by Janie Crouch
“Fine. I’ll do it. I—”
Before she could say anything else, Penelope walked over and stopped directly in front of Bree’s computer station. “Everything okay? Where’s Tanner?”
Jeter’s voice came on in her ear as the picture disappeared once again from the computer screen. “Get rid of her, Bethany. We’ll go ahead and close the casket so Tanner can get a taste of what it might feel like in a few minutes if you don’t cooperate.”
“Um...” Bree looked up at Penelope trying not to sweat. “You’ll have to ask Whitaker. They were hanging out together last time I saw them. I’m sure Tanner’s around here somewhere.”
Penelope’s eyes narrowed. She glanced down at Bree’s hands then back up to her face.
The woman suspected something, or was at least noticing something was off. Bree could do nothing to warn the other woman. If Penelope said the wrong thing it would cost Tanner his life.
“Well, I just wanted to come by and say thank you for all the work you did with the case. We wouldn’t have been able to get those women out, without you.”
Bree gave a little nod. This was the last time she was going to be able to signal to anyone that Tanner was in trouble. How could she do it?
“I’m glad I could help.”
Penelope was still studying her. “And I’m really glad that you and I got to spend some time together and get to know each other so well. All the one-on-one time we spent together.”
Bree kept her face completely neutral. She and Penelope very definitely had not gotten to know each other. Bree had forgotten the woman’s name more than once.
“Um, yeah. That was nice.”
“You listening to music like you always do when you’re working?” Penelope continued.
“Get rid of her, now, Bethany.”
“Yeah. Music. You know how I love music when I’m working.” Bree nodded.
“You’ll be sure to get me that footage you set up before you leave, right? The special recordings you set up? Sorry we were so hard on you about that. I guess even I get territorial sometimes when it comes to cases.”
The monitor footage. Yes, it would still be running even now. If Penelope checked it she would be able to see what Jeter was sending her right now.
And even better, Jeter had no idea it existed since Bree didn’t use an official Dallas PD system.
“Yes.” Bree nodded enthusiastically. “You will very definitely want to look through that for the case. Jeremy knows how to access it. You’ll want to do that first thing. Thanks, Penelope.”
Penelope nodded and said a fast goodbye.
Bree prayed the woman had understood exactly what she meant and was checking to get the necessary screenshots right now.
“She’s gone. Where do you want me to meet you?”
Jeter rattled off an address and Bree knew right away it wasn’t where he was holding Tanner. It was nowhere near Whitaker’s old neighborhood.
“That’s where Tanner is? And if I come there and agree to stay with you, you’ll let him go?”
“That’s the deal. He’ll be right here beside me. And the moment you agree to go away with me, you can send a message to one of your little cop friends and have them come rescue our Tanner. If everyone moves quickly enough, maybe Tanner will get out of this before he suffocates. You have my word.”
Bree barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Jeter had no intention of letting Tanner out of that casket alive.
“Put the picture back on. I want to see him one more time. If I go away with you this will be the last time I’ll ever be able to.”
She needed to make sure Penelope got the message about where Tanner was. Saw that it was his fingers moving.
Jeter put the video of Tanner back up on the screen. Bree bit back a sob as Jeter had to pry open the casket cover in order for her to be able to see him. Sweat was running off his forehead and his eyes were a lot more apprehensive now.
His finger still kept beating the same Morse code pattern. Tanner knew he was in trouble, but was not panicking.
Bree brought her fingers up to her mouth and kissed them and then placed them on the screen. Hopefully to Jeter it would look like she was saying goodbye to Tanner. But once she got her fingers to the screen, where she was out of Jeter’s view, she pointed to Tanner’s finger tapping the code. She pointed three times, praying it would be enough.
They had to get to Tanner.
“Fine, I’m coming. Leave the casket open. I can meet you at that address in fifteen minutes.”
“I don’t think so. I think the casket being closed gives you more incentive to move more quickly. How long do you think it takes for someone to suffocate in a casket? An hour? Thirty minutes? I bet you’d like to Google that, wouldn’t you, but you can’t because you’re going to leave your phone on video with me the whole time. If at any point I can’t see your hands or I think you’re trying to warn someone about what’s going on, your boyfriend dies.”
Bree got up, keeping the phone so Jeter could see what she was doing. She was going to need to get a car. She knew how to steal one, but doing it in a police department parking lot was not the best of circumstances. But what other choice did she have?
She was almost to the door when Whitaker’s voice called out.
“Bree, where you going?”
She grimaced and turned back to him, keeping the phone at an awkward angle where Jeter could still see everything.
“I, uh, just needed some fresh air. And thought I might grab a bite to eat or something. I’ll be back in just a few.”
“I think you ought to wait until Tanner gets back. I don’t think he would like for you to be wandering around by yourself even if Jeter is in the hospital.”
How was she going to get out of here without making this a huge deal? “Yeah. But I—”
“Or I can come with you,” Whitaker offered.
Damn it. She tightened her grip on the phone. “No I—”
“Hey, Whit, can I talk to you for a second?” Penelope walked up to them and placed a hand on Whitaker’s shoulder.
“Sure. But—”
“This can’t wait. It’s about one of the victims.”
Whitaker looked torn. “It’s not a good idea for Bree to be going outside on her own.”
Penelope studied Bree. “You still listening to your music?”
Bree touched her headphones. “Yeah. Helps me relax.” The woman had to have remembered her earlier comment about how music distracted her.
“Here’s the keys to my car. It’s parked right out front. Go do what you need to do. We’ll see you soon.”
Bree turned and walked away, leaving Penelope behind to calm the blustering Whitaker and hopefully figure it all out.
Bree prayed it was enough.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tanner watched from his definite disadvantage point as Jeter put the call on mute. He could see Bree’s face, taut with worry, as she got up and made her way toward the door.
“Do you have something to say, Deputy?” Jeter pulled the gag out of Tanner’s mouth.
“You’re not going to get away with this.”
Tanner wanted to say more. Wanted to say that Jeter was underestimating Bree once again. Wanted to say that she was smarter than he gave her credit for, and should learn his lesson since she’d bested him twice already.
But Tanner knew better than to interrupt his enemy when he was making a mistake.
“Actually, I think I am going to get away with it. Don’t you see? Bethany is coming back to me. It didn’t take much.”
“She’s coming back to you because she has a kind heart and didn’t want to see me die.”
Jeter sighed. “She always did tend to lean toward being too soft. I tried to correct that in her. Would have succeeded if she hadn’t run away. But don’t worry,
I’ll succeed now. I’m the one she was always meant to be with.”
Jeter took out the ring box and began tossing it in the air again. “Honestly, Tanner. What could you give her? I am the one who always challenged her. I’m the one who helped her find the strength within herself.”
“You tortured her and her mother, isolated her and made her life a living hell. Bree Daniels is a woman of exceptional strength and beauty despite you, not because of you.”
Jeter’s eyes narrowed. “Her name is Bethany. She may have forgotten it, but don’t worry, by the time I’m finished with her she will never forget who she is or who she belongs to ever again.”
Tanner looked at the phone showing Bree leaving the police station. Had she figured out his clues? Tanner had to believe she had. Because there was no way in hell Jeter was going to let Tanner go free.
Jeter stuffed the gag back in Tanner’s mouth. “I don’t think anybody’s going to be around to hear you if you yell, but just in case. It’s time for me to go meet our girl. Ironically, I’m meeting her at a place just a couple blocks from here. Someday I’ll tell her how close she was to where you died. We’ll have a good laugh about it.”
Jeter rested his arms on the side of the casket and winked at Tanner. “See, I think there’s something you don’t really understand about Bethany. She can be molded. It might take a little more pressure than when she was a teenager, but I have no doubt I can do it.”
Tanner fought down panic as Jeter began to close the lid. “And just in case I underestimated Bethany once more—because honestly, fool me three times then I’m just a damned idiot—know that I’ve made certain that if she doesn’t choose me, she’ll never choose anyone else ever again.”
The lid of the coffin closed, and blackness surrounded him.
“Sorry it had to be this way, Tanner.” Jeter’s voice was distant through the thick wood of the casket. “But Bethany and I are meant to be together. It was always supposed to be this way.”
Some sort of lock clicked on the outside and Tanner was trapped by the darkness and his own helplessness.
* * *
JETER ALLOWED BREE to pull up the GPS on Penelope’s car, but made her turn the phone so that he could see exactly what she was doing. Smart. Because given two minutes, Bree could probably get a message sent to someone through the GPS. Of course, Jeter could do the same thing, which was why he’d circumvented that option.
Bree was a little surprised when the address he’d given her brought her to a popular lunchtime sandwich shop. She would not have thought that Jeter would show his face in public, given how well-known he now was.
“Park the car and take the white Honda Civic.” A picture of a license plate filled her screen.
Bree did as she was directed. It was actually a smart move on Jeter’s part. If Penelope tracked the GPS in her car, it would just show that Bree was at a restaurant like she’d said she would be.
Maybe Jeter really was bringing her to where he held Tanner and planned to let him go unharmed once Bree showed up.
But she knew better. The best she could hope for right now was that Tanner wasn’t already dead. That Penelope and Whitaker figured out the clue and got to him in time.
“Okay, I’m in the new car. Where do you want me to go?”
An address popped up on the GPS of the car and Bree began following the directions. At least this time it was leading her closer to where Tanner had indicated he was being held.
“You’re never going to be able to live a normal life, Michael. Too many people know you. There will be a reward out for your capture.”
Jeter’s face filled the screen once more. “Sadly, this face will have to go. You’re right, it’s much too noticeable. Yours will have to go too, Bethany, darling.”
Bree drove the rest of the way in silence, gripping the steering wheel so hard her knuckles were white.
Was she really driving toward this madman who had made her life a living hell for so many years? And all for the possible but unlikely chance that Tanner was still alive?
She tried not to think about what Tanner would want her to do because she already knew.
Tanner would never want her to put herself back into Jeter’s clutches. Not just because of the price she would pay personally, but because of what Jeter would accomplish once he eventually wore Bree’s resistance down and she cracked.
Bree and Jeter working together unchecked would become an unstoppable force. Law enforcement would never be able to capture him again.
Tanner would definitely not want Bree to be giving herself to Jeter, even to save his life. If he could communicate with her right now he would tell her to turn the car around and drive the other way.
The only reason she didn’t was because she knew the other side of that truth too.
If the roles were reversed and Tanner could put himself in jeopardy for the chance that it might save her life, he would do it in a heartbeat.
That’s what love was.
So she kept driving in the direction Jeter indicated.
A few minutes later she pulled up outside what looked like an old strip mall with adjoining shops. It might have been a thriving part of this neighborhood at one time, but had long been abandoned.
“Just come in through the pawnshop door,” Jeter said in her ear.
Bree got out of the car and marched slowly toward the entrance. Each step got harder and harder, like a prisoner walking to execution.
It wasn’t much of a metaphor if it was happening in reality.
She opened the door and walked inside. The interior of the building had been completely gutted. All the windows were blacked out, leaving the inside barren and completely dark.
Bree waited a few seconds for her eyes to adjust, then walked a little farther inside the building.
“That’s right,” Jeter said. “Just keep walking straight. You’ll find my little office.”
Bree used the light from the screen to guide her toward the only thing she could see inside the building besides boxes—a small room in the back corner.
It wasn’t completely unlike the rooms that had been used to hold the kidnapped women.
“Let’s go, Bethany. We don’t have all day.”
Bree gritted her teeth and reached for the doorknob, then pushed the door open. There stood the man she’d been running and hiding from half her life, smiling with his arms outstretched like they were old friends.
“I’m here.” She shut the door behind her, but stayed close to it. “Now where’s Tanner?”
Jeter gestured at one of the multiple monitors sitting around the room. There were at least half a dozen different computer systems, although Bree wasn’t the least bit surprised. Jeter would always be surrounded by computers.
“Deputy Dempsey is right where I left him.”
“We had a deal. I came here, and you let Tanner go.”
Jeter just smiled. “It’s so good to see you, Bethany. The last time we met, when you betrayed me, the circumstances weren’t optimal. I’ve had a lot of time to think about you the last few months. About you and I and how we fit together.”
He took a step closer as he continued. “About how we can’t allow things to stand in our way even when methods might sometimes seem cruel. About ends justifying the means.”
“You’re not going to let Tanner go, are you? You never planned to let him go.”
“Come over here and look at your Tanner.”
Bree didn’t want to move away from the door, but had no choice when Jeter picked up the gun on the table and pointed it at her.
“Come look.” He gestured with the gun.
She wasn’t going to move. She knew firsthand there was a lot worse he could do to her than to kill her quickly with a bullet. If Tanner was going to die anyway, then Bree wasn’t going to subject herself to a life of horror with Jeter. W
asn’t even going to subject herself to one single touch from him.
And then she saw just the slightest bit of movement on the monitor with Tanner. Something was happening over there, around the closed casket. Maybe Penelope had figured it out.
She had to keep Jeter distracted. Gritting her teeth, she took a step away from the door.
“There’s a good girl.”
“You know I’ll hate you forever. For killing Tanner? I’ll never forgive you.”
Bree forced herself to hold completely still as Jeter closed the distance between them and reached over to touch a strand of her hair. “We both know I can break you,” he whispered. “You’ll be whatever I mold you into.”
She glanced at the monitor again while Jeter was obsessed with touching the side of her face. There was definitely something happening.
“But I’m not a complete monster. I’ve attached a canister of carbon monoxide to Tanner’s casket. All I have to do is flip the switch and he’ll die without any pain within seconds.”
He stepped back from her a little and she knew he would be turning to the monitor. She couldn’t allow that to happen. With a scream she pounced toward the table, sweeping her arms across it and dumping everything, including the monitor with the picture of Tanner’s casket, onto the floor. Screeching, she dived for more of the computer equipment, ready to drag it off the table also. She kicked everything her feet came in contact with for good measure.
An arm wrapped around her waist and slung her back into the far corner of the room.
Bree was breathing hard, blood boiling. She’d never thrown a fit like this in her life and it actually felt a little good. But God, she hoped it was enough. For Penelope and Whitaker to get to Tanner and get him out.
But even if they did, they weren’t going to be able to help her. They had no way of knowing where she was.
The best thing Bree could hope for might be to get Jeter to kill her here.
Jeter shook his head and made a tsking noise. “I’m so disappointed in you, Bethany. Now your would’ve-been fiancé will die much more slowly and painfully, all so you could have a little temper tantrum.”