Sable Quinn Trilogy Boxed Set

by K. J. Dahlen

  “I killed him in self defense,” Sable told him. “Along with Micah’s sons, Sam and Shawn.”

  “And is Noah seeking revenge for their deaths?”

  “Possibly, but more importantly he wants his father’s knife back.”

  “Is he still here, in town I mean?”

  Sable sighed deeply. “Yes, he’s still here. He told me if I give him the knife, he’ll disappear; otherwise, he said he would make my life a living hell.”

  “Is he likely to start murdering people if he doesn’t get what he wants?”

  “I don’t know,” Sable admitted. “My guess is he’ll only come after me.”

  “But we can’t count on that, can we?” Mason asked.

  “Not one hundred per cent, no, but he would have no reason to hurt anyone else.”

  “This man is a serial killer, is he not?”

  “Probably.”

  “Then he kills people on a whim. We can’t count on the fact he only wants you. Killing is what he does for kicks or just because he can’t help himself. If he’s been in the company of another serial killer for years, he might not be able to stop himself. We are going to treat this case as if he’s out there looking for his next victim. It’s my job to protect the people of this city. Don’t ask me to believe this nut is only after you. If he starts a blood bath in my city, he’s going to be dealing with me,” Mason told her.

  “Fair enough, but please let us do what we can to stop him,” Nick said.

  “As long as you keep us in the loop.” Mason said. “If I find you’re hiding information, I will ask you to leave my city.” Mason stood and walked toward the door. “We can set you up in the conference room down the hall. Any and all information related to this case will be available to both you and us in there.”

  Sable glanced at Nick before she nodded at Mason. She had a feeling Nix was going to try and take over her case, but at this point there wasn’t much they could do to stop him. If they didn’t share what information they had, they would be asked to leave and that would serve no purpose.

  An hour later, they got the preliminary report from the medical examiner. Maggie had only been dead about half an hour when she was discovered. Noah had struck fast once he found her. The M.E. found fourteen stab wounds in her body, with the last one being the fatal one. Noah knew exactly how to inflict the most damage before he took her life. The M.E. reported Noah had taken his time inflicting the most amount of damage and pain before he finally ended his mother’s suffering. He also confirmed the carving in Maggie’s forehead was put there before she died.

  They had taped the letter from Maggie up on one board and Mason had asked Sable to write up a family tree so he could understand the family dynamics. When she was finished, he studied it for a moment then stared at her for a long time. He didn’t have to say the words.

  Nix had set up a task force. He had assigned Marie Thomas and her partner Joe Davis to work with Sable, Nick, Brandi and Quentin. He would be overseeing the operation.

  It was late afternoon when Marie came over to Sable. “We reserved you rooms at the Holiday Inn a couple of blocks away.”

  Sable looked up at her and smiled. “Thanks.”

  “Can I ask you a question?” Marie asked.

  “Sure.”

  “I’ve gone over all the evidence in this case and I have to say, this is the strangest case I’ve come across. This is one seriously messed up family.”

  “Tell me about it. Circumstances aside, I can tell you Gabriel and Emma were as normal as you and I are. Their son Greg only murdered to keep in touch with his son Micah. He didn’t know about Richard, and I think that’s where the trouble came from. Once Richard and Micah hooked up, they began a killing spree that went unchallenged for over twenty years. Micah was the truly bad seed. There was something in his brain that allowed him to kill people with no thought of right and wrong.”

  “Aren’t you afraid some part of Micah might be inside you?” Marie asked. “I mean if he was your father, the same blood in him runs through you too.”

  Sable leaned back in her chair and looked at Marie for a moment. “That’s a fair question and yes, the thought did run through my mind, especially since Sam and Shawn, my half brothers followed in Micah’s footsteps and became killers like our father. The only difference between us was our upbringing. I had two very loving parents. Although Micah had the same advantage, he chose his own path. He raised my brothers to be just like him. I feel sad they didn’t have the same advantage I had. What happened to them wasn’t their fault. The same thing happened to Noah. He listened to the wrong person when he was most impressionable. Now he has to be stopped.”

  “Do you really think you can stop him?”

  “I have to. I don’t see any other choice.” Sable said. “If I don’t stop him, he’ll continue his own killing spree. He’ll take what Micah taught him and make it his own. Noah isn’t going to stop killing until someone stops him.”

  “Hopefully, you can stop him before he kills again,” Marie said.

  “That’s what we came here to do.”

  “If all this guy wants is his father’s knife, why don’t you just give him the knife?”

  “Because that won’t stop him. If he gets the knife, he said he would disappear. If he does that, in six months or a year he’ll turn up somewhere else. No one would be safe then.” Sable said. “I can’t and won’t give Noah his father’s knife.”

  “I can understand. I guess I wouldn’t either,” Marie told her. “I just wonder why he wants it so bad.”

  Sable shrugged. “Only he knows the real reason why and he may never be willing to share that. All I know is I have to bring him down or die trying.”

  ~ * ~

  Later that evening, Sable and Nick sat in the bar of the Holiday Inn. Sable was drinking a whiskey Coke and Nick was having a beer. She had been quiet all afternoon.

  “What are you thinking about now?” Nick asked.

  “I’m not really sure. I thought for a moment this nightmare was over when Shawn died; now we’re right back into it.”

  “I know, but hopefully this is the last time.”

  “That thought doesn’t make this any easier.” Sable glanced out the window for a moment then looked back at her boss. “Marie asked me if I was afraid part of Micah was inside me. I told her I wasn’t, but what happens if the part of Micah that made him a killer ever came to life? Would I notice it before it was too late?”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Nick said.

  “Why not? I have the same blood Micah had. My blood is the same as Sam and Shawn. The same elements in Noah’s blood are in mine. What makes me so special? What if I become the same kind of person as they were?”

  “You may have the same elements in your blood they do but you have something they didn’t,” Nick assured her.

  She turned to him. “What is that?”

  “You have me and the rest of the team,” Nick told her. “We aren’t about to let you go down that road.”

  “But would you see the signs and be able to stop me before I went too far?”

  “I would like to think so.”

  “Thank you.” Sable smiled. “It’s good to know I have someone close enough to put a bullet in my head should the need arrive.”

  “Hey the honor will be mine,” Nick said.

  “Well, I’m going to my room. It’s been a long day and I need a shower.”

  “I think I’m going to stay here and have another beer or two,” Nick said as he sipped his beer. “Right now we don’t have too much to go on, but I have a feeling within the next few days things are going to get very interesting.”

  Chapter Four

  The red numbers on the alarm clock read one thirty when the phone began ringing in Sable’s room. Sable came instantly awake and reached for her phone. “Hello.”

  “Hello Sable.”

  She recognized the voice from her earlier conversation. “Noah, what do you want?”
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br />   “I thought you should know you were right.”

  “What was I right about?” Sable sat up and snapped on the bedside light.

  “Micah murdered my father.”

  “I thought you told me he wouldn’t have done that.”

  “I was wrong,” Noah told her.

  “How did you find out?”

  “When you mentioned Micah wrote a diary, I went home and looked for some sort of book. He was always writing something or other down as we traveled. Anyway I went home and found the one I was looking for. When I read it for myself, I knew it was true.”

  “Did Micah say why he murdered your father?”

  Sable heard him sigh, “Yes, he did.” He hesitated then told her. “He murdered his brother because he felt Richard was going to betray him.”

  “What did he mean by that?”

  “Richard was afraid Micah might leave him. His life was changing and my father didn’t like the idea. He thought they should stay together. Together, they could get out of anything. Micah said that didn’t fit with what he wanted to do. He said they had an argument and he ended up grabbing the knife. He said he stuck it into his brother’s body. He said Richard looked stunned. He never thought Micah would turn on him.”

  “What did you mean when you said you went home and found the diary?”

  Noah chuckled. “After Micah took the boys away from their mother, he settled down for awhile. He bought a place to live and found a regular job. He wanted the best for his sons so he tried to give up the life he’d been leading. It worked for a number of years.”

  “What happened then?”

  “He read an article and flew into a rage. He packed up the boys and hit the road.”

  “What was the article about? Did he say?”

  Noah chuckled. “Oh yeah, he ranted about it. It was about the time his grandfather was judging a man name Lyle Jensen. Lyle was some kind of wanna-be mobster in Chicago and he was on trial for murder. The prosecution made a deal with one of his men against Lyle. They gave the man immunity for his testimony. The Judge was quoted as saying justice was served by getting Lyle off the streets. The lesser offender was granted freedom but that was the price society had to pay sometimes.”

  “Micah would have a problem with that verdict.”

  “He did indeed have a problem with the verdict. He saw the fact that the second man got away with his crimes. Micah said he knew what his job was at that point. He was on a mission to correct the justice system, even if it meant breaking the rules.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “Micah wanted a record for his mission. He wanted someone to understand why he did what he did. He wanted someone to understand the real person he was.”

  “Micah was nothing more than a killer.” Sable told him. “And the only reason he killed was because he liked to kill.”

  “You didn’t know him very well if that’s what you think,” Noah said.

  “He never gave me that chance. He dropped me into a dry well with Richard’s body when I was four. Then he turned and walked away.”

  “Yeah, I read that too.”

  “Then you know he wasn’t the best father figure anyone could have.”

  “He was a good father to Sam and Shawn. I saw how he took care of us all. He loved his boys,” Noah disputed.

  “But in the end it didn’t matter. He was going to murder them too.” She paused for a moment. “Did he ever mention me at all?”

  Noah hesitated. “No, I never heard him mention you until about four years ago. We were in Chicago and he caught sight of you. I thought maybe he picked you out as a target but then he noticed your eyes. He followed you for days until he found out your name. At first he was thunderstruck. Then he became obsessed with you. I saw him watching every move you made. We finally had to leave town.”

  “You said he bought a home for the boys. Where did he do that?”

  Noah chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “So tell me anyway.”

  “He bought a warehouse he was going to turn into a home. Micah was very good with his hands.”

  “It seems I didn’t know Micah at all,” Sable admitted.

  “He liked this city. He said he could look at the bluffs and feel their vastness and he could look at the river and see its timelessness. Here, he was close enough to Chicago yet far enough away to not draw attention to himself. He always came back here every few months, to rest and recharge.”

  Sable perked up at the news. Micah bought a warehouse right here in La Crosse.

  “Did you happen to bring Richard’s knife with you?”

  “I told you before I won’t give you the knife.”

  “And I told you if you didn’t, I was going to make your life a living hell. Did you think I was kidding?”

  “Did you actually think I would give it to you?”

  “Yes, I thought the fact I would kill you if you failed might have given you the idea that giving me the knife would save your life. I thought you might want the one chance I was giving you.

  “Tell me something, why do you want the knife so bad?”

  “It’s the only thing my father left me. Micah always said that. From the time I joined him, he told me I should get the knife back. It was part of my heritage. Something he and Richard put together a long time ago for their children. As I am the only one left, it’s all mine. I thought it was gone forever then my mother told me she gave the knife to you.”

  “I don’t understand,” Sable said. “But then you aren’t the only one left. I’m still here. Whatever Micah and Richard left behind could belong to me too.”

  “I’m sure you don’t understand. You never understood what Micah was all about. But don’t worry, I am the only one left to set the record right. You are a dead woman. I need that knife. I’ll give you twenty four hours then I’m coming after you.”

  “Bring it on.” Sable told him. “If Micah and Sam and Shawn couldn’t kill me what makes you think you can?”

  “I want it more than they did. You are the only thing standing between me and true freedom.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “I think I’ll leave that for you to figure out.”

  Sable gripped the phone when she heard the silence that comes when the person you are talking to hangs up on you. Noah had been very cryptic but she had learned a lot about her opponent. There was something he wasn’t telling her; something she needed to figure out. She reached for the phone again and dialed another room number. When Nick answered, she said, “I think you need to get over here. Noah just called me.”

  A few minutes later Nick knocked at her door. Sable looked up and down the hall before she closed the door after him. She turned and saw Nick staring at her.

  “Did you say Noah called you?”

  “Yeah, he called. He said he found out Maggie didn’t kill Richard and wanted me to know. When I asked him how he knew for sure, he told me Micah kept a diary for people to know why he did what he did. He wanted a written record of the reason why and how he became a killer.”

  “He did what?”

  “Apparently Micah wrote everything down. He wanted people to know the real reason he killed.”

  “What else did Noah have to say?”

  “He said, after Micah took the boys, he settled here in La Crosse. He even went so far as to buy a warehouse to turn it into a home for him and the boys.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Oh yeah. He said Micah liked the area because he could see the bluffs and the river and he was close enough to keep track of what was happening in Chicago without actually being there.”

  “He didn’t give you an address, did he?”

  “No, but he did give me a deadline. He’s given me twenty four hours to turn over the knife or he’s going to kill me.”

  “What exactly did he say about the knife?”

  “He said Micah told him it was his birthright, whatever that means.”
<
br />   Nick thought for a moment. “He’s mentioned that before, hasn’t he? I mean the thing about the knife being his birthright. Okay, we need to track down the sale of the warehouse and find out where it is. Maybe there is something there that will help us end this nightmare once and for all.”

  Sable was so tired she couldn’t think straight. She hadn’t told him or anyone else about her insomnia of the last few weeks. “I don’t think I can do anymore tonight. I really need to get some sleep.”

  Nick stared at her. She had dark circles under her eyes. Her skin looked pale and translucent and she had lost weight. She was slender before, but now she looked hollow.

  “Are you ok?”

  “No not really. I haven’t been sleeping all that well. I took a mild sleeping aid earlier and I think it’s finally kicking in. I don’t think I can keep my eyes open much longer.”

  “How long has this been going on?”

  “Not very long.”

  “How long is not very long?” Nick demanded.

  Sable walked over to the window and pushed the curtains open. Looking out over the city, she didn’t know what to say. Finally she spoke. “The nightmares began again about two weeks ago, right in the middle of the Sam/Shawn thing. I couldn’t believe I had brothers or that they were going to kill me. It was like Micah was still coming after me. I mean I watched the man burn to his death and I knew he was dead, but he was still pulling strings to bring me down. He couldn’t kill me when I was a kid, he didn’t get me before he died, but he was still trying. I guess I just didn’t understand that type of hatred.”

  “But you lived when they died.”

  Sable turned to look at him. “Yeah, I lived, but Greg, Gabriel, and Emma didn’t. I was just beginning to know them then they were gone. I never got the chance to tell them they were coming to mean something to me. I never got the chance to tell them I loved them.”

  “I think they knew. Sometimes you don’t have to say the words.”

  Sable walked to the bed and sat down. “I know, but the trauma I lived through as a kid left its mark. It took me a long time to warm up to Grace and Gene when I first went to live with them. I did eventually grow to love them as my parents, but there was a distance that never seemed to go away. For awhile I was able to forget my birth mother and I lived like a normal kid. I never knew Grace was my real birth mother until it was too late. Then Micah came back and I had to remember all the painful stuff. Micah’s death didn’t make all of that go away.”