by Katie Reus
He leaned forward, his chains clanking against the table. “I’m not directing anyone to do anything.” His pale eyes were intense. “I swear it.”
He seemed almost desperate for her to believe him. Fat chance. Not when his word meant exactly shit, but she kept that thought to herself. Instead she leaned forward, putting on her most imploring expression. “I’m a mother now. I have a daughter who means everything to me. My husband died, which you probably know. If something happens to me, my little girl will have no one to look out for her. She will be all alone in the world. She’ll have nothing and no one. Do you want her to grow up without her mother?” she asked softly. Maybe the demanding approach was the wrong way. Maybe this softness would work instead.
His expression changed ever so slightly, but she couldn’t get a read on whatever emotion he betrayed. Because just as quickly a neutral mask fell into place. “I can’t help you.”
Yeah, but he’d agreed to see her for a reason. Maybe the reason was simply because he wanted to see her, sick freak that he was.
“Then I have nothing left to say to you,” she said, standing. She’d come to face him, to get answers. But she couldn’t force him to give them to her—no matter how much she wanted to bash his face in and make him talk.
“Wait…” He clenched and unclenched his fingers.
“What?”
“What is this person doing exactly? This person you think is my partner?”
Shouldn’t he already know? Maybe he didn’t have the details, but he would have to know the basics. “They’re hunting me. Killing people.” She wasn’t going to give him more than that, however. He’d probably jack off to them. “And let me tell you something. If she comes for me, I’m going to kill her.” She used the pronoun “she” intentionally, watching his reaction.
He jerked slightly in his seat, his hands tightening into balls before he relaxed them, letting his fingers go limp.
But she’d struck a nerve, she had no doubt. Even if he was trying to cover it. Amy and the Feds might be able to see something more when they watched the recording of this meeting later. “I’m going to kill your daughter,” she whispered, leaning forward on the table. She was on a fishing expedition right now but it was worth a shot to see if she could get under his skin, get him to break.
He jerked back as if she’d hit him. Jaw tight, he turned away from her. “Get me out of here!” he shouted.
Heart pounding, she turned away from him and nodded at the guard in the corner, who immediately opened the door for her. Maybe it wasn’t the jackpot, but it sure felt like it. Did he have a daughter? She could hear the other door opening and Black’s chains clanking against the table and floor. But she didn’t turn around.
It took all her self-control not to look at him. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. She was never coming back here.
And he was going to die here. It was the only thing that gave her a modicum of comfort. That and the fact that she was going to stop whoever was working with him.
“I won’t insult you by asking how you are,” Lucas said a few minutes later, turning to face her in the cab of his truck.
She sat there, turned toward him in the seat, not bothering with her seat belt yet. It was bright outside, with little white clouds dotting the sky in every direction. The setting was incongruent with the darkness of the prison, the barbed wire surrounding them, even where they sat in the parking lot.
“Thank you for coming with me,” she said quietly, reaching across the center console, her fingers cold and numb. “It was harder than I thought, but at the same time I’m glad I did it.” Even though she hated that she’d missed Carol’s funeral, she actually was glad she’d come—and she was pretty sure her friend would have understood. “Seeing him like that…” She shook her head, her jaw tightening. He might have looked sad and weak, but she was still dealing with the emotions of seeing him and knew she’d have more nightmares later. They would probably be worse this time. But she’d faced that monster down and she was never going to see him again.
He held her hand tight. “You are the bravest woman I’ve ever known.”
She snorted softly. “Says the man who fought in war zones. I’m not brave. I was afraid I was going to throw up on the table.”
“And you went anyway.”
“He looked…not good. In my nightmares, he’s so much bigger. Intimidating and scary.” She snorted derisively. “For obvious reasons. But seeing him in person, seeing how he’s aged. He looks like a sad, aging man. Pathetic.”
“He is pathetic,” Lucas said, heat in his voice.
“So…this might sound crazy, but I think he really might have a daughter.” He’d reacted to her threat so clearly.
Lucas went still. “What did he say?”
Lucas listened as she went over the conversation she’d had with Black. She hadn’t been in there long with him and he hadn’t thought she’d gotten anything useful, but he was glad to be wrong. A daughter? Holy hell.
“Trust your instinct,” he said when she was finished. “At the very least we’ve got to tell Agent Lin.”
“I plan to. I just needed a moment,” she said, her voice cracking. When tears started spilling down her cheeks, her strong façade breaking, he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her as she clutched onto his shoulders, sobbing into his neck.
For some reason the tears surprised him, though they shouldn’t. So often she kept herself so rigid, so controlled for everyone. He understood why, but it was a sharp reminder of how much she kept bottled up inside. He rubbed a hand up and down her spine, making soothing sounds as he simply held her. He wished he could take away all her pain—hell, if he was getting wishes granted he wanted Michael Black dead and gone.
Eventually Serenity’s grip on his shoulders loosened but she remained where she was. Then she shifted slightly and laid her cheek against one of his shoulders. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.
He tightened his own grip. “You don’t ever have to be sorry.” He would be her shoulder to cry on anytime.
“I’m sorry for not just this.” She pulled back, her eyes red-rimmed as she dashed the remnants of her tears away. “I swear I’m not trying to mess with your head, Lucas. I just don’t think I’m ready for a relationship. I feel like I’m broken half the time, like I’m barely keeping my life together. Some days I feel like a champ, then others…it’s all I can do to get out of bed. And if I’m being really honest, Harper is the reason for that. I don’t know if I have room in my heart right now for anyone else. I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
His throat clenched as he clasped her hands in his. “Okay.” He wasn’t a saint but he would accept that for now. Because he cared for her. More than simply cared for her. He didn’t have a savior complex, but he wanted to help her, to love her. To be hers.
“Okay?”
He nodded. “Serenity, I’m your friend. No matter what, I’m here for you.” It carved him up to say it, but it was the truth. He wasn’t going anywhere, even if she never let him fully in.
Chapter 27
“What did Serenity say?” Frank asked Amy as he parked in the driveway of the quiet residential neighborhood.
They were paying someone a surprise visit and she hoped it paid off. “She pushed him on his partner, used the pronoun ‘she’ with Black. And she thinks she got a reaction from him when she mentioned him having a daughter. My gut is telling me that whoever is behind this is a woman and that it’s his daughter. Somehow he had a kid and no one knew about it.”
Which definitely wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. If her DNA wasn’t in the system, they would have no idea. And if the mother never put his name as the father on her birth certificate, there was no way to track who she was. If she even existed. But Amy’s instinct was telling her that this woman was real—that she was their unsub.
“I’ll watch the recordings as soon as we’re done here,” she continued. The warden would have already sent them to her email as she’d reque
sted.
“You ready?” Frank asked. As usual, he was just a little rumpled. Somehow it made him seem more approachable and they always used it to their advantage.
She nodded and stepped out of the car with him. She was used to cracking cases sooner. And she did not want anyone else to die or be taken in Verona Bay. Right now they had all the suspects under surveillance, and after this, she was going to go pull every single one of them in for interviews. They either talked to her team or they didn’t. She would give them the option, and if they rejected her, she would keep someone on them until they made a mistake.
And whoever was behind this would make a mistake. This whole case was personal, and when emotions were involved people screwed up. Which made her job a lot easier because humans were often emotional creatures.
She and Frank strode to the door of the house, not caring that it was suppertime. She knocked sharply three times.
A few moments later a slightly older woman with a cap of brown and gray hair smiled at them. “Hello?” There was more than a hint of question in her tone and expression. She glanced down at their badges hanging around their necks, her eyes widening. “Can I help you?”
Amy nodded. “We’re here to speak to Steve Crow.”
“Oh, my husband, yes. Ah, may I ask who is here?” she asked even as they’d started pulling out their IDs.
“I’m Special Agent Amy Lin and this is Special Agent Frank Quittner. We’re with the FBI and working on a case in town right now alongside Sheriff Jordan.” She paused, waiting—and saw the moment that the connection clicked into place for the woman whose name she already knew. Betty Crow, wife of local veterinarian Steve Crow.
“Oh my goodness, those poor women. Yes, yes, please come inside.”
Frank eyed the menagerie of statues on the shelves of the foyer curio cabinet. Little elephants of glass, stone and crystal and in every shape and size covered the shelves. Some were kinda cute. At least it wasn’t creepy little girl dolls. Because Amy had seen those before in a suspect’s house. She shuddered at the memory of that freak.
“Would you guys like some cookies or coffee? If it’s too late for coffee I’ve got—”
“We appreciate the offer,” Frank said, his tone a lot softer than Amy’s would have been. “Nothing is necessary, though we do appreciate the hospitality.” Damn, she could hear his faint South Carolina accent, though he hadn’t lived there in decades. He was laying on the charm thick.
“We really need to speak to your husband,” Amy added, trying to hide her impatience.
“Of course.” She motioned for them to follow her into a country kitchen decorated in roosters. This woman certainly like themes. “Just take a seat,” she said and opened a door that led to the backyard, leaving it open as she shouted. “Steve, the FBI is here!”
Less than a minute later, a man with graying hair and garden gloves stepped into the doorframe, his face smudged with dirt, his expression concerned as he pulled his gloves off.
His wife shut the door behind them and immediately went to pour him a glass of what Amy assumed was sweet tea as he leaned against a nearby countertop. “How can I help you guys? Also, I’d like to see your badges.”
In his early fifties, he looked exactly like his driver’s license. Gray hair, a sharp face, pale blue eyes. His credentials were excellent as well. There was nothing in his history to suggest that he would be helping someone overdose, kidnap, or kill women, but they were covering all the bases at this point. They had to. Detective work wasn’t like on TV. It involved a hell of a lot of interviews and running down leads that usually turned into nothing. And people were very often not accommodating.
“I’m here about the case you’ve probably seen on the local news. I don’t have a warrant to search your veterinary practice, but I can get one. I came here to see if you have any missing ketamine.”
The man sighed, his expression morphing into one of frustration as he pulled out one of the empty chairs and sat with them at the table. The scent of freshly cut grass and soil wafted on the air. It was pretty cold out to be gardening, she belatedly realized.
“I just contacted Sheriff Jordan this morning about it,” he said. “I left a message with the sheriff department because he wasn’t in—he was at the grid search, I discovered later.”
She straightened in her chair. “You did?”
“Yeah, they told me he’d call me back and I didn’t want to talk to anybody else but him.”
“Explain exactly why you called.”
“Over the last month I’ve noticed things moved around in my business. Little things. I thought maybe I moved things and didn’t remember.” He rubbed a hand over his head, agitated. “Then I noticed a couple vials of ketamine missing this morning. Things had been shifted around in one of my refrigerators so I don’t know how long they’ve been gone. I don’t want to accuse anyone I work with but…I don’t know how else to explain what the hell is going on. I’m not sure how that relates to your case though,” he said frowning. “I called Lincoln…ah, Sheriff Jordan so I could talk to him, one on one. Away from the clinic.”
Amy shared a pointed look with Frank. Then she turned back to the vet. “Mr. Crow, would you mind going down to your office with us tonight? I’d like to take some fingerprints off the fridge where the vials were kept. And if you’ve saved them, I’d like to see your security recordings. If you want to wait for the warrant—”
He shook his head. “No, no. That’s not necessary. Is this about the missing girls…girl, I guess? And the murdered women?”
Amy simply nodded.
His jaw clenched as he stood from his seat. “I’ll help in any way I can. I didn’t know Carol Rose that well, but…” His eyes widened slightly as he trailed off. “Is that how she died? Did someone give her ketamine?”
Amy didn’t respond, simply stood. She couldn’t give a potential suspect any information on an ongoing investigation. The only reason she told Serenity things was because she had a unique perspective on the case and Amy knew she’d keep her mouth shut. She’d refused to talk to reporters years ago and now was no different.
The man cleared his throat nervously and followed suit, standing. “If you don’t mind, let me just put on a fresh shirt and wash my hands and face. Then we can head out.”
“We’ll wait in the driveway for you.” Amy paused, then asked, “You’re gardening this time of year?”
He blinked in confusion, then half-smiled. “I’ve got a greenhouse I work on when I’m not with my animals.”
Amy nodded, making a note to check if he actually did have a greenhouse in his backyard even as Frank smiled politely at the man’s wife.
“Thank you for your hospitality,” Frank murmured. “We’ll be in the car waiting.”
“How are we doing on the warrants?” she asked once they were alone in the car. She hadn’t gotten any weird vibes from the vet and she’d be checking with Sheriff Jordan about the supposed call the man had made about the ketamine.
Frank checked his phone as he let the car idle. “We’ll have them in the morning. Porter found the right judge.”
Amy allowed herself a modicum of relief as she leaned back in the passenger seat. She might be a superstar within the Bureau, but she still had to follow all the rules, and for good reason. It didn’t matter what her instincts told her—she needed evidence. And unfortunately, she didn’t have enough right now to search all the places she wanted to. But after Serenity’s visit with Black today, she had enough to get warrants for the houses of the women she suspected.
At least her team was watching every house, and her people weren’t being subtle about it. All of those women knew they were under surveillance, which was a good thing. She hoped to God the killer stayed put. Or if they made a move, that her team would take them down.
Chapter 28
She stared down at her captive, soaking up the raw fear in her gaze. Watching the life drain from her was exhilarating and she hated that she’d waited so long to do t
his.
“You’re a monster,” Adeline whispered through dry lips, her eyes barely open. Her wrists were bloodied and bruised, her brown skin was paler than normal and her eyes had deep shadows underneath them. Her hair fell limp around her face as she found the energy to open her eyes and glare. “A pathetic monster.”
Rage popped inside her. You’re in charge, the voice whispered. Make her respect you, notice you.
She kicked her in the stomach. That’s right, she was in charge. No one else.
“Monster,” Adeline rasped out again as she coughed, her frail body spasming in pain. “You’ll pay for this. Eventually they’ll catch you.”
She kicked her again.
She’d given her prisoner very little food, no blanket, and enough water because she hadn’t wanted her to die too quickly. And she hadn’t been able to check in on her as much as she’d wanted because of the damn Feds. It had been two days since she’d been back here and she’d needed a fix. The sheriff had called the FBI in too quickly and she hadn’t expected it.
Unfortunately, this morning time had slipped away from her, as it did sometimes. She’d lost three hours just watching Adeline, taunting her.
Now it was time to go.
“You’re going to die soon,” she whispered. “And you’re going to wish it was sooner. Enjoy.” She hurried out of the small cabin, scanning the forest as she stepped onto the dilapidated porch. No one was out here. No one even knew about this old FEMA trailer. And it was almost impossible to find unless you knew where you were going.
When she checked her watch, her heart rate jumped. She had to get back to her house. The sun would be coming up soon. The Feds couldn’t know she’d been out. She raced through the woods, her boots and pants getting soaked from the morning dew. She’d just wanted to check on Adeline, to watch her suffering—to watch the life drain from her. She shouldn’t have stayed so long.