The Broken Doll (Inheriting Evil Book 1)

by Paris Hansen

  Pulling up a different browser, Sloane found the details about Bethany’s accident again, then flipped back to the page detailing the accident that killed her in-laws.

  “Holy shit.”

  She hadn’t realized she’d spoken out loud until Reid asked her what she was looking at. Not ready to spill what she’d found, she lied.

  “My agent thinks we might get an offer to option the series for TV or maybe even a movie.”

  “Oh, that’s great news.”

  “Thanks.”

  It was only a partial lie, which made her feel better about it. Her agent had given her that news but over a month earlier. There was just no way she could tell them what she’d found. They’d be furious she’d been looking into Bennett at all when they had two viable suspects in custody.

  Plus, she didn’t have enough to prove anything. All she had were a couple of coincidences regarding the tragic deaths of the people in Bethany’s life. Both accidents resulted from empty brake lines, except there were no holes in the brake lines, and nothing showed they’d been tampered with.

  Sloane really didn’t believe in coincidences.

  She couldn’t prove it, but she knew Zach Bennett was behind both accidents. He’d been lucky his sister hadn’t died, though he likely hadn’t expected her to be in the car at the time of the accident. Her husband, Daniel, probably posed a threat to Zach’s relationship with his sister, and Zach had to take care of him. It was the only explanation that made any sense.

  Knowing Zach was likely behind the death of his sister’s in-laws as well, she started digging into their lives. As property records and vehicle registration information popped up on her screen, she nearly yelled out, ‘gotcha,’ but just barely stopped herself. She didn’t want to have to lie again or explain her random outburst. She’d struck gold but still didn’t think it was enough. The fact Mark Gibbons owned a white cargo van should’ve done the trick, but she knew neither Cade nor Reid would listen to her.

  Instead, she’d need to do some more surveillance. She knew the van wasn’t at the house in Hayward, there was no way she’d missed it on either of her visits, and she didn’t think it would fit in the garage at the Bennett house. After looking through the property records, she knew exactly where to look for it. And she knew precisely why Tasha Simpson had been dumped at Mt. Diablo State Park. The Gibbons owned a three-acre lot in a tiny town called Winfield on the mountain’s eastern side.

  Sloane would bet everything she had that somewhere on that lot was the Mommy Murderer’s new kill room. They’d theorized he had somewhere to take them now, somewhere no one would hear them scream. She pulled up a satellite map of the property and noticed quite a few buildings around the property. It would take a while to figure out which was his favorite, but there’d be signs to give it away. She just had to get out there and look around without getting caught.

  She emailed the address to herself, as well as the license plate number for the van. If she was going to sneak around, she might as well find the van while she was at it. Now she just needed to come up with a reason to leave the building that wouldn’t cause suspicion.

  “Son of a bitch,” Reid snarled as he slammed his hand down on the table.

  “What’s going on?” she asked as she lowered the laptop screen so she could look at him.

  “We just got word about another missing woman taken from the parking garage at Williams Memorial, where she works as a nurse.”

  “Holy shit,” Sloane muttered, but then it hit her. “Wait, today? So, after you had Isaac Camp in custody?”

  “Yes. He must have another accomplice.”

  Closing her eyes, Sloane took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Was Reid being deliberately stubborn because the only other suspect they had was based on her unproven theory, or did he really think Jared Bryant and Isaac Camp had a third accomplice out there somewhere?

  Instead of even looking at Zach Bennett, even just a little, he was holding on to the Camp theory as if his life depended on it. And maybe it did for all she knew, but it didn’t matter. If he couldn’t see what was right in front of him, there was nothing she could do to change his mind except find the cold hard facts he loved so much.

  She glanced over at Cade, who was staring at her intently. There was nothing in his eyes or on his face to give away what he was thinking. If she had to guess, he was probably still firmly in the Camp way of thinking as well, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

  Most serial killers didn’t have partners, and the ones that did, didn’t have multiple partners. It was rarer than rare, except when brainwashing was involved or something like a cult or whatever the hell Manson was. And even then, they were more like minions than partners.

  From what little she knew about Camp and his supposed partner Bryant, it was hard to see how either of them could be manipulated or even blackmailed into killing a bunch of women and their unborn children. They were both dominant personalities, which made working together that much harder. Adding a third person into their partnership would be like adding gasoline to an already raging inferno.

  There were so many red flags she couldn’t count them all, but it wasn’t her job since she was no longer an agent. Cade and Reid were the ones invested in the theory. They could be the ones to unravel it while she found the real killer.

  “Let me take a picture of Camp and Bryant over to Maggie’s. I’ll check with her to see if either of them looks familiar. She’s pretty sure she can ID the man who attacked her. I can also check-in at the hospital to see if Amber’s woken up yet. The doctor said it was only a matter of time. Once she wakes up, there’s a chance she’ll be able to ID her attacker too.”

  Reid seemed surprised by her offer but snapped out of it quickly. “That’s a good idea. Take someone with you.”

  “Come on, Reid. I don’t need a babysitter. Plus, you need everyone on this accomplice and the new missing woman. Someone needs to check out the abduction site, and someone else needs to talk to the husband. With King and Gardner still in Sacramento, you can’t afford to send someone to watch me show pictures to a couple of witnesses.”

  Sighing, Reid scrubbed a hand over his face, then over his head. “Fine, but you need to be back here in an hour. Don’t spend too much time with Maggie. Don’t get her hopes up.”

  There was no way she’d be able to get to both places, have two conversations, and get back to the office in an hour, not with the way Bay Area traffic was, but she wasn’t going to argue with him. She wasn’t coming back to the office until she’d searched every inch of the property anyway. Maybe while she was at it, she’d be able to save the new missing woman and keep her from losing her baby and her life.

  Before Reid could change his mind, she took a picture of the mugshots with her phone, then grabbed her jacket off of the back of her chair. Hurrying from the room, she got halfway to the elevator before she remembered she needed someone to let her out.

  Turning back toward the room, she found Cade following her. She still couldn’t read the look on his face, but she knew he was watching her. For a second, she wondered if he was on to her, but then as he swiped his card to call the elevator, she realized if he was, he wasn’t going to stop her.

  “A video of the attack just came in,” he said as he stepped back to stand next to her.

  “Really? That’s a first. Can you send it to my phone? I’ll watch it in the elevator.”

  She could feel Cade’s eyes on her, but she didn’t look over, just waited for the all familiar ding of the elevator as it reached their floor. She walked inside, then waited for him to lean in and swipe his card once more. He pushed the button for the lobby then backed out. As the doors slowly closed, he watched her, his gaze unnerving. Before the doors slid shut, he told her to be careful, then said he’d send her the video.

  A text came in nearly immediately as if he’d already had it queued up to send. As she waited for the video to load, she got antsy. Could this be the proof she needed to get eve
ryone to believe her when she said Zach Bennett was a killer? Her hopes sank as the video played on. Never once could you see the attacker’s face, a hat keeping him sufficiently covered. He also seemed to know where the cameras were and avoided looking in that direction for too long. It wasn’t until the van pulled out of its parking spot that she got her answer.

  Right there in grainy black and white was the license plate number belonging to Mark Gibbons’s van.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  Sloane knew the smart thing to do was go back upstairs and let the team know what she’d found out, but there wasn’t time. They were already at least half an hour behind Zach, and his newest victim couldn’t wait around for them to get a warrant. And who knew if a judge would grant them one based on this one piece of evidence. For all she knew, someone could have stolen it after the Gibbons’s death. A simple search would give them the answer, but she didn’t have time for that either.

  No. If his new victim had any chance of surviving, Sloane needed to get to Winfield and find her. As a civilian, she didn’t have to wait for a warrant. Her presence would make things trickier in the end when it came to prosecuting the asshole, but she couldn’t worry about that now. She was this woman’s only hope, and she’d do whatever it took to save her and her unborn child.

  Even if it meant facing off with evil. Again.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Despite the drive from the hospital to the farm being blissfully uneventful, his jaw ached from the tension thrumming through him. He hadn’t expected things to go smoothly. Not after the way the last couple of times had gone.

  He was on edge the entire drive, waiting for her to wake up or for her to have a seizure like the last one. Before he pulled away from the hospital, he’d checked her wrists and neck for a piece of medical alert jewelry and was relieved when he didn’t see anything. Though he knew anything could happen, the blow to the head could’ve easily triggered a bad reaction, no matter how careful he tried to be. He couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong this time.

  This baby was going to be the answer to all of their problems. He could feel it. The surety he felt chased the tension away as he pulled into the farm's driveway. Instead of pulling up in front of the house, he followed the driveway toward the back of the property where the barn and the other outbuildings were.

  He’d spent a lot of time working on his special space. At first, it was going to be a workshop of sorts. A place for him to try out new hobbies, where he could decide who he wanted to be. But then the chanting started again, and he remembered his life was not his own. His role was taking care of his family. Who needed a hobby when your world was already so full and about to become even fuller?

  Using the driveway’s width, he turned the van around and backed up to the walkway that led to his surgical suite. Once parked, he checked on his guest, making sure she was still unconscious before getting out and heading inside to get the gurney. Wheeling them around was a hell of a lot easier than trying to carry them. He was skinny but strong, yet trying to maneuver dead weight around was hard work. Not to mention dangerous if they woke up while he was moving them from the van into what had once been just a storage shed.

  He carefully pulled her onto the gurney, then strapped her down for both of their safety. Everything was going according to plan. He was nearly giddy with anticipation. Soon, he’d be able to give her what she needed and stop the madness. It was all happening in the nick of time too. He knew it wouldn’t be much longer before things took a turn for the worse. There was only so much he could do, and poor Rebecca, she was helpless in the matter.

  Once inside, he secured the gurney in place, locking the wheels so it wouldn’t move if she woke up and tried to fight against the restraints. He checked to make sure she was still breathing, her pulse steady and strong. Since she was still unconscious, he decided to take the time to run inside and check on his girls. He needed to make sure they were ready for the baby when she came.

  With a smile a mile wide, he practically skipped out of the building, locking the door behind him, before running to the backdoor of the farmhouse. Pulling the door open, he stepped inside, listening for the telltale giggles of his niece. When he didn’t hear anything, he started toward the stairs that led up to her room on the second floor, then thought better of it. She wouldn’t be up there. Not when her mother was downstairs.

  “Rebecca...where are you, sweetheart?” he called out, mostly so he didn’t startle either of them when he came into the room.

  “I’m with mommy, Uncle Zach,” she answered, her tiny voice carrying through the silent house.

  Being a good brother and caretaker to his sister had been the most important job of his life until Rebecca joined their family. After that, his sister was still his priority, but he couldn’t imagine anything better than being an uncle. She was the bright spot in his day. No matter how hard life got, Rebecca always made it better. Even at work, he found himself pulling his phone out of his pocket to look at pictures of her smiling face so that he could remember why he did what he did.

  “How are my favorite girls doing?” he asked as he entered the room.

  Rebecca sat on the bed, a book in her lap. His sister sat in her chair, the same place she’d been when he left a couple of hours earlier. She didn’t turn to acknowledge his presence. Her gaze was still focused on the view she had out her bedroom window.

  “Mommy’s been pretty quiet, so I’ve been reading her my new book. She’s really enjoying the story.”

  “I bet she is, sweetheart. I’m so glad she has you to keep her company.”

  “Me too. But we miss the babies,” Rebecca admitted, though he was fairly certain only she missed the babies. Bethany was waiting for what he’d been too stupid to realize she needed until now.

  “Well, that’s good to hear cause I’m going to be bringing another baby home today. How does that sound?”

  Rebecca threw her book on the bed and jumped down with a squeal. She clapped her little hands together as she ran over to him.

  “Really? Am I going to get another little brother or maybe a sister this time?”

  Squatting down, he looked her in the eye and tried to keep a serious look on his face. Her excitement made it difficult, especially when she stepped forward and wrapped her chubby arms around his neck. He pulled her against him, then wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. He inhaled her scent, the sweet smell of strawberry shampoo mixed with the peanut butter she had on her toast at breakfast.

  “How would you feel about a baby sister?” he asked, then wished he’d moved his head back before he did. Her second squeal was louder and shriller than the first. It caused a spike of pain to shoot through his head, but he didn’t care. His little girl was happy, and that’s what mattered.

  Well, that and his sister being happy. If Bethany rejected this new baby, it would break all of their hearts. And it would leave him confused and unsure of what to do. This baby was his last hope. Their last hope.

  “Alright, sweetheart, I’ve got to go get your little sister. Why don’t you and mommy start thinking of names for her while I’m gone.”

  Rebecca smiled at him, the excitement emanating from her nearly blinding him. “Okay, we’ll come up with the perfect name for the baby, Uncle Zach. I promise.”

  “I know you will,” he assured her. “I’ll be back soon.”

  He placed a quick kiss on her forehead, then lowered the little girl to the ground. As soon as her feet touched the floor, she was at her mother’s side, talking a mile a minute about all the names they could give the baby. With Rebecca and his sister occupied, he headed back outside to take on the messy work of getting them what they wanted.

  Most people would say what he did was immoral. They believed he was a cold-blooded killer, taking women and murdering them for kicks, but they were wrong. If they only knew why he did what he did, they’d have to understand. Almost everyone had someone in their lives they were willing to kill for, willing to do wh
atever it took to make them happy. The only difference was his circumstance wasn’t hypothetical; it was his reality.

  He was one of the few people in the world who knew just how far he was willing to go for the people he loved. And if he was being honest, he wasn’t sure he’d even reached his limit. He just hoped he’d never have to find out.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  She was up to something.

  Cade stared at the elevator doors longer than necessary, but he couldn’t move. His sense of duty warred inside him, fighting against his desire to protect her. She was definitely up to something. He just didn’t know what it was. If he stayed in the office and she did something stupid that got herself killed, he’d never forgive himself. But if he followed her and stopped her from doing whatever she was doing, she’d never forgive him.

  Plus, it wasn’t his place. He wasn’t her boss, and he wasn’t her friend, though he’d tried to be over the last few days. If her ex-husband didn’t see what was right in front of him, maybe Cade was overreacting. Perhaps she really was going to head off to Maggie Whitten’s house to see about an ID on their unsub. Perhaps she really was going to stay out of trouble.

  And maybe he was the queen of England.

  Running a hand through his hair, he turned back toward the conference room. He’d need to act like nothing was going on until he knew more about what she was up to. She’d seen something on the computer she’d been using. She knew something but wasn’t comfortable telling them what it was. He couldn’t blame her. Neither he nor Morgan had been very receptive to her ideas, which was stupid since she’d been right the first time around. Nobody listened back then either, and look where it had gotten them.

  Walking back into the conference room, he took a seat next to the one Sloane had vacated. She’d never completely closed the laptop she’d been working on, so if he could get a moment where no one was paying attention, maybe he could get a look at what she’d been working on. In the meantime, he pulled his own laptop over from his previous seat and watched the grainy video the hospital sent over.