Maximum Guilt (Hidden Guilt Book 2) (19 page)

They drove around for thirty minutes and finally agreed on a location. They pulled off the road and dumped the bodies out.

Stacy took out her pistol, screwed on the silencer, and fired four rounds. Cause of death? Apparent gunshot wound to the head.  It would definitely buy them more time to move across the country.

Chapter 42

We traveled down I-10 toward Gulfport. I wanted to brainstorm ideas for setting up and catching these two maniacs. I was tired of just heading to the next murder scene and following Thelma and Louise
down the highway.

We’d been driving an hour or so when my cell phone rang.

“Hi, Dad, it’s me!”

“Hey there! It’s good to hear your voice. Everything okay?”

“Yes, everything’s okay. Can’t a girl just call her dad to say hello?”

“Yes, I suppose a girl can. You happy to have your sister back home, or is she driving you crazy already?”

“She’s okay for now. I’m sure she’ll be back to her old annoying self soon. I’m sorry about all the mean things I said to you before about Stacy and what happened back in college. I’m just sad and I really miss Rodney.”

“It’s okay, Hil. We all say things that are out of line from time to time. We just have to learn, try to grow from our mistakes. Getting over Rodney is going to take some time.”

“Yes, Father I know. Don’t get all soft and make me regret calling you.”

We shared a laugh. We needed to do more of that. I knew it wouldn’t be long before she’d be on to the next phase of her life. She’d hinted about joining the ranks of law enforcement, which scared the hell out of me. Actually it terrified me. Hilary was bright and intelligent when she applied herself, but it wasn’t her that made me nervous. It was the psychopaths that doing this job required you to deal with day in and day out.

“I’ll give you a call in a few days. We need to do a lunch date when I return. I’m going to catch this girl, Hilary. Stop worrying. I can hear it in your voice.”

“I know you will, Dad. That’s the scary part. What happens when you do? I love you. I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me. I love you, Hilary.”

Hilary was right to be worried. Wounded and cornered animals always posed a much greater threat. Chickens aren’t that big, but trap one in a corner, and you’ll find out exactly what I mean. And sooner or later, I’d have Stacy and her sister trapped in a corner, too.

“You guys want to stop and get something to eat? I really could use a big juicy ribeye right about now. We could also use the time to hatch a plan for wrangling up Stacy and Brittany. What do you say?”

I knew Paul’s answer already. That man had never turned down a meal in his life. De Luca nodded. We’d covered as much ground as we needed to.

“One of you find us the nearest steakhouse.”

Lafitte pulled out his phone. “Longhorn Steakhouse, 15270 Crossroads Parkway, 39503.  We’re about twenty five minutes away, David.”

“Longhorn it is.”

Chapter 43

We pulled into Longhorn Steakhouse, and the parking lot was jam-packed. This restaurant had some of the highest ratings in the entire state, and from the size of the crowd, I believed it. We headed inside, trying our best not to look like out-of-towners.

We were told the wait would be about fifteen minutes and I was handed a buzzer. We stood outside and recapped everything we knew this far. Right at about fifteen minutes the buzzer went off.

We went inside and a waitress took us to a table. We’d asked to be as secluded as possible so we could at least hear ourselves talk. We were seated at a table in the back of the restaurant.

“What’ll you have, sugar?” the waitress asked me.

“Water for me,” I said.

“We’ll both take water as well,” De Luca said.

I looked away, trying to hide my amusement.

“Something funny over there, David?” Lafitte said.

“Nope. Nothing at all.”

“I’m not ordering for him, David. We’d already discussed our drink preferences in the truck, wiseguy,” De Luca said.

“Hey, you don’t have to explain yourself to me,” I said, smiling.

The waitress came back with our waters, and we all ordered monster twenty-ounce steaks that none of us would finish.

“So here’s what I’m thinking. We get an undercover from back home and create a fake profile in or around where we think she’ll be next, based on travel time.”

“So you’re talking about flying this guy out here and letting him hit the road with us?” Lafitte said.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. If we get cooperation from the local PD, we can use a rent house. Hell, that’s the easy part. Getting her to bite on our guy with so many options is going to be the tough part,” I said.

“Doesn’t have to be. We know which sites she’s been using. We have Fingers get rid of a few dozen accounts. Then we have him create our fake account and load it up with rape charges,” De Luca said.

“Should we have Fingers remove all of the other profiles with rape charges except our fake one?” Lafitte said.

“Don’t you think that would be a bit obvious??” De Luca said.

“Maybe. Check that. Probably. You can throw a dart in this room and hit a sex offender,” I said.

I called Wilcrest and told him about our plan. I asked him to send us the profile pics of some Houston undercovers so the team and I could decide on who we wanted. De Luca called Fingers and filled him in as well.

“Wilcrest said we only have about ten undercovers whose looks could fool Stacy. Needed to be a little rough around the edges, but not too bad,” I said.

The waitress brought out our steaks, and man did they look amazing! The grill marks were perfect, and the aroma was to die for. We dug in, and the conversation lagged as we savored every bite.

We washed it all down with a beer. Not exactly a bodybuilder’s diet, but sometimes you just gotta live a little, I told myself.

My phone’s email notification went off, and I looked down to check it. Captain Wilcrest had put together the profile pictures of the undercover officers we had available for our trap. De Luca and Lafitte glanced through them first, and both seemed to agree on an officer. I looked through them as well but didn’t offer my opinion. I had a way of taking over investigations sometimes; I knew that. This time, though, I just nodded and agreed with their choice.

“How quickly can he be here in Gulfport?” De Luca asked.

“Captain said tonight. Flight isn’t all that long. I’ll call him now and get it arranged. I’ll send the picture to Fingers, too, so he can get started,” I said.

Chapter 44

We checked into our rooms in Gulfport, same setup as before. We unloaded our gear and got settled in. I unlocked the door between our room and De Luca’s and waited for her to do the same. When the door finally opened, De Luca stood in front of me in a pair of tiny sports shorts and a bra-like thing.

“It’s called a sports bra, David,” De Luca said, shaking her head.

“I didn’t say anything,” I laughed.

I counted down from five in my head, and Lafitte joined us right on schedule.

“Can I help you, sir?” De Luca said over her shoulder as Lafitte followed me into her room.

“Just joining the team is all,” Lafitte said, his grin so wide you could almost count every tooth in his mouth.

I set my laptop on the desk, logged in, and pulled up our fake profile.

“Should we activate it now?” De Luca said.

“I think we should wait. I mean, what if she wants to meet at a bar this time instead of this cat’s house? He’ll be here in a few hours, right?” Lafitte said.

We decided to wait. I told them both to get some rest, and I waited up to head out to the airport to pick up our undercover guy, Franklin Shuppe.

I spent the time rereading the case files. I did that often to make sure I hadn’t overlooked anything. There was almost always at least one little thing that got overlooked or didn’t make sense the first go-round. This time, however, I found nothing new.

I pulled into the short-term parking lot at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport and turned off my truck. I woke up twenty minutes later to find five text messages from Shuppe.

I gave him a call.

“Franklin, it’s Porter. Sorry I dozed off on you. Been a little sleep deprived the last few days.”

“It’s okay, detective. I’ve only been waiting ten minutes. My bags took longer than I expected, hoss.”

Hoss?

“I’m parked in T3. You anywhere close to that?”

“Actually, I am. Be there in two shakes, partner.”

This guy was as country as they come. Hoss? Partner? Did Wilcrest get this guy from the undercover program or an FFA group? As he strode toward me, I gave him the once-over. He was unshaven and stood about six five if I was guessing. His jeans and plaid shirt made me feel like I was watching an old rerun of
Dukes of Hazzard
. He wore a baseball cap turned backward with a fishhook on the bill. I could also tell he was a gym rat, which made me like him even more.

“How long you been on the force?” I asked as we pulled out of the parking lot.

“Three years, sir. Hope to be a legend like you someday, if all goes well.”

I really liked this guy. And helping me apprehend Stacy and Brittany would look good in his file.

“The girls I’m after—”

“I know, sir; I read all the files on the flight over. I’m ready.”

“I believe that, Franklin. Don’t for one minute think those pretty faces won’t hesitate to end your life, because they will. You had to kill anyone on duty? You even fired your weapon in the line of duty?”

“No, sir, neither. But I won’t hesitate. I’ve killed about a hundred deer and twice as many hogs. Does that count?”

I laughed. “Not exactly, but it’s a start.”

I’d gotten Franklin a room on the other side of ours. I left him to get settled and called it a night.

Chapter 45

I woke up covered in a cold sweat. My heart was pounding so hard that I could feel the blood racing through my veins. I sat up and looked around the room. The clock read 3:30 a.m. I looked over at Lafitte who was out like a rock. I wasn’t a big dreamer; in fact, I couldn’t even remember the last dream I’d had. This one was a nightmare. I hadn’t even had time to really process the idea that Stacy was indeed pregnant—and it was mine. How was I going to manage raising a kid who was conceived under those circumstances? What would I tell him or her about its mother and what she truly was? How could Miranda be loving to this child? I was wrong; nightmare didn’t do it justice. Catastrophe summed it up better.

I got up and chugged a bottle of water. I wiped the sweat off my face and changed shirts. I still had a few hours of sleep time left, and I dearly needed it. I climbed back into bed and hoped the outcome would be different this time.

I woke up earlier than Lafitte and unlocked the door between our room and De Luca’s. I spent some time searching the net to see if our girls had struck again, but it appeared they hadn’t.

Maybe they were changing their pattern, or maybe they hadn’t come this direction at all. We were kind of flying blind on hunches.

Franklin sent me a text message letting me know he was up. I sent him to the front desk to round up breakfast for the group.

Five minutes later, De Luca joined me in our room. I guess she’d heard me stirring around. She pointed to Lafitte and shook her head. “You just gonna let him sleep all day?”

“It’s only six thirty and I’m not asleep, if you must know,” Lafitte said.

“Never a dull moment with you two,” I said.

“So what do you think about our guy?” De Luca said.

“I think he’s perfect for the job, and he seems like a nice kid, too.”

We heard a knock at the door.

“Got my hands full. Couldn’t grab any coffee, partner,” Franklin said as I held the door for him.

Franklin sat down the breakfast and went through some introductions with Lafitte and De Luca.

“It’s okay. Lafitte and I will go down and grab some. Come on, princess. Let’s go,” De Luca said.

Lafitte groaned but he got up and followed her. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from him.

____________________

“You always bust up guys you like this way?” Lafitte said as they headed for the lobby.