by L. T. Ryan
“I had no information,” Langford said. “And I was scared for my life.”
“Scared for your life?” Harris looked as incredulous as Cassie felt. “Did the blackmailer threaten your life? Other than when he told you he’d turn you in for Lucy’s death?”
“He made it clear that he would ruin me if I didn’t do what he said.”
David growled. “Bullshit.” He was shaking his head. “This guy gets off on it.”
“Gets off on what?” Cassie whispered.
“Look at how calm he’s been this whole time. He’s like a freaking robot. He deals in life and death every day at the hospital. Probably doesn’t bat an eye at it anymore. I bet he killed his girlfriend and liked the rush of getting away with it. Even if the letters are real, I doubt he put up much of a fight when this guy came to him.”
“Klein, that’s enough,” the Police Chief said. Cassie had almost forgotten she was there. “Save it for when we’re building the case against him.”
David shook his head as he chewed his lower lip.
“What did you do after you killed Hannah Williams?” Harris asked.
“I put the blood and the heart in two separate containers and left them in the van in the parking garage. By the time I was sent the next person, he’d already taken them out of the van.”
“I can understand why you murdered Hannah Williams,” Harris said. When Langford looked confused, she continued with a shrug. “Yeah, I mean this guy was threatening you, right? He was the only one who knew you were involved with Lucy’s death. He knew you covered it up, and if he exposed you, your life would be over. So, you were willing to do whatever he asked. The letters came, and you figured buying a van and stealing some tools from work were a small price to pay, right?”
Langford sounded like he knew he was being led into a trap. “Yeah.”
“And when this guy told you to kill Hannah, you figured you’d be done with it, right? A murder for a murder.”
“Where is this going, Detective Harris?” Mr. White asked. He shot her a dirty look, but she wasn’t paying attention to him.
“What I want to know is why you kept going. When did you think it would end?”
“He said he needed seven girls,” Langford said. “And he assured me that once it was over, I’d never hear from him again.”
“And you believed him?”
“Mutually assured destruction.”
“Come again?”
Langford leaned forward. “Mutually assured destruction. He knew what I’d done. He took a risk by reaching out to contact me. When I did what he said, I also had something hanging over his head. He knew if I got caught or turned myself in, I’d be able to point in his direction.”
“And can you?”
“Can I what?”
“Can you point in his direction?” Harris crossed her arms. “What do you know about your blackmailer? Do you have any idea who he is?”
“No.”
“That’s awfully inconvenient for you, Dr. Langford.”
“I recognize that.” Langford seemed to be keeping his rage in check, marginally. “Trust me, if I could give you a name and an address, I would. But he didn’t trust me enough to tell me who he was. Can’t say I blame him.”
“But you said he picked up the blood and the hearts from the van? Did you ever think to install a camera?”
“Of course, I did.” Langford rolled his eyes. “I’m not an idiot. But he found it. Took it. Told me never to try that again or he’d drop an anonymous tip to the police.”
“Something isn’t lining up here, Dr. Langford.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“I think you enjoyed killing those women. I think it started with your girlfriend and snowballed from there. Hell, maybe it started before then. Maybe you were coerced, like you said, but all it took was a little push. You wanted a reason to do it, and you thought you were smart enough to get away with it. Figured you wouldn’t get caught. And then, if you did, you could blame it on this so-called blackmailer. With your money, your reputation and a little bit of patience, I’m sure you thought you’d be in and out in no time.”
“My client is handing you everything you need to track down his blackmailer,” Mr. White said. “A judge and jury of Dr. Langford’s peers will be the ones to determine his level of guilt. It’s up to you to find the brains of this operation. I suggest you make your moves sooner rather than later.”
“You worry about your job, Mr. White, and I’ll worry about mine.” Harris stared Langford down. “Where will we find these letters?”
“In a safety deposit box in my room. Lucy is buried by the huge oak tree at the edge of my property. You’ll see that the only crime I’ve truly committed is not going to the police after she accidentally fell down the stairs.”
“You’re guilty of far more than that, Dr. Langford, but lucky for me, you got caught. I know you’re not going anywhere, so we’ll have plenty of time to prove that later.” Harris stood. “I have everything I need for now. Detective Beauregard will take down your statement in full. Do not leave any details out. At this point, leaving details out will hurt you.”
Harris didn’t wait for a response from Langford. She left the interrogation room and entered the alcove where Cassie, David, the Chief of Police, and the second officer had been watching. She raked her fingers through her ponytail and sat down. All the bluster had gone out of her, and she looked exhausted.
“Excellent job, Harris,” the Chief said. “Let the rookies do the leg work now. Get some sleep and we’ll put together a plan in the morning.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
As the Chief and the other officer left, David and Harris turned to Cassie.
“I guess that’s it for me,” Cassie said. “My job’s over.”
“Far from it,” Harris said. “I don’t plan to let you out of my sight until all of this is over. Can’t risk you running off again.”
“But—”
Harris held up a hand, and David tried to hide his laughter behind a cough. Harris said, “I’ll pick you up bright and early tomorrow. Wear some good shoes and eat some bacon and eggs. It’s going to be a long day.”
Thirty-Two
True to her word, Detective Harris picked Cassie up at eight in the morning. Neither woman felt well-rested. The exhaustion felt like she was walking through molasses every time she took a step forward. She couldn’t speak for the detective, but Cassie had trouble falling asleep wondering who Langford’s blackmailer could be.
It was someone who wanted seven women dead and their blood drained and their hearts cut out. The blackmailer didn’t know any of the women and Cassie was still convinced it was a ritualistic killing. How had the blackmailer picked the women?
It was someone who couldn’t or wouldn’t kill the women themselves. They were smart enough to drag Langford into the mix and clever enough to know he would be a willing participant. Langford was clear he didn’t know who the blackmailer was—and Cassie believed him, or else the doctor would’ve instantly turned in the blackmailer—but his blackmailer seemed to know the doctor.
Every little noise had kept her up. Was it Elizabeth? Was it the mysterious little boy? She hadn’t had any ghostly visitors as far as she knew, but that didn’t mean they weren’t just out of sight. Not for the first time, Cassie wondered how the spirit world worked and if there was any way she could further tap into it.
She wondered if that was what she wanted. More ghosts? More murders? Wasn’t this enough? Hadn’t she had enough over the years? These thoughts continued to occupy Cassie’s mind all morning.
She and Harris arrived at Langford’s house. They hadn’t said more than a few words to one another, but Harris seemed to be as lost in thought as Cassie.
When they pulled to a stop, Cassie pushed open her door and looked up at the house.
“Jesus.”
“I know,” Harris slammed the car door shut behind her. “I got into the wrong profession.”
> “For real.”
The entire house was built out of stone and had a turret in the back. It was two stories, but the square footage was enormous. An array of windows adorned the front from floor to ceiling. It was surrounded by shrubs and trees and gorgeous flowers, all professionally maintained.
“Have you been inside?” Cassie asked.
“Not yet. I wanted to check out where Lucy’s body was buried first. They began exhuming her this morning. We should make it in time.”
“Perfect,” Cassie said. “I love a good exhuming right after breakfast.”
“Don’t we all.”
As the two women walked up the driveway, David met them halfway. He had a coffee in each hand.
“Hello, ladies.” He handed over the steaming beverages. “Take these. I’m already at my limit for the day.”
“What are you doing here?” Cassie glanced at Harris. “I thought you weren’t involved in an official capacity.”
“I asked him to be here,” Harris said. “And he agreed, despite it being his day off.”
David waved off her concern. “Had to file some paperwork because of the, uh, incident last night, so I figured I might as well see the job through. Plus, we could use all hands on deck.”
“The incident?” Cassie asked. “Is that what we’re calling it?”
“Better than Cassie-was-being-a-pain-in-my-ass-again, right?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Harris took a sip of the hot liquid and sighed happily. “So, you know where we’re going?”
“Yep. It’s about a hundred meters into the woods lining the property over there.” David pointed behind the house and off to the right. There was an officer standing at the edge of the trees. “Right by a big oak tree like Langford said.”
Cassie glanced around the lot. “Lots of big oaks.” She fell in line with the two detectives as they made their way into the trees. “Did Langford say anything else last night? Anything new?”
Harris pushed a branch to the side and waited for Cassie to sidestep it. “No. He gave us most of the basics during the interrogation. His statement was detailed, but no new information. He’s sticking to his story.”
“I’m surprised his lawyer let him open up like that.”
“He didn’t have a choice. We caught him in the act. He’ll serve far less time if he owns up to covering Lucy’s death and says he was coerced into killing the others.”
“Funny how justice works sometimes, isn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t give up hope yet,” David said. “Murder is still murder, even if someone else made him do it, and I don’t think there’s enough evidence there to show that he was scared for his life. Plus, his obvious lack of remorse. I don’t think he’s going to be getting out of prison any time soon.”
“What about his money? His reputation?” Cassie sidestepped a bramble and continued walking the path David was forging for them. “Do you think that’ll give him the upper hand in the courtroom?”
“We’ll work to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Harris didn’t sound as confident as Cassie would have liked. “Right now, it’s about finding as much evidence as we can to build a clearer picture of what happened.”
“What do we know about Lucy?” Cassie asked.
“I had someone reach out to her sister this morning. We have a missing file on Lucy since she’s been gone for about two months, but since all evidence pointed to her leaving on her own, there was nothing we could have done about it.”
“Sounds like you’re still trying to convince yourself of that,” Cassie said.
“It’s hard,” Harris replied. “You do the best you can, but it’s not always enough. You’re going to miss something and you’re going to make mistakes. If we had known about Lucy earlier, maybe we could’ve saved Sage or Elizabeth. But that wasn’t in the cards for us.”
“And we did save Katie and hopefully whoever he had planned for victims six and seven.”
“You were almost number six,” Harris said.
Cassie inhaled and held it for an extra beat. “No, I was bonus number one. Six and seven are still out there.”
“Five, too.” Harris scratched the back of her head. “Lucy was how Langford had described her, as far as we can tell. She was a good person. Did some charity work and kept her head down. Not even a parking ticket. She was way too good for that jerk. She didn’t deserve to go out the way she did, accident or not.”
“They rarely do,” said Cassie.
The three of them fell silent and Cassie allowed herself to tune into the woods around her. It felt normal on the surface—full of birds and bugs and deer and squirrels—but beneath that, she felt the chill of the spirit world. She was doubtful that Lucy’s body was the only one buried here. She felt an overwhelming sensation that took over when she felt she wasn’t doing enough, but David’s words from last night came back to her.
You can’t save everyone.
She wished she could. It would make the world a better place. But David was right. Finding Lucy’s body and helping the women Langford had killed find peace would have to be enough. And after that, she would try to help the next victim. If she could.
She always believed having a future laid out for herself was the best path forward, but her experience with Novak proved anything could happen, regardless of plans.
Maybe the right move was just putting one foot in front of the other. Having a plan was good, but there had to be wiggle room for the obstacles that might pop up. Life had a habit of throwing curve balls, after all.
“It’s up ahead,” David said. “Come on.”
Cassie followed his footsteps until they reached the large oak tree. Spanish moss swung in the gentle breeze. She caught the faint smell of eucalyptus and searched the woods for the telltale velvet bark but spotted none.
There were several other officers waiting for them. A lumpy figure under a not-so white sheet was lying next to a hole at the base of the tree. When one of the officers spotted the group approaching, he jogged over to Harris.
“Morning, Detective. We’re just finishing up. Shouldn’t take much longer.” His eyes moved past her and landed on Cassie. “Ma’am.”
Cassie nodded.
“This is Ms. Quinn,” David said. “She’s consulting with us on the case.”
The officer nodded and turned his gaze back to Harris. “We’ve done our initial sweep. Nothing else in the area but tread light if you can. It’s rained enough times that there’s no footprints or anything. But we’d like to do another final look or two before we do an official wrap-up.”
“Sounds good. Thank you.” Harris turned to Cassie. “You ready for this?”
“No, but let’s do it anyway,” Cassie said.
Harris gave her a tight smile and nodded. She had already switched on the detective persona and Cassie didn’t want to get in the way. She was there to observe. There were things that only she might see.
“As far as we can tell, Langford has been truthful with us,” David said. He brought the pair of them to the body. “Lucy was buried here, under the tree, like he said.”
“What do we know about the body so far?”
The officer who had greeted them knelt and looked at Harris, then at Cassie, then back at Harris. When the detective nodded her head, he slipped the sheet off Lucy. “Normal decomposition as far as we can tell. We’ll need to do a tox screen and all that, but it’s clear her neck was broken. So far, everything lines up.”
“Langford doesn’t have a reason to lie,” David said, stroking his chin. “If he gets pinned for this murder, it’ll reinforce the story he told us about the blackmail.”
A chill ran down Cassie’s spine and she let David’s words fade away. When she turned, she saw a figure standing next to the large oak. She didn’t know what Lucy looked like in life, but given the odd angle of the spirit’s neck, Cassie was certain it was her.
Cassie saw ghosts when they were at their most vulnerable or terrified. Rarely did she get to s
ee that moment when they found peace, but it was clear from Lucy’s face she was finding her peace. She kept eye contact with Cassie as a single tear rolled down her face. She smiled, though it was tight, and faded from view.
There was no bright light and Cassie didn’t see her spirit fly into the sky, but a feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that Lucy moved on to wherever they went after they found peace. Her body had been discovered and the truth about her death was known. For Lucy, that seemed to be enough.
“Cassie? Cassie?” David took a step closer. “Are you okay?”
Cassie started and turned toward him. The smile on her face was genuine. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“Are you ready to go inside?”
“I’m ready,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Thirty-Three
David, Harris, and Cassie emerged from the woods. Halfway across the lawn, Cassie felt the shift in Harris’s mood. It was like a shadow had fallen across their little group, cold and dark and heavy with foreboding.
“What the hell is she doing here?”
Cassie followed the detective’s gaze and saw Ms. Campbell, the reporter, pulling up the driveway in a news van. Her cameraman was driving, and Campbell’s blonde curls bounced every time the vehicle hit a bump.
A police officer emerged from the house and ran over to the vehicle before it even stopped and approached the reporter’s window.
“Hey, I recognize that guy,” Cassie tried to keep up with the long strides of David and Harris.
“Who, Ramirez?”
“I don’t remember his name, but he’s the one who took my statement,” she said. “He was also at the crime scene.”
Harris pulled up short. “What crime scene?”
“The one where she showed up,” Cassie pointed to Ms. Campbell. “Sage’s crime scene. They had words when your back was turned, and he gave her a death glare the entire time she was there.”
Harris didn’t say anything. She resumed her march across the lawn, and David and Cassie struggled to keep pace. When Officer Ramirez saw her coming, he backed off and tried to return to the house.
