“To the point.”
“Well, we know that Leslie Keyes was special to him and that she had a kid.”
“Tell us something we don’t know.”
Stenson’s chest extended and he remained quiet for a few seconds. “I spoke with Monica’s mother.”
“You what? You spoke to—”
“You saw the similarities between Leslie and Monica. He picked Monica for a reason. She’s pregnant. He wants to make a family with her.”
“How long have you known this?”
A pulse tapped in Stenson’s cheek.
“How long?” Jack’s voice boomed with the question.
“I found this out after her disappearance.”
“Get out of here. I want you out of my sight.” Jack pointed a finger down the road in the direction they came from.
“But, I just told you.” Stenson fought off Hanes’s efforts to pull him away.
“Here are my keys. Go. Do yourself a favor. Do as he says.” Hanes’s eyes locked with Stenson’s.
Paige and Zachery weren’t returning my eye contact.
“Fine.” Stenson scooped the keys dangling from Hanes’s hand and took off in the direction of the vehicle. The engine roared, and, seconds later, the wheels kicked up dust as Stenson gunned it in reverse and pulled a quick U-turn.
Hanes rubbed his forehead and Jack directed him to the back of the SUV where we had set up a computer with graphic imaging of the surroundings.
Chapter 54
Sydney couldn’t take her eyes off the knife. It had come to rest by her feet. If she could stand on the balls of her feet, she might be able to reach it.
She looked over at them. He had Leslie’s hands tied above her head.
Sydney took a deep breath. She could do this. She had to do this.
A cry escaped from Leslie. “Please don’t…”
He stopped moving and stared down on her. “You tried to kill me!”
“I didn’t…no, I wasn’t…”
“We were going to be a family.” He ripped her dress, starting at the bottom and working his way up.
“How did you—”
“You are rubbing your stomach all the time.”
“Would the drug you gave me hurt the baby? Please.”
“You only care about you!”
Leslie was pregnant? She had to act now to save all three of them. There was no room for debate—it was live or die, and the time to decide was now.
He was transforming into a rabid dog, his movements abrupt. He undid Leslie’s legs and moved her off the chair to the floor beside it. He was getting ready to violate her.
Sydney moved, the legs of the chair dangling in the air beneath her. She could almost reach the knife. Just a little farther.
She took one quick glance over at them. He wasn’t paying her any attention, his intent and focus was on Leslie.
Sydney buckled down the amount she needed. She got a good grip on the knife and quickly sliced through her ropes.
She came up behind him and burrowed the blade into his back.
He arched backward and let out a wail.
The adrenaline pulsing through her had slowed everything down. She pulled the knife out. Her hands were wet with blood and shaking badly.
He shot up from the floor.
She plunged the knife into his chest. He faltered back a few steps, his eyes fixated on the knife embedded in his flesh. Blood poured from the wound.
She didn’t think she possessed the strength to pull it out and stab him again.
Behind him, Leslie got to her feet. She grabbed a plate, ready to hit him on the head when he pulled something out from the back of his pants.
He stepped to the right, placing himself to the side of the two women and held a gun on them. He flailed it between them.
“I will kill both of you!” He jabbed the barrel forward, gesturing for them to move in the direction he wanted. “Back to the shed now! Do as I say!”
Sydney and Leslie locked eyes for a few seconds as he led them back to the depths of hell, a gun at their backs.
Stenson beat the heel of his palm into the steering wheel. “How dare he fucking do this? He can’t take me off the case when I’m the one that found it.”
He swerved hard to the right and pulled to a stop. He had followed directions his entire life. He played within the lines. He was a momma’s boy. He didn’t even remember crossing the woman. Possibly his greatest offense being the length of his hair.
Now there was too much at stake. He needed to solve this. He needed to bring Holmes in, before the FBI did. Then he would have his pick of any high-ranking position within law enforcement, local or federal.
He pulled out his smartphone and brought up Google Earth and smiled when he noticed his entry point. The FBI would likely hit the house first. He’d go about it his own way and beat them all to the find.
Chapter 55
Jack assigned Paige and me to go about things from the right side of the property. For that, we would go through the field in front of us, scan the back of the property, and make our way west to the shed. It would take effort to reach it, but I was ready. A group of five more, consisting of local officers and detectives, would be going with us.
“You sure it’s necessary to have all this backup in each location?” Paige asked.
“Since when do you question my directions?” Jack made eye contact with her, and her shoulders lowered slightly.
I knew what her question really alluded to. It wasn’t about the number of people. It was the fact she was matched up with me. We needed to talk when all of this was over.
Jack gave out the rest of the directions. He separated himself from Zachery, assigning them each two seasoned detectives and two officers. Jack’s team included Hanes.
“All right, let’s stop this bastard and get those women out safely. Stay alert. Stay safe.” Jack dismissed us with a clap, and we all headed out.
The ditch at the side of the road went down on a steep angle, at least seven feet. Paige and I led the way, local law enforcement followed behind us.
“You don’t like being assigned with me, do you?” I asked. A few seconds after saying it, I dared to look over at her.
“I don’t care.” She continued facing forward and kept an even pace.
“We should really talk about what’s going on between us.”
She stopped walking. The local officers followed her lead.
“Do you see something already?” The officer who asked appeared to be mid-thirties and was likely carrying twenty extra pounds, but distribution on his frame made it appear as more, tipping the scales toward obesity.
“No.” She let the single word out, on a puff of breath. “Why would I have a problem?” She continued to avoid eye contact.
The others walked around us.
“If we’re going to die today, I want you to know something.”
“You’re off to a bad start.”
“A bad start?”
“Yeah, if you think negatively like that you’ll make it happen.”
“You mean a self-fulfilling prophecy?”
“Yeah.” She smiled at me weakly. Instinct told me that she might not want to hear what I had to say, and, since part of me wasn’t sure I wanted to say it, I let it go.
“We’ll all walk out of this alive,” I said.
“Now that’s a better attitude.”
Stenson raced around the perimeter. He would go straight to the shed.
It took him fifteen long minutes, but he was comfortable with the timing. The FBI was starting off on foot, a mile down the road from the opposite direction. He was only about a quarter mile away from the property coming at it from this end.
He slowed his approach when he noticed the roadblock ahead. A cruiser was parked on an angle, its lights flashing. An officer stood in front with both hands on his hips.
“Sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to turn around.”
Stenson smiled when he recog
nized the officer. They had gone through the academy together.
“Walsh, long time no talk. I was told to come at it from this end. Special Agent Harper told me—”
“I’ll have to call it in. I wasn’t told to expect you.” He went for his radio.
“Come on, man, you don’t trust me? If I wasn’t told to come here, don’t you think I would be home having a barbeque and kicking back with a few beers?”
“Yeah, well, I suppose.”
“Speaking of beers we should get together soon.” As Stenson carried on the meaningless conversation, seconds ticked off in his head.
“Yeah, we should.” He smiled and pulled up on his pants.
Stenson pointed to the field on his right. “You going to stop me?”
“Nah, go ahead.”
Stenson was already into a run before all of Walsh’s words got out.
I could make out the house from where we were. If Holmes looked out a back window, he would have no problem seeing us. We had to keep going until we reached the other end.
“Keep low,” Paige said as she crouched down and kept in a forward movement.
The rest of us followed her lead and duck waddled behind her, dividing our focus between the house and the path in front of us.
“At the back side of the property,” Paige said to let Jack and the other teams know where we were. “No sign of Holmes. We’re still clear.”
“Us too. Approaching the front of the house now,” Jack responded.
Chapter 56
Stenson reached the shed in less than two minutes. He was happy that he kept up at the gym and favored running as a workout. He leaned his back against the building and steadied his breath. He didn’t need heavy breathing to disclose his position. He paused when he heard footsteps and what sounded like the dragging of metal pass through the shed.
He strained to listen—the sound traveled through to the back, and then a door opened. He didn’t hear it close.
Stenson went down the exterior of the shed and peeked around the back. He saw Holmes walking away, a shovel in his hand. Holmes followed a worn dirt path toward a wooded area.
There was a blood-stained hole in the back of Holmes’s shirt—one of his victims had fought back.
Had he just killed her? Was he getting ready to bury her?
Now was Stenson’s opportunity. The women must be nearby. He had to move. He didn’t know how far away Holmes was going or how fast he would return so Stenson moved around to the front of the shed. The main door was open and so was a regular doorway at the back. A soft breeze blew through, bringing with it the smell of freshly cut grass mingled with floral overtures.
He found irony in the contrast of beauty and horror. No doubt hell awaited him. The women could be beheaded or hanging upside down on their way to death. He had to hurry.
His eyes swept over the walls, searching for any hidden rooms or doorways. There was nothing that stood out. Manual harvesters hung from long nails on the wall. A large riding lawn mower was tucked into a back corner. His hand snapped to his nose in time to stifle a sneeze. It was then he noticed the door in the floor.
He pulled on the door and found it unlocked. Holmes must have been confident no one would come along and free the women.
Or were there women to free?
The thought pulsed through Stenson’s veins.
The door opened to a narrow stairwell and went underground. There was a light on down there. He put his hands on the walls as he descended. The air was stale, but that wasn’t what had his attention.
Two women stood, one at each end of a large table. Their wrists were bound to chains that led to a suspension system above them and fed into a ratcheting mechanism.
This was Holmes’s torture and murder room.
Sydney Poole stood closest to him and Monica Rice was at the far end.
“Please help us!” Sydney’s eyes were full of tears. “He’s coming back. He’s going to kill us.”
Stenson checked their restraints. Each woman had a small padlock securing the chains. He needed the keys. His eyes darted around the room. If he could find metal cutters or something…
He moved to the other side of the room where a counter lined the wall. It had storage cabinets above, drawers below. In the third one he got lucky and found an awl.
“I’m a cop with Dumfries PD.” He worked at freeing Monica.
“He’ll be back soon. You have to hurry.” Monica wiggled her wrists.
“Just keep still. One more…” He snapped the lock open.
“Please! He’ll be back.” Sydney cried.
It pulled at Stenson’s heart, thinking about all she had been through. “Just one more wrist, and I’ll be right there.” Stenson rubbed the back of an arm across his brow to clear the sweat. He had to hurry.
Monica’s nervous energy radiated through her hands as he worked on the other lock. Seconds later, the chains gave way, and he tore them from her wrists.
“Thank you!” She ran to the other end of the table and wrapped her arms around Sydney. “Now her. Hurry.”
Stenson heard the steps overhead. Holmes was coming back. “Back to the other end of the table. Wrap the chain around your wrists.”
“No. No, please don’t make me.” She shook her head wildly before consenting.
“I’ll take care of you. Just do it.”
Monica squeezed Sydney before returning to the other side of the table.
“Well, what do we have here?” Holmes stood at the base of the stairs. He had a knife embedded in his chest and a revolver in his hands.
Stenson tucked the awl in a back pocket, and then raised his hands in surrender.
Chapter 57
Jack confirmed over the radio that Holmes’s car was in the driveway along with a BMW registered to Poole. We listened as he verbalized their approach to the house.
“It’s closed up, but we’re headed in.” A few seconds passed and he continued. “We’ve got blood and what looks like a last meal. Good news is it looks like the two women are still alive.”
“What about the blood?” Paige asked.
“My guess is it belongs to Holmes. He was the only one with a fork, and I’d assume a knife which I don’t see.”
There was a pause.
I spoke into the earpiece. “Jack?”
“They’re in the shed.”
Jack’s observations caused my heart to speed up, along with my team’s pace.
“We’re closing to within fifty yards of the shed,” Paige said over the radio. She turned around and started to lay out how we were going to approach. It mimicked Jack’s advance to the property—cover all corners.
Chad could barely stand. The blood loss was making him dizzy. After taking the shovel out to the burial site, he wasn’t sure if he had it in him to dig a hole. He might just throw them into the river, but now he had a bigger obstacle to attend to—a man.
“Are you FBI?”
“I’m an officer with Dumfries PD.”
You’re not even worthy of the FBI!
Loser!
The voice taunted him, mocking him with laughter. He tapped a hand against his thigh.
Tappity, tap. Tappity, tap.
Chad caught the reflection in the man’s eyes. He was scheming. He thought he had a way out of here with the women. He lifted the revolver and pointed its barrel at the officer.
Another wave of nausea passed over him. His legs buckled, and his eyes went to the knife in his chest. He’d die if he pulled it out.
Before he could steady his balance, the man lunged toward him, a flash of metal flailing in the air as if he were a madman.
Chad pulled the trigger.
“A shot was just fired. It came from the shed!” I gave the update and the other two teams echoed back—they had heard it as well. In seconds, we would all reach the shed.
“The report was subdued. They must be deep inside, an underground room maybe.”
Paige and I entered the front of the shed, guns
drawn. Inside, relics of another era were mounted on the walls. My eyes followed it through to the back side where a door was open. A couple officers came through, and we stood there for a few seconds before we spread out.
“Over here.” One of the officers called out the find. Off to our left was a door in the flooring. It was open.
I pointed to the floor. “Blood. We have him.”
Stenson barely dodged the bullet. Sydney dropped to the floor, as far as the chains would allow. Monica dropped too. The fact she was no longer restrained was now obvious. She crouched and made her way around the exterior of the table.
Holmes fired another round. This time the bullet chewed into the flesh of Stenson’s shoulder.
“You are all going to die!” Holmes wobbled on his feet as a drunken man.
“Not if you die first!” Stenson’s move would blend bravery with stupidity, but he didn’t know how much time he had before the others would reach the shed. They must have heard the gunfire, but he couldn’t be sure. He had to go at it as if he were the women’s only savior.
He roared as he launched at Holmes intent on only one thing—killing the man.
Another round fired.
Blood burst from Stenson’s chest and bloomed red around the wound. It was surreal, as if he were in a first-person-shooter video game. It hurt like hell, but he couldn’t fail these women. He charged at Holmes again, staggering, each breath a challenge as pain cinched his chest, and each heartbeat reverberated in his skull. He needed to reach Holmes before he lost all strength.
He heard the click of the revolver and prepared for impact, but no bullet came. The chamber must be empty. Now was the time.
Stenson pulled the knife from Holmes’s chest before his vision darkened, and he hit the floor, a burning in his chest. He closed his eyes and wondered how long it would take for death to claim him.
“That’s two more. Move. Move.” Paige hurried down the stairs. “FBI!”
Holmes sat hunched forward on the floor, blood draining from his chest. Staring into space, his breathing was erratic, and his words came out in a low tone. “The graves lay silent. The graves lay untouched.”
Silent Graves (Brandon Fisher FBI Series) Page 22