by Karen Rose
“I’m in Dutton. I need those pictures.”
Luke was silent a moment. “What happened?”
“I think I’ve identified another one.”
“Alive?”
“Until twenty minutes ago, yes. Now, no.”
“God.” Luke blew out a breath. “What’s the combo to your safe?”
“Your mama’s birthday.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thanks. Bring them to 1448 Main. It’s a little one-story bungalow next to a park.”
Daniel hung up, and before he could change his mind, he called Chase. “I need you in Dutton. Please come.”
Dutton, Wednesday, January 31, 12:55 a.m.
“Are you sure I can’t get you anything, Agent Hatton?”
“I’m fine, ma’am.”
“Well, I’m not,” Alex muttered, pacing the length of the small living room and back.
“Alex, sit down,” Meredith said calmly. “You’re not helping anything.”
“I’m not hurting anything either.” She started to walk toward the window, then caught Agent Hatton’s warning glance. “Sorry.”
“Your cousin is right, Miss Fallon. You should try to relax.”
“She’s running on no sleep and no food,” Meredith told the agent.
Hatton shook his head. “And you’re a nurse. You oughta know better than that.”
Alex glared at them both and sat down hard on the sofa. Then popped up a second later when there was a knock at the door.
“It’s Vartanian,” Daniel called, and Hatton opened the door.
“Well?”
“Three dead,” Daniel said. “One of them my witness. Hatton, I need to talk to Miss Fallon,” he said, and Agent Hatton touched his temple in a mock salute.
“Ladies,” he said. “I’ll be outside,” he said to Daniel.
“Should I go?” Meredith asked and Daniel shook his head. Then he closed the door and stared at it for a long, long time, and with every moment Alex felt her panic climb.
Finally she could stand his silence no longer. “What did you need to tell me?”
He turned. “It’s not good.”
“For who?” she asked.
“Any of us,” he said cryptically, then walked to the counter where he’d kissed her, and leaned against it, head bowed. “When I first saw you I was shocked,” he said.
Alex nodded. “You’d just seen Alicia’s picture in the old article.”
“I’d seen her face before that. You read the articles about my brother Simon.”
“Some of them.” Alex lowered herself to the sofa. “ ‘I’ll see you in hell, Simon,’ ” she murmured. “You knew what it meant when I first told you.”
“No. Not until tonight. Did you read the article that talked about how my parents went to Philadelphia looking for a blackmailer?”
Alex shook her head but Meredith said, “I read that one.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t color all the time. I was going crazy. The article said a woman was blackmailing Daniel’s parents. When they went to Philadelphia to confront her, they learned Simon had been alive all that time and he killed them.”
“You didn’t get the latest, greatest,” Daniel said sardonically. “My father had known Simon was alive all along. He’d thrown him out of the house when Simon turned eighteen. He had… insurance to make sure he stayed gone. Then he told everyone Simon was dead so my mother wouldn’t keep looking. He faked Simon’s death, burial… everything. I believed he was dead. We all did.”
“You must have been shocked to find he was alive,” Meredith said quietly.
“That’s putting it mildly. Simon was always bad. When he was eighteen my father found something that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was because of this he banished Simon and it was this that he used as insurance that he would stay dead.”
“What was it, Daniel?” Alex demanded. “Just tell me.”
A muscle in his jaw spasmed. “Pictures of women, girls. Teenagers. Being raped.”
She heard the quick intake of Meredith’s breath, but for Alex there was no air.
“Alicia was one of them?” Meredith asked.
“Yes.”
Meredith moistened her lips. “How did that blackmailer get these pictures?”
“She didn’t. My mother had them, and when she realized Simon had been alive all that time, she left them for me in the event she didn’t… survive. The blackmailer knew Simon when they were kids. She saw him in Philly and knew he should be dead.”
“So,” Meredith said, “she blackmailed your father on the faked death and burial.”
“Essentially, yes. Two weeks ago, I found the pictures my mother had left for me. That was the day I learned my folks were dead. A few days later, Simon was dead, too.”
“So what did you do then?” Meredith asked. “With the pictures, I mean.”
“I gave them to the detectives in Philadelphia,” Daniel said. “The day I got them. At the time I still thought they were the reason for the blackmail.”
“So they’re up there?” Alex asked. “Pictures of Alicia are up there… with strangers?” She heard the thread of hysteria in her voice and fought it back.
“Copies, yes. But I kept the originals. I vowed I’d find the women. I didn’t know who they were or what part Simon played in it all. I didn’t know where to start. And then my first day back we found the woman in Arcadia.”
Meredith drew a breath, understanding. “The blanket and the ditch. It was the same.”
“One of the Arcadia men remembered Alicia’s murder. When I saw her picture in an old newspaper article, I knew she was one of the girls in Simon’s pictures. I was going to track down Alicia’s family the next day.” He looked at Alex. “And then you walked in.”
Alex stared at him, stunned. “Simon raped Alicia? But they caught the man who killed her. Gary Fulmore. He was a drifter. On drugs.”
Daniel hung his head wearily. “There were fifteen girls in those pictures. Only one of them had died, that I knew of anyway. Alicia. Until tonight.”
“Oh, God,” Meredith murmured. “Sheila.”
Daniel lifted his head, his eyes bleak. “I think so.”
Alex stood, vicious rage bubbling up from deep inside her. “You knew. You bastard. You knew and you didn’t tell me.”
“Alex,” Meredith cautioned.
Daniel’s face became stern. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
Alex shook her head. “You didn’t want to hurt me?” she repeated, stunned. “You knew that your brother raped my sister and you didn’t want to hurt me?”
“Your stepbrother may have been involved,” Daniel said quietly.
Alex stopped cold. “Oh my God. His letter.”
Daniel nodded and said nothing.
“And the letter he sent to Bailey,” she added. Dazed, she sat down. “My God. And the reverend.” Her eyes flew to his. “Wade confessed to Beardsley.”
“And now he’s missing,” Daniel said.
“Wait.” Meredith stood up, shaking her head. “If Simon and Wade raped these girls, and both of them are dead, then who’s behind all this? Who took Bailey? And who killed all those women?”
“I don’t know. But I don’t think Simon did the raping.”
Alex’s temper blew again. “Of all the-”
Daniel held up his hand, wearily. “Alex, please. Simon was an amputee. None of the men in the pictures were missing a leg. I think Simon may have taken the pictures. It would have been just like him to do.”
“Wait,” Meredith said again. “Men? Like more than one man in the pictures?”
“Maybe five, maybe more. It’s hard to say.”
“So others were involved,” Alex said.
“And they don’t want anyone to know.” Meredith sighed. “Fifteen girls. That’s a hell of a secret to need to keep.”
Alex closed her eyes to keep the room from spinning. “Where are these pictures?”
“They were in my
safe, at my house. Luke’s bringing them here, as we speak.”
She heard him push away from the counter and walk across the room. He sat next to her, but didn’t touch her. “I also called my boss. I need to tell him.”
She opened her eyes. He was sitting on the edge of the sofa cushion, back bowed, head down. “Will you be in trouble for not telling him before?”
“Probably. But I didn’t know what do.” He rolled his head to look at her and she saw the pain in his eyes. “If he allows it, I want you to look at the other pictures. You recognized Sheila tonight. Maybe you know some of the other girls.”
She trailed her fingertips down his back lightly. The pain in his eyes had banked her temper. “And maybe we know some of the other men.”
He swallowed. “That, too.”
“You both lived here.” Meredith said. “Why should Alex recognize faces you don’t?”
“I was five years older,” Daniel said. “When it all happened, I was away at college.”
“And he was rich,” Alex added. “The rich kids all went to the private school. Alicia and Shelia and Bailey and I, we all went to the public school. There was a very rigid line between the two worlds.”
“But Simon and Wade were friends.”
“Or at least accomplices,” Daniel said. “Simon was expelled from private school. He graduated from the public school. We need to get our hands on some yearbooks.”
“How do Janet and Claudia fit?” Alex asked. “They were only nine when Alicia died.”
“I don’t know,” Daniel said. He leaned back against the sofa and closed his eyes. “I do know that Sheila had something to tell me. My business card was in her pocket.”
“Who killed her?” Meredith asked.
“Some guy robbing the cash register.” Daniel shrugged. “Or that’s what we’re supposed to think.” Abruptly he lurched to his feet, stunned realization on his face. “I can’t believe I missed that.” He opened the door. “Hatton! Can you come here?” He turned to Alex. “I’m going to meet Luke and Chase at the restaurant. Stay here.”
Dutton, Wednesday, January 31, 1:35 a.m.
Daniel walked back into Presto’s Pizza, where Corey Presto was standing just inside the door, shell-shocked. He’d been crying, his face tear-streaked but now dry.
Dr. Toby Granville was examining the body draped over the counter and one of Frank’s deputies was taking pictures with a digital camera. Frank was crouched next to where the young officer had died, staring at the floor. They must have taken the young man to the morgue first. Sheila still sat in the corner, in her grotesque doll-like pose.
Daniel didn’t see Randy Mansfield and assumed he’d been either taken to the hospital or released. “Frank,” Daniel said.
Frank looked up, and for a moment desperation flashed in his eyes. Then the moment was gone and his old friend’s eyes were flat. “Why are you back, Daniel?”
“I’m taking over this scene. Toby, if you wouldn’t mind, please step away from that body. I’ll be calling in the state ME and crime lab.”
Toby Granville’s gaze swung to Frank, who’d stood slowly, his fists on his hips. “No, you’re not,” Frank said.
“That car out back was involved in a hit-and-run with a witness under my protection, just this afternoon. Now it’s here and another witness is dead. This restaurant is now a GBI crime scene. Please, Frank. Move, or I’ll move you.”
Frank’s mouth had fallen open and he jerked to stare at the man hanging across the counter. “Hit-and-run?” he asked unsteadily. “Where? Who?”
“In Atlanta, outside the Underground,” Daniel answered. “Alex Fallon.” He looked at the doctor. “I’m sorry, Toby. I need to process this internally. No offense.”
Granville backed away, gloved hands out. “None taken.”
“Wait,” Corey Presto was shaking his head as if to clear it. “You’re sayin’ this wasn’t a robbery? That that man meant to kill Sheila?”
“I’m just saying that car was involved in an attempted vehicular homicide earlier today.” Daniel turned his gaze to Frank, who looked broken. “And Sheila is dead.”
“What was she a witness to?” Frank asked quietly, and Daniel glimpsed the man he’d known so well. That he thought he’d known, anyway.
“That information’s need-to-know. I’m sorry, Frank.”
Frank dropped his gaze to the bloodstained floor. “Sam was only twenty-one.”
“I’m sorry, Frank,” Daniel said again. “You can stay while we process the scene if you like.” He turned to Presto. “Mr. Presto, we need to know if any cash is missing.”
Presto wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’d already made the deposit.”
“You were here tonight,” Daniel said, “when I was here with Alex Fallon.”
“Yeah, I was here.” He lifted his chin. “So?”
“Sheila was talking to me. You called her back to the kitchen, and not kindly.”
“I had orders pilin’ up. I don’t pay her to gab.”
“She said that she’d said too much, that she wouldn’t want to upset the powers that be. Who do you think she was talking about?”
“I don’t know.” But the man was lying and they both knew it.
“How long had she worked for you?”
“Four years. Since she got out of rehab. I gave her a chance.”
“Why? Why did you give her a chance?”
Presto’s cheeks flamed. “Because I felt sorry for her.”
Daniel softened his expression. “Why?”
Presto swallowed hard. “She’d had a hard time. I felt sorry for her, that’s all.” But when he looked at Sheila’s lifeless body his throat convulsed and a unique pain filled his eyes, along with new tears, and Daniel understood.
“You loved her,” he said gently.
Presto’s chest heaved once and he dropped his chin, his fists clenched at his sides. No further answer was required.
“Daniel.” Toby Granville had come up behind him, sympathy on his face. “Let him go. He can answer your questions tomorrow.” Toby put his arm around Presto’s shoulders and led him from the restaurant. Ed Randall passed them on his way in.
Ed took one look at the restaurant and whistled softly. “My God.”
“One of the bodies has already been moved,” Daniel said. “I can give you a detailed description of the scene when I came in. Deputy?”
The young officer who’d been taking pictures looked startled. “Y-yes?”
“If you could give us your camera, I can make a copy of the files and return it to you.”
The deputy looked at Frank, who nodded. “That’s fine. You’re dismissed, Alvin.”
The deputy looked infinitely relieved and made a quick exit.
“I’d just finished securing the scene at Bailey Crighton’s when I got your call,” Ed said. “I wasn’t more than twenty minutes out of Dutton when I turned around. I’m guessing the ME guys’ll be here in twenty. Until then, tell me what you saw.”
Luke arrived as Malcolm and his partner Trey were pushing the gunman out on a gurney zipped up in a body bag. Sheila was lying on a second gurney, the body bag zipped only to the middle of her chest. Luke walked straight to Sheila’s body and stood for a moment studying her face, his expression hard.
“You’re right,” he murmured. “I’d hoped you were wrong.”
“Where are they?” Daniel asked quietly.
“Locked in my trunk. My mother’s birthday is June first, by the way, not the fourth.”
“Don’t tell her, okay?”
“Your secret’s safe with me,” he said, but didn’t smile. “You sure about doing this?”
Daniel looked at Sheila’s waxen face and knew he’d never been more sure of anything. “Yeah. If I’d said something a week ago, she might still be alive.”
“You don’t know that.”
“And I never will. Neither will she.”
Luke sighed. “I’ll go get the envelope.”
&nb
sp; Daniel stood to one side when Malcolm and Trey came back for the other gurney. Chase came in as they were zipping Sheila up. His boss stood in the middle of the restaurant looking around before bringing his gaze squarely to Daniel’s.
“In my car,” he said.
“Okay.” Daniel passed Luke and Luke slipped the envelope under his arm.
“I’ll wait,” Luke said and Daniel only nodded.
Feeling like a dead man walking, Daniel got into Chase’s car and pulled the door closed. Chase got behind the wheel.
“What’s in the envelope, Daniel?”
Daniel cleared his throat. “My demons.”
“I kind of figured that.”
He watched Malcolm and Trey lift the gurney into the rig and slam the back doors shut. Sheila’s blood is on my hands. No more secrets. No more lies. “It ends here.”
“What ends here, Daniel?”
“Hopefully not my career. Although if it comes to that, I won’t fight you.”
“Why not let me be the judge?”
An appropriate starting place, Daniel thought. “My father was a judge,” he said.
“Yes, I know. Daniel, spit it out. We’ll deal with whatever we need to deal with.”
“I am spitting it out. It all started with my father, the judge.” And Daniel told him the entire story, including the details he had not shared with Alex earlier-the part when he’d first laid eyes on the pictures eleven years before, but his father had burned them to keep him from revealing the secret to the police. When he finished, Chase was staring straight ahead, elbows on his steering wheel, his chin propped on his fists.
“So you technically have had these pictures only a week.”
“I gave a set to Vito Ciccotelli in Philadelphia the day I got them.”
“And that’s the one thing that’s going to save your ass. Why didn’t you come to me?”
Daniel pressed the heels of his hands to his brow bones. “God. Chase, have you ever done anything so horrible, you were ashamed for anyone to know?”
Chase was silent so long Daniel thought he wouldn’t answer. But he finally nodded. “Yes.” And that appeared to be all Chase planned to say on the topic.
“Then you know why. For eleven years I have lived with the knowledge that these girls were victimized. That I knew and I said nothing. I promised myself I’d find them, that I’d fix this. Then the moment Alicia’s ID was dumped in my lap I found every reason not to tell. I didn’t want to jeopardize the case. I wanted to atone. I didn’t want to hurt Alex.”