“Chris pooped into his diaper,” a younger girl declared, referring to the baby. “Ewww,” the two older children echoed, making their parents and Ellie wince.
“Hang in there just a little bit,” she said. “It won’t take much longer.”
Libby laughed when Ellie told her the story a few minutes later. “I guess that’s not as glamorous as hanging out with Carpenter and her gang?”
“We were trying to find Judy Lawrence before he kills her,” Ellie snapped. “That has nothing to do with glamour.” She sighed when her sharp tone registered with her. “Sorry about that. I guess I’m a little on edge. Your day seems to have gone well so far.”
Libby couldn’t hide the proud smile. Instead of dubious attempts at entertaining children, she had made two drug-related arrests. “I just had to give them a stern look and they were falling over themselves telling me where exactly they hid their cocaine.”
Ellie thought she needed a vacation. Maybe that was what she should have given herself after the attack, a time out, and then come back refreshed. She couldn’t turn back the time now. Besides, sitting on a beach somewhere alone was nowhere near as thrilling as those stolen moments with Jordan. Not so stolen anymore. From today on, they’d belong to her.
With new resolve, she walked the length of the vehicles. Jordan had been so determined earlier this morning, regarding the case and sorting out her relationship. Ellie was looking forward to seeing her later.
The driver of a Ford stared straight ahead as she walked by. Not everyone in this traffic jam was keen on talking to the police. He also had a couple of young kids, preschool age, in the backseat. Ellie took in the dirt on the side of the car, and the man’s rugged clothing. Neither was in itself a clear indicator that something was wrong, but something about this vehicle raised her suspicion, and she decided to run a quick check.
“Good afternoon,” she said to the man, her tone friendly and polite.
He didn’t look at her, but beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. “Afternoon, Ma’am.”
“I’m sorry for the delay. The lanes will be open in about twenty, thirty minutes. The kids are okay back there?”
“Why wouldn’t they be?”
Two pairs of eyes stared back at her anxiously. That didn’t have to mean anything. Some parents taught their children to look at the police with suspicion. Or they were intimidated with the uniform and too young to understand what it meant.
“No reason,” Ellie said. “Sir, could I see some identification, please?” She watched closely as he opened the glove compartment. The minute distraction of both children starting to cry was enough. The next moment he had a gun pointed at her.
“Come in if you want to talk to them,” he said, sounding desperate. His hands clutching the gun were shaking.
* * * *
Jonathan Darby was still on the phone. What the hell was she doing, sneaking around in the man’s house? She should go back, see if they had anything on him that would be enough to convince the DA to issue a warrant. Jordan sighed. Not likely at this point. It was peculiar that he knew at once Meg was Judy’s sister, but other details had surfaced already. A complete media blackout was tough to implement.
She didn’t have much of a choice.
So far, the murders had been executed in a chaotic way, not well planned all around. He might not leave clues lying around for her, but there had to be something. A quick and inconclusive search in kitchen and the dining area brought her back to the den and its huge shelves. He could have met Judy at one of those fairs. Lori—her husband’s business was loosely related to real estate. He could be one of those unidentified dates in the chat room, and without a doubt Darby’s profession provided him with lots of information regarding possible hideouts.
Then again, for someone with this much opportunity to hide the victims, he seemed sloppy. Did that mean he wanted them to be found? She leaned back against the shelf, assured that the phone conversation a few rooms away was still going, trying to think of an excuse why she was still here and why she would like to see the floor plan of this house…when she felt herself fall backwards.
The shelf was moving. Whether or not Jonathan Darby had something to hide like skeletons in his closet, or a kidnap victim somewhere in this house, one thing was for sure: He did have a secret room.
Jordan tried to curb her fascination when she stepped into an even bigger library. She didn’t have much time as it was, and if he caught her here, she would have even more explaining to do. There was a huge table with armchairs around it in the center of the room, shelves lining two of the walls. No window in here. The lamp was probably powered by a motion detector, switching on as soon as someone entered the room.
Thick carpeting blocked out the sound of her footsteps. Unfortunately, she couldn’t hear him talking on the phone here either.
If there was anything to be found in here, where did she have to look? Behind a painting? Would she make a fool out of herself? There was no cell phone reception in here, so calling for backup was out of the question at the moment.
Jordan found the door behind some heavy drapes, purely decorative since there were no windows. One of them covered up more than wall. The moment she made one step forward, the light went out in the room behind her, and she nearly fell through the square opening in the floor. Holding onto the wall, she was trying to catch her breath as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she could make out the contours of the open trap door, and a ladder leading down.
A small sound broke the heavy silence that had engulfed her since she’d stepped into the library. And another. She had the choice of backing out of this right now and risk running into him or moving forward. The person she suspected to be below the trap door might not have that much time. If she went down there, a confrontation was unavoidable. Jordan straightened her shoulders. Her cell phone might be useless down there, but her gun wasn’t.
Getting a possibly injured woman out of there and to her car before Darby realized Jordan had never left his house—piece of cake. Tonight, it might all be over.
With that motivation, she carefully set her foot on the wooden ladder.
The room down here was bigger than she had expected, with a tiny opening on the far wall that left in enough light to illuminate a gruesome scene. Down here, it was hard to believe that it was still daylight outside, only a beam of it finding its way in. It had to be enough.
“Judy!”
For a moment, she feared the woman slumped over in the chair was already gone, but then hear eyelids fluttered, and she flinched under Jordan’s careful touch.
“It’s okay. I’m with the police. We’re going to get you out of here now.” That might be a premature promise, Jordan realized when she became aware of the heavy chains that held Judy Lawrence to the chair. Any attempt to move them caused sounds of pain.
Jordan recalled the autopsy reports of Campbell and Hayes, bruises, broken bones. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “This will be over soon. I promise.”
The woman’s bitter laugh startled her. “That’s what he said.”
“Work with me. I’ve got my car here. We’ll get you to the hospital in no time.”
“What if he comes back?”
“I’ve got this too,” Jordan said, pointing to her gun.
A lock held the restraints in place. Getting to the key was impossible at the moment, so she had to work around it. Unfortunately this wasn’t the movies, neither did she have a hairpin at hand, nor was anything suitable simply lying around. Maybe the buckle of her belt would do. Okay, it was a little like in the movies. Jordan hoped she would come out the hero and not the expendable, careless character who got herself killed.
* * * *
Ellie didn’t have magic words. All she had was the desire to get out of this situation with everyone alive at the end, the two children, her, and the man who was still training the gun on her in unsteady hands.
“This isn’t going to work,” she said, amazed at how
calm her tone was. Ellie wasn’t feeling calm, more like she was suffocating. Even with the windows rolled down, the air was stuffy. Her uniform felt hot and uncomfortable. “I checked your vehicle. In a minute or so, my colleagues will realize something is wrong, and…look ahead. The lane is still blocked. They won’t let us out of here. Let me help you,” she added quickly, before the man could get the idea his situation was completely hopeless. It didn’t look good, but Ellie didn’t want him to think that any use if his gun was an option. “Let’s take a look at what the problem is, and how we can solve this. What’s your name?”
“You’re a cop. You can get us out of here.”
“I can do my best to keep this from getting out of hand, okay. Look at those kids, they’re scared. They are yours, I assume?”
“Yes, I’m their father, and no one’s going to take them away!”
Okay, she was on to something here. “Who wants to take them away?”
“My ex-wife and her jerk of a boyfriend, that’s who,” the man said. “Not going to happen, I’m telling you that. He wants to be a dad, but they already have a dad.”
“Yeah, and currently he’s scaring the hell out of them. Look at them.”
She saw a hint of uncertainty on the man’s face. “Put that gun away, please. I’m sure you can still work something out with your ex. If you keep this up, it’s likely you’ll never get to see your children again. It’s not too late. You cooperate, and I will testify on your behalf.”
“You’re just saying that.”
“I want these kids to be safe, okay? Don’t you?”
He looked in front of them, behind them, the road around them still packed with vehicles, no where to go. Then he took in the pair of wide-eyed, frightened children in the backseat. Ellie held her breath.
“My name is Harold,” he said, before he handed the gun to Ellie, leaned forward and started crying, the boy and girl joining in. Ellie wanted to cry too, but she supposed that could wait until the situation was under control.
On the bright side, she’d be able to testify that Harold had indeed had a change of heart, but the fact that he kidnapped his own children, wouldn’t make it easy for him.
“It will be okay,” she said, thinking that a too vague and general statement wasn’t the same as a bold lie—or was it?
* * * *
Judy was fading fast. The air was stifling and hot. She was probably thirsty and hurting, drifting in and out of consciousness, but finally, the chains fell. Jordan shuddered at the feel of blood on her hands.
“You’ll see, we’ll have you out of here soon. It’s not going to be long now. Can you stand?”
Supporting almost all of the woman’s weight, Jordan wondered how she’d manage to haul her up those narrow rungs, especially without making her injuries worse. She had to try, even risking that Darby might be waiting for them on the other side of the door. “We’ve got to go,” she said firmly. “Do you remember the library room upstairs?” There was no answer. “Once we’re out of there, I’ll have reception, and I can call someone. We have to get up there.”
She wasn’t sure if Judy had understood her until she heard a small whispered “okay.”
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
The way up seemed to take an eternity. In her condition, even Judy’s petite frame was heavy. She could move, slowly, with lots of pain. It hurt Jordan that she had to add to it. There was no other way. Today, both of them would go home, and she’d be able to tell Ellie that she was safe too.
One agonizing minute after the next ticking by. He had to know she was still in the house when he saw her car. Finally, they reached the top step and the door to the library, where the light came back on. Judy flinched violently.
The room looked like Jordan had left it. He hadn’t been in here yet. Could they be so lucky? “We’re almost there,” she said, a heartbeat before Judy collapsed in her arms. “Oh no, not now. I need you to stay with me, okay? Judy!”
She had to half-drag her across the room. Fortunately, she hadn’t locked herself in, the shelf moved just as easily as when she’d come in. Almost free. If necessary, she’d get Judy all the way to her car and then…
“Jordan,” a voice behind her said. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Chapter Twelve
“I heard what happened earlier. I’m really sorry.”
Ellie looked around her, quickly determining that she and Bethany were alone in the locker room. Oh well. After the recent events, she felt pretty much fearless. No, that wasn’t true. She was still all jittery inside. That had to be the reason why Bristol had sent her home. He seemed to have a knack for seeing those things.
“I’m okay. I’m glad in the end, he didn’t want the kids to get hurt.” She wondered if she could risk asking the profiler if she’d heard from Jordan. Ellie hadn’t seen her since the morning.
“Good job talking the guy down,” Bethany said. “You have a bright future in this department. Everyone says so.”
“Thanks.” I guess.
“If you don’t mind a word of advice though, that’s what you should focus on. Your career. Sleeping with the wrong person can get you in trouble.”
So much for avoiding the subject. “With all due respect—”
Bethany laughed. “Why is it that people always say that when they couldn’t care less?”
“Did Jordan come in yet? There’s something I need to tell her. About the case.”
“Really?” Bethany narrowed her eyes at her. “You’ve been waiting all day to share this?”
“I tried to reach her. I couldn’t, and besides, you made sure I wasn’t anywhere near the task force today.” She held up her hands in defense. “Forget about it. I’m sorry I said anything. It’s probably not important.” Ellie would be the judge of that. She’d see if she could have a minute with Henderson before she went home. All she wanted at the moment was to evade a pointless exchange. Jordan had made her decision, whatever Bethany thought about it. “Have a good day.” Okay, she probably didn’t need to do that.
“Don’t fool yourself,” Bethany said behind her back. “Jordan will come back to me. She always does when she gets tired of her silly little affairs.”
The insult in her words hit home as it probably meant to do, but Ellie refused to reward it with an answer and left Bethany standing.
Derek Henderson wasn’t in his office. Ellie stood, indecisive for a moment. She’d try to reach him later, if she didn’t hear from Jordan.
She wondered if the silence had to do with the surprise Jordan had talked about earlier.
* * * *
“No, come on. You don’t think I’m stupid, do you? Let me have that gun and your cell phone, please.”
She had no choice. Judy leaning on her heavily had hindered a quicker reaction. Damn. This was bad.
“You have a backup piece, right?” He laughed as if he just made a good joke. “They always do on TV, fooling the bad guy. Not that it’s what I am. Right, Judy? We discuss some important matters down there.”
No answer from Judy, but her condition spoke volumes. Jordan swallowed her anger. It would do her no good at the moment.
“I can see that, but she’s not feeling so good. I need to take her to the hospital. Can you let me do that?”
“Can you shut up?” he yelled, startling her so badly that Judy slipped slightly in her grip.
“Okay. I’m sorry. I’m sure we can talk about this.”
“Oh, we will talk, Jordan, no doubt about that. Now let her go, so we can get started.” Sensing her hesitation, he added, “I have a gun and I can shoot both of you before you even blink, so if you think about trying something stupid—don’t.”
Timing. Ellie had tried to reach her before. Her colleagues would start to wonder as she hadn’t once checked in with work yet, and Ellie had already asked her about Darby’s agency. All she had to do was keep him talking.
“If we leave her here for now, is that okay?” If she was lucky, Judy could f
ind a way to get out. It would all work out. She just had to keep him from shooting anyone. If she could lower the woman gently onto the carpet and…get to her ankle holster…
The red hot pain made her stagger, consuming her before she could even locate it, and the unconscious woman slipped from her grasp. He had stabbed her thigh.
Darby was quick tackling her to the floor, cold metal pressed against the back of her neck.
“Oops,” he said, his voice dripping with contempt. “I guess I lied. It was a knife instead. “Do you want me to use it again?”
With his weight bearing down on her, the pain making her dizzy and her voice drowned out by the thick carpet, she couldn’t give much of an answer.
“I can’t hear you.” Just for emphasis, he fisted his hand in her hair and pulled back sharply. Her vision started to grey out. Timing, the word seemed to mock her right now.
Eventually, she’d be able to talk and reason with him. She had to.
“No. I said no.” She didn’t think the blade had cut that deep, but damn it, it hurt. She could feel the blood trailing down her leg. “You don’t…you don’t have to do that.”
“Will you accept your punishment?”
He leaned in close, and it took her a moment to realize he was tracing the shell of her ear with his tongue. Her body revolted, but she forced herself to stay still.
He found the ankle holster next. “I guess TV is good for something. I’m so glad we’re finally getting somewhere. I’m sorry, Jordan, this might hurt a bit. You should have thought about the consequences of your actions sooner.” It might have been his attention to knock her out, but she managed to dodge the blow, gasping when the movement made pain shoot up her injured leg. She couldn’t escape the second—or the third, and the darkness that followed.
* * * *
“Damn. She hasn’t checked in all day?” Henderson looked worried.
Bethany shrugged. “Jordan is like that sometimes. Not to say she’s irresponsible, but you must know that about her. She needs to take her time and mull things over, and most of the time, she comes back with a good idea. She was probably following some leads of her own.”
Indiscretions Page 12