The Next Victim (Kali O'Brien series)

by Jonnie Jacobs

  Working blindly, Kali felt for the girl’s wrists. At the same time, Crystal was frantically scrambling for Kali’s. They’d never get themselves freed this way. Finally, Kali took hold of Crystal’s hands and held them firmly for a moment, then squeezed them to signal that Crystal should remain still.

  Then she went to work on the knots. They were tight and hard to get at. And she had to work backward, by feel, without being able to see what she was doing. After what seemed like forever, she managed to loosen one knot, allowing some slack in the tie. But there were so many remaining knots and twists, Kali almost gave in to a wave of defeat.

  Instead, she slid her body higher and worked the knots of Crystal’s gag. After a minute or so, she was rewarded with a deep gasping of air and a grateful “Thank you.”

  “I’ll get yours now,” Crystal said, as she inched her body into place. “He made me call you,” she hiccupped. “I’m so sorry I got you into this.”

  Crystal began working Kali’s gag. “Oh, God, I’m sorry it’s taking me so long. I’m so clumsy.” Her voice was quick and breathless. Kali could feel Crystal’s hands trembling. Her whole body.

  She willed the girl to work faster. Finally, the gag loosened and Kali rubbed her cheek on the floor to pull it free.

  “I thought you were with him,” Crystal said.

  “With whom?”

  “The man. I don’t know his name. Hayley arranged it.”

  Kali slid back to where she could work on Crystal’s hands. “Arranged what?”

  “Our gig at the party. Some movie guy. Hayley really wanted to get into the business, so it seemed like a good thing to do. Only it wasn’t a party. And—”

  “Shh. I hear a car outside.” Kali froze and Crystal whimpered.

  Footsteps in the house.

  He’d come back for them already.

  They were trapped like animals about to be slaughtered.

  Kali’s eyes were riveted on the doorway to the bedroom. As the footsteps grew closer, her heart kicked into overdrive, beating so furiously she could feel it in her toes. When a shadowy figure appeared, panic choked her.

  Then she saw who it was and relief washed over her.

  A. J. Nash.

  She’d been angry when he’d followed her the other day. But not now.

  “Thank God, it’s you. How did you find us? Quick, untie us. Call for help.”

  Crystal shrieked. “What are you talking about? That’s him!”

  As Crystal’s words registered, Kali realized Nash was holding a gun. And it was pointed at her.

  Her stomach roiled. “Why?” she whispered.

  Nash laughed, a humorless guttural sound like the bark of a seal. “What is it with women, always wanting to know why? Always butting into things that are none of their business. You should have let well enough alone. I tried to warn you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You didn’t think the rock was an accident, did you?”

  “It was you who broke John’s window? You let the air out of my tire?”

  “I made sure it got done. Why couldn’t you have just cleaned out John’s house and gone back to la-la land?”

  “That’s L.A.” she said. “I live in the North.”

  “I don’t give a fuck where you live. You won’t live anywhere pretty soon.”

  Kali’s throat closed. Her pulse rang in her ears. She looked at Nash with disbelief. Did he really plan to kill her?

  With an awful, knifelike clarity, she realized what was happening. “You killed Sloane and Olivia,” Kali whispered.

  “That’s what happens when you stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

  “And John.” Her breath caught at her brother’s name. “He was your friend.”

  “He was trouble,” Nash muttered. “Asking questions and stirring things up just like Sloane. His being the cops’ chief suspect was an added bonus. Getting rid of him meant an end to their investigation. Until you came along, that is.”

  “What about Hayley?” Crystal shouted. “That was his fault.”

  “My fault?” Nash looked at Crystal with fury and contempt. “You’re the one who got hysterical. You’re the one who was the problem.” He turned back to Kali. “Hayley was nothing. Girls like her are a dime a dozen. No one would have cared one way or another except that Sloane got on her high horse about finding Crystal.”

  “What did she want with me?” Crystal squeaked.

  “She was a know-it-all who couldn’t keep her nose out of other people’s business,” Nash shot back angrily.

  Kali recoiled at the venom in his voice. He was nothing like the quiet man with the droll sense of humor she’d had drinks with.

  “What about Olivia?” Kali whispered. “Whatever your problem with Sloane, why kill an innocent bystander?”

  “Olivia’s dead?” The pitch of Crystal’s voice rose.

  Another seal-like bark. “The cunt tried to blackmail me. She was too good to work for me but she was happy enough to squeeze me for money. I don’t know how much she told Sloane, but Sloane was looking high and low for Crystal. It was only a matter of time until my name came up. Seemed easiest to get rid of them both at once.”

  Crystal was breathing hard now. “You can’t get away with this, you know. You can’t just keep killing people.”

  “I don’t have to keep killing people,” Nash scoffed. “You two are going to wrap it up nice and neat. Crystal is going to shoot Kali—”

  “No, I’m not!”

  “You don’t have to pull the trigger, sweetheart. I’m going to do that. But I’ll make it look like you did it. Then you’re going to shoot yourself.”

  “No!”

  “I’ll help—don’t worry. Simple and tidy.”

  Kali thrashed against the ropes that bound her. “You think the cops are going to believe that?”

  “Sure. Especially when I tell them how you figured out it was Crystal who killed Hayley and Olivia.”

  “But I didn’t,” Crystal sobbed. “Hayley was my friend. I tried to save her. I didn’t even want to do the bondage stuff, but he”— Crystal spat the words in Nash’s direction—”he made us.”

  “I hardly think I forced you.”

  Crystal shook her head. “Hayley didn’t do drugs. You kept pushing them on her. She told you the collar and mask were too tight. She was gagging and choking and you wouldn’t let go!”

  “Shut up.” Nash raised the gun.

  “They’ll know it wasn’t Crystal,” Kali told him. “They’ll be able to tell by the angle of the bullet.”

  Nash laughed. “I watch CSI, too. They’ll know the killer was standing, but that’s all. Besides, I’ve just been out establishing an alibi. There’s nothing that connects me to any of this.”

  “Besides six murders, you mean.”

  He smirked. “You never learn, do you?”

  The gun fired.

  Kali rolled to her left just as the first bullet sailed past. A scream locked in her throat. She couldn’t breathe. Nash stepped closer and fired again as she rolled the other way. Pain exploded in her shoulder.

  Out of the corner of her eyes, Kali saw Crystal kick her bound legs, quick and straight, catching Nash in the knees. He staggered and the gun went off a third time, shattering a window.

  Crystal had managed to work one hand free. She grabbed Nash’s leg and sank her teeth into his ankle. He howled and the gun went skittering.

  Nash kicked Crystal in the face with his other foot, breaking her hold on him. She yelped in pain and he scrambled after the gun.

  Kali’s shoulder felt as though it had been drilled through with a red hot poker. The pain radiated and pulsed through her entire torso. She felt herself growing light-headed and faint.

  When a familiar female voice yelled, “Drop it!” Kali was sure she was hallucinating.

  Chapter 51

  Kali remembered only snippets of what followed. The ambulance ride to the hospital with the dark-haired paramedic holding her hand
urging her to “stay with us.” The bright lights of the operating room. The nurse calling her “honey” as she inserted the IV apparatus and injected painkilling drugs, bringing blessed relief. Her parched throat and sweat-soaked bedding.

  And then Sabrina standing by the side of the hospital bed spooning ice chips into her mouth.

  “What day is it?” Kali mumbled. Her mouth felt as though it were filled with cotton.

  “Saturday. You’ve been here two nights. And you’re going to be fine.” Sabrina’s voice choked, and Kali knew her sister must have had her doubts over the last forty-eight hours.

  “Your tennis serve might suffer a little,” Sabrina added, trying for levity, “but the doctor thinks that with physical therapy you’ll have pretty much full use of your arm and shoulder.”

  Kali felt as though she never wanted to move that part of her body again, anyway. The painkillers were helping, but the shoulder still burned and throbbed. “Was it Detective Parker who showed up in the nick of time or am I imagining that?”

  “As usual, you’re as sharp as a tack.” Sabrina grinned.

  “Why was she there?”

  “I called her.”

  “You what?”

  Sabrina held a cup of water with a straw for Kali to drink. “You left me a cryptic note about going off alone to some godforsaken place. You don’t think clearly sometimes.”

  Coming from Sabrina, the last remark was almost laughable. Except that Kali was in no laughing mood and Sabrina was right. Her sister’s phone call had saved Kali’s life.

  “Thank you,” Kali whispered. “If you hadn’t alerted them—”

  “Don’t even think like that! I lost my brother—I wasn’t about to lose you, too. And I knew the detectives were interested in talking to Crystal.”

  “Even if it implicated John?”

  “John is dead. You were alive. I wanted to make sure you stayed that way.” She set the water back on the bedside table. “He didn’t do anything wrong, you know.”

  “He didn’t kill Sloane and Olivia. But he was trying to find Crystal. And he had that photograph. And all that . . . pornography.”

  Sabrina hesitated, smoothing the bed sheets. “As long as you’re so clearheaded, I may as well tell you the rest. Think you’re up to it?”

  Kali nodded. Lying in bed and listening, she could handle. Just nothing that involved movement.

  “I talked to Doug Simon. He couldn’t reach you on your cell so he called the house. He didn’t find any connection between Crystal’s parents and the Logan family, but that doesn’t matter. Turns out Crystal is adopted. And, get this”—Sabrina moved closer and folded her arms—“Sloane had a baby girl who was born the same day and at the same hospital as Crystal. Her baby had a red birthmark on her neck and jaw.”

  Kali remembered how the photo of the young Sloane and Reed had reminded her of Crystal. “Are you saying Crystal is Sloane’s daughter?”

  Sabrina nodded. “But that’s only part of it. I think John was her father.”

  “Our brother John?”

  “John and Sloane were definitely together then. And the last time he called me, to tell me Sloane was dead, he said something I didn’t think anything about at the time. But now . . .”

  “What was it?”

  “He said, ‘In hindsight, I should have married Sloane seventeen years ago. We’d all be better off.’ I just assumed he was upset that she’d been killed and that he felt bad they’d been going at it over the stupid company. But now I think it was because of the baby.” Sabrina paused. “Besides, Crystal has John’s eyes, don’t you think?”

  “I never thought of it before, but you’re right. There is a resemblance.”

  “That makes her our niece.”

  Kali felt an odd sensation, like warmth blooming inside her. “John’s child,” Kali said, in wonder. “Our niece.”

  Sabrina pulled a chair closer to the hospital bed. “I think Sloane recognized Crystal when she came around the house to be with Olivia. She must have told John she suspected Crystal was their daughter. Probably over dinner the night she was killed. Sloane must have been worried because Crystal disappeared so suddenly. Didn’t that neighbor boy tell you she’d asked him where she could find Crystal?”

  Kali nodded gingerly, with as little head movement as possible.

  “John must have driven to Sloane’s after their dinner that evening. Maybe he wanted to talk to her further. Or maybe he wanted to ask Olivia about Crystal. I’m betting Sloane asked for his help in locating her.”

  “Crystal’s okay, isn’t she?” Kali asked anxiously.

  Sabrina nodded. “Physically, she’s fine. She’s with Children’s Protective Services at the moment. She’s only sixteen, you know. A child. I tried to get them to release her to me—”

  “To you?”

  “Just temporarily, although I’d love for it to be longer. Crystal is blood, but more than that, she’s a scared kid who’s been through hell several times over. I’m not ‘licensed,’ though, and bureaucratic wisdom prevailed.” Sabrina’s eyes burned with the injustice of the decision. “At least they didn’t send her to juvie.”

  “Why would they? She didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Well, the cops are trying to figure all that out. They want to question her, but I said she needed an attorney to be there.”

  Kali nodded. “Good for you. They’ve appointed one?”

  “Crystal wants you.”

  <><><>

  The hospital released Kali the next afternoon. On Monday she met with Crystal and Detectives Parker and Morgan in a conference room at the main sheriff’s department station—the same conference room where she and Sabrina had first learned that John was a murder suspect.

  It was a room without windows, but there was carpeting on the floor, and photographs of historic Tucson hung on the wall. Not elegant, but a far cry from an interrogation room, and for that, Kali was grateful—for herself, but mostly for Crystal.

  The girl—her niece—was surprisingly articulate. Dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt, and sipping a Dr Pepper provided by the detectives, she answered their questions clearly, without getting defensive or trying to gloss over her own questionable behaviors.

  All three girls had posed for a guy who ran a porn Web site. Then Olivia got a role in a film produced by a “real” studio and decided she wasn’t interested in “low-end” work anymore. She told Hayley and Crystal about a guy “in the business” who wanted a couple of girls to work a private party—dancing, stripping, flirting. Olivia had been to some parties like that in the past. She said the work was easy and the pay was good. If you wanted to give guys blow jobs, you’d earn even more.

  Kali cringed for her, but Crystal treated the whole thing in a matter-of-fact manner.

  Hayley liked the idea of getting into “real” films, Crystal said, and thought the contact might pay off. The party thing sounded better than straight stripping anyway. Crystal was simply interested in the money. It was that or panhandling, which, she confessed, she was never very good at. “It’s embarrassing to beg for money,” she told them somberly.

  Kali wanted to ask if it wasn’t equally embarrassing to have your body plastered on Internet porn sites, but she didn’t want Crystal to think she was judging her. When you were all alone at sixteen, what kind of options did you have?

  Crystal took a sip of soda. “That’s what we expected when we showed up at the house that . . . that man told us to go to. But it turned out not to be a party at all. It was just him and a video camera. I was kind of pissed that it wasn’t what he promised, but Hayley said it didn’t matter. He was nice enough, and the house was nice, and he was paying us. He offered us booze and Ecstasy and coke. At first it was just posing for some photos. Then he took some video of the two of us just, you know, simple stuff. Dancing, undressing, stuff like that.”

  “So he didn’t force you to do anything?” Michelle asked. “You did everything freely?”

  Crystal nodded. �
��Except that Hayley was drinking a lot and snorting coke. I’d never seen her take drugs before, and I think if that man hadn’t been pressuring her to take more and more, she wouldn’t have.” Crystal looked down at the table and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I told her to slow down, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  “You can’t blame yourself for the decisions she made,” Michelle said kindly.

  Crystal looked doubtful. “Anyway, he wanted to do some S&M stuff. At first it was just me and Hayley. Then he wanted to be part of it, too. That’s when it all went bad. Hayley was face down on a mattress with this collar thing around her neck and a leash—” Crystal’s voice broke, but when Detective Parker put her hand on the girl’s, she pulled it away. “I’m okay.” She took a breath. “He was on top of her and I was supposed to spank him. I did, but not hard enough, he said. Then Hayley started bucking. I could tell she was choking. I screamed and told him to stop, to get off, but he wouldn’t. I tried to pull him off, but that seemed to make him fiercer. He kept riding her and she kept thrashing, and then suddenly she jerked violently and went limp.”

  “What happened then?”

  “When he realized she was dead, he freaked. He slapped me hard across the face and started calling me names.” Crystal was crying now, and Kali felt the urge to comfort her. “He made it sound like it was my fault, like if I hadn’t messed up, everything would have been okay. He hit me and shoved me hard. I was afraid he was going to kill me, too.”

  Crystal paused to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. “He was bundling Hayley up in the bedspread when I ran out of there. The man was totally crazy.”

  Kali felt sick. It would have been hard for her to imagine Nash as the man in Crystal’s tale if Kali hadn’t seen that same crazed Nash the day he shot her. What he’d done was despicable. That he’d tried to blame it on Crystal made it worse. She’d have hated him even if he hadn’t tried to kill her.

  But it was Crystal who Kali was focused on right then. She seemed so young. Innocent in a way that had nothing to do with whatever use she’d made of her body. Behind the facade of words, which were chillingly frank, Kali sensed a girl who was scared and confused and lonely.