Obsession (21 page)

Andrea shuddered, couldn’t help herself.

The man brought Reanne into the room. Her hands were tied behind her back, like Andrea’s, and a wide strip of the silver tape covered her mouth. He forced Reanne into the chair directly across from Andrea.

What were they going to do now? Andrea had already been tested. They had showered and scrubbed her and then examined her. She closed her eyes and tried to block the memories. The woman had announced she wasn’t a virgin but still suitable. Her body started shaking again. Andrea forced herself to stop thinking about it. She had to pay attention. She was out of the basement. There were windows and doors. She needed to stay aware in case she got an opportunity to run.

“Okay, girls,” the woman announced. “We start the elimination rounds today.”

Don’t stare at her!
Andrea blinked. Tried not to look at her face. The woman wasn’t ugly. She was kind of pretty. Short and chubby but pretty. The man wasn’t awful looking either. Broad and kind looking. Why was this happening? Why were they doing this?

Reanne sat with her head down as if she’d had another of those pills. There was a big white bandage on her chest, just above her right boob. What had they done to her?

“Reanne,” the woman shouted, “hold your head up!”

Reanne didn’t react. The man grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head up. “Pay attention, Reanne.”

Reanne opened her eyes. She stared at Andrea. Andrea wanted to cry. Her eyes looked blank as if she no longer cared what happened.

“If you don’t try, Reanne,” the woman yelled at her, “you forfeit.”

Reanne turned to her. She stared at the woman a second then she tried to say something. The woman removed the tape so she could talk. Reanne spit in her face.

The woman slapped her hard, then swiped the spit from her face. “I’m done with this one.” She turned to the man. “You were right. That tattoo was a sign. She’s not fit.”

He grabbed her by the shoulders. Reanne went crazy. She started screaming and biting and kicking her legs. The man slung her over his shoulder and stalked out the back door with her still thrashing.

“Stupid little bitch.” The woman walked to where Andrea sat and started to finger comb her hair. “You’re so pretty. I want you to work really hard. Don’t fail me, Andrea. I’m counting on you.” She patted Andrea’s shoulder. “I’ve waited a long time for a daughter.”

Andrea couldn’t keep the tears from sliding down her cheeks. She tried. She really tried. But she couldn’t. She closed her eyes and searched for a way to leave this place…she remembered the trip to the beach she and her mother had taken at the end of May. A getaway for girls only. Andrea’s lips trembled into a small smile beneath the tape.

Where are you, mommy?

~*~

“Pay attention, Andrea! How do you make those perfect grades dozing off like that?”

The woman slapped her on the back of the head. Andrea jerked her head up. Blinked to focus her eyes. Kitchen. She was still in the kitchen.

Reanne was gone.

A scream rushed into her throat.
Don’t scream!

Someone made a sound. Andrea looked around. Macy was at one end of the table. Callie sat at the other. The man pulled out the chair where Reanne had been sitting. He ushered the new girl, Dana, into it. Tape had been plastered over all their mouths and their hands appeared to be bound behind their backs.

The woman ripped the tape off Macy’s mouth. Macy cried out but quickly snapped her mouth shut.

“Of all these girls, you’ve been in training the longest, Macy, so you go first.” The woman moved around to the other side of her. “Recite your purpose and your Psalms. Be very careful. You don’t want to be eliminated like Reanne.”

Macy licked her lips as if she were thirsty. She sucked in a ragged breath. “My purpose is to be a loving wife. To bear children and raise them in the way of the Lord.” She cleared her throat, licked her lips again. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down—”

“Weaaahhh! Wrong! Strike one!”

Macy blinked back the tears. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” Her voice shook hard. “He leadeth me by the still waters.”

“Weaaahhh!” The crazy bitch thrilled. “Strike two.” She stuck her face in Macy’s. “I think you’re going to be eliminated with this round, Macy.”

Macy started to cry.

“What comes next?” the woman shouted. “Can’t you remember anything? I taught you well!”

Macy sobbed harder.

“You have five seconds, Macy!”

The room spinning, Andrea closed her eyes, tried to block the sounds. This was crazy. It couldn’t be real.

That screeching noise that signaled a wrong answer pierced the air again.

“Take her away, Daddy. She failed. Macy’s a loser!” The woman danced around the table, shouting
loser
over and over.

Macy screamed. The sound was twisted with the sobs rocking her thin body. Andrea wished she could reach out to her. She watched, in horror, as the man took Macy away.

“Woo-hoo! We’re narrowing down the results. Kicking the idiots off the island! Let’s see if you can do better, Callie.”

Callie began reciting her lessons.

Andrea stared across the table at the new girl, Dana. She stared back at Andrea, resignation in her eyes.

That was the moment when Andrea understood the reality of the situation. No one was going to make it in time to help them.

They were totally fucked.

Whatever the goal of these stupid tests, it was a competition. Between the tattoo and her refusal to be submissive, Reanne had been eliminated. Macy hadn’t been able to hold it together under pressure. Callie wouldn’t either. She was worn down from days and days in that damned hole of a prison.

These people weren’t just mean or stupid or crazy nuts, they were twisted, evil. The skeletons in the basement proved that.

Andrea understood perfectly now. The reason the woman liked her was because she was strong. As scared as she was, Andrea paid attention and followed instructions. The woman wanted a winner for a daughter.

When this was over, there would only be one winner and the rest…would be losers.

If Andrea tried her best and won, what happened to the others would be her fault.

If she failed,
she
would be eliminated. A
loser
.

In this house, losers ended up dead.

Chapter Fifteen

Mayor’s Office, 5:30 p.m.

Joseph Pratt had served in Birmingham politics for the last half of his prestigious career. A graduate of Birmingham’s prestigious Samford University, he came from old money, had made lots of new money in the business world and now he preferred power to more money. He was a good man, but one of his top priorities was public perception. Particularly the public’s perception of him.

“Dan, this is unacceptable.”

He clicked the remote, shutting off the flat panel screen on the credenza behind his desk. It seemed that every news organization in the country had just aired a clip of Jess, surrounded by Detectives Wells and Harper, along with two uniformed officers entering the BPD building. Jess had insisted she and the detectives had work to do. She had no interest in warming a chair in the mayor’s anteroom.

Innuendoes about her part in the failure to build a proper case against the notorious suspected serial killer, Eric Spears, had come off as less than flattering. The insinuation that her reckless behavior might somehow damage the investigation into the disappearance of five young Birmingham women had the mayor and anyone else who watched up in arms. Half a dozen staffers were fielding calls. Worse, the local Bureau office had given a statement to the press basically throwing Jess under the bus. Agent Harris was on administrative leave. Her affiliation with BPD was in no way connected to the FBI.

Bastards
.

Mayor Pratt sat the remote on his desk, then braced his elbows on the arms of his leather chair. He steepled his fingers. “How do you plan to handle this?”

After twenty minutes of watching various clips and quiet but forceful rhetoric in regards to the media circus performing around the courthouse, this was the mayor’s bottom line. How would Dan make it go away?

“We have no control over what the media chooses to broadcast any more than we have over how the Bureau conducts its ongoing investigation into Spears and the Player case. That Jess is here brings that scrutiny to us. There’s no way around that.” 

Pratt waited for more, the
right
answer to his question. Dan’s explanation of the reality of the situation clearly was not the answer he was looking for.

“Our focus will remain on the five missing young women,” Dan added as a reminder of his position and for the emotional impact. “Every hour they remain missing lessens the likelihood of finding a single one alive.”

“You still have no evidence that the disappearances are connected.”

Not a question. Dan refused to be intimidated by the man simply because he held the power to remove him from the office of police chief. This was not a theoretical situation. Not a textbook example for future training reference and definitely not a game of political achievement. This was life and death. And it was Dan’s fucking case.

“Not yet,” he admitted with absolutely no regret that he couldn’t set this man’s concerns for his reputation to rest. “We are following several leads, two of which are promising. The good news is,” he looked the mayor straight in the eyes, “we have no bodies either.”

“This Harris woman…” Pratt began, his hands now resting on the arms of his chair as he casually reclined. “Have her services risen to your inordinately high expectations?”

He had to throw that in, didn’t he? “She is the only reason we have any leads at all.”

Fury had a muscle flexing in his jaw. This meeting wasn’t about the case, not really. It was about whether or not they could dump Jess, thereby shifting the media’s scrutiny elsewhere.

Pratt leaned forward, picked up a handful of notes from his desk and shuffled through them. “Here’s what I’m dealing with, Dan. I have two complaints from the families of those missing girls.” He glanced over the notes. “And those are just the two that my assistant wasn’t able to handle without my intervention. Five complaints from families who have been questioned in connection with the disappearances, the most recent a Tim Porter.”

“Did Mr. Porter also tell you that he was having an affair with a coworker?” Dan tried to keep his temper from flaring but he failed.

“Does this affair have anything at all to do with the case?”

“That’s yet to be seen.” In all likelihood not, but there was no reason to speculate.

“I don’t have to remind you that with five lives at stake, we cannot be too careful with the conduction of this investigation. The eyes of the people are on our every move.”

Dan’s temper got the best of him. “If that’s a warning of some sort, you need to be a little more specific.”

“Our friends at the Bureau tell me that Harris is a bit of a maverick. She doesn’t conform well to the rules and her impulsive actions resulted in a heinous killer going free.”

“Spears was going to walk anyway. They had no evidence. Jess jumped the gun, that’s true, but the evidence she discovered was previously unknown to the investigation and impossible to connect to Spears anyway. Her actions did not damage the case they
didn’t
have.”

 “As far as the media is concerned,” Pratt countered, “that’s irrelevant. It’s the perception of error that matters. Spears walked and an explanation is required.”

“A scapegoat is required,” Dan corrected. “And Jess is it.” Nearly two decades of dedication to the job and she took the fall. Respect and loyalty couldn’t compete with public perception.

“Another parent came to me personally with concerns about Harris.”

“Jess,” Dan challenged. “Her name is Jess.” 

Pratt said nothing to Dan’s pointed amendment.

“Though Andrea isn’t my legal or biological daughter,” Dan argued in regards to the complaints Pratt listed. “I’m thankful for any help we can get in finding her. What kind of parent would question the tactics of one of the best profilers the Bureau has had the opportunity of employing?”

“It was Annette, Dan. She is immensely concerned that your prior relationship with Agent Harris prevents you from being completely objective in the matter.”

The outrage he’d been holding back ignited, whooshing through his veins. “Annette came to you and said this.” Dan didn’t believe it.

“She and her husband, yes.”

“Did she make that claim or did he?” Dan gripped the arms of his chair in an attempt to ground himself. He wasn’t surprised at Denton’s audacity. He would go to any lengths to make Dan look bad, even if his own daughter proved to be the price. But Annette? Why would she do something so thoughtless and utterly reckless where her daughter’s life was concerned?

“They were both here,” Pratt argued, “sitting right where you are. Who said what is irrelevant. The consensus is that Jess Harris is an element this case does not need.” Before Dan could argue that point, Pratt added, “This is the highest profile case your department has faced since you accepted the position of chief. What do I have to say to make you understand the ramifications we’re both facing? The citizens of Birmingham are watching you. You cannot make a mistake, Dan. That your former stepdaughter is one of the missing is dicey business as it is. Dragging a former lover whose professional reputation is questionable at this time is simply bad judgment.”

Dan wasn’t sure he’d absorbed all that Pratt said after former lover. He was very close to walking out.
After
telling the mayor where he could shove his consensus. But Andrea was counting on him. They were all counting on him. Including Jess.

“Andrea,” Dan reminded the mayor, “that’s my former stepdaughter’s name. Macy, Callie, Reanne and Dana are the names of the other girls missing. They need all the help we can summon on this case. I don’t care about public perception. I care about finding those girls. I care about doing my job to the best of my ability, not the public opinion.”