Seeking Evil (Looking Into The Mind Of A Killer Series) (19 page)

John, of all people, u
nderstood
her
fear
s
. He took
her
in his arms.
She
let him.
She desperately needed his strength.

“
Anna, I won
’
t let him hurt you. You
’
re safe. I
’
d sooner die than let anything happen to you
again
.
”

It hurt to hear him say those words.
“
Don
’
t say that. I don
’
t want anything to happen to you. That
’
s not what I want.
”

His gaze slipped over
her
, so serious.
“
I mean it, Anna. I won
’
t let him near you again.
”

Through all
her
fears
, the last year spent in an emotional prison,
and even now running for
her
life, the seriousness of what faced
them
both finally
sank in.

She wrapped her arms around his waist. She wa
nted to be close to him. The one thing from
her
past that had been good.

They
stood holding each other close for a long time until John
’
s cell phone shrilled to life, breaking the spell. He released
her
and unclipped it from his belt. A cold breeze swept from the ocean between
them
.
Ana
shivered as he watched
her
while talking.

“
How long?
”
h
e asked
, his gaze holding hers
.

Gemma
tugged against
Anna's
hand
,
chasing some poor helpless crustacean out to sea.

“
Okay. Thanks.
”

John
flipped the phone closed.
“
Rick is confident they
’
ll have all the legal roadblocks gone by end of day. We
’
ll have the donor
’
s records. We
’
re almost there, Anna.
”

He
reached for her hand and held it.

They started back toward the cabin still holding hands with
Gemma
tugging against Anna's other hand. “
Good. Because we don
’
t have a hell of a
lot
of time left, John. He
’
ll have figured out that I
’
m gone by now if he wasn
’
t watching the house. It won
’
t take him long to figure out the connection between you and me
,
if he hasn’t already,
and he
’
ll be expecting you to stash me somewhere out of the way. It won
’
t be a reach for him to find this place. He
’
ll know where you
’
ve taken me soon. He
’
s smart, John. Cunning. Don
’
t sell him short. He probably has an IQ off the charts.
”

Chapter
Twelve

John knew he was being unusually quiet during the meal. His mind a million miles away, going back to the past. Their past. H
aving
made love to Anna
again,
made
it almost impossible for John to keep his focus on the case.
Every time she came near him, he
went up in flames
.

“
How are Bev and Ed holding up?
” she asked, her expression quizzical, as if she had come close to
understanding what he was thinking
.

H
is
face grew warm. He
’
d been remembering
one particular
time in the past. One of few times they
’
d shared an intimate meal like this.
Anna had come over to his place, he'd ordered a pizza. They'd sat in front of a fire talking. Sharing pieces of their lives, their pasts. Soon, talking wasn't enough…

John still remembered how angry he'd been with Aaron earlier that day. A
aron
had gone out on his own, refusing to let John come along. He’d told John he’d been
working
a different angle of the case. John believed Aaron was actually seeing Cheryl
.

“
I beg your pardon?
” John forced the past back into the place he'd buried it.

A strange smile crossed her face, but she let it go.
“
Bev, how are Bev and Ed holding up
?
This is probably the most adventure Ed
’
s had in a while.
”

He returned her smile.
“
He
’
s a nice guy. Bev
’
s lucky. They
’
re both doing fine.
”

“
Yes, you
’
re right. She
is
lucky.
”
Anna stopped smiling. She was thinking about her marriage to Aaron, comparing it the Bev's. Anna's
marriage to Aaron hadn
’
t been so good. He wished a thousand times over he hadn
’
t
promised to keep his partner's secrets.

“
Aaron loved you, Anna. More than what he could show in the end.
”

That
familiar
hurt look returned to her
face
. She stared into space as if looking back into the past.
“
I didn
’
t really know him
at the end
.
He wasn't
the person I thought he was. He changed, John. Radically. I barely recognized him anymore.
”

“
Yes.
”
He
’
d noticed the change in his partner long before Anna figured it out.
Yet nothi
ng prepared him for the reason behind it.

“
I read something in his notes on the Larsen case…
” Anna told him.

John
forced himself to look at her. H
ad she figured it out?

Anna's expression shifted. Her eyes grew winter-cold, her mouth thinned into a hard line. Did she know about Cheryl or was she on a fishing expedition for answers. 

“He didn’t tell you I'd read them, did he? Well, I'm not surprised." She glanced away from John. "Soon after his death, I discovered Aaron didn't really have many personal effects in his hotel room. I'm not sure where he was spending most of his free time, only that it wasn't with me. A couple of months before the end, I found evidence that he was coming to the house when I wasn't home. There'd be little things, a half-empty coffee cup. Some of the mail I'd gathered for him would be missing. A dirty dish in the sink. I searched his office and found he'd brought some of the case files home with him. They were locked away in his desk, among other things.
There was something almost personal when he mentioned
Cheryl
. As if…
”

Anna
took a deep breath and asked the question he
’
d dreaded from the beginning.
“W
as Aaron having an affair with her?
”

She
appeared
so vulnerable, asking him to confirm Aaron's betrayal, b
ut he
’
d made a promise
to his partner
and he couldn
’
t see
that
breaking it now would serve any purpose.

“
You
’
d have to ask Aaron
,” he told her quietly.

She got to her feet, frustrated by his answer.
“
Aaron
’
s dead. I can
’
t ask him anything. I
’
m
asking
you!
”

John stood as well. “
And I
’
m telling you I can
’
t answer that question.
”

“
Can
’
t or won
’
t.
”

“
Does it matter?
”

“
Yes. How can you ask me that? Of course, it matters. I trusted you. I trusted you not to lie to me.
”

“
Anna, what you want me to do is rewrite the past. I can
’
t. Let it go. Get on with your life. Start living.
”

The tension between the
m
strung
further toward the
breaking point. Without so much as another word, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving him full of regrets.

As he listened to the sound of her footsteps
leaving
,
not
for the first time he resented his partner.

To keep from going after her and telling her everything, he went about clearing away the remains of their meager lunch. Neither
he nor Anna
had much of an appetite. They
’
d thrown together a salad and called it
a meal
.

Outside, the peek-a-boo glimpses of blue
-green
ocean had begun to turn gray. A storm was coming. The local weathermen had been urging those located along the waterfront
to batten down the hatches.

John did a quick check for candles and emergency supplies. They
’
d be okay if the power went out. But protecting Anna against the unknown monster hunting her wouldn
’
t be so easy. They needed answers soon.

As if reading his mind, the phone clipped to his belt belched out its ring tone.

“
Delaney here.
”
He recognized his partner
’
s number right away.

“
We
’
ve got the name of Anna
’
s donor
along with
her history.
”

“
You do? Thank God. Give it to me.
”
He glanced out at the dark clouds gathering. In the window
’
s reflection, he saw Anna had
stood behind him
.

“
Her name was Brenda Lewis.
”

How could such a simple name be connected to such horror.
“
Brenda Lewis. Doesn
’
t ring a bell.
”

“
No reason why it should except that she died due to injuries she received at the hands of her husband. Jericho Lewis murdered his wife. He stabbed her more than
—”

“
Forty times,
”
John finished the sentence
for his partner
.
The same number of wounds as the other victims.
The pieces were all beginning to fit together now.
“
My God. Was he convicted?
”

“
In a way.
”

“
What does
‘
in a way
’
mean?
”

“
He was found mentally unfit to stand trial and sentenced to twenty years in Brookhaven Mental Health Facility. He was released
a
little more than a year ago. Around the time of the first murder.
“

“
Dammit. Who released the son of a bitch out into public?
”

“
A team of doctors apparently convinced the review board he was okay. As long as he stayed on his meds.
”