by Jami Alden
Tears streamed down as she stared up into his face. He was freakishly calm as he looked down at her.
He removed the hand from her throat, and before she could even breathe, she felt the cold sting of a knife against her neck. “Now, you are going to call Megan and get her over here, or I will hurt you. Are we clear?”
Chapter 20
Dev’s mind raced as Nate bound her hands and feet and dragged her to the kitchen. She needed to get out of this, needed to somehow warn Megan before it was
too late.
She filled her lungs, hoping a five-alarm scream in the middle of the day would rouse a neighbor.
“Don’t even think about it.”
The scream died in a whimper of pain as Nate tugged her sweatshirt up and slid the knife along her waist. “That’s just the beginning.” He pulled a bandana out of his pocket, wadded it up, and shoved it in her mouth. A second bandana was tied around that.
“Or maybe you like being cut?” he said, tracing the knife along the back of her hand but not hard enough to slice through the skin. “Maybe you’d like a moon and stars in your skin, like your friend Bianca.”
Oh God. He’d killed Bianca. He was the one who had raped and tortured her and filmed the whole thing.
A swell of nausea pushed up her throat, and she was afraid she was going to choke on her own vomit. That might be a better way to go.
“No? Then you better help me if you don’t want to end up exactly like her.”
He left her on the floor by the couch while he went to the kitchen to retrieve the phone. He dialed and held it up to her ear and tugged the gag away. “When Megan answers, you know what to do.”
“Hello? Dev? Is that you?”
“Megan, don’t—” The phone crashed to the floor and the knife sliced her forearm.
“You bitch. Don’t try anything. You have no idea how bad it will get for you if you try to fuck with me.”
She shook her head. “I won’t let you hurt her.” Megan was the only one who cared about her. Dev couldn’t let him hurt her like he’d hurt those other women. “You can do whatever you want to me, but I won’t do it. I won’t—”
They froze at the sound of a car door slamming in front of the trailer. Dev tried to scream, but Nate shoved the gag back in her mouth and slammed her head against the floor so hard her vision swam.
Footsteps on the metal stairs, the click of someone trying the door latch. Nate ducked behind the door just as it swung open.
Dev’s stomach sank when she saw her mother’s thin frame enter. She looked from side to side, small, birdlike movements, checking to make sure the house was empty. God, Mom, why did you have to pick today to come raid Aunt Kathy’s cash jar? Dev tried to yell, warn her.
Her mother’s head jerked when she spotted Dev, her eyes widening with confusion, then fear as she took in the fact that Dev was bound and gagged on the floor of the trailer. “Dev, honey, oh my God.” She started toward her, hands outstretched.
Nate’s hand snaked out and covered her mother’s face, so fast she couldn’t even scream. He lifted her mother off the floor and shoved the knife against her neck. “Either you call Megan, Dev, or I’ll cut her fucking head off.”
Dev shook her head reflexively, then screamed against the gag as the knife slashed across her mother’s cheek, leaving a gaping slash behind. He held the tip of the knife under her mother’s left eye. “Next I’ll pop it out like a grape.”
Her mother was moaning against Nate’s hand, frozen in terror.
“And then I’ll skin her like a rabbit before I cut her throat, all while you watch. Is that what you want?”
Dev shook her head and sobbed. She didn’t want him to hurt Megan. And she was angry, so angry at her mother for everything, but right now all she could remember was the pink bike her mom had bought her for her sixth birthday and the way she used to make Dev strawberry pancakes in the shape of hearts every Saturday. The whispered I-love-yous and desperate hugs when she was taken away.
She couldn’t. She couldn’t.
“Will you call Megan?”
Dev nodded. She waited as Nate bound and gagged her mother. When he went to retrieve the phone from where it had rolled under the couch, Dev inched her way over to her mother and burrowed against her, whimpering like a puppy.
Nate jerked her up, dialed the phone, and pressed it against her ear. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he said as he pulled the gag from her mouth once again.
Dev shook her head.
“They want me to go down to the station.”
Megan’s chest filled with dread as she took in Cole’s expression, that awful, carefully blank cop face he put on when there was bad news to be delivered. “Shouldn’t we go find Talia? She’s the only one who really knows what’s going on.”
This whole thing with Jimmy was just a setup. The real killer was still out there no matter the evidence they had against Jimmy. Megan knew it; she could feel it in her very bones. But unlesser y found Talia, no one would ever believe her. It would be dismissed as just another one of her desperate theories.
Cole ran a tired hand down his face. “Look, if I go in, I can get more information about the evidence they have against Caparulo. If I play by their rules, I have a better chance of staying in the loop.”
Though he didn’t say it, there was something else going on. “And you’ll have a chance of keeping your badge.”
“There’s that too.”
Funny how his admission didn’t fill her with rage or a sense of betrayal. For three years, she hadn’t been able to forgive him for turning his back on her in favor of his job. But now, all she felt was a horrible sense of inevitability. That despite how hard she’d fought, despite everything he’d done to help her, none of it really mattered.
In the end, Sean was going to die. “I understand.”
“When I get down there, I’ll tell them to put out an APB on Talia. As soon as I tell them what we’ve found out, and when Slater talks to them—”
“But Slater’s not going to do anything without talking to Talia.” She was surprised at how calm and matter-of-fact her voice sounded. Almost like Cole in his full-on Robocop mode.
From the near panicked look in his eyes, it was almost as though they had switched places. A muscle throbbed in his jaw. “I’m going to do everything I can. I promise—”
Megan’s phone rang, cutting off her reply, and she swore under her breath when she saw Dev’s number. She couldn’t ignore it. “Hello?” No answer. “Dev? Is that you?” She thought she heard a muffled noise; then the line went dead. She tried to call back, but the line was busy. She pushed aside the ripple of concern and turned back to Cole. “I understand, Cole. You’ve done a lot to help me, and I’ll always be grateful for that.”
His dark brows pulled together. “Why are you talking like we’re never going to see each other again?”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she said. Or did she? Because really, despite everything between them, where could they go from here? How could she ever be happy with Cole, knowing she’d failed Sean? “It’s okay,” she repeated. “You do what you have to do. Just take me back to my car, and I’ll go look for Talia—” She stopped as her phone rang. Devany again. “Hello?” she said tiredly.
“Megan? Can you come over, please?”
“Dev, what’s wrong? It sounds like you’ve been crying.” She followed Cole down the hall, through the kitchen, and into his attached garage.
“It’s—” Suddenly Dev’s voice was muffled like she was putting her hand over the phone. “It’s my mom,” Dev said. “She came over and—” Dev broke into sobs. “You have to come over, right now!”
God, she thought wearily, why now? “Dev, this isn’t a good time. I can come this afternoon—”
> “No!” she yelled sharply. “It has to be right now.”
“If your mom’s bugging you, I can call Kathy or your caseworker. Dev, you can always call the police too.”
“You said
I could count on you when I needed you! You get over here now, or I promise you, Megan, you will never see me again.”
Megan’s jaw clenched as she sucked a frustrated breath through her teeth. “Fine, I’ll be over in ten minutes, but I can’t stay.”
The line went dead. Megan ground the heels of her hands against her eyes but couldn’t hold back the tears of frustration. “I have to go see Dev,” she said as Cole followed her into the garage.
“Good girl,” Nate said as he hung up the phone.
“What are you going to do now?” Dev whispered.
Nate didn’t answer, and Dev’s blood curdled when he leaned toward her to lift the gag back over her mouth, that same dead look in his eyes.
Then something in his face changed. His blue eyes widened, his lips parted, and he leaned his face closer to hers.
She froze, holding her breath, trying to shrink away, but there was nowhere to go. The hand around her throat loosened and he brought it to her face. She squeezed her eyes shut and felt his thumb wipe over her eyes. A sob choked in her throat, but instead of trying to dig her eyeballs out, he rested his hand against her cheek and didn’t do anything.
She opened her eyes just enough to see, her scalp prickling when she saw him staring at her, smiling.
His lips moved and she thought she heard him whisper a name.
“Sarah.”
He gazed down at the big eyes staring up at him. He hadn’t been able to see her at first, not through the choppy, streaked hair, the heavy eyeliner, and the nose ring. The flirty, slutty attitude he’d have to break her of before it got out of control.
But there, in that split second, he’d gotten close enough to see the milky smoothness of her skin, the light dusting of freckles across her nose. The fear in her wide brown eyes.
The innocence.
Take out the streaks of purple, grow the hair past her shoulders, and change the brown eyes to the color of grass, and Devany was what Sarah would have looked like had she lived three more years.
How could he have not seen it? He swallowed hard, his hand shaking as he brought it up to her cheek. God, he’d been so close, so close to extinguishing that light forever.
It was Megan’s fault, that bitch. Making him so angry he’d almost missed her, almost destroyed the one who would save him.
He’d already done damage; he could see it from the fear and the horror in her eyes. She was remembering what he’d done to Bianca, remembering what she’d found in the trailer that night. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see it that first night I saw you in the trailer,” he said. “You should have never seen that. If I had known you would find me, I would have done it somewhere else.”
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “But it’s okay, Sarah. Everything will be okay.”
“Who’s Sarah?” Dev asked in a shaky voice. “What are you going to do to my mom? You’re going to let her go, right?”
“Shhh, don’t worry about it,” he said, the gentleness in his voice creeping her out even more than when he was threatening her.
He put the gag back in place and went back over to her mom. The knife was in his right hand, the blade twisting back and forth as he flipped the handle between his fingers.
Oh God, oh God.
Nate grabbed her mother by her short blond hair and yanked her head back. She and her mother screamed behind their gags.
Nate froze and he turned back to Dev. She felt like her heart was going to explode through her chest.
He walked over to her and lifted her in his arms. She struggled and he squeezed her so hard she couldn’t breathe. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just taking you somewhere you won’t have to see.”
He carried her to her bedroom and placed her gently on the bed and even tucked a pillow under her head. “It will be over soon. I promise.”
Dev screamed and thrashed against her bonds as he shut the door behind him. She screamed until her throat was raw, but no one heard.
Her screams faded to sobs, and she prayed he wouldn’t torture her mother before he killed her.
They drove in silence to Dev’s trailer. Megan felt like the world was shifting, crumbling around her. Cole was silent, tension radiating from him. Several times he turned to her to say something, then stopped as though he couldn’t quite get the words out.
“Do you want me to go in with you?”
She shook her head. “You have stuff of your own to deal with.”
For some reason that seemed to make him angry.
She reached for the door handle. But before she could open the door, he grabbed her shoulders and pressed her back into her seat. “I wish with everything I have that I could wave a magic wand and get your brother out of prison. to dnow that, right?” He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers. “I would do anything to go back and change everything so we could be together. Like we were supposed to be.”
Her breath caught at that, then hitched again as he cradled her cheeks in his hands and caught her mouth in a hard, almost desperate kiss. “I know.” But his words, his kiss, couldn’t erase the fact that her world was crumbling around her. God, what kind of deluded idiot was she to think she was going to single-handedly save Sean?
Now there wasn’t a damn thing either of them could do but wait for his execution. “Sometimes we have to know when to throw in the towel, right?” she said as she reached again for the door.
“Don’t say that. There’s still time. This isn’t over. You can’t give up yet,” Cole said fiercely.
“Sure,” she said as she opened the door. She knew Cole was right, but she couldn’t see past the despair. How many times could she get up and fight after having her hopes smashed to the ground? “Call me if you find out anything new, and I’ll do the same.”
“We’re going to get through this,” he said as she started to climb out of the car. “Whatever happens, I’m with you, okay?”
She nodded and heard Cole’s whispered curse as she closed the door behind her.
She felt like she was imploding as she heard Cole drive away. You can’t give up yet. She knew that, knew she needed to focus, first on helping Dev through her latest crisis, then on finding the answers Sean needed before it was too late.
And yet with Talia’s disappearance and the police honing in on Jimmy as the Slasher, those answers had never felt more out of reach.
She swallowed back the devastation and forced herself up the steps to Dev’s trailer. She knocked, then tried the latch when there was no answer. “Dev, it’s me,” she said as the door swung open. “You shouldn’t leave the door unlocked….”
The smell was the first thing that hit her. Metallic blood and the stench of bodily fluids. She choked on a scream when she saw the crumpled form on the floor surrounded by a thick puddle of blood.
Adrenaline obliterated her exhaustion as fear roared through her.
“Devany!” she screamed, and ran forward to kneel next to the body. Blood soaked her jeans, and it took her several seconds to realize the small body was not Devany, but her mother. She sprang to her feet and called Devany’s name, fumbling through her purse to find her cell phone. She stumbled down the hall, phone in hand and heard a thump coming from Dev’s bedroom.
She kicked the door open. “Oh, my God.” Dev’s hands and ankles were bound. “It’s going to be okay!” She pushed the 9 on her phone, and Dev started heaving and screaming on the bed.
Megan felt a whisper of movement behind her and turned.
“Nate?” she whispered, confusion morphing to fear when she saw the fry contorting his face.
He moved like a striking snake, wrapping a steely arm around her, his huge hand covering her mouth before she could even draw a breath to scream. Megan struggled with everything she had but was no match for his strength and size.
“I thought you were going to be the one to save me, Megan.”
Terror snaked down her spine as she recognized that throaty whisper from the hotel room, the feel of strong f
ingers crushing her throat. “But you’re a whore, just like them. Now you’re going to find out what happens when you betray me.”
She could hear Dev’s terrified screams behind the gag, could see the tears spill from the girl’s eyes as she struggled, helpless, against the bonds. Nate’s grip grew tighter. An unbearable pressure built behind Megan’s eyes, and her head filled with a red, roaring haze.
Cole stopped at a light and slammed his fist against the steering wheel. He felt like he’d just taken a slug to the chest from a sawed-off shotgun.
Jesus, he wished she’d yelled at him, raged at him for leaving her to report to duty instead of helping her finish this.
Anything would be easier to take than that desolate look in her eyes. That hollow, empty look that happened only after a person had lost all hope.
He’d seen it last night in Sean’s eyes. He’d never imagined he’d see it in Megan’s. It didn’t seem possible that she could lose faith so completely, not after she’d fought so hard for so long.
And it was his fault, even if she didn’t say it. Cole knew it. His fault for not being able to do enough, for stupidly following his instincts and trusting that Talia would show up as promised and do the right thing.
What the fuck was he doing, heading back to the station as if he was going to pull his career out of the crapper?
Like he really cared anyway.
He didn’t, he realized with shock. He didn’t give a shit about anything except making things right with Megan, doing whatever he could to wipe that devastated look from her face and get her back to where she’d been just last night.
Happy. Hopeful.
Counting on him to help her make this right.
Even if he hadn’t been in love with Megan, he would have been compelled to do something before it was too late. Slater was right. Something about Sean’s case was starting to stink, and Cole couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t find out what.
