Killer Romances

by Dana Delamar, Talullah Grace, Sandy Loyd, Kristine Mason, Dale Mayer, Nina Pierce Chantel Rhondeau, K. T. Roberts, H. D. Thomson, Susan Vaughan

  "Right. That might take a while."

  "Not really. You've been pretty focused on rebuilding a life with Janelle. So the list can't be all that long."

  "Am I including even the real estate agent?" Meg had a document up on her laptop and was trying to add in the people whom she knew. And who knew about Janelle. She put down Pete, Deidre, Linette's mother. And Sam, Linette's father. Who else?

  "Did she know about Janelle?"

  "Sure, I contacted her about not selling the house so we could move back inside." And that had been what – two days ago?

  "Then she goes on the list." His tone was brisk. "Did you get the laptop up and working?"

  "Yeah," She tucked the phone into her shoulder, and created the email, attached a decent picture of Janelle and sent it off. "It's on the way. Oh, here's another one. I'll send that too."

  "Good. Now work on the list."

  "Right." She pulled out a chair and sat down. "I can't just create this in a minute you know?"

  She added her realtor to the list.

  "That's fine. The email is here." His voice turned gentle. "She's stunning."

  Tears filled her eyes. "Yes, she is." She sniffled. "She's got her mother's dark Italian good looks. There's no resemblance to me or her father – until you get to know her. She's her father in her stubborn personality."

  "And the second picture?" His voice changed, cooled. "When was that one from?

  "That was this last weekend with Pete. They went fishing." She studied the picture on her laptop. "She was so excited about catching the fish. She threw up such a stink at going in the first place. Now look at her."

  "And the man?"

  She raised an eyebrow. "That's Pete."

  Silence. Damn, she was hearing that a lot lately. "I guess you never met him."

  "Oh I think maybe I did."

  She sat back, only just now catching the weird tone in his voice. "Oh, at the dump site of course; sorry, I'm just really distracted."

  "Sure, I saw him there, but he was in full gear and I never met him. He left before I arrived." He took a deep breath. "I believe, and I could be wrong because it's been so long ago and he was in bad shape then, but Jesus...no, I have to be wrong..."

  "What are you talking about? Pete has lived with me for close to over ten years, of course, it's possible for you to have met him before. I'm sorry I didn't introduce you."

  "No. You don't understand. Hell, I don't either, but I swear he looks like Pero."

  ***

  Stephanie stumbled through the weird door in her world. She knew she was dying. She wasn't happy about it, but had gotten past the point of caring.

  Except about Bruce – he would be her regret. She loved the big idiot and always had. And they'd been star-crossed lovers since Cia.

  Damn that woman anyway. Her getting herself killed had messed up Stephanie's life. She should have been married to Bruce and have had two perfect kids.

  Now that wouldn't happen.

  There was no one to save Stephanie. There never was.

  A noise in the outside of her mind caught her attention. With great difficulty, she rolled her head sideways, letting it hit the cement on the other side. She had to try.

  "Help," she said but the words came out in a barest of croaks. She tried again. "Help…"

  "Hello?" There were sounds of running feet, and then a strangled yell as someone dropped to her side.

  "Stephanie, hang on." Bruce said. His face had never looked so good. She didn't know what he was doing here, especially in this ghetto of an alley.

  "I was following you, hoping you wouldn't go to your dealer. Then I lost you." His gentle hand cupped her cheek. "Now I've found you again. Please, don't do this anymore."

  Tears trickled from her burning eyes. "Bruce, I..."

  "Shush, don't try to talk. I'm getting help." He was busy punching numbers on his cell phone.

  She smiled. Look at that. This time, there was someone to help. "Bruce, I didn't do this."

  "What?" he exclaimed, "Then who did?"

  But the cloud of consciousness moved over her and she passed out.

  CHAPTER 21

  Meg reared back. "What?" she asked cautiously, studying the picture she sent him. "Pero, as in Anto's brother?"

  He cleared his throat. "This is the only picture I have seen. Do you have some older ones?" Meg's gaze zeroed in on the wall where she'd hung a picture of her and Pete from their first year together, from back in happier times. "I have lots, but I have to find them. Most are on the computer. Hold on."

  "I didn't mean to shock you."

  "Well, you did," she snapped "And so what if he is. It's not like I'd seen him for years and I hadn't known him back then, as it were." But it did matter. She knew it did and inside her heart was racing. She so didn't need more shocks right now.

  Her fingers were busy clicking through her laptop folders, selecting and attaching pictures to send. "I'm sending more pictures."

  "And it might have something to do with Janelle's disappearance. You say it wasn't Pete's signature. Was it a man's handwriting?"

  "How would I know?" she snapped, hating the suspicion. "I saw him yesterday, remember. He was helping us clear away that downed tree."

  "I remember. I also remember that we made it back in lots of time and so could he."

  "But why? There's no logical explanation for why he'd have taken her, particularly in secret. He doesn't even like her!" she finished, her voice rising to a shrill at the end.

  "He doesn't'?" There was a heavy pause as Chad digested that news. "How could he not, she's just a child. And she's hurting."

  "Yeah, well, he doesn't. Or maybe it's the whole situation he doesn't like. Years ago he wanted a family, but later admitted it was more to keep me at home. While my brother was alive, he and Janelle got along famously. They used to do movie and popcorn nights and I swear they were more about popcorn fights than anything." Her voice thickened at the happy memories. "Then my brother died and Janelle's stay became permanent and everything changed."

  "Sometimes when a situation is forced on people, it takes time for them to adapt."

  "Yeah, well, he didn't adapt well," she said shortly. "Maybe if we'd lasted, he might have, but I wasn't prepared to put Janelle through more trauma and abandonment."

  She closed all the folders on her desktop. Her mind was racing through the possibilities of where Janelle could be as well as Pete and Janelle's turbulent relationship.

  Then she realized he wasn't speaking.

  "Chad?"

  "I'm here."

  He might be there, but his voice was aged, weary. As if he'd seen too much in life. "And?"

  She stared at the series of pictures she'd sent him. They were memories of happier days. Sadness filled her. She scrubbed her eyes with her sleeve. She hated feeling out of control and so emotionally done. But since her brother's death, life had been one rollercoaster after another of pain. She needed life to come a halt. She needed things to work out for once. She needed Janelle home safe and sound.

  "What are you thinking?"

  "I'm thinking that Pete is a ringer for or actually is Pero."

  She shook her head. "No, he'd have told me."

  "Why?"

  "Because..." and she didn't have an answer. They'd shared so little. If they'd known each other back then, wouldn't he have said something? Hell, she'd walked away from them all because she wanted nothing more to do with anyone from that time period. They all had in some ways. So maybe he had too. Maybe he hadn't recognized her?

  Chad spoke again. "He was in that car accident. It damaged his shoulders. He used to stand so tall and straight. But then after the accident, he lost his take on the world as well as his happy attitude."

  At a weak attempt to diffuse the tension, she joked, "At least he was the nicer brother."

  "Yeah, he was decent."

  "He is decent."

  "His hair was jet black back then." She remembered that. "Why would it be black now bu
t without that strong jet black look?"

  "Probably because of the accident. He was in hospital for months." Chad added thoughtfully, "Was he heavily scarred?"

  "No. He had some, probably more than a lot of people, but not all over." She tried to cast her mind back, but years of conversations were hard to remember. "I did ask him once about them and he said something about being in an accident. But he never elaborated."

  "Does Pete have any family?"

  "An uncle who passed away a few years back. Pete inherited the cabin from him."

  "Ah." There was a wealth of subtle information in the tone that she didn't like. "What does that have to do with anything?"

  "The brothers were related to Bruce remember. They were all cousins. And we were at the lake because Bruce knew about the place as he and his family owned several cabins there."

  And now, she did remember. Bile rose up the back of her. Blindly, she walked to the sink where she filled a glass with water. She took several sips, trying to ease the nausea back.

  Either Pete or Pero – it didn't make a difference. And if she kept telling herself that, she might believe it. Somehow if he were Pero, it was a betrayal. But she just didn't understand how.

  "That would be pretty sad considering I spent the last ten years trying to stay a long ways away from anyone associated with that part of my life." She gave a half snort. "Not nice to think I'd hooked up with one of the main players and never knew it."

  "And maybe he didn't either." But Chad's tone of voice said he didn't believe it. "That's quite possible. You changed the form of your name."

  They both said together, "So did he..."

  "Have you got the photo where Pete and Janelle are fishing open?"

  She clicked several times to bring the picture in question up. "Yeah. So what about it?"

  "The look in Pete's eyes…"

  Her breath caught back a sob. "What are you talking about?"

  She bent to study the look in his eye and then relaxed. She'd seen that look often lately. It was directed at her – almost as if he hated her. "Yeah, he's not been real happy lately, especially with me."

  More silence.

  "As I look at that picture, I realize just how unhappy he is." Meg rubbed her forehead wondering what she was missing. "Look, I know I'm tired and not functioning on all brain cells at the moment, but you are going to have to spell this out for me. What are you seeing that I'm not?"

  "You are the one that took the picture, correct?"

  "Yes," she snapped impatiently.

  "So...he's not looking at you."

  Oh, God.

  ***

  Chad knew that look in Pete's eyes. There was more than anger in that gaze. There was hate. Pete hated Meg's niece. The missing Janelle.

  "Was there anyone else around?" he asked casually, already knowing the answer but needing her to confirm it. He was already searching his database for Pero's details. What had Mack said about not getting a hold of him?

  If they were assuming Pero and Pete were the same man, did Mack know this? Or did he only know Pero and not that he was living with Meg as Pete? Could someone hide in plain sight for over a decade? Not that Pero was hiding – he had just avoided his family. It's not like he was doing anything illegal. But according to Meg, Pete came to the cabin a lot. According to Mack, he barely saw his nephew, yet both had cabins at the same lake.

  And there was a lot of nastiness going on at that lake.

  "No." Meg was breathing heavy. She said suddenly, "I'll call you back."

  Chad stared down at his dead phone and slowly laid it back down on the desk. Poor Meg, this is not an awareness everyone could handle. She was better prepared than most, but it was different when it was your family who was in danger.

  Family. He sat back and considered. Family threaded through this whole mess. Was Pero the one who'd killed Cia? The Pero he'd known years ago hadn't seemed like the type of guy. He'd been real popular with the girls, real popular with everyone in fact. It was his brother that had been morose, broody even and not as friendly or open.

  That he'd died so young had been so sad and such a waste.

  After his accident Pero had been bitter and angry and seriously depressed. He'd resembled his brother a lot during his recovery. Then Chad had lost track of him.

  Maybe that's why Meg had gravitated to him even if she hadn't known. Not that they knew now. Honestly, Pero's face had been shattered in the accident. He didn't look like he used to. The surgeons hadn't gone in and put his face back together, they'd left things to heal on their own as was common in some cases. But nothing had healed like before.

  He wasn't disfigured; he was just...different looking. And in all fairness to Meg, he was just different enough to make Chad himself question if he really was Pero.

  And just because he might have hooked up with Meg and had a cabin at the same lake where Cia had gone missing, didn't make him guilty. Any more than Mack was guilty for having been at his cabin that weekend either.

  And wanting it didn't make it so.

  He needed to connect with Bruce. Maybe he could identify Pero from this picture. They were cousins after all. But he knew Bruce'd had little to do with his family now, especially Mack.

  He walked over to his wall where he had the case up in photos and notes to look at the timeline. He'd only had a chance to put down yesterday that they'd found the bodies. But according to Meg, they would all have been deceased close to the same time as Cia – within a few years. It was that 'within a few years' that was frustrating. Until they had identifications on these women, there was no way to know any closer. This left both Anto and Pero/Pete as viable suspects.

  So in theory, Pero could have killed those women, and then been incapacitated and that would have stopped the killing spree. He'd have hooked up with Meg soon after his recovery and turned over a new leaf as Pete. A happy relationship might have been enough to have kept him from returning to his murderous ways.

  Maybe…

  He ran a search on Pete and got the make and model of his truck then sent out a regional BOLO alert. Better to be safe... He added Janelle's picture and a basic description of both Pete and Janelle.

  Next he ran a search for missing women in the age that Meg had stated from two years before Cia's death to five years afterwards. He ran it for the whole state. That would give him a place from which to start.

  Within minutes he'd found 13 hits. He bent to read the details.

  ***

  Meg very carefully replaced the phone on the kitchen table. Then taking a deep, controlled breath she screamed. And screamed; then screamed again, as fear and anger burned hot like a poker into her heart. The sound went on and on and she couldn`t stop it.

  Shuddering in the aftermath, her mind still frozen and lost, her rage still bubbling, she finally calmed enough to catch her breath and slow back the sobs, until they only rippled down her spine instead of quaking through her.

  She couldn't stand the thought of Pete hating Janelle with the level of viciousness that she'd seen in his eyes in that photo.

  What kind of man hated a child? With her arms wrapped around her belly, she rocked in place trying to get through the horror to where she could deal with the reality on the other side. Janelle had been living with them for six months. Had he felt like that before then? Or was it recent?

  She cast her mind back carefully, going from weekend to weekend, month to month, wondering and worrying if she'd left them alone. Was that why Janelle was so afraid of him? Did she know how Pete felt? She must have known subconsciously, at least. Had he said anything to her? Threatened her? Hurt her?

  Even if Pete had let his guard down in this photo, that didn't mean he'd kidnapped Janelle from school. But he was the one person that Janelle would have left with. She wouldn't know not to. She'd have assumed that Pete and Meg were friendly, maybe even back together again. Who knew what story Pete might have told her.

  He could have even said he was taking her to meet Meg.
r />   And he might be innocent.

  God, this was making her nuts.

  There was one thing though, if he'd taken her, and that was a big if, then she had one advantage. She knew Pete like no one else did. And that was always the key to hunting predators; getting inside their minds and thinking like them.

  Where would he have gone?

  To the cabin, of course. She closed her eyes and realized how much of her life revolved around that damn lake. She reached for the phone.

  "Chad. If Pete has taken Janelle, he'd have taken her to his cabin." She took a deep breath. "I'm driving up there to look."

  "Whoa. You're not thinking straight. And you're not in any shape to drive. I have men still up there. I'll contact them and have them keep a look out for Pete and Janelle." He took a deep breath. "Give me a moment to get a hold of them and I'll call you right back."

  "Wait, I need to do something. How can I help?"

  "By doing what you do best." He added, "I'm sending you some files."

  And he hung up.

  ***

  Chad thought about calling Mack and realized Mack wouldn't likely take his call. With any luck, Daniel was still there. He was one of Mack's cronies but appeared to be a straight shooter.

  "Chad what's up? Are you still hanging around or did you head back to town?"

  "No, I drove back. Probably should've stayed given this latest development."

  "Oh, what's up?"

  "A child is missing. The AMBER Alert has gone out but we have reason to believe she might be at the lake." Chad proceeded to bring him up to speed on what he knew. "Pete's cabin is on the same side as the crime scene but down further. Mack should know which one if he's still there."

  "Yeah, he is." Daniel cleared his throat. "I'll see if I can track him down to help."

  "Good. A door to door search is ideal. The girl is twelve years old and is only four foot six and maybe 70 lbs. Long black hair and very pretty, china doll sort of look. I have pictures. I'm sending them to your email now."

  "Good."

  "There's also a picture of Pete. He's a long time summer resident and he was actually one of the men who helped out with the cutting up of that tree on the site."