“We’re going to need a verbal answer,” Nathan said.
“No, they’re dead.”
“Who killed them?” Lee asked.
“She did. I swear it. Drowned them in a bathtub at this sleazy motel where we were staying.”
Evan began to shake. Lee eased the cup of ice from his hand. “Where are the bodies?”
The man gave an address for a local storage facility. Nathan signaled to the two waiting officers to go and get it checked out.
“When did the plan start to fall apart?” Lee asked.
“When Keelyn Blake helped with her interview. Rebecca felt like she was getting too close to the truth and it wouldn’t be long before they’d arrest her. She thought if we took her out, the problem would be solved.”
“That’s what you were trying to do at the hospital yesterday?”
His eyes widened at Lee. Incredulous. “Don’t you keep an eye out for her at all?” He grabbed the cup back from Lee, took more ice, and chewed.
Lee’s anger began to lay gasoline over his nerves. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been following Keelyn for almost a week. I couldn’t believe my luck when she got in a tussle with those homeless people downtown. Then, some weird tattooed guy saves her life. Who has luck like that?”
“So the hospital was your second attempt,” Nathan clarified.
“The third actually.”
Lee’s stomach turned violently. He clenched his hands so tightly the muscles in his arms began to shake. “Would you mind moving this along?”
“You know how on the news there’s the story of that young missing woman, Raven?”
Nathan sat up straighter. “Yes.”
“Such a weird name.”
“Your point?” Lee asked.
“Well, that story stuck with me because of all the things I was caught up in. I was watching the news every moment for any information to see if the police were on to what we were doing.”
“Go on.”
“Then Rebecca tells me this woman is related to Keelyn—who she just despises. She keeps commenting on and on about how Keelyn should just disappear. Really pressuring me to take care of business.” Evan went for the call light, his cup of ice empty.
Lee slid it out of his reach. “And?”
“I really struggled.”
“Really. That doesn’t sound very sincere.”
“I obsessed over watching what the news said. Then there was a picture of her sister’s psychiatrist and he’d been taken by police for questioning.”
“Evan, I don’t see the point of how your story relates—”
Nathan waved a hand to cut him off. Lee tapped at his watch.
“My second attempt was the night her house burned down.”
He couldn’t hide his anger. “You set her house on fire?”
“No—no. Something was already happening when I got there. A woman came bolting out of the front door. Left it wide open. Got in her car and sped off down the street.”
“Did you get a good look at her?” Nathan asked.
“Mostly. She was pretty. Black, curled hair. Fair skinned. Bright red lipstick.”
Nathan shifted. His gaze locked with Lee’s. Raven.
“What did you do next?” Lee prompted, attempting to keep the man on track.
“I slowly got out of my car. I was trying to figure out how to go about what I needed to do. I’d brought a gun with me to get the job done.”
Lee waited for the man to gather his thoughts. He was sure if he glanced in the mirror, his hair would look like he’d set his finger into an electrical outlet, the amount his nerves zinged in his efforts not to quickly beat the information out of this weasel.
“I stood at the front door and just listened.”
“What did you see and hear?” Nathan asked.
“I could hear a child screaming. It was horrible. Like she was being tortured or something.”
“Yeah, I guess kids can’t scream when they’re drowning.”
“Lee, back off.” Nathan warned.
Maybe Evan would take it as a ruse. The maddening pulse at Lee’s temple spoke otherwise.
“Then someone was banging on the door and yelling to be let out. Then there was the smell of something burning. I peeked in the doorway and noticed these candles from the coffee table had fallen onto the carpet, and it had caught fire.”
Lee stood up to ease the pressure building in his chest. How could he not have been there for her? His secret was a prison that kept him from keeping her safe.
Keelyn had been right.
“Again, I was thinking what blind luck I’m having. She’s trapped. The house is on fire. I’ll just back off and let nature take its course.”
“You’re sure you weren’t the one who killed Bryce and Sadie?”
“No, I told you. It was all Rebecca. You don’t believe me?”
Lee leaned forward and pressed his palm into the man’s chest, his fingers crawled up the side toward the dressing on his neck. His threat of pain widened the man’s eyes.
Nathan stood and gripped his wrist to ease him off. “Lee, this isn’t going to help.”
“It’s just that you sound very cavalier about waiting for a woman and a child to burn to death.” Lee sneered and pushed off.
Richter took in several gulps of air. “I’m sorry. You don’t know what Rebecca drove me to. The power she had over me.”
“You’re weak!” Lee yelled.
“Aren’t we all? Haven’t you ever been?”
Was he any different?
Nathan paced to the end of the bed. “We’re getting off track here. Mr. Richter, why don’t you continue on with what happened next.”
Evan rubbed at the reddened imprint of Lee’s hand. “Then I heard something fall. I walked around the side of the house. I saw her in the snow.” He began to tear at the sheet over his body. “Now, I know I have to do something. She’s going to live. Get help. I walked near her to shoot her in the head.”
Lee stood and took several steps back to prevent himself from taking another shot at the puny man who sat in the bed. He folded his arms and leaned into the corner.
Nathan took the signal that it was better for him to lead. “What stopped you from shooting her?”
“Well, this man came out from the woods. He shot me first. Winged me.” Evan ripped open the snaps that formed the sleeve of his gown. A scabbed line slashed through a bruise that covered his shoulder. “It wasn’t bad so I never went to the doctor.” Spoken proudly.
“But what does this have to do with Keelyn Blake?” Lee asked.
Nathan leaned in. “Look, Evan. You better answer the fine officer’s question. He’s with SWAT. That means he can shoot from a distance and never be seen. You could be in hell in the next breath and never know it was coming.”
The man swallowed hard. “The man who took a shot at me was Gavin Donnely. The man they questioned when the psychiatrist turned up dead and Keelyn’s sister went missing.”
“Why do you think he was there?” Nathan asked.
“Why else? To kill Keelyn, too.”
Nathan looked at Lee. “We need to bring him in. No more messing around. He’s got to know where they are.”
Overhead, the paging system alarmed. “Code blue, room 325.”
Lee’s vision flamed white.
Conner’s room.
Chapter 49
LEE SCURRIED FROM EVAN’S ICU suite, knocked the sliding glass door as he exited, and ran full tilt down the hall. Seeing the group of people gathered at the elevator, he rounded the next corner and slammed through the stairwell door, taking the stairs two at a time. His boots echoed like flash-bang grenades. Nathan’s footsteps followed in his wake.
The hallway outside Conner’s room was chaos. Two security guards wrestled with a man on the ground as the medical team tried to push the red, stainless steel code cart into Conner’s room. Where was the officer who was supposed to be watching him? When Lee was a
mere five steps away, the man broke free and ran off.
“What’s going on?” Lee shouted.
His heart caved as he looked sideways into the room. His brother a limp, pale shell as a linebacker-built tech pumped at his sternum to supply oxygen to his body. They slapped large electrical patches on his chest.
“The nurses claim that man did something to this patient.”
“Get this place locked down!”
Lee exploded past the fatigued guards to follow the unknown man. Nathan stayed close on his heels, the sound of his coat flapping like a flock of angry birds. Lee heard the other stairwell door on the far end of the hall bang open.
He kicked his speed up. Three short flights down and the man would be out in the open and not as easily detained.
As Lee and Nathan piled into the stairway, the man was just one flight ahead of them. His hand visible on the metal railing as he swung around for the next half-flight.
Lee drew his weapon. “Stop! Police!”
As Lee hit the first-floor landing, cool air rushed up the well. The man had reached the ground floor and was now outside. When Lee came through the heavy fire door, a quick look right and left confirmed the man to be running away from the hospital toward the right.
Lee’s SWAT training stemmed his anxiety over Conner. He broke out at a sprinter’s pace after the man. Quickly, he began to close the gap. The only thing he heard was his footsteps as they pounded after this villain and the scrawling wind as it rushed over his body. He returned his weapon to his holster without breaking stride and pumped his legs harder.
Mere feet away, he reached up, his hands brushed against the collar of the man. Two more steps and he leapt like a runner taking a hurdle and clamped his target in his arms. They both rolled through the mixture of snow and mud.
The man tried to elbow him in the gut to break free. Lee grappled his neck and pressed it into the ground. Nathan joined him. Lee grabbed a pair of handcuffs and secured the man and pulled him up by the arms, yanked him around, and tossed him up against a nearby tree.
Lee stumbled back.
Gavin Donnely.
“Mr. Donnely.” Nathan paused to catch his breath. “You saved us some time in trying to find you for questioning. Now it seems we’ll be able to hold you for attempted murder.”
Lee’s breath heaved in his chest as his muscles released acid into his veins. He raised his fist. “You better tell me right now what you did to Conner. If he dies, I’ll make sure you get the death penalty.”
Gavin shrugged like an insolent teen. “Who says I gave him anything?”
Lee’s fist was swift as it connected with Gavin’s face, and Gavin slumped to the ground. Nathan seemed to sense what was on Lee’s mind, and they began to turn out the doctor’s pockets, looking for any evidence that might suggest what the offending drug had been. Lee felt the lumps of two glass vials in one front pocket and pulled them out.
Valium and potassium chloride.
Potassium chloride was part of the lethal injection used to kill death-row inmates.
Lee broke out in a run back to the hospital.
Chapter 50
Wednesday
SOFT WINTER LIGHT SEEPED through the decayed curtains and playfully tugged at Keelyn’s eyelids. Another morning in hell. Raven had moved her into the tiny bedroom. As she turned on the cot, a puff of dust shot up into the shaft of gold, and she watched the particles dance in joy at being released from their musty prison.
Something was wrong.
The crunchy air had increased in the tissue in her left side. She could only draw breath to a point before the pain caused her teeth to clench as her vision faded. Short and shallow was all she could muster, which left her with perpetual light-headedness.
Something was missing.
Keelyn shuffled her feet together. The chain was gone.
She eased up from the thin mattress. The room rippled, and she closed her eyes against the nausea. The weak metal hinges creaked as she rose. When she left the small room, she found Raven sitting at the table, eating through a box of powdered sugar doughnuts with an open container of orange juice next to her.
Raven pushed the box in her direction. “Your favorite, right?”
Keelyn pulled the metal folding chair from the table and sat. Raven set a napkin down with two doughnuts and sloppily poured juice from the container into a plastic cup. Keelyn brushed the pulpy fluid from her pants, then wondered what a few speckles of juice really mattered in the scheme of things.
The juice was warm, and the doughnuts stale. She pushed them away after a few bites. “Why did you take the chain off?”
Raven ignored her question. “You don’t look well.”
Keelyn pulled the inside of her cheek between her teeth. Should she tell Raven she felt ill? Would it convince her to release her? “My side is hurting a lot.”
“Why don’t you take a walk?” Raven brushed the sticky white from her lips.
“You’re fine if I leave?”
“You’re not a prisoner.”
“Why the change of heart?”
Again, no answer.
Keelyn pressed her lips together, the residual sugar created a sticky paste. She cleared the gluey mess with her tongue. Wasn’t she still imprisoned? Even if she could willingly leave, she had no idea where she was, and common sense had taught her staying in one place was always the best way to be found.
“That’s okay. I’d rather talk with you.”
“Really, I think the fresh air will do you some good. It stopped snowing.”
In Raven’s eyes, there was a dare. A mischievous, deadly twinkle. They’d played this game often when they were young children. One of them would hide something in the woods and challenge the other to find it. Whoever had the best time won. On that desolate property, it would keep them entertained for hours. That’s how they’d found one of the other houses on all those acres.
Was there something Raven wanted her to find in the woods?
“Are you going to come with me?”
“I’m going to finish breakfast.”
Keelyn headed to the front door.
“The back might be more interesting.” Raven closed the box of doughnuts.
She crossed in front of Raven and headed out the back screen door. A well-worn path snaked through the trees leading off the back concrete step that crumbled at its edges.
Keelyn walked into the freshly fallen snow. In her normal life, she loved this time of day. Inhaling the cool, clean air helped Keelyn shed the light-headedness caused by fitful sleep. As she began at a slow pace down the path, Sophia and Lee came to mind. Tears gathered at the possibly she would never see them again. She curled her fists and swiped her eyes.
Keep it together.
Light danced as the leaves filtered its fall to the ground. The path was easy to follow, and the trepidation Keelyn initially felt at finding her way back slipped away. Another alternative began to take root in her mind.
Maybe it would be best to leave.
Keelyn stood in the middle of the alley and glanced behind her. The home was just out of view. The day was young. It gave her hours to find someone to help. Surely they couldn’t be far from a road, another house. Better to take her last day and find help then wait for whatever Raven had planned.
She ran down the path, footstep after footstep, her toes curled tight into her slippers to keep them in place. The snow crunched at her feet. Each breath was a knife in her side. At first she held her hand over her wound to stifle the pain.
Keelyn only covered a short distance before coughs tore from her throat. Her head swam, her vision dimmed, and she fell forward. The heels of her hand bit through the snow to the gravel underneath, and she slid to a stop. She eased onto her right side, her breaths quick and short. A black halo formed around the hazy sun, and she blinked quickly to edge away her body’s desire to succumb to unconsciousness.
Dread set into her mind. Inside her chest was a bomb with an unknown detona
tion. Exertion would accelerate her to that point.
There was no leaving the house. Tears ran down her cheeks, and she rested her head on her outstretched arm and prayed her short sprint hadn’t already hastened her death.
Something caught her eye.
In her direct line of sight on one side of the path, Keelyn could see that the ground was different. Instead of wild undergrowth in the shadowed spaces of the trees, she noticed overturned earth where someone had dug through the snow and clay to expose underbelly.
She lay for several minutes on her side, gulping for air like a fish out of water. A ghostly sensation lingered at her spine. The hairs at the base of her neck tingled as they stood on end. Eventually, the pain eased, though her breathing remained rapid.
Keelyn sat up. Denial attempted to block her mind against the truth of what she was actually seeing.
Then she spied something else.
After fifty or so steps, another area of rustled, uneven earth.
Keelyn stood and walked to the next area. Her knees weakened and she slumped to the ground near the second site. Moisture seeped into her clothing as her spirit struggled against what it was going to find. She began to shiver as she crawled out to pick up a thick stick. If felt like acid ate away the tissue at her left side with each forward motion. On her knees, she neared the site and sank the stick into the uneven dirt.
It gave easily. This ground had been loosened recently.
She slammed the stick into the crusty particles more toward the center.
A sick thud caused her to jump back. The stick sank inside something, making it stand perfectly straight, like a nail in a board. A sentry laying claim to what was underneath.
Keelyn’s breath came in staggered shakes. She pulled up on all fours, the tears freely falling as she edged toward the outer periphery. A blue hue tinged the ends of her fingers as their numbed tips danced over the dirt.
She began to dig.
Each motion of her upper body increased the pain in her side. Snot dripped from her nose as she pulled at the dirt with her deadened, cold hands. The last thing she wanted to do was yank the stick from whatever held its position. The ground gave away easily as she supported herself with one hand and scooped with the other.
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