by Mary Burton
Tears filled Nicole’s eyes. ‘God, I’m scared.’
Kendall managed a brave tone. ‘It’s going to be fine.’
Where had she seen this room before? The place was garishly pink. The smell of the house triggered deep emotions long since buried. This room had never been in her dreams, yet there was a familiarity.
She moved around staring at the posters on the wall. All from the eighties, all considered vintage now. She ran her finger along the edge of a white desk as her gaze drifted to a closet door.
Kendall’s heart pounded in her chest.
‘What is it?’ Nicole said.
‘I’ve been here before.’ Kendall moved toward the closet. With a trembling hand she twisted the knob.
Hinges squeaked as she opened the door and peered into the blackness. Stay in here. Stay quiet. Protect your sister.
Kendall went to the main door of the room and rattled the handle. Locked. She crossed to the window. Nailed shut. And a glance out the icy pane revealed they were in a room three stories up. A jump to the ground would at best break her leg and at worst kill her.
She took a wooden chair from behind a small desk and returned to the main door. She started to beat the doorknob with the chair. Each impact stung her hands.
Nicole rolled to her side and got off the bed. She moved to the window. ‘If he comes back he’s going to hear.’
Kendall kept hitting the door. Some of the wood around the lock chipped but the lock held strong. The exertion made her heart race and combined with the drugs in her system left her light-headed. She stopped and brushed the sweat from her head. ‘This bastard has built a fort.’
Nicole cupped her hand under her belly and grimaced as her gaze skimmed the room. ‘What is it with this room? It’s like he’s expecting little girls.’
A memory danced at the edge of Kendall’s consciousness, just out of her reach. ‘I think I’m one of those little girls.’
Nicole glanced toward the window as headlights shone in the driveway below. ‘Headlights.’
Kendall rushed to the window and glanced out. ‘It’s a truck.’
‘Do you think it’s help?’
Her fingertips touched the icy windowpane. ‘We’re in the middle of nowhere. The chances of someone finding us are slim. I don’t think this is good.’ She glanced at the door and the battered chair. ‘Get back in bed and lie on your side. And make it sound like the baby is coming.’
‘That won’t be hard.’ Nicole lay back down. A sigh escaped her lips as she rolled on her left side and curled up in a ball.
Kendall picked up the chair and moved behind the door. ‘When he comes in, I’m going to hit him with everything I have.’
Nicole nodded. ‘Put all your weight into it.’
Kendall nodded. Her heart hammered.
Downstairs, the front door opened and slammed shut. Kendall winced at the sound. She tightened her grip on the chair. She’d only have the element of surprise once. The steady thud of footsteps sounded on the stairs. They grew louder. Closer.
Kendall’s palms grew slick with sweat. ‘Be ready to run,’ she whispered.
‘Got it.’
‘Showtime.’
Nicole closed her eyes and started to moan loudly.
The dead bolt on the door turned, followed by the knob. Kendall raised the chair. Her bangs fell in her eyes and made her nose twitch but she ignored it.
Hinges creaked. Nicole moaned as the door opened.
A dark, masked head appeared. Todd was holding a fast-food bag. Kendall didn’t give herself time to think. She brought the chair crashing down. Wood contacted with the side of his head and Todd dropped to his knees and forward onto the floor.
‘Hit him again!’ Nicole shouted. Wincing, she scrambled off the bed as Kendall stood guard over Todd, the chair still held high over her head.
Adrenaline pumped through her veins. Kendall hit him between the shoulder blades.
‘Get out, Nicole,’ Kendall said. ‘I’m right behind you.’
Tears ran down Nicole’s face but she kept moving forward. Carefully she stepped around Todd as if she expected his hand to shoot up and grab her ankle.
Only when Nicole had started down the stairs did Kendall step over Todd, who still gripped his keys in his hands. Keys. She thought about the truck. Her heart racing, she reached down and tugged the keys free from his grip. He groaned and tried to lift his head but couldn’t manage it.
Kendall jerked back and dropped the chair. Keys clutched in her hands, she sprinted across the landing toward the stairs. She caught up to Nicole halfway down the stairs. Wrapping her arm around Nicole’s waist, she hurried her the rest of the way.
Nicole’s breathing sounded ragged when they reached the front door.
Kendall turned the knob and discovered it was locked. ‘Oh, God.’
‘Damn him!’ Nicole gripped her belly and doubled over.
Hands trembling, Kendall searched all the keys on the chain trying to find one that looked like a door key. She picked one that looked right and shoved it in the lock. It didn’t work. She tried another and then another.
An angry wail emanated from the room upstairs. ‘Eve!’
Kendall dropped the keys. Panic exploded as she reached down and picked them up. She’d lost track of which keys she’d tried. Upstairs, Todd sounded as if he’d stumbled to his feet.
Nicole gripped her belly again. She bit her lip and sucked in a deep breath.
Kendall pushed another key in the lock just as Todd appeared at the top of the stairs. He staggered and gripped the banister. ‘Eve! No! You can’t leave!’
This time the dead bolt turned. She opened the front door as he started down the stairs. Wrapping her arm around Nicole, she helped her outside. Cold air hit them hard in the face but Kendall barely cared. Her only goal was to get Nicole to the truck.
Nicole stumbled. ‘My water has broke.’ And in a rush her water splashed over Kendall’s and Nicole’s shoes.
‘Keep moving,’ Kendall ordered. ‘Your baby isn’t going to be born in this house.’
Nicole gritted her teeth, gripped Kendall’s hand and the two hurried down the house’s front steps toward the truck. Kendall opened the passenger door and helped Nicole inside.
She’d just started around the front of the cab when a shot rang out. An unmasked Todd appeared on the top step. He shouted, ‘Eve!’
Kendall ran to the driver’s side door and slid behind the wheel. She shoved the key in the lock. ‘Please start.’
Todd fired. The back wheel deflated.
‘You’re not leaving me, Eve!’ His voice sounded ragged with anger.
Kendall clenched the keys in her hand. ‘I’m not Eve! I’m Kendall!’ She’d drive the truck on its rims if that’s what it took. She cranked the engine.
Running, he fired again and hit the front tire as the engine ignited. ‘You won’t make it far! I’ll find you!’
Kendall put the truck in drive. ‘Just try!’
He pointed the gun at Kendall’s window and fired. Glass shattered as the bullet whizzed by their heads. Nicole ducked and screamed.
The explosion of noise stunned Kendall and confused her. She slammed on the brakes. She jerked forward and hit the steering wheel with her head. Stunned, she hesitated just long enough for Todd to yank open the driver’s door and point the gun into the cab. ‘I don’t want to kill Nicole but I will.’
Kendall’s head pounded as she glanced at Nicole’s ashen face. ‘The baby is coming. She needs a hospital. Let her go. I’ll stay.’
‘No,’ Nicole said. ‘I’m not leaving you.’
‘You have no choice,’ Kendall said. She didn’t want to imagine what his sick and twisted mind was planning. ‘Let Nicole go and I’ll stay.’
‘I can’t do that.’ His voice was deadly calm.
Kendall tensed. ‘Let her go.’
‘I need you and the baby to complete the Family, Eve.’
Cold and fear made her teeth start to cha
tter. ‘What family?’
‘Our family, Eve.’
‘My name is Kendall Shaw.’
‘Your name is Eve Turner.’
She’d only just learned of it today. ‘How do you know that name?’
‘I know all about you. Where you came from and who your real parents are.’ He smiled. ‘And soon you’ll join the Family, just like the others.’
Kendall remembered the monogrammed E on the silver mirror he had given her. ‘You didn’t find that mirror in my kitchen.’
‘No. I gave it to you when you turned three. You loved it. You loved me.’
Maybe she had at one time. But not now.
Nicole opened her door. Pain constricted her face. ‘Kendall, the baby is coming.’
Kendall searched Todd’s eyes. The million questions that had plagued her for a lifetime didn’t matter now. All that mattered was Nicole and the baby. ‘Please let her go.’
‘No.’ He waved the gun. ‘Now help her up the stairs. Our baby is about to be born.’
It was nearly nine when Jacob and Zack drove to the house of the retired detective who had investigated the Turner murders. It was a small brick rancher. A low-wattage bulb shone down on a small front porch. Snow covered the front lawn and the trees dipped low under the weight of the snow.
The detectives got out and moved to the front door. Jacob rang the bell. Seconds later the door jerked open. Standing in the doorway was a short burly man with thick graying hair. He wore a red sweater that stretched tightly over his round belly. ‘Warwick and Kier?’
Jacob nodded. ‘Detective Houseman?’
He nodded and pushed open the screened door. ‘Come in.’
They wiped their feet on the mat outside and moved into the warmth of the house. The living room was furnished with formal-looking furniture covered in clear protective plastic. Sitting on top of the polished coffee table was a dusty file box. It was open, as was one of its files.
Houseman closed the front door. ‘Have a seat. After you called I pulled my files. Didn’t take me a minute to refresh my memory on that case.’
Jacob felt antsy and didn’t want to sit but he and Kier dutifully took seats across from the couch. Houseman picked up reading glasses from the table and put them on. ‘I won’t waste your time with small talk.’
‘Thanks,’ Jacob said.
‘I remember what it’s like to be under the gun.’ He dropped his gaze to the file. ‘Elijah and Delia Turner married in the late seventies. It was her first marriage, his second. He was a religion professor at the college and she stayed home with the kids. They had five daughters in a decade. There was also a son.’
‘A son?’ Jacob prompted.
‘Yes. From Turner’s first marriage. Turner’s first wife had gotten pregnant while they were in high school and he wanted to do right by her. But the marriage never worked. His first wife had never been very balanced and after four years of marriage he moved out. He paid his child support but he didn’t visit the boy much.’ He sipped his coffee. ‘The boy was about six when Turner married the second wife. From what neighbors say, wife number two encouraged her husband to include the boy in their lives, so he did. The boy was quiet, but he seemed to enjoy his visits with the new family. Allen seemed to adore his sisters. Especially the second to the youngest, Eve.’
Jacob sat forward in his chair. ‘What were the girls’ names?’
‘Ruth, Judith, Rachel, Eve, and Sarah.’
Jacob shoved out a breath. The charms were engraved with the girls’ birth names. ‘What happened?’
‘From what we could piece together, Delia caught Allen with the two oldest sisters in the back shed. The girls were partially clothed. Delia went nuts. She told Allen he could never visit them again.’
‘Her husband backed her up?’ Zack asked.
‘According to Delia’s next-door neighbor, he did. He’d never wanted the boy around anyway. The kid reminded him of all the mistakes he’d made. He took the boy back to his mother and informed both of them that Allen was never welcome again.’
‘How old was Allen at the time?’
‘Sixteen.’ Houseman shuffled through his papers. ‘Here’s a picture taken shortly before Elijah and Delia were murdered.’
The family portrait was of Mother, Dad, oldest son, and five daughters.
Jacob drew in a breath. ‘Look at the girls. The oldest must be Jackie White, then Vicky, and then Amanda. That infant has to be Adrianna and the toddler beside her is Kendall.’
‘And our killer is the son,’ Zack said.
Houseman sighed. ‘I read about the recent murders but the names were different and so much time has passed, I didn’t connect the dots.’
‘There’s no way you could have,’ Jacob said. ‘The names on the charms had never been released to the public.’
Houseman frowned. ‘No one realized how upset Allen Turner was. A week later he stole a car and came back to the Turners’ house. Using a kitchen knife, he first stabbed Elijah in the garden. It looks like Delia saw what was happening and hid the two youngest children in a closet. She didn’t have time to find the other three. He killed her in the kitchen as she was calling the police. He cut up the second daughter’s hands as she fought him off.’
‘Vicky,’ Jacob said. ‘That explains the old defensive wounds the coroner found.’ Kendall’s dream hadn’t been a dream at all. It had been a repressed memory.
‘He’d have killed the older girls if a neighbor hadn’t intervened. The neighbor showed up with a baseball bat and knocked the knife out of the kid’s hand. He thought he broke the kid’s hand. But Allen was able to get away. He and his mother vanished.’
‘They were never found.’
Houseman shook his head. ‘We couldn’t find them.’
Jacob nodded. ‘We think now they went to Alaska.’
Houseman had been briefed on the recent homicides. ‘Now he’s back to kill the sisters.’
‘That’s what we think.’
‘And the two younger sisters?’
‘We found the youngest. I’ve been trying to reach the older sister for a couple of hours but she’s not answering her cell.’
‘Who is it?’
Jacob clenched his right hand. ‘Kendall Shaw. She’s missing and so is her very pregnant roommate.’
Houseman raised an eyebrow and glanced back at his files. ‘Mrs Turner was pregnant with her sixth child when she was killed.’
‘Damn,’ Zack said. ‘We know the Turners owned land east of the city.’
‘They hunted there but didn’t live there. They lived in a farmhouse in Hanover County.’ Houseman flipped through his notes and read out the address. It was still raw, rural land – a perfect place to hide women.
Jacob and Zack rose at the same time. ‘Thanks.’
*
Sweat dampened Nicole’s brow as she lay panting in the center of the bed. Her contractions were less than a minute apart.
Kendall had tied back her hair with a shoelace and now held Nicole’s hand as another contraction gripped her body. The baby would be here any second. When the contraction passed and Nicole collapsed against the pillows, Kendall moved to the end of the bed and pushed up the sheets. She helped Nicole out of her pants, careful to keep her covered from Todd’s watchful eye.
He stood by the door. A gleeful smile turned up the edges of his lips.
Kendall tried to look calm for Nicole’s sake. ‘We’re right on schedule.’
Nicole gritted her teeth. ‘I want to push.’
‘Okay. Okay.’ Was that a good thing or not? She glanced down and thought she saw the tip of the baby’s head. ‘I think I see her.’
‘Can I push?’
Kendall had no idea. ‘Yes.’
Nicole moistened her lips. ‘How would you know?’
‘I just do.’ She didn’t look over her shoulder at Todd. ‘I’m going to need hot water so I can wash my hands and clean the baby off.’
Todd shook his head. ‘Make do with
what you have.’
‘I’m worried about infection.’
‘I’m not. As long as the baby is fine that’s all I care about.’
‘Kendalllll!’ Nicole arched her back and started to pant.
Kendall looked down. The baby’s head had started to crown. She had no idea what was going to happen once the child was born, but now all she could worry about was the birth. ‘She’s coming, Nic. Push. Push hard!’
Nicole bore down and screamed through clenched teeth. Todd moved closer, peering with great interest. The head emerged.
‘Push!’ Kendall said.
One final scream and the baby’s shoulders passed. Kendall caught the wet, blood-soaked baby as she moved out in one final whoosh. Immediately, she turned the baby on her side, cleaned the mucus out of her mouth, and rubbed her between the shoulders. The baby started to wail.
Nicole started to weep. ‘Is she all right?’
‘She’s fine,’ Todd said. There was pride in his voice.
Kendall took the other lace she’d removed from her shoe and tied off the umbilical cord. Seconds later the placenta emerged. ‘I need to cut the cord.’
Todd flipped open a pocketknife. ‘I’ll do it.’
Kendall covered the baby with her hands while Nicole pushed up on her elbows to watch Todd. The worry in her eyes was not for herself but the baby.
However, Todd’s hands were as steady as a surgeon’s. He cut the cord.
Kendall wrapped the baby in a blanket from the bed and laid her in Nicole’s arms. Nicole glanced down at the child. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she gazed upon the baby.
Kendall covered Nicole and wiped the blood from her hands on the sheet. She met Todd’s gaze. ‘Leave them and I will go with you. Please. Just leave them be.’
He stared at her for a long moment. ‘You would go with me?’
She used the word she’d heard him utter so many times. ‘We can be a family.’
He reached out and touched her face. ‘Family.’
She stiffened at his touch but she managed a smile. ‘Yes. It will be better if it’s just the two of us.’
For a moment he hesitated. Nicole cradled the baby close.