Runs Deeper
Page 27
“I’m awake.” Phineas’s eyes flickered open as he turned his head toward the door.
Stuart hurried over to the bedside. “Hey. How are you feeling? Any pain? Should I go get a nurse?”
Phineas grimaced but shook his head. “No more than last time. Can you just raise the bed?”
Stuart grabbed the control on the table next to the bed, and slowly the head of the bed began to rise.
“That’s good,” Phineas said when the bed was at about an eighty-degree angle.
“Detective Gomez was hoping to speak with you. That okay?”
Phineas nodded. “Why don’t you go get something to eat out of the cafeteria?”
“Okay. And I’ll call your parents and see when their flight gets in.”
“Thanks.”
Stuart patted him awkwardly on the shoulder and with a nod to the detective, escaped the room. Gomez moved over to the side of the bed, taking the seat that Stuart had been sitting in. “How you doing?”
“I’m okay.” Phineas didn’t meet his gaze.
“Really?”
Phineas flicked a quick glance at him before looking down again. “Can I help you with something, Detective?”
“I was thinking maybe we could help each other with something.” Gomez took a deep breath. “After my sister, it took a long time for me to come back. I’m not sure I ever came back to the same person I was before that day, before she went missing. It’s going to take you a while to come back too.”
Phineas’s chin trembled. He looked away, taking a deep breath.
“There are monsters out there. You and I, we have unfortunately met them. We are now members of a very exclusive club. But I’ve found the best thing to do is to throw yourself into your work. It makes all of this more bearable. Helps the time pass faster.”
Phineas wiped away a tear that had slipped down his cheek. And then he held up his bandaged hands. “I don’t think the restaurant is going to have much use for me.”
“Nothing wrong with your brain. And I find I’m in need of a reporter.”
“Not sure I can do that either.”
Gomez leaned forward. “I’m not saying any of this is going to be easy. It won’t be. It’s a long, cold, hard climb back. But there are ways to make it better. To at least pass the time so that the fear and the pain are a little bit less.”
“How? How do I do that?”
Gomez took a deep breath. “By making sure that blame is placed where it should be.”
Chapter Ninety-One
Dover, Maine
The days after the lumberyard were a blur. Steve and Julie answered questions first for Nevaeh. Julie’s parents had come to town to help keep an eye on Bess.
Then the state police had arrived. Julie and Steve answered essentially the same questions for them as well. Then the FBI arrived. They had even more questions, which took longer to ask and yet were still basically the same questions. For three days, he and Julie answered the questions of every law enforcement individual who showed up.
Then they hit a wall. After the FBI left, Julie and Steve slept for sixteen hours straight.
When Steve finally woke up, his head felt groggy. Julie still slept quietly next to him. He reached over and pulled the blankets up tighter around her.
I do not know what I did to deserve you, Julie Granger, but I thank God for you every single day. He kissed her on the forehead as his stomach growled. He grabbed a sweatshirt from the end of the bed and threw it on as he headed for the kitchen.
A note was on the kitchen table. Julie’s parents had taken Bess to the movies. Steve tensed, his gaze shooting to the door, wondering if he should go after her. But he knew the threat was gone. They needed to get back to real life. And if Bess wasn’t scared now, him and Julie dogging her every step would certainly make sure she was filled with anxiety soon enough.
But he couldn’t help but at least send a text. Everything good?
Julie’s mom sent back a text a few seconds later. All good. It was accompanied by a picture of Bess sitting on her grandpa’s lap, a huge tub of popcorn in her lap and a giant smile on her face.
The tightness in his chest eased a little. She’s good. She’s fine. He took a breath and focused on food.
A few minutes later, he had the coffee brewed and was pulling the omelets off the stove. The front doorbell rang. He tensed. Please do not be any more cops, or worse, the press.
So far, they’d been lucky. A senator had been embroiled in a prostitution scandal that had stolen all the headlines. Each day, more respected members of the government were implicated. Steve prayed the focus stayed on that scandal until the events in Dover were too old to care about.
He padded over to the front door, glancing through the transom glass before opening the door with a smile. Declan and Russ stood there with a giant basket of bagels in Russ’s arms. Declan’s left arm was in a sling and bruises covered his face and trailed along his neck.
Russ held up the basket. “We stopped by the coffee shop, and Evelyn and Craig insisted we bring this over for you guys. They said if you need anything to just give them a call.”
Steve stepped back so they could enter. “Everybody’s been really great.” He led the way into the kitchen and gestured to the omelets. “Do you guys want—”
Declan shook his head. “No, we ate breakfast at Jared’s. We’re good.”
Russ patted his stomach. “Stuffed, in fact. He makes a mean walnut pancake. Where’s Julie?”
“Right here.” Julie walked in with her robe around her, slippers on her feet, and her hair unbound. She kissed Declan and Russ each on the cheek. “It’s good to see you two.”
“It’s good to be seen,” Russ said.
Julie took a seat at the table, and Steve placed an omelet in front of her. She ignored the omelet, reaching for the coffee mug instead. She took a sip and sighed, meeting Steve’s gaze before pushing it aside. She’d told him last night about the baby. And Steve promised to help her in any way he could, including foregoing coffee himself. Today was their last day with coffee in this house. From now on, it was decaf for the two of them.
“So what have you two been up to?” Steve asked as he took a seat.
“Helping fill in the holes in Rory’s life story.” Declan paused. “Rory wasn’t Jack’s son.”
“What?” Julie and Steve asked at the same time.
Declan shrugged. “The FBI rushed the DNA test. They weren’t related.”
“But all of this … I don’t understand,” Julie said.
“They also rushed the autopsy on Rory. He had a lot of old injuries. Some years and years old. I don’t know what exactly happened in his house, but it was obvious he was abused for years. He also had evidence of a lot of head injuries, concussions. His brain was also underweight.”
Julie’s eyebrows rose. “Are they thinking CTE?”
“CTE?” Steve asked.
“Chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It’s what football players often suffer from after repeated concussions. The brain loses mass, atrophies in spots, causing massive behavioral changes,” Julie said.
Declan nodded. “They can’t definitively say at this point. And for it to be CTE, the abuse he must have suffered would have to have been extreme and long lasting.”
“With that kind of abuse, he never had a chance,” Russ said.
“And you end up with a monster,” Julie said softly.
“Yeah,” Declan agreed.
Silence descended over the kitchen for a few moments. Steve wasn’t ready to forgive Rory for all he had put them through, but knowing he’d been abused for years, it was making him feel awfully uncomfortable. “What about Jack? How did he and Rory link up?”
“The FBI found some emails between the two. Rory reached out to him about two years ago. It looks like Jack was trying to get Rory to tell him information about you two. But from the journal found, it was clear Rory was stringing him along. He wanted to prove he was better than Jack Kane.”
> Steve shook his head, not understanding how two people could be so evil.
“What about his mother?” Julie asked.
“Oh, that’s the really creepy part,” Russ said. “She’s been dead for at least six months. There was a freezer in the basement behind a fake wall. Some of her DNA was found in there, and Jack’s as well. Apparently when he killed Jack, he pulled his mom from the freezer and stored Jack in there until he needed him.”
“Where was he staying all this time?”
“It looks like he spent some time at the vet’s office. They also found a sleeping bag and supplies in the lounge at the library.”
“Where Minnie was killed?” Julie asked.
Declan nodded. “I think he wanted to be near his work.”
Steve shuddered. “This just gets worse and worse.”
“Well, there is some good news—that reporter made it, and he woke up. He described Rory to the authorities.”
Steve knew the reporter being alive was good news, but he couldn’t help but worry about what he was going to write.
Declan pulled out his phone and hit a few buttons before turning it toward Steve and Julie. “He already wrote his first piece.”
“An Innocent Man” was emblazoned across the top of the screen. Steve grabbed the phone and read the first few lines.
Steve Kane has lived a life most of us would find unbearable. Sent to prison for a crime he did not commit, he managed to make a life for himself after his brother was recognized as a serial killer. But then seven years later, murder found Steve again. Once again, the sights of the criminal justice system turned toward Steve Kane. But as before, Steve was a victim, the center of an evil plot by a despicable individual.
Now surrounded by family, friends, and a supportive community, Steve is as he always was—an innocent man.
Steve looked up at Declan, who smiled. “It’s over, Steve. It’s finally and completely over.”
Julie reached out and grabbed his hand with a gentle squeeze. This was over. But their life, free of shadows, was finally about to begin.
A Note from the Author
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed Runs Deeper. When I wrote the previous novel Runs Deep, I planned on it being a stand-alone novel. There were no plans at all for a follow up. After all, the bad guy was locked up.
So I needed to get him out.
I’m not sure where the original idea came from, but I liked it. So a second book was created. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, I would really appreciate it if you left a review.
When you sign up for the mailing list, you will receive the monthly newsletter and exclusive content, including Dust, the full-length prequel to The Unwelcome Trilogy. If you are not yet on the mailing, you can sign up here.
If you’d like to keep in touch, you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook.
Take care,
RD
About the Author
R.D. Brady is an American writer who grew up on Long Island, NY but has made her home in both the South and Midwest before settling in upstate New York. On her way to becoming a full-time writer, R.D. received a Ph.D. in Criminology and taught for ten years at a small liberal arts college.
R.D. left the glamorous life of grading papers behind in 2013 with the publication of her first novel, the supernatural action adventure, The Belial Stone. Over ten novels later and hundreds of thousands of books sold, and she hasn't looked back. Her novels tap into her criminological background, her years spent studying martial arts, and the unexplained aspects of our history. Join her on her next adventure!
To learn about her upcoming publications, sign up for her newsletter here or on her website (rdbradybooks.com).
Books by R.D. Brady
The Belial Series (in order)
The Belial Stone
The Belial Library
The Belial Ring
Recruit: A Belial Series Novella
The Belial Children
The Belial Origins
The Belial Search
The Belial Guard
The Belial Warrior
The Belial Plan
The Belial Witches
The Belial War
The Belial Fall
The Belial Sacrifice
The Steve Kane Series
Runs Deep
Runs Deeper
Stand-Alone Books
Hominid
The A.L.I.V.E. Series
B.E.G.I.N.
A.L.I.V.E.
D.E.A.D.
The Unwelcome Series
Protect
Seek
Proxy
Published as Riley D. Brady
The Key of Apollo
Be sure to sign up for R.D.'s mailing list to be the first to hear when she has a new release!
Copyright © 2019 by R.D. Brady
Runs Deeper
Published by Scottish Seoul Publishing, LLC, Dewitt, NY
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.
Printed in the United States of America.
Contents
Books by R.D. Brady
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
A Note from the Author
About the Author
Books by R.D. Brady