Alone (A Bone Secrets Novel) (35 page)

Mason’s gut was on fire. He wanted to hit someone. Preferably Cesare Abbadelli. And some of his spineless followers. Families had looked the other way as a madman possibly murdered women seeking help. And possibly his own wife and son?
How could they do nothing
?

“You said he lives where he’s always lived. Where is that?”

“I don’t know. He has a place in the forest. Some land near the coast.”

Ray straightened. “Wait a minute. Like out Highway 26? Over the Coast Range?”

“Yes, I believe that is where Nico said he lives.”

Mason looked at Ray. “What’s wrong?”

“Brody emailed me earlier. He said he’d located someone from the church who had some of the old church records and had passed Victoria Peres’s contact information to him. She’d told him she would head out there tonight. Brody didn’t say it was the pastor of the church, but I know the address is out in the middle of nowhere on the way to the coast. I think he found Abbadelli. But why didn’t he say so?”

“I don’t think he goes by Abbadelli anymore. I think he’s changed his name to something else,” added Esther. “I don’t know what name.”

“Get someone out to that address. And call Dr. Peres. See if she’s headed out there yet.”

His buzzing phone distracted him. “Callahan.”

“Detective, it’s Katy Morris again. I wanted to let you know we found Trinity, but thank you for your concern.”

Mason had nearly forgotten about the teen since the Abbadelli revelations. “Ms. Morris, we were just talking about you. Did you ever work with a Jackie Carey in your practice?”

Katy paused. “Yes, why?”

“That was her son with the gun at the memorial service. Is it possible he’d be angry if he saw you?”

Katy coughed. “Angry is putting it mildly, detective. Are you saying seeing me is what set off that teen?”

“It’s possible,” said Mason.

“Well, I told them to get him into counseling. Damn it! I knew that kid was a ticking bomb. I’m glad they’ve got him now. Maybe he’ll get the attention he needs.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on in teenage brains these days. But Trinity has been found? She turned up okay?” Mason asked.

“Yes, the car was washed off a road, but she and the boy with her are okay.”

“Thank God. So there
was
a boy. Is the car damaged badly?”

“I don’t know. Victoria Peres found her on the other side of the Coast Range. Can you believe that? She left me a message, but I haven’t been able to reach her. I think there’s no signal.”

Every alarm went off in Mason’s head. “Coast Range? Where was she going?”

“Beats the hell out of me. We’ll be having a deep discussion about this incident.”

“Who was the boy she was with?”

“I don’t know that either,” Katy admitted.

Mason looked at Ray. “Trinity Viders was found by Victoria Peres on the other side of the Coast Range. With a teen boy. How much do you want to bet it’s Abbadelli’s grandson?”

“Jason?” Esther asked. “She’s with him?” Fear filled her face. “I wouldn’t trust him. He must be taking her to his grandfather. What are they going to do to her?”

“And it sounds like Dr. Peres found a link to the birth records’ source. In the same place,” Ray stated. His face was grim.

“Detective, what are you talking about?” Katy asked, concern filling her voice.

“Dr. Peres didn’t tell you exactly where she’d found Trinity?” he asked.

“No. All she said was that they’d spotted her car and were getting her out. She did say she’d called nine-one-one.”

“They will know where her call came from. We’ll trace them through their system.” He tipped the phone away from his ear and gestured to Ray. “Dr. Peres placed a nine-one-one call about the car being washed off the road. See if they got a reading on her location.”

“What is going on?” Katy nearly yelled. “Is Trinity all right?”

“We’re going to find out, Ms. Morris.”

Mason mentally crossed his fingers.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Victoria asked again. She didn’t like the amount of blood that was soaking through Jason’s jeans below his knees. He’d climbed out of her SUV in slow motion, moving gingerly, trying not to bump his legs on the truck door. Seth came around the front of the vehicle, stopped next to Victoria, and squinted at Jason’s pants in the dim light.

“Wow. You’re really bleeding.”

Jason swallowed hard and looked at the front door of the little house. They’d stopped in front of an old A-frame cabin that looked straight out of a campground from the 1950s. Victoria could make out some smaller outbuildings scattered around the forested property, but this was the only one with lights on inside.
The entire area was dark. The rain clouds and firs shadowed the area, creating an atmosphere of midnight when in reality, the sun had set only an hour ago. The cabin was built on a slightly elevated piece of ground, avoiding the possibility of flooding like the low area they’d crossed minutes before. The Coast Range sloped up behind the cabin, giving the impression that it grew out of the back of the residence.

Victoria followed Jason’s gaze to the cabin. “Are you sure someone’s home?”

“Yes, I talked to him earlier.”

“Maybe you should be the one to knock. Although I think he’s expecting me, too. Is your grandfather Cecil Adams?” Victoria asked.

Jason met her gaze, and she didn’t like the level of alarm in his eyes. “Yes, why are you seeing him?”

“Supposedly he’s got some old documentation of church records. Possibly some adoption references. I’m trying to verify my birth parents.” Victoria watched his face carefully. Why was the teen so alarmed? “Does that sound like something he’d have?”

“I don’t really know.” Jason looked away, picking at his jeans.

Why is he lying to me?

“Did your grandfather belong to a church that burned down a long time ago?” Seth asked, his brows nearly touching each other as he studied the young man.
Seth sees it, too.

“Beats me.” Jason bent to examine the bloody denim around his knee.

Victoria turned toward the house as the squeak of hinges caught her attention. She turned in time to see a flash from a shotgun muzzle and was deafened by the immediate roar.

Seth tackled her from behind, crushing her into the mud.

Seth saw the old man step out the door with his double-barreled shotgun pointed in their direction. The boom sounded in his ears as he rushed at Victoria, hitting her in the shoulders and landing on top of her, covering her head with his hands. Trinity cried out, as Jason pushed her aside, knocking her down.

“Nonno! Stop it! It’s me!” the teen yelled at the old man.

“Jason?” the man asked.

“Damn it, Nonno! What are you doing? You knew I was coming.”

“Don’t swear at me, boy! I expected you and the girl. Who else is with you?”

Seth studied the white-bearded old man from his position on Victoria’s back. He was squinting in the dim light, and Seth suspected he’d shot over their heads, not directly at them. “Mr. Adams?” Seth asked.

The gun moved toward Seth. “Who wants to know?”

“My name is Seth. Victoria Peres is with me. I think you were going to show us some paperwork in your barn?” The old man was silent, and Seth wondered if he’d forgotten about their meeting already. Was he sane? At the worst he had one round left in the shotgun. Judging by his stiff movements, it’d take a few moments to reload. “Are you going to put away that gun?”

“Are you armed?” Mr. Adams asked.

“No,” said Seth, immediately wishing he’d kept his mouth shut. But the old man lowered the gun a little, pointing it behind them instead of directly at them. Seth exhaled and Victoria squirmed underneath him.

“Get off of me,” she hissed.

He moved. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. But my wrist cracked when we went down.” Pain rang in her voice. She pushed up with her right hand, tucking her left close to her chest. Mud covered the front of her clothing and one side of her face.

He wiped at her face with his sleeve. “What do you mean, cracked?” Dread tightened his chest.

“I’m not sure. I heard it and I can feel it.” She looked at the old man by the front door and raised her voice. “Mr. Adams, you said you were okay with us coming out tonight, right?”

“Lady, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Victoria caught her breath. “I just talked to you on the phone. Less than an hour ago. You have some old church records we were going to look at.”

The old man stared at her, squinting in the poor light. “What’d he say your name was?”

“Victoria Peres.” The twin barrels returned to point directly at her.

“Peres? The lady doctor?” Adams asked.

“Yes. I have a doctorate in forensic anthropology. I’m not a medical doctor.”

A grin cracked the man’s face. She didn’t like it. It wasn’t a happy grin. It was an I’m-a-crazy-bastard grin.

“Why do you think he can help with some paperwork?” Jason asked, his voice low. “He’s an old man. He doesn’t know anything.”

Seth looked at the teen. Jason was helping Trinity wipe off the mud just like he’d done for Victoria. There was an urgency in the boy’s voice that made the hair stiffen on the back of his neck. “Why not?”

“You guys should just leave. He can’t help you. Get Trinity out of here, too.”

“Why did you bring her out here then?”

“I didn’t know he was going to be in one of his crazy moods,” Jason stated. “It’s best to leave him alone when he’s got the gun out.”

No kidding.

“Maybe we should come back another day,” Seth whispered to Victoria.

“No. We’re here. I want to see what he’s got.”

“Jason probably knows when it’s best to leave his grandfather alone. I think we should listen to him.”

Another gun roared and Victoria flung herself back to the ground with Seth a split second behind her. His ears rang, and he mentally checked his limbs for injuries.

“Jesus Christ, Dad. What the hell?” Jason yelled.

Dimly Seth noted that the second gunshot had come from behind them. Looking back, he saw a tall, thin figure with a similar shotgun who’d just blasted a hole in Victoria’s rear tire. Panic flared in his lungs.

“Don’t blaspheme,” the figure said.

Jason’s dad?

“Why did you do that?” the teen yelled at his father.

The man said nothing. Seth couldn’t make out his face in the dark, but he could plainly see the shotgun focused on him and Victoria. Two barrels again. Images of the crazy men in
Deliverance
spun in his brain.

“Oh my God,” Victoria whispered. “What is this?”

“I’ve no fucking idea,” Seth said under his breath. “How are we going to get out of here?”

“I don’t care if my tire’s shot out. I’ll drive on it if that’s the only way out,” she whispered.

“Be quiet,” the thin man ordered. “Get up.”

Seth stood, keeping the man in his view, and carefully helped Victoria to her feet. Jason helped Trinity up and moved between her and his father. “You need to let them go.”

“I don’t think so.” His head turned toward Victoria. “I’ve been waiting for her.”

Seth froze. What did he want with Tori?

Pain radiated up Victoria’s arm.
Shit.
The slightest movement or twist made her eyes roll back in her head. Definitely broken. She’d heard the snap when Seth landed on her. But at the moment, her arm was the least of her concerns. Two crazy men with shotguns took priority.

“What is going on?” she mumbled to Seth, who supported her with her other arm. Rain and mud soaked her jeans.

“I don’t think Jason’s grandfather is happy to see you.”

“I got that. But why?”

“Women shouldn’t do what you do,” came a voice behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw the tall, thin man with his gun’s muzzle at Trinity’s back. He didn’t wear a hat or hood, and water streamed down his face. He gave no sign that he felt it.

“It’s not normal,” he added.

“What do I do?” she asked him.

“Look at bones. Those people are dead. You shouldn’t be handling them like they were pots and pans.” His voice rumbled in anger.

Fire ripped up her spine. “I give every death the respect it deserves! I don’t throw their remains around like pots. My job is to figure out why they died and who is to be held responsible.”

“Why is anyone responsible? Perhaps they deserved to die.”

A new chill started in Victoria’s stomach and filled her lungs.

Was he their killer of the circle of women from forty-five years ago
? She dismissed the thought. He was too young to have committed that crime. She slowly turned her head to look at the grandfather.
He was not
.

The old man was still staring at her, his gun trained on her and Seth. He’d recognized her name. How? From the paper? “Are you Cecil Adams?” She directed her voice at the porch.

“That’s one of my names.”

“And the other?” she asked.

“At one time I was Cesare Abbadelli. Americans struggled with that name. No one blinked when I changed it to Adams.”

Memories poked at her brain. “You were the pastor. My parents went to your church. I remember that it had burned down and I remember you.” She could picture a kind old man, sort of like Santa Claus. But now he was Santa with a gun.