“Similarities?” Caleb noticed her face drain of color, and he suspected she was merely trying to delay what Ethan was about to say, and that she, in fact, knew what similarities he was talking about. Even if Caleb didn’t have a clue what was going on.
“I know you never intended for me to find out about it, but I need to talk to you about the marks on your left buttock.”
“H-how did you know about those?”
“Before you woke up, I heard the doctors telling Mother and Father about your injuries,” Ethan said calmly.
“Why are you asking me about this?” Kara’s voice was a mere whisper. “What does that marking have to do with this victim?”
“Kara, the young woman had the same initials on her left buttock, but instead of DB II, the marking was DB XII.”
6
Kara noticed a few things at the same time: the room felt suddenly too small, the men standing by her suddenly seemed very far away, and it felt like all the blood in her body had either rushed to or away from her head. She had suspected Ethan had something horrible to tell her, but she wasn’t expecting what had come out of his mouth. She began shaking her head back and forth, barely conscious of the hand that had softly taken her arm and led her to the couch.
“But that’s not possible, it’s just not possible. Why would they make that subtle change? Was it intentional or accidental?”
“At the time, they assumed it was Devon Bristol II. But it is clearly DB XII on this victim.”
It was a battle to maintain control, but slowly her head cleared and her breathing returned to normal, and that was when she realized that the hand that had led her to the couch wasn’t Ethan’s, but rather, his partner. Kara carefully pulled her arm out of his grasp. She was surprised to find that she was okay with the contact. Her brother speaking grabbed her attention once again.
Sam sensed her distress and whimpered beside her. Needing the contact, she reached out to rub his head.
“Andrea Vincent. Don’t refer to her as a victim.” Regretting her tone, she took a deep breath. “I don’t understand why there’s an extra letter. But there has to be a reason.”
“He’s dead, he died. You told me that.” She knew she sounded accusatory and unhinged as the words bubbled and flowed out of her mouth.
“He is dead.”
"My God, Ethan, why would anyone copy that? And for what reason? It has to be a copycat, right? Everyone knows that Devon Bristol died. What could they possibly hope to accomplish by making it appear he’s responsible for her murder?"
"Unless there’s something we’re missing, something that was never disclosed that whoever did this wants us to find out. Perhaps a partner or someone who wants revenge for his death?"
"Then this is not the beginning." Kara swallowed and tried to calm herself. "If I had an inkling that I would have been coming home to witness it all again, I would have stayed away. But it’s too late now, and what I have tried to put behind me for the last ten years is about to blow up in my face."
"Or it could be a coincidence," Ethan said. Kara knew he was grasping at straws, trying to find a way to calm her.
"You once told me that there are no coincidences," Kara said, her voice devoid of all emotion. "Why would this be any different?"
"I think we should just take this one step at a time. You both are going to have to fill me in on a few details," Caleb said.
Kara knew the look she gave him was one of complete disbelief. She had never met someone who hadn’t heard of her abduction, so surely, she was misunderstanding him when he asked to be filled in. Perhaps he meant he needed to know intimate details, which was not going to happen.
"I’m not going to go into details about that summer. I spent a long time trying to forget about that, and I am not going to go into it, at least not here and not right now."
"You have to give me more than that or I can't help you out. What happened ten summers ago?"
"You're not serious, right? Tell me he is not serious.” Kara looked to her brother, clearly shocked.
"Kara, Caleb isn't from around here. I can fill him in if you want," Ethan said quietly.
"No, I can tell him. Ten summers ago, I was abducted and held for ransom for four days. Unfortunately for me, the man who abducted me used those four days to the fullest extent. Also, unfortunate for me, is that he died after I escaped."
“Why would his death be unfortunate?” Ethan asked slowly.
“Because it wasn’t by my hands,” she said coldly.
Kara knew that her voice sounded cold and devoid of human emotion, but it was the only way she could handle speaking about what had happened to her. Judging by the look on both men’s faces, they recognized her behavior as very superficial and weren’t buying for one second that it didn’t still affect her very profoundly.
"So, ten summers ago, Devon Bristol abducted you and did some things you rather not mention. You got away, he died, and now ten years later, a young woman washes up, dead, with eerie similarities to your abduction. And I am going to guess that the initials were presumably not released to the public. Does that about sum it up?" Caleb asked, sounding matter-of-fact, but also as though he empathized, which was important. Kara hated the looks of pity she got.
"That about sums it up. I buried those demons a long time ago. Or, so I thought," she said, lying through her teeth.
"Sure, you did,” Ethan said quietly.
"Believe what you will."
"All right, for now, we need to react offensively. This may be nothing more than someone playing a sick joke on the ten-year anniversary of your abduction. I would think they could get a lot of information about it online,” Caleb said.
"There are a number of sites that have information on it." She paused, and a thought dawned on her. As she was putting the pieces together, she could feel her face get pale.
“What is it? Did you think of something?” Ethan asked, his voice laced with worry.
“She went missing on the twenty-fourth? After leaving a small get-together around ten o’clock, she had left early because she had to be up early for class, right?” The details of the news broadcast she had heard and turned off on her ride suddenly clicking into place.
“Yes,” Caleb answered.
“And she was found today? When did she die? Have they determined that yet?”
Caleb looked at Ethan as if he wasn’t sure if he should answer her, and after a silent nod from Ethan, he told her the estimated time of death.
“They figured she died within the last twelve hours.”
Sinking to the couch, she sucked in a deep breath and put her head in her hands. Counting to ten and taking a breath with each number, she calmed herself enough to explain her line of questioning. Though she knew Ethan was already doing the math.
“I went missing on May twenty-fourth at about ten o’clock. Same time as the senator’s daughter. And I escaped on the twenty-eighth at ten o’clock, exactly four days later. Add twelve hours to that, and you have ten o’clock this morning. So, she was killed at the hour I escaped. And was found with the same initials that I have on my buttock or damn close. Are the initials a mistake, the X an error?” Kara was shaking badly. “The only way it could have been planned better would be if she would have been found at the time I was found.”
“Shit!” Ethan said. “The motherfucker is copying it down to the last detail, but how could he know?”
“Like Caleb said, you can get a lot on the internet these days. Some sites are more factual than others, and some are just speculation. But most of the details are out there.”
“But the markings are limited knowledge,” he said.
“Oh, really?” she asked sarcastically.
“Well, other than Mr. Stanford, the doctors and nurses and cops. Our parents and I are the only other ones that know about them.”
“And you believe for one second that none of them would leak that for some cash? I know it was not released to the public, but that doesn’t mean that t
he public didn’t find out. Believe me, I have toured some of the murder sites that glorify that asshole, and the initials are out there.”
He opened his mouth, and clearly struggling, he closed it and then opened it again.
“That detail was classified; they were all told to not say anything.”
“Right, well somebody did because there certainly are a lot of pictures of it online,” she said.
“What?” Ethan roared. “Some sick son of a bitch took a picture of that and put it online?”
That really caught their attention. She didn’t want to divulge how she knew the pictures were online, that someone had actually e-mailed her the link, and that the link was the reason she had discovered all those murder sites. That someone over the years had made it personal to taunt her. If she hadn’t known Devon was dead, she would have thought it was him. Sometimes she did think it was him, haunting her from the grave.
They also didn't need to know that the reason she had come home was because it was time to exorcise her demons, once and for all. Sure, she was pretending she had already done that, but she had never left that summer ten years ago. So, she had moved home to find answers to a lot of questions she had. But for now, it was in her best interest to let both men think she had overcome all that. That she wasn’t here for revenge against those who never saw justice. And over the years, she had realized there were more involved with the days before and after her kidnapping than even she had known. Realizing she had checked out of the conversation, she tried to focus.
“All right, so we have some serious similarities here. What do we want to do about it?”
“Kara, damn it, you know changing the subject isn’t going to cut it with me, right? I can google those pictures without your help.”
“But you won’t. All you need to know is that they were nice and bloody and they showed the initials perfectly.”
Ethan was steaming. Kara could see that, but she couldn’t let herself care. She was about to say something when Ethan’s eyes widened and he looked at her with questions in his eyes.
“What do you mean bloody?”
“Have you gone insane?” Kara frowned at him.
“Damn it, answer me, what do you mean by bloody? Describe it.”
“I’m not sure I’m following you.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. She looked at Caleb for help, but he could only shrug, equally confused by the line of questioning.
“I mean, was the picture of a fresh wound or a healed-over and scabbed wound?”
“Fresh. But why does that…?” It was her turn for her eyes to widen. “Oh my God, Ethan, the picture was of a fresh wound. Are you telling me that it wasn’t fresh when I was found?”
“No. It had begun to heal over, and the scab had already formed. Montgomery, I know you might not like this, but for now, I would prefer not mentioning the connection to Kara. If someone else figures it out, fine. But for now, and until we know for sure there is a connection, I think we work as status quo. Are you okay with that?"
"I have your back, bro. And if they get wind of it before we’re ready to let them know, we can just plead the fifth. Kara never filled you in on the markings. But I hope you know if another girl goes missing..." Caleb said.
“We will say something right away. For now, it might just be some sicko who saw the pictures online.”
Kara was surprised at how quickly he was willing to cover Ethan's back. She knew in that instant that he was a man she could trust. Both men were willing to put their careers on the line to keep her name out of the mix until necessary.
"You know you don't have to do that," Kara said weakly, knowing that both men could pick through her words and hear the appreciation.
"As far as I’m concerned, we didn't have this conversation until we know more," Caleb said.
"Thanks, Caleb," Ethan responded.
"You had my back once; now I have yours."
"Unfortunately, we have to go, Kara. We left in a hurry, and if we don't get back to the crime scene soon, we will be missed."
"I understand. Once I get everything unpacked, you should come over for supper." Ethan wrinkled his nose at the invitation. "You might be surprised; I’m getting pretty good at cooking. So, I would appreciate you coming with an open mind. Both of you. I would like to get to know the man who has my brother’s back, under friendlier circumstances."
"I would like that."
"Even under these circumstances, it was nice meeting you, Detective Montgomery."
"You can call me Caleb. And the pleasure was all mine."
It suddenly got very quiet; Kara realized she was staring at her feet. Taking a deep breath, she looked up and into the eyes of the man that had literally knocked her on her ass—the most handsome man she had ever met. The fact that she could even think about the way she was attracted to him was amazing, considering what she had just been told. It showed that she had come much further than she thought she had. Her stomach did a cartwheel when she realized he was as intrigued by her as she was by him. Which both scared and excited her. Kara jumped when Ethan cleared his throat.
"Here is my new cell number for work. Call me at any time if you need to get a hold of me," Ethan said.
"I will."
As they turned to leave, Caleb paused and looked her in the eye, long and hard.
"Don't just say you will. If you get scared or something feels off, call. Until we figure out what’s going on, you need to watch your back. And here’s my number, in case you can’t reach Ethan."
A bad feeling enveloped her, and as they turned to leave, she stopped them. It wasn’t rational, but she just knew this wasn’t the only victim.
“We all always assumed the II was for Devon Bristol the second,” she said quietly.
“What was that?” Caleb asked.
“What if the II is a Roman numeral and the XII is as well, that the X isn’t a mistake by a sloppy copycat. Can you both do me a favor? Can you check around? I have this bad feeling, call it intuition, that this person has been copying my abduction for a while. My guess is, if you look around throughout the states, you’ll find other abductions.”
“Kara, as high profile as your abduction and this one is, don’t you think we would have heard if any similar cases had happened in the last ten years?” Ethan asked.
“Not necessarily, not if the killer picked less ‘important’ victims, homeless teens, et cetera, just to satisfy his thirst. Not to mention, some of them might not have been found. Or perhaps they weren’t found before the similarities like the initials decomposed.” She involuntarily shivered at the thought.
“She might be right,” Caleb said. “It’s worth considering.” And with that statement and a quick hug from Ethan, they left.
Once they were gone, Kara was jumping out of her skin with fear, but she also couldn’t help but feel disappointed. She’d spent too much time alone in the last ten years and was starting to get tired of it. Her life had been stagnant for far too long. She had been swimming through a wasteland, and it was time to move on. Time to live.
So, they finally found the body. About time. He had hoped it wouldn’t have taken so long, that it would have been truer to the actual timetable. Oh well, couldn't be helped; he had to do it the way he did. It wasn’t like he could have really dropped her off at that time of night; the chances would have been much higher that he would have been seen. There was no way he wanted to show his hand too soon; after all, he’d left enough breadcrumbs on this victim. Surely this time they would notice? He had wanted to do things differently, and not be too obvious, but in the end, he figured it was best this way, and in the long run, it worked out perfectly. With sweet Kara Vanderbilt back home, he couldn't have planned it better himself. It was a pleasant surprise when he found out she was coming home, finally, after all these years. Although, it wasn’t like he hadn’t spied on her the whole time she was gone.
As private as the Vanderbilts were, he knew they’d not be going to the press with
the similarities between the two cases; that is, of course, if they even realized there were similarities. Let’s face it, the only smart one in the bunch was Kara. Ethan was clever, but nothing compared to his sister, and she certainly proved over the years that she didn’t want to relive those days. He certainly liked messing with her. He had thought she was smart, but not smart enough to tell the authorities about his taunting her.
Of course, who would believe her? He was just as smart as her and had covered his tracks well. No one would believe her story anyway; he had made sure of it. Maybe she was smart for not saying something? That way she could go on in her world of false pretenses, that she had moved on from that summer. After all, if she had gone to the authorities with the emails, they would have treated her nicely and laughed behind her back. The man who abducted her had been killed. How could he possibly be taunting her from his grave? This was going to be so much fun, resurrecting the ghost from her past.
He laughed at how quickly Detective Vanderbilt had run to Kara’s side. So that must mean he saw the markings on her all those years ago. It wasn’t like they were kept the secret their parents had wanted. Nope, everyone who could use Google would know all about those initials, another thing she could thank him for. But he still hadn’t expected the brother to know about them; he was kept out of the loop throughout the whole investigation ten years ago. And he wasn’t the type to go on the websites that he had uploaded those pictures to.
No bother, because he knew the brother would keep his mouth shut, too. For now, at least. The Vanderbilts were built that way. But for him to make the connection, maybe Kara wasn't the only one who had gotten the brains in the family. The introduction of Detective Montgomery did present a problem, but only on a small scale. An interesting problem; it wasn't hard to see, even from his vantage point, that Detective Montgomery was interested in little Kara. Of course, she wasn't that little anymore; she had filled out in all the right spots. It would be hard for any man not to want a little action where that one was concerned.
In the Night (Darkness Falls Book 1) Page 5