Ultimate Prey (Book 3 Ultimate CORE) (CORE Series) (26 page)

“That’s what Eden says. She thinks I’ll get bored and start some sorta militant neighborhood watch just so I can get my chasing bad guys fix.”

John chuckled as they approached the walkway leading to the front door, but grew serious when he noticed a pile of newspapers on the porch. “Maybe they went out of town,” he said, bending down to check the dates on the papers. “The oldest newspaper is from three days ago.”

Hudson rang the doorbell. “The mailbox is full, too.” When no one answered he knocked. After a half a minute, he stepped off the small porch. “Let’s see if there are cars in the garage.”

They peered through the service door window and saw two cars. John tried the handle. “Locked. They could have taken a cab and done the smart thing—flown south for the holiday.”

“We should try the back door before we go,” Hudson said, pulling the lock pick kit from his coat pocket.

“Try knocking, or breaking and entering?” John asked, looking to the neighboring yards. Both neighbors on either side, and behind the Weir house, had six-foot privacy fences. But if any of those neighbors looked out their second floor windows, they’d be able to see them attempting to break into the house. “I don’t feel good about doing this.”

Hudson glanced to the house on the right. “Windows are dark.” He looked the left. “They can’t see anything unless they climbed on their roof.”

“The people behind—”

“Are too busy eating turkey and pie. Come on, it’ll only take a minute. I don’t know about you, but after the way Steven cut the eyes in his ex’s picture, I want to make sure she and her kids are okay.”

“I drove us here, so what do you think?” John asked, nearing the back patio. Blinds had been drawn at the kitchen window and door, but lights glowed from inside.

Hudson opened the screen door, then gave the storm door a hard knock. “When you go out of town, do you leave this many lights on?”

“No. Celeste is the electricity police. She’s always yelling at me about not turning off lights when I leave a room.” A shiver tore through him when a strong wind blasted him with more cold air. Or maybe the chill wasn’t just from the wind, but from the dread balling in his stomach. He wanted to believe Steven’s ex had gone out of town. The lights were one thing, but why hadn’t she stopped the newspaper or mail? “Get us inside.”

Hudson pulled the torque wrench from the lock pick set, crouched, then gripped the doorknob. He looked over his shoulder and raised a brow. “It can’t be this easy,” he said, and turned the knob. “Do you keep your doors unlocked when you go out of town?”

“This isn’t a good sign.”

Hudson gave the door a slight push, then, holding the doorjamb, leaned inside. “She’s not on vacation.” He jerked away from the door and wiped a hand down his face.

That chill moved through him again. “Dead?”

He nodded. “It’s bad. We better call Dante.”

John quickly put on boot covers. “Go ahead. I’m heading inside. The kids, remember?”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Hudson said, as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

While Hudson placed the call, John took a cautious step onto a small rug, then glanced to the kitchen floor. Dried blood was smeared along the tile. He shifted his gaze, following the trail, then looked away when he found the source.

“I told you it was bad,” Hudson said, and now wearing boot covers, moved next to him. “I have Dante on the line.”

“How many victims?” Dante asked.

John swallowed back the acid climbing up his throat and stepped over the blood trail. “Two.”

“Is Elaine Weir one of them?”

He stared at the female victim. “I’m assuming so. It’s hard to tell since he burned her.”

“Burned her?”

“And the male victim.” John moved closer to the bodies, avoiding the char marks and dried pools of blood on the tile. “Both have their hands behind their backs. The clothes on the front of their bodies are burned away, and…” He drew in a deep breath through his mouth, hoping to keep from vomiting. “Both victims sustained third degree burns. The female was cut across her pelvis.” He glanced to the male and cringed. “Christ, he mangled the man’s penis.”

“The female’s eyes are missing.” Hudson walked near the heads of the victims. “There are stab wounds all around her eyes. The male didn’t get off any easier,” he said, snapping on a pair of latex gloves. He touched the man’s jaw. “His tongue’s been cut out. Looks like he’d had the shit beat out of him before he was set on fire. Her, too.”

John noticed the fire extinguisher on the counter behind Hudson. He turned toward the kitchen table, which had been shoved at an angle. Several chairs, with severed ropes still tied to the wooden rungs, lay on the tile near a gas can. “He set them on fire to cover up any evidence that might lead back to him, then extinguished the fire to contain it.”

Hudson stood, then stepped around the bodies and toward the stainless steel refrigerator. “Because if the house caught on fire, the bodies would be discovered before Steven even left the state.”

He hardened his jaw. “I hope to God they were dead or at least unconscious when he set them on fire. I don’t even want to imagine the pain they suffered.”

“What about the kids?” Dante asked. “We need to find them, and any evidence Steven was in the house.”

“We’ll do a search and call you back.” Hudson ended the call. “I’ll head to the second level.”

“Wait, there’s a calendar on the side of the fridge,” John said, swapping his leather gloves for latex.

Hudson moved to the opposite side of the fridge, near the gas stove. “It says,
H and B at mom’s
. There’s a line from Tuesday to Sunday. Do we know the names of Steven’s kids?”

“When you check the bedrooms, I’m sure you’ll be able to confirm it,” he said, and left the kitchen. He hoped to God H and B stood for the two teenagers. Steven had been proven to be a sick son of a bitch, but was he sick enough to kill his own kids?

After checking the family room, then the living and dining rooms, he stopped at a half-bath off the hall. All of the rooms were modern and immaculate. Nothing was out of place or indicated there had been a struggle. He left the bathroom, then continued down the hall. When he reached a closed door, his heart rate kicked up a notch.

He turned the knob, then opened the door. Papers were scattered along the glass top of a large wooden desk. More littered the dark-green and brown area rug. Whatever had been sitting on the built-in bookcase had been tossed onto the rug or hardwood floor. Next to a stack of books was a large canvas painting that had been slit down the middle. He looked to the wall opposite the desk. A built-in safe stood open, a nail sticking out of the wall above it where the painting had likely once hung. He looked to the rug as he walked toward the safe, careful to not step on anything. A shiny sliver of gold snared his attention. He bent, then pushed the carpet fibers aside, and discovered the match to the earring Ryan had found in the old Mazda outside of Ian’s vacation rental.

After pocketing the earring, he looked at some of the papers on the floor in front of the safe. There was an insurance policy for Elaine Weir and her passport, along with a man’s. He stared at the head shot of Raymond Anderson and noted a strong resemblance between the photo and the victim in the kitchen. He also found several social security cards. One was Elaine’s, the other two belonged to Hailey and Benjamin Weir. Good. That confirmed the
H
and
B
written on the calendar as Steven and Elaine’s kids. Somewhat relieved, he looked through several of the other documents. One was a deed to the house, which showed Elaine’s name only. Beneath the deed was Elaine and Steven’s finalized divorce papers. He skimmed through the decree, which confirmed Elaine had taken the house, full custody of the kids and half of whatever money and investments she and Steven had owned. Because Steven had been in prison and could not pay child support, she’d ended up with everything.

“Find anything?” Hudson asked, stepping into the office.

“The match to the earring Ryan found in the Mazda.”

Hudson glanced at a few of the papers on the desk. “Here’s what I find interesting about that. I just left the room Elaine shares with her fiancé, Raymond Anderson. The jewelry on her dresser and in her drawer wasn’t touched.”

“And yet an earring somehow ends up in Florida. It’s as if he wanted us to come here.” He blew out a breath. “How’d you find out the fiancé’s name?”

“There was a box of wedding invitations in the bedroom, along with a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses.” He shrugged. “The wallet helped, too. My guess is that the kids went to Grandma’s house for the holiday, and Elaine and Raymond were in the bedroom addressing invitations when Steven surprised them.”

“Did you find evidence of a struggle?”

“Oh, yeah. Broken doorframe, blood spatter on the walls…the wine bottle was broken at the base, and there’s dried blood coating the glass. There’s also blood on the area rug by the bed and hardwood floor. I’m thinking Steven used the broken bottle to stab Raymond in the crotch.”

John winced, and quickly purged the image before it took root in his mind. He held up the deed and divorce papers. “This used to be Steven’s house. I’m sure when he saw another man in his ex-wife’s bed, that sent him into a rage. Not to mention Elaine took everything from him. The house, the kids, the money.”

Hudson stepped over to the safe. “Not all the money,” he said, reaching into the safe. “He left a dollar bill. And…another note.”

He set the papers back on the floor and stood. “What’s it say?”

“‘RIP. You should have obeyed. I’m coming for you’.” Hudson glanced up from the note. “Then he lists our names,” he finished, and handed it over to him.

John stared at his name, along with Hudson’s, Owen’s and Dante’s, confirming what they’d suspected. Steven only learned about Rachel when he’d used Ian’s cell phone to text her. Still, her life was in jeopardy, considering she was not only a member of CORE but married to Owen. He folded the note and pocketed it. “Let’s make sure he didn’t leave us anything else.”

They spent the next ten minutes looking through the office. When they found nothing,

they made their way into the kitchen. John avoided looking at the bodies, but checked the countertops one last time. When his gaze drifted over the under-mount stainless steel sink, his stomach rolled with nausea. Elaine’s mutilated eyes had been placed above the drain, while Raymond’s tongue had been set below, creating a disturbing, taunting face. “Crazy bastard,” he muttered, and turned away.

Hudson moved next to him and tugged off his latex gloves. “How much you wanna bet that was staged for our benefit?”

He checked his watch. Damn it, they’d been inside the house for over thirty minutes. “I don’t doubt it. Let’s get out of here.”

As they made their way back to his sedan, the snowfall began to increase. The local meteorologist had predicted Chicago would be hit with at least six inches by nightfall, which was good. The snow would once again conceal the tracks he and Hudson had made. While he had no intention of taking the heat for illegally entering the house and tampering with evidence, Dante was going to have to find a way to alert the police. Elaine and Raymond no longer suffered, but if her kids walked into the house and found their mom and future stepdad…

He climbed into the car and turned the ignition. Hudson closed the passenger door, reached over, then cranked the heat and the seat warmers. “How do you want to handle Dante?” he asked.

John shifted into DRIVE. “What do you mean?”

“How many dead bodies are we going to leave around the country without doing the right thing?”

“I know, I’ve been thinking about that, too.” He made a turn toward the freeway. “We need to wait until enough snow falls, though.”

“True.” He retrieved his cell phone. “And I keep thinking back to the idea of Steven baiting us. He somehow knew we’d figure out he was behind the kidnapping and hunt. He then assumed we’d go to his dad’s house, and then his ex’s.”

“Jordan Marquette’s, too.”

“Right. He left one earring at Elaine’s and one in the Mazda. We have all the evidence we need to have him arrested for kidnapping and murder, only we can’t go to the police. Well, we could, if we wanted to lose our licenses and jobs.”

The snowfall increased, making visibility difficult. John turned on the windshield wipers and headlights. “Are you suggesting he wants us in this position?” He shook his head. “He couldn’t know we’d find out it was him behind Ian’s kidnapping. He also knows damn well how Ian feels about hiding evidence and—”

The quick memory of Steven suggesting they hide his bloodied brass knuckles flashed in his mind. How Steven had pleaded with Ian to hide the evidence and cover for him, with the promise he’d never step out of line again. How Ian had practically boasted that CORE ran by the book. From the moment Rachel received the text from Steven, they hadn’t done
anything
by the book.

“He did more than bait us. You were right earlier. He’s setting us up to fail. Even if we find him and deal with him on our own, we’ve broken a bunch of laws. He might have nothing to lose, but we all do. Our jobs, our reputations…” He glanced to the phone in Hudson’s hand. “Don’t call Dante yet. We need to talk this out first. Dante has made it clear he doesn’t want anyone from the outside involved in this. What he hasn’t made clear is what we’re going to do to Steven once we find him.”