by K. J. Dahlen
She was the same height and build of his Carolyn. He could see her long dark hair flare away from her body as she swayed to the music. Carolyn had the same long hair when she was alive. It had been cut short by the killer, but wasn’t found when they found her mutilated body. The police thought maybe the killer had taken it with him as a memento from his kill.
The woman was just the killer’s type, and Sebastian knew in his gut that he’d struck again. He was only a few miles from Baton Rouge and he quickly got his things together. If he had any hope of finding this woman, he needed to get started before the killer finished his job.
He had just closed the door and was walking away when the phone began to ring.
* * * *
Alec listened to the ringing phone. Jesse Cooper stood right behind him, along with Alec’s police captain John Wakefield. After several more rings, Alec hung up. “I don’t think he’s there anymore.” He ignored Jesse and gazed at his captain for instructions.
John looked irritated. “Then you find him. Find him and get his sorry butt back here. He knows better than this and I won’t have a cop running around out there looking for vigilante justice.”
Alec looked over at Jesse and then back at his captain. “Sebastian isn’t a vigilante and he isn’t out there looking for revenge. He’s out there looking for the man that murdered his wife.”
“So are we,” Jesse said quietly. “This situation is much bigger than just one woman. Sebastian’s wife is only one of a number of women this monster has killed. We want to stop him without worrying about having a loose cannon out there.”
Alec frowned. “Sebastian isn’t a loose cannon either. He’s the best officer I know.”
“Then why isn’t he answering your phone calls or emails?” Jesse asked. “This is the FBI’s case and we won’t share it with a police officer with a motive to ruin four years’ worth of work, I don’t care who that officer is.”
Alec didn’t answer. He had known yesterday that Sebastian was embarking on a mission he shouldn’t be on. There was a good reason why doctors didn’t operate on their own families and why cops weren’t allowed to assist on cases too close to their families.
Their judgment could be altered and Alec had a feeling that Sebastian’s judgment might not allow him to act according to the laws of the land. Deep down, he couldn’t blame him, though no one would know this opinion.
* * * *
Sebastian pushed the door to the police station in Baton Rouge open and walked into the lobby. As he made his way to the front desk, he could see several officers busy working at their cases.
The burly cop behind the desk paused to look up at him. “Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for information on the missing woman,” Sebastian replied.
The man behind the desk looked at Sebastian a moment then called to another officer.
As the other officer came to the counter, he asked. “Can I help you?”
Sebastian pulled out his badge. “My name is Sebastian Sandstone and I’m from New Orleans looking into a murder case that may be connected to your latest missing person’s report of last night.”
The second officer held out his hand. “My name is Rob Gillette. What makes you think the cases are related?”
Sebastian shifted his weight. “Both women have the same build and coloring. Both seem to enjoy life and disappeared in the same manner. The only difference is that mine ended up dead. I figure you have about thirty-six hours before you find what’s left of her body unless we can work together to find her sooner. You’ll find that she bled to death from an elaborate design carved on her back. That carving is what takes the time. Your killer likes to make his victims suffer the agony of being carved on while they are still alive. That’s what gets him off. What you will never find is the original crime scene or the killer.”
Rob’s eyebrows disappeared, causing his forehead to wrinkle. “I think you’d better talk to my captain.” He motioned for Sebastian to follow him to the back of the office where he saw several officers gathered around a board.
Sebastian stepped forward and looked at the information they had written down. He picked up a marker and began changing the facts.
“Just what do you think you’re doing and who the hell are you?” someone bellowed.
Sebastian turned to see Rob talking to another man. It was the other man that bellowed. They stepped up and Rob made the introductions. “Boss, this is Sebastian Sandstone, from New Orleans. He told me he has information on our latest missing person’s case.”
Rob’s boss, Captain Ian Nevell just stared at Sebastian. He turned his eyes to the changes Sebastian had made on their board. “How do you know all of this?”
“I’ve been doing my homework. This is his fourth kidnapping since Easter. In about thirty-six hours, you’ll find her body. Her long hair will be cut off and her body will be mutilated by an elaborate design carved in her back. Your Coroner will find that she’s been tortured and that the carving on her back was made while she was alive.”
Ian and Rob looked at each other. “This is our second kidnapping. We had one several months ago, that we haven’t solved as of yet. We haven’t found her body yet, but there was enough evidence to suggest that she was taken against her will and no one has heard from her since. Her case fits this killers’ M.O. This latest case is pretty much the same as the earlier one.”
“I’m surprised that the FBI isn’t in on this, yet,” Rob commented.
“Yeah, well an agent named Jesse Cooper has been trying to get in touch with me, but I haven’t had a chance to get in touch with him yet,” Sebastian admitted.
Ian folded his arms across his chest. “Why not?”
“Maybe I just don’t like Big Brother butting into my business. I have my own way of doing things.” Sebastian shrugged.
“Well, we do things differently up here. If Big Brother wants to talk, we usually take the time to listen,” Ian told him.
“He doesn’t really have to. Big Brother is already here,” came a voice from behind Sebastian.
Sebastian turned and came face to face with agent Jesse Cooper, behind him stood his partner, Alec Hunter. Alec gave him a short nod and all attention turned to Jesse.
“You’re a hard man to get a hold of Mr. Sandstone,” Jesse noted after introductions were made. He walked over to the board and spent a few minutes looking over the information they had started. Picking up the pen, Jesse began to write.
Alec took a moment to talk to his partner. “Sebastian, we tried to call your motel room this morning, but you didn’t answer the phone.”
“I left my room when I saw the news report. How did you know where I was staying?” Sebastian asked.
Alec grinned slightly. “Wyatt passed on the message you sent him last night.”
Sebastian shook his head. “I know I should be home with him but I just can’t sit on my hands and do nothing to find this guy.” He turned away from his partner and began to read what Jesse was writing on the board. “I couldn’t let this case turn into another Sara Morgan screw-up”
Alec nodded. They both remembered all too well the Sara Morgan case. They were hours away from getting her killer off the streets when the FBI showed up and took over. They not only let the killer escape but gave him time enough to strike again and again. It was Sebastian and another cop that finally busted the killer and instead of thanking them, the FBI took credit for the collar. It left everybody with a bad taste in their mouths.
“What makes you think he uses the river as a means of transportation?” Sebastian asked after a moment. He’d been reading what Jesse had added to what was known about this killer. He hadn’t thought of the river as a means of transportation.
Jesse paused in his writing, and then finished what he was doing. He recapped the pen and threw it down on the desk. “I’ve been looking for this killer for four years. I’ve learned a few things about him along the way.”
“He’s been killing for that long?”
Rob commented.
Jesse nodded. “At first, he killed about every six months or so; it’s just been lately that his killing has escalated. His last three murders have been about a month apart.”
“His last murder was about ten days ago,” Sebastian spoke very quietly.
Alec looked worried at his tone. He knew when Sebastian spoke softly, there was trouble brewing.
Jesse looked over at Sebastian. “That’s true, but I think for some reason, your wife was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Ian jerked his head to look at Sebastian. “Your wife was one of his victims?”
Sebastian nodded.
“Then what the hell are you doing working this case?” Ian asked. “You shouldn’t even be here.”
Jesse nodded. “We really don’t want you out there looking for this killer. We’ve got more man hours in on this case than you could ever hope to have and we’ll get him eventually.”
“I’m not about to let her killer go free, so you can catch him eventually. And I don’t care how many hours you have on this killer. You haven’t found him yet, maybe I will.”
“You do realize that your judgment could be a liability in this case, don’t you?” Ian suggested trying to ease the tension between the two men.
Sebastian stiffened. “My judgment is just fine thank you very much. I want this creep off the streets, hopefully buried six feet under the street.”
Jessie tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come. He cleared his throat and tried again, “That’s what we don’t want. We don’t need you on a rampage, looking for trouble.”
“You don’t have to worry about me.” Sebastian told him as he shook his head. “I’m not looking for trouble, but this is the closest anyone has gotten to the killer and I don’t intend to back off now.”
“You may not have a choice,” Ian warned Sebastian. “Not if you want to keep that badge.”
Sebastian glared at Ian and shrugged, “With or without my badge, I would still be looking for this murderer.”
“Do you want justice or vengeance?” Jesse asked.
The silence in the room thickened with tension.
Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Jesse. “Vengeance is not part of this equation at all. I am going after a serial killer. The fact that my wife was one of his victim’s is irrelevant. We know that he’s responsible for at least seven other victims and God only knows how many we haven’t found yet. As an officer of the law, I can’t let that go and I won’t. I let your people take over one of my cases already and they screwed up. They let a killer get away and he killed two more women before we caught him. I’m not about to let that happen again, not with this case.”
Jesse glanced away from Sebastian’s glare. The animosity between the two men was very apparent. He glanced over at Rob and asked, “What do we know about his latest victim?”
“Her name is Sable Willows,” Rob Gillette said.
Jesse looked over at Ian and nodded. “We need access to a boat, and we need to check all the backwaters around this area. If he’s still in the area, we should be able to find him.”
* * * *
Sable came to in a fog of unreality and confusion. Her throat hurt and her right arm felt very heavy. She tried to pull it toward her but met with some resistance. Looking up over her head, she saw that her right wrist was shackled. She frowned and tried to sit up. At first, her head swam and she felt sick to her stomach but after a few minutes, her head cleared and she looked around.
The room she was in was small and she felt the room dip and sway. Pulling on her wrist only tightened the rope she was tied with. With her free hand, she tried to work the rope loose. She was able to work it loose enough to slip it off her wrist. The rope left her wrist bruised and raw. She rubbed it gently and staggering, she went over to the window. She found herself looking out at the backwater bayou. She couldn’t see anything familiar to get a fix on where she was.
She made her way over to the door and tried to open it. It was locked. Panic set in and she kept pulling on the handle. She didn’t want to be here when whoever brought her here came back. The door wouldn’t budge, so she went back to the window. It wasn’t very big but Sable thought she could squeeze through it if she could get it open.
She looked for a lock but the window didn’t have one. She picked up a small lamp from the bedside table and tried to smash the glass but the tempered glass wouldn’t break, and there wasn’t anything else in the room hard enough to break it.
Suddenly, she stopped struggling with the window and peered out. Something caught her eye. It was an outboard motor boat and it was coming this way.
The passenger was alone and somehow she knew it was him. The sun shone on his dark hair and she watched as he removed the black cowboy hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Sable caught her breath and fear swelled within her. She knew that he intended to kill her or why else would he have brought her so far away into the backwaters.
Then her eyes hardened. She wasn’t going to let the bastard win. He might kill her but she would go down fighting. She went over to the door and heard him come aboard the boat. Her eyes darted around the room looking for something, anything to strike the first blow with. Her eyes caught sight of a heavy glass vase of flowers. Dumping the water and the flowers out on the floor, she raised the vase and waited. Her eyes were glued to the slowly turning doorknob. She took a deep breath in anticipation.
Chapter Two
He came into the room and stopped short. The bed he’d left her tied to was empty. Surprise caused him to hesitate and that’s when Sable brought the heavy vase down on his head. The pain exploded in his head and for a brief moment he couldn’t see, it hurt so bad. He staggered and would have fallen to the floor but he grabbed hold the bed instead. He grabbed his right side for the knife he had hidden there and swung it toward her.
Sable dodged the arc of the knife and raised the vase to hit him a second time. The knife slashed at her again and this time it pierced her skin. She screamed but managed to bring the vase down again. This time, the vase broke and he went down.
He was still for a moment and Sable wondered if she’d killed him, but she wasn’t about to wait around and find out. She stumbled through the door and off the boat. She got into the little outboard motor boat and pulled on the cord to get it started. She turned the little boat away from the houseboat and got out of there.
Sable didn’t know if she was headed for land or away from land. Her side was bleeding and she was scared to death. All she knew for certain was that she had to get away from him.
A while later, she made another turn and found herself in the main part of the river. She could see a large area of lights nearby and she headed the little boat toward the lights. Bumping against the shoreline a few minutes later, she stumbled onto shore and made her way toward the lights. She had no idea where she was going only that there were probably people ahead of her. She knew that if he survived the vase, he was the only thing behind her and she had to put as much distance between them as she could.
About fifteen minute later, she stumbled into the middle of the street. She could see and hear the people near her, but she was unsure of where she actually was. When the people nearby saw the blood on her clothes, they tried to get away from her. She saw their faces and felt their fear. Breathing heavily by this time, she was about ready to pass out from the loss of blood when she felt someone’s arm take the weight of her own body. Opening her eyes, she saw a face she didn’t recognize. His blue eyes had concern and compassion in them, not the malice of her kidnapper.
“Please, I need to go to the police,” she begged.
He frowned. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital first?” the stranger asked her.
Sable shook her head. “Please, the police. The man that stabbed me is out there on the river and I don’t want him to get away.”
The man nodded, and looked around the neighborhood. He saw a station sign just ahe
ad on the street. “There’s a station not too far from here. Can you walk there?”
Sable smiled. “I think so. Please don’t leave me alone.”
The stranger smiled back. “I won’t.”
As he helped her down the street and into the police station, Sable knew time was of the essence. Even now, he could be watching her waiting for her to be left alone. It was only when she was in the station house and a room full of people did she feel safe enough to let the stranger go. She laid her head back against the wall and let herself rest for a moment. The buzzing of conversation lulled her into a light sleep. She didn’t notice the alarm on the stranger’s face or the commotion she aroused when she slid to the floor. Nor did she notice the ambulance personnel when it arrived a few minutes later to take her to the hospital.
When she awoke a few hours later, she noticed the beeping sound of the monitor and the smell of antiseptic that lingers in the hospital. She tried to sit up but her side was hurting. Running her hand along her side, she felt the bandage the doctors had put there.
Sable looked around the room. She was alone and that fact didn’t bring much pleasure. She tried to look at the clock but it was just out of her line of sight. She didn’t know why but she felt she had to get out of the hospital. She was flinging back the sheets and swinging her legs over the side of the bed when the door opened. She jerked her head toward the door and was about to scream.