Or any of the other missing girls from the stack of photographs Lance had found in the basement of his home. Shae didn’t need to state the obvious, though. She was just grateful that Jace had her back. This incident proved to her she needed to help Detective Kendrick in any way she could and to keep trusted friends closer.
“Lance and I made sure Foster understood we wouldn’t allow him to run roughshod over you. We made sure he got the message loud and clear.” Jace rubbed his fingers over the side of his face, as if the whiskers he hadn’t shaved off today were irritating his skin. He looked good, even after a day of moving boxes and furniture. “Do you want to tell me who you’re looking for or do I have to guess?”
Shae hadn’t realized she’d made her stakeout quite so obvious. And no, she didn’t want Jace to know who she wanted to speak with tonight or else he might take offense.
“I paid a visit to Rose and Tiny up at the lake today,” Shae shared instead, hoping that she could avoid his question until he joined his brothers who had claimed a table near the bar a couple of minutes ago. “I also spent time with Harlan and his wife. I’m just trying to get caught up with old friends, as well as try to see if they remembered anything from that time. I know Detective Kendrick has spoken to almost everyone in town, but I’ve come to find out that a familiar face can jog their memories.”
“You’re doing it again.” Jace’s searching gaze told her that she hadn’t fooled him in the least. It wasn’t very nice of him to keep calling her out on it, either. He actually smiled when she pursed her lips in frustration. “Well?”
“I want to talk to Jimmy, if you must know.” Jace wanted honesty? Then she’d give him honesty. “Your uncle saw Emma the night she disappeared, coming out of the woods on Seventh Street. Everyone is assuming he was drunk and didn’t actually see her. But what if he did? What if everyone is wrong and Jimmy saw something that night that could give us the answers we need to find Emma’s body?”
*
Shae unlocked the door to the studio apartment above the bar, thankful that there was a private entrance from downstairs. It beat going outside and around the building in the pouring down rain. She was tired, irritated, and needed a cup of tea that she sure as hell wasn’t going to get from a bar.
“Out of town,” Shae muttered with disbelief, wondering if that was an excuse Jace gave just so she wouldn’t talk to his uncle. Guilt slammed into her at the thought. No, Jace wouldn’t lie to her. “Damn it.”
Shae tossed her keys and cell phone onto the coffee table as she made her way to the small kitchen. She instinctively walked to the stove, looking for a kettle, only to remember that Brynn didn’t leave one in the apartment. Maybe she should make a drive into the city for some essentials. A kettle would sure help her out. It was doubtful that the small grocery store run by Mr. Moore carried kettles or anything but the Celestial Tea brand.
Shae had grown accustomed to British tea over the years, like Leadenhall Street or Bond Street English Breakfast Tea. Each contained a blend of Ceylon and Assam teas that were rich and flavorful.
Thinking of her favorite beverage reminded her of yesterday, when Jace had practically choked to death thinking she’d given him coffee. The memory shouldn’t have caused her to smile, but it continued to. He’d asked her out to dinner tomorrow, but she’d politely refused. Their past was their past, and she needed to concentrate on her future.
The cup Shae had used earlier was sitting upside down on a dishtowel. She’d washed it out before leaving this morning, allowing it to air dry. It didn’t take her long to fill the cup up with water and set it in the microwave. She pressed the appropriate time that would bring the water to the perfect temperature at which to steep tea—one hundred and seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit. It gave her time to make her way over to the bed to change into something more comfortable. It wasn’t like she was going to see anyone else tonight, and the tea needed time to cool naturally to one hundred and sixty.
Shae had managed to unpack a few items from her suitcase this morning. Her sleepwear, which consisted of shorts and t-shirts, were in the small dresser on the far wall. She rested her hand against the top drawer so she could remove her heels when her mind registered the boots lined up against the wall next to her other shoes.
Bile hit the back of her throat.
She struggled to breathe as her eyes locked onto the suede ankle boots she hadn’t seen in twelve years.
Emma had borrowed them without asking the night she disappeared.
Someone had gotten inside the apartment. That someone had to be the same person who killed her sister, keeping that pair of boots all this time until they could return them to her.
Shae managed to gain her composure enough to quickly scan the open layout, looking for any hiding spot that would conceal a fully-grown man. She spun around and faced the bathroom, where the door stood half-open. Was he in there, hiding behind the shower curtain?
She didn’t stop to think as she ran for the front door.
Shae crossed the threshold and would most likely have stumbled down the steps had Jace not been standing at the top of the staircase to catch her.
She was in his arms before he could ask her what was wrong. Not even the warmth of his embrace could chase away the chill burrowed deep inside at the sight of those boots purposefully placed inside the apartment just as if she’d unpacked them herself.
“Shae?”
Jace would have pushed her away had she not done it herself first. She grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him downstairs. They needed the police. A bubble of hysteria tickled her throat at the thought of calling Kyle Foster, but someone could very well still be inside her bathroom.
“We have to go,” Shae said somewhat desperately, quickly moving around him and trying to put distance between them and the possible danger that lurked inside the shadows. “He’s inside my apartment. We need to call the—”
“Go downstairs,” Jace barked, somehow managing to get his wrist out of her tight grasp. She snatched his shirt, not sure if he understood what she was staying. “Tell Noah and Lance the same—”
“You can’t go in there, Jace.” Shae desperately tried to tug at his arm once more, needing him to come downstairs with her. This was a matter for the police. “He was inside my apartment. He’s probably still in there somewhere.”
Shae had been flicking her gaze from him to the open door behind them, checking to see if he was coming after them. The nausea that had previously threatened to overtake her was edging ever closer. Why wouldn’t Jace listen to her?
“H-he put Emma’s boots in there,” Shae whispered, her throat closing as another nail was hammered into her belief that Emma was dead. Her mind had always accepted that principle, but her heart would eternally hold out hope. Those boots would forever remain seared into her mind. “He—”
A sob caught in the back of her throat, cutting off her words.
“Stay here.”
Jace moved away from her so fast that her fingers never even loosened from her fist before she could stop him. It was then she noticed that he was wearing a holster and the firearm rested in the palm of his hand as he cautiously entered the studio apartment. It had never even occurred to her to grab the one out of her purse.
She held her breath and strained to hear any sounds over the music in the bar below. She was certain that he was in danger.
Twenty seconds later he emerged, his features practically set in stone.
Shae hadn’t realized she’d been waiting for him to say she’d imagined it all…that no one had invaded her privacy and a twisted serial killer hadn’t left the ankle boots her sister had worn the night she’d disappeared.
She didn’t fight him when he took her in his arms, offering her the security she so desperately needed.
Her presence in town had drawn a monster out of hiding.
It took a moment for Shae to recognize the penetrating and raw emotion that washed over her—rage. It was unlike anything she’d ever exper
ienced before, thankfully casting her relentless grief and remorse aside as if they were nothing.
She might have lured a monster from his lair, but he’d awakened something even more terrifying—a woman now bent solely on revenge.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“It doesn’t look as if the suspect pool has diminished in any way.”
Lance was seated a few tables away from where Shae was talking with Detective Kendrick. A forensics team had already come and gone with only one bag of evidence to show for their efforts. The patrons at the bar had been questioned one by one, and now the Cavern sat almost completely empty.
Jace never had any intention of showing Shae the darkness that lived inside his soul. That facet was reserved for enemy combatants. It was put there purposefully through many years of hard training. He needed that part of himself to deal with the environment he’d been forced to live within, and the resulting carnage that combat produced.
The combat veterans that our country developed were never meant to interact with civilians after the crucible. For them to bear witness to the changes the forge had left behind served to set them further apart.
Once the die had been cast, one couldn’t unmake the tool he or she was meant to be. Time was powerful process. It was capable of smoothing the harsher edges, however, the metal of men’s souls remained.
The uninitiated couldn’t possibly begin to understand, because all the living witnesses were cloaked in self-imposed silence. The process we call strife has a beginning and end. The passage of which takes with it the best we had to offer and returned the byproduct of scarred and rendered souls. The only intact souls in this room had gotten up to refresh their beverages, lending a moment’s time for the warriors to speak unheard.
“How do you stop yourselves from hunting our adversary?”
It was evident the question had caused his younger brothers to become speechless. That was saying something, but Jace didn’t find any humor in what he’d accomplished. He truly wanted an honest answer from them before he decided to take measures into his own hands.
The demented and warped mind of a psychopath had dragged Shae into whatever game he’d been playing the last twelve years…if not longer.
That reality was unacceptable to those who truly knew how to deal with evil.
“It’s not our place.” Noah leaned forward and tapped the table hard with his finger to make his point. “I don’t know what’s going on between you and Shae, but this is a matter for the police. Support her, comfort her, protect her…but don’t go doing something that will land your ass in jail. This is not a free fire zone. They have rules of engagement here.”
“Noah’s right.” It was clear that Lance wanted to add on an asterisk to that admission. It was rare that Noah and Lance agreed on anything. Instead, he forged ahead to give his brother’s advice some credence. “We’ve all been touched by this, but the smart thing to do is let the police handle the investigation. If this case gets botched because one of us acts outside the law or gets our hands dirty, we would be the ones to blame if the son of a bitch walked free.”
“He can’t walk if he’s in the morgue.”
Jace recalled the conversation he’d had with Shae about how she viewed him when they were younger—straight-laced and determined. She was right, in a manner of speaking. Yet she was also very, very wrong.
He didn’t play by the rules when the quarry required adaptation to eliminate it.
He’d established his own set of moral imperatives.
“You can tell Brynn that Shae won’t be needing the apartment upstairs anymore.” Jace stood, not caring when the legs of the chair scraped the hardwood floor. It got the detective’s attention. “She’ll be staying with me.”
Jace pulled out his cell phone and without hesitation, dialed the first number on his list of favorites. He walked across the bar to where the pool tables were located to get some privacy, all the while letting the line ring. There was always one person a sibling could depend on no matter what the stakes—their older brother.
“Jace, how’s the homecoming going?” Mitch asked in greeting, his confusion over the call evident. They’d spoken three days ago and would usually go a hell of a lot longer than that between phone conversations. “Uneventful, I hope.”
“I wish I could tell you what you wanted to hear, but it’s actually just the opposite.” Jace and Mitch had numerous discussions in the past over how Noah and Lance always had trouble following them wherever they went. It was true in most cases, but this thing was over the top. What was happening in Blyth Lake was on a much bigger scale than any personal issue they had to deal with in the past. “You’ve tapped out, right? There’s nothing holding you there but checking out of the command, right? When does your terminal leave start?”
“What happened?” Mitch didn’t bother to answer Jace’s questions, but rather he got right to the point. “Are Noah and Lance okay?”
“They’re fine, but Shae Irwin returned to town a few days ago. Believe it or not, the same day I arrived back home.”
Jace gave Shae a reassuring smile when she looked his way, having done so a few times over the course of her conversation with Detective Kendrick. It wasn’t that his comfort was needed. Not in the least. Something had changed in her from the time she’d run into him at the top of the stairs to when he came back out from having searched her apartment. It was something unpredictable, and it sure as hell put him on edge.
“And?” Mitch asked after Jace had fallen silent. He dragged his attention back to the call he’d initiated. “Was Shae hurt?”
“The bastard broke into the studio apartment where she’s staying and left behind the boots Emma Irwin was wearing the night she disappeared. He was inside the Cavern, amongst us, and nobody noticed anything out of the ordinary.” Jace could literally taste the disgust of such an insane action. “Mitch, we need you here. You understand that Sheriff Percy is on suspension. The town will all but force his resignation, if they’re given an alternative. Byron Warner has taken over the responsibilities in the interim, but you and I both know he’s not up for dealing with something of this magnitude.”
“Why does this sound personal?”
Jace fell silent, unable to answer Mitch’s question. In reality, he hadn’t spoken to Shae at length in over twelve years.
They were old friends who had reminisced about the past.
Nothing more.
And that was a complete lie.
“It is personal,” Jace replied honestly, leaning back against the pool table for support. He’d been moving non-stop since early this morning, as well as rearranging furniture and unpacking boxes. He was physically exhausted, but mentally aggravated. That wasn’t a good combination. “I’m asking you to come home. Take over the sheriff’s position like dad and the rest of the towns’ elders are asking of you, and we’ll get rid of this bastard that’s terrifying our friends and neighbors.”
“The Ohio State Police took over the investigation already,” Mitch said, his tone suggesting there wasn’t anything he could do if he did decide to return to town sooner rather than later. “I’ve spoken to Detective Kendrick. He seems like a capable investigator, Jace.”
“I’m not saying Kendrick isn’t doing his job, but no one knows these people like we do, Mitch.” Jace didn’t have a single doubt that someone from Blyth Lake was responsible for all this bloodshed. No stranger could have gotten inside this bar without someone noticing him. As for the outside perimeter, the most likely avenues of approach were covered by video surveillance. “You can make a difference here. I intend to help you make that difference.”
Mitch was silent on the other end of the line. Jace gave his brother the time needed to make a decision. He understood all too well how hard it was to leave one life behind for another. Mitch had been in the Marines for sixteen years.
He would have completed his twenty, but the Marine Corps was putting him out on an early medical retirement. He was more than capable of keeping
up with his civilian counterparts, but the pins in his hip would keep from completing a three-mile run anytime soon. His injury put a hitch in his step, but the sense of duty the Corps had instilled in him hadn’t erased, nor could it be removed by a few classes given by the transition team assigned to ease his adjustment to civilian life.
Jace used the minute or two to go over the facts in his mind about the day’s events. Shae had unpacked early this morning before leaving the apartment to visit old friends. Those boots could have been placed amongst her own shoes at any point during the elapsed twelve-hour period…maybe even longer. No unusual activity was picked up by the security feeds, so that could only mean that one of the patrons who’d stopped in for a drink throughout the day into the early evening was the guilty party. It would have been nearly impossible to avoid the cameras without drawing attention to himself or herself.
“Give me two weeks.”
“I’m afraid we don’t have two weeks.” Jace wasn’t going to sugarcoat the situation. “We need someone on the inside of this, Mitch. Kendrick already tried formally questioning anyone and everyone who had a personal connection to this case, and look what happened. Deputy Wallace was murdered in cold blood, Lance and Brynn were almost reduced to nothing but ashes, and the people we grew up with are turning on one another like rats fighting for the last scrap of meat. You and I both know what Kendrick is going to do with the people on the list he’s managed to compile from the security cameras.”
Jace allowed his words to sink in, taking note that Detective Kendrick was bringing his conversation with Shae to a close. Time was running out before this entire case turned into a royal goat roping rodeo and the governor decided to request the FBI take lead on the investigation. Once the feds took over, the community they loved would never be the same again. It had nothing to do with Kendrick’s abilities as a detective, and everything to do with the inner workings of a small town. One just couldn’t question the integrity of the whole community without driving some wedges between folks.
Unlocking Lies Page 9
