Vengeful Shadows (28 page)

He yawned as he slid off her. “Hurry back.” His sleepy smile twisted her heart and her resolve.

“I…” She mentally shook herself. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t tell him. But she realized she couldn’t leave without saying something. She’d have to settle for telling him with her body. Lowering her face to his, she kissed him. She poured all of her longing and love for him into a slow, tender kiss. “Go to sleep,” she whispered. “I’ll be back soon.”

“I’ll miss you.” His voice was already thick with exhaustion. She shouldn’t have to wait long at all.

Tessa walked to the bathroom, discreetly shuffling her clothes along the floor as she moved. Her toe caught on Zander’s belt loop and his pants followed her to the doorway.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw his body outlined by the streetlight bleeding through her curtains. One muscular arm was flung to the side and the other pillowed his head. The sheet was slung low on his hips. He’d get cold. She stopped herself from going back to cover him. She couldn’t take the chance that she’d wake him.

She wiped gathering tears from her eyes. The necklace he’d given her hung like a millstone around her neck. She steeled herself against the “what ifs” and “could have beens” that plagued her mind and unclasped the pendant.

Once in the bathroom, she dressed as silently as possible in the dim glow of the tiny nightlight. As she sat on the edge of the tub and waited, she wiped her eyes with tissue. The small, silver angel wings lay on the counter, glinting in the low light, and her heart constricted, as she remembered the moment Zander had placed it around her neck.

Carefully, she laid another tissue flat on the counter. Leaning over as though she was crying, she pulled a lip liner pencil from a container near the sink and quickly wrote a note. Discreetly, she laid the necklace atop the message. Even if Edward had a camera in here, it was so dark in the bathroom she didn’t believe he’d be able to see her.

While she counted the minutes and listened for Zander’s deepened breathing, she contemplated praying. The last time she’d prayed, Weston’s roommate had had her pinned to the bed, while blood had run from her nose and mouth, soaking the pristine, white sheets. She wondered idly if the stains had ever come out.

A soft snore filtered down the hallway and Tessa knew the time had come to leave. In the end, it was far easier to disable the alarm and tiptoe down the stairway than she had expected.

As her home shrank in her rearview mirror, minutes later, she pushed away the pang of disappointment that Zander hadn’t noticed and stopped her. In real life, fairytale princes didn’t exist, and college professors who put themselves between a psychopath and his target ended up dead.

There would be no last minute rescue. The cavalry wasn’t coming. It was up to her to save Cat. Tessa had dragged her friend into this mess, and she’d get her out.

* * * *

Zander woke with a shiver. The bed next to him was empty. He squinted at the clock. Tessa couldn’t have been in the bathroom that long. Unless something was wrong. He threw off the sheet and bolted through the open doorway.

“Tessa?”

He turned on the light in the bathroom. Empty. His eyes fell on her necklace and rose-colored words.

You’ll always have an angel watching over you.

Dread chilled his blood. He didn’t think he’d ever be warm again. Even as he searched the rest of her apartment, he knew he wouldn’t find her. She was gone. In the space of seconds, his world crumbled until all that remained was an aching void where Tessa had been.

He checked the control panel. The alarm had been disabled. From the inside. She’d gone intentionally. Had she received a threat she hadn’t told him about? The phone. She’d been holding the phone when he’d returned, and he’d believed her lame-ass excuse about trying to order food. Frantically, he glanced around the room. The recording device. He activated it.

An impersonal, mechanized voice filled the small room. The threats against Tessa and her friend stole the air from his lungs, and he sank to floor. The recording stopped abruptly as she must have acquiesced to the demand.

He played the message again, praying for some clue as to where she’d gone. Nothing. A blinking red light mocked him in the darkness. Her answering machine. With foreboding, he pushed the play button.

The same conversation permeated the still night. Zander’s fists clenched as he listened to the faceless voice menace her, but hope filled the raw emptiness in his chest as he realized that this message continued past the point of the other.

Anger tinged with determination propelled him into motion when he heard the address. The deadline followed. Eight-fifteen. He glanced at the clock, terrified he’d slept through his only chance to save her. It was eight-fourteen now. Dimly, he heard the bastard mention Kayla. Zander couldn’t allow himself to feel the sickened horror that pulled at him. There would be time for that later. After he saved Tessa and Cat.

Running to the bedroom, he grabbed his clothes from the floor and put them on. He scooped the necklace up from the counter and shoved it into his pocket, intending to put it back where it belonged.

He pushed his feet into his shoes and pulled his sweater over his head. It was as though his movement was hampered by an invisible web, created by fear. Vaulting down the stairs to the street level, he dialed 9-1-1 as he reached his jeep. He gave the emergency operator the pertinent information, disconnected and called Duritz.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” the detective advised.

Zander ran another red light and grunted in response. The clock read eight twenty-one. He punched the accelerator.

“You could put her in greater danger by barging in,” Duritz continued.

“Then I guess you’d better hurry.” He registered the sound of the other man’s anger before he turned off the phone.

The image of Tessa’s eyes, bright with tears and what he’d believed was love, swam before him. Her expression as she welcomed him into her body would be etched in his mind forever. With brutal clarity, he realized she’d been telling him goodbye.

She’d known the whole time they’d made love that she’d be leaving. No wonder she hadn’t cared about the condom. She wasn’t planning on coming back. She believed she was going to die. He slammed his fist into the steering wheel as rage spiraled through him.

She hadn’t trusted him enough to let him help her. Anger at Tessa for leaving meshed with anger at himself. He’d allowed himself to be lulled into a false sense of security. The recollection of the metallic odor of blood mixed with the sharp scent of pine assailed him. He couldn’t avoid the memory of Julia and the carnage he’d seen, but he’d die before he’d let that happen to Tessa.

Zander switched off his headlights as soon as he turned onto Prospect. Most of the once-stately homes were either rundown or abandoned altogether. Very few had lights shining in the windows. 605 was a burned-out shell with planking nailed over the casements. He passed the house and parked in front of a beat-up van. Hopefully, the other vehicle would obscure his.

He crept closer as quickly as he dared. He didn’t want to take a chance that the stalker would hear him and hurt Tessa before he could get to her.

Slices of light glowed between the boards over a second-floor window. Staying in the shadows, Zander skulked toward an enclosed stairway that led upwards. He eyed the rickety steps and prayed they wouldn’t creak and alert anyone to his presence.

The sound of muffled voices drifted to him. He heard Tessa. Hope flourished.

Petitioning whatever divine being might be listening, he began the ascent.

* * * *

Tessa stared at Cat. She was duct taped to a metal, folding chair in the middle of a bare room with boarded up windows. Her ankles were secured to the legs, and her hands cuffed behind her back. A wide strip of silver tape obscured her mouth. Red rimmed her eyes, and bruises covered her face.

Tessa fought the urge to cross the room and claw out Edward’s eyes. She observed the man who had been tormenting her for the last week. The man who thought nothing of torturing little girls. The man who held Cat’s life in his hands.

He was smaller than she’d remembered. But size hardly mattered when he stroked the blunt barrel of a deadly looking gun along the side of her friend’s neck.

At least, she could be thankful Zander was safe. She pictured him as she’d left him, alive and well, asleep in her bed. It hurt to breathe every time she remembered she’d never touch him again. Never hear him murmur her name as they made love. Never tell him how much she loved him.

An invisible mass lay squarely on her chest, nearly suffocating her with the pain of losing him. Maybe, Edward wouldn’t get the pleasure of killing her after all.

She wiped tears from her eyes. Zander’s scent still lingered on her skin, a balm to her aching heart.

“Did you have any trouble finding the place?” Edward asked almost conversationally.

Several, sharp retorts scurried through her mind, but she pressed her lips together and shook her head. She had no idea what would set him off, and she refused to put Cat in even more danger.

“Good. Good. Glad to hear it.” He gestured with the firearm. “Well, come over here. Let’s have a look at you.”

Of their own volition, her eyes sought Cat’s, and her friend shook her head slightly.

“Quiet, bitch.” He brought the butt of gun down across the back of Cat’s head. With a muffled cry, she slumped forward.

“Leave her alone!” Tessa took several steps toward them. “I’m here, like you wanted. Now, let her go. Please.”

He smiled coldly. “Did I mention that I like it when you beg?” When she didn’t move, he placed the barrel of the gun at the base of Cat’s skull. “I thought you were here to save your friend’s life, not to watch me splatter her brains on the wall.”

“Don’t. Please. It’s just that I thought you said you’d let her go if I came to you.”

“Patience is a virtue, angel.” His eyes narrowed, and his fingers flexed on the gun. “And I’ve been very, very patient.”

Cat moaned and Tessa watched her struggle to regain consciousness. She had to get her friend away from this psychopath.

Edward tangled his free hand in Cat’s hair and yanked her head up. Blood ran from her nose.

“Do you know what they do to men like me in prison?” he asked. His grip tightened on Cat’s head, and she whimpered.

It couldn’t be any less than he deserved. Tessa bit her lip, refusing to risk her friend to his ire. “How about if you take me somewhere else?” she asked, trying both to distract him and rescue Cat. “We can phone someone to untie her, and she won’t be able to tell the police where we’ve gone.”

He shook his head. “I like my plan better.”

“Which is?” Patience may be a virtue, but her supply was rapidly dwindling.

“You took Jennifer away from me.” His face grew florid. “She was my whole world, and you took her from me.”

“You were hurting her,” she tried to reason.

He didn’t seem to hear her. “You took mine. Now, I’m going to take yours.” He waved the gun in Cat’s direction. “And you get to watch.”

Chapter Seventeen

Tessa’s breath caught.

“No!” she choked out. If she was going to die, she’d go out fighting. There was no way she’d stand by and watch him torture anyone to death while she waited her turn.

Cat fought her bonds with renewed spirit, but Tessa kept her focus on Edward. She suspected her friend did her best to distract him. As soon as he glanced at Cat, Tessa rushed at him and knocked him into the wall.

She reached for his gun as he tried to push her away, but he used it to backhand her across the jaw. Her vision dimmed, but she managed to twist and throw her shoulder into his groin.

Distantly, she heard footsteps thudding up the stairs, and her heart sank. Edward’s hired hand had arrived. She tried to blink away the dark spots that peppered her vision while she fought to keep Edward from aiming the gun.

Her grip on his arm faltered. Within seconds, he’d locked his hand around her neck. He was stronger than he looked. A wheezy chuckle sounded next to her ear, and she nearly gagged on the odor of his breath. Cigarettes, stale coffee and bologna wafted around her. She struggled against his bruising hold as he forced her to face the door.

Zander!

He stood in the doorway, wild-eyed and furious. His sweater was inside out, his hair was tangled, and his expression promised retribution. He looked like heaven. He also looked like the perfect target.

“Leave! Please!” she pleaded. “He’ll kill you.”

“Not if I kill him first.” His tone radiated a cold fury she’d never heard from him.

Edward pressed the gun barrel to Tessa’s temple, and she froze. “Now, you get to see both of them die,” he whispered in her ear. “I was going to dump your corpse on his doorstep and watch him find you. Then figured I’d kill him, but this is even better.”

“Go, please,” she mouthed, but Zander wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were fixed on the other man.

Tightening his grip on her throat, Edward removed the gun from her head and took aim at Zander.

Tessa moved without thinking. She thrust her elbow into his arm, and the shot went wide, embedding itself into the doorframe next to Zander’s head. Her ears rang from the blast.

“Fucking bitch!” her tormentor shouted.

In the same instant, Zander rushed across the room to where she continued to grapple with Edward. The man raised his gun and squeezed off a shot as Zander reached them. He staggered slightly under the impact but kept moving forward. Above his heart, blood blossomed, bright against the light-colored cotton.

Tessa threw herself against Edward and knocked him to the floor. The gun discharged again. Zander grunted. Blood oozed from his shoulder, but he lunged forward and wrapped his hands around Edward’s neck.

Zander’s blood pooled on the dirty linoleum. If he died…

She couldn’t complete the thought. Fury and terror screamed through her body. Twisting, she sank her teeth into Edward’s wrist and pried the gun loose from his fingers. Despite his injuries, Zander repeatedly slammed Edward’s head against the floor.