“Gavin was an asshole. Ask anybody.”
“Exactly. And you resented him every step he took. You felt cheated in every way possible. I don’t believe you could’ve worked together, not for long anyway, the two of you side by side, planning hideous things that took strategy, forethought, a careful approach to preparing. That’s not you. We know for certain the girls weren’t picked at random. There was a lot of thought to choosing the right girl. And you, hating Gavin the way you did, teamwork would hardly come into play. Not with the hatred you felt for him. You would’ve fought...a lot. Argued about every little command or detail. Am I right? You would’ve disliked having to follow Gavin’s orders. Because Gavin was always in charge of everything.”
Pleased, Roman smiled and tapped the table. “There you go. Everything you said is right on the money.”
“And having to see him, day in and day out, keep his job, relish in his success, it must’ve really burned you. Not when you couldn’t even cut it in the Marines.”
Roman’s smile faded. “I changed my mind. That’s all there was to it.”
“Not really. The first real lie I can dispute. You don’t sign up and then back out. The Marines sent you a letter saying your psychological profile was…how did they put it? Questionable.”
“My psychological profile is fine thank you very much.”
“Sure, it is. That’s why you couldn’t possibly have been smart enough to come up with the torture chamber in the cellar. All Gavin. Right? I hear he even had to get you a date for the prom, paid a hooker to go with you because he knew you had zero success with women in that department and felt sorry for his little brother. Even in high school, you failed with women. Is that why you don’t have a girlfriend now?”
“Bullshit. Who told you that? Sharon? That’s a lie. I went with Phoebe Jefferson. Nailed her that night, too. You go ask her yourself. She’ll tell you how it was.”
Skye could see Roman had become agitated again. His body jerking with every question. He couldn’t keep his leg still. But she needed to push harder. “You know, after sitting here listening to you explain everything, I can see why you’re not responsible. You’re not smart enough, Roman. Gavin was right about you. That’s why he sold you a piece of land that meant nothing to him. You couldn’t have thought all this up on your own. Now Gavin, he was shrewd. Made good grades in high school. Gavin was the shining star. Think about it, he went for more than ten years without getting caught. What kind of serial killer does that? A smart guy, that Gavin. If it had been you, the authorities would’ve been on you like flies on a pile of garbage.” Skye snapped her fingers for emphasis.
“You’re that much dumber than Gavin. Aren’t you? The authorities would’ve figured you out in a heartbeat. Every time you open your mouth, I can see that you’re just not that clever. I see it now. Gavin was surely the brains behind everything, the way he selected the girls ahead of time, planning out how and when he’d take them, coming up with the convincible stories to get them in the car, leading law enforcement in the wrong direction every time. No clues. No crime scenes. Leaving nothing behind to follow. The girls vanish into thin air. I especially like the way he tricked Lucy into thinking he had a dog for her, a puppy. Lucy wanted a puppy. Gavin must’ve known that. He took her that day from the powwow with the promise of a puppy. He must’ve promised Lily Redfern a laptop. How clever. And how he tricked Laurel Smith into believing he was going to sell her a brand-new Holiday Barbie for twenty bucks. You couldn’t have come up with anything like that. You don’t even have kids. On the other hand, Gavin had a little girl. He knew how much little girls adored their Barbie dolls. You’re not that smart, Roman. I don’t know what I was thinking. You’re just not clever enough to have pulled it off.”
“You bitch. You stupid bitch. It was me. I did all that.” Roman pointed to the side of his head. “I thought up the stories to get the little bitches into the squad car. I planned it out.”
Roman slammed his fists down on the table. He flipped it over and rushed Skye.
She swung out with a face punch that landed on his nose. Blood gushed out. While he was reeling from that, she landed blows to his gut and one to his crotch. Roman doubled-over in pain. Skye stuck her foot behind one of his legs to bring him down to the floor. She rolled him over face down, and put her boot against his neck, twisting his arm in the process. “Not so smart now, are you, Roman? You just confessed to everything, and it’s all on tape.”
“I’ll get you for this. You won’t be able to hide. It won’t make a difference if you run back to Seattle. I’ll get you for this. I’ll get out and come for you wherever you are.”
Quade burst into the room to pick Roman up off the floor. “Sorry, Skye. I didn’t realize he’d go after you like that.”
She blew out a breath, aimed a smile at the mirrored glass, knowing Josh was on the other side, waiting. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. I needed to vent. And apparently, so did he.”
She glanced over at Roman, his crooked nose out of place, the smile wiped off his face. But the man still had angry eyes. “Just so you know, tough guy. You never even landed a punch. I’m not some teenage girl, easily manhandled. When a grown woman fights back, remember, she leaves her mark.”
Epilogue
One week later
Magnolia Neighborhood
Seattle, Washington
A flurry of press and media had hounded Skye for a sit-down interview. National exposure didn’t come without its own headaches. Police departments across the country had reached out to the Foundation asking for help with a lot of their hard-to-solve cold cases. It had been one phone call after the other.
Getting back home, back to a routine, had made everyone feel better, including Sierra and the dogs. Atka and Bella seemed comfortable having Cody around. No jealousy, no nipping, or fighting. It’s as if they knew their buddy needed to heal and gave him time to do it. The silver Lab appreciated the sentiment. But the pooch would no doubt be a bundle of energy as soon as that cast came off. Until then, the pup seemed content to follow the girls around, falling into their trouble, trouble the dogs usually shared with Sierra, who was forever testing the limits.
But tonight, while the dogs and Sierra slept, it was business as usual for the team as they gathered around the dining room table to share a meal—in this case, Lena’s homemade lasagna—and compare notes from the past week.
“What have you got for us, Reggie?” Josh wanted to know. “Skye tells me you’ve been communicating with Grayhawk.”
“A different man than the one Judy and I encountered back in May. It’s like he’s broken. I thought he’d be elated that he finally got his man.”
Skye passed around the dinner rolls. “It’s difficult to explain. This has been so personal for him for such a long time—almost all his twenties were spent in pursuit of this—and now it’s come to an end. Maybe a part of him held out hope that Sara was alive. Finding out what really happened hit him hard. And he’s had to accept that it was a cop, something he’d resisted.”
“What Skye’s trying to say is that he was wrong on all counts,” Judy added. “I heard a rumor that he didn’t want to be a cop anymore.”
Josh dished out a good portion of salad onto his plate. “I hope that’s not true. He’s a decent guy and a decent cop.”
“But he did resist anyone’s involvement—at least for six months—when you guys offered. He didn’t even want ours once we got there,” Leo pointed out. “Is that really the mark of a ‘good cop’?”
Judy pointed a finger at Leo. “Exactly. What kind of guy doesn’t ask for help when it comes to catching a killer, a killer who murdered a member of his own family?”
“A proud one,” Travis muttered. “Grayhawk convinced himself he could do this on his own without anyone interfering. It happens. Turns out, he was wrong. And now he wants to go do something else.”
Reggie buttered his bread and shook his head. “Well, so far, he still has his job at the Tribal Police.
I got an update from him. Kamena McToyler and Julia Newburn were definitely in the body pit on Jaynes’ land. Dental records prove it. So, we now know the Clearwater County coroner won’t get a match coming back to either of their DNA. Which means there’s another victim, and she’s still a Jane Doe. We tried to match up reports of missing girls in the area with no luck. All we know is that she’s an African American female between the ages of thirteen and twenty. And according to Grayhawk, crime scene techs found a Caucasian female in the same age group buried at the dumpsite. She’s also a Jane Doe. The Tribal Police have uploaded the information into the DOE Network.”
“Such a shame. And with Gavin dead and Roman refusing to cooperate further, it’s likely we may never know the actual victim count,” Judy pointed out. “Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying to put the pieces together, though.”
Reggie stopped eating. “But I can place Gavin in Clearwater County quite a lot. That’s a fact. Although Roman’s whereabouts are still a complete mystery. Grayhawk keeps digging into Roman’s movements because he knows he’ll need it at trial.”
Skye took a minute to shake off the memory of Roman’s face, his eyes. “For a stronger case, sure. But forensics proved Roman’s prints and DNA were all over that underground torture chamber. What with that, and the confession, I don’t know why Grayhawk’s worried. Plus, Roman’s going down for murdering his own brother. The bullets matched the rifle used in the shooting. The gun was registered to him.”
“I got the impression Grayhawk isn’t taking any chances. I told him I’d keep slogging through what I have. The problem is Roman kept very sloppy records. His car detailing business had him moving through the state willy-nilly. Maybe that was intentional.”
Skye took a lazy sip of wine. “After Gavin killed Brenda Pascoe, there’s no question that thirteen-year-old Roman got a taste for the kill. I mean, he stares at that dead female, long and hard, and it gives him a thrill to be a part of his brother’s life, at long last. Finally, Gavin includes him in something. Even if that something was multiple murders. No matter what Roman claims now, no matter that he wants to take credit for coming up with killing the girls, he was a follower. Plain and simple. He shot and killed his brother so that Gavin wouldn’t get all the glory. I’m convinced of it. These cases were always so difficult to solve because I don’t think anyone considered that it might be the result of two killers luring the girls into the car.”
“That’s because it didn’t start out that way,” Josh tossed out, picking up his glass of wine. “Gavin did kidnap Sara Grayhawk without help from Roman. Maybe he took her back to that torture chamber and showed his little brother what he was doing, showed him the ropes, so to speak. I don’t know. But consider this. Gavin would have needed some assurance from his younger brother that he could trust him with the actual kidnapping and murder of the girls. Even with all the petty crime they did together, vandalism and theft, at some point, Roman had to prove to Gavin that he could step up and be the killer that Gavin was. He’d already helped get rid of Pascoe’s body. That was a step in the right direction. So, it could be that Roman got his first taste for it and was a willing participant at the ripe old age of fourteen.”
“We have to consider that,” Skye said in agreement. “Where we went wrong was believing it was the work of one man in the first place. We know Gavin was messing with us at the lodge. What Josh and I can’t figure out, even now, is why it wasn’t Roman, going out at night to do Gavin’s bidding.”
“But Roman doesn’t fit the description of hoodie guy,” Judy added. “And we still can’t figure out where Roman was during the time Gavin shot and killed the Uber driver and snatched Emmadine.”
“We still don’t know exactly why he took her in the first place. Why even bother with Emmadine? For the life of me, can’t figure out the reasoning behind it,” Leo said from the doorway. “Sorry, I’m late. But I had to order groceries to be delivered for Emmadine and stay there until the delivery guy left. She still won’t let strangers anywhere near her.”
“How is she doing overall?” Skye asked.
“She’s glad to be back home. Feeling better every day. But it may take years before she completely recovers psychologically. She sleeps with the light on now. When she sleeps at all, that is.”
“I know exactly how she feels,” Judy sympathized. “I’d be happy to go over there and sit with her anytime whenever she’s ready for company.”
Leo plopped down and dug out pasta from the serving dish. “That’d be good. Thanks.”
“I have a theory why Gavin made such a bold statement,” Skye began. “He wanted us to know how good he was. Sometimes the real reason is just that simple. Gavin was showing off, an impulsive move that ultimately led us to go after him. Emmadine’s kidnapping and the Uber driver’s death didn’t even need to happen. The truth is, we may never fully understand the mind of a serial offender no matter how many times the experts sit down with them and pick their brains.”
Reggie nodded. “Hey, some people believe fifteen-year-old Bundy kidnapped and murdered a nine-year-old girl right here in Seattle that took piano lessons from his uncle. The experts try to tell us that he waited another ten years before he killed again. Hard to buy that. As far as Roman starting young, there are no age barriers to becoming a prolific serial killer. As for Gavin, there are no clear-cut reasons for what he did, or what he thought when he grabbed Emmadine. When you stop and think about it, there are no clear-cut answers to why these people become what they become. We’ve been doing this now for how long? And with each case, these killers get bolder, sicker, harder to figure.”
“They’re like cockroaches in a way,” Leo declared, scooping up a forkful of pasta. “You know how they say roaches have been around for millions of years and keep morphing into stronger breeds, harder to get out of your house, harder to kill. They’ll always be parasites like Gavin and Roman Jaynes. That’s the sad part of all this.”
Judy moved lettuce around on her plate. “I’m afraid that’s true. Each time we sit here and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, there are others out there in the making. Somewhere right now, somebody out there has just killed their first victim, and they enjoyed it so much they won’t be able to stop.”
“Or already prolific,” Josh added. “Killers we know nothing about, killers not even on our radar yet.”
At the other end of the table, Lena cleared her throat and looked over at Zoe. “I hate to be a spoilsport, but could we talk about something else now? This isn’t exactly dinner conversation.”
Travis squeezed his wife’s hand. “I second that.”
“Sorry,” Skye said. “We tend to get carried away sometimes. With Sierra down for the night, we tend to use the time to talk about…subjects we shouldn’t be bringing up around her.”
“Tell them about the latest on Celia Ferndale,” Zoe prompted.
Lena smiled. “Jarod’s finally breathing a sigh of relief. The woman seems to have tucked tail and run back to wherever she came from. Jarod’s been on cloud nine.”
Travis glanced over at Skye. “What did Harry do to make that happen? I know it was him who sent somebody out to talk to Ferndale.”
Skye grinned. “I’ll never tell. But never underestimate Harry Drummond. The man has his ways.”
Later, while Skye did the dishes, Lena followed her into the kitchen to help.
“I noticed Winston wasn’t here tonight. Hot date with Jenny?”
“Probably.”
“Any news on the birth mother?”
Skye let out a sigh. “I haven’t told him yet, but it’s a sad story.”
“Ah, so you did find her?”
“Oh, yeah. It was just a matter of time before I narrowed down the right woman, or in this case, girl, along with the right place of birth, the right date.”
“And?”
“Winston’s birth mom was a seventeen-year-old honor student who was raped at a party when she was a freshman at the University of Utah.
”
“Oh, no. Poor thing. To go through that at such a young age. What happened?”
“After giving birth to a baby boy in Salt Lake City, she decided to give him up for adoption. Her family personally picked an older couple they knew that lived on the same street who’d always wanted a child. Winston, not the name they picked, by the way, went to this older couple. It was a private adoption. But it didn’t work out. Less than six months after they got the baby, they decided that being parents was too much for them at their age. And thus, the trail of lies and deceit begins to take shape. Best as I can tell, this couple, still living in Salt Lake City, was so desperate to unload the child to anyone who showed an interest, they sent the baby to a distant relative in Eugene, Oregon. Enter Winston’s second home there. But that didn’t work out either.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I wish. That couple changed their minds when the woman became pregnant. This was another eight months into the placement. That’s when Winston, now a toddler, went to the Reekers. The Reekers were another family in Eugene who apparently went to the same church as Couple Number Two. That’s when he became Winston Reeker. The Reekers realized he’d been bounced around for almost two years, so somehow, they decided to hide that from him. Or maybe it was to hide it from everybody else. Whatever the reason, they found a lawyer who promised to erase all that, all the ugly history, and start from scratch. The lawyer presented them with a new birth certificate that said he was born in…”
“Eugene.”
“Yep. With a two-year age difference. That actually could’ve been a clerical error by the attorney. Who knows? But the made-up, phony birth certificate fiddled with the kid’s age and his date of birth.”
“And now you think you have to tell him all this?”
Skye stopped loading the dishwasher. “Well, don’t I? Don’t you think he finally deserves to know the truth?”
Forgotten Bones Page 29