I walked to the door and put my hand on the knob.
“You can’t go down there,” Mrs. Elliot said.
“Sorry, I was looking for a bathroom.” Heat claimed my cheeks.
“That’s Sebastian’s workspace. No one is allowed down there. The bathroom is up the stairs.”
“Thanks, I can wait until after we have tea,” I said, twisting the knob before walking away to make sure it was locked, like she’d said.
“Did Sebastian have any favorite hangouts when he was younger? I used to enjoy hanging out at the mall with my friends,” I lied.
“My Sebastian loves plants. When he was in school, he was in charge of the roof greenhouse. I think after he graduated, no one kept it up. It’s a shame, really. That’s why he started one in the backyard.”
“You don’t say?”
“Oh, yes. It’s filled with white roses.”
The phone rang in the living room, and Mrs. Elliot excused herself to go answer it.
My phone vibrated with a text message at the same time. I slipped it out of my pocket to find a message from Sam in all caps.
WHERE ARE YOU?
I dialed his number, and he answered on the first ring. “I’m at the Elliot house.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Sam growled in a way that was out of character for him.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“They lost eyes on Sebastian several hours ago, Lucy. They don’t know where he is, but he’s had enough time to come into town.”
“Can’t you do that thing where you ping his phone?”
“Yeah, hang on. I’ll call the number,” Sam said. “Give me a second. I just need it to ring twice to get his location.”
A beat later, I heard the sound of a muffled phone ringing from the basement. First one ring and then two before it cut off.
“Oh shit,” I whispered. “He’s here. I’m leaving.”
I didn’t wait for Mrs. Elliot to return. Instead, I grabbed the doorknob on the backdoor and twisted it, only to find it locked. I fumbled with it, looking over my shoulder until I got it open.
I ran out.
My gaze darted around the yard, landing on the greenhouse, where the door was partially opened.
I ran across the yard and darted inside. Rows and rows of white roses lined the room; only these weren’t growing on bushes; these were imported. There was a patch of dirt on the other side of the room.
I called out Gabby’s name.
Her head popped up from beneath a table. “I think we may have found something.”
“Leave it. We have to go.”
“What? Why?” the other woman asked.
“Sebastian is in the house.”
Gabby’s eyes widened. “How do you know?”
“My IT guy called his number. It rang in the basement. We need to leave now.”
Chapter 26
We hurried to the door, and I peeked outside just in time to see Mrs. Elliot standing on the porch. “Dr. Bray.”
“Crap,” I whispered and pointed to the other end of the greenhouse where a door stood closed. “You guys go that way and double back to the car through the woods. I’ll meet you there.”
I’d taken a step when Gabby’s hand landed on my arm. “If he sees you, you won’t get away.”
I peeked out again. The old woman was alone on the back porch. “He won’t see me. Just go.”
I stepped out of the greenhouse and headed toward the porch. I wasn’t going back into that house unless I was dragged kicking and screaming, and if that happened, I’d need more of a weapon than the pen holding my messy bun in place. “Sorry, I didn’t want to disturb your phone call, and I wanted to check out the roses.”
“Oh well, thank you, dear, but you shouldn’t go wandering off in these parts. There are animals in the woods.”
There was an even more dangerous animal somewhere under that roof, but I kept that opinion to myself.
“I’m sorry to have bothered you, but I received a call and need to be going now.” I started toward the side of the house.
“You’ll send me a copy of your paper?” she called out as I was about to round the house.
“Of course,” I said and hurried around the corner.
I collided with an immovable object and found myself bouncing off Elliot’s chest. His fingers tightened around my arms, digging into my bones. I’d almost made it out of here.
He slammed me into the side of the house, using his forearm to press against my windpipe, holding me in place.
“Dr. Bray, what a nice surprise,” he whispered in my ear. The heat of his breath against my ear chilled me to the bone. “I would have come out sooner, but Mother just told me you were here.”
“You won’t kill me in front of your mother,” I said, hoping it was true. He pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and flicked it open.
“Now why would I want to kill you when I just found out that you and I have such a special bond.”
Fear and the pressure from his arm clogged my throat, making it difficult to breathe.
A hungry gaze swirled in the depths of his muddy brown eyes as he stared at my face. “You’re such a pretty one. All this time I thought you were like the others, but you’re not, are you, Lucy?”
“People know I’m here. If you kill me, they’ll have reason to search the property, including your basement.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He smiled and pressed his body up against mine. Judging by the stiffy in his pants, he was aroused. Every muscle in my body tensed. Killing me wasn’t all he had in mind. “I can give you a tour if you’d like.”
“Let me guess, you have a creepy wall down there too, but that one is for the local girls you’ve killed.”
The smile on his lips grew, and he cut his hand and squeezed until blood dripped onto my shoe. He lifted a brow. “I hear we’re connected and bound by blood. I think you need more of…me…to really understand the beautify of it all.”
“You killed Betty,” I whispered.
“You have no proof I ever even knew the woman,” Sebastian said. “What I do know is that you were chatting with my mother about me and used some fictitious paper you were writing. You should know I don’t tolerate liars, Lucy.”
“I guess we’re even, Sebastian. I have an utter distaste for killers, and I have the proof that will take you down.”
His brows dipped, and he rubbed a blood-soaked finger down the side of my face. “You’re lying.”
My heart raced as I fought whatever he was feeling, knowing it would hit me ten-fold from a single touch. I’d expected a killer’s violence to pull me into his hold, only I was met with so much more. He was turned on by this game he was playing with me. I could feel it in my core. He didn’t want to kill me yet. He wanted to watch me beg.
“You have a thing for basements, don’t you?”
“Would you like to see mine? It’s soundproof. Mother will never know.”
I ignored his question. “Basements and wine cellars. Tell me, Sebastian, with you here and your driver indisposed, who’s guarding your kingdom and creepy wall?”
Sebastian’s lips twisted as he held his bloody palm hovering over the neckline of my shirt. Toying and testing me.
“Your picture is right there next to Dorothy, Morgan, and Betty. Did you watch me kill them all? Did you enjoy it?” His lips curled like I might actually agree.
I didn’t answer. Not because he was right, but I knew whatever I was going to say would turn him on more. If I said yes, he might take me here and now. If I said no, he might do it just to relieve his anger.
“Funny. Nothing to say now?” he asked and rested his hand on my neck, leaving his bloody handprint.
I flinched from his touch, knowing my time was limited if he turned on that killer’s rage. There would be no stopping me from acting on those impulses, not without my meds.
“Don’t worry. When I kill you, you’ll be buried near all of them. I have a special place
picked out where I can see you every day just to remember that you were mine.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
His nostrils flared. “Why are you thanking me? I haven’t even had you beg yet.”
“You’ll never hear me beg,” I said.
The pressure on my windpipe eased as he withdrew his forearm, but the relief was short lived. He wrapped his beefy fingers around my throat. I fought the urges racing through my body from our blood connection.
“Oh, I’ll hear you beg when I’m taking back my blood,” he said.
He pressed me harder into the side of the house. The bricks were cutting into my back.
I brought my arms up between his and twisted, jamming my elbows on his forearms with all the force in my body. That broke his hold on me, but he didn’t step away.
A fire sparked in his eyes. He was even more turned on. He shifted slightly, intending I’m sure to cage me in. But I kicked him in the balls, dropping him to his knees. Wheezing and whimpering, he cupped his family jewels. I gasped, finally able to catch my breath.
He groaned as I punched as hard as I could, and he fell to the side.
I picked up his knife and held it over his body.
“Do it. You know you want to kill me. You and I are just alike.”
Arm drawn back, and in a lethal position, I paused and tightened my grip on the knife. His blood hammered through my body. The need and the desire were a churning black hole I couldn’t climb out of.
I screamed and threw the knife into the bushes, trying to get a grip on the terrifying emotion blazing through me. “I’m nothing like you.”
“No one is going to believe you over me. You did time in a loony bin. I’ll sell it that you’re stalking me. You’re the one who cut my hand. No one will believe the word of a woman who almost killed the man that kidnapped her sister.”
“Oh, you’re right. They won’t believe my word, but they’ll believe yours.” I pointed to the glasses on my face and winked.
“You bitch,” he growled and lunged for my foot.
I jumped back and turned to run without looking back. Without knowing how close he was getting. The open car door was in my sight, and I was within reach. I practically sailed through the air into the car and slammed the door shut. Gabby squealed the tires as she pressed on the gas. I turned in my seat and gave him the one-finger wave as I left.
“Oh my God, are you bleeding?” Gabby growled.
“It’s not my blood. It’s his,” I answered, taking the glasses off and turning them to face me. “Sam, I hope you got every word of that.”
My phone pinged with a text from Sam. We all saw it and heard every word, and you are in serious trouble. Noah wants you to go straight to the plane at the airstrip. We’re on our way with your meds.
“Shit,” I whispered.
Gabby glanced in the rearview mirror as she passed a slow car. “What?”
“I need to go to the airstrip. They want to get me out of town as quick as possible.”
“Seriously?” she asked, squealing around a corner. I grabbed the door handle to keep from sliding to the other side.
“My glasses recorded everything. He confessed. He’s going to come after me. They want me out of town but don’t worry. He’ll follow. I’m sure of it. When he does, we’ll send you a copy of the recording. You’re going to want to get a warrant for his mother’s basement.”
“Why is that?” she asked.
“One of the dead girl’s apparitions disappeared down into Sebastian’s special workspace in the basement. Even if you don’t find the bones, I’m sure you’ll find something.”
“If what you said is true, he’s going to come after you all right, just to shut you up and steal back whatever you have on him. A dead witness can’t take the stand, if you know what I mean.”
I knew exactly what she meant, and this time I’d done more than poke the bear. I might as well have fired a BB gun straight at his ass. He was coming for me. I should have killed him while I had the chance.
Chapter 27
Noah and the team didn’t waste time with pleasantries or with yelling at me before I was whisked onto the plane. I waved to Gabby through one of the windows.
Ford was sitting across from me, his gaze on the blood drying on my face and chest.
“It’s Sebastian’s blood,” I said, answering his unasked question.
“Do you need your meds?” he asked.
“I don’t feel anything at the moment. No killer’s rage, no sexual desire…”
Ford lifted his gaze to mine, and his eyes darkened. “Is that what he was feeling for you?”
“At the time he had me pinned, yes. He likes to be the one in control and in charge. That’s his thing. I believe it’s probably his motive. All the women probably turned him down or told him no.”
Ford leaned forward, dropped his gaze, and clasped his hands together. “You should have killed him. He’s not going to stop coming for you.”
“That would have been giving him exactly what he wanted. In his twisted mind, he wants me to be more like him. To make the same choices. I just couldn’t do it. I don’t want to be like him, and I’ll spend the rest of my life fighting it if I have to.”
Ford raised his gaze. A knowing look sat in the depths of his eyes. “You’ll never be like him.”
“We won’t let her,” Carson said, standing next to my seat.
I smiled up at him to see that he was holding a cotton swab and a container. “We need to preserve some of his DNA for testing.”
“Right,” I said, turning my head, giving him access to take it from my cheek or my chest. “I’m sure I have plenty, and if this isn’t enough, you can always take my shoe.”
“You screwed up,” Noah said, taking the seat across the aisle from Ford.
I gawked. “I got a confession! How is that screwing up?”
“First off, you should have never gone there to begin with. Second, he’ll never stop coming for you now that he knows your secret. To him, you’re connected now. You’ve moved to the top of his list.”
“She isn’t at the top of his list. She’s the only person on it,” Carson said, capping the tube where he’d put the bloody cotton swab.
“We have his confession,” I said, sliding the glasses off my face.
“And yet, until we get it in the right hands, he still has his freedom. When we touchdown, he might already be gone like the wind. He has money, Lucy. He can run now, and later when you least expect it, pop right back up,” Noah reminded me.
“He won’t,” I said, unclicking my seatbelt and standing up. “He’s too arrogant to think he’s going to be caught. What he’ll do is destroy whatever evidence there is. Call Asher and get him started on a search warrant. Before Sebastian gets back in town.”
I jostled down the aisle to the bathroom and slipped inside the tight confines. I needed a minute to breathe. A minute to think.
The awful lighting in the bathroom intensified the anxious shadows beneath my eyes. A bruise was forming at the base of my neck where he’d held me pinned. My shirt and neck were bloody. A line of red marred my face, the line he’d traced a stark reminder of how close I’d come to death.
Sebastian had done this to me when he could have killed me. He was toying with me, playing me, and he fucking liked it.
I turned the faucet on and cupped my hands under the gushing water then splashing it on my face. Grabbing a paper towel, I scrubbed until my skin was raw, and tears started to slide down my cheek.
I’d thought it was Sebastian’s arrogance that had led me here when it was really my own. Noah was right. I shouldn’t have gone to that house. I should have never gotten that close.
I sat on the closed toilet and concentrated on my breath. In and out, trying to find the tendrils of the connections.
The mother of three was tucking in her boys. Gabby was at work arguing with her boss, and Sebastian stood in front of a house on fire, his arm wrapped around his mother’s shoulders.
My eyes flew, and I stepped out of the bathroom. All eyes were watching me as I hurried down the aisle.
“He’s burning down his mother’s house and destroying the evidence.” My voice was calm, containing no surprise.
Noah pointed to Sam. “You do a backup to any backups you have. I want a safety net in place.” He looked at Carson. “I want you to help Asher with whatever he needs and get Sebastian’s place secure so he can’t destroy the evidence he’s left there. When we land, I’ll be pulling the strings we need to make sure we get this done quickly and quietly.”
His words struck me. “Why quietly?”
“He’s the State’s Attorney, Lucy. If we’re going to throw stones at his glass house, we better have more than your visions to back it up. Those won’t be admissible in court.”
I retook my seat, and Ford ran his thumb over my raw cheek. For several seconds he sat in silence. “Why did you tune in to him?”
“I was arrogant going to his mother’s house. Do you know how hard it pains me to say that?”
“It never has before. What’s changed?”
“Ford, when we met, I didn’t care about breaking the law. I didn’t care about who got hurt. I only cared about me and Gigi. That was it. If we were good, then I was good. I can’t afford to be arrogant now. Not with so much on the line. I’m the only link between him and all those dead girls until we have proof that he killed them. I’m his weakest link, and he’s going to keep coming at me until that link snaps apart.”
“So, we’ll beat him at this own game. It’s kind of what we do, Lucy,” Ford said, lifting my hand and kissing my knuckles.
It was what we do and I was no longer that snarky-ass girl who didn’t care about rules. I’d changed, and I wasn’t a hundred percent sure it was for the better. Maybe I needed to reclaim a bit of me and push everyone else out of my head. Maybe I needed to close those connections. Was it possible?
Chapter 28
Asher met us at Elliot’s home, warrant in hand. Police tape stretched across the driveway. Officers only lifted it to allow pertinent personnel up the drive. “All of his properties, including the hunting cabins, are being searched,” Asher said.
Broken Justice (Fractured Minds Series Book 6) Page 11