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

by Stacy Green

  In the darkness to my left, the desperate mewling came again. Instinct demanded I look for the sound, and I instantly regretted it.

  Chris’s hum of appreciation scared the hell out of me.

  I asked the question I knew he wanted to hear. “Who is that?

  He still sat with his legs crossed–the doctor assessing his patient. “We’ll get to her eventually.”

  Fear rose up in my throat, my pulse hammering. I tried to slow down, taking deep breaths. He had the upper hand, just as he wanted. If I could keep my head, I could still use his arrogance to my advantage.

  Before I could speak, he stretched his legs out, hands on the back of his head. “Shannon was afraid of the dark. Did you know that?”

  “No.” How was I going to prevent him from breaking me down? He knew how to strip away my control.

  “Her mother was an alcoholic,” Chris said. “You knew that. When Shannon was little, she used to put her in the closet so she could drink with her friends and not worry about the kid getting hurt. Hence the fear of the dark.”

  Shannon hadn’t told me, but I wasn’t surprised. I’d heard plenty of similar stories throughout my career.

  Chris continued, obviously happy to have my undivided attention. “Personally, I love the dark. That’s when my grandfather and I used to go hunting.”

  He laughed at my surprise. “Yes, I remembered him. Before everything went south, he took me out to find the girls. I even picked one of them out. I thought her hair was pretty.” He looked at his fingernails. “I don’t remember her name. But I remembered how she cried in the barn. She was afraid of the dark too.”

  I felt lightheaded, but I needed to keep him talking. Make him think I still cared. “So you knew your parents were killers?”

  “I knew they were people on a mission. I knew fun things went on in the barn because I heard my mother and grandpa come back laughing. I thought I was missing the party.”

  “And what about your father?”

  Chris rolled his eyes. “He tagged along. Did whatever my mother said, but he didn’t have the same passion as her or grandpa. It’s his fault they got caught, by the way.”

  I waited.

  Clearly enjoying his audience, Chris chattered on. “I wasn’t allowed in the barn because there were things in there that could hurt a little boy. But Grandpa was going to show me the family trade soon. He’d promised. My father didn’t like that, and one day he told me to go into the barn and decide for myself. So I did. And you know what happened after that.” He laughed, rubbing his hands together. “At least he’s the one who went to prison. Talk about karma.”

  I saw the opportunity and took a shot at getting him off kilter. “But your mother abandoned you. She left you to your uncle and went on to a new life.”

  His face changed again, tightening in anger. Just like that, his pretense disappeared. The real Chris appeared, eyes as dead as any body lying in the morgue. He was the scariest thing I’d ever encountered. “She was supposed to come back. But she changed her mind. I’d planned to kill her. And then it seemed perfect if you were the one to kill her–your initiation into my real life.”

  “Why didn’t you kill her?” I needed to know the answers. He’d played me for so long, and I hadn’t had any real clue. Even when I caught him in lies, I never thought past his just being generally screwed up. Now that I realized the extent of his deception, a tiny part of me was tantalizingly curious. How had he done it?

  “My grandpa is the one who met me that day outside of Jarrettsville,” Chris said. “He thought I was an imposter and shot at me, but when I started talking, he knew I was really little Chris. And he brought me back into the family.”

  “He helped you and your mom make amends.”

  Chris didn’t confirm or deny my assumption. “I’m glad I got to see him before he died. I just wish he could have been buried with the rest of the family. He wanted to be put in the crypt, even if it hadn’t been used in decades. His ancestors were war heroes, and so was he. So he thought it was fitting.” He drew his legs back and sat up straight. “But, oh well. And now you know why I keep the girls in the dark. So they can truly appreciate it.”

  “You keep them in the dark because it heightens their fear.”

  “That too.” Admiration briefly crossed his face. “I’ve got so much to tell you. But we’ve got some things to work out first.”

  “So let’s get down to all of it.”

  Chris cocked his head, pursing his red lips as though he were considering a purchase. “Just like that?”

  “Isn’t this what you’ve been building toward all these months?”

  “You already know what I want.” He didn’t blink as he watched me, his eyes seeming to burrow into mine.

  He wants to consume me.

  “A killing partner. That’s the easy answer.” Survival instinct begged me to look anywhere but at his deceptive gaze, but I maintained eye contact. Why had I ever thought I could see into the depths of his soul when I looked at him? He was empty. “But I think you want me to know why. To understand. Because isn’t that part of what bonds us? That we’re the only ones who understand our actions?”

  He regarded me for a moment. The woman in the other room cried harder. I wanted to scream at her to shut up–that I was trying to save us both–but I couldn’t concentrate with her constant yowling.

  “I understand you.” Chris pointed a long finger at me. “I have from the moment I realized you were a killer. After Jake and Riley, I thought you were coming around to understanding yourself.” Chris inhaled, eyes briefly closed, his expression turning dreamy. “I had so many plans for us, and we were so close. But then you just crashed.”

  “Jake and Riley were about self-defense.”

  His shoulders bounced with a silent laugh. “Don’t lie to yourself. Those kills were about self-preservation, not defense.”

  I needed to change the subject. Get him talking about himself. Let the arrogance flow. “I won’t pretend to know you.”

  “You couldn’t possibly. I told you who I was, and you kept making excuses.”

  “I was too cocky.” Lying would only get me into more trouble. “I thought I was the teacher, and you were the pupil.”

  “You assumed you knew better than me.” His voice grew louder with every word. “I eventually believed you’d come around, so I let it ride. That’s not to say I didn’t make things happen along the way–keep you on the right path.”

  He patted his chest, and I drew back in the chair. Whatever he was about to say was going to be awful.

  “Sarah of course. And her boyfriend.” His blasé way of speaking–like we were talking about something as boring as the weather–turned me ice cold. Chris cared about nothing, and yet he made everyone he encountered believe his intentions were pure. He blended into society like the rat living in the sewers. And he planned every meticulous moment.

  As he watched my internal struggle, I swore he’d somehow managed to crawl inside my skin and infiltrate my mind. I wanted to flee, to be anywhere else but here. My mother’s house suddenly seemed like heaven.

  “Why?” I choked.

  “I thought–mistakenly–that being the center of a murder investigation would make you snap and embrace who you really are.” His posture slumped. “But it didn’t, and I had to frame her ex-boyfriend. That was a depressing time. I had to start all over. But fortunately my mother answered her email.”

  I’d thought as much when Lennox told me everything, but to hear it all now only confirmed the depths Chris went to. He was even smarter than I’d imagined. “You knew your mother was Justin’s mother before we even went into her basement, right? It was all an act.”

  A smirk danced at the corner of his mouth, but the girl’s intensified pleading drew his attention. He stared in her direction like a starving animal on the hunt. When he looked back at me, the lifelessness of his gaze almost stripped me of the last bit of courage. “Let’s get back to you. I saw your face after you
killed Preacher. You liked watching him die.”

  He knew about Mary all along.

  Keep playing the game.

  “Because he was a bad person who deserved it.” I didn’t want to think of the rush I’d experienced smothering the life out of Preacher, even though I knew that’s exactly what Chris wanted me to admit.

  Another laugh from him, this one loud and boisterous. “There you go, playing judge and jury again. You know that’s all bullshit, Lucy. You just needed to find a way to justify your need to completely dominate another human being. To control them to the point of saying whether they lived or died.”

  He dropped his crossed leg, his boot landing hard on the floor. The light played off his face as he leaned forward, making him look even more effervescent. “Tell me you don’t think about it every day. Maybe when you’re driving in a parking lot and some ungrateful prick cuts you off. Or an old woman is walking in the middle of the aisle, oblivious to anything around her.”

  His voice lowered to a husky tone that had once given me chills of desire. “Admit it. You’ve imagined grabbing them by their hair and cutting their throats. Or yanking the selfish driver out of his truck and beating him until he was so scared he pissed himself and begged for mercy.”

  I shook my head. It didn’t matter that he had a point. I would never do those things just for kicks. I had remorse. Chris didn’t even know the meaning of the word.

  “Oh yes,” Chris said. “See, those are the everyday urges we both have to control. Such a pain in the ass. Let me tell you, I’ve come close so many times in the ambulance. Some of the thugs and worthless human beings I have to haul to the hospital. Who would miss them? But there’s no fun in any of that. Controlling the urge, denying yourself. That makes the real fun all the more better.” He licked his lips.

  The girl whimpered again for help. Chris’s hands twitched.

  I felt trapped inside my own skin. “What do you want me to do?’

  The smile again–the child-killing clown. “You said you would stay with me. Kill with me.”

  Sweat saturated the back of my neck, my arms burning from the pressure of the rope. “If you let Kelly go.”

  His eyes closed briefly, his shoulders slowing raising and then falling again. And then an inhuman, cold blue stare. “You have to prove yourself for me to even consider your offer.”

  34

  The girl’s bare feet dragged against the floor as Chris pulled her in from the bedroom. Twine bound her wrists and ankles. Her short, denim skirt barely covered her small thighs, her halter top fell just beneath her pushed-up breasts. Fresh welts covered her long legs.

  Chris shoved her onto the floor in front of me. She fell into a heap, helpless with her hands duct taped behind her back. More duct tape concealed her eyes.

  The residue on Shannon’s face.

  He takes away their sight to amplify their fear.

  The girl’s head whipped back and forth. She must have sensed someone else in the room, as she slithered toward me until her head bumped into my leg. Her pitiful cry made my head hurt.

  “Who’s there? I heard you talking! Help me.”

  I jerked at my restraints, fighting the pain of my wrist. The wire cut deeper into my ankles.

  “I chose her for you.” Chris sat back down. “Normally I’m not selective. But I know you like to pretend you have some kind of moral code, so I figured she was a good choice.”

  The girl continued to beg for her life, her words too nonsensical to understand.

  “I can’t do this.” The argument was futile, but I had to make it. I raised my voice over the mewling. “Not like this. I need to prepare.”

  “Kelly’s life is at stake,” Chris said. “What more preparation do you need?” He kicked the girl’s hip. “Shut up. You know you need to be punished.”

  “I don’t,” she sobbed. “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Oh yes you did.” Chris wagged his finger at her, exuberance lighting up his face. “You stood by while that piece of shit molested your little girl.” His gaze slid to mine. The reflecting light made his eyes glow like the beast’s who waited in the closest. “Just like someone else we know. Right Luce?”

  My insides froze. How could he possibly know about Joan? I’d never told him.

  “I do my research.” As usual, he knew what I was thinking. “And my uncle’s got some connections. Did you know the police who questioned your mother suspected her of knowing all along? They threatened to charge her with neglect, but in the end didn’t have enough evidence. That’s why the social worker visited you for several months after Lily’s death. Do you remember?”

  That social worker had been my only sliver of light back then. Joan claimed she was checking in on us to make sure we were coping with Lily’s death. My mother lied to me. Imagine that.

  “See,” he said. “I know more about your life than you do.”

  Chris’s cartoonish smile and his arrogance stoked my anger. Maybe I had some fight left after all. “Actually, I already knew about Joan. She admitted it to me. I just didn’t tell you.”

  He struggled to keep his expression passive, but I saw the twitch between his eyes. “You’re lying.”

  “Am I? You know me too well for that.” As long as he didn’t ask when I discovered the truth, I could cling to the minuscule advantage.

  “Whatever. It makes no difference to me. The point is this woman is just like your mother.” He got up and thrust his boot into the woman’s side. “She allowed her daughter to be raped by her live-in boyfriend.”

  She shrieked in pain. Still flailing like a fish about to be gutted, the woman on the floor continued to plead for her life. “I didn’t know. That’s what my boyfriend told the police, but he’s a liar. I turned him in the second my baby told me. If I’d known, I would have killed him!”

  Tears dampened the duct tape over her eyes, and mucus oozed from her broken nose. “Please.”

  Chris stood up and stretched. “I call bullshit. Do you really think it’s possible for her to live in the same house and not know what was going on?”

  “I worked nights,” the woman cried. “He was taking care of her. I trusted him.”

  “Nights.” Chris made quotation marks with his fingers, dancing around the sobbing woman. “That’s code for being a hooker. She was out spreading her legs while her daughter was violated.”

  He stepped over her, his foot using her back like a stool. She screamed in pain. Chris knelt in front of me and put his hands on my thighs. I fought not to recoil. I should have slammed my knees into his chin, but I was injured and bound. And he would have only gotten angrier.

  “Lucy, we’ve discussed this. You can’t have it both ways. If you’re going to hold the boyfriend responsible, then you have to hold this poor excuse for a mother responsible too.” He ran his hand down my legs, stroking my calves. “Unless you want to be a hypocrite.”

  “You said you wanted to be partners.” I decided to try again. “That means equal say. I didn’t choose her. I haven’t confirmed your story. You know my code. If you want me to kill with you, then you need to be fair.”

  He let go of my legs and moved closer until his face was only inches from mine. “Fair? Are you seriously saying life should be fair?” He didn’t look away, didn’t even blink. He just kept staring at me.

  An acute fear unlike anything I’d ever experienced seized me. I felt as though I’d been yanked out of my body for a split second and then thrust back in, but without the exact fit. The protective layer of my flesh dissolved. My brain completely unhinged. Tremors attacked, and my body stretched to the point of snapping.

  Chris smiled, and the first sign of real emotion flickered in his eyes. But it wasn’t compassion or even arousal.

  It was sheer glee.

  “Do you know why I kill?” His whisper amplified the assault on my senses. I couldn’t even figure out how to shake my head. He traced my cheek and then my mouth, and finally his hand slid over my eyes. “For this. The
fear.” He inhaled, his head dropped back in ecstasy. “It’s like a drug. I swear to God I can smell it. All I’ve got to do is breathe it in, and I’m flying.”

  I’m going to die.

  So is Kelly.

  “So here’s the deal.” Chris pulled his gun out of his pocket as he stood up. “Either you kill her, or you’ll never see Kelly again.”

  The woman let loose a fresh wail. “My name is Maura. I have a seven-year-old daughter. I’m all she’s got. Please.”

  Chris ignored her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shining, silver coin. “This is my last 1986 Centennial coin. It’s kind of symbolic, don’t you think? Our first act as true equals.”

  Unable to speak, I forced a nod.

  With his dead eyes focused on mine, he stepped close to me, his breath in my face. He slipped the coin into the pocket of my cutoffs. “You can put it on her when she’s dead.”

  Keeping his gun on me, he slid a knife out of his pocket and began cutting the rope. “If you try to run or fight back, believe me when I say I’ll shoot you. Then I’ll kill Maura here, and then Kelly. And before I kill Kelly, I’ll make sure she knows you chose yourself over her life.”

  The pressure of the rope eased. I started to rise from the chair, and Chris pulled the magazine off the gun, the muzzle less than three inches from my face. My wrist and forearm throbbed with pain.

  Maura rolled onto her back. “Please. Your name’s Lucy, right? Don’t do this. Think of my little girl.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.” I kept my eyes on Chris. “But I’m trying to save my family too.”

  “You’re going to have to be creative,” he said. “No poison here. And I’m certainly not giving you my gun.”

  Was I really going to do this? How could I take this woman’s life?

  How could you have taken anyone’s life?

  And what’s one more? For Kelly?

  “I’m getting bored,” Chris said. “You won’t like me when I get bored.”

  I didn’t have a choice. This would be the one thing I’d never be able to forgive, but it was for Kelly. I grabbed the seat cushion of the armchair with my left hand. The cushion felt like an anchor.