by Rita Herron
“Don’t you dare badmouth my son,” Mrs. Butts cried. “See, you’re just like the others. All you care about is your life, like he never existed at all.”
“That’s not true,” Amanda said. “I mourned for Carlton and still do. I’ve never forgotten what happened to him. That’s one reason I chose law enforcement. So I could help others.”
“But you took up for those mean girls who hurt Carlton. I saw you on the news. You made out like they were innocent, like they never did anything wrong.”
“We found Tina, Kelly and Suzy,” Amanda said, knowing her time might be running out to find the information she needed. “What did you do with the other bodies? With Melanie, Denise, Avery, Carly...how many have you killed?”
“Just the ones who deserved it,” Mrs. Butts said, her voice brittle. “And don’t you worry. All of the early ones are together. All in one big grave.”
A shudder of horror ripped through Amanda. Mrs. Butts sounded demented. “Except for Tina. I thought someone saw me with her so I left her in that river. That was a mistake. But I had to get rid of her fast.” Mrs. Butts cackled. “I thought she’d just float away. Bye-bye, bye-bye.”
“But she didn’t and the fish ate at her body,” Amanda said. “That was cruel.”
A nasty laugh escaped the woman. “Cruel? Do you know what she did to poor Carlton? She sent him a note that she wanted to meet him behind the bleachers in middle school. He thought she wanted to kiss him, but she pulled his pants down, then tied him to the bleachers and left him for the whole class to see.”
Amanda’s heart hurt at the story, her hand aching from tearing at the rope. So far, it hadn’t budged. “What about Julie and Lynn?”
Mrs. Butts threw the van to the right and raced down the drive to the canyon behind the high school.
A cold chill enveloped Amanda. She knew exactly where the woman was going and why.
She was going to kill her at Carlton’s Canyon, where her son had taken his life.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Justin retrieved Amanda’s weapon and stuffed it in the back of his jeans as he ran to the back door and glanced outside. Except for a couple of vendor vans, the back lot was empty.
He scanned the hallway and stairs but didn’t hear or see anything. Frantic, he raced back into the ballroom. The first person he saw was Donald Reisling. Could Reisling’s father have come after Amanda?
Shoulders tense, he grabbed the microphone from the DJ and tapped it to get everyone’s attention. “Listen up, folks. The prank outside with the decimated cheerleader dolls was a diversion. Someone abducted Amanda—I mean Sheriff Blair. She supposedly received a text and went into the hall. Her gun was left on the floor so someone either overpowered her or had a gun. Did anyone see her?”
“The last I saw she was going into the hallway,” Donald said.
“I saw her near the stairs,” a young woman spoke up.
“Was she with anyone?” Justin asked.
He glimpsed Carlton’s brother sneaking out the side door and yelled at him to stop. “Where do you think you’re going?” Justin vaulted off the steps and lunged at him. “Did you do something to Amanda?”
Ted shook his head, pain lining his face. “I’ve been in here with Debby all night.”
“He has been with me,” a buxom redhead said. “I swear.”
Anise ran over, her breath rasping. “I didn’t see Amanda, but I saw Carlton’s mother near the stairs.”
Justin narrowed his eyes at Ted. “Your mother is here?”
“I...didn’t know she was,” Ted said in a choked voice.
Justin grabbed the young man by the collar. “But you know something. Now spill it.”
Ted shook his head in denial, but emotions shrouded his features. “It can’t be. My mother...she’s messed up, but she wouldn’t hurt anyone...”
“She wasn’t using her walker either,” Anise said. “She was actually standing upright.”
A muscle jumped in Justin’s jaw. “Your mother faked her handicap?”
Ted scraped his hand over his goatee. “I...don’t know, I’m sorry. I didn’t think...didn’t want to believe that she’d hurt anyone.”
“She never recovered from Carlton’s suicide,” Debby said in a whisper.
“Where would she take her?” Justin asked.
Ted rubbed his goatee again. “I...have no idea.”
“Let’s try your house. You can call her on the way.”
He shoved the young man outside to his SUV and roared from the parking lot.
He hoped he’d find something at Wynona Butts’s house to tell them where the woman had taken Amanda.
He had to hurry before Mrs. Butts killed her.
He couldn’t lose her now.
* * *
AMANDA’S LUNGS CLENCHED for air as she spotted Julie and Lynn beside the drop-off for the canyon.
They were alive.
“Mrs. Butts—Wynona—you can stop this now,” Amanda said as the crazed woman yanked her from the car and shoved her toward the other women.
“You’re going to watch them die,” she hissed, “then you’ll join them.”
Amanda fought with the rope. She had one end through the loop. Now if she could just loosen it and slip her hands free.
Wynona nudged her forward with the gun at her back.
“Is this where you dumped the other bodies?” Amanda asked.
A cynical laugh echoed behind her. “It was fitting, don’t you think? They’ve been lying at the bottom, looking up at the school where they tormented my son.”
Nausea rose in Amanda’s throat. All this time, all these years, the missing women had been dead, their bodies lying in the elements.
So close to home yet no one had known. And the families had no answers.
Julie and Lynn both looked up at her with terrified eyes. Their hands and feet were bound, their mouths gagged and Carlton’s mother had secured them to a tree with thick ropes.
Amanda tried to communicate to the women that she’d save them. She didn’t know how, but she’d die trying.
Surely Justin had realized she was missing. Somehow he’d find her. She had to stall.
Wynona pushed her to her knees beside Lynn and Julie. Tears streamed down Julie’s cheeks. Lynn made muffled sounds of fear and protests behind her gag.
“Tell me how you did it,” Amanda said to Wynona. “How you managed to trap your victims over the years.”
Wynona cackled again. “It was easy. I met them in different places, mentioned Carlton.” She gestured at herself. “With that walker, none of them suspected a thing. Stupid twits.”
“They thought you were an innocent grieving woman,” Amanda said, disgusted at the depth of the woman’s depravity.
“And you...Carlton looked up to you, Amanda. He thought you’d be his friend forever.” She placed the barrel of the gun at Amanda’s temple. “But you let him down worse than everyone else. I think that’s what sent him over the edge. Now you have to die.”
* * *
JUSTIN DROVE LIKE a madman to Wynona Butts’s house while Ted frantically phoned his mother. But she didn’t answer, and when they arrived at the house, there was no car in the drive.
He hit the ground running.
“Why didn’t you tell someone what your mother was doing?” Justin snapped as Ted let him in the house.
“I told you I didn’t know,” Ted said, panicked. “You aren’t going to hurt her, are you?”
Justin glared at him. “I’m going to do whatever necessary to stop her from killing Amanda.”
Justin shouted to identify himself as he and Ted entered the house.
“Look around, see if your mother left any indication where she might take Amanda.”
Justin jogged into the woman’s bedroom, searched the desk in the corner, then the dressers, but found nothing but old bills and clothes.
Desperate, he swung open the closet door, his chest heaving at the sight inside. Mrs. Butts had cut out pictu
res of all the victims from the yearbook and taped them on the back of the door with big black X’s marked across the faces just like the one she’d left on Amanda’s door.
Then he noticed a photograph of Carlton when he was a teen. Beside it was another picture, this one of the canyon behind the school, more specifically a grassy area by a tree where she’d obviously planted flowers in a tribute to her dead son.
That was it. The canyon behind the school where Carlton had ended his life—that was where she’d taken Amanda.
He rushed back to the den and saw the brother slumped on the couch staring at the yearbook with all the pages that had been cut apart. A shoebox sat beside him on the couch, open. Justin gritted his teeth at the sight of the class rings inside the box.
“She did it,” Ted mumbled in shock. “She kidnapped our classmates all these years....”
He looked lost as he stared up at Justin.
“Stay here and call me if she returns. I’m sending a crime scene team out here to pick up this stuff,” Justin said.
Ted nodded, sagging on the couch with emotions. Justin felt sorry for him, but he had to save Amanda.
“I’m going to the canyon where Carlton jumped. I think your mother took Amanda there.”
Pulse hammering, he ran to his SUV and raced from the drive, calling Lieutenant Gibbons on his way. He prayed he was right about the canyon as he sped down the road to the high school.
Seconds crawled, but it felt like an eternity until he reached the sign for Canyon High. He flipped off the lights and siren and parked in front of the school to avoid alerting Mrs. Butts of his arrival.
He eased the car door open and slid out, checking his weapon as he scanned the area. He wondered if the security cameras had been fixed.
He crept around the side of the school to the back, searching for signs of Amanda and Mrs. Butts. Then he spotted it.
The door to the gate that separated the school property from the deepest part of the canyon. It stood open, making a grating sound as it swung back and forth in the wind.
His heart pounding, he moved along the bank of trees to the left, his weapon at the ready. Voices sounded to the right, and he inched closer.
Fear seized him when he saw Amanda on her knees with a gun to her forehead.
Breath tight in his chest, he took another step. Suddenly Mrs. Butts jerked Amanda up and dragged her closer to the edge of the canyon.
He couldn’t wait. He had to make a move.
Vaulting into action, he crossed the next few feet, aiming for a clean shot at the woman. But suddenly Amanda lunged at Mrs. Butts, knocking her to the ground.
The gun fired, a grunt of pain echoing in the silence, and he ran forward, fear choking him. Was Amanda hit?
To the left, he spotted two other women he recognized from the yearbook as Julie and Lynn. They were struggling to free themselves.
The Butts woman had collapsed on top of Amanda. Was she hurt?
Amanda shoved the woman off of her with a grunt. Mrs. Butts lunged for her gun, but Justin raised his.
“It’s over, Mrs. Butts,” he said in a menacing tone. “Give it up or I’ll shoot.”
The woman stilled at the sound of his voice, then swung a sadistic look his way. “She has to die. It’s not over till they’re all punished.”
“It is over,” Amanda said calmly. “You’ve punished enough people. Carlton wouldn’t want you to hurt Lynn or Julie or me.”
“But you let him down!” she cried.
Justin inched closer. Julie and Lynn were sobbing and struggling with their bindings. Mrs. Butts slid her hands around Amanda’s throat and tried to strangle her.
Justin was tempted to shoot. But Amanda was fighting the woman, and he was afraid he’d hit her. So he ran to them, grabbed the woman and dragged her off of Amanda.
She kicked and fought, but he was stronger, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, hauling her away. Amanda gasped for a breath, then pushed herself to her feet and ran to free the other women.
Justin threw Mrs. Butts down on the ground, rolled her to her stomach, jerked her arms behind her and slapped handcuffs around her wrists.
“Now it’s over. And this time you’re the one who’s going to be punished.”
* * *
WHEN AMANDA THOUGHT she might die, her life flashed in front of her. A life filled with police work, cases, murders and...living alone.
She suddenly yearned for more. A life with someone who loved her. With someone she loved.
Like Justin.
But that was crazy... He wasn’t in love with her.
Sirens wailed as an ambulance arrived to examine Lynn and Julie. Except for shock, they appeared to be okay, but she had to play it by the book.
Her deputy arrived, along with Justin’s supervisor, a crime team and another team that brought equipment to locate the bodies at the bottom of the canyon.
The next few hours were an ordeal as they began work to excavate the bodies. She left Justin to oversee the process while she drove Wynona Butts to the jail and locked her up.
“You can’t do this,” Wynona yelled. “They deserved to die.”
“But not all the victims even attended our high school,” Amanda said, mentally reviewing the list.
“No, but they knew Carlton, met him at different times. Middle school, church. They were all mean to him.”
“You need help,” Amanda said, her chest aching for all the lost lives. “I’ll see that you get it for Carlton’s sake.”
The woman continued to rant and scream as Amanda shut the door behind her. But Amanda tuned her out. At one time she’d felt sorry for her. But not after all the lives she’d taken and the pain she’d caused the victims’ families.
Finally exhausted, Amanda slept on a cot in her office, determined to make sure Wynona didn’t attempt suicide, and worried that when the victims’ parents heard the news they’d bombard the jail and try to exact their own revenge.
By dawn, fatigue knotted her muscles, but she called a team to move Wynona to a more secure facility. By ten, she and Justin met for another press conference.
“We can now safely say that the missing women from our state have been found. Their families have been notified and will finally be able to put their loved ones to rest.” A lump lodged in her throat, but she swallowed it back as she explained about Wynona Butts’s arrest. “I suppose if there is a lesson in this it’s that we, as parents and members of the town, should watch our teenagers more closely and teach them to be tolerant of others.”
Hands flew up with questions, but she shook her head. “We’re done here, folks. Justice will be served in a court of law.”
And now maybe everyone in town could sleep soundly again.
* * *
THE REST OF the day Amanda and Justin spent meeting with family members of the missing women whose bodies had been recovered. Emotions ran high, relief to finally have answers mixing with anguish, shock and the sad realization that the missing women had been so close yet no one had guessed where they were.
Arrangements for autopsies were made, along with funerals, and a memorial service was held that evening at the church in town. A sunset vigil to mourn for the lives of the dead and the tragedies of the families who needed the town’s support also was organized.
As Justin and Amanda left the service, a quiet descended between them.
The case was solved. It would take time for the residents to heal, but now that they knew the truth, they could begin the process.
He glanced at Amanda as they walked back to the jail. Maybe they could have one more night together, an evening to celebrate before he left Sunset Mesa.
His cell phone buzzed, and he checked the number. His chief. He punched Connect. “Sergeant Thorpe.”
“Thorpe, listen, I know you just finished this case, and you did a fine job—”
“A lot of the credit goes to Sheriff Blair,” he said, wanting to give Amanda her fair due.
“Sure, all right.
I know you just finished, but we just caught another case. If you want it, it’s yours, but you’ll need to go to Laredo right away.”
Adrenaline surged through Justin. Another case on the heels of this one. He’d never turned down an opportunity to solve a crime.
Chasing bad guys was his life.
“I’ll leave right away.”
Amanda left the podium and walked toward him, and his heart did an odd flutter. A few minutes ago, all he could think about was getting her in bed again. Touching her. Loving her. Holding her another night. And maybe another...
Shaken by the thought, he squared his shoulders. “Good job, Amanda.”
“You saved my life,” she said. “Thank you for that.”
He shrugged. “Just doing my job. Speaking of which,” he said, his chest twitching with an odd pang, “I have to leave right now. Another case.”
Something akin to disappointment flared in Amanda’s eyes. Then again, maybe he’d imagined it, because a second later, she smiled, the professional, distant look she’d given him when they’d first met.
Before he’d seen her naked and touched and tasted every inch of her.
He wanted to do it again.
But she extended her hand for a handshake. “Thanks, Sergeant Thorpe. It’s been a pleasure working with you. Good luck.”
His gaze met hers, and a moment of tension rippled between them. His chest squeezed, the urge to say something more nagging at him.
He felt as if he was leaving something important behind.
But she shook his hand, then turned and walked toward her car, and he felt like a fool. She obviously didn’t have feelings for him.
She was independent, smart...and beautiful. And married to her job just as he was.
The perfect woman for you.
And if he didn’t snap her up, someone else would.
That would be for the best, he reminded himself as he climbed in his SUV and headed out of town.
He didn’t do emotions. And he didn’t have room or time for anything else in his life.