Runs Deeper

by R. D. Brady

  As it was, they had no ideas. They’d checked some of the other homes that they knew were currently vacant, but they’d had no luck. Apparently he’d found a new hole to crawl into.

  Jack Kane might be a monster, but he was also a human. She should be able to find him. The next closest town was twenty miles away. She didn’t think he was commuting to commit his crimes, not in this weather. So where the hell was he staying?

  Reggie appeared in the doorway of the firehouse, scanning the parking lot before stepping outside and hurrying over to Nevaeh’s car. She hit unlock, and he slid into the passenger seat, his knees smacking into the dashboard. He grimaced as he sat, his knees practically at his chin. “Hey.”

  “Hey. Trey here?”

  “Yeah. He’s in with Declan and Steve. Robert said he and Shelley will be able to watch him this afternoon, even let him stay over if we want. I kind of think it’s a good idea. I don’t really want him near any of this.”

  Nevaeh knew that Julie and Steve felt the same way about Bess. But for Bess, they didn’t have a choice. Jack wouldn’t let them keep her out of this horror story.

  “What are you doing out here?” Reggie asked.

  Nevaeh shrugged. “Needed a little space to think.”

  Reggie shook his head, his gaze on the firehouse. “It’s a messed-up situation. That Jack is straight from the devil.”

  Nevaeh studied Reggie from the corner of her eyes. He’d known Steve for going on seven years now. They worked together practically every day. The two were as close as brothers.

  But Steve already had a brother.

  Nevaeh started slowly. “Reggie, did you know Jack Kane at all?”

  Reggie shook his head. “No. Michone moved to Millners Kill after Steve went to jail. I was only there maybe half the year. I spent the rest of my time traveling with the UFC.”

  “Does Steve ever talk about him? I mean, before he went away, were they close?”

  “Not really. They were brothers. They kind of saw each other but didn’t really interact. There’s a few years between them, which, when you’re younger, is huge.” He shifted so he was facing her. “Why?”

  She could only meet his gaze for a few seconds before she had to look away. “Just getting a little background. Trying to fit it all together.”

  Reggie studied her face as his eyes narrowed. “You don’t actually think Steve had anything to do with this, do you?”

  Nevaeh wasn’t sure what to say. Truth was, there was no one who could 100% testify that Steve had been in the firehouse all night. He’d been sleeping. Declan had been with Russ, but he’d fallen asleep for a few hours, which he’d admitted. Julie had been awake monitoring Russ before she’d also fallen asleep. The firefighters on duty had bunked down the hall.

  Which meant if Steve really wanted to, he could have slipped out. Nevaeh hated thinking along those lines. But with four dead bodies, or at least three dead bodies, one missing, and one possible depending on whether the reporter made it, she needed to think clearly. Everyone needed to be on the suspect list. She couldn’t discount anyone just because she liked them.

  She shrugged. “Just checking. I need to look at everything, you know?”

  Reggie was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, his words held an undercurrent of anger. “Steve didn’t do any of this. You know him.”

  Nevaeh sighed, wanting to rest her head on the steering wheel … or maybe bang it on the steering wheel. “I know. I love Steve. I love Julie. And Bess. But somebody is attacking people. And Steve—”

  “And Steve is related to that bastard, but he’s not him. I can’t believe you’d even think that.” Reggie kicked open the door and stepped outside, slamming it shut with a force that shook the cruiser. He stomped back to the firehouse.

  Nevaeh watched him go with a sinking heart. She never brought her work home. It had never come between her and Reggie. But there was no way to avoid it this time. And she didn’t want to believe any of this about Steve. But no one had seen Jack. She was beginning to worry that he really was the bogeyman, while the real danger was right in front of them.

  Nevaeh reached down to put the car into gear when another car pulled into the parking lot. She groaned. Oh, come on.

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Gomez pulled into the fire station parking lot next to the chief’s cruiser. Sullivan hopped out and made his way over to her door. Gomez just sat and stared at the fire station. Steve Kane’s daughter had been grabbed from here yesterday. The sheriff from Millners Kill had managed to get her back, but both of them had ended up in the lake.

  Now everyone was in panic mode. Gomez shook his head. All these people were rushing around trying to be sure that it wasn’t Steve Kane instead of trying to figure out how it was. The latest body had been found in his garage, for God’s sake. What more did these people need?

  He knew that Steve said he was at the fire station all night. But how hard would it be to slip out while everyone was asleep? Lure the reporter out and then attack him? His mistake was in not making sure the reporter was dead. As soon as he could talk, Gomez knew he would ID Steve. It was crazy that the guy wasn’t rotting in a jail cell right now.

  Sullivan got back into the car, and Gomez looked over at him. “She’s heading back to the office. Said we could meet her there.”

  Gomez put the car into reverse and followed the chief down the quiet streets of Dover. No one was out this morning. Realistically he knew that was because of the weather, but another part of him wondered if people could sense the evil that was lurking in the town. Snowdrifts piled high lined the sides of the road, and there was still snow coming down. It was like a world cut off up here.

  “Eerie, isn’t it?” Sullivan asked as he gazed out the window.

  Gomez nodded but didn’t say anything. They followed Nevaeh in silence as Gomez’s mind drifted from crime scene to crime scene, murder to attempted murder. He expected Steve Kane to pop up around each snowdrift. The man was guilty. He’d been guilty of Simone Granger’s murder, and now he was guilty of even more. He didn’t know all the details of what had happened yesterday, but he knew Kane had attacked his own kid. Then he’d made his way back to Laura’s apartment, set it on fire, and made himself look all banged up. It was a tight timetable, but it was doable for someone motivated.

  And the Kanes were always motivated.

  Now he just needed to make sure that the chief looked at the facts in front of her rather than let her emotions get in the way. They pulled into the parking lot outside of the police station. Nevaeh didn’t wait for them. She was already striding inside the building. Gomez put the car in park and pulled out the keys, his hand already on the handle.

  Sullivan grabbed his arm. “Go careful. She’s coming around. But if you keep pushing it, you’ll alienate her, okay?”

  “Yeah, I got it.”

  Sullivan didn’t release his arm.

  Gomez tugged it free. “I said I got it.”

  Sullivan shook his head. “Oh, well I feel much better now.”

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  Hours later, Gomez shoved open the door to the bed and breakfast. Jared jumped, whirling around, his hand to his throat. “Detectives. You startled me.”

  Sullivan caught the door, gently closing it. “Sorry about that, Mr. Klein. An extra wind gust got behind us just as we were opening the door.”

  Jared moved quickly aside as Gomez brushed past him and headed up the stairs. “Is everything all right? Oh, that’s a ridiculous question with everything happening, isn’t it?”

  Sullivan stomped the snow off his boots on the rug in front of the door. “No, it’s understandable. It’s just been a stressful morning. Say, any chance some of those croissants from breakfast are still around?”

  Gomez tuned the two of them out. He strode up the stairs and had to keep himself from kicking open the bedroom door. He plunged his hand into his pocket, yanked out the key, and inserted it in the lock. He kicked the door shut behind him and yanked of
f his jacket. His arm got caught in the sleeve, and he wrestled with it for a minute before flinging it at the rocking chair by the window.

  God damn it.

  He stood, breathing hard, annoyed at his jacket, this town, and the blind police chief. They’d spent most of the morning going through the files on the cases. The chief had finally allowed them access. Gomez immediately discounted the Tildens. He didn’t know what had happened there, but it wasn’t related to the others. It was a different method and was way out of the time frame. But everything else, Steve Kane was good for, except maybe the attack on Bess. Even he was beginning to see that was way too tight a time frame. He wasn’t sure how to explain that. Maybe some do-gooder thinking they were protecting her from an evil father?

  Everything else fit. He had the time and opportunity. And if he was like his brother, he was always motivated. But the chief refused to see it. She insisted there was somebody else out there.

  How could they all be so blind? It was Steve Kane. The signs pointing to his guilt were blinding. He’d heard about two-bit towns and their warped sense of justice, but to see it with his own eyes …

  The body in Kane’s garage was the final clincher. It was practically out of the serial killer playbook: taunting the police with what they’d done. It reminded Gomez immediately of Charles Williams Davis, Jr. Davis, Jr. was the son of a police lieutenant and an EMT. He would leave bodies in locations where he would be the one called to the scene to remove them. He got off on it. Steve Kane no doubt got off on leaving the body in his garage as well.

  Two quick knocks rapped at his door before it swung open. Sullivan strolled in, a croissant in each hand. “Brought you one.”

  He extended one to Gomez, who shook his head. Sullivan retracted his hand with a shrug. “More for me, then.”

  Sullivan took a seat on the couch by the back wall. He looked completely unfazed. Gomez shook his head, staring at him. “Doesn’t any of this bother you? The guy is literally getting away with murder.”

  Sullivan wiped his mouth and swallowed before speaking. “You know, before we headed up here, I put in a call to the chief’s old precinct. They couldn’t say enough good things about her. Her chief wanted her to stay. No-nonsense, straight shooter, follows the rules, understands the chain of command. She’s not someone who would be easily taken in.”

  “So what, you think Kane’s innocent?”

  “Jack Kane? No, that guy’s as guilty as they come. But Steve Kane? I’m not completely sold on him yet, especially if Jack Kane has been out and about for the last month. If he did switch places with that Foster guy, then he got out before the first person, the judge, died. He was out when the coach died. The whole case against Kane is based upon motive, not opportunity.”

  “But what motive does Jack Kane have to kill the people that put Steve away?”

  Sullivan shrugged. “What motive did he have to kill Simone Granger? Or Amanda? Or any of them? Jack Kane kills like people breathe. And he does seem to like to stick it to his brother. So if you’re asking if I can see why he would try to frame his brother again, then yeah, I can.”

  Gomez stared at him. He knew on the one hand that what he said made sense. But on the other hand, his gut was telling him that Steve Kane was guilty. And his gut had never been wrong before.

  Sullivan polished off the rest of his croissant, placing the other one on the coffee table. “Look, we haven’t had lunch. Why don’t I see if Mr. Klein can make us a nice pot of coffee and maybe something to eat? We can grab those files from the back of the car and just see if maybe we’ve missed something.”

  Gomez knew Sullivan was giving him an olive branch while also forcing him to look at things logically so that he would see it from his perspective. Gomez didn’t really want to see it from Sullivan’s perspective. He wanted Steve Kane to pay for Amanda’s death. And at the same time, he knew that that want had nothing to do with actual justice. His shoulders drooped. “Fine. I’ll get the files.”

  Sullivan propped himself up from the couch. “And I’ll talk to Mr. Klein about the coffee. And maybe see what kind of tasty treats he might have to help us pass the hours.”

  Gomez headed for the door. Sullivan pointed to his jacket. “Aren’t you going to need that?”

  Gomez shook his head, glaring at the jacket. Right now it was a symbol of everything that was wrong with this stupid town. “No. I’ll just run out real quick, grab the files, and be back. Getting sick of putting that thing on.”

  The two of them headed down the stairs together, separating as they reached the bottom. Gomez headed for the front door as Sullivan headed toward the kitchen. The second Gomez stepped outside, he realized he’d made a rash decision in not grabbing his jacket. Already shivering, he made his way quickly to their sedan. Keying open the lock, he pulled open the back door and grabbed the files.

  He could admit his emotions were blocking the objectivity that he was normally famous for. But he could not get it out of his head that Steve Kane was guilty. That had to count for something, right?

  Gomez gathered as many files as he could manage and then straightened from the back of the car and turned, getting ready to kick the door closed.

  “You never should have come here.” A man stood in front of him with a knife and a ski mask on.

  He’d never even heard him approach, but he did feel the knife when it slipped in between his ribs again and again and again. The files spilled from his arms, Gomez grabbed on to the man, intending to wrestle him down but barely managing to keep on his feet. With one last stab, the man pushed him away. Gomez crumpled to the ground, a mixture of ice-cold air clashing with the warmth of his own blood.

  The man leaned over him and grabbed Gomez by the collar. “You never should have tried to hurt my family.”

  Gomez reached up. He needed to keep him there, but his hand rose only a few inches before the man gripped it, crushing Gomez’s fingers into the snow.

  “Kane,” Gomez spit out.

  “What’s taking so long? You freeze solid?” Sullivan jogged down the steps toward him.

  “Sully!”

  Sullivan had his gun out before Gomez was done yelling his name. Kane released him and sprinted off into the fading light. Sullivan got off a shot, cursing wildly before he dropped to the ground next to Gomez. “Oh my God, Tom, what happened?”

  Gomez gripped his partner’s jacket. “It was Steve Kane.”

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  It was a quiet group at Steve’s house that afternoon. They’d returned home to grab showers and a change of clothes. No one looked at the garage. Steve thought it would be difficult to be here, but once a fire was roaring in the fireplace and Nevaeh, Reggie, and Trey came over, it felt better.

  But even so, lunch was a somber meal. There was tension between Reggie and Nevaeh. And Julie had a haunted look in her eyes. Thank God for the kids. Their antics made it difficult not to smile. After dinner, though, both kids seem to hit a wall.

  Reggie put Trey to sleep in a playpen in the corner of Julie and Steve’s living room. Steve had made up a little bed for Bess on the couch. Both kids had fallen asleep almost immediately. Steve couldn’t blame them. He felt a little exhausted himself.

  Now Steve, Julie, Reggie, and Nevaeh sat, each with a cup of coffee and the remains of a lemon meringue pie in the middle of the table. Normally Reggie could finish half a pie by himself. But today, no one really felt like eating.

  The tension between Nevaeh and Reggie hadn’t dissipated through the evening. Steve added that onto the pile of things he felt guilty about. The only good news they had was that the reporter had made it to the hospital and through surgery. He’d also lost three fingers. He was in a medically induced coma, but the doctors were cautiously optimistic.

  Russ had recovered pretty well too. He was up, eating, and moving around. He and Declan were going to stay with Julie and Steve while Russ recovered. They should be arriving at any minute.

  But that was the end of the good news. T
here was no news on Jack. The Albany detectives were still in town, although they were supposed to leave tomorrow. All in all, everything about today sucked.

  Nevaeh’s cell rang. Everyone jumped. That was how it was going to be from now on until Jack was caught. Every time one of their phones rang, all of them would get stressed. Nevaeh growled a little as she looked at the screen.

  She looked up and met Julie’s eyes. “Sullivan.” Nevaeh punched the connect button. “What can I do for—”

  Nevaeh’s jaw dropped open, and she started to stand. “No, Jared is right. The hospital’s too far away. He’ll never make it. Get him to the clinic. I’ll meet you there and send a deputy to the B&B.”

  Julie grabbed Steve’s hand. “Who?”

  “Detective Gomez was just stabbed outside the bed and breakfast. Apparently it’s pretty bad. He won’t make it to the hospital.” Nevaeh looked to Julie. “You up for this?”

  Julie was already standing. “Let’s go.”

  Julie and Nevaeh were out the door in three minutes flat. Neither Reggie nor Steve liked the idea of them being out there. It just seemed to make more sense for everybody to stay together. Steve called Declan. He and Russ agreed to meet Nevaeh and Julie at the clinic. The setup in the firehouse wouldn’t be able to handle this emergency.

  Steve paced the living room, glancing out the window from time to time.

  Reggie looked up at him. “You feel like you’ve been left on the sidelines?”

  “A little bit. I just don’t really like the idea of us all being separated right now. That seems to be what happens in the horror movies when everything goes sideways.”

  Reggie stood. “Well, my mama didn’t raise no idiot. Let’s get the kids and head to the clinic. I’d rather we were all together too.”

  Five minutes later, they had the two kids bundled in their car seats in Reggie’s Hummer and were backing out of the drive. The roads were slick, so Reggie took it slow. Steve kept his eyes peeled, looking for any sort of problem along the way. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary. In fact, no one was out. The weather was keeping everyone inside.