ONCE LOST

by Blake Pierce

  Meanwhile, Bill stepped out onto the back deck.

  He could see traces of blood trailing through the backyard toward the open gate in the backyard fence. From the quantity of blood, Bill guessed that the wound was serious.

  Bill knew better than to hope anyone could follow that trail directly to Hatcher. He’d surely come here in a vehicle and had driven away. Even so, Bill felt certain that Hatcher wasn’t going to get very far, not in his present condition.

  He took out his cell phone. He’d already put out an alert that Hatcher was in Fredericksburg. The police and FBI probably had roadblocks set up by now. He’d update them that the wanted man was wounded. If he wasn’t already dead, he’d be more dangerous than ever.

  *

  Jenn watched as Amelia Stack was loaded into an ambulance and Judd and Renee Griggs were put under arrest. She and Riley were standing in Coach Griggs’s front yard, keeping well inside the area the police had taped off.

  Although the danger was over, Jenn’s heart was still beating fast and hard, and she felt short of breath.

  She could hardly believe what had just happened.

  A crowd of neighbors was gathering nearby, some of them looking confused, others looking as angry as the crowd back at the police station. She saw that the media was also arriving, probably following police radio calls.

  But Sinard and his men were keeping them all on the other side of the police tape that now surrounded the house.

  Jenn smiled a little.

  She said, “It’s nice of Chief Sinard to keep those people away from us.”

  Riley grumbled, “It’s the least he can do, now that he knows how wrong he was.”

  There was no doubt about what had happened here. The other girls’ cell phones had been found in the basement, all smashed.

  The ambulance and the transport vehicle soon left. A small police team was still in the house. Jenn and Riley had answered Sinard’s basic questions, but they would have to fill him in on more details.

  Riley asked Jenn, “How did you get here from the school?”

  Jenn shrugged.

  “I called a cab practically as soon as you dropped me off. I knew you were up to something. And it wasn’t hard to figure out what it was.”

  Riley laughed a little.

  She said, “That was some pretty good detective work.”

  Jenn was feeling just a twinge of anger now.

  “Riley, why didn’t you tell me what you were going to do? Did you think I’d try to stop you? Did you think I’d file an official report or something?”

  “Well, what I planned to do was illegal,” Riley said. “So, yeah, maybe it crossed my mind.”

  Jenn shook her head.

  “Well, you ought to know me better than that,” she said. “I thought we were turning out to be a pretty good team.”

  “We are, Jenn,” Riley said. “We really are.”

  Jenn’s anger evaporated at the warm tone in Riley’s voice.

  Then Riley added, “I guess I also didn’t want to get you fired.”

  Jenn smiled and said, “How many times have you gotten fired or suspended?”

  Riley sighed.

  “Oh, more times than I can count.”

  “Then I’ve got some catching up to do,” Jenn said.

  They both laughed.

  They got into the chief’s car that was still in the driveway, with Jenn in the driver’s seat. For a few minutes, she just sat there.

  “So Renee was the killer,” Jenn said. “Who would have guessed it?”

  Riley let out a groan of dismay.

  “I should have guessed it. I’ve really been off my game. Lucy’s death was still getting to me, and I was worried about Bill, and …”

  Jenn felt pretty sure of what she was leaving unsaid.

  Jenn said, “And you had a new partner to break in. And I didn’t always make it easy. Still, I would never have guessed in a thousand years that Renee Griggs …”

  Jenn’s voice trailed off as she tried to comprehend it. She heard Riley’s phone ring.

  Then she heard Riley gasp when she saw the name of the caller.

  “Bill!” Riley said breathlessly. “Has something happened?”

  Riley listened in silence for a few moments.

  Then she said, “Oh, my God … Oh, my God …”

  Jenn’s own nerves quickened. She wondered what had happened to upset Riley so much.

  Soon Riley said, “Are the kids OK? What about Gabriela? What about Blaine?”

  Another moment passed, and then Jenn could hear Riley breathing more easily.

  “Thank you, Bill,” she said. “Thank you so much.”

  Riley ended the call. She didn’t say anything for a few moments. Jenn glanced over and saw that her mouth was hanging open from shock.

  Finally Riley said, “It was Shane Hatcher. He broke into my house. He killed the two cops who were watching the place. Then he attacked my family at my boyfriend’s house. Blaine shot Hatcher, but he got away.”

  “Is Hatcher seriously wounded?” Jenn asked.

  “Bill thinks so—very seriously. They think he might be dead somewhere already. The police and the FBI are all mobilized, searching Fredericksburg, setting up roadblocks to keep him from leaving the city. He’s said to be extremely dangerous. If he’s seen alive, the order is to shoot him on sight.”

  “They’re sure to catch him, then,” Jenn said.

  Riley was silent for a moment.

  Then she said, “No, they won’t. He’s far from Fredericksburg by now.”

  Jenn was startled.

  “Riley, what are you talking about? You said he was seriously injured. He can’t get far on his own, even in a car. He’s got to seek medical help.”

  Riley shook her head.

  “You’re underestimating him, Jenn. You must never underestimate Shane Hatcher. I’ve known him to do the seemingly impossible many, many times. He’s uncanny. Sometimes he seems almost supernatural, an evil force of nature. And he’s got a will of iron.”

  Jenn wrestled with confusion as she drove.

  “So where do you think he went?” Jenn asked.

  Riley fell silent again.

  Finally she said, “My father’s cabin. And I’ve got to meet him there.”

  Jenn gasped aloud.

  “Riley, that’s crazy. What makes you think he’s there?”

  “Because I know Shane Hatcher. Better than I want to know him.”

  Riley began to speak more rapidly and urgently.

  “You’ve got to get me to the BAU plane. I’ll tell the pilot to take me to the Roanoke Airport. I’ll rent a car there. It’s not a far drive to the cabin.”

  Jenn could hardly believe her ears.

  She stammered, “Riley, if you’re right … if what you’re saying is true … and you go up there … you’re likely to get yourself killed.”

  Riley said nothing.

  Jenn said, “At least let me come with you.”

  Riley turned and glared at her.

  “No!” she said sharply.

  Then Riley turned and stared ahead.

  “I’ve got to do this myself,” she said in a quiet, grim voice.

  Jenn started the car.

  She said, “Then let’s get you to that plane.”

  CHAPTER FORTY SIX

  As Riley drove her rental car up into the hills, she felt strangely claustrophobic.

  It didn’t make sense to her at first.

  Here she was, driving toward her father’s cabin through grand Appalachian vistas, breathing in the clean forest air, surrounded by redbud and dogwood trees that were blooming on the wooded mountainside.

  She ought to feel free and unconfined.

  Instead, she felt cramped and uneasy.

  Little by little she realized what was wrong …

  Demons.

  The demons of her life were closing in around her—demons in the shape of memories of her father. She had rarely visited him during the years he
had lived up here. Whenever she had come here, he’d shown her nothing but bitterness. They’d quarreled, and after every visit she’d sworn never to come back here.

  And now she could taste that bitterness in her own mouth.

  When her father died and left the property to her, she had wanted to get rid of it. She’d offered it to her sister, Wendy, who refused to take it.

  Probably smart of her, Riley thought.

  Thinking about Wendy reminded Riley …

  Wendy lived in Des Moines. When Riley had flown out to Iowa for this case, she’d considered paying her sister a visit sometime before returning to Quantico. But Riley had come and gone twice during the last few days without stopping to even call her.

  Probably just as well, Riley thought.

  Seeing Wendy would probably just stir up more of Riley’s demons.

  It couldn’t be very enjoyable for Wendy either. After all, Wendy had raised a happy family and lived a happy life. She didn’t deserve to be reminded of uglier times in the form of a long-estranged sister.

  As Riley turned a curve that displayed a view of a beautiful valley, she shivered with an uncanny sense of Hatcher’s presence.

  He’s close, she thought.

  As impossible as it seemed, there was no doubt in her mind that he was in the cabin.

  A knot of apprehension tightened in her chest.

  She found herself remembering how Hatcher had laid claim to the cabin, insisting on hiding out there, and Riley had allowed it. She came to regret her decision when Hatcher murdered an unwary and nosy real estate agent who had been poking around the place.

  And now Hatcher had killed two more innocent people—the cops who had been watching her house.

  Riley shuddered at the thought.

  He’s changed, she thought.

  Hatcher used to act according to a strange but strict moral code, only killing when it was necessary or justified, at least in his own mind. Riley still found it hard to believe he’d intended to hurt her family. But he wasn’t his old self anymore. He was unstable, erratic, and more dangerous than ever.

  It’s time to stop him once and for all, Riley thought.

  Or was it?

  Riley found herself turning options over his mind.

  If he wasn’t as badly injured as she expected, mightn’t she just let him go?

  She shuddered at the sheer irrationality of the idea.

  He was a wanted criminal, and she was a sworn law enforcement officer.

  She had done his bidding far too many times as it was.

  And yet …

  She wondered if she was really capable of bringing him in.

  Trying to put her uncertainties aside, Riley followed a bumpy dirt road the rest of the way to the cabin. When the building appeared among the trees, she saw a car parked nearby.

  Sure enough, someone was here.

  And it was surely Shane Hatcher.

  As Riley got out of her car and started walking toward the other car, she felt a rare spasm of fear. After all, she was about to enter the lair of a wounded animal.

  Then she put her hand on her weapon and continued walking toward the cabin.

  The door was partially open.

  She stepped inside and there he was—Shane Hatcher himself.

  He looked like some weird apparition, sitting on a chair facing an unlit fireplace, watching it raptly as if a blazing fire were burning there. He was holding a gun in one hand.

  Does he even know I’m here? Riley wondered.

  Then he said in a hushed voice …

  “Riley Paige. As I live and breathe.”

  Then with a painful laugh he added …

  “While I live and breathe.”

  Riley walked closer and got a better look at him.

  She saw a pile of bloodstained cloth lying on the floor beside him. Starting with his shirt and continuing with every towel and curtain he could lay his hands on, he had made makeshift bandages. The one he was wearing now was wrapped all the way around his abdomen.

  From the bloodstains front and back, Riley could see that a bullet had entered and exited his body. It surely hadn’t hit any vital organs or he would be dead by now. Of course, a less strong-willed man would have been dead by now anyway.

  He also had a smaller bandage on a shoulder. It looked like a bullet had grazed him there.

  Hatcher turned and looked at her with glassy eyes.

  “That boyfriend of yours isn’t a bad shot,” he said, laughing painfully again. “Especially considering that he shoots with his eyes closed. Two out of three—not bad. And this one …”

  He smiled and pointed at the wound in his belly.

  “‘’Tis not so deep as a well nor so wide as a church-door, but ’tis enough, ’twill serve.”

  Riley immediately recognized the Shakespearian quote. It was spoken by the dying Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet.

  She couldn’t help be a little amazed.

  Even at death’s door, Hatcher just had to make a point of displaying his considerable erudition.

  “You’re not going to die,” she said.

  Hatcher’s squinted skeptically.

  “You don’t think so? I’m not sure why I shouldn’t. If I’m not mistaken, the FBI has given orders to shoot me on sight. Well, look at me. I’m armed and dangerous. Shouldn’t you do it? Shouldn’t you put a bullet through my brain?”

  Riley felt the wind rush out of her lungs. It was hard to regain her breath.

  Why don’t I kill him? she wondered.

  She suddenly realized she had no idea.

  He held Riley’s gaze for a few seconds.

  “I’d prefer it that way,” he said. “I really would. Do you think I want to go back to prison, after the taste of freedom I’ve had?”

  He coughed, and some blood trickled out of his mouth.

  “I’ll make it easier for you,” he said. “Think of all the times when you’ve abided by my wishes. This is just another one of those times. I order you to kill me.”

  Her hand closed around her weapon.

  Do it, she told himself. It’s what he wants, goddamn it.

  But as she looked at him, she couldn’t help remember her father, sitting in that very chair and staring into that very fireplace.

  Even when her father had been dying—even when he’d wanted to die—could she have done the same for him?

  Could she have shot him like a dog to put him out of his suffering?

  She felt something stirring in her—that weird bond of loyalty she and Hatcher had shared.

  He’d helped her in many ways—not merely with insights from his brilliant mind.

  He’d actually saved the lives of April and Riley’s ex-husband last January when they’d been in the clutches of a vicious killer.

  He’d also taught her a lot about herself, about the dark parts of her own psyche.

  And in her dealings with him, she’d become something of a monster herself.

  She’d defied her own sworn duties as an agent, compromised her integrity, broken trust with people she loved and respected.

  It’s time for that to stop, she thought.

  It was time not to follow Shane Hatcher’s orders.

  In a growl she said, “You’re going to live, whether either one of us likes it or not. I’m going to call the police and an ambulance.”

  Shane smiled a dark and cunning smile.

  “They’ll be too late,” he said.

  Then, with a massive effort, he ripped the bandage loose from his abdomen.

  Now the wound in front was bleeding like a river.

  Hatcher closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

  Riley gasped with horror.

  He’d lost a lot of blood already. If she didn’t stanch the bleeding, he’d be dead within minutes.

  Let him die, she told herself.

  Instead, she put handcuffs on him. Then she rushed over to the window, yanked down a remaining curtain, and started wrapping a new bandage around his abdomen
.

  Then she got out her cell phone to call for an ambulance and the police in the nearby town of Milladore.

  With luck they’ll get here on time, she thought.

  CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

  The next morning, Riley was walking through the BAU building on her way to meet with Meredith when she ran into Jenn Roston in the hallway. She knew that Jenn had flown back to Quantico just this morning.

  Riley put her arm around Jenn’s shoulder.

  She said, “Hey, girl—how was Iowa?”

  Jenn grinned.

  “It’s very pretty this time of year. Nice people, too. You should check it out.”

  “I’ll have to do that,” Riley said.

  They both laughed.

  Just as they got to Meredith’s office door, Jenn stopped Riley from entering.

  “Riley,” she said, “I heard about Hatcher, how you brought him in. That must have been quite an ordeal for you.”

  Riley nodded.

  She said, “Jenn, I still don’t know what the right thing to do was. I could have killed right then and there. Instead, I …”

  Her voice trailed off.

  Jenn put her hand on Riley’s shoulder.

  “You did the right thing,” Jenn said in a comforting voice. “I know you did the right thing.”

  Riley felt a surge of sheer gratitude toward Jenn. It was strange to remember how, just a few days ago, she hadn’t trusted her at all.

  Since then, Jenn had covered for her when she’d flown back to Quantico, and then she had saved her life.

  “Thank you, Jenn,” Riley said in a thick voice. “Thank you for … simply everything.”

  Jenn smiled.

  “Come on,” she said. “The chief’s expecting us.”

  As they walked into Meredith’s office, Riley saw that there was a rare smile on the team director’s broad, dark features. He got up from his desk and shook their hands.

  “Well done, Roston. Well done, Paige. Have a seat. Let’s get caught up.”

  They all sat down.

  Riley asked Jenn, “What was going on when you left this morning?”

  Jenn said, “Well, Renee Griggs has clammed up and won’t talk to anyone. But her husband is doing enough talking for both of them, blaming her for everything.”