King’s blood pressure spiked. “Where did this happen?”
Bowers told him. “And if you don’t believe me, ask her friend. She’ll tell you. She talked to him, too.”
“Talked to who? Who are you referring to, Christopher? I need a name.”
“My mentor.” Bowers cocked his head to the side and grinned. “The man who wants to be the next Prom Queen Killer. Mr. Scott Helton.”
Chapter One Hundred Four
It wasn’t the first time I had a gun pulled on me, but never had I had one this close to my face. My life didn’t flash before my eyes and time didn’t speed up or slow down. Instead, my heart sent blood to the tips of my fingers that desperately wanted to reach out and touch his tense shoulders while I looked him in the eye and told him that he was loved.
Rob Hines was a man who was hurting. I saw it before, and I was witnessing it now. Those same grief-swollen eyes were dulled by confused anger, and I hoped he hadn’t been drinking. Uncontrolled grief made our minds cloudy enough, and I needed him to be present when I began talking him down.
“Rob, put the gun down,” I said in a mild but firm tone as I reached behind me and latched the front door closed.
I knew why he was here. His parting words kept ringing in my ears. I’m going to kill him myself. It wasn’t me he was after. He wanted to serve the cold dish of revenge to Bennett.
His eyes clouded with tears and the crease between his eyebrows deepened into a narrow valley. Straightening his arm, he pressed the gun’s cold metal to my forehead, causing my breath to hitch with surprise.
“I can’t,” he said through gritted teeth. “You know I can’t.”
I remained calm—didn’t dare move. My palms were facing out when I thought how Susan unknowingly led him here when she’d left Bennett’s house. Even as my mind prepared my body to receive the bullet he was about to shoot into my skull, I wasn’t mad or scared. I’d made my peace with God long ago. But I didn’t need my son to see this.
Mulling over my next words, I remembered how hard Rob had taken the news of his daughter’s secrets. One wrong word could be the end of me. I was walking a tightrope and took my chances when saying, “Think about your wife. She needs you now more than ever. Don’t leave her today, Rob.”
A tear squeezed out of his left eye. His trigger finger threatened to send the hammer flying.
“Leave Karen out of this,” he barked.
“Okay, easy Rob. I’m here to help,” I said with Karen’s words—this ends here—echoing in my mind. I wished she had told her husband to do the same. I knew better than to think she knew where he was and what it was he was trying to do.
“Then you can start by getting out of my way.”
I kept my eye on his steady hand, remembering the pride in a father’s eyes when discussing Megan’s many successes. I admired the love he had for his daughter and the way he defended her reputation, even in death. Soon my thoughts traveled to my son and how, if in a similar situation as Rob, I would want to do the same. But Rob was mistaken. Heidi had fooled him—had fooled us all. It was up to me to convince him Bennett wasn’t the man Rob thought he was.
“I’m sorry, Rob. I can’t let you make that mistake.”
“Get out my way, Samantha, or I’ll shoot you, too.”
Keeping my hands raised in the air, I stepped forward, feeling the muzzle press harder into my head.
“He killed my daughter.”
“It’s not him.”
“Someone has to pay.”
I felt the pressure pull back and I saw Rob losing strength. “Trust me, Rob. Your daughter didn’t die in vain. Justice will be served. I just can’t let you do it like this.”
“It’s not fair.” His voice cracked for the first time and I kept inching my way forward.
I knew then that I had to end this now before someone actually got hurt.
“You heard what Karen said he did to Megan.”
Rob was now crying. He had to be thinking of all the things his daughter could have been, could have seen, could have done if only her life hadn’t been cut short.. Suddenly, the door opened behind me. I calmly turned around and told Erin to go back inside. She threw me a look that said I was crazy.
“Everything is okay. Right, Rob?”
Rob’s body crumbled to the ground as he sobbed. I kneeled next to him with one hand on his back. His entire body shook as I managed to take his gun away without him ever realizing it. It was over. Nicholas would live to see another day.
Chapter One Hundred Five
King was about to exit the room when he turned and glanced at Bowers one last time before leaving him to his thoughts. He caught Bowers giving him the eye and King hoped his intel was accurate. King didn’t have time for another wild goose chase.
As soon as King stepped out, Alvarez was waiting for him.
“Did you catch that?” King asked.
Alvarez nodded. “Scott Helton.”
They walked. “You know him?”
Alvarez shook his head no. “But I confirmed it with Mrs. Bowers. Helton is a teacher at South High, their daughter’s school. He could be telling the truth.”
They edged the wall, skirting passed a desk, as they meandered through the precinct. Something told King that Bowers wasn’t lying. Perhaps it was the envy he saw swirling inside his eyes, like Helton had what Bowers wanted. How he knew Helton was the one? That was anybody’s guess. King needed to see how Josie fit inside this crazy puzzle.
King caught Alvarez up on Jane Doe. “We need to track down Helton and hear what he has to say about all this. But first I think we need to see if he’s in any way connected to Josie.”
King rounded the corner and came to an abrupt stop when he saw the chief, lieutenant, and someone who looked like he could be a detective from IAD standing at the far end of the room. Alvarez lowered his brow and knew what it was King was thinking. The clock was ticking. Soon they would be coming after him for a mistake he didn’t make.
Chief rolled his gaze to King before turning his back and continuing on their march into Lieutenant Baker’s office.
“Assholes,” Alvarez said.
The pain in King’s spine was back. He knew he was part of a fishing expedition spearheaded by politicians who knew nothing about actual police work. They were only after votes, and nothing was easier than to blame the boots on the ground for their failed policy.
“C’mon,” King said, focusing on what he could control. “Unlike them, we have meaningful work to do.”
Chapter One Hundred Six
Ten minutes later, King leaned back in his chair and glanced to the clock on the wall. Detective Gray was looking into Sage Zapatero, and Alvarez was working the phone next to him. The minutes were escaping them and King had to decide on his next move.
They hadn’t been able to link Josie to either Bowers or Helton. As the chaos circled around him, all King could think about was that Naomi never mentioned seeing Helton that night at Burger King. Why would she do that? King could only assume it was because she knew the truth behind Jenny’s relationship with their teacher.
Then there was the message from Samantha.
As soon as King heard Alvarez set the phone back in its cradle, he stood over the partition and handed his partner his cellphone.
“No one was home at the Hines’s residence,” Alvarez said, giving King’s phone a funny look. “What’s this?” he asked.
“Listen.”
Alvarez threw him a look and pressed the phone to his ear. King watched his eyes widen a fraction.
King said, “Helton tried to block us from speaking to Naomi, remember that?”
“I do.” Alvarez flicked his gaze to the door, then said, “I also remember Naomi thinking Jenny was planning to sleep with the older man she was seeing again.”
Helton had to be their guy. When Gray came rushing into their office with news about Sage, excitement grew. Gray said, “Sage was his student.”
This was it. The proof in the
pudding. King could feel it in his bones. It was time to confront Helton and ask him some very tough questions about his relationship with Jenny Booth and where he was the day Megan was murdered.
“But I also have bad news,” Gray said.
King stopped and stared.
“Griffin spoke to the EMS van who bagged Josie. Her body has been cremated. They mixed up their cargo and Josie was dropped at the funeral home instead of the morgue.” Gray frowned. “It’s too late. We’ll never know the specifics of her death.”
Chapter One Hundred Seven
“Okay,” Helton said, glancing to the backseat, “it’s safe for you to get up now.”
Eva was lying across the bench of the backseat in Helton’s car, staring up into the clouds, praying for peace and solitude to find their way back into her life when she felt the car roll to a stop.
Helton insisted she keep her head down as he drove, that the hood over her head wasn’t enough to keep the outside from coming in. It didn’t take much to convince her that he was right. Eva remembered the way Archie had tracked her down at Samantha’s, and then found her again outside the medical examiner’s office. The last thing she wanted was to live a life on the run, having to constantly look over her shoulder. This was her last escape before going into hiding.
Eva sat up and looked around. Helton met her eyes and smiled, but Eva couldn’t return the gesture without feeling like a fake. It was his brown eyes she knew were blue that had her thinking he was up to something, but she didn’t know what. Before he could read her thoughts, she flicked her gaze to the ace of diamonds dangling from the rearview mirror. There it was again, another sign of his greatness. Helton was a man who excelled at everything he did, so how could he lead her astray?
“Where are we?” she asked.
“My rental house.”
Eva could see the tops of the mountain peaks to the west, but didn’t recognize any distinguishable features on the skyline to the northeast. She had a general idea of where she was, but something made her think she’d been here before.
“No, I mean what neighborhood is this?”
Helton smiled, opened his door, and stepped out with his shoulder bag slung over his neck. He moved to Eva’s door and held it open for her. “C’mon. We’ll talk inside where it’s safer.”
Eva adjusted her hood and kept her head down as she followed Helton into the two-story ranch house. Helton switched on a couple overhead lights and said, “I’m currently between renters.”
Eva was slow to enter, wanting to take in her surroundings before fully committing to stay. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and, though there was nothing to be afraid of, she couldn’t shake the thoughts of familiarity. Perhaps it was the layout of the rooms, or how the house smelled like pine. It was furnished and looked lived in, but didn’t look like any house Eva had ever rented.
Helton dropped his bag on a chair at the table and said, “You must be hungry. Can I make you something? I make a killer burrito.”
Eva shook her head and asked to use the bathroom. Helton’s smile dropped from his face and pointed the way. “Right down the hall,” he said.
Eva locked herself in the windowless bathroom and sat on the toilet. Burying her face inside her hands, she began to cry. She was scared for what the future would bring and knew with absolute certainty that this school semester was shot.
Once her tears dried, she flushed and was at the sink opening cabinets when she discovered Helton’s contact lens case. Curious, Eva twisted the cap open and was surprised to see the lenses were colored brown.
Why hide his beautiful blue eyes? she thought when she heard a door slam.
Eva peeked her head out. When she heard nothing, she rushed to the front of the house to find Helton gone. She called out. Her heart was racing. Helton didn’t answer. Turning her head, she glanced down and found herself staring at the Prom Queen Killer book stuffed inside Helton’s bag. She’d seen it at Samantha’s house, knew why Samantha had been curious to know what was inside, but why did Helton have it?
Reaching inside the bag, she took the book into her hands. It looked well studied—dog-eared and crinkled. Eva heard a noise and quickly dropped the book back into the bag and stepped away from the table.
Helton came around the corner holding linens.
Eva slowed her breathing, but nothing could calm her thundering heart. The look he was giving her was darker and more intense than before. She stared into Helton’s brown eyes and didn’t hear what he had said. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Your room. It’s ready for you.”
Eva blinked, blew out a breath, and followed Helton past the kitchen to the back of the house. Helton handed her the linens and opened the door. Eva couldn’t stop looking into his eyes as she skirted past him and entered the bedroom he’d saved for her. Once inside, she couldn’t believe what she saw.
“What is this?” she asked upon seeing her own images tacked up and filling the walls.
“It’s your room.” Helton blocked the doorway with his body. “The one I made for you.”
She wondered when and how he had taken these photos. They were of her personal life, but she couldn’t recall ever seeing him take them. A chill had her shivering. He’d been stalking her. It was the pearl white wedding dress hanging from the mirror that had her really concerned about his plans.
“This was a bad idea,” Eva said, dropping the linens on the bed when suddenly she was tackled by a masked man who seemed to come out of nowhere.
Chapter One Hundred Eight
Rob climbed inside his truck and hunched over the steering wheel. I gently closed his door and backed away as I listened to the engine turn over. Not once did Rob glance back. I could only hope that he would do what he promised—go home to be with his wife and forget that this ever happened.
Erin came off the front porch and met me at the sidewalk. I asked if Karen answered her call. “She thanks you for letting her know where her husband was. She said he’s having a difficult time with all this.”
“No kidding,” I said.
“I didn’t mention how he had a gun to your head, or that he wanted to kill Bennett.”
“All she needs to know is that her husband is on his way home,” I said, not fully trusting that was what he was doing. But at least I was still in possession of his Glock 17 handgun.
As soon as I closed my eyes, my head floated into the clouds. I was still high on adrenaline as the reality of just how close I’d come to being the next victim in this saga.
I didn’t know what I should do with his gun. He never asked for it back, and probably never realized I took it. But I couldn’t give it back. At least not until his temper cooled. There was no predicting what he would do next, and I hoped it was the only firearm he owned.
Susan exited the house next and peeked around. When I said it was safe for her to come out, it was clear that everyone inside knew what had happened.
I was swarmed by a dozen arms, all wanting to feel for themselves that I hadn’t been hurt. “Thank God you’re okay,” I kept hearing everyone say.
“You certainly have a way with words,” Allison joked and had us all laughing.
I had my arms wrapped around Mason when I glanced to Bennett. He was quiet and standing off to the side, but I could see his gratitude for what I’d done sparkling inside his eyes. Allison was most gracious of all, and it was clear that this ordeal was bringing them closer together.
“Now, where were we?” I said.
“Helton.” Erin reminded me.
I took a deep breath and said, “Right.”
My car keys were still in my pocket and I hoped the stunt Rob pulled hadn’t delayed us too long to get to Helton before it was too late. Eva still wasn’t answering our calls, and I worried something had already happened to her.
Erin made for my car, but I stopped her. “Go with Susan and meet me there.”
“Split up? You can’t be serious?”
I was.
I couldn’t trust Rob wouldn’t change his mind and decide to follow me. At least if we took two different routes, he would be forced to make a decision on who to follow, leaving at least one car to get to Helton instead of no one.
“We’ll stay with Naomi and Mason,” Allison offered.
It was a good idea. All our bases were covered.
“I’ll take 6th to Sheridan. You get off at Federal and make your way from there,” I said, opening my car door. Without anyone seeing, I took the Glock out from my belt and placed it on my lap.
Erin and Susan jumped in Susan’s car and we split, each going in opposite directions with the intention of rendezvousing outside Helton’s house in a few minutes.
I drove quick but kept my speed within reason. I couldn’t afford to get stopped, and it wasn’t just because I was in possession of a firearm that wasn’t registered in my name.
With headlights in my mirrors, I thought about what Susan uncovered at Daniels’s office. It seemed the mayor may have recruited Daniels to control the airwaves in his favor. And now Chief Watts seemed to be involved with Daniels, too. I hoped I was wrong, but feared that I wasn’t.
I was first to arrive to Helton’s house in Lakewood. After killing the engine and glancing in my mirrors, I checked the Glock to see if it was loaded. A bullet was in the chamber and the safety was on. Not a single shot had been fired, but I was happy to have it for my own protection. If we were right about Helton, I knew what he was capable of, and I felt safer with it than without.
I was on edge. My mind was sharp, but my nerves were jumpy. I knew it was because of Rob. I opened up my cellphone and sent King a quick text telling him where I was in case this meeting went south.
A light flicked on in the house and I could see movement inside.
There was no sign of Susan and Erin, and I couldn’t wait for them to arrive.
My mind told me to go now, that something bad was about to happen.
MAD AS BELL Page 28