Field of Graves (35 page)

She pulled down the path and almost rammed the car into a police cruiser. Officer Miller and Officer Wills must have had the same idea. She stopped behind the first car and popped the trunk so they could grab the gear stashed there. She and Fitz stepped out into the cool night air.

The two officers stepped out from the front of their cars. They looked dangerous, dressed head to toe in their black SWAT gear, guns pointing from every angle.

“Good of you to join us,” Miller said. “Didn’t see any cars in the drive when we pulled in, thought we’d just duck in here.” He flashed Taylor a smile, his white teeth flashing in the moonlight. “Heard your transmissions. You guys matched DNA on this one, huh?”

“Close—there’s a blood type match between this guy and semen found at the first scene. Enough to go on. His other two addresses are clear. The West End property is a rental. You heard Marcus’s transmission—looks like he was killing the girls at the Granny White address. Which leaves this spot as his hidey-hole. Marcus and Baldwin will be showing up, so don’t shoot them. You’ve seen the picture of the girl we’re looking for?”

“Yeah, Jill Gates. We also got a shot of this Gabriel Lucas character. How do you want it to go down?”

Taylor was shrugging into her bulletproof vest, and Fitz was checking the shells on a shotgun he’d gotten out of her trunk. “Fitz and I will take the front. You guys get the back. When you hear the door break in, get in the house. We’ll start looking for Jill. You start looking for Lucas. Clear?”

“Clear.” Their combined voices made the word echo in the darkness.

“Good. He’s going to protect Jill and the baby. He’ll probably think we’re trying to hurt her and will do anything to defend her, but he’s sick and may not have the physical power to fend us off. Keep an eye out for weapons.”

After conducting one last press check on their guns, they stole silently into the night.

The house was set back far from the road, on at least a few acres of land. Though there were other houses around, they were far enough apart that nosy neighbors wouldn’t see them sneaking through the grass.

They crept to the house to take up their stations. There was a flicker of light coming through the window on the east side of the house. Taylor reached the window, stuck her head up quickly, and saw it was the kitchen. She couldn’t see anyone inside. She signaled to Miller and Wills to head around the back. She and Fitz made their way to the front of the house, then to the porch. She felt Fitz tug lightly on her shirt. She pulled up short and turned to him, brows raised. He whispered, “Easy, now.” She blew out a deep breath and nodded. They made their way to the front door.

Taylor had a momentary thought of simply ringing the bell, and grinned to herself. Surely a rational man like Gabriel Lucas would invite them in to make their arrest. She sent up a last silent prayer as Fitz stepped in front of her, lifted his fingers in a silent one, two, three, then shouted, “Metro Police,” and kicked in the door.

They were met with no resistance. They saw Miller and Wills come in the back door. It was unlocked; they had simply turned the knob and it opened. Both entrances opened into a dark great room. Two hallways shot off opposite sides of the room. One led to the kitchen; the source of the meager light she’d seen from the window was the backsplash light on the stove. The other hall was dark.

Fitz jerked his head to Miller, who tapped Wills on the shoulder and gestured toward the kitchen. He nodded at Taylor and pointed down the darkened hall. Taylor went first; Fitz followed, guns at the ready.

There were two doors down the hall. The door at the end was open. The one at the beginning of the hall had a slide lock bolted to the door’s exterior.

Taylor figured if Jill were in the house, this would be the best place for her. She stopped and put her ear to the door as Fitz continued down the hall. He swept into the other bedroom, then signaled her it was clear. He came back up the hall.

Quietly, gently, Taylor slid the lock on the door and turned the knob.

It opened into darkness. Letting her eyes adjust, Taylor saw there was little in the room besides a bed. Fitz touched her on the shoulder and signaled to the light switch. Taylor reached for it, gun pointed into the middle of the gloomy room.

She flicked on the light. There was a woman tied down, spread-eagled, centered perfectly in the middle of the bed. Her stomach was rounded with an advanced pregnancy.

“Jill? Jill Gates?”

The woman didn’t answer immediately and didn’t move.
We’re too late, damn it, we’re too late
. Before she could move, Taylor heard a small moan. Jill was alive. Relief coursed through her, and she rushed to the girl’s side.

Jill was strapped to the bed, hands handcuffed to the headboard, ankles tied to the foot. She seemed barely conscious, but as Taylor bent over the girl, murmuring soothing nonsensical words, she opened her eyes and looked at Taylor. The tears started down her face.

“Is he gone? Gabriel? Is he gone? Did you kill him?”

“Shhh. We’re going to get you out of here.”

“Are you the police?”

“Yes, honey, we are.” She unlocked the handcuffs and reached down to untie her feet.

Jill cried, “Thank God. Thank God you’re here. He’s going to kill me—he’s insane. Please, get me out of here.”

Fitz moved beside the bed and helped Jill sit up. She was obviously a little woozy, but they needed to get as much information out of her as possible if they were going to find Gabriel.

“Do you know where he is, Jill? Is he in the house?”

“I don’t know. He’s kept me locked in this room the whole time. How long have I been here?”

“We think at least five days, maybe more. But you’re safe now, honey—we’ve got you. Can you stand?” He got her to her feet, eyeing the swelling in her belly. “How far along are you, Jill?” he asked.

“Eight months. Are my parents here? Are they okay? Oh, they must be freaking out.”

Taylor patted her on the shoulder. “They’re here in town, honey. They came as soon as they heard you were missing. They’re gonna be real glad to see you. Can you tell us any more about Gabriel Lucas?”

Jill lost her balance when she got to her feet and toppled against Taylor.

“Oops, here you go, sit back down.”

Jill plopped back on the bed, embarrassed, and gave Taylor a smile. “I’m okay. My feet are just asleep. My parents are going to kill me when they see I’m pregnant.”

“Trust me—your parents are going to be thrilled to have you back, you and the baby. Tell me what you can, okay?”

Jill shook her head. “I’m having a hard time remembering a lot. I’ve been trying to think. I know it’s been a while since he was here. I’ve been awake since right before dark. Usually he comes in and gives me a shot of something the minute I wake up and he hears me. He tells me stories while I’m drifting off, nutty stuff I can’t really understand about these women and their ‘representations,’ stuff about the Bible. Whatever is in the shot makes me fall asleep almost immediately, and I kept having all these weird hallucinations. When I was awoke he was talking crazy.” She put a hand protectively over her stomach. “He kept telling me I was carrying the Messiah. He’s out of his mind.”

Taylor nodded and looked at Fitz. “The injectable morphine.” She turned back to Jill. “We think he was giving you morphine. Did he tell you he has cancer?”

“What? No.”

“He has brain cancer. We think it’s affected him to the point where he’s not thinking rationally. He’s hurt a lot of people in the past couple of weeks.”

“Brain cancer? Giving me morphine? My God, what was he planning on doing to me?”

Fitz held out a hand. “We think he was planning on keeping you safe. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to you or his baby. Do you think you can stand up now?”

He got her to her feet, and they made their way into the great room. Between the room and the kitchen was a small breakfast bar with stools. He got her seated, checked in with the rest of their force.

“You find anything?”

Wills was keeping watch by the front door. “He’s not here, and there’s nothing much to go on. Doesn’t look like he’s living here—it’s just a safe place for him to hold the girl. We’ll keep looking around.”

“Okay. I want you guys to be ready for anything. He’ll come back for her at some point. When he sees we’ve found her, he’s liable to go nuts, and I can’t predict what he’ll do. I want you to be ready.”

They nodded and melted into the background. Fitz watched them for a moment as they set up their defensive positions. Satisfied they wouldn’t be ambushed, he turned his attention back to Taylor and Jill.

Taylor was on the radio. “Fourteen to base. We’ve got the package. She’s a single, repeat, no one else found. Copy?”

“Copy that, fourteen. Eighteen is on the way, ETA five minutes.”

“Copy. Base, we need a bus sent here. No ME. Copy?”

“Copy, fourteen, bus, no ME. Got it. Out.”

Taylor smiled at Fitz. An ambulance was on the way for Jill. Marcus and Baldwin had found enough evidence at the Granny White address to sink Gabriel Lucas. But they couldn’t celebrate yet. They were only halfway there. Now they had to find Lucas.

“It doesn’t look like he’s living here, just has some bare essentials to keep Jill fed. Didn’t find any drugs or syringes either. He must keep them with him,” Taylor said.

Fitz started opening drawers and cabinets in the kitchen. Taylor went to the window. From this angle, she could see a large shed about one hundred feet away from the house, backed up to the woods.

She turned to Fitz, who was ministering to Jill, getting her a glass of water. “Hey, Fitz, there’s a shed out here. I’m going to go check it out.”

“Miller’s out there. Make sure he knows it’s you.”

“Gotcha.” She went out the front door and whistled sharply. Miller stepped out from the side of the house, and she pointed at the shed. He nodded and melted back into the darkness.

She crossed the hundred feet or so to the shed. It was old and rickety, didn’t look like it would stand a good storm. Miller slid around the side of the shed from the back, and they took up standard positions on either side of the door.

Taylor nodded at him, then kicked it open.

74

The interior of the shed was about ten feet by six, and smelled musty, like old mulch left to rot through the fall. Taylor flashed her Maglite from corner to corner and saw nothing to excite her. A few rusted garden tools, an old lawn mower, a bag of birdseed ravaged and emptied by scavengers. She shook her head to Miller and closed the door behind her.

“Go on back to the house. I’m right behind you.”

She took advantage of the relative calm to congratulate herself. They had found Jill safely and had identified where Lucas was doing his horrific crimes. Now they just had to find Lucas himself, and they could wrap this up with a neat little bow.

She started back to the house, and a shadow flitted out of the corner of her eye. She felt every nerve ending start to tingle. Her heart thumped hard in her chest.

He was here. She could feel him now. He must have been hiding in the woods behind the shed. She drew her Glock and went into a crouch, trying vainly to see in the darkness. She swung the sight of the gun left, then right, started to move forward. She heard a twig snap and spun around, then a loud grunt. It was too dark to see—was that Miller? She was afraid to call out, didn’t want to draw attention to her spot.

She took a cautious step forward, and something shoved her backward. She fell hard on her butt, her gun jolting out of her hand as she tried to catch herself. She caught her breath and scrambled up.
The gun, where is the gun? Where is Miller
?

Gabriel Lucas stepped out of the shadows and stood in front of her, a wicked long chef’s knife held in his right hand.

“Did you hurt her? Did you hurt Jill?”

Breathe, Taylor. Talk him down
.

“No, Professor Lucas, Jill is fine. She’s inside with some of my men. Why don’t you drop that knife and we can go in and talk to her.”

Taylor could see the fright in his eyes. “You said you didn’t hurt her? You’re lying, I can tell you’re lying. Jill!” he screamed.

“Professor Lucas, stop right there. Drop the knife. If you don’t drop the knife, you can’t talk to Jill.”

Gabriel’s mood shifted, and he smiled at her. His voice was calm now, gentle. “I am Gabriel. Only Gabriel. I have changed the universe. You can’t hurt me.” He took two steps backward, never taking his eyes off Taylor.

Taylor tried to keep his line of vision to the kitchen blocked. “Gabriel. I told you Jill is fine. Now put your hands on your head, and turn around, very slowly.” She stepped back, saw the outline of her Glock four feet away to her right. She’d have to dive for it if she needed to use it. She needed to distract Lucas, get him to put down the knife.

His eyes were roving, searching, looking behind her, almost as if he was trying to get her to turn her head away from him, and then he’d tackle her. She wasn’t falling for it, kept her eyes locked on his.

When he feinted a move toward her, she stepped to the right. One step closer to her Glock.

“Gabriel, it’s all over. We know what you’ve done.”

He started to laugh. “You know what I’ve done? How can you possibly know what I’ve done? I’ve saved you. I’ve saved all of you! I have created the perfect One, He who will reign forever, the spirit of humanity, the one true God. His path has been cleared. His way will be followed. The signs have been fulfilled!
‘And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his name shall be in their foreheads.’
” He was screaming now, arms thrown to the heavens, his face a mask of ecstasy.

Taylor was thankful for his episode; surely his screaming would bring some backup.
Keep him distracted, step to your right again. Pick up the damn gun
.

Gabriel continued howling. “
‘And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither the light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.’
Don’t you see? Don’t you understand? I have created the light!”