by Angie Martin
“He picked the locks on the front door and waited for her in the hall closet,” Jake said. He walked down the hallway and stopped in front of the coat closet. “He was in here.”
Lionel walked slowly toward Jake. “How could you know that?” he asked.
“If you pick the locks of the front door,” Emily said, “and you want to keep your prints or DNA or whatever confined to a limited area, this is where you would wait for someone.”
“Plus he knew Cassie would come into the house through the garage,” Jake said. “She would have had to walk through the kitchen and right past this hall closet. If he didn’t hear the garage door open or hear her walk into the house, he definitely would hear her walking down this hall if he was in the closet.”
“She went into the bathroom,” Emily said, with her eyes closed again, “and he exited the closet and waited in the hall, surprising her when she opened the bathroom door.”
“That sounds very logical,” Lionel said. “We need to get this closet printed and scoured for any evidence.”
Shawn called down the hall for a tech and directed them to start on the hall closet. “Work your way down the hallway, too. He may have first grabbed her in the hallway.”
“How did they end up in the bedroom?” Lionel asked.
“That one I can answer,” Shawn said. “She kept one of her guns in the nightstand. We’ve already photographed and bagged it. The rest of her weapons are in a gun safe in her home office, so the gun in her nightstand is the one she would have gone for first.”
“When he grabbed her in the hall, it wasn’t tight enough to keep hold of her,” Emily said. “She wiggled free and ran to the bedroom to get her gun.”
“It would have been easier to get her gun than going for her cell phone in the kitchen and trying to call for help,” Lionel said. “The cell phone option would have taken way too long.”
“But he caught up to her in the bedroom,” Shawn said, “and she never made it to her gun.”
“Can we go to the bedroom?” Emily asked.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Shawn asked. “There is some blood. It’s not enough to be serious, but we think it’s her blood and she was hurt in the struggle.”
Emily drew a shaky breath, and Jake placed his hands on her shoulders from behind her. He leaned over her shoulder. “Em, we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
“Yes, we have to,” she said.
Shawn nodded and led them into the bedroom. Two crime scene investigators worked on the bedroom, dusting for prints and collecting evidence. “Guys, can you give us a minute?” Shawn asked.
The investigators finished what they were working on and left the room. Shawn turned to Emily and Jake. “The room has been photographed and most of the evidence has been collected, but please do not disturb anything.”
“We’ll be extra careful,” Jake said.
Emily walked around the room with Jake right behind her.
Lionel shielded his eyes with his hand for a moment. He didn’t want to look at the scene where Cassie had been taken, and he definitely didn’t want to see her blood.
When he gathered the courage to look around, the first thing he saw was her bed. The messy comforter hung off the edge, as if Cassie had tried to climb over the bed and was dragged off of it, or was picked up and thrown down. The askew pillows and sheets pulled up from the mattress told Lionel there had been a huge struggle once he had her on the bed.
The previous crimes had no evidence that the killer raped or sexually assaulted any of his victims, but the thought of his niece being helplessly attacked on her bed and restrained was too much for Lionel. He looked away from the bed and tried to keep his focus on other things so he wouldn’t see it in his peripheral vision.
Next to the bed was a broken lamp from her bedside table. Her alarm clock was on the floor as well, along with a capped bottle of water and a paperback novel. Lionel didn’t immediately see the blood Shawn mentioned, so he stopped looking around the room before he found it.
“How did he get her out of the house?” Emily asked.
“We think she was drugged,” Shawn said. “We found a cap that looked like it could have covered the needle of a syringe.”
“If he struggled with Cassie, he probably used his teeth to get the cover off,” Jake said.
“That’s what we thought also,” Shawn said. “We had a guy take it straight to the lab to have a tech swab it for saliva. If they find any saliva, we’ll see if we can pull DNA from it.”
“That’s a lucky break,” Jake said. “Is he normally that careless?”
“Never,” Lionel said. “But he’s been making more and more mistakes.”
“I’ve seen enough,” Emily said.
“Did you see anything else that might help?” Lionel asked.
Emily shook her head. “Just the closet and the hallway.”
Once they were back outside, Lionel gave Emily another hug. “Thank you so much for coming,” he said. “You both helped out more than you can imagine.”
“You have to find her,” Emily said. “If there’s anything else we can do—”
“You’ve already helped a lot,” Shawn said. “Go home and try to get some sleep. Jake, will you be staying with her?”
“I’ll take her to my house and keep an eye on her,” Jake said. “I won’t leave her alone for a second.”
“That’s probably best,” Shawn said. “We’ll call as soon as we know something.”
Lionel watched Emily and Jake walk back to his Jeep. He had always questioned how Emily knew more than she could possibly know, but tonight he was thankful she could pick up on those things.
“You should go home, too,” Shawn said. “It’s not going to help for you to stay up all night with me. One of us needs to be rested when we review everything in the morning.”
“You’re right,” Lionel said. “I’ll get a uniform to run me home. There’s no point in making Barbara come out here to pick me up. She doesn’t need to see all of this.”
“We’ll find her, Leo,” Shawn said. “She’ll be home safe tomorrow.”
Lionel nodded, and walked away to find an officer to take him back home to his wife.
Chapter Fifty-five
Bob was still asleep in his spot on the back of the recliner when they returned to Jake’s house. Emily went straight back to the bedroom without a word, but Jake didn’t follow her or try to engage her in conversation. Silence had filled his Jeep on the drive back, and every time he said something, she would only nod or shake her head in response.
Jake walked around the house, making sure all the locks were still secure on both the doors and windows. As an added precaution, he checked the closets in all the rooms to make sure no one was hiding.
Back in the bedroom, Emily was still in her clothes. “Aren’t you changing into your pajamas?” he asked.
“We have so much work to do.”
“There’s nothing we can do at almost two in the morning. You need sleep, I need sleep. Neither of us will be effective tomorrow morning if we haven’t slept.”
“He has her, Jake. There’s no way I can sleep tonight knowing that she’s with him.”
“He won’t do anything to her, not for quite a while. You’re the one he wants and she’s your conduit. She’s the closest thing he has to you. He won’t hurt her until he can fully exploit that. You said yourself it could take time before he starts using her to get to you.”
“But what if he doesn’t wait?” Emily said. She mashed her quivering lips together and her eyes glassed over. “She’s my best friend, Jake. I can’t take any chances with her life.”
Jake pulled her to him. She buried her face in his shoulder and her damp cheeks wet the side of his neck. “We’re not taking chances with her life, but we won’t do any good by sitting up worrying all night. Shawn and Lionel are doing everything they can, and maybe they’ll be able to get some DNA from the syringe cap. But we won’t know any of that until t
he morning, so for what’s left of tonight, we need to sleep.”
“You’re right,” Emily said, and she broke away from him. “We can’t help her right now. In the morning, we might have a clearer idea about how to find her. Did you feel him at her house?”
“As soon as we walked up to her front porch. It was impossible not to.” He could still feel him now, but he hadn’t wanted to tell her. The man who took Cassie left a trail of malevolence that was easy to recognize.
Jake had never experienced such an evil presence and that same person was in Emily’s mind. He couldn’t bear the thought of that monster wanting to get to her. After experiencing the intimacy of her letting him into her mind, he hated that the killer had forced his way in and invaded her to the point that it physically drained her and made her ill. Jake couldn’t take chances of letting him get anywhere near Emily.
“I think we should split an Ambien to help us sleep,” he said, changing the subject. “A full one and we’ll sleep too late, so I’ll cut one in half.”
“That’s fine,” she said. “I’ll go get ready for bed.”
When Jake returned from the kitchen with half of an Ambien tablet for both of them, Emily came out of the bathroom, dressed in the pajamas she wore earlier. He handed her the pill with a glass of water. She swallowed it with a sip of water and gave him back the glass for him to take his half of the pill.
After climbing into bed, Emily crawled into his arms. Her chilled body shivered against him, and he tightened his hold on her. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m really scared, Jake,” she whispered through the dark. “I’ve never been so scared.”
“Don’t be scared. We’re going to find Cassie and everything will be fine. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You’re safe here with me.” Jake kissed her forehead and held her close. Though he intended his words to be true, he couldn’t tell her that he was just as frightened.
Chapter Fifty-six
Jake had been asleep for at least a half hour before Emily snuck out of his bed. The Ambien he took would keep him out for a few more hours, giving her plenty of time to go through with her plan.
She eased the bedroom door shut to shield him from any noise she made, and crept down the hallway, into the living room. She wished she’d had the foresight to keep her overnight bag in the living room to change into some warmer clothes before she left. With her bag in the bathroom, she couldn’t change into something warmer and risk rousing Jake, so her pajamas would have to do.
In the living room, she slipped on her shoes and picked up her purse. At the dining room table, she dropped her half of the Ambien pill in her purse, having hid it between her fingers after she took the glass from Jake. She hated the deception, not only then, but what she had to do now. There was no other choice. She had to find Cassie and she was running out of time.
Emily dug in her purse until she found a piece of paper and a pen. She composed a note to Jake, explaining everything she could without being too lengthy. She took her cell phone out of her purse and sat it on top of the note. Even though the police might be able to track her if she had it, taking it with her could result in Cassie being hurt and she wasn’t willing to take that risk.
She removed her car keys from her purse, and took the ignition key off the ring. At the last moment, she unzipped a pocket in the back of her purse and pulled out an extra key for her car.
Before she moved into the garage, she went back into the living room. Bob popped his head up from his sleeping spot on the recliner and meowed at her. She scratched behind his ears, leaned over, and kissed his furry head. “Keep Jake company for me until I come home,” she whispered.
In the garage, she took the garage door opener out of his Jeep and climbed into the front seat of her car. She put the extra key in the glove compartment. If things worked out the way she hoped, Cassie would check the glove compartment first for a key. In high school, Emily’s mom refused to allow her to buy a car with money saved from her after-school job, so she borrowed Cassie’s car from time to time. Cassie always left an extra key in the glove compartment for her. She hoped Cassie remembered their arrangement.
With the other key in the ignition, she pressed the button on the garage door. Though Jake’s bedroom was in the back of the house, there was always a chance he could hear the garage door open and close.
She waited for a moment, but Jake did not run out of the house to find out why she was leaving. The engine roared to life and Emily threw the car into reverse. Using the gas pedal as little as possible, the car rolled out of the garage and down the steep driveway. At the bottom of the driveway, she turned onto the street and closed the garage door.
Emily drove to a nearby mom and pop grocery store that closed several hours earlier. She pulled her car into the delivery bay behind the store and silenced the car’s engine. She wasn’t sure what time the store began taking deliveries, but with the darkness swirling in her mind and the sensation of the killer from Cassie’s house, it wouldn’t take long for her to contact him.
Her eyes slid shut and she bowed her head. She gripped the steering wheel, focused her breathing, and called out to him. Remembering Marta’s warning to keep her mind closed, Emily opened her mind as much as possible and probed the darkness that resided within.
Moments later, she heard her name. At first she thought it was Cassie, but then she recognized the low tones as being a man’s voice. Relief rushed through her. He hadn’t hurt Cassie to the point of making her call out to Emily.
Having made contact with him, Emily visualized the alley where police had found Jillian Waters. She threw every detail of that alley into the darkness, hoping that he would pick up on where she wanted to meet. She had to get them onto familiar territory to ensure Cassie’s safety.
The voice came back to her, confirming he knew where to find her. Emily opened her eyes. It wasn’t too late to go back to Jake’s house, or even to call Uncle Leo, but having anyone else waiting for him in the alley would put Cassie in danger. Though she had never been more terrified in her life, Emily put the car in gear and took off toward the alley.
Chapter Fifty-seven
Emily turned off the car’s headlights and backed into the dark alley where the mutilated body of Jillian Waters was discarded. Using the red and white glow of the brake and backup lights to guide her, she maneuvered through the narrow channel and parked behind the three commercial trash bins.
Cassie and her captor were not there yet, giving Emily a few minutes alone to prepare for their arrival. The alley provided several options for Cassie once she was out of harm’s way. If she didn’t find the key Emily left in the glove compartment, Cassie was familiar enough with the area that she could find her way to a phone and call Uncle Leo. If all else failed, Sam lived around the corner in his homemade shelter. Because the killer was unaware of Sam, it was one more resource for Cassie to use to get help.
Though his presence in Emily’s mind had grown larger than ever before, it would feel much different once they were face to face. She hoped when he stood in front of her, the darkness in her mind would start to fade away rather than take over every part of her.
Standing in front of her car, fear racked her body and her rigid joints threatened to lock into position. Still in her pajamas, she rubbed her bare arms to try and keep warm, but it wasn’t nearly enough in the coldest and darkest hours of the spring night. The cold should have been the least of her concerns, but it allowed her to focus on something other than what her fate might be once she was with him.
Emily had no illusions regarding what was about to happen. Once she exchanged her freedom for Cassie’s, there would be no need for him to hurt anyone else, but she would still be with the man who had killed eight women to get to her. After that, she had no idea what he would do or how exactly she could get away if Jake didn’t quickly find her. Everything she did depended not only on Cassie getting away safe, but also on Jake finding her once he woke from his Ambien-induced sleep.
The darkness had so completely filled her mind that she feared she wouldn’t be able to find her way back to Jake on her own. All of the light he left behind after being in her mind would be snuffed out as soon as she was with the killer. She was asking so much of Jake. Though they had not yet said it, she believed he loved her as much as she loved him. He wouldn’t leave her stranded with this monster for long, but would find her and direct Lionel and Shawn to rescue her.
The air around her thickened and a car pulled up in front of the alley. It blocked the entryway, with the passenger side facing her. Leaving the headlights on, the driver exited the car and walked around to the back seat on the passenger side. Emily gulped down large breaths, so as not to drown in the black circling her mind like a vulture waiting for her death.
The driver opened the back door and yanked his passenger out of the car. Emily was relieved to see the shadows of Cassie’s familiar face illuminated by the interior car light. Her hands appeared to be tied behind her back, duct tape covered her mouth, and he dragged her against her will down the alley.
He stopped in front of the trash bin closest to his car and Emily got her first look at him. Clean-cut with short dark hair and striking features, he towered over Cassie. He looked like any other person walking down the street.
Emily assessed Cassie’s appearance. Her condition was better than Emily expected, with just a few bruises and some matted blood on the side of her head. Seeing Cassie alive reinforced that she was doing the right thing.
“I can’t believe you’re finally here, Emily,” he called down the alley. “You came alone?”
“Yes. I’m sure you would sense it if someone else was here with us.”
“I’m really glad you didn’t bring anyone. It wouldn’t have gone well for any of us if you had. Unfortunately, we still have to go through some precautions.” He gestured to the trash bin next to her. “I need you to throw your car keys in there. We can’t have Cassie following us now, can we?”