by Sandy Smyth
Suddenly, the answer was clear to him. He had taken her, again. That miserable son of a bitch, Tom Martins, had taken his Rosie away from him, again. It was all Martins’ fault. Those friends of Tom Martins had hidden Rosie somewhere. That knowledge calmed him, banking his rage and anger and filling him with steely resolve.
First, he’d have to find out where Martins was keeping her, and then he had to rescue his Rosie! He had to bring her home. Bring her home to him. And then he’d make sure that Martins could never take his Rosie away again. He’d kill the son of a bitch and everyone around him.
He smiled grimly. Once he had his Rosie back, then the nightmares would end for good. He would never again have to see her dead face looking at him with empty surprise. He would never again have to hear the loud cracking sound as his fist hit the side of her head. He would never again have to see the blood that pooled beneath her. No, once Tom Martins was dead, and his Rosie was back with him, then the nightmare would be gone.
He needed a plan. He needed to get back inside that mansion and find out where Martins had hidden his Rosie. And once he had rescued his Rosie and had her safe, then he’d go back and take them all out, permanently.
But, first, he needed a plan.
Chapter 15
Sheriff Benjamin Whittaker paged through the reports left on his desk. It was the same old thing. Small problems, but nothing he couldn’t handle in an hour or two.
But the Martins case had all of his professional instincts primed to the max. This was a nasty one. He picked up the picture Mike had printed from the YouTube video. He shook his head at the madness that seemed to be radiating in waves from the photograph. He felt the familiar tingle of unease at the back of his neck. This case was far from over.
Ben looked up as Carolanne walked into his office, stopping just inside the door. That instant snap of desire and attraction was growing stronger every day. His eyes settled first on her wide, whiskey-colored eyes and glistening lips before moving down to her abundant breasts. He could almost physically feel her breasts in his hands and her nipple in his mouth.
Carolanne placed her hands on her firm hips and whispered sternly, “Ben, stop it. For God’s sake, we’re in your office. Let’s have a little professionalism here. Unless, of course, you want me to jump your bones here and now with your entire staff watching and listening.”
Incendiary heat flared in his eyes as they stared into hers. A guttural “where and when” ripped from his throat.
“Ben!” Her eyes widened as Ben slowly got up from his chair and walked intently toward her, his cock straining against his tight jeans. He reached behind her and shut the door firmly before pulling her roughly into his arms.
Instead of kissing her, Ben moved two steps to the side and moved her so that her back was to the wall. He took a step forward, pinning her to the wall with his body and freeing his hands to stroke slowly from her waist to her breasts. He groaned as she lifted her hips to press against his growing arousal, but still did not kiss her.
“I want you so damn badly that I can hardly think, Carolanne. From the first time I heard your voice, the first time I saw your face, your body. I knew. I knew you were mine.” His teeth gripped her earlobe and nipped lightly.
“Ben! Oh, my God, Ben.” She tipped her pelvis up and began grinding her pussy against him.
“Since I met you, Carolanne, I haven’t been able to do anything but fantasize about fucking you, sucking on your tits, and eating you and playing with you until you scream with pleasure. I want to fuck you every way possible and—”
“Ben! Shut the fuck up and kiss me, damn it.” She grabbed his head and pulled his smiling lips down to hers.
It was instant combustion. A fiery conflagration of intense emotional and physical need. Their tongues dueled in a dance of naked desire as their hips rotated and ground together. Carolanne’s hands covered Ben’s on her breasts. He moaned into her mouth, his tongue searching for hers, and then he sucked it into his mouth.
It took a few moments for the sound of the intercom to register. “Sheriff? There’s a call from San Francisco, a Mr. Trent Palmer. Something about the Martins case. Sheriff? Do you want me to tell him to call back later?”
Ben covered the few steps to his desk quickly. “I’m here, Tobey. Tell Mr. Palmer I’ll be right with him.”
“Will do, Sheriff.”
Ben took a deep breath and exhaled roughly. He looked at Carolanne still leaning against the wall, her lips swollen from his kisses and her hair slightly mussed.
“Carolanne,” he said roughly. “Tonight. My place or yours?”
She hesitated for a moment then nodded. “Tonight. My place.”
Ben picked up the phone. “What have you got, Trent? Wait. Hold on for a second. Carolanne, get a notebook and pen. Okay, Trent, I’ve put you on speaker. Carolanne will be taking notes. She’s one of M-G Security’s best people.” He shot her a wink and smile.
“Well, we think we’ve found your guy. The only name we could come up with is T. J. Samuels, and we’re quite sure it’s not his real name. According to a former employee, he owned his own construction company for just under a year. Apparently he couldn’t keep any personnel because he’d either fire them or they’d quit. No one could put up with his ranting and raving.” Ben could hear papers shuffling as Trent paused and then continued.
“When his wife disappeared, he left what little remained of his business and took his eleven-year-old stepdaughter, Rosemary, to the Pacific Northwest. They lived in Seattle for about four years before moving to a small cabin in the mountains near you. The stepdaughter graduated from high school three years ago and since then she has disappeared, too. The home address listed at the high school is for a house that was torn down two years ago. No one knows where his cabin is located, but we’re still checking out things from our end.”
“That doesn’t sound good, Trent. Not good at all.” Ben was seriously disturbed by this tale.
“I’m with you there, Ben. I’m faxing you a copy of the stepdaughter’s high school yearbook picture. She’s a dead ringer for that girl on the video, so I’m sure this fits with the Martins case. Ian is still checking on possible locations for the cabin. It would have to be close enough to the high school for her to have attended regularly, unless they rented a place in town. Maybe the house that was torn down. So we’re checking on that end of things, as well as trying to get information on Rosemary from her classmates. But that’s all we’ve got at the present time. When we get more, you can be sure we’ll be in contact immediately.”
“Thanks, Trent, you guys have dug up an incredible amount of information. If we learn anything at this end, we’ll be in contact. Have you notified Mike and John of this new info?”
“No, we can’t seem to get through to them. If you can, let them know what we found and that we’re working on the other things. Take care. Will talk to you soon.”
“Right, Trent.” Ben hung up his receiver and looked at Carolanne solemnly. “I don’t like the sound of this, not at all.”
“Do you think he killed them both, Ben?”
“I don’t know. It’s guesswork at this point, but looking at that face, I believe it’s a valid possibility.”
Ben watched as Carolanne walked over to the fax machine which was laboriously giving birth to a slightly dark picture of a young girl. She picked up the fax and brought it over to Ben.
“She is beautiful, Ben. So full of hope and promise. And Trent was right, she looks a lot like Marylou. They could almost be twins.” She put the fax picture next to that of the hate-filled face of the man in the video. “How could she have made it living with that madman?”
Ben studied the two faces for long minutes.
“All we can do is hope that Rosemary is a survivor. Some people have the ability to look adversity in the eye and spit on it. Let’s hope she is one of them.”
“Ben, you do have the most weirdly cockeyed way of looking at things. But I like it. I like it a lot.”
Carolanne smiled. “Seven o’clock, and you have my address. I’ll cook dinner.”
“This time, forget the dinner. It’ll either burn or get cold by the time we get to it. Maybe we can order pizza, as long as you’ll let us eat it in bed. I swear to God, Carolanne, I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you. I don’t know how this happened, or why, but you’ve hit me like a ton of bricks. I’ve never felt this way before, even when I was a testosterone-ridden teen. Not even during my marriage.”
“Ben!” she said as she took a step toward him.
“Come one step closer, Carolanne, and we start here. Now. On top of my desk. I’m serious!”
She stepped back quickly and looked at him with amusement. “I believe you, Ben. I believe you.” She held her hands out in front of her, palms out as she took another two steps back. “I’d better get back to work.” She paused, her face thoughtful for a moment. Then she said, “But my job here is done, isn’t it, Ben? There’s no need for me to go through any more files, is there?”
“No, there’s no need for you to go through the files, but I’m sure going to miss seeing you here, Carolanne. You’ve played havoc with my concentration while you’ve been here and nearly driven me crazy with desire. But now I have a feeling that every time I walk out of my office my mind is going to see you sitting at that desk, taunting and teasing me just by being there. Or I’ll lift my head and see you standing with your back to that wall, your lips swollen from my kisses and your hair just slightly mussed. I don’t believe I’ll ever be free from you, Carolanne. Not ever. And to tell you the truth, I don’t want to be free of you. Not ever.”
“Ben, what are you saying?” she asked in a shocked voice.
“Great. Just fucking great. Now I’ve scared you into thinking I’m some kind of fucking stalker.” He roughly scrubbed his hands up and down his face before facing her again. “I’m sorry, Carolanne. My timing really sucks. I hadn’t meant to lay this on you so soon.”
She walked up to him, cupped his face in her hands, and looked deeply into his eyes. “You’re no stalker, and I’m not the least bit afraid of you. And one other thing, Ben. I don’t want to be free of you, either. Not ever. So go ahead. Lay it on me, big boy.”
He pulled her to him and held onto her with arms of steel for long, long minutes. Suddenly, he stiffened, and pulled back enough to look into her eyes. “You said, ‘Lay it on me, big boy’? Is that what you said? Lay it on me, big boy?” he asked incredulously.
She looked up at him, her eyes dancing with amusement. “Yup. I did. That’s what I said.”
He started with a chuckle, then let it all out. He laughed so hard that the deputy and office staff quickly crowded into the doorway to see what was so funny. Ben ignored their audience and pulled Carolanne into his arms and kissed her. When he finally pulled his mouth away from hers, there were loud cheers and applause before they hurried back to their desks.
When they were alone, Ben rested his forehead against Carolanne’s. “Do you think we can finish this later tonight, or do we want to put on another public display in here? I’m up for either one.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, the bridge of her nose, and to her chin. “I don’t dare kiss your lips again, or it will definitely be public display.”
Carolanne smiled at him and said, “Tonight. Don’t forget, six o’clock. And pizza’s fine with me.”
“I thought you said to be at your place at seven o’clock tonight.”
“I did, but I changed my mind. I want you just as soon as I can get you. I was afraid that five or five thirty might be a little too early for you.”
“Hell, I’d go with you right now if I didn’t have to make a stop back at the Martins’ place. I want to pass along the information Trent provided, and I also have to talk to John and Mike about security plans.”
“I’m driving out there, too. Connor wanted me to work tonight, but he’s going to have to find someone else because I’ve got very important plans for tonight.”
“Is that right? Important plans, huh?”
“You bet.”
“You could ride out to the Martins’ with me. Of course, there would be a few stops I’d have to make on the way. You know, we lawmen have to check out places hidden from the road, make sure they’re safe for people needing some privacy.”
“Tonight, five thirty, my place. Don’t forget.” She winked and left his office quickly.
He chuckled briefly and then realized exactly what she had said. Five thirty! God, she was a real piece of work. Incredibly sexy, funny, smart, gorgeous, and she was going to be his. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure of it.
He grabbed his hat and keys and started out of the door when the intercom came on again. “Sheriff, it’s a call from Los Angeles for you, a Mr. Ian Davies.”
Ben quickly turned around and leaned over his desk for the phone. “Ian, this is Ben. Any more news?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact there is more news. I just finished talking to Trent, and he said he’d just spoken with you, but hadn’t been able to reach Tom or Mike or John. I haven’t been able to contact them either. Maybe you can relay this new information. We’ve found Rosemary Samuels, although her married name is Langston. Once the police officers we sent to her home were able to assure her that I was not working for Samuels, and would never reveal her location to him, she agreed to talk to me. Once she started to talk, she didn’t stop for over an hour.”
“Thank God. Then he didn’t kill her.”
“No, not his stepdaughter, but she believes that he killed her mother, Rosemarie-Janine Samuels. She said he always called her mother Rosie, and although she was only eleven years old at the time, she was aware that he controlled her mother with fear and even with his fists. Their life became a living hell. According to Rosemary, her mother had made arrangements for the two of them to leave Samuels, to escape his obsessive and abusive behavior. But something went wrong and he found out about her plans. Rosemary was in bed but remembers hearing a terrible fight. Samuels was screaming and shouting obscenities, and she could hear the familiar sounds of fists hitting flesh. She says she heard a loud thud and Samuels crying out to Rosie, begging and crying for her not to leave him.”
“Son of a bitch,” exclaimed Ben. “That sounds like a familiar story. One I’ve heard too many times.”
“You and me, both,” said Ian. “The next morning the daughter was told that her mother had left to visit some friends in Seattle and that they were going to meet her there in a week or so. She said she knew her mother was dead because her mother would never, ever have left her with Samuels. And, also, she said that after Samuels had loaded the van with their things, he left her in the van and walked into the nearby woods just a few feet. She could see him from the van and watched him kneel down and place his hands on a mound of freshly dug soil and bow his head. Rosemary knew then that that was where he had buried her mother.”
“Christ, the poor kid had to have been terrified out of her mind.”
“Oh, she was, but do you know what that terrified little girl did? On the way to Seattle, when she had a few moments of privacy, she wrote down on a scrap of paper the address of that house, along with a tiny child’s map of a square house and the woods close by with an X showing the approximate location of her mother’s grave. She folded it into a small square and hid it in a large flowered locket that had belonged to her mother. We have a team at that address now, searching that location for the body.”
“Oh, my God! It’s almost unbelievable that a child, a terrified child at that, would think and act so logically.”
“Not so unbelievable, Ben. She said she did it so that someday, in the future, she could go back and visit her mother’s grave to say good-bye. She’s still afraid that he’ll find her and is willing to do anything to put him in jail for the rest of his miserable life. She drew a map for the police officers showing the location of the cabin in your area that we’ve been looking for. I’m sending a fax to you right now. We know yo
u’ve got limited men available so we’ve got a team en route to the cabin, as long as you have no problems with that. If you have any problems with it tell me now. I can still call them off.”
“No, Ian, I welcome the help. Just give them my cell number and have them let me know when they’ll be here. This sick fuck is extremely dangerous.” Ben paused for a second. “Was he—was he abusing her, too?”
“No, she claims he never physically touched her. Apparently, they left Seattle because she had made too many friends among her classmates and teachers in the four years they lived there. Teachers were beginning to question why she wasn’t allowed to join her classmates on field trips or attend school social functions. So he pulled her out of school and took her back to the mountains. Rosemary said that experience taught her that she had to keep any friendships, female or male, secret. Especially male friends. During her senior year she fell in love with a young man in her class, and she was terrified that Samuels would find out. She explained to her boyfriend what had happened in the past and convinced him to keep their relationship secret, even from their friends. It wasn’t until a few days before her high school graduation ceremony that she became absolutely terrified. All of a sudden, Samuels started calling her Rosie and looking at her ‘funny,’ she said.”
“Oh, shit,” Ben said. “Oh, shit, no.”
“You said it! Rosemary said it was a few days before the graduation ceremony when he tried hugging her, calling her his Rosie. She said she doubled over, crossing her arms in front of her stomach and told him she had just started her period and was cramping. She ran into the bathroom, locked the door, and stuck her fingers down her throat. She knew he could hear her heaving and vomiting and hoped that he would leave her alone for at least a few days. The following day at school she and her boyfriend made plans to escape at their graduation ceremony the next night. As soon as they received their diplomas they walked off the stage and slipped through the milling crowds to her boyfriend’s car. They managed to escape before Samuels even knew they were gone. They got married and moved to the east coast where they each got a job and started college part-time. They’re doing fine now and expect a baby soon.”