Touched by Death

by Dale Mayer

  "No windows face this direction, no glass doors, nothing."

  The two men smiled grimly. "That's what happened. I can just see it."

  Stephen added, "Particularly if he'd watched Meg and Dane walk away? He'd have known he had that window of time."

  "I'm sorry to say that I agree; there's been so much strange shit going on with John and his family, he comes to mind automatically. But he wouldn't have known Jade was here. Or that she was alone. It could just as easily have been an abduction by a stranger. And those are the worst to solve."

  Casting a narrow eye around the road and parking lot, Stephen grimaced. "Maybe Peppe is behind this? He's conveniently gone missing."

  Shifting his crutches to the other side, Dr. Mike hobbled to his feet. "We only have to look at what Peppe did to me to realize what he's capable of. He could have snatched Jade. He could also have snatched those women we found in the grave. Hell, maybe Emile was even in on it."

  "Now that's stretching it," Stephen stared at Dr. Mike, doubt clouding his voice.

  Anger colored Dr. Mike's voice. "Is it? Some asshole kept those women chained up. Who had opportunity? Look at where they live. No one would ever hear a woman scream out there."

  Stephen stared at him. "That's ugly."

  "True, but that doesn't mean it's wrong."

  ***

  Dane had already checked all the side streets close by when he pulled up right in front of the hotel. His heart was heavy. This time everyone raced to meet him before he'd even hopped out. He slammed the door and hurried in their direction. From the looks on their faces they hadn't found her.

  "Dane? Did you find her?"

  He shook his head as he joined them.

  "The others have just returned after looking everywhere for her." Dr. Mike pointed toward the three team members racing toward them from the other side of the hotel. "Any luck?" he called out.

  '"No. Nothing." The three arrived, gasping for breath. "Do you have any news? Please tell us you have news," Meg asked, worry creasing her face.

  Bruce walked out from the hotel. As everyone turned to him he shook his head.

  Hope died from everyone's faces.

  Dane opened his mouth again, then closed it for a second to gather his thoughts. "Except...well, I don't know if this has anything to do with what's going on. I wanted to confirm something that happened a long time ago so I phoned a friend of mine. Now this isn't for sure, but…"

  "Spit it out Dane. We don't have time." Bruce frowned at Dane.

  "I've been considering what you said about John. When he was in high school, he had this girlfriend who ran away from her home several times. She always came back. The last time was six weeks before her high school graduation. As far as I can determine, she's never been seen since."

  Meg gasped, the color leeching from her face. Susan reached out and grabbed her hand, then asked, "She's still missing?"

  "Yes. I just talked to my foreman in Seattle. He was a friend of the family. It may be that John had nothing to do with her disappearance but..."

  "He had motive and opportunity." Bruce pondered the information. "What did the police say?"

  "The police put her down as a missing person. Apparently, John was the last person to see her alive."

  Dr. Mike leaned forward. "Don't tell me – they'd had a fight and she ran away without him, breaking his heart."

  Dane stared at him. "Something like that, yeah."

  Bruce stood up. "Let's go."

  "Go where?" Dane looked over at the others in confusion. What did they know that he didn't?"

  "To John's place."

  Whoa. "What? On the basis of Celia having gone missing years ago? There's a chance this is all a coincidence." But even he was trouble believing that now.

  Wilson's angry voice sliced through Dane's protestations. "You said his other wife died too… Maybe he's killing Jade right now."

  The color bleached from Dane's face.

  Meg gasped.

  Bruce started walking to the parking lot. "Let's not go overboard. However, if I can consider this guy killed a girlfriend and then his two wives – I have to consider he's gone after Jade, too."

  Stephen, impatiently jingling the keys to one of the SUVs, stood by the closest vehicle, waiting. He asked, "Maybe, but why target Jade?"

  Dane's face turned from white to red as a growing fear burned the shock away. "If he's done this, and it's a fucking big if, then he's lost everything. He might, in his anger, and considering his mental state, want to strike out at me. He said something that surprised me earlier. Essentially, he wanted to know why his life was shit and mine so charmed."

  The others stared at him.

  "Typical siblings," suggested Meg, hopefully.

  "Step-siblings," he corrected. "My mother married John's father and he came along as part of the package deal."

  Dr. Mike and Bruce exchanged grim looks. "Greed and envy could be motive for snatching Jade. Not well thought out though, if that's what he's doing."

  Stephen opened up the SUV doors. "He's not thinking – he's reacting – to his anger and fear. He's going to lash out in the same way he has in the past."

  Meg groaned. "I feel for him after what's happened to his life. I can understand the anger, but to do something like this to his brother...and Jade... "

  Bruce hopped into the front passenger seat. "And we need to find her before he has a chance to release some of his anger...on her."

  ***

  The trip to John's house was completed in silence. Meg sat beside Dane as he drove. The SUV full of team members followed Dane's truck.

  Dane's mind churned with the mess in his head. It was hard enough to consider the girlfriend-wife thing, but to take that one step further and contemplate John abducting Jade was another altogether.

  He didn't want to believe any of it. This was his little brother. The kid brother he'd adored, helped and been there for all these years. And now he was wondering if this same man could have done what these professionals suggested. And if John had done these things, how well had Dane known him? Really known him? Dane understood anger – any man did. He didn't understand lashing out and hurting others while in a temper. There were other ways to let off steam than hurting people you loved.

  And John had changed. Become someone Dane had trouble understanding.

  The property looked deserted as they drove into the yard. There was no sign of John's truck. Maybe he was still in town. But if he were in town that meant he could have been at their hotel when Jade went missing. He swore under his breath and closed his eyes briefly.

  "Did you say something?" Meg turned to face him.

  "No. Just hoping this mess turns out better than it's looking like it will at the moment."

  "Right. Dane? I have to ask. Who said Peppe was not in his right mind?"

  He glanced over at her, in surprise. "I don't know. I didn't need to be told. I could see it for myself. Why?"

  "I'm just trying to sort out the behavior that's all. And what about Tasha?"

  "When I first met her, she was fairly happy and seemed like any other eager mother-to-be. At the end? No. She wasn't normal at the end. And there's no way you can blame that on my brother."

  "I'm not trying to," she said gently. "I'm trying to understand. Sort through the possibilities."

  He parked and turned off the engine. Stephen parked beside them.

  Dane gave her a hard look. "This is my brother. Remember that when you look at those possibilities."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Dane walked past the small picket fence he'd once considered cute. Not any longer. Now it looked run down and unloved. Everything in his life had taken on a dark tinge. He headed to the kitchen door and didn't wait for the others to follow. They would.

  He could already hear Meg running behind him and the vehicle doors ope
ning and closing as the others hopped out to catch up.

  He strode through the kitchen. There was no sign of John. He headed for the master bedroom and found it undisturbed from the day he'd cleaned it out. John hadn't moved back in. Frowning, he made a quick loop through the rest of the house.

  "He's not here."

  The others stood in the middle of the kitchen, faces blank.

  Dane shrugged. "He could be anywhere. Let's check the other cabins. There are three of them. I'll check mine first." He bolted out the door and ran to his place.

  Flinging open the door, he strode into the small cabin. Nothing had been disturbed. At least at first glance that appeared to be the case. He walked through the space and headed back out to the front. Everyone stood on the small porch or just inside the door, waiting for his verdict.

  "Empty."

  He led the way to Emile's cabin. They passed several outbuildings. Old sheds, storage rooms and working buildings from years past when this place had been a thriving farm. They checked every one.

  No sign of him. Nothing.

  Lots of rusted equipment and wooden boxes filled the spaces, but mostly they were full of junk.

  Arriving at a clearing, Dane pointed out Emile's cabin, Dane said, "I don't know if anyone's been in here since Emile died."

  "Not likely, considering there'd only been John and Peppe left." Bruce strode beside him. "He had enough on his plate without worrying about minor things like that."

  Dane shot him a sideways look. "Still think he could have done what you think he might have done."

  Bruce was quick to answer. "Yes."

  "Kidnapping doesn't fit John's pattern. Jade wasn't his girlfriend. She's mine. She's not pregnant as far as I know."

  Trying to maintain the pace as Dane's long legs ate up the distance, Bruce explained, "I wasn't thinking of that pattern as much as it could possibly be his way to get rid of a problem in his life. Once something starts to go wrong he's faced with failure. Rather than accepting that a relationship or a business, or his plans have come to an end, it sounds like he's getting rid of the cause for his failure – blaming something of someone else, so to speak. And removing it from his life so he doesn't have to face it."

  "Failure?" Dane shook his head. "That's a bit harsh."

  "There's no way of knowing. Killers don't think like we do. Although, most of the time these people have had a tough upbringing – child abuse that sort of thing. According to you – you two were always close. You had a good childhood."

  "More or less."

  "So what could have gone wrong for John? What could have started him on this path?"

  Dane looked at him in confusion, very conscious of the others listening in with interest. "Wrong?" He stopped and reared back slightly. "Nothing was wrong. Unless you mean our parents' deaths? My dad passed when I was an infant, John's mom died when he was in kindergarten. Our parents married several years later. We were all close until they died on a European holiday in John's second-to-last year of high school."

  Bruce was quiet for a moment. "Their deaths could have initially triggered his actions." Taking a deep breath, he added, "And it's quite possible being forced to confront death on a large scale like the mass grave may have triggered his behavior again. Made him reassess where he was in life and what he really wanted?"

  Dane shot him a look of disbelief, not wanting to consider the possibility. He turned and pointed to a cabin showing in the distance. "That's Emile's."

  Their pace picked up. At the stairs, the others stopped and waited for Dane. He unlatched the door, wrinkled up his nose and flung the door wide open. "God, it's stale in here."

  "Not being cleaned and aired out will do that."

  "I suppose." Dane headed in. The cabin had an identical layout to his – was maybe a little larger. Clothes were tossed onto the backs of the furniture, shoes forgotten on the floor.

  Dane shook his head and strode into the bedroom.

  Empty. But then, what had they expected. It's not like Jade was going to be sitting there, waiting for them.

  "It's empty. There's only Peppe's place left." Dane pointed toward the heaviest treed area of the property.

  "Let's check it fast, then...hell, I don't know what we'll do after that."

  "One thing at a time." Bruce turned to survey the treed acreage. "Talk about privacy. Dane, where is Peppe's place? I can't see anything."

  He pointed. "Through those trees. Peppe's place is the original homestead. Peppe built the main house for his wife." Dane raced off in that direction while still explaining, a sense of urgency dogging his heels.

  The cabin was set in amongst the trees. Older, more worn, the front door hung crooked...and stood open. "The cabin should be burned because of the state it's in." Bruce backed away, his hand wafting the air in front of his face. "God, that is rank."

  "No kidding."

  Dane glanced over to see Stephen and Wilson who held their noses as they tried to breathe. A quick glance at Meg showed a similar reaction. He climbed the few stairs and entered. The others stayed well back.

  The cabin looked the same as he remembered from his last visit. In fact, it looked exactly the same. The same clothes and brown stains on the floor. The smell could have been just the decomposing food though. He bent and peered closer at the stains on the floor. They were old. He kicked them with his boots. Very old.

  He searched the small cabin, his mind wanting to panic. A part of him would be happy to accept all kinds of theories if they led to finding Jade. Instead they'd hit a dead end. "It's empty too."

  "Really? I thought for sure we'd find Jade here, somewhere." Meg peered into the room behind him.

  Stephen shook his head. "Why here? She could be anywhere."

  "I hope not. It's going to be impossible to find her then." Bruce backed up several paces to stare around the side of the house, as if looking for an outbuilding.

  Dane watched him and finally something went 'click.'

  "Goddamn it." Dane said suddenly. Something he should have thought of earlier fell into place. He hopped off the porch and headed around the corner of the house. The others followed. The old outhouse stood in the back, the door open.

  "'What?" The others stared at him, following blindly, confusion on their faces. "Dane, what are you doing?"

  "There should be a root cellar here someplace." He shook his head at his own stupidity as he circled the small building. "John mentioned something about Peppe having done a lot of renovations to this old place. I remember asking to see it when I first arrived, but John said it wasn't his place. Said he was too busy fixing up his store. Another place he wouldn't show me."

  "What's that about John's business?" Bruce asked loud enough that everyone trying to catch up, could hear.

  Dane spun around to explain. "He was working from home, then decided a storefront in town would be better. He leased a place before the earthquake and lost everything. Then last week he told me, everything was gone. He was bankrupt and couldn't bear to tell Tasha." The root cellar should be here somewhere. It's the only thing that made sense.

  "Dane – is there a building left standing?" Bruce called out, his sharp voice finally penetrating Dane's focus.

  "Not much of one. I finally drove by there today but I couldn't see that he'd done anything. I kept asking to see it, offering to help. I'm in the construction business after all," Dane said in confusion, "Only he kept saying he was working on it and that it wasn't ready to show me yet."

  "As in he kept giving you an excuse to keep you away?" Bruce's sharp voice made Dane stop and turn to face them.

  "Yes, I guess so…but why?"

  "More failure?"

  "Dane, where is this building? Might he have stashed Jade in it?"

  "It's not structurally sound. Half of one side is cracked and caved in. I didn't stop to look beyond that. There's be
en so much going on."

  "Is there a downstairs? Or a part of the structure that is safe? A place where he might keep her?"

  Dane's face shut down. "I don't know." He stopped in front of a blue tarp. "This has to be what I want." He leaned down to pull back the tarp. "I figured there had to be an old root cellar down here." An old rusted padlock secured the large wooden doors closed.

  "Someone, give me a hand with this." He looked around for something to smash it with and spied a large rock.

  Bruce leaned down and yanked on the lock. "This sucker isn't moving."

  "Hell, yes it is. Move back." Dane crashed the heavy rock down on it.

  The padlock held but the old wood splintered in every direction.

  ***

  Jade tried for the thousandth time to get her foot free of the manacle. Her blood ran warm down her bare foot. She just couldn't get her heel through the small hole. Desperate for escape, she considered breaking her bones if that would do the job – then discarded that idea. She studied the pin mechanism and the new lock that held the manacle closed. She'd studied the ones on the women's ankles but not to figure out how to open them. Neither did she have any tools or rocks available to do the job.

  She collapsed back on the ground. Tears once again welled up in her eyes. She wiped them away. She couldn't function if she let her fear take over. It took anger to beat the fear into the ground. And anger had been a little scarce recently.

  Then she thought she heard something above.

  Her heart stopped. Friend or foe? Then again, what friend would know where to look? It had to be her captor.

  Panic rose. She pounded it down again. Think damn it. You've got a brain. Use it.

  A heavy thud above her head had her studying the ceiling. Her muscles tensed. She could hardly breathe.

  "Oh God, please. Someone help me," she whispered as she heard noises at the back of the building. "Please let this be someone looking for me."

  She closed her eyes and prayed.