Eva Rae Thomas Mystery Box Set

by Willow Rose

  “Are you okay?” Ryan asked. “I heard you fall.”

  “I’ll be all right,” I said and felt my sore arm, then winced in pain. “I’m just a little lightheaded. Say, what is that stench? It’s even worse than when I was here last.”

  Ryan ignored me and knelt next to me, looking at my bloody wound. “W-what happened?”

  “I was shot,” I said. “It’s a long story.”

  He stared at the wound. It was a deep graze. The bullet had entered right above my elbow and gone through the flesh. It didn’t feel like it had hit anything vital or splintered any bone. But then again, I was no doctor.

  “You’ll need that bandaged,” he said, suddenly sounding very determined, the fear in his eyes dissipating. “Let me see what I can do. I used to be a lifeguard, and I am a trained paramedic.”

  My eyes grew wide. “Really?”

  “Yes. It helped me earn money during summer break and put me through college.” He rose to his feet, his eyes scanning the area. “I have a first aid kit here somewhere. Give me just a sec to find it. Wait here.”

  “Where would I go?” I asked with a shrug, then wrinkled my nose at the trash bags piling up in the corners.

  Chapter 85

  I winced in pain as Ryan wrapped the bandage around my wound. I had told him everything while he cleaned it. He had asked me to talk about something else, so I wouldn’t think about the pain, and it just spilled right out of me. I guess I needed to get it off my chest, even though I wasn’t sure he would believe me.

  “So, you’re telling me this NYX cult is behind the attack that almost killed me?” he said.

  My arm felt warm and numb, but I knew this wasn’t the end. More pain would come later. I had been shot before, so I was prepared.

  I laid my head back on the couch with a nod. “That’s what they think.”

  “And they’ve been using the young girls like your daughter to perform them?” he asked, startled.

  I sighed. “I’m afraid so, yes.”

  “But they’ve been arrested now? And the girls?”

  “A few of them were arrested during the attack at the school, but most escaped as far as I know. The thing is, most of them don’t even speak English, so it’s a mess, as you can imagine. Even finding out who they are and where they’re from is going to take some time. Matt told me there was one woman, though, who had told the police everything. She was a member of the cult. She said they forced her to be in the attack. No one else has dared to speak up against the cult leader. One woman died after doing so. I just pray that they protect this woman properly, so she won’t be killed like Lori Moore was. These cult people don’t joke around.”

  I stared at Ryan, who looked at my bandage, then smiled. “There. You’re as good as new. Well, almost. Now you must rest.”

  I smiled back. “Thank you. You’re a lifesaver.” I glanced toward his TV. “Do you mind if I watch the news while resting?”

  He shook his head but seemed concerned. “No. No, of course not. Let me just plug it in.”

  Ryan rose to his feet, then walked to the TV and plugged it in the wall. He then handed me the remote. I turned it on, and Ryan sat down to keep me company. As expected, my face was all over the broadcast, and there were no limits to how dangerous they believed I was, especially after almost killing a detective at the hotel while escaping the night before.

  “I didn’t even pull out my gun,” I grumbled like I could argue my way out of this with the TV.

  We watched the next few segments that were also about me and my connections with the cult, and apparently a long-term friendship with the leader Christopher Daniels, and how it was believed that I was the one planning the attacks, the big mastermind behind it all. Because my daughter had been kidnapped and because my stepfather was a serial killer, I had gone rogue and lost it, was the explanation.

  “She’s extremely irrational and, frankly, we don’t know what she might do next,” said detective Carter in an interview, where he was wearing a sling on his arm.

  I sat up straight on the couch and leaned forward in anger. “Look at this? I didn’t even touch him! He shot at me while I tried to talk sense into him. Can you believe this guy?”

  Ryan gave me an uncertain look, and I forced myself to calm down. I didn’t know the kid very well, and for all I knew, he might not fully trust me or my story. The last thing I needed right now was for him to be suspicious or even afraid of me.

  Next, they showed pictures of Christopher Daniels leaving the Miami-Dade Police Department with his lawyer, and suddenly, my blood was boiling again.

  “They’re letting him go? He’s been released, that bastard? After what he did to those girls and to… to my daughter? I can’t believe this; can you believe it?”

  Ryan shook his head nervously. “He posted bail, they say.”

  “I still can’t believe they’d let him even get bail with what he has done. It makes me so mad! Don’t they know what he did to my daughter?”

  I sat up, my fist clenched, and yelled at the TV through gritted teeth. “That means he’s going to be out there instead of being interrogated about where my daughter is. God knows what he might be up to next, what his plans are. Olivia’s life is in serious danger. If he finds her, he will kill her. I can’t believe this.”

  I felt the gun in my ankle holster when touching it from the outside of my pants. Christopher Daniels, alias the Iron Fist, was on the loose once again, but so was I. He wouldn’t be able to hurt my daughter anymore, not if I got to him first.

  I took in a couple of deep breaths and controlled myself when the anchor showed up on the screen again. Under a severe expression, he presented a breaking news story about the arrest of someone who the police believed had been handing me inside information into the police investigation.

  I held my breath as I watched this person be taken out of the police car and transported through the crowd of journalists, head bowed.

  Then my heart dropped.

  It was Matt.

  Chapter 86

  “Come on, Detective Miller. You might as well tell us everything.”

  Carter looked at him from across the table. Next to him sat Agent Patrick Albertson from the FBI. Matt had never been on this side of the table in an interrogation room and had to admit he was beginning to understand why so many became aggressive when sitting there. They kept asking the same darn questions over and over again until they got what they wanted. But Matt couldn’t give them that since he didn’t have it.

  “We just need to know where she’s hiding,” Patrick Albertson said. “We know you’ve been in contact with her.”

  He threw a stack of papers in front of Matt. “Phone records show anonymous calls in the middle of the night from different phones, burner phones. We assume they came from her. Here and here.”

  He pointed at the underlined numbers, but Matt didn’t even want to look at them.

  “I told you; I haven’t seen her or spoken to her until she showed up last night. It was totally unexpected.”

  “Yet the two of you went to your room and had sex,” Carter said. “Was that unexpected too?”

  Matt swallowed. He thought about the intimacy they had shared and felt a warmth spread throughout his body. It had been intense. The fact that they didn’t know when or if they’d ever see each other again had added to the intensity. He wasn’t sad that it had happened or even that he had been caught. He was just sad that it was over, that he couldn’t be with her longer. He was happy that he had managed to help her escape. Now, he just prayed that she would find Olivia before it was too late. No matter if she was still in the hands of those NYX people or if she had escaped and was walking the streets, she was in great danger.

  “Didn’t you?” Carter said.

  “Yes, we had sex. We love each other; there. Is that what you want to hear? I love her. I love Eva Rae Thomas, and I know that she hasn’t done any of what you accuse her of. All she wants is to find her daughter. That’s it. Her daughter was
in those attacks.”

  Carter burst into laughter. “But that’s exactly it. Don’t you see it? She’s even using her own daughter in this. That’s how unscrupulous she is. She’s got you completely fooled; doesn’t she? She comes here batting her eyelashes at you, and you just believe everything she tells you, don’t you?”

  “I’d believe her over you any day,” Matt said, knowing that the smirk on his face wasn’t doing him any favors. But in all fairness, he was just stating the truth.

  Patrick Albertson gave him a look, then wrote on his notepad. “How much have you told her about our investigation?” he asked.

  Matt exhaled. “I just told her that she was now being investigated as part of the terrorist group, that it was believed she killed Lori Moore and that we found the necklace, and that they found the traces of gas in her trunk. She said she wanted to turn herself in. She wanted to tell her side of the story, clear her name.”

  “But she didn’t, did she?” Carter said. “She ran in the middle of the night after getting what she wanted from you. She fooled you again. Tricked you into telling her these things because she knew you couldn’t say no to her. She’s been using you, Miller.”

  Carter rose to his feet and gathered his papers. Patrick Albertson followed him to the door.

  “But we’re gathering lots of evidence against her now, and the fact is that the ground is burning underneath your little girlfriend,” Carter said. “You better start talking soon, or she’ll drag you right down with her, Detective.”

  Chapter 87

  I wasn’t feeling better, nor was I able to rest. I couldn’t sit still on that stupid couch when the man I loved was in trouble, and the man who caused it all was still on the loose. Christopher Daniels had caused so much suffering, and several lives were on the line now. Not just my daughter’s, but also the other girls and that woman, Helen Wellington, who was the only former member who had stood up to him and told the truth. Christopher Daniels would come for her in one way or another like he had come for Lori Moore. I was certain of it and obsessed with the thought of stopping him.

  But how? How would I find him? He would most certainly want to go into hiding now, and he had plenty of devoted very rich followers to help him do just that.

  After turning off the TV in anger, I had borrowed Ryan’s computer and flipped through news stories, reading about the case. It was all they wrote about, and the rest of the day, all I could do was flip through news sites, going through each and every article I could find, anger rising inside of me more and more as I realized the many lies that were being said.

  Ryan was being sweet to me and made me chicken noodle soup from a can and made sure I was comfortable. I sensed that he was worried about having me there and maybe even a little scared of me, and so I wondered how long I would be able to stay. How long before he gave into that fear in him and called the police? On the other hand, I got the feeling that he believed my story when I told it and that he genuinely wanted to help.

  And there really wasn’t anywhere else I could go right now. Also, Ryan was right. I needed rest to feel better, to regain my strength. I was stuck here. At least for now.

  I sipped my water and opened an article from the New York Times dated a few days back. Luckily, Ryan was a member, so I could read the entire thing as it proved to be increasingly interesting. As I finished it, I Googled a name from the article and opened a few pages, then read through it, learning more and more about NYX.

  I asked Ryan for a notepad and started to scribble a few things down, then frantically did another search and then another, taking a closer look at the NYX’s members and who they were.

  Day became evening, and Ryan served more soup and ate with me, his eyes continually lingering on my every move like he was scared I’d suddenly attack him.

  I ignored him completely and stayed immersed in my research about NYX. I was hoping to find out if they had other places besides the estate in Miami where they might keep the girls they bought. A few hours later, Ryan announced that he was going to bed.

  “Will you be okay on the couch?” he asked. “I’m sorry about the smell.”

  I lifted my glance from the screen, then smiled. “It’s no problem. I’ll be fine. And don’t worry about the smell; I hardly notice anymore,” I lied.

  “Okay,” he said and disappeared into his room.

  Meanwhile, I had no intention of going to sleep. Instead, I stayed up all night, researching, and when the sun was about to rise, I suddenly felt better, good enough to get back on my feet. A gazillion thoughts still rushed through my mind, and I was frustrated that I still had no clue as to where those girls might be kept. I kept tapping on the computer when suddenly I stopped. I stared at a picture for a very long time, then went into Ryan’s room.

  “Wake up,” I said.

  He blinked and looked at me groggily. Outside the windows, the sun was beginning to rise, but it was still dark.

  “Do you have any means of transportation? No, of course, you don’t, or you wouldn’t have taken the train to work on that morning. Does your neighbor have a car or anything we can borrow? It’s urgent.”

  Ryan looked confused, then scratched his bed head. “My neighbor keeps his motorbike parked in my garage because he has his car in his.”

  “A bike, you say?” I answered. “You might want to show me where that is.”

  “I…I can’t,” he said and sat up in the bed.

  “Why not?”

  “I…I can’t leave the apartment.”

  I walked out of his room, looked around, then spotted a set of keys hanging on a hook in the kitchen. I grabbed them and dangled them in the air. Ryan came up behind me, still looking sleepy, but now wearing pants and a shirt.

  “I bet it’s one of these; am I right? I’m guessing this one is for the garage, and this one is for the bike.”

  “Y-you can’t do this,” Ryan said and stepped forward. “He’ll kill me.”

  I shrugged. “Well, better him than me, right?”

  I held the keys tightly, then opened the front door.

  “Stop,” Ryan said and came after me.

  I was out on the doormat now, and he was still standing inside, but one more step would take him out across the threshold. He stared at it, like crossing it meant apocalypse now.

  “I don’t have time for this,” I said and shook my head. “There is someone I need to find. Now. My daughter’s life is in danger. If you want to stop me, then you’ll have to follow me.”

  With that, I turned around and rushed down the stairs. Ryan stayed behind and yelled for me to stop one more time, but I didn’t have the time even to slow down.

  I had reached the second set of stairs when I heard his tapping steps behind me.

  Chapter 88

  The garage door squeaked eerily as it opened. Ryan turned on the light nervously. His hands were shaking, and he was breathing raggedly.

  “H-here it is.”

  The Harley gleamed in the light from above it. I whistled and ran my finger across the fuel tank. She was a beauty. I couldn’t blame the neighbor for being protective of her.

  I wheeled the bike around and threw my leg over it, then revved it and let the noise echo in the parking garage underneath the building. I had been a bike rider in my younger days when everything was new and exciting with Chad.

  “This will do just fine.”

  “You can’t just take it,” Ryan said. “What do I tell my neighbor?”

  I shrugged and put on the helmet that was hanging from the handle. I snapped it shut, then gave him a look.

  “Tell him we borrowed it.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “Yes, I can if you’re with me,” I said. “Come on.”

  Fear struck Ryan’s eyes. Drops of sweat appeared on his upper lip. He shook his head.

  “But… I… can’t.”

  “Suit yourself,” I said. “I’m going now.”

  “No!”

  I stopped and looked at hi
m.

  He grunted nervously. “Okay. I’ll come.”

  I smiled and revved the bike a few times. “Then what are you waiting for? Jump on but grab a helmet first.”

  Ryan found the other helmet and put it on, then whimpered lightly when he climbed onto the bike behind me before we rode out of the garage and into the dawning day. Ryan held onto me tightly from behind, and I could hear him moan loudly even above the noise coming from the bike below us.

  What I didn’t tell him was that I was very pleased to have him come along, since the police were looking for a single woman on foot and not a couple on a bike. The way I saw it, if we stayed clear of the roadblocks, we had an actual chance of making it through town unnoticed.

  Chapter 89

  Olivia felt her pulse quickening as she approached the line in front of her. She stood close to a family of four and stared at the two children in their light summer clothes. In front of them, the line moved slowly toward the breakfast buffet.

  They had given them new clothes and taken the girls there to spend the night, pretending to be several families on vacation. Not because of their generosity or because they wanted them to have a nice bed to sleep in for once. No, it was so they wouldn’t stand out, so they would be able to get into the restaurant in the morning without anyone paying attention to them. After all, they looked just like the rest of the tourists and happy families in the hotel. The only difference was the bags of liquid gas that had been strapped to their stomachs, the same bags they were instructed to poke with forks as soon as they reached the buffet.

  Two other girls had taken their seats in the restaurants by the exits and were waiting for their signal before they would do the same.

  Olivia felt the bag under her loose white shirt with her finger. Once she poked a hole in it, she was going to die along with the people standing close to her. She knew this was to be her fate. They had told her so. She had been chosen to be one of those that didn’t make it out. They had guards placed both inside and outside the hotel, ready to shoot her if she didn’t do as told or if she tried to make contact with anyone.