by Blake Pierce
She reddened with rage.
“I’m not exactly flattered,” she said. “Mr. Decker…where was your wife in all of this?”
Decker looked up, surprised that she didn’t already know. “She started it with me…the swinging. But we stopped when my wife started having an affair and left me. I couldn’t…I couldn’t please her sexually.”
“So you kept trying to be a part of those swinging environments after she left, right?”
He fell silent again.
Finally, he shook his head. “You’ll never understand.”
She left the room in a hurry, feeling a series of emotions similar to the ones that had sent her quickly out of the room before.
What the hell is wrong with me?
She stood outside the interrogation room, drawing in a series of deep breaths. Rodriguez came out, clearly unsure of how to approach her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I will be,” she said.
“I can’t thank you enough for what you and your partner have done. Unless there is anything pressing you need to handle here, I encourage you to sign off. Go get some rest. Check in on your partner. We’ve got it covered here. I’ll be calling your director and letting him know what a fine job you’ve done here.”
“Thank you.”
With that, she took his advice. She headed back outside to her car. She thought about calling McGrath to fill him in. She’d spoken to him once already today while waiting to get her stitches. He’d requested that she remain in Miami until Ellington was well enough to come back with her.
She headed back toward the hospital, irritated by the itch and slight sting of the stitches in her thigh and hand. Yet she glanced out of the window and saw the palm trees on every corner and the slice of blue afternoon sky giving way to the purple of twilight and felt a sense of peace.
Miami certainly had its share of beauty, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to miss it.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
As it turned out, Ellington was cleared to leave the hospital at 8:30 the following morning. Mackenzie received the news after being tapped awake in the chair of his hospital room, as the doctor smiled down at her warmly.
Ellington showed no signs of infection and though there was a bit of minor scarring on the surface of his lung, there had been no puncture or real damage. Barring a checkup in one week in D.C., it seemed like he had come out of the encounter with Byron Decker very lucky.
There was a comfortable silence between them as the very slow discharge process was carried out. She filled him on the interrogation of Decker at the precinct as best as she could. The last update she’d received had come the night before, when Rodriguez had called her to let her know that everything was basically over, wrapped up with a bow. Decker wasn’t even trying to deny any of what he had done; more than that, he had started to go into detail about how he had planned it all out.
When Ellington stepped into the bathroom to slip out of his hospital robe and into his street clothes, Mackenzie saw the wound where the knife had gone in. The doctors had done a beautiful job on the stitch work but it was hidden by a double layer of gauze. Seeing it made Mackenzie uneasy. Another inch deeper and the knife could have harmed him very badly. It might even have killed him.
I’ve spent far too much time in hospital rooms lately, she thought. Sadly, an image of Bryers in his hospital room came to her mind. She couldn’t help but smile, though. He’d be proud of her for managing to wrap this case, saving the Vaughans and bringing a killer to justice.
When he came back out, he was dressed in jeans and a Washington Redskins T-shirt. The doctors had suggested he wear sweatpants, mesh shorts, or some other elastic and forgiving material while he healed. Having none of those packed in his suitcase, he had to settle for jeans.
“I thought about not buttoning them, just to keep them loose against me,” he said as he came out of the bathroom, tapping at his jeans. “But I didn’t want to tease you. Looks like I’m out of commission for a while.”
“That’s a shame,” she said. It was a half-hearted joke, but she actually meant it.
“You know,” he said, “I’m not a fan of stretchy pants or shorts, but I think I have an idea. Would you humor me?”
She gave him a playfully skeptical grin as they headed for the door of his hospital room. “I’m not quite sure how to process that question.”
“Just trust me,” he said, taking her hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Hand in hand, they headed out of his room.
Just trust me, he said.
Mackenzie was a little taken aback to realize that she did—unflinchingly and without question.
***
The idea he’d had was childlike and a little irresponsible, but Mackenzie went along with it anyway. Between the hospital and the motel, they stopped at a little mom and pop surf shop where Ellington purchased a pair of painfully bright swim trunks. When they were back at the motel, he changed into them, needing Mackenzie’s help to balance himself as he slipped his jeans off and put the trunks on. Mackenzie then loaded up their suitcases while Ellington settled up the room bills.
It took less than two minutes for them to reach a beach outlet. Ellington had to walk very slowly down the wooden walkway that led out onto the beach. She noticed him grunting as they made their way down the steps and into the sand. A hundred yards or so ahead of them, waves crashed along the beach. Gulls swooped down, crying out to one another. To their left, a few kids were throwing a Frisbee in the shallow water, dancing around the waves.
It was the same stretch of beach Mackenzie had come to when she’d been working on her laptop. They found the same bench she’d sat on; it was unoccupied although there was wet towel draped over it, left behind and forgotten by a beachgoer.
As they sat down, Ellington gazed out to the ocean with the awe of a child. “You like the beach?” he asked.
“I was indifferent for most of my life,” she said. “But something about this case is drawing me to it. It’s sort of peaceful in a chaotic way.”
“Sounds like the basis of my life,” Ellington said. He sighed and looked at his watch. “Any idea when the next flight to DC is?” he asked.
“I haven’t looked into it yet. I’ll check it out in a minute.”
He nodded, still staring at the ocean. “Mackenzie…the other night was amazing. And there’s not a part of me that doesn’t regret it. But I know you…I know your work ethic. If you think it’s going to get in your way or interfere, then I—”
She interrupted him with a kiss. It was slow, passionate, and deliberate. When she broke it, she smiled sweetly at him. “I’m not thinking about it,” she said. “I’m just letting it be what it is for right now.”
Ellington thought about this for a moment but then nodded his agreement.
“I’m sorry I snapped at you yesterday morning,” she said. “About my dad. That whole thing…it has a hook in me, deeper than I realized. But I’m working on it.”
“It’s okay. I get it. It’s personal. It hurts.”
“Yeah, that’s all true. But…well, there have been developments. Very recent developments. And I’m tired of internalizing it all. I’m going to tell you all of it, if you want to hear it.”
“Right now?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
He seemed at ease with it. He was no longer staring out to the ocean. He was now staring at her, giving her that same rapt attention.
And so she told him everything. She started with a young girl in Nebraska, walking into her parents’ bedroom and finding her father dead, with a gunshot wound to the head. She ended with the discovery of a business card at a more recent scene—a card reading Barker Antiques. With each word, Mackenzie could feel the weight coming off of her. It was freeing. It was like having an exorcism performed and feeling some other nasty presence expelling itself from her.
At some point, he took her hand in his and it made the telling easier.
<
br /> She looked from Ellington and then to the ocean. Something about the waves made her feel like a child again. She felt as if with every moment of her story she got out, the waves would wash it away and pull it back out to the sea, never to be seen again.
But that was a silly hope.
She’d told Ellington that her past had hooks in her and that was undeniably true. The hooks went deep and, from time to time, they stung quite badly.
But as she shared the story of her father’s case and the current progress with it being reopened, she felt as if maybe, just maybe, one day she might be able to remove them once and for all.
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
BEFORE HE FEELS
(A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 6)
From Blake Pierce, bestselling author of ONCE GONE (a #1 bestseller with over 900 five star reviews), comes book #6 in the heart-pounding Mackenzie White mystery series.
In BEFORE HE FEELS (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 6), FBI special agent Mackenzie White is stunned to be assigned a case with victims matching no profile she has ever seen: shockingly, all of the victims are blind.
Does this mean that the killer himself is blind, too?
Plunged into the subculture of the blind, Mackenzie struggles to understand, finding herself out of her element as she crisscrosses the state, racing from group homes to private houses, interviewing caretakers, librarians, experts and psychologists.
And yet, despite the best minds in the country, Mackenzie seems unable to prevent the spree of killings.
Has she finally met her match?
A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, BEFORE HE FEELS is book #6 in a riveting new series—with a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.
Also available by Blake Pierce is ONCE GONE (A Riley Paige mystery—Book #1), a #1 bestseller with over 900 five star reviews—and a free download!
BEFORE HE FEELS
(A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 6)
Did you know that I've written multiple novels in the mystery genre? If you haven't read all my series, click the image below to download a series starter!
Blake Pierce
Blake Pierce is author of the bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes eight books (and counting). Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising five books (and counting); of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising four books (and counting); and of the new KERI LOCKE mystery series.
An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.
BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE
RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES
ONCE GONE (Book #1)
ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)
ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)
ONCE LURED (Book #4)
ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)
ONCE PINED (Book #6)
ONCE FORSAKEN (Book #7)
ONCE COLD (Book #8)
ONCE STALKED (Book #9)
MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES
BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)
BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)
BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)
BEFORE HE TAKES (Book #4)
BEFORE HE NEEDS (Book #5)
BEFORE HE FEELS (Book #6)
AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES
CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)
CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)
CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)
CAUSE TO FEAR (Book #4)
KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES
A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)
A TRACE OF MUDER (Book #2)
A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)