston showed an inordinate interest in blood, and the Landers and Mendleson crime scenes seemed reminiscent of Ricky’s previous ones,” Xavier explained.

  “Then we lucked out and got a fingerprint at the Mendleson house,” Diane added.

  “He’s still leaving one family member behind,” Xavier continued. “He picks couples from the hotel where he works, st
alks them, then goes into their houses at night and waits until the couple falls asleep. Then he drugs them and ties them up; then once they’re awake, he kills one of them with an axe.”

  “What’s he use to drug them?” Ryan asked, wondering whether that could be the link between Ricky and Isabella.

  “Sodium thiopental,” Diane replied.

  “Isabella, too,” Ryan took that as confirmation of how the two had connected. “She stole them from the hospital where she’s been working.”

  “I thought Isabella Everette killed her family. She seemed like a mission oriented killer; who’s she killing now?” Xavier asked.

  “She killed a Roman Hitacheel. He was a friend of the family and we think she may have killed him because he cheated on his wife. We think that may be her new mission. We were hoping to get ahead of her by asking her sister to give us the names of any other family friends who were cheating on their wives. Sofia gave us quite a long list. We have people checking them out and warning them to be careful. Isabella impersonated Roman Hitacheel’s mistress to convince him to meet her, so she may continue to employ that tactic,” Ryan explained.

  “So let’s say that Ricky meets Isabella buying the sodium thiopental,” Xavier began, “but why are the two of them still together? Isabella is seventeen and Ricky is in his mid-forties. I can't see what the two of them would have in common.”

  Ryan shrugged, “As far as I know Isabella has never even dated, but maybe meeting another murderer intrigued her.”

  A knock sounded at the door and a moment later a curly head popped in. “Excuse me,” Detective Tilton announced, “but you asked us to check out an Arthur Bentley.”

  Ryan nodded. Arthur Bentley was one of the men on Sofia’s list of possible men Isabella may go after.

  “His wife’s caregiver tried to report him missing when he disappeared in the middle of the night—the night before last. He left his disabled wife home alone. The caregiver said it wasn’t unusual for him to do that, but that he always turned up the following night. When he didn’t return last night, she got worried. Mr. Bentley also owns an apartment so we sent officers to check it out. Even though he hasn’t been missing forty-eight hours we thought it best to check it out given you're concerned he could be in danger. They found him about ten minutes ago.”

  He sighed—another victim of Isabella’s. “Okay, we’ll head straight over there. Xavier, you coming? Ricky was with Isabella last night; he may have been involved in Arthur Bentley's death.”

  “Yeah, I'm coming,” Xavier stood, wincing slightly as he jostled his shoulder.

  “Let me know how it goes,” Belinda told them.

  “We will,” Ryan agreed. “Steph, Frankie, you two coming, as well?”

  “Yep,” Stephanie nodded. “Diane, you in?”

  “I'm in,” Diane confirmed.

  They all filed from the room, he and Paige pausing at their desks on their way. Ryan saw the note at the same moment his partner did. “Is that what I think it is?” he asked her as she picked it up.

  Paige didn’t need to answer. Her shaking hands and the haunted gleam in her brown eyes confirmed, without having to speak a word, that it was another message from the person stalking her.

  * * * * *

  8:36 A.M.

  Xavier was actually feeling positive this morning.

  Ricky Preston was back within his grasp. Sofia Everette seemed like she might be able to help Annabelle. And he had managed to get a good night’s sleep. Every so often too many nights without proper sleep caught up with him, and he finally just crashed.

  Thankfully, Annabelle, too, had slept well last night. He’d given her a sleeping pill as soon as he’d gotten her home and into bed. Then she’d fallen asleep in his arms; he’d drifted off shortly after. This morning she had seemed calmer, more together, although withdrawn. When he’d suggested to her that she spend the day with someone who might understand what she was going through she had raised a skeptical eyebrow but hadn't resisted. Xavier was hoping that Sofia would know what to say to Annabelle to help her.

  Xavier was enjoying working with Ryan Xander, and Paige Hood, too. He was even considering transferring to work out of this precinct after this case was finished. Without Rose, work just hadn't felt like work. This was the first time he had felt like his old self since Rose went on maternity leave.

  He parked his car behind Ryan’s in front of a block of apartments—one of which belonged to Arthur Bentley. “Hey,” he greeted them as they all climbed out into the chilly winter morning.

  “Hey,” Ryan replied.

  Paige looked distracted and didn’t say a word. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something was going on with her—something besides the injuries she’d received last night. Ryan had been asking her questions earlier this morning in some sort of code that she apparently understood. Xavier hadn't needed to understand the specifics; the concern for his partner had been evident in Ryan’s face. And something that had been left on her desk had obviously upset her. Xavier hoped that they’d tell him what was going on if they needed help.

  “Looks like Stephanie and Diane beat us here,” Ryan gestured to the crime scene van already parked nearby.

  “I'm not sure forensics are going to turn out to be too helpful in Ricky’s case,” Xavier told them. “Ricky would rather die than go to jail. And he’s more than willing to take out anyone around him. He won't go down without a fight, and he’ll take out as many people as he can along the way. When we find him, you need to be prepared for that. He’s more likely to try and kill me than you two, because he knows killing me will devastate Annabelle. But if he thinks he can get some mileage for pain from her out of killing either or both of you, then he’ll gladly do it. I'm surprised he didn’t shoot Paige last night. That would have been a better distraction than just hurting her.” He glanced at Paige, but she had fallen behind them and seemed lost in her own thoughts. “Is she okay?” he asked Ryan quietly.

  He followed Xavier’s gaze, his brows furrowing in concern. “No, she's not.”

  “Anything I can help with?”

  Ryan looked back to Xavier, “Someone’s been harassing her, sending her threatening messages. I have people looking into it.”

  “Should she be out in the field? She seems a little…” He paused wanting to be tactful, finally settling on, “…preoccupied. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

  “Paige is a good cop; I know she seems preoccupied now, but she’ll pull it together,” Ryan sounded only mildly irritated, and a little unsure. “And if she doesn’t, I’ll make sure she stays at her desk,” he added with a sigh. “I won't let her get herself—or anyone else—killed.”

  “What are we chitchatting about?” Paige suddenly appeared before them. From the looks on their faces, it was apparently obvious. “About me,” she groaned. “Did you tell him?” she demanded, glaring at Ryan.

  “I told him someone’s stalking you.” Ryan seemed unfazed by his partner’s annoyance.

  “Great, so now he can worry about me, too. Don’t we have enough to worry about?” With a glare that now included them both, she turned and stalked toward the apartment building, disappearing inside Arthur Bentley’s apartment.

  “She’ll get over it,” Ryan announced as they followed her. “We just told our boss before we came here, and my brother and his partner are looking into it, so it’s not like it’s some kind of secret. Besides, you're working with us now, so you need to know.”

  “Hey, guys,” Frankie joined them. “You been in yet?”

  “Nope, although Paige is in there,” Ryan replied. “Diane and Stephanie, too.”

  “Any idea what the cause of death is?” the medical examiner asked.

  “No,” Ryan answered Frankie.

  “Then let’s go check it out,” Frankie paused at the door to slip booties over her shoes.

  Doing the same, he and Ryan followed her into the apartment. Paige met them, her face grim. “It’s pretty bad,” she told them.
>
  The smell of blood, which had been strong from the second they entered the apartment, was almost overwhelming as they walked into the bedroom. The scene before them was so reminiscent of Ricky’s previous crime scenes that Xavier could practically feel his presence in the room.

  Once more the room was bright red with blood.

  The floor, walls and ceiling were covered with it. Two sets of footprints tracked around the room. The man on the bed looked like every drop of blood that had been inside him was now all over him.

  “Looks like they cleaned up in the bathroom,” Diane popped her head through a door on the adjacent wall. “They did a pretty poor job, though. They obviously weren’t worried about us finding it; there’s blood in the shower and all over the floor. Seems like they just cleaned themselves off and then left.”

  “I got fingerprints, too,” Stephanie added. “I already sent a set back to the lab so we can confirm that they’re Isabella and Ricky’s.”

  While the prints would give confirmation, Xavier already knew that the two had committed this murder, seemingly together. They were a team now. He still couldn’t comprehend what would have drawn them together. He could buy that it was the drugs that had led them to first meet, but what had made them start killing together?

  “Ricky kills with an axe, right?” Paige asked. “That certainly looks like he used an axe,” she gestured at the dismembered arms and legs that lay discarded on the carpet beside the bed.

  “Looks like it,” Frankie agreed.

  “So they combined methods,” Xavier mused. “Isabella drowned Roman Hitacheel in his own blood, right?”

  “Mmhmm,” Ryan nodded. “She drew it, like when you donate blood.”