Deadly Dozen: 12 Mysteries/Thrillers (314 page)

“Yeah, that could make you want to disappear.” Rob had started out with the police force. The code was you didn’t turn on your own, no matter what.

“There’s more, but I think you better hear the bad news first.” Carl glanced at the no smoking sign on the wall before lighting a cigarette.

“Cory ran those same prints four days before she was killed.”

Rob paled slightly, his jaw tightening. “You ready for a vacation?”

Carl nodded, “Yep, think it’s time we went fishing.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“He’s been dead a while. Couple of months maybe. Won’t know for sure until we get an autopsy on what’s left of him.” Doc Hawthorne dusted the dirt off his hand and stood up.

“Any idea how he died, Doc?” Sarah stood over the shallow grave, her thoughts in chaos. She felt a similar darkness here, similar to what she’d felt at The Lodge. Not quite as strong, not quite as evil. A darkness born of confusion.

“Don’t need an autopsy for that.” Bending down he turned the skull to the left, revealing the fracture. “Gonna be hard to identify him, though. Whoever did it pulled all his teeth and cut off his hands.”

“Damn.” Sarah wanted to scream. It could take months, maybe years for them to identify the body. By then, the killer would be long gone. Or worse yet, have killed again.

“Sheriff?”

“What, Thomas?” Sarah snapped out the words.

“We got company.”

Sarah turned to watch Gavin McAllister make his way up the hill.

“Want me to stop him?”

“No, I’ll take all the help I can get right now.”

Thomas stood quietly, waiting for further orders.

“It’s okay, Thomas. Find Joshua and see if he’s found anything yet.”

“Sheriff.” Gavin stopped a few feet from her.

“If you’ve got any suggestions, McAllister, I could sure use them right about now.”

Gavin examined the open grave. Too shallow. Whoever had dug the grave was in a hurry, but not stupid. The choice of location was good. Time and nature would take care of any trails he might have left, and the odds of someone discovering the body were poor.

“We need to talk.” Gavin turned his attention to Sarah, noting the deep furrows of her frown.

“Let me finish up here. I’ll meet you at the office.”

Gavin hesitated. He knew how local sheriffs reacted to the FBI. Time was running out. “Sarah, my brother is with the FBI in Richmond. I could call him, see if I can get you some help down here. There’s reasons he may be interested.”

Sarah nodded. Her pride was no longer important. People were dying, and she didn’t have a clue which way to look. And if she could trust her emotions, they had more than one killer running loose in Glade Springs. “Come on, you can use my cell phone.”

They walked down the hill together and yet Sarah felt they were a thousand miles apart.

Minutes later Gavin frowned as he closed the phone.

“No luck, huh?”

“Strange. He’s on vacation. They said he left this morning for a fishing trip.”

Sarah laughed hollowly. “Must be nice. But I don’t see anything strange about that.”

Gavin met her gaze, still frowning. “As far as I know, Rob has never been fishing in his life.”

The crackle of the radio stopped any response Sarah might have given.

“Sheriff.”

“We got another one. Up the hill to the left. Better get Doc up here.”

Sarah turned, but Doc Hawthorne had already started moving slowly toward the hill.

Sarah felt Gavin’s hand on her shoulder, offering the comfort she so desperately needed. She longed to sink against him, be held, protected. Protected? The thought infuriated her. “You coming?”

“Right behind you.”

The second grave was a duplicate of the first. Doc Hawthorne looked up and shook his head. “Female, same wounds. Teeth and hands missing.”

Turning to Gavin, Sarah shook her head. “Looks like we’re going to have to put off that conversation a little longer. Tomorrow?”

Gavin nodded, fear clutching at his stomach. He hoped tomorrow wasn’t too late.

Sarah turned back to the scene unfolding before her.

“Sketches and photographs are finished, Sarah,” Joshua stated, his voice flat, emotionless.

Sarah nodded. She knew she should probably wait to move them. Call in forensics. Dammit, they didn’t belong here. They should be laughing, loving, living their life. Sarah turned to Joshua, her voice filled with anger seething just below the surface, and barked out orders. “Get the bags. Let’s get them out of here.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Captain Jones swore softly as he watched the two men approach his office. Trouble with a capital T. Their casual dress did little to disguise them. He knew Bureau when he saw it. And Bureau was always trouble.

He stood up to greet them at the door. The best way to deal with trouble was to meet it head-on. No greeting was necessary. They’d been around long enough to know he knew who they were. He waved them to seats and remained standing, setting the boundaries. They were in his territory now.

“Gentlemen, what can I do for you?”

The voice was polite, a thread of steel running just beneath the words. Rob ignored it as he took in the office in one glance. The stack of files on the right, mass of loose paperwork on the left. Understaffed. The captain probably found himself constantly amidst the tower of paperwork required to satisfy the higher-ups. Keep them off his back. Tattered and worn furniture that the city should have replaced years ago. Rob brought his gaze back to the captain. A tough cop, but from everything they’d learned, a good cop. He had to be tough to make it in Washington, D. C. Everyone wanted to blame the cops for everything. Even the Justice Department had made them sign an agreement that limited the use of force by officers. No respect. And crime was now on the rise again, especially murders. Even Richmond was better than this. Carl was senior partner, and Rob waited patiently for him to start the ball rolling.

Carl too had measured the captain, liking what he saw. “Tell us about Sarah McKnight.”

The words were spoken softly, but to Captain Jones it felt as if the old man had screamed them. He hesitated, returned to his desk and fidgeted with the paperwork there. Sarah McKnight. Dear God, would that never go away?

“Not much to tell.”

Carl chuckled. Meaning, not much he was going to tell.

“She in trouble?” Captain Jones was patting down his pockets, a sign of distress Carl knew well.

Glancing around the room, Carl saw no signs to prohibit it, and pulled the well-worn pack from his coat pocket, extending it to the captain. “Smoke?”

Jones took the proffered cigarette and light, dragging in deeply, blowing out a billowing cloud of smoke. “Thanks. Been trying to quit.”

“Hard job,” Carl stated flatly, as he lit his own cigarette.

Rob watched in fascination as charcoal eyes clashed with smoldering blue. Two old veterans who knew the rules, the boundaries, the game.

“You first.”

Carl weighed the information he had so far. Bureau policy was not to share information. He glanced at Rob and received a knowing nod. Hell, he wasn’t Bureau now, he was on vacation.

“Trouble, no. We think she may be in danger. Something from her past, maybe, coming back to haunt her?”

Captain Jones sat back and digested the information he’d received, as well as what had not been said. He’d always been afraid of that. He liked Sarah. His ass could be on the line, too. He’d helped her disappear.

“Sarah left here almost six years ago. I haven’t heard from her since.”

Carl knew he was lying. Protecting her. They knew most of the story, but needed to hear it from him. He tried a different approach.

“All right, tell us about Todd Williams.”

Jones felt the rage rising, blood rushing to his face. Shoving the paperwork on his desk to one side, he faced the agents, “I’ll tell you anything you want to know about that son-of-a-bitch.”

#

Two hours later Carl and Rob stepped into the D.C. sunshine. Neither of them wanted to break the silence. The captain had been true to his word, telling a story that sickened and angered them. No wonder Sarah McKnight had taken on a new identity.

“He sure sounded like our man,” Carl stated, breaking the uneasy silence.

“I think he is.”

Carl stopped walking. “Jones said he was still in prison. Checked himself last week.”

“Yeah, well I think maybe we’ll check him out ourselves. Jones didn’t say why he checked last week. In fact, there’s a lot Jones didn’t say. Ever been to Ohio, Carl?”

“Fuck,” Carl muttered. Ohio? Why couldn’t the motherfucker have been some place where the fishing was good? “Nope, but I guess I’m going.”

Rob walked away, his thoughts on Cory and Gavin. Cory must have somehow stumbled across the Sarah McKnight story. If Williams was the Mother’s Day killer, then it all made sense. Cory would never have exposed Sarah McKnight. She would have died before doing that. He glanced at the photograph Jones had given him. Odious, soulless, black eyes. Rob didn’t care what anyone said, he knew in his heart he was looking at Cory’s killer. Hate filled him with a burning fury.

#

Sarah, wake up. He’s here, Sarah. Wake up!

Sarah struggled to obey the voice in her head, but her arms and legs felt disconnected. A strange smell drifted in the room, filling her senses, pulling her into the blackness.
Sarah, wake up!

The scream inside her head had the desired effect. Sarah fought her way to consciousness with the realization that something was wrong, terribly wrong. Blackness was all around her. Someone was here. Someone dark, evil. Emotions filtered through her semi-conscious mind. Rage. Hate. So much hate. She concentrated. Nikki. She had to get to Nikki.

The sound of the door closing downstairs cleared her mind and spurred her on as she threw off the covers and stood on shaky legs. Fear was a great motivator. Nikki. She had to get to her. She stumbled, her legs still not obeying the commands her brain issued. The hallway stretched out before her. Tears filled her eyes. She felt weak, helpless. She hadn’t felt this way since—no, she wouldn’t think about that. That was another life, another lifetime. She was almost there. The same fear that had given her strength, now seemed to paralyze her. She forced her trembling fingers to open the door and flip on the light. Relief robbed her legs of the last vestige of strength. Sinking to the floor, she rested her head against the door jam, tears flowing down her face. Nikki lay, one hand tucked under her angelic face, sleeping peacefully, unaware of the darkness that surrounded them. Safe. It was just a dream.

Sarah pulled herself up and reached for the light just as her gaze fell on the stars floating above the bed. It hadn’t been a dream. Reaching out she touched a star, recoiling from the evil she felt there. He’d been here. In her house. In her daughter’s room.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Rob flinched as the gates clanged shut behind him. Glancing at Carl, he realized his partner was feeling the same thing. They hated prisons. They’d been lucky, catching an early flight to Ohio. Still, it was a little after midnight. The odds were the warden wouldn’t see them, and if he did, he probably wasn’t going to be too happy about it.