Senseless (31 page)

He slumped forward in a sweaty, exhausted heap. “You don’t have to do this. I can help you.”

“Always the talker.”

The iron still glowed hot, enough to burn his skin a second time.

Donovan had never known such agony. His body vibrated with pain each time the branding iron touched his flesh. His nostrils were filled with the scent of his own burning skin. As his captor jabbed the branding iron back into the flames, he knew he’d endure more pain. Only one brand on his belly meant three to come.

“Let me help you.” His voice sounded so hoarse.

“Thanks, but I’ve got this under control.”

“Let me go and I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll write whatever you want.”

“I bet you would write anything at this moment. But your meager attempt at atonement has little meaning now. You’d do anything now to stop the pain.”

“I would.”

She pressed the hot iron into his belly.

Donovan howled, arching his back and straining against his bindings. “Stop! P-P-P-Please.”

“Okay, I’ll stop the pain.”

Donovan forced his eyes open. He knew pathetic hope glistened in his eyes as he searched for a sign of mercy.

Mercy came in the shape of a sharp blade that glinted and caught the light from the fire. And before he could speak, the tip of the blade pierced his chest, sliced through flesh and grazed bone.

His body froze. And for one, two, three beats of his heart he believed life melted from his body.

Garrison called the patrol car stationed at King’s to check on Eva. The officer had reported seeing her through the window of the pub waiting tables. He’d also ordered Rokov to do a complete background check on King.

For now Eva was safe and the patrol officer would keep tabs on her. But it bothered him that he wasn’t there looking out after her himself. In his core he believed only he could keep her alive. It was a foolish feeling rooted in the deaths of his sister and wife.

Tension snapped at him as he pulled up in front of the one-story rancher.

“I still don’t see why we’re here. We’ve talked to Dave Torres four or five times,” Malcolm said.

Dave Torres was the nephew of the first victim, Eliza Martinez. He’d been helpful and had answered all of Garrison’s questions. “We’ve missed something.”

“What? We went over Martinez’s past. She came up clean.”

“She’s Bobby’s grandmother and King brought the boy to live with him and Eva. Too many coincidences.” Garrison rang the bell.

Seconds later the door snapped open. A tall, willowy man with downturned eyes and a thick stubble of beard stared back at them through the screened door. “Mr. Torres.”

Torres threaded bony fingers through his hair. “Detective. Do you have word on my aunt’s killer?”

“No, sir, but I hoped we could talk again.”

Torres shrugged and pushed open the screen door. “Sure. If you think it will help.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The officers moved into the cramped living room filled with piles of old newspapers. Torres had admitted on their first visit that he had trouble parting with newspapers. All his spare rooms and most of his kitchen were filled with copies of the
Post
and
Journal.
Since their last visit, Torres had filled the extra chairs in the living room with paper, leaving no place to sit.

“I’m not sure what else I can add.”

Garrison pulled out his notebook. “What can you tell me about your aunt’s grandson?”

“Bobby?” Torres shrugged. “Quiet kid. I never saw him much. He lived with his mom.”

Garrison checked his notes. “Mrs. Martinez’s daughter died last year of cancer?”

“That’s right. Tough for someone so young to die like that.”

“What happened to the boy?”

“Foster care. Eliza didn’t have it in her to raise the kid. But she had him over for sleepovers often.”

“Did he have a sleepover with his grandmother the night she died?”

“No, thank God. He and I were at a concert in D.C. This rock band. My ears are still ringing. But the kid loved it. He spent the night with me. We found out about his grandmother the next day. ”

“He switched foster homes after his grandmother’s death.”

“The kid was hurt and angry when he found out Aunt Eliza was dead. His family didn’t want to deal with an angry kid. But his new foster dad didn’t mind that Bobby was a handful. Lucky for the kid.”

Garrison didn’t think luck played into the scenario at all. “Why didn’t you take the boy?”

He shifted, uncomfortable. “I’m good with the kid for a night here and there but not full-time.”

“And the boy’s father?”

“Never in the picture. In fact, I’m not sure if Rebecca ever told him about the kid. She said the guy frightened her. ”

“Did Rebecca go to Price?”

“No. She could never afford a private college. She went to a community college here in Alexandria. Dropped out her freshman year to have Bobby. Worked lots of jobs to keep food on the table. She did visit Price a couple of times. She’d help her mom cleaning up after those sorority girls had a party.”

“Rebecca say anything about her visits to Price?”

“The first couple of visits were a blast. She met a guy. But the last wasn’t so great. Something happened, but she’d never say.”

“That patrolman keeps watching the place,” King said. He set two hamburger orders on the bar for Eva to deliver.

Eva filled a mug with cold beer. “Garrison is keeping an eye on me. He’s worried.”

King grunted. “Good. He should be.” He wiped his hands on his apron. “Maybe I should take him some coffee.”

“I can do that,” Eva said.

“You, help a cop? ”

She shrugged. “Maybe they’re not all bad.”

King laughed. “You keep working. I’ll run the coffee out. And do me a favor and call Betty. She’s late.”

“Will do.”

Garrison slammed his phone down so hard the desk rattled.

Malcolm leaned forward in his chair. “Still no Kristen?”

“She never boarded her return flight to New York. “ He ran his hand through his hair. “I want every cop in the city looking for Kristen Hall. We need to find her.”

Garrison called the patrolman watching the pub. “You see Eva? ”

“I did a few minutes ago.”

“What about now?”

“At the moment, I don’t see her.”

“Go in and find her. And call me.” He hung up the phone.

Sinclair poked her head in the door. “We’ve got another body.”

Garrison’s heart stopped beating for a minute and he found himself bargaining with God it wasn’t Eva. “Who is it?”

“Cops on the scene don’t have an ID.”

Chapter 22

Wednesday, April 12, 1:30 P.M.

When Eva realized King had taken the phone off the hook, she nested the receiver back in the cradle. She’d risk dealing with a reporter on the off chance that Garrison was trying to reach her.

Minutes later when the phone did ring, she’d filled a bucket with warm soapy water and dug the mop out of the storage closet. She sprinted across the pub and snapped up the phone on the third ring. “King’s.”

“Eva.” Bobby’s frail voice echoed over the line.

“Bobby! What’s wrong?” Sudden tears welled in her eyes.

“People at school are being mean. I want to come home.”

“Where are you?”

“I left school.”

“Where are you?” Even as she spoke she tore off her apron and moved toward her purse.

“I’m hiding in the park behind the school.”

“Honey, your teacher must be terrified.”

“She doesn’t know I’ve gone yet. I left when we were switching from PE to Music.”

She thought about calling the school but feared an all-out search for Bobby would make him panic. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Don’t move.” She glanced around for King and remembered he’d gone outside to check on the cop again. She’d be back before he knew she was gone.

Tears ran down her face as she thought about Bobby hiding in the wooded park, scared and alone. All this mess was because of her.

A fine cold mist left the air feeling wet and raw when Garrison and Malcolm arrived at the crime scene just after two. He and Malcolm got out of his car and crossed the parking lot of the high-rise apartment complex to the Dumpsters.

Already forensics had secured the area with yellow crime scene tape and uniforms held the crowd at bay. He scanned the crowd, wondering if the killer stood among the dozens of people, half hoping to see Eva as he had at the first crime scene. But a quick glance revealed no signs of Eva or anyone else that seemed overly interested.

“I don’t see Donovan,” Malcolm said. “This is his kind of chaos.”

Garrison frowned.

They ducked under the tape and moved toward a uniformed officer who had already covered the body and tented a tarp above it to keep the rain off.

The officer was a petite woman in her twenties, but moved with the efficiency of a drill sergeant. She extended her hand. “I’m Officer Brennan.”

Garrison accepted her hand, noting she had a strong grip. “What do you have?”

“A woman killed like the others.”

“Who is it?”

“Based on the picture you’ve been circulating, it’s Kristen Hall.” She moved under the tent, knelt by the blue tarp and lifted the edge.

Garrison stared down at Kristen’s face. “Damn.”

Brennan pulled back more tarp, exposing four knife wounds to her heart and then her flat naked belly, marked with four stars arranged in a circle.

“Shit.” Garrison planted his hands on his hips.

“She was hell-bent on getting out of town,” Malcolm said. He squatted by her body and studied the star burns on her belly. “What could have brought her back?”

“I want to see all her phone records,” Garrison said. “I want all surveillance tapes from her building. Check to see if her car had GPS and track it down. I want to know every damn step she took in the last thirty-six hours.”

Brennan carefully covered Kristen’s body.

“Three women with connections to Price University and Eva Rayburn,” Malcolm said.

Garrison’s phone rang. “Yeah.”

It was the patrolman stationed outside of King’s. “Eva Rayburn is gone.”

Lou had left listening devices all around the pub and when she’d heard that Eva was going to get Bobby, the opportunity to strike was too perfect to resist. Standing near the school, Lou waited for Eva and tried to picture the latest crime scene.

By now the cops would have roped off the area around the bodies and marked patrol cars would have blocked off the streets to keep all onlookers away. The forensics van would have arrived. There’d be chaos.

Excitement burned. Killing had become a drug that Lou now craved. Each kill brought with it release, but the calm didn’t last. In fact, it faded faster and faster with each death. Perhaps, when Eva was dead the peace would finally come. Yes, maybe once the stars marked her belly and her eyes grew glassy with death everything would feel normal again.

Normal. It had been so long since a normal day. For so long, it had been necessary to hide and stay out of sight. Too long, the worry of being discovered hovered liked Damocles’ sword.

“I just want the anger to go away,” she whispered. “I want to be happy. I want to live.”

Maybe once Eva paid for her sins the clouds would be lifted.

Eva dug her phone out of her purse as she ran into the park looking for Bobby. She glanced at the phone and saw that she’d missed a call.
Angie Carlson.
She’d not heard the phone ring while she was driving and she realized she’d put it on silent mode.

Eva shoved out a breath and turned up the volume. She and Angie did need to talk. Hell, she and Garrison needed to talk. For so long she’d been alone. And now her life had filled with so many people. People she did not want to lose.

She stared at the swing set, watching the swings sway in the wind. Where was Bobby? He’d said the park by the school. “Bobby!”

She checked her watch. Maybe it was time to call Garrison.

“Eva.”

The sound of Bobby’s voice had her turning in a rush of excitement and relief. He stood on the other side of the park, waving at her.

She’d never been happier to see anyone than that kid. Without a thought she ran toward him, closing the gap between them in seconds. Breathless, she stopped in front of him. “Thank God you’re okay.”

His face was tight with tension.

“What’s wrong, Bobby?” She knelt down in front of him and laid her hands on his shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

Tears welled in his eyes and flowed down his cheeks.

She gripped his shoulders. “Honey, what’s the problem?”

“I’m sorry. She told me she’d caught Merlin.”

“I don’t understand. Merlin is back in the alley.”

In that moment, a bolt of electricity shot through her body. All her muscles collapsed, and before she realized what had happened, she lay on the ground, feeling consciousness slip away.

Garrison’s phone rang as he strode into King’s. “Yeah.”

“I’m texting you a picture,” Malcolm said. “It’s the artist’s latest sketch. Will you look at it now?”

“I’ll have a look and call you right back.”

He flipped open the phone and looked at the image. The artist had taken away the man’s glasses, the beard and added long hair. The few changes had transformed a stranger into someone he knew. Sally Walton.

“Shit.” He called Malcolm. “I want Sally Walton in my office now.”

“I’ve already sent cars to her apartment and they just reported back that she’s not there.”

“I want every uniform to have that sketch.”

“Right.”

Garrison strode through the pub past the customers and a harried waitress and pushed through the kitchen door. King stood at the stove, cursing as he pulled a burning pan from the oven.

“King. We need to talk,” Garrison said.

The older man looked up, his face a mixture of relief and anger.

“Where the hell is Eva?” Garrison asked.

“I don’t know. I thought you would.” He dropped the pan on the stovetop and started toward the back door. “I’ve got to go to the school. Bobby’s teacher can’t find him. He didn’t come back from his music class.”

“Is he with Eva? ”

“I don’t know!” King shouted.

“King, I want to help you but you have got to tell me what the hell is going on.”

The old man looked frazzled and for the first time frail. “I don’t know what’s happening.”

“You know a hell of a lot more. How did you know Louise Cross was alive?”

King paused by the back door. “Eva told you.”

“Yes. What the hell have you been doing?”

“I’ve been trying to clean up some of the damn mess the Cross family made. Those bloodsuckers leave destruction everywhere they go.”

“That’s why you brought Eva here?”

“Yes.”

“Why the boy?”

“His mother worked at Price. She was a maid. Josiah got her pregnant and then threatened to ruin her if she ever told anyone.”

“Josiah Cross is the kid’s father?”

“I’m not certain. But if I had to bet I’d say yes.”

Garrison clenched his fingers around his car keys. “How long since you last saw Eva?”

“I’m not sure. An hour. I even called her sister and she doesn’t know where Eva is. Some shit is going down. And I’m scared.”

“What about Sally? Has she been around?”

“Sally? Why? What does she have to do with anything? ”

“I think she’s Louise Cross.”

“What? That can’t be! That woman’s face is burned into my brain.”

“Nineteen years changes a lot.”

King drew in a breath as if he’d been punched. “No way. No way that bitch could be in my place and I’d not know it. She killed my family.”

“I’ll bet she looks very different than the last time you saw her.”

“But I would know. ”

“Not necessarily.”

“If she’s Louise Cross then you’ve got to find her fast. That bitch is evil. Josiah got all his evil from her. She’s got my boy and Eva. Please find her.”

“I will.” Garrison didn’t wait to reach his car before he started dialing Angie’s number. She answered immediately.

“What’s the number of the phone you gave her?”

Without hesitating, Angie recited the numbers. “Are you going to trace her phone?”

“I sure am.”

Malcolm met Garrison when he arrived at the office. “I have information for you.”

“About?” He didn’t stop to talk, but charged ahead to get the warrant he needed to trace Eva’s phone.

“The Cross family. They’re a real Addams Family, if you know what I mean. ”

“I don’t.”

“Old man Darius was a bit of a rebel back in the day. Bent his share of laws. He married Louise Winters while she was still in high school. A couple of years later Louise gave birth to twins. ”

“Josiah and Micah. ”

“Bingo. But from that moment on the marriage started to go downhill. Darius had lots of mistresses.”

“How do you know that? ”

“Rokov tracked down Darius’s former driver who worked for the family for thirty-plus years.”

Impatience wrapped around Garrison’s chest. “Okay. Bad marriage. What’s the point?”

“King was right. Louise didn’t die in a car accident as Darius told his sons and everyone else. Darius had his wife committed to a mental hospital up in western Maryland. And here’s the pisser. Six months before he died, Darius checked his wife out of the hospital.”

“Lisa tells him about The Secret. He knows he was dying, so he turns Louise loose, and creates a new identity for her so she can go out to do what he couldn’t.”

“Exactly. And here’s another tidbit. Darius bought Louise a house.”

When Eva awoke and opened her eyes she thought for a moment that she might be dead. She was sur- rounded by darkness. She blinked, but the darkness remained.

Then she noticed the ache in her side still tender from the shock she’d received. God, she felt like a truck had hit her.

She shook her head and tried to raise her hands, only to discover they were tied to the arms of a chair. Her blood pressure rose like a rocket, sending her heartbeat and mind into overdrive.

Bobby. Where was Bobby? The boy had been standing right in front of her when she’d been shocked. Had he seen who’d done this? Had he run to safety? Or was he tied up in this room somewhere?

“Bobby?” she whispered. “Bobby, are you in this room? Wake up, honey.”

No voice or sound came out of the darkness; only the silence.

Her cell phone started to vibrate somewhere. Her purse. It must be somewhere close. She strained against her bindings, trying to break free so that she could feel around the room for her purse. But her hands were tied so tight, her fingers tingled. Finally, the vibrating stopped and the phone sunk into the darkness.

A lifeline was so close to her and she couldn’t reach it. She tried to rock her chair from side to side but found it was bolted. She was trapped.

Eva wasn’t sure how much time passed before she heard a door open and overhead lights snapped on bright and harsh.

She winced against the onslaught, hating that she had to close her eyes, but unable to bear the pain of the light. Footsteps moved down a staircase as she struggled to help her eyes adjust to the light. Finally, she was able to tolerate a blur of white as she begged her eyes to focus.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, Eva.”

The voice was so familiar, she dismissed her initial thought immediately. It didn’t make sense. And then her vision focused on the person standing in front of her.

The suit and wig were meant to mimic a man’s frame, but she knew instantly that no disguise could hide such familiar eyes.

“Sally.”

The older woman hesitated a moment and then smiled. “Surprise.”

Confusion jumbled her thoughts. This made no sense. Sally was her friend. “Why are you here? Why?”

Sally pulled off her wig and ran her fingers through her hair. “Take a good look at me. Do I remind you of anyone?”

Eva stared at Sally’s deep eyes and the slight downturn of her lips. The feature that stood out most now was her eyes. Not the color or the shape but the utter hollowness.

Eva felt a tightening in her chest similar to the months and years after the night Josiah raped her. She’d forgotten many of the details of the rape but she’d never forgotten Josiah’s eyes. Void of emotion, she felt as if she stared into the eyes of Satan.

Memories of that night started to crawl out from the darkness. Josiah’s dead lifeless eyes. The touch of his hands on her breasts. His peppermint-scented breath. “You were Josiah’s mother.”

She nodded. “Very good.”

“Josiah and Micah thought you were dead.”

Sadness welled in her eyes. “That’s what their father told them. As you well know, Darius lied to get what he wanted.”