by R. D. Brady
Luckily, the guard could tell how convinced Russ was. He had surreptitiously forwarded all of the files on the inmate to Russ. Russ had sent them ahead to both Nevaeh and Declan. Declan had just gotten off the phone with Auburn, speaking with Hal to get the files on Jack and all of his followers.
When Declan first heard that Jack had created a religion in the prison, he’d been suspicious. He tried to figure out what the angle could possibly be. Jack was a psychopath. He never did anything unless it somehow benefited him. He thought perhaps it was the adoration of his followers that got Jack off, the fact that those people literally disfigured themselves to show their devotion to Jack.
But now Declan was afraid that all of them had been fooled. That they had looked for the simple answer when they should have been looking for the complex one. Jack had already proven himself an adaptable killer. But they had underestimated his desire to escape.
Declan had no doubt the creation of the Brotherhood was simply a means to make Jack’s escape possible. All his followers had the same shaggy hair and beard. All had removed their fingerprints. How do I keep underestimating him?
He’d been killing for years, since he was a child. But they’d never caught him until he’d started killing again in Millners Kill.
There were twenty-seven deaths attributed to Jack. Another ten were suspected. But would they ever tie those to him? Ten families were left without closure. Another almost thirty families had that, although Declan wasn’t sure how much comfort knowing that Jack had been the one who had taken their loved ones from them offered.
Once again, Declan struggled with the fact that he had not seen any of that evil the entire time he’d known Jack. True, he’d been closer to Steve than he’d ever been to Jack. Declan had always attributed that to the fact that Steve was younger and therefore more open to having a friend.
Truth was, Declan had never really liked or disliked Jack. He was just sort of there. If he was there, it was fine. If he wasn’t, that was fine too. But now Declan knew that Jack had been wearing a mask all those years. The real Jack was a monster.
He understood psychopathy. In college, his professor had gone into detail over the psychopathy checklist or PCL-R that was used to identify psychopaths. He knew the characteristics that were attributed to psychopaths.
The professor had said that they had all met a psychopath at some point in their life. Psychopathy was as common as schizophrenia, afflicting eight percent of the population. Like everyone else in the class, Declan had mentally sifted through all the people who might fit the bill.
Jack had never made the list.
Declan’s phone beeped. He pulled it up, glancing at the text message. It was from Hal. Sent you the files. I’ll be going through them here as well.
Declan took a deep breath. He needed to go through all the files and every single follower that had joined Jack’s little religion. It was going to take hours. The likelihood of him actually figuring out who had replaced Jack was pretty low, but it needed to be done.
He slid his phone into his back pocket. He stared back out the window. Somewhere in Dover, Jack was probably enjoying himself. Psychopaths thrived on power. And right now Jack had all the power.
There was a desktop and a printer in Julie’s office. Declan could print out what he needed there.
But there was one thing he had to do first.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Steve sat next to Bess’s bed, staring down at her. He’d never realized that you could love someone as much as he loved Julie. He would do anything for her. He’d thought that he would only get that one blessing in this life. And he’d been grateful for it.
But then Bess had come along. She’d been the person in his life he didn’t know he’d been searching for. When he’d first held her, he promised himself he would make the world a better place for her. He promised that he would give her the life that he’d never had. That she would have two parents that were always there, that would always let her know that she was loved. And he promised he would keep her safe from harm.
Tonight, Jack had made a mockery of those promises.
Jack had taken his father from him. Cancer had taken his mother. And then Jack had taken his grandmother as well. And now Jack had almost taken Julie and Bess as well.
A tremor ran through Steve when he thought of how close he’d come to losing both of them. He curled his hand into a fist, wanting so hard to hit something. Bess mumbled something in her sleep. Steve leaned forward. He gently pushed her hair away from her face and tucked her blankets in a little more tightly, as if somehow that would keep the evil away.
The only blessing in this situation was that Bess didn’t realize what had happened. She hadn’t seen Laura. She knew Julie was upset. She knew something was wrong. But she didn’t know what it was. She was scared, but that was her feeding off of his and Julie’s fear. Hopefully she wouldn’t remember any of this at all.
He knew Jack was supposed to be in Southport. But he also knew that Jack was connected to what had happened tonight. If it wasn’t him, it was one of his so-called followers.
The door to the bathroom down the hall opened. A few seconds later, Julie stepped into the room, her hair still damp. She wore no makeup, a pair of sweatpants, and her old college sweatshirt. His eyes fell on the holster at the side of her hip, the gun sitting there. His beautiful, smart, and compassionate wife was ready to defend her family.
He held out his arms to her. She slid into his lap, wrapping one arm around his shoulder, the other hand pressed gently against his chest. “She okay?” Julie whispered.
Steve kept his voice quiet as well. “Yes. I don’t think she really understands what happened. Thanks to you.”
“I should have left immediately. As soon as I saw Boots with the blood on him, I should have turned around and run. But I thought maybe Laura was hurt. I shouldn’t have—”
Steve rubbed her back. “Shh, shh. You did everything exactly right. You kept our daughter safe. That’s all that matters.”
Julie leaned her head on Steve’s shoulder. They stayed there, the two of them huddled together, watching their little girl sleep. Steve had nearly dozed off himself when the sound of footsteps on the stairs jarred him. Steve’s heart raced before he remembered Declan was in the house.
He and Julie turned as Declan appeared in the doorway. He beckoned them into the hallway. Julie stood up and carefully arranged the blankets around Bess again, kissing her on the forehead. Steve did the same before following his wife into the hall.
The three of them moved a short distance down the hall from Bess’s room. “What’s going on?” Steve asked, keeping his voice low.
Declan looked at each of them, not speaking right away.
Steve’s stomach dropped. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good news. Julie reached out and took his hand in hers. “Has there been another death?”
Declan shook his head. “No, no. Nothing like that. But I have some news. It’s about Jack.”
Steve stared at Declan, who’d gone silent.
But part of him didn’t need Declan to speak. He knew in his gut what he was about to say. “He’s out, isn’t he?”
Declan shook his head, but the truth was stamped across his face and laced through his tone. “We don’t know that for sure. We know that the man in the supermax is not him. Auburn is going through every inmate in their prison to see if Jack’s there. Maybe their records got messed up and they simply transferred the wrong guy.”
“But you don’t think he’s there, do you?” Julie asked.
Declan paused again before he shook his head. “No, I think Jack’s here.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
No one at the lumberyard would talk to Phineas. Oh, sure, everyone was pleasant enough when he first approached them. They all politely listened, many shaking his hand before the conversation started. But then as soon as he asked the first question about Steve, everyone clammed up.
No one wanted to say a bad thing about him. Everyone had
good things to say. He always started with the general question, and everybody assured him that Steve was great at his job, really knew his stuff, and was really excellent to work with. But as soon as he traveled down a personal road, no one would tell him a thing.
His fingertips numb and his cheeks chapped, Phineas climb back into Stuart’s Ford Taurus. He’d spent two hours trying to get people to speak, and all he had to show for it was the beginning of frostbite. He turned on the engine immediately, knowing it was going to take forever for the engine to warm in this cold. The engine thermometer wasn’t even at the C, it was well below that. He hadn’t known engines could do that. How did these people live like this?
He braced himself and stepped outside, wiping off the windshield with the sleeve of his jacket before ducking back inside. As he waited for the engine to warm up enough that he could drive, he stared at the yard. A forklift passed, a load of wood on its front. Where had Steve disappeared to in such a rush? Reggie was gone too. He debated whether he should head for Steve’s home and speak with him.
But of course, if he’s a murderer, I’ll want to keep all interactions very public. The engine thermostat inched closer to C. Good enough. He put the car in reverse and slowly pulled out of the parking lot. The whole area was packed with snow. He’d never really driven in snow like this before, so taking it slow wasn’t an option, it was a requirement. Stuart was pretty easygoing, but even he would draw the friendship line at wrecking his car in another state.
He pulled into the bed-and-breakfast parking lot and quickly gained the steps and slipped in the front door. He pushed it closed behind him and leaned against it, breathing in the warmth. The car’s heat hadn’t fully kicked in until he pulled into the lot. He felt like a popsicle.
Jared appeared from the kitchen. “Oh, Mr. O’Rourke. How are you? I … I, uh …” He turned away from Phineas quickly and walked over to the desk. He rummaged around underneath and came back up with a handful of tissues.
Phineas step forward. What was going on? Jared’s eyes were ringed red. “Is everything all right?” The minute the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to suck them back in. Of course everything wasn’t all right. The man had obviously been crying. “Um, can I do anything for you?”
Jared shook his head, giving Phineas a watery smile. “That’s very kind of you. I just, I received some bad news. A good friend of mine was killed. And right after Miss Minnie was killed.”
Phineas frowned. “Miss Minnie?”
“Oh, of course you haven’t heard yet. I hate to be the one to tell you this. Dover is usually such a wonderful little town. I can’t even understand how this happened.” Jared put his hand to his mouth as if he couldn’t bear to allow the words past them.
“What’s happened?”
“Our town librarian was killed yesterday. I thought it was just a random thing, that someone had been passing through or something. But today my friend Laura, she was killed at the clinic. Murdered.”
Two murders in twenty-four hours. Just like Millners Kill. Phineas steered Jared into the kitchen. “That’s horrible. Why don’t I make you some tea?”
An hour later, Phineas had wrung every last detail he could manage out of Jared. He had done so carefully. The poor man was actually incredibly upset. He made his way up to his room, and although it was warm, it couldn’t seem to touch the chill in the center of his chest. He walked over to the window, pushing the curtain aside to glance out at the road.
It was quiet. No cars drove past. No one was out, no doubt because of the cold. And because of the murders. And Steve Kane happens to live here now.
The similarities to Millners Kill were undeniable.
A tremor worked up from Phineas’s feet, all through his body. He took a seat hard in the chair by the window, wrapping his arms around his stomach. He’d known there was a story here. He’d known it would be life-changing. But he hadn’t counted on this.
So what do I do?
The rational part of him told him the best thing to do was to pack his stuff and get the hell out of town as quickly as possible. But the other part of his brain told him that this was what reporters did. They didn’t run off at the first sign of danger.
But that didn’t mean he had to be stupid about all of this. He pulled out his phone and searched for the phone number. Finding it, he dialed quickly.
“Detective Gomez? This is Phineas O’Rourke. I’m in Dover, Maine, and there are some things that have happened here that I think you should know about.”
Chapter Forty
I think Jack’s here.
Declan’s words reverberated through Steve’s mind over and over again. It was a drumbeat in his head, drowning out whatever else Declan was saying. He could feel Julie’s gaze on him. He couldn’t say anything, not trusting his voice, so he just squeezed her hand to reassure her he was fine while inside he screamed.
Anger and fear warred inside of Steve for dominance. For years while he’d been locked up, he’d believed that Jack was one of his strongest supporters. Jack was the golden boy. The boy who’d made something good of his life despite being shackled with a brother who’d been labeled a murderer. He’d taken care of their grandmother. He’d written Steve every week, visited him every month.
Steve had never recognized the monster in front of him. But that had all changed when he returned to Millners Kill. Jack had slowly and methodically gone through the town, killing people and implicating Steve with each death. And still Steve hadn’t seen who he was until almost the last moment.
It wasn’t until the truth was staring him straight in the face that Steve recognized his brother for who he was. And even with that recognition, he’d been too late to save his grandmother. Jack had nearly killed Julie, and it was only thanks to Russ finding her that she was still with them.
Now Steve knew that each prison visit had been Jack’s way of rewarding himself. Each letter he wrote was his way of gloating about what he’d gotten away with. He’d been killing that whole time. And just like with Simone’s death, he’d gotten away with it.
“Steve?” Julie’s voice cut through the haze in his mind.
He gripped her hand more firmly. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m here.”
Declan indicated the stairs. “I started printing out the files in your office. I’ll bring them into the kitchen, and we can start going through them.”
“I’ll put on some coffee and see what we have in the fridge,” Julie said.
Declan gave Steve one more concerned look before heading downstairs. Julie turned to him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. It’s just a lot to take in. I thought we were done with him.”
“Me too.” A tremor ran through her. She crossed her arms over her chest.
Steve reached out and pulled her close. “We’ll get through this. Soon Jack will be gone, and we’ll get back to our normal lives.”
She shook her head. “He’s just going to keep coming for us.”
“Then we’ll make sure this time he can’t come back for us.”
Julie pulled back, looking into his eyes. “Yes, we will.”
Chapter Forty-One
Albany, New York
Gomez lowered his phone slowly, staring at the wall. Two murders. There’d been two murders in Dover in the last forty-eight hours. He’d known in his gut that it was only a matter of time before Steve Kane showed his true colors. That police chief was a gullible fool. She knew who he was and yet she still let him walk around free. Worse than that, she defended him.
And now that blindness had caused the death of two more innocents, just like Amanda.
He quickly turned to his computer and pulled up his email. He drummed his fingers on the desk, waiting for the email from the reporter. While he waited, he scanned the news in Maine, but there was no report of the murders. All coverage was focused on the storm. They ended up getting a little over three feet of snow. They’d be digging themselves out for weeks.
Five minutes later, the em
ail finally showed up in his inbox, and he quickly opened it. His alarm grew with each line that he read. A ball of wadded-up paper smacked him in the side of the head. He looked up in annoyance.
Sullivan smiled at him from his desk across the way. “What are you reading? I’ve been calling your name for two minutes. I feel like a jilted lover.”
“Sorry. I just got some news from Dover.”
Sullivan frowned. “Did something happen?”
“Two murders. All within forty-eight hours.”
“What?”
Gomez quickly gave him the highlights of the two murders. As he spoke, his mind raced. It was just like Millners Kill. When Steve had returned, the murders had started. For a moment he worried that maybe his identifying Steve had somehow set all of this into motion, but he shook his head. No, Steve was a monster. He’d hidden his true form for too long. It was bound to be unleashed.
“So it was Steve’s wife’s clinic where the second body was found?” Sullivan asked.
“Yes. Apparently along with a little note for his wife, saying that he would see her soon.”
Gomez and Sullivan shared a long look. They both knew that the boys’ father had been killed when they were just kids. Jack said he’d been the one who had killed him. But maybe they’d been working on it together. And the grandmother was killed as well, along with Mel, who’d been like a surrogate father to Steve.
“He seems to have a track record of going after the people close to him,” Gomez said.
Sullivan met his gaze, a deep crease across his brow. “I thought you were fishing. Seeing connections where there weren’t any. But I have to admit this is awfully suspicious.”
“So you believe me now?”
“Let’s just say I’m more open to the possibilities.” Sullivan nudged his chin toward the captain’s office. “Have you spoken with the captain about heading out there again?”