“Vicinity doesn’t mean collusion.”
“No, but Raven and Conner will testify you’re the one who shot Lucy Freeman and put Clay in the back of that SUV. How you did that without people in the diner seeing you still amazes me.”
Gavin fanned his fingers and pushed them into his chest. “I should be worried? As if the accusation of a drug addict and a mentally unstable missing woman will hold any water.”
Lee shuffled the DVDs. Next hand. “For a long time, I couldn’t get the symbol out of my head—the one we found on some of your victims. Then I discovered that it’s the logo for the company where your father worked.”
“That’s not highly classified information.”
“And then there’re these . . .”
Lee slapped the baggie of syringes onto the table. The ones he’d recovered from Raven’s house. “Recognize them?”
Gavin shrugged.
“Raven kept them in her house. I had a little testing done.”
Gavin circled his finger in the air to signify his boredom. “Oh, golly gee, let me guess. Spider venom on the inside?”
“Ding, ding, ding. Awesome answer. But unfortunately, no get-out-of-jail-free card.”
“Now you know the real killer is Raven since they were found in her house.”
“Another thing the lab found in the needle was a bacteria. Meningococcus. Medical examiner found the bacteria in Clay Timmons’s bloodstream. Cultures from Ryan show he was infected as well.” Lee stood and leaned on his fingertips. “That’s what really stumped the doctors at the hospital. Why were these individuals so sick when black widow spider venom rarely kills?” He ran his hand over the baggie. “That was really the point for the symbol in those early victims. It was to inject the bacteria into multiple sites so hopefully sepsis would take hold. Plus, it was going to take time for you to teach Raven how to give it IV. And nothing like an homage to daddy dearest and the physical pain the vemon induces.”
Gavin gave a few jaded claps. “Quite a theory.”
“We found cultures for the bacteria in your office.”
“Raven obviously had access to those. She was a patient.”
“So she made these deadly syringes up all by herself?”
“That’s what I’m guessing.”
“Then why are your prints on these syringes?”
Gavin looked like he might topple over. “That’s not possible.”
“So either you were sloppy, or Raven didn’t quite follow directions as you had asked.” Lee slapped another DVD onto the desk. “Remember that secret stash in your attic? It held the biggest prize of all. This little home movie details the instructions you gave to her. How to use the venom and dispose of the evidence. Why you crazy creeps keep this stuff is amazing to me. Makes it so much easier to get that needle in your arm.”
Gavin swallowed hard, then crossed his arms over his chest. “Detective, are you threatening me?”
Lee stood and hovered over him. “Consider it what you will. Now, if you want the death penalty off the table, you need to tell me where Raven took Keelyn.”
Chapter 52
A SUDDEN SNOWSTORM HAD swooped over the Rockies and sat over Teller County like an obstinate child. Gavin Donnely had seen the light, or perhaps the potassium chloride, and shared the location of the home where Keelyn’s mother had grown up. Due to the storm, Teller County officials were stretched thin and were quick to agree to a cooperative effort with Lee and Nathan at the lead.
Night shrouded the small structure. Little light shone from within. Voices cracked in Lee’s earpiece as each officer sounded his position around the perimeter. Eight officers composed this group. Nathan served more as an observer, while the others narrowed in on the target. Lee made his team swear no entry unless he signaled or became incapacitated.
Lee edged around the front of the house and peered inside. Keelyn and Raven seemed to be arguing. Raven motioned several times to her phone. Lee hit the button for the light on his watch, and the eerie green glow matched the sick feeling in his gut.
Right at the deadline.
He had to get Keelyn out alive.
Lee dialed the phone number from which Raven had sent the last text and was surprised she answered.
“You were almost too late, Lee.”
He inhaled icy air as his heart raced in his chest. “Raven, I’d like to end this peacefully. I want you to come out of the front door with your hands raised.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Then send Keelyn out, and I’ll come in and talk with you.”
“You’re not getting it, Lee. I thought you were smart.”
He leaned into the house and looked at her face through the dirty glass. “I know you must want to see Sophia again. She misses you.”
He could see her head tilt slightly as if reconsidering, but then she shook her head violently as if to prevent the reasonable solution from taking hold.
“Don’t think you can bust in here with gas or flash grenades. I’ve dumped gasoline all over.”
Raven was limiting their options and the chatter through his earpiece confirmed the rest of the team knew what that meant. Discharging something inside the small cabin could spark a fire if what Raven said was true.
They either had to go in or shoot Raven from the outside.
Through the window, Raven stood, threw the phone aside, and grabbed Keelyn’s arm, brandishing a knife in her free hand.
Lee couldn’t risk a bullet hitting Keelyn, so he punched through the door with his shoulder and immediately held up his hands so she could see he didn’t have a weapon trained. He slowly closed the door behind him.
“Decided it was best to come in?” Raven swung the knife outward.
Lee looked around. What he didn’t smell was gas. What he didn’t see was fluid sloshed around or any evidence of a container that might have held the flammable liquid.
Raven had lied.
“Guess the gasoline was a ruse.” In his ear, he could hear Nathan confirm flash-bang grenades were back on the table.
“Had to make sure you’d actually come in.”
“I want to help you get this whole thing sorted out.”
His heart stumbled as he searched Keelyn’s hazel eyes. Definite relief and the spark of their attraction was still in her weary smile.
Lee maintained his position, his hands up in surrender. “You guys have been up here a few days. Are you thirsty? Hungry?”
Raven tightened her arm around Keelyn’s chest. “We don’t need anything.”
“Okay. Can we sit?” Lee motioned to the table.
Keelyn coughed, her face stretched with pain. “Maybe you . . . could tell . . . Raven how . . . Sophia’s been doing?”
What was wrong with her? Keelyn was having trouble breathing. Her chest heaved at an increased rate under Raven’s hold. Sweat slid down her face. It was too cold to be from a simple rise in body temperature.
Unless she had a fever as well.
“Of course. I’m sure you’ve been very worried about her. She’s great.” He looked at Keelyn directly. “I’ve been taking care of her with Lilly’s help. She’s safe.”
“And Conner?” Raven asked.
Lee set his hands on his hips. “Actually, Raven, I am forever in your debt. You helped save Conner’s life by letting Keelyn know about the spiders.” Did that come across as sincere?
“So he’s okay?”
Lee closed his eyes. “He’s still very sick.”
“Is he dead?”
Lee shook his head.
Raven’s body stiffened. “Gavin did something to him, didn’t he?”
“Yes, he tried to kill him.”
Tears coursed down Raven’s cheeks. She sniffed hard. “It doesn’t matter. It’s time to finish all of this.” She pointed with her knife to the table. “That’s for you.”
He broke his gaze from Keelyn to the circular, wooden table that sat in the middle of the room. A syringe sat at the center.
“I want you to inject yourself with what’s inside.”
Keelyn bit into her lip, pleaded with her eyes for him to refuse. He pulled out the metal chair and sat down.
“Why do you want me to do this?”
“It’s the only way you can save Keelyn.”
“There’s got to be more to it, Raven. You just used Keelyn to get me here.”
Lee began to remove his tactical gear. The Velcro as it ripped was like sharp nails against his spine. His teeth cringed.
“I need you to feel the pain I’ve felt over all these years.”
Lee shrugged out of his vest and let it fall to the floor. He unbuttoned the cuff of his shirt. “Because of what John made you do to Cheyenne. The choice you had to make. There’s a lot I would change about that day. I want them back, too.”
Raven laid the knife against Keelyn’s chest. “That’s a lie.”
Lee’s muscles tightened. He began to roll the fabric of his sleeve up. “I can assure you it’s not. I know a lot about lies and how destructive they can be.” He patted the vest of his shirt and took out Keelyn’s engagement ring. He set it on the table.
Keelyn visibly shook. Her mouth opened to speak but upon inhaling to form the words, her knees buckled and she dropped forward, the tip of the knife perilously close to her neck. Lee’s heart slammed against his rib cage. He stood from the chair, nearly knocked the table over. Raven pulled Keelyn back toward a wall for leverage.
Lee raised a fist to keep the team from splitting apart the cabin.
“Sit back down!” Raven screamed.
With a clenched fist, Lee reached back to feel for the metal folding chair and eased himself down. Keelyn’s face was full of abject fright. She reached toward her neck and smoothed her fingers in the hollow well above her sternum feeling the blood that settled there.
Lee swallowed hard. In his life he never imagined he’d witness Keelyn held hostage again. His anguish at the thought of losing her threatened to overtake his years of training. “Raven, it doesn’t have to be this way. If you could just set the knife down so we can talk. Let me have my medical guys take a look at Keelyn.”
Raven shook her head and moved the knife closer to the side of Keelyn’s neck.
Desperate thoughts flooded his mind—willed his muscles to move. “Gavin lied to you. We know he’s framed you for murder. He’s confessed. It’s not too late for you to stop all of this.”
Raven turned the edge of the knife into Keelyn’s neck. A faint smile played on her lips.
Enjoyment.
Only rarely had he seen the manifestation of true evil. And here it was holding his loved one at the tip of a knife.
Keelyn winced as a small cut formed. Even in the darkness, he could see the dark red line flow down the curve of her neck. Keelyn reached up to ease the blade away.
Lee held up a hand. “Raven, stop! I’ll do it. I’ll do as you want. Just don’t hurt, Keelyn. It’s the only thing I ask.”
As part of his SWAT gear, Lee carried a tourniquet. He took it from the small patch of his belt, unfurled it, and wrapped it around his arm, the elastic as tight as the invisible hand around his throat. His movements were quick and sure as his muscles retained the memory of the maneuver from his horrid past. He flicked at the vein in the crook of his elbow until it popped up, a thick rope in his muscle.
Lee picked up the syringe and uncapped the needle with his teeth. He spit the cap to the floor.
“Before you die, are you going to tell her the truth about your past?” Raven chided. “Why it is you’re so comfortable getting yourself ready to inject yourself with this poison . . . Gavin’s special mixture.”
Did the syringe contain the same drugs Donnely had given Conner? If so, the venom was the least of his worries.
The statement convinced Lee his options were running short. The look on Raven’s face was maniacal—every animated evil clown rolled into one. She fed on his pain for her pleasure.
Wanted to see him suffer.
Wanted him to feel Keelyn’s repudiation of what he had been.
That was the emotional pain that ruined Raven. That led her to believe every lie whispered in her ear.
Rejection.
Lee loosened the tourniquet slightly to ease the tingle in his hand. If left on too long, the vein would tense and rupture when he inserted the needle. He didn’t want to fail Keelyn in his last opportunity to save her. He felt panic creep into his chest. Not at any concern about his need to fulfill what Raven asked, but at the fear of what Keelyn’s face would betray when he told her the secret he’d longed to always keep buried. Would she still love him?
He rubbed at his arm, at the old scars he now told people were from donating blood.
“Tell her!”
Lee looked at Keelyn directly. “I was a drug addict. I’m the reason Conner became one. I gave him his first hit. I stuck the needle in his arm.”
Keelyn’s knees buckled. Her eyes narrowed with betrayal. Raven laughed and tightened her grip around Keelyn. The knife pressed tighter. Another stream of blood.
Lee’s head pounded. He pressed his thumb and forefinger hard against his tear ducts to prevent them from exposing the self-hatred he’d carried for over a decade.
“After high school, I didn’t really have a plan. I refused to go to college. My father said, ‘Either get a job or enlist in the military.’ I picked the latter. Flipping burgers just didn’t appeal to me.”
“Okay, Lee. It’s enough—”
The smile on Raven’s face unnerved him.
“No, Keelyn. I’m going to tell you everything with the hope you’ll pick this ring back up and put it on your finger.” His bones sucked in the chill from the cabin like dry sponges. A tremor settled into his chest. “After a four-year stint and then my discharge, I started to dabble in things I shouldn’t. Like drinking and smoking weed.”
Keelyn stared at him, wide-eyed. He rubbed at the knotted muscles that threatened to pin his shoulders.
Stay calm. Be ready.
“That didn’t quite come close to some of the thrills I had in the military. I started using IV drugs.”
Lee inhaled and held his breath. It did little to stem his nerves. “Conner was sixteen at the time. He looked up to me. Wanted to do everything I did.”
“Lee, I . . . understand—”
He waved her off. “Conner walked in on me one time when I was shooting up. Said he wanted to try it.” Lee pressed his palm into his face and shoved it down over his chin. “He threatened to tell my secret if I didn’t do as he asked and so I’m the one”—Lee picked up the syringe—“who put the needle in his arm and injected the poison that ended the potential life he could have had. After that day, I never shot up again. After that day, Conner couldn’t stop.” Lee smoothed his hand over his head, his neck tight with the noose of his confession. “I’ve been covering it up ever since. I knew I could never work in law enforcement if I disclosed it. I was amazed I passed the lie detector. Guess it showed what a practiced deceiver I was.”
Lee studied Keelyn’s face. Was there a hint of forgiveness? Keelyn broke his gaze, and his heart stalled. In his death, he wanted to know she didn’t despise him. That would be hell. He leaned forward and dropped his head into his hands. It was what he feared. His actions had annihilated every relationship that had any meaning. There was no coming back.
The wind howled. Just under the turbulent gusts, he could hear Keelyn’s staggered breaths.
“Lee . . .”
He raised his eyes.
“I love you,” Keelyn whispered.
A flood of peace washed over him. Lightness filled his chest. His breath unhindered. The bonds of those lies on his life—broken. The words were like sweet salve to his open, dry soul.
“I forgive you.”
Cool, fresh water filled the cracks.
He broke his gaze from Keelyn and centered it on Raven. “Now, I can die in peace. I’m fine with it.”
Keelyn openly wept.
His sorrow at her pain intensified.
“But, Raven, I want to say something to you before I do as you ask. That lie I held onto, the guilt cost me everything that’s important. My family. Keelyn. Probably my job. I felt distant from God because of it. Isn’t that how you feel? Lies pushed me away from the one thing I really wanted. God’s love.”
Raven pulled Keelyn closer to her chest, drew the blade back, and poked the tip at Keelyn’s neck. Blood dripped slowly from the previous cuts onto Keelyn’s collarbone.
Lee held Raven’s gaze. “I know you read the Bible. You had to if you wanted to give them away to other people. What you didn’t read closely enough was that the father of lies has convinced you of the same set of lies. That lying and revenge are the only way to end your sadness.” Raven stiffened, and Lee tightened up the tourniquet. “Let me tell you, Raven, all it does is increase it. It’s a prison you’ll never break free from. Just like the lie I covered up imprisoned me until today.”
“I don’t care what you say!”
He looked at her gently. “When I do this—inject this venom into my body—I’m going to be praying for you. For your forgiveness. For the hope that the truth of what you read in that book will break through this lie you’re living under and set you free.”
He shoved the needle inside his vein. The sting barely registered. He drew the plunger back and his blood circled into and mixed with the toxin. “This is not what I want. I want to be married to Keelyn. I love her and Sophia. I’d like to help you, Raven, get your life back.”
Raven’s hand tightened around the blade, she pressed the knife into Keelyn’s neck. The metal tip slid in. “Just do it!”
Before Raven could edge the knife deeper into Keelyn’s neck, he shoved the plunger in.
Chapter 53
“LEE!”
Lee threw aside the syringe. He stood up from the table, staggered three steps, and crashed to the ground.
Keelyn reached for him, but Raven held fast. “Now, it’s your turn.”
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