Sinful Deception

by Mel Comley

  Tamara undid her seatbelt and turned around to face Alex. “All right, I’ll tell you what’s wrong with me. We’re all breaking our necks to save your ass instead of trying to protect these girls and find out who’s killing them.”

  Alex felt the blood drain from her face then an immediate flush. She bit her tongue to keep from saying things she knew she would regret later. “Clearly, you’re upset about this. Maybe we should call the chief and exchange partners.”

  “Do you know what those girls go through? Do you?”

  “No, Tamara, I don’t.”

  Tears filled Tamara’s green eyes, and Alex swallowed hard as Tamara shouted at her. “Well, I do. They’re beaten, drugged, raped repeatedly, and once they’re broken, they’re forced to perform whatever sexual acts some deviant is willing to pay for.” Her voice broke, and she ripped off her top, turning her back to Alex. “And the good ones get branded, like this.”

  Alex gasped as the horror of what Tamara had been put through sunk in. Huge scars spelled out good fuck across her back. “Tamara—”

  Tamara opened the door to the car and pulled on her shirt. “Tell Reefer I’m sorry. I’m gonna do it my way.”

  “Tamara, wait!” she called after her, but Tamara was running and disappeared into the trees lining the road. Alex slammed her hand onto the steering wheel. “Damn it, Tamara, what the fuck am I supposed to do now?”

  Alex removed her cell phone from her jacket and dialed Reefer’s number.

  “Hello?”

  “Can you talk without anyone hearing you?” Alex asked.

  “Give me a few minutes, and I’ll call you right back.”

  Alex pulled onto the highway and concentrated on her driving until the phone rang. Reefer didn’t even give her time to say hello. “Where’s Tamara, Alex?”

  Talking to him through her Bluetooth device, she said, “Somewhere along the Taconic State Parkway North. She said to tell you she was sorry, but she was gonna do it her way, and then she ran off.”

  “Can you cover for her a little while and give her some time to come around?”

  “Yeah. I’ll head on over to Ghent. Reefer, I’m sorry. I should have done something.”

  “It’s not your fault, Alex. I should have told the chief she couldn’t work this case. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  Alex pulled off the road and parked. She wanted to scream at someone—anyone. Especially the Escape Artist, or Samael, or whoever the hell he was. She reached into the glove compartment and withdrew the car’s instruction manual. She found the right page, fiddled with the GPS until she had it set to take her straight to the farm, drove back onto the highway, and pressed down hard on the accelerator.

  ~

  Less than two hours later, Alex pulled into a driveway and parked next to a patrol car. Several police officers were standing around a barn in the distance. An older gentleman ran out of the farmhouse as she opened her door.

  “Hey, you can’t park there, miss.”

  “It appears to be the only available space at the moment, so why can’t I park here?”

  He ran up to her, breathless. “We got some big shot detectives coming in from New York City, and I was told to keep that space open for them.”

  Alex opened her jacket to reveal the badge on her belt. “Detective Alex Fox. Can you tell me who’s in charge from the local force?”

  His face flushed a bright shade of pink. “Sorry, ma’am, guess I wasn’t expecting somebody so pretty—well, you know what I mean.”

  “The name of the officer in charge, please?”

  “Oh, that would be Sergeant Hardmeat, ma’am.” He waved toward the barn. “He’s the one leaning against the rails.

  Surely I heard that wrong. “I’m sorry, what did you say his last name was?”

  “Sergeant Hardmeat, ma’am.”

  Alex bit down on her lower lip and studied the older man’s face. There were no signs of humor on his face or in his grey eyes.

  “Want me to keep an eye on your car, ma’am?”

  “Thank you,” Alex mumbled as she set off toward the barn. Hardmeat? It was a good thing Crimshaw wasn’t with her. He could never have kept a straight face, and Alex would be damned if she’d ever tell him about this. As she walked across the grass, the smell of the pigpen took her breath away. How could the sergeant stand so close to it? He saw her and walked toward her.

  “You Detective Fox?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this. We had old Bert move the pigs to another pen, but they’d already messed up a few of the parts.”

  Alex extracted her notebook. “I understand you found a backpack?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Contained some notebooks, clothes, and a school ID belonging to Candy Granger. That’s what made us call your borough. We saw the missing person’s report on her.”

  “Could I see it, please?” Alex asked.

  He turned and motioned to one of his officers. “Detective Fox wants the backpack.”

  Alex took the evidence bag from the officer and examined the backpack through the plastic. “There’s blood on it, but I don’t suppose there’s any way to know if it’s hers yet. I understand you found some body parts?”

  “Yes, ma’am. We found two feet and a leg with a partial foot. We don’t know if the pigs ate the rest or what else we’ll find when we finish digging out the pen.”

  Alex studied the terrain around the barn then looked at the farmhouse. “It seems odd to me, Sergeant, that someone could have driven down to the barn without the owner seeing or hearing them. Have you questioned him?”

  Sergeant Hardmeat pointed to the road. “We’ve had quite a bit of rain in the last few days. If somebody had driven in here, you’d see the track.”

  “Is there another way in? Maybe behind the barn?”

  “Dry Ditch Road runs on the other side of those trees. Somebody could have parked there and walked in.”

  Alex followed the direction of his gaze. “Has anyone checked to see?”

  “We searched the immediate area around the barn. What exactly would we be looking for, ma’am?”

  Alex wished Tamara hadn’t run off. Apparently, Sergeant Hardmeat resented the ‘big shot detective from the city’ interfering in his case. “Thank you, Sergeant Hardmeat. There’s an APB out on Duke MacIntyre and Drucilla Granger. He drives an old red pickup truck. If any of your officers should run across something like that, please let us know.” She handed him the backpack. “If you’d hold on to that, I’d appreciate it.”

  “Did you say Drucilla?”

  “Yes, Drucilla Granger. She’s Candy’s mother.”

  He chuckled. “Funny name.”

  Alex turned away and rolled her eyes. You’re one to talk about funny names. She headed toward the tree line behind the barn.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to check out the area, Sergeant Hardmeat.”

  She heard his mumbled curses behind her. Less than a minute later, two uniformed officers joined her. She gave them a brief smile. “We’re looking for blood trails, a red pickup, cigarette butts, or anything someone might have dropped if they walked in this way.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The officers spread out about twenty feet on either side of her.

  Alex walked slowly, studying the ground, until she reached the tree line. She should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy. Pushing aside a branch, she moved into the dense forest. She’d gone about thirty feet when the stains appeared, and she knelt beside a pile of leaves. “Officers!”

  She heard the footsteps moments before they burst into the small clearing. “We’re going to need an evidence bag, and we need to make sure all these leaves are collected. Bring some markers, too. There may be other things as we continue.”

  “I’ll go, and I’ll let Sergeant Hardmeat know what’s going on, ma’am.”

  Great. I’m sure he’ll be so pleased the big shot detective found something his crew missed.
“Why don’t you stay here until your partner returns? I’m going to keep moving.”

  “Officer Green is a fast runner, ma’am. He’ll be back in a few minutes. I’d feel better—and I think the sergeant would, too—if you waited.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Officer Arnold Freeman, ma’am.”

  “I suppose the sergeant told you not to let me out of your sight?”

  He stared at a spot directly above her head. “I’d feel better, ma’am, if you’d wait until Officer Green returned.”

  Alex sighed. She was learning the thin line that existed between not being rude to locals, and doing her job. At the moment, she was tired, hungry, and worried about Tamara. She wanted to finish as quickly as possible and get out of there. “I’m sorry, Officer Freeman. I have my orders, too, and they come directly from the chief, so I’ll be going forward.” She pushed aside a tree limb and continued to move through the trees. There was no more blood, so she assumed the body parts had been in some sort of container and whoever had transported them had set the container down long enough for the blood to seep out onto the leaves.

  Sunlight flowed through a clearing, and Alex stepped out of the trees. “Damn.” Hardmeat was definitely going to be mad. Sitting less than thirty feet away, off the side of the road, was Duke MacIntyre’s red pickup.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “Any luck on that website, Reefer?” Blake asked.

  Reefer glanced at the screen, his mind only half on the job. “I found one that was auctioning off girls. Young girls. I’m inclined to believe there’s a connection between this site and the one Durrell was talking about.”

  “Surely there can’t be two of those places operating here,” Crimshaw said. “I say we get a search warrant for Second Chance and raid the place.”

  “Durrell said they had the girls’ pictures posted on the site. If we had that evidence and any of the victims we’ve found so far were listed there, we’d have no problem getting a warrant.” Reefer sighed and shut down the computer. “We’re wasting time. If there was anything at Second Chance to find, I can pretty much guarantee it’s long gone now. We’ve got Durrell’s word Corey Graves and Patterson are involved. We shake them up, make them talk, then we take this place down.”

  “Patterson’s still recovering, so we’re not going to get much out of him. Derek is questioning Graves, but so far, he’s sticking to his story he never heard of this place. Durrell could have tossed out two names he thought we’d want to hear, knowing their past association with Alexandra,” Blake said.

  Reefer nodded. “I hadn’t thought of that, but you could be right.”

  “Have you heard from Alex and Tamara?” Nobby asked.

  “Last time I talked to them, they were on their way to Ghent. I figure that’s going to take them a while.”

  Blake pushed back his chair and stood. “It’s well past lunchtime, so what say we all take a break, grab something to eat, and meet back here around threeish?”

  Crimshaw patted his stomach. “Was hoping somebody would say that. I think I’ve lost five pounds since breakfast.”

  ~

  Alex’s phone rang and unknown popped up on the caller ID. Not now, please. Closing her eyes for a moment, she took a deep breath. She had to answer. Otherwise, he would carry out his threat of punishment against someone she cared about. “Hey, I can’t talk right now.”

  “Your job seems to be interfering with our relationship. Maybe I need to make myself a priority in your life again. Is that what you want, Foxy?”

  I’m going to enjoy working with you. Alex couldn’t fathom why the words ran through her mind at that exact moment, but it gave her an idea. “No, that isn’t what I want. If you want to be helpful, find Duke MacIntyre for me. He’s the reason I can’t talk to you right now.”

  His laugh turned her blood to ice, and she shivered. “Do you want him alive, Foxy, or can I play with him before I hand him over?”

  “Why don’t you warm him up for me?” An image of Patterson flashed through her mind. “But I need him to be able to talk.”

  “I’ll get back with you.”

  The line went dead, and Alex let out the breath she’d been holding and swallowed the bile that always seemed to clog her throat when she had to deal with him.

  “Everything okay, Detective?”

  Alex shoved her phone in her pocket. “Everything’s fine. It looks like you guys have this under control. I’m going to grab the backpack and head to the city.”

  “Sergeant Hardmeat had to leave, but he said to tell you he’d send you a copy of his report as soon as it’s finished. I’ll give you a ride to your car if you want one. Only take about five minutes. Save you from having to fight the tree limbs going back.”

  It wasn’t a hard choice: thirty minutes of fighting limbs and bugs, or five minutes with Officer Green asking questions she wasn’t authorized to answer. Sod it. She would tell him what she could and ignore everything else. “That would be great.”

  Just as she’d suspected, no sooner had she closed her door and buckled her seatbelt than the questions began. “You’re part of this new special investigations team, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Love to be part of something like that. What exactly do you guys do?”

  Alex decided to turn the tables on him. “Pretty much the same thing you do. How long have you been on the force, Officer Green?”

  “Almost three years.”

  Alex fired off another question, not giving him time to formulate one. “Sergeant Hardmeat seems like a decent bloke. What’s it like working under him?”

  Green’s hesitation spoke volumes. “He’s a good man. Doesn’t always do things the way I would, but I guess that’s pretty much the same for every officer starting out.”

  “So what would you have done differently in this case?” Alex asked.

  His right eye started to twitch, and Alex bit her lip to keep from laughing. Hardmeat’s going to be miffed none of his questions even got asked. The house came into view.

  “I guess the same thing you did: spread out and search the area.”

  He pulled in behind her car, and Alex decided to give him a reprieve. She knew what Hardmeat wanted to know—was she going to file anything about his failure to search the area properly? “We had a lot more information on this case about MacIntyre, the truck, and the situation than your department, Officer Green. I’m sure you don’t have body parts found in your county often, and it’s a shock when something like that happens.” Alex removed her seatbelt and opened her door. “Please tell Sergeant Hardmeat I said thank you, and I’ll make sure he gets any additional information we come up with on MacIntyre in case he’s still in your area. Do you know where he left the backpack?”

  Officer Green pointed to the hood of her car. “It’s right there, ma’am. It’s been a real pleasure working with you.”

  “Ditto.” Alex closed the door and walked to her vehicle. She hoped the sun beaming down through the plastic hadn’t corroded any evidence the backpack might have contained. If it had, the blame for that lay with her. Her first priority should have been to secure the evidence before she started the search. She turned and waved to Officer Green, hoping Hardmeat wouldn’t be too much of a jerk with him. He was young, and from what she’d seen, he had a lot of potential.

  Alex sighed, started her car, and headed to the parkway. The three-hour drive was far too much time, with her current frame of mind. She knew exactly how Tamara felt about the young girls being murdered—she felt the same way every time the Escape Artist killed again. The past was a horrible master, and no matter how much she did to try to make up for her mistakes, it was never enough.

  A figure in the distance gradually came into focus, and Alex slowed the car. It couldn’t be, could it? She pulled to the side of the road and parked. Something in Tamara’s gait told her the tears were done with. She had faced her demons and won.

  The passenger door opened, and Tamara cl
imbed in and fastened her seatbelt. Alex set the GPS to take them home. “You missed Sergeant Hardmeat.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Oh, come on, Tamara. If I’d said that to Crimshaw, he would be rolling on the floor by now.”

  The corners of Tamara’s lips lifted. “How was he?”

  “In need of a lot of tenderizer. And he had the nerve to tell me Drucilla was a funny name.”

  “Do you think MacIntyre and Granger did all this?” Tamara asked.

  Alex shook her head. “Not really. I find the setup far too neat and convenient. And none of the bodies had any missing external parts, which means we have two more bodies out there somewhere. They found two feet and a leg with a partial foot attached.”

  “And they don’t think the pigs ate the rest of it?”

  “Pigs will pretty much eat anything if they’re hungry enough, even bones. Fortunately for us, the owner kept them well fed. If you’re going to go to all the trouble to dispose of parts, especially if you have to carry those parts almost a mile, wouldn’t you dispose of the entire bodies?”

  “I would, and I wouldn’t dump just a backpack. I would have gotten rid of clothes, jewelry, or anything belonging to all the victims.”

  “And they left the truck within easy distance to be found,” Alex added. “Which means they had another car and they wanted the truck to be found.”

  Tamara reached for the backpack and examined it. “I guess Mrs. Granger could have driven a car, if she had one to drive. Problem is there’s no car registered to her, and I don’t think she’s smart enough to steal one. Any blood on the inside of the backpack or any of the items inside?”

  “I haven’t gone through it yet, but no one mentioned any. What are you thinking?” Alex asked.

  “I’m not sure yet, but that’s not a lot of blood, and it’s not splatter like you see at most crime scenes. In fact, it looks more like someone poured it on. Reefer sort of chewed me out after we left the trailer the first time and I referred to Candy as a poor kid. He said I didn’t know that and maybe she was as bad as, or even worse than, her parents.”