LUCY: The Complete Lucy Kendall Series with Bonus Content (The Lucy Kendall Series Book 5)

by Stacy Green

  “I’ve been studying.”

  “I suppose it could be a sound theory. If it were true.”

  He continued as if I hadn’t denied it. “You asked why I help you despite my beliefs.”

  “Yes.”

  “Because as a citizen, as a person with normal human emotions, as someone who watched my little brother get screwed by this system, I understand what you’re doing.”

  “You’re not an average citizen, though.” I tried to smile, but the effort made my face hurt. I was sick of pretending, sick of the game. I needed some time to be myself and not worry about saying the wrong thing. “Aren’t you bound by the law to investigate me if you truly believe I’m doing these terrible things?”

  “That’s where the conflict is. I’ve got more cases than I can handle. Robberies and murders and rapes. True threats to society. I don’t think you are. If I did, I wouldn’t be so lenient.”

  “It’s a good thing your theories are wrong.” Be done with this. If he wasn’t going to arrest me, why keep on? Did he think he could reach me? More importantly, if he understood why I did these things, why couldn’t he just leave well enough alone?

  Leave me alone.

  My sweater stuck to my back, and I longed for the cold air outside. Coming here was a mistake.

  “Preacher could have been an asset to us,” he said. “Special Victims would like to speak with him. Imagine what trained detectives could have gotten out of him.”

  Likely not more than the ketamine. “I hope they find him.”

  “I can’t always shield you,” he said. “Preacher’s their guy now. If he’s found dead, I’m not going to be investigating it. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  I didn’t care. What was done was done, and sitting around mulling over whether I’d pay the price or did the right thing was a waste of energy. Maybe Chris was right. “I do. And I think your intentions are admirable if not confusing. You don’t need to worry about me.”

  His fingers inched across the table, their tips brushing against mine. I didn’t move. Todd’s hand slowly slipped over mine until our fingers were entwined. My body tensed, and for reasons I didn’t understand, I squeezed his hand.

  “Thank you for what you’ve done for me.”

  “I won’t always be able to do it.”

  “I know.”

  “So you should stop while you’re ahead.”

  I pulled my hand away and smiled. “Good thing this whole vigilante idea is just a figment of your imagination. Where is Riley now?”

  “In a safe house of sorts. They’re part of our children’s advocacy group, and they’ll work with her to get things straightened out. But they’ve got security.”

  “In case Preacher comes after her?”

  Todd’s mouth twitched. “Or his boys. He’s got a few friends aware of the situation.”

  “I’m glad she’s safe. Maybe she really can start fresh.”

  He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  “So let’s get to the elephant in the room.”

  “Didn’t we already do that?”

  I laughed, some of my tension easing. “No, that’s the elephant in your imagination. I’m talking about the Senator. Riley thinks Sarah didn’t trust him. Did you get that from Sarah’s case log?”

  “No. But her entries are very precise. They’re not feelings. So if she didn’t have any sort of concrete evidence, she probably didn’t log it.”

  “Do you have any suspects for the ringleader?” I asked. “Riley said Sarah noted that.”

  “She did. In her code, which our people need to work out. Let them do it.”

  Todd’s phone vibrated on the table. He swiped the screen and read the series of texts that beeped through.

  “We found Sam Townsend in a morgue on the northwest side of town. Picture matched a John Doe. He was discovered dead in a motel room the day after Sarah’s murder. Hung himself with a vague suicide note about killing his girlfriend.” Todd glanced up at me. “He was wearing a green sweater.”

  “So that’s it?” I sat back, waiting for the relief to come. “All of this, and Sarah wasn’t even killed over her betrayal? It was her crazy ex?”

  “Looks like it.”

  “I don’t believe it,” I said. “Riley said Preacher blackmailed her with Sam. He claimed to know where he was.”

  “You think Sam was tipped on her whereabouts so Preacher wouldn’t get his hands dirty?”

  “Makes sense,” I said. “The Senator helped hide her. I find it hard to believe he didn’t do a good job.”

  “Except Preacher discovered her secret.”

  “That’s part of his job. These guys work online now. When your computer people get into his laptop, they’ll find out exactly how sick the man was. Hopefully.”

  “Maybe,” Todd said. “But I don’t like it. Preacher’s boss targeted Sarah because she had a weakness he could exploit. And no one but the Senator knew that weakness.”

  “Riley said she didn’t trust him.” I still didn’t like the idea. It didn’t feel right.

  Todd closed the pizza box. “It’s still early enough for me to drop by the Senator’s office and have a chat. Do you mind?”

  “Can I come?”

  He rolled his eyes. “No.”

  “I mind that, but I’ll see myself out.”

  He walked me to the door. “Will you call me when you leave the Senator’s?”

  “Again, that’s information regarding an active case.”

  I folded my arms. He sighed, looking down at me as though he were humoring a toddler. “Maybe.”

  33

  I didn’t remember falling asleep on the couch, but the demanding shrill of my phone jolted me out of a foggy dream. Rubbing my eyes, I fumbled for the cell in my dark apartment, knocking off a coaster from the end table in the process. Finally, my fingers closed over the plastic case.

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s Riley.” Her heady whisper brought me to full consciousness. The microwave’s digital display said it was after midnight.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I left that place your detective took me to, and now I’m in trouble.”

  “You what? Why would you do that? Those people actually want to help you.” I sat up and tried to adjust to the lack of light.

  “Those girls were gross. One of them was all messed up on drugs and trying to come down. She had the shakes and kept screaming. Another girl refused to take a bath and smelled like the toilet. I wanted a private room, but of course they don’t have the space. I can do better on my own.”

  “You sound like it,” I snapped. “You said you were in trouble.”

  Riley coughed. “I left my stuff in that hotel room. I don’t have much, you know? I just wanted to get my clothes. When I got there, one of Preacher’s friends was waiting for me.”

  “How badly are you hurt?”

  “Not too bad. I kicked him in the nuts and ran. But now I’m on the street and lost.”

  “You don’t know your way around?” Stupid girl. She knew better than this.

  “Not everywhere. I ducked into some shithole bar at first, thinking I’d be all right if I stayed in a public place. They kicked me out for being underage. Now I’m at a laundromat hoping he doesn’t think to look here.”

  “Did he run after you?”

  “I heard him screaming at me, maybe running. I didn’t look back.” She started sniffling, followed by loud, gulping breaths.

  “Tell me where you are, and I’ll call you a cab.”

  “I can do that myself, but I don’t want to go back to that place.”

  I wanted to scream. My patience for this kid was running thin. I’d practically handed her freedom on a silver platter. All she had to do was listen. “Riley, that’s the best place for you.”

  “Can I come stay with you? Just for a couple of days? Preacher’s buddies don’t know where you live. And it’s your fault I’m in this mess.”

  Helping her get her life on tr
ack was a mess. I gritted my teeth. “I don’t have an extra bedroom.”

  “I can sleep on the couch.”

  “Detective Beckett will come looking for you. He’ll check here.” And I didn’t need her watching me, digging her nose into my life.

  “Fine,” she said. “Then I’ll go back. But can’t I just have a day of peace? I don’t want to go back to that screaming and fighting right now.”

  I dropped back onto the couch and stared up at the shadows created by the bright glow of my phone. My floor lamp looked like a giant scythe ready to slash me in two. “One night, and then I’m taking you back.”

  “Thank you so much. I promise, I won’t fight leaving.”

  “I hope not. I’d have to call Detective Beckett and have him take you in.” I gave her my address, told her to buzz me when she arrived, and dozed back off.

  Caught in a lucid dream, I heard a distant rattling. I should wake up, but my body still hadn’t caught up after my all-nighter with Preacher. A soft thud, followed by the slightest shake of my end table. And then the pattering footsteps of my fat cat.

  “Leave stuff alone, Mouse.”

  “You’d be better off with a dog.”

  My eyes shot open. A face I recognized but couldn’t place. How did he get inside? Why was he here? I raised my arms intending to fight, but the sharp prick of a needle turned them into rolling sludge.

  I barely had time to register the irony before I passed out.

  34

  My senses came back to me in pieces. Smell first. Cologne. Sickeningly sweet and strong enough to taste. A hint of gasoline. My tongue felt thick. Throbbing pain tormented my arms and legs. My wrists burned. They were tied. Sweat burst over my forehead. Salty tears trickled onto my lips.

  “You’re waking up, I see.” His voice could have belonged to any shy man on the street.

  I forced my heavy eyelids open. “Jake.”

  My blurry vision allowed me to see Senator Coleman’s aide sitting in a metal folding chair directly across from me.

  I sat in a metal folding chair too.

  White walls, gray floors. Tools hanging.

  A garage. That’s where he’d taken me.

  “What did you give me?”

  “Just a mild sedative. I’m sorry if you don’t like needles, but it was really the quickest way.”

  I might have laughed, but the reality of my predicament snuffed out any humor. “Riley. Where is she?”

  “Over here.” The teenager’s voice sent a new wave of shock through me. She stepped out of the shadows of the SUV sitting next to us. Her small hand rested on Jake’s shoulder. Anger chipped away at the clouds in my head.

  “The two of you are in this together.”

  She laughed. “You’re the one who told me about bargaining. It worked like a charm on you.”

  I closed my eyes, fighting for my bearings. Opened them again. I needed to take stock of my surroundings. The tools on the back wall were basic: a hammer, shovel, nail gun, drill. I’d go for the hammer first. Or the shovel. It had a longer handle, and if I were lucky I could take them both out with one swing. Either way, I’d like to kill her first.

  Once I got untied.

  “How did you get into my building without my buzzing you up?”

  She smiled, looking far sweeter than usual. “Come on, you know how easy it is to charm the right male. I just had to tell him I was visiting my aunt and forgot my code. I didn’t want to wake her. Who’s going to suspect anything else of this face?”

  I hadn’t given her nearly enough credit. “So you help get the kids, then?”

  “Sometimes, if that’s what Jake needs. It’s not so hard, especially when they’re little. Half of them have parents who don’t know one day from another.”

  “What about the ones brought in from out of state?” My wrists were bound with zip ties tight enough to break the skin.

  “I handle those,” Jake said.

  I licked my dry lips and looked at Riley. “You told me about Preacher, about other boys.”

  “I wanted you to stay on his trail,” she said. “How did you kill him?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “And my driver,” Jake said. “He was bringing that nice little black boy from Ohio. I figured he’d just had some kind of heart attack, but then you mentioned him to Riley, and I put it together. So you,” he trailed his hand on my knee, “have taken out two of my best people.”

  My ego had betrayed me. Don’t cops say every criminal screws up? That their egos do them in?

  “Don’t bother denying it,” Jake said.

  “What about the Senator?” I asked. “Is he involved?”

  Jake’s laugh was boisterous and cocky. “Please. He’s too busy looking for political glory in all the wrong places. Everything’s going on right under his nose, and I get to stay one step ahead of the task force. How brilliant is that?”

  “Amazing,” I said. “Is that how you got started?”

  “Never mind that,” he said. “Let’s just say Preacher and I made a good team, and he introduced to me to little Riley here. Now I’ll have to replace him, thanks to you.”

  Riley moaned. She looked like she wanted to cry, but those tears were likely nothing more than crocodile tears. I should have known there was more to this little girl. “He was good to me. Sometimes.”

  “He beat you,” Jake said. “I’m the one who cares for you. Don’t forget that. Preacher was just our pawn. We’ll have to find another.”

  “What about Sarah?” I focused my attention on the black-haired girl. “I thought you were friends?”

  “We were,” Riley said. “Especially when she gave me money. But I couldn’t let her get too close. I made sure she went in the wrong direction.”

  “Because of this piece of garbage?” I jerked my tied ankles toward Jake. “You’re so in love with him you’ll sacrifice friends? And the little kids you hurt, what about them? What about that little guy you were babysitting?”

  Her mouth tightened, and she shook her head. So she didn’t like to think about those things. Riley lived in survival mode. I could work with that.

  “He’s using you,” I said. “For sex, for protection. Don’t think for a minute he doesn’t have a way to pin all of this on you and Preacher and walk off scot-free.”

  She looked at her feet. Stupid girl.

  Jake’s hand flashed out and connected with my face. My skin stung; I tasted blood. He’d pay for that. “You screwed up,” he said. “Never should have told Riley you knew about that kid. You know how to access my website.”

  This time I did laugh. “So you’re going to kill me, silence me forever?”

  He shrugged.

  I almost taunted him that I gave Todd the information but held my tongue. Jake could switch servers, alert his clients, move his kids.

  “Whatever,” I said. “But the police have Sarah’s notebook. Which Riley led us to, by the way.”

  “I wanted the locket,” she snapped. “I didn’t think you’d involve the police since you just killed Preacher.”

  “You underestimated me.” Just like she was doing right now.

  “Doesn’t matter,” she said. “Sarah didn’t have enough to bring Jake down.”

  “So how’s it going to be?” I asked Jake. “You’re way too delicate to have killed someone. If it needed to be done, you enlisted some other lackey. Except you can’t this time, because only you and Riley can know. So you’ll have to do it yourself.” His darting gaze, shooting from me to Riley, and the burst of color on his cheeks told me I’d hit a very touchy nerve. “It’s not easy to take someone’s life. Even if you walk away before they die, you’re still giving a part of your humanity to that death. You’ll never be the same. Are you prepared for that?”

  His grin reminded me of the eels tucked in the corner of the aquarium. Sinister and patient, and ever observant. His voice, stuffed full of forced bravado, betrayed him. “You surprise me,” he said. “I expected you to beg. To name-drop
your detective and your boyfriend. But instead you try to intimidate. Impressive.”

  I’d never beg. And I had little chance of Todd or Chris finding me. Riley had covered her bases very well.

  “You have potential,” I said to her. “Think of all the people you could help with me.”

  “But he’s so much better than you are,” she said. “He’s not being watched by the police. And he’s got money. What do you have?”

  “Dignity.”

  “Not for long.” The smirk on Jake’s face sent a horrific chill through me. “To answer your question, no, I’ve never killed anyone before. I don’t have to. If someone becomes a nuisance, I simply sell them. Or trade. Depending on the market and person in question.” His eyes roamed over me. “You are worth a lot of money to a very interested client.”

  35

  They left me to wait. To my thoughts, I supposed. Expecting my imagination–powered by very real firsthand knowledge–to overwhelm me until I was at my weakest point, mentally and physically. I certainly could crumble into a thousand pieces of wasted ambition and dreams, but what would be the point? Had I really risked my own freedom, sacrificed my soul–if there even is such a thing as an afterlife–to end up as some cretin’s bag of flesh to use whenever he wanted?

  I’d make them kill me before that happened.

  More black irony. My greatest fear would be a respite from what awaited me outside the garage.

  Daylight slivered in beneath the door, giving me just enough light to take a better inventory of the tools on the wall: a skill that saw required electricity; two different-sized chisels that probably weren’t sharp enough to slice a carotid; electrical cords that could be used to strangle, but I didn’t have the strength against both of them. The shovel was still the easiest thing to incapacitate them with. The hammer would do the rest.

  No chills of shame on my arms. The cold, methodical way I planned to kill two people would split me in two. The Lucy Kendall that walked out of this garage would be a new person. And I say person only because I would be the one still breathing. But I will be a brand new monster.