She pressed her lips together and then said, “I was trying to dig out my car.”
This time, he believed her.
CHAPTER
10
Mace didn’t want to disturb whatever was happening in his office between Caleb and Vivi, and so he waited—his phone in one hand, coffee in the other—for Dylan to call him back.
It took thirty minutes.
“I spoke to the warden. He personally went to eyeball Jeffrey himself. He’s on lockdown now—they searched his cell and found a throwaway cell phone. Guard I spoke to said the guy’s crazy. They’re always confiscating letters from him that were supposed to go out to his sister.”
Mace’s throat went dry. “Threats?”
“Yeah, I’d say so. Guy’s a psycho—unrehabilitatable, the warden said. He doesn’t understand how he got transferred to the psychiatric wing of the prison.”
“He obviously has a hell of a lawyer.”
“The warden said it’s just as secure, if not more so,” Dylan continued. “But he also said that all prisoners have their ways …”
“Yeah, prisoners and Delta Force,” Mace muttered.
“Listen, the warden said he could question Jeffrey about the Kettering case, but he thinks … Shit, I hate to say this.”
“Then don’t. Paige isn’t going to see him for what might be total bullshit,” Mace said.
Dylan sighed, but it was with understanding. “If Paige gets any more calls from him, call the warden immediately. I gave him your name, and Paige’s. He said he’ll take your calls without an appointment.”
Mace wrote down the name and number and stuck it in his pocket. He wanted to ask Dylan how he’d gotten access to the prison warden and the guard, but figured some things were better left unknown.
“How’s my brother?” Dylan asked finally, and the fact that Dylan had segued from Jeffrey to Cael wasn’t lost on Mace.
“He’s all right. Starting to remember even more.”
“It’s probably not the time to ask …”
“It’s not.”
“Fuck, Mace, just tell me you’re considering our offer to work together.”
Mace rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “Dylan, I can’t give up now.”
“Ah, fuck, Mace—this isn’t giving up. This is moving on. Look, you call me if things get out of hand. Zane and I will be there in a second if Caleb needs us.”
Mace knew it killed the brothers to have to stay away from Caleb, but in the beginning, it had been the best move. Even now, it probably helped not to have Caleb’s family hovering over him. “I will,” Mace told Dylan before hanging up, ready to deal with the suddenly more pressing problem of Paige’s brother.
Jeffrey was most definitely up to something and he was smart enough to mastermind whatever the hell was going on. Mace just needed to figure out the pattern—and who was helping him.
He walked into the office, tapping on the door. Caleb had been staring out the window and Vivi was working on the computer.
She looked upset. That seemed to be the theme of the week around here.
“I’m just—”
“She’s setting up the phone so incoming calls can be traced,” Caleb interrupted, and Vivi glared at him.
Yeah, getting better every second. “So you know what’s happening?” he asked her.
“Cael filled me in on the bare bones.”
Caleb continued to look out the window. Mace closed the office door and lowered his voice, “We don’t tell Paige about the generator line being cut. Not yet.”
Caleb turned then, his expression dark. “She’s not stupid—she’s probably already figured out the connection between Jeffrey and Big Harvey’s murder and she’ll be worried enough. You and I both know that nothing good comes from secrets.”
“Think of it as protecting her,” Mace reasoned as he ran a hand through his hair.
“Is that what you’re doing with me? Protecting me?” Cael asked.
“Every chance I get,” Mace told him and a corner of Cael’s mouth quirked up. “You’re getting soft, Mace.”
“Fuck that. Fuck you,” Mace shot back and Cael’s smile got even wider. “I said, fuck you. I’ll tell her. Will that make you happy?”
“No. But it’s the right thing to do. You tell her and then you and I will catch whoever this asshole turns out to be.” The smile was gone from his friend’s face now, the familiar predatory gleam in his eyes. The same one that had saved Mace’s life.
And still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were all in more danger than they could possibly know.
With that thought hanging over him, he went back upstairs to reassure Paige that Jeffrey was still safely locked behind bars in Pennsylvania, and now in solitary confinement for the next forty-eight hours, at least, but when he knocked, the sharp, “Come in,” surprised him.
He’d expected her to be upset. Crying. Maybe even sleeping. But Paige was showered and dressed. And packing.
“Paige, what’s going on?”
She turned to him, a sweater in her hand that she viciously stuffed into her suitcase and then took out and threw on the bed. “I have to visit Jeffrey. I have to find out what he did to the Kettering twins.”
“The police can do that.”
“You and I both know he’ll deny it. He wants to share the horror with me, face-to-face, the way he did when he told me exactly how he’d murdered the neighbor’s cat. How he tortured it for days, enjoying its pain.”
“You don’t have to put yourself through that. Caleb’s brother called, spoke to the warden—one of the guards. He’s behind bars. The warden knows about the calls and he said they’d make sure it doesn’t happen again—his phone privileges were still revoked, but the warden said—”
“He said, Prisoners have their ways, right?” Her eyes blazed, the earlier fear gone, transformed into an anger that had her nearly shaking. “That’s what they kept telling us every time he called the house and tormented my parents and me. He also called the victims’ families too. All the time.”
His face must’ve registered the shock because she nodded. “Yes, that’s right—it was disgusting and horrible. Beyond comprehension. And all this time, I’ve avoided going to see him. I told myself I never would. But now I have to, to show him I’m not scared of him. I have to show him he didn’t win, that I’ll never let him win. I have to stand up to him and his threats or I’ll never be able to sleep again. He knows I’ve been hiding from him—I’ve got to show him that I can take care of myself now. If he’s going to haunt and threaten me, I’ll make him do it face-to-face, so I can show him he doesn’t affect me the way he used to, I won’t let him. I can’t expect you to understand.”
No, she couldn’t, but he did. Gray had wanted to take out Jeffrey with his bare hands, to protect Paige with a fierce, pure familial love that Mace understood.
“He’s behind Harvey’s murder somehow. He’s trying to implicate me with the weapon … and you too. Because I’m with you.”
“He’s behind bars.”
“That means nothing.”
She was right. Inmates used people on the outside all the time to do jobs for them. Jeffrey was either using someone … or they were facing another situation entirely. “Is there anyone else you can think of who’d want to hurt you?”
“No, not really.”
“I checked on that Wallace guy—he didn’t get bail, so he’s locked up until his trial. He’s not anyone with connections,” Mace said. For a minute, she looked angry that he’d pried into her life and then her expression softened. “I’ll go with you.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“If Jeffrey’s in prison, then it’s someone else threatening you, with his guidance. If he thinks you’re headed to see him, don’t you believe he could have something planned? I’d never forgive myself for not helping you.”
She swallowed hard, and as much as he knew she wanted to refuse, he also knew she wouldn’t. She was proud and scared,
but by no means was she stupid.
They’d leave for New Jersey later that day. In the meantime, he needed to shore up the house and bar against the yet unseen enemy and make sure neither of them got arrested for leaving the state against Ed’s advice.
And so he placed a call to Ed. After five rings, the sheriff picked up and Mace barely said hello before telling the man, “I’ve got something that might be connected to Harvey’s murder, but I need it kept quiet.”
There was a long pause and then, “You’re telling me how to do my job now? I expect you’d be pretty pissed if the tables were turned.”
Yes, he would be. “If you can come to the bar when you get a chance, I’ll explain. It’s important. For Gray’s sister.”
Gray was the only one Ed had really liked out of the whole group, but that wasn’t unusual. Everyone had liked Gray, almost instantly. He’d been one of those people who drew everyone to him.
Mace was always too busy shoving them away. For the first time in his life, he felt as if someone other than his team—Paige—could change that.
“I’m down the road—I’ll be up to you directly,” Ed told him before he hung up.
Mace closed his phone and sat at one of the tables in the middle of the bar, tapping his fingers and going over the night Paige arrived at the bar and the night she’d worked. Closed his eyes and tried to picture the crowd, cursed himself for letting his guard down because he’d thought of this place as safe.
You can’t stay on a hundred percent of the time or you’ll lose your mind, Gray would tell him.
“Why did I listen to you, Gray? Dammit, you let your guard down and bad shit happens,” he muttered.
He didn’t remember seeing anyone out of the ordinary at the bar that first night, except for the woman who was wrapped around Big Harvey before he spotted Paige. That in itself wasn’t unusual—Harvey was always bringing women back from his travels, OA groupies.
Harvey wasn’t much to look at and yet there was the persistent rumor that the moniker Big in front of his name didn’t stand for his belly.
By now, the entire town would be talking about Paige. He couldn’t blame them. He just hoped they didn’t identify who she was, for her sake. She didn’t need any more shit to deal with right now.
A heavy knock on the front door and Ed walked in without waiting.
“Thanks for coming,” Mace told the officer, motioned for him to take a seat at the table with him.
“I was going to call you anyway,” Ed said, and no, this couldn’t be good. The man sat heavily in the chair across from Mace and Caleb, who’d emerged silently out of the back room when he heard the door.
Mace noticed Cael had shut the office door, no doubt so Vivi wouldn’t hear this conversation.
“I did some investigating on Paige Grayson,” Ed started, held up his hand when Mace began to ask why. “You know I had to. I just checked out her background, and yes, I know who she is. Who her brother is. Everything she said about her work and former address checked out too.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Her landlady was found murdered after Paige left. ME’s report said the woman had been killed around the same time Paige took off for here.”
Mace didn’t know what to say to that, but Caleb did. “Someone’s got it out for her, Ed. Someone working with her brother.”
Once again, he explained what Jeffrey’s message meant and then he pulled Paige’s phone out of his pocket and played the message for Ed, who winced as he listened, then muttered, “Monster. I’m assuming she’s contacted law enforcement about Jeffrey’s possible part in the Kettering twins’ disappearance?”
Mace nodded, then leaned forward. “Is Paige a suspect in the landlady’s death? Wanted for questioning?”
Ed shook his head. “No. Actually, a witness was having coffee with the landlady when Paige left—she saw her car pull away. Whoever did it waited until the apartment was empty.”
“It could have nothing to do with Paige at all,” Mace said, but he couldn’t deny that his gut told him otherwise. “She needs to go see her brother. I know we’re not supposed to leave the state, but you know I’m coming back, Ed. Cael will stay here. Twenty-four hours.”
Ed sighed. “She’s less of a suspect than you and Caleb are for Harvey, Mace.”
“Do you think we’d ruin our lives—our careers—over Big Harvey?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think, there’s an investigation. I’m coming back here tomorrow night, and you two better be here or I’m putting out an APB.”
“Fine.”
“And you’ll let me know if you learn anything. We’ve got a big problem on our hands here. Looks like trouble’s following that girl.”
With that, he stood and began to walk out of the bar.
“Hey, Ed,” Mace called to him. “How was the landlady killed?”
“She was stabbed. Same as Harvey.” With that, he left, and Mace and Caleb sat silently for a few minutes at the table, the clock on the wall in the empty bar echoing loudly.
“Are you going to tell her about this?” Caleb asked Mace finally.
“Fuck, I don’t know. How much can one person handle?”
“As much as they need to, Mace. You know that as well as anyone.”
Paige felt the weather echoing her feelings, watched the clouds, with their underbellies of dark gray, nearly black in some spots, stretching endlessly across the sky. A sign of foreboding, a warning she couldn’t afford to ignore.
They would get out before the next band of snowstorms. Had to. But if Jeffrey was in prison, who was here? Who’d killed Harvey?
Mace wasn’t bringing that up, but she’d made the connection herself as soon as she’d calmed down enough about the phone call. Still, she didn’t bring it up to him. If he wasn’t telling her, it was because he was trying to protect her, and really, she couldn’t fault him for that. She’d become like a delicate hothouse flower, someone he needed to care for with kid gloves, and she hated that. Hated that her brother could twist her life so far out of control she’d need a crane to rein it all back in.
Where was she supposed to go from here? Could she hide with Mace in this town forever?
You can’t think about that now. Focus on the immediate future. Gray would tell you that.
Going to see Jeffrey had turned into a necessity. Making the trip when both she and Mace were on the short list of murder suspects could be a real problem, but Mace assured her that he had explained the situation to Ed.
So now Ed would know about her past. She knew how that worked, how the gossip would spread, especially in a town as small as this one.
Mace refused to let her go alone. Had pretty much refused to let her go anywhere inside the bar alone, never mind the next state.
She was tied in knots at the thought of going. “At least the warden got to hear the phone message,” she said finally, after Mace took her packed suitcase off the bed and put it on the floor, next to his own duffel.
She sat on the bed, picking at the quilt, tracing the intricate patterns with her fingers, knowing they were leaving soon.
“Yes, he heard it. And I spoke with Ed.”
“He knows.”
“Not because I told him.” Mace paused in a way that made her tense up. He looked at the ceiling and she wondered if he was talking silently to Gray, asking him for help.
When he met her gaze again, he said, “He was checking into your background. Routine, because of Harvey. He told me … your landlady was found murdered.”
Already numb, she felt her stomach plummet. “Mrs. Morris? How? Why?” she heard herself say before she put it together in her mind. “It’s because of me.”
“We don’t know anything for sure.” He sat next to her. “Can you please breathe?”
He put a hand on the back of her neck and rubbed lightly as she did what he asked—deep breaths taking away some of her nausea.
“Thanks, Mace. I’ll be okay.”
“You do kno
w that Jeffrey’s in the psych ward of the prison, right? His lawyer wanted him in a less restricted environment,” Mace said, as if trying to prepare her.
Even though she didn’t keep in touch with any of Jeffrey’s many lawyers through the years, she’d known this. It had made the papers. “He claimed that his anti-social personality disorder stems from childhood abuse—he says he didn’t want to talk about it while our parents were alive. He was hoping I would back him up on that claim, but it simply isn’t true. He told the new psychiatrist that he was molested, and that’s what started to make him so angry—that the murders weren’t his fault, that he wasn’t like this before that. And the scary part is, he appeared normal to everyone but me.” She shook her head. “He’s a master manipulator. It all happened before I could do anything about it—and I would have too. I would’ve gone there, fought to stop it. If he comes up for parole, I’ll be there.” She felt the pain of the memories taking a heavy toll on her. Her shoulders slumped and she frayed the edges of her sweater with her fingertips.
The menace in Jeffrey’s heart had been like a beacon, warning her to stay away. Her mom and dad hadn’t shared that trait. When Paige touched them, she simply felt confusion and sadness. Their burden had been a great one, but forgiving them had been difficult for her.
It still was. All that time she’d tried to tell them and they’d refused to hear it. She’d failed, she knew that, but so had they.
“I don’t want to go back there, but in a lot of ways, I guess I never really left it behind.” She rubbed her palms along her thighs as she stared at Mace.
“It’s time. Come on.” Mace held out a hand to her and they both stared at it. “Shit. Sorry.”
He was about to pull back but she tugged her sweater down over her palm and then accepted his hand.
For now, that was enough.
——
Vivi was still behind the computer when Caleb stepped back into the office. Mace told him he and Paige were leaving.
He had a favor to ask from a woman he had no right to ask anything of, and if their last encounter was any indication, Vivi was going to enjoy his groveling for sure.
In the Air Tonight Page 16