Love you to Death

by Shannon K. Butcher

  “What?” asked Elise.

  “You need to get dressed. They found another body—Susan Maloney. Or what’s left of her.”

  Ashley’s hands shook as she used the strip of fabric stretched across a plastic hanger to spin the pencil, trying to create enough friction to light the little pile of wood shavings and paper strips on fire.

  Her dinner sat untouched next to her. The condensation forming on the plastic cup of ice water slid down the side, marking off the seconds as they passed. Every slow drip made it less likely that Gary was still here to die along with them in the fire.

  If she could get the blasted thing started.

  Frustration rose up in her, hot enough to make her throat burn, but it did no good in helping spark a blaze. Her arm was tired, but she refused to give up so soon. A rest break might allow that devil to get away to kill again.

  He wanted Elise. Ashley wasn’t going to let him find her.

  She forced her arm to move faster, ignoring the burn deep in her muscles.

  A wisp of smoke more delicate than her last shred of hope wafted up from the pencil.

  Ashley held her breath, fearing she’d blow out the spark before it had time to take root.

  A bigger tendril of smoke rose up, and inside the nest of pencil shavings, she could hear a faint crackle of burning wood.

  She kept the pencil spinning, and in seconds, the infant fire was born. With as much care as her trembling hands allowed, she moved a crumpled ball of paper near the tiny glowing spot. It blackened, then glowed as it caught fire.

  Everything she needed was close at hand. She grabbed the roll of toilet paper and fed it to the small fire, making it grow. Next, she lit the edge of her sketchbook and took it over to the bed.

  The blanket went up in a whoosh of heat and light, giving off acrid smoke.

  Ashley coughed and stepped away, instinctively covering her face with her hands. Not that it was going to help her much. In a few more minutes, the smoke would overpower her and she wouldn’t live long enough to know whether or not her plan to kill Gary had worked.

  She backed against the wall and slid down to the ground, watching as the flames crept higher.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  There was no way Trent was going to let Elise see Susan Maloney’s body. She didn’t need that kind of image in her head at all, much less tied to her sister.

  If they never found her, this was the picture that would fill Elise’s mind every time she wondered what had happened to Ashley.

  Both her hands were missing, as was her left leg from the knee down. Her head was also gone. A perfect two-inch square of skin had been removed from her stomach, leaving a gaping wound. There was no blood, but streaks of mud were smeared across her pale flesh. Bits of vegetation were tangled in her pubic hair, along with a film of green slime from the water.

  Trent looked back up the weed-infested hill to where Elise stood behind the yellow plastic tape. She was wringing her hands, standing on tiptoe in an effort to see what they’d found. Trent was confident she couldn’t see the body from there. It was in a shallow depression near the water’s edge, hidden by grass and debris.

  Detective Woodward had been right to make her stay back. He’d given her the story that she didn’t know how to not contaminate a crime scene. Trent could go because he did, which was why he was well back from the area, but that’s not why he was standing here over the mutilated body of this poor woman.

  He was there because Woodward knew Elise shouldn’t be, and unless Trent was here, she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

  “How did you know it was Susan?” Trent asked Woodward.

  “Birthmark. Her mother told us about it when she went missing. We’ll have Mrs. Maloney ID her, just to be sure, but it’s a safe bet that the head we found downstream belongs to this body.”

  Susan’s head.

  “Is he getting sloppy?”

  “A few hours ago, I would have said yes.”

  “But not now?”

  Woodward shook his head. He hadn’t stopped looking at Susan’s corpse, like he was trying to memorize it or something.

  Maybe he was forcing himself to face the consequences of not finding this psycho yet.

  Woodward sighed. “I didn’t want Elise to know yet, not until I talked to you, but we found another body three miles from here.”

  A sick sense of doom cascaded through Trent’s limbs. “Ashley?”

  “No. This time he left all the pieces together in a trash bag so we could ID her.”

  “Then why don’t you want Elise to know?”

  “Because her name was carved into this woman’s body.”

  “Elise’s name?”

  “Yeah. Along with a bunch of numbers. We’ve got guys working on what it might mean, but it’s clear the message was for Elise.”

  “He wants her,” said Trent, feeling the truth of it sitting cold in his belly.

  “That was my guess.”

  “He’s not going to get her.” No way was Trent going to allow that asshole to lay a finger on Elise. Not while he still drew breath.

  “I figured you’d say something like that, which is why I was hoping you could help me convince her to go into protective custody.”

  “She’s not a witness.”

  “No, but the Bureau is stepping in to help with the case, and they’re willing to foot the bill.”

  “What are they getting out of it?”

  Woodward finally took his eyes off Susan and gave Trent a guilty stare. “Bait.”

  “Fuck that,” snarled Trent. “There’s no way I’m letting her put herself out there like that.”

  “It’s not your decision. I know she’ll want to do this.”

  “So do I, which is why we need to convince her not to, rather than trying to talk her into dangling herself in front of this psycho like a worm on a hook.”

  “I know these guys,” said Woodward. “They’d be careful with her. She’d be safer than she is now.”

  “I don’t see how.”

  “For one thing, she won’t have armed assassins breaking into her hotel room anymore. She’d be under guard 24/7.”

  “It’s not worth the risk.”

  “Maybe to you it’s not, but what about to her?”

  “Don’t you dare tell her about the other body, or the message.”

  “I don’t want to tell her unless she’s willing to go with the feds. Otherwise, she might try something stupid and try to take the killer down herself. That’s why I need your help here.”

  “If she doesn’t know, she can’t act.”

  “It’s not like she won’t find out. It’s not exactly easy to hide news about a dead body from the press.”

  “Fine, then hide the message. Cover it up. Don’t publicize it.”

  “So, you think we should pretend we never saw it, let Elise go along her merry way and hope this guy doesn’t catch up to her before we can find him? I’ve found unsolved cases dating back ten years that might be connected to this guy. Do you really think a guy who can kill for that long and get away with it—without us even knowing he exists—is going to be easy to find?”

  “I know he’s not, but you’ve got to be closer now. There’s got to be evidence somewhere on these bodies, surveillance footage, people who saw him. Something.”

  “Believe me, we’re working all the angles. There just isn’t anything solid to go on right now. The bodies are clean. No fibers, no prints, no skin under the fingernails, no semen. If we found the bone saw he used, we could probably connect it to the bodies, but we have no idea where to start looking. We’ve got young, blond, female undercover officers working to bring him out of hiding, but so far, he hasn’t taken any of our bait. That’s why we need Elise.”

  “No. You can’t ask her to do this.”

  “I’m sorry, Trent. I thought you’d see how important this is, but since you don’t, I have no choice but to tell her everything and let her make up her own mind.”

  �
�If you do, she’ll get herself killed.” Mutilated and sliced up into pieces like the woman lying in the muddy weeds.

  “If I don’t, a lot more women are going to die. I can’t take that chance.”

  “It’s not your chance to take. It’s hers.” And Trent was going to see to it that Elise left the country before she could.

  Elise saw Trent march up the riverbank, his face grim. An officer lifted the yellow police tape to let him pass, and he headed right for her.

  Trent took her arm and swept her up in his wake. “Time to go,” he said.

  “Where?”

  “To the airport. I’m getting you on the next flight out of here. Decide where you want to go.”

  “Go?” She had no idea what was going on, or what he’d seen that had spooked him, but she wasn’t about to let him manhandle her like this.

  Elise straightened her legs, trying to stop him, but he simply lifted her up with one strong arm and kept on walking toward the car. She swatted him, but he didn’t slow.

  “Put me down right now and tell me what the hell happened down there.”

  “I will. On the way to the airport.”

  They reached the car, and he set her down long enough to unlock the doors with the remote. Elise took the opportunity to swipe it away from him and tucked the keys deep into her pocket.

  She backed up so he couldn’t reach her. “Now, Trent. You’re going to tell me now.”

  His face had hardened into a murderous expression, making the muscles in his jaw bulge. “Give me the keys.”

  “Not until you stop acting like a Neanderthal, tossing me around as you please, ordering me to do things. I don’t take kindly to being bossed around.”

  He pulled in a deep breath that stretched his shirt over his pecs, then let it out slowly. “I’m sorry if I offended you. I’ll explain everything if you just get in the car. Please.”

  Detective Woodward walked toward them, his stride hurried. He had a worried look on his face, but when he saw Elise standing there, it changed to relief.

  “Good. You haven’t left yet,” he said. “My friend from the FBI is at the station asking for you.”

  “Me?” said Elise.

  “Yeah. She wants some time with you, if you don’t mind.”

  “Why?”

  “She thinks it will help complete her profile of the killer.”

  Elise had no idea how it could help, but she was willing to play along. “Sure. Anything I can do to help.”

  “I was just taking her to the airport,” said Trent in a tone that indicated the detective should have already known that.

  Woodward glared at him. “I know all about what you were doing.”

  “That makes one of us,” said Elise. “Care to fill me in? Trent won’t.”

  Trent shot him a look so thick with warning, the air between them wavered.

  Detective Woodward hesitated. “He’s worried about you. We all are.”

  “Worry less about me and more about Ashley, and I’ll be fine.”

  “Bodies are piling up, Elise. You should leave town and let the police and FBI handle it from here.”

  “Is that why you were taking me to the airport? To shove me on a plane and get me out of the way?”

  Trent didn’t even have the decency to look guilty. “They don’t need your help anymore. You’re only going to get in the way.”

  “Then why is there someone waiting at the station to talk to me?”

  Trent glared at the detective. “Because Woodward is an ass.”

  Elise didn’t know what was going on between these two, but she had other things to worry about. “Are you going to let me down there to see Susan?”

  “No,” said both men at the same time. At least they agreed on something.

  “Why don’t you go back and meet with the profiler, and Trent and I will go over some things here.”

  “I’m going with her,” said Trent.

  “She’ll be fine at the station, surrounded by cops.”

  “I’ll drive her and come back.”

  Woodward gritted his teeth. “I was hoping you’d stick around a bit longer. There’s something I wanted to show you. I’ll get a patrolman to escort her back.”

  Trent looked at Elise for a long time, as if trying to decide.

  Screw that. She’d been making her own decisions for a long time now, and she wasn’t about to hand the reins over to someone else.

  She dug the keys out of her pocket and walked around the car to the driver’s side. “Call me if you need me.” She got in the car and shut the door.

  “Elise, wait,” said Trent.

  She started the engine, rolled down the window, and cast him an impatient stare.

  “I… Be careful.” He’d been about to say something else, but Elise didn’t have the time to figure out what.

  “I will.” Then he leaned through the window and kissed her, and she no longer cared about what he was going to say, or why he was acting so odd. All she knew was that his mouth was on hers, his breath was filling her lungs, and the scent of him surrounded her.

  It was a sweet, gentle kiss, tinged with helpless desperation. He pulled away slowly, caressing her cheek with his thumb. He looked into her eyes, and the splinters of gold shone bright, surrounded by blue. “Stay safe. I’ll come get you as soon as I can, and then we’ll talk.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about. I’m not leaving until we find Ashley.”

  “You could get hurt.”

  Part of her wondered if it wasn’t already too late. Walking away from Trent wasn’t going to be easy. She’d fallen for him somewhere along the way, and even though she knew their two lives could never blend together into one, leaving him was going to hurt.

  “We all get hurt sometimes,” she said. “I’ll survive.”

  Ashley woke up with the stench of smoke stinging her nostrils. She opened her eyes, expecting to see the flames, feel the heat of them searing her skin, but instead, all she saw was textured white ceiling.

  She blinked a few times, trying to clear her head. Had she dreamed about setting the fire? If so, why did she smell it?

  Her head was pounding and her throat was raw. She needed some water to ease her throat and wash away the grit drying her eyes, but when she tried to get up to go to the bathroom, she couldn’t move.

  Her arms and legs were strapped down.

  Panic exploded behind her eyes, and a high cry of fear bubbled up out of her.

  “Good,” said Gary from somewhere on her left. “You’re awake.”

  He sounded cheerful.

  Ashley turned her head, more because of reflex than because she wanted to see him. His clothes were charred, and he had a nasty burn on his forearm. His usually flawless hair was mussed, and a fine chalky powder coated the glossy strands. His face was pinched with rage, but it was his eyes that scared the hell out of her. Those oil-slick eyes were bulging with fury, glowing with malice.

  Instinctively, she tried to run away from whatever he had planned, but there was nowhere she could go. She thrashed around uselessly, making the table she was strapped to vibrate against the concrete floor.

  “That was a naughty trick you tried to pull,” he said as he reached beneath the table and did something to make a metallic clicking sound. “Now I have to punish you.”

  The table started to move, folding her into a sitting position.

  Panic throbbed through her system with every beat of her heart. Tears streamed from her eyes, burning hot against her cheeks. She fought against the bonds holding her down, but it was no use. The restraints held firm, thrusting her into his mercy.

  The man had none. If she hadn’t realized it before, as soon as he stepped aside enough to clear her view, she was sure.

  A young woman who couldn’t have been more than twenty sat trapped into the chair Constance had died in. She was held in place with wide leather bands, and a blue cloth had been shoved into her mouth. The pitiful whimpers she made were barely audible over the so
und of Ashley’s racing pulse.

  “You tried to kill us all tonight,” said Gary. “It almost worked, too. I never would have thought you were that resourceful, but now I know better. Thankfully, I had a fire extinguisher on hand.”

  He moved across the room to the frightened, gagged girl.

  “Of course, your room was destroyed. I’ll have to rebuild it before I can have another guest stay there.”

  “Good,” she spat out with bravado she could only pretend to feel. “Serves you right, you sick fucker.”

  “Sick?” he said, his tone filled with a creepy kind of blandness, as if he were discussing his dry-cleaning bill. “Hardly. I simply like things a certain way.”

  “You like cutting off women’s hands?”

  “Among other things.”

  Ashley was going to puke. She was going to lose her stomach right here and vomit all over herself, making matters worse.

  “But today, we’re going to try something new. You wanted to set us all on fire, so I’m going to give you your wish. Sort of.”

  He lifted an acetylene torch, twisted the knob to start the flow of gas, and lit it. A blue flame shot out like a spear.

  The gagged woman let out a muffled cry of panic.

  Ashley was beyond making noise. Her throat had clamped down hard, shutting off her air supply. She knew what he was going to do. She could see the excited gleam glowing in the oily depths of his gaze as he smiled at her.

  Gary moved the torch toward the young woman’s bare toes. “We’ll start at the bottom and work our way up, shall we?”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Elise thought the FBI profiler looked too young to know what she was doing. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and the glasses perched on her dainty nose had lenses too small to be of any use other than making her seem more intelligent. She wore a black pantsuit, but the cut was too trendy to be reassuring.

  Agent Robin Laurens looked like she was playing a role in a TV show, and had been cast for her good looks rather than what was inside her head.

  “Can you tell me a bit about what kind of men your sister dated?” asked Agent Laurens.