Killing Justice (Fractured Minds Series Book 2)

by Kate Allenton

  I was struck speechless.

  “I have two closets like this. This one is dedicated to the mysterious disappearances around town. I was hoping the ghosts would come out of hiding so I could get some accurate matches. The other closet is dedicated to my mother’s killer. If you tell anyone, I’ll have to kill you.”

  I patted his chest. “You’d only kill me with kindness. Don’t kid yourself, Irish. I’m growing on you.”

  I let my gaze rove over every face. I rested my fingers on Drake Tines’ face and then moved them over to Cody Anderson. I bypassed the others and rested them on the only other face I recognized. The guy beneath the last sheet I’d lifted that caused all the Tines brothers a bit of apprehension. “You knew the other guy beneath the sheet I looked at?”

  Carson downed his shot and wiped his lips on the back of his hand. “Yeah, I knew him. My brothers knew him too.”

  I felt the sadness rolling off Carson, and it tugged at my heart. I turned my gaze back to the photo. “Who was he?”

  “Tony Miller,” Carson said. “His parents moved him into town when he was in the eighth grade.”

  “He went to school with you?”

  “Among other things,” he said. “I’ll need to start at the beginning.” Carson plopped down onto the bed. “Bishop’s entire senior science class was in the woods camping around the lake the day that Cody went missing.”

  “You weren’t invited?” I asked.

  “I wasn’t in the class. He was a year ahead of me,” Carson answered.

  I turned to face him. “Then why were you in the woods?”

  Carson rose from his spot and stepped into the closet. He pointed his finger at one of the pictures. “We lived at the lake house nearby, and Tony asked me to meet him.”

  Sadness shined in Carson’s eyes.

  “And?” I gasped.

  “He wanted to talk to me about my brother Bishop. He thought it would be easier hearing it come from him.”

  “Hearing what?”

  “They were secretly dating. Bishop and Tony loved each other. He was Bishop’s first relationship, but Bish wouldn’t come out of the closet. He thought we’d be disappointed in him,” Carson said, visibly swallowing.

  “You had no idea your brother was batting for the other team?”

  “No.” Carson held my gaze. “It wouldn’t have mattered to me. Hell, it doesn’t matter to me. I kind of suspected it, and then Tony told me that he and Bishop were about to come out of the closet to the whole town.”

  I could feel the nervousness coming off of Carson. He still worried over his brothers. “And you were worried that the townspeople wouldn’t accept him?”

  “Twenty-five years ago, people weren’t as open as they are today,” he answered.

  “So, you thought you’d kill Tony to keep him from telling anyone else?” Pushing his buttons was too easy. I held in my grin.

  “Hell no. I’d never hurt the person my brother cared about,” Carson answered.

  “Bishop had found out about our meeting, and the two got into an argument. I was the one who heard someone coming. I ran Bishop and Tony off so they wouldn’t be caught.”

  “Tony and Bishop snuck back into camp, and I was about to head home when Cody stepped out of the bushes, blocking my path.”

  “Did he overhear anything? Is that why you killed him?”

  Carson spun around to meet my gaze. “I didn’t kill him. I wanted to though.”

  “I know. I can feel in your emotions that you didn’t commit the deed. I was teasing. So, what else happened?” I asked.

  Carson shut the door and led me back into the kitchen, where he poured himself another drink. “I don’t know that he overhead anything. If he did, he didn’t act like it. He was taunting me but not about Bishop. He was taunting me about Amber.”

  “Who the heck is Amber?”

  “Six months prior to being in the woods, I’d gone to the Marine recruiters office, and meet with Master Sergeant Farley. I only had a year and a half until I graduated but I was debating a career in military. Anything to get me out of this town. Master Sergeant Farley took a shining to me and turned out to be a surrogate father, giving me advice. After graduation, I was going to join. It was there that I met his daughter, Amber.”

  “So…you were attracted to her?”

  “God no,” Carson said. “Amber and I became friends since I was spending time with her dad. So, at school, when Cody had cornered her and was picking on her, I stepped in to defend her and Cody was ready to beat me to a pulp.”

  “I saw you were kind of scrawny back then.”

  “That’s being polite. I was a stick figure with a sense of duty,” Carson said. “The bell rang, and kids and teachers filled the hall, and Amber and I swept away in the crowds, but that doesn’t mean Cody forgot.”

  “That’s what the fight was about down by the lake?”

  “Yeah,” Carson said, grasping the counter. “When he shoved me, I hit my head on a rock and lost consciousness. When I woke up, Cody was gone. I didn’t even know he was missing until they started a search party. Every one of those people pictured have disappeared in town since that date.”

  “There were five pictures,” I said, recounting them in my head.

  “And five bodies,” he added. “You have my word we didn’t kill them.”

  “I don’t need your word. I need to prove it wasn’t you before they start pointing fingers.”

  “If you touch the bodies and tell them what you see, they’re going to lock me up.”

  “I guess I won’t be touching the bodies then.” I sipped my wine and savored every last drop. “If you’re not the knife-wielding killer, then who? You’ve obviously been researching it.”

  “I’ve thought about it all my life, and to be honest, I haven’t a clue. No one knew about Bishop, Tony, or me in the woods. There are a ton of suspects that would probably have harmed Cody. My dad…he doesn’t even fit in with the age group. Most who disappeared were around my age.

  “Well, we know one thing. You’re my center. Three roads lead back to you, and seeing how the bully is dead, we’re starting from scratch. But I have to ask…what happened between Tony and Bishop?”

  “Bishop was livid about Tony telling me. I think he was embarrassed, although he’d never admit it. Bishop told me they broke things off that night.” Carson tilted the wine bottle until my cup was filled again. “It wasn’t until two days later that we saw it on TV that he was missing and I knew if the truth came out about Bishop and Tony, then Bishop would be their first suspect.”

  “So, you kept quiet in order to protect your brother.”

  “Damn right, I did. He’s my brother and he was devastated. He blamed himself for years because of the timing of the breakup and the disappearance.”

  “That had to be hard.” I whispered.

  “Everyone in town was looking for Tony and no one could find him.”

  Chapter 10

  I woke to a sound, the smell of stale furniture, and the sun shining in on my face. I was lying on the couch in the living room, and Carson had fallen asleep in the recliner. At some point, he’d covered me with a blanket.

  Carson’s cell phone buzzed again on the table, and I reached for it while wiping the sleep from my eyes.

  “Hello?” My voice was groggy and scratchy.

  “Lucy, why are you answering Carson’s phone?” Sloan asked.

  “He’s sleeping, and I didn’t want it to wake him.”

  “You’ve slept with him?” Sloan asked, his voice two octaves deeper.

  “Yeah, we drank too much last night. You want me to wake him?” I asked.

  Sloan sighed. “My guys are in town. I need to send them to you.”

  “Oh, you don’t need to do that. I’m not touching any more bodies.”

  “What do you mean you aren’t? We need to solve this case so we can discuss your future. That is if Carson hasn’t already planned it.”

  I rolled on the couch, my ey
es opening further. “You’re jealous. You think I rode the Irish wave.” I chuckled.

  “You said you slept with him,” Sloan answered.

  “I slept on the couch, and he’s in the chair, you idiot.” I glanced over at Carson. “You know… he is kind of sexy, and it’s been a long time for me. Maybe I do need to scratch that itch. Men like morning sex, don’t they?”

  “Where are you?” Sloan asked.

  “I don’t want your guys following me. I don’t need them.”

  “Come to think of it. I think I need to handle you personally,” he said.

  My lips split into a smile. “I’m kind of hard to handle. You sure you’re man enough?”

  “Quit being a pain in the ass and tell me where you are so I don’t have to track Carson’s phone.”

  “I’m sure you already have.” The line was silent as I sat up. “Don’t come to me. I’m coming to you.”

  I hung up on him and rose, ignoring the pounding in my head.

  “Who was that?”

  I tossed him the phone. “Sloan, and we need to get a move on. He’s already traced your phone, and I’m sure he has our coordinates. If you don’t want him crashing our party and finding your little man shack, we need to head back.”

  I grabbed the door and pulled it open, covering the sunlight from my eyes with my arm. “When this is over, I’ll help you redecorate and finalize your other closet too.”

  Carson touched my arm, stopping me. “You’d help me find my mother’s killer?”

  “That’s what friends are for. I mean, my daddy might not be a Marine recruiter, but I have my own special attributes.”

  “Yes, you do, Lucy Bray. Yes you do.”

  We both climbed into the truck, and I rested my head on the headrest. “Roth isn’t going to be happy that I won’t touch these dead people, but if I do it and I lie again, they can lock me up.”

  “If they ever know,” Carson answered.

  I weighed both options during the entire ride back. I couldn’t tell Carson’s secret. Hell, I wouldn’t dare. That man could snap me like a twig, not that I thought he might. Noah was going to be pissed. He might even kick me off the case and send me packing. There was something so finite about my situation. I inhaled a calming breath as the leafy green scenery passed by as the truck sped along. I’d taken a trip like this a couple times with Gigi while we were growing up. I missed my sister, her laugh and her constant big-sisterly antics. Being born ten minutes before me, she’d turned into the bossy sister. Life wasn’t fair. Carl Chisolm was awake and a free man, and my sister was still locked inside her mind in a coma thanks to that creep.

  Carson pulled up outside the lake cabin where the team was staying. Sloan was sitting on the steps while Sam and the others moved around inside. I slid out of the truck and peered back in. “If I can’t touch the bodies, maybe you and I could meet in the wood in secret so I can try to pick up on the vibes that way.”

  “It’s worth a shot,” Carson said as he glanced up at the lake house. “You know where to find me.”

  I winked and shut the door, heading toward the steps and debating what to do next.

  Sloan rose as I approached. “So, no dead bodies, huh?”

  I slowly shook my head.

  “What are you going to tell the others?”

  “I’ll figure it out.” I shrugged.

  His gaze caressed my face. “Your eyes are bloodshot.”

  “That’s what happens when you're hung over and stayed up way too late talking.”

  His lips quirked. “You’re enjoying your freedom.”

  “Yes, I am.” I patted his chest. “Let me deal with them and get a shower, and you can buy me breakfast.”

  “I can, can I?”

  I grinned. “Until they give me back all of my things, my money is a little tied up at the moment.”

  Sloan pulled a wad of bills from his pocket, ripped off a thousand dollars in hundred-dollar bills, and folded them. He put the wad into my hands. “You’re not beholden to anyone but yourself, Dr. Bray.”

  I fanned the money out. “And now you, I guess?”

  He leaned in to whisper into my ear. “Consider it a recruiting incentive for listening to my pitch.”

  I ran my hand up his chest and down to his jeans. I stuffed the hundred-dollar bills in his waistband and pulled his head down to mine. “You talk too much.”

  I pressed my lips to his in a kiss that left me panting. The pent-up sexual energy was off the charts. The heated kiss was just as charged as the first time he’d kissed me on our last case.

  I broke the kiss and smiled up at him. “You can’t buy what I want, and it can’t be cooked up in a lab, Sloan. You and I will have plenty of time for pillow talk.”

  SLOAN

  Chapter 11

  Sloan followed Lucy into the lake house. Her hair was tangled in the back, and he wanted nothing more than to smooth it with his fingers. Her kiss had strengthened his resolve. The need to kiss her again was overwhelming. He glanced around at the other men in the room. Roth watched with keen interest. Not much ever got by him. The IT guy, Sam, was oblivious as he pecked at his keyboard. He had his gaze glued to his screens and was wearing a pair of earbuds.

  The look on Grant’s face wasn’t welcoming, as if Sloan had been the one to whisk Lucy away and distract her from doing her job. Sloan hadn’t yet, but that time was coming.

  Lucy walked straight into the kitchen, and Sloan slid his hands into his pockets, waiting to see which one was going to ask her the question on everyone’s mind. Poor schmucks. Sloan had been just like them.

  “Why didn’t Carson come in with you?” Grant asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know, his dad just turned up dead, and the jerk who bullied him in high school did too. I think the guy might need a few minutes to catch his breath.”

  Lucy made a cup of coffee and took a sip before turning toward everyone watching her.

  “Noah, I think the wine had an emotionally numbing effect. I’m not going to be able to connect with the others until it wears off.”

  “So that’s what you’re leading with?” he asked and raised his brow.

  She tilted her head and seemed to be amused. “Ask me what’s on your mind, Noah. I won’t bite…maybe.”

  “Are you and Carson going to have an issue working together now?”

  Her lips turned up into a grin as she met Sloan’s gaze. “It’s not Carson you should be asking about.”

  She crossed the room and took Sloan’s hand, leading him to the stairs.

  “Sloan and I have a job opportunity to discuss. I am entitled to those now, right?”

  Noah frowned. His diminishing hold on Lucy was evident.

  “Don’t worry, Noah. I don’t ever like to leave jobs without notice, especially unfinished jobs. I have every intention of finding your killer.” Lucy pulled Sloan into her bedroom and set her coffee on the dresser before heading into the bathroom to start the water. She returned and grabbed clean clothes and stepped into the bathroom.

  “You need help washing your back?”

  She was unbuttoning her shirt when she reappeared in the doorway. “When you and I actually come together, it won’t be in a house full of men with guns.”

  Sloan’s lips twitched. “I can wait.”

  She let the shirt drop to the floor and started peeling at her jeans, getting them off. She stood in her lacy black bra and panties. “Why do you want to hire me?”

  “I could use your expertise.”

  She slid her bra off and smiled. “You sure it has nothing to do with a work-induced fantasy of bending me over your desk?”

  His lips twitched. “That too, Dr. Bray.”

  “When this is over, you can tell me more about your job offer, but not until Carson is in the clear.” Her eyes sparkled as she disappeared into the bathroom, and he heard the water running in the shower.

  ****

  Sloan watched as Lucy toweled off and began to dress. Her creamy skin called to him
in such a way that his lips obeyed. He stepped behind her and placed a tender kiss on her neck as he reached around her body and buttoned her jeans. He held her gaze in the mirror. “You’re a tease.”

  She turned in his arms and stared up at him. “There’s a time and place for everything.”

  His lips twitched. “Thank God.”

  “You’re a stronger man than I thought.”

  He cupped her cheek and kissed her again. “So, what’s your play?”

  “Making you beg for it.”

  “Lucy, I’m talking about Carson and whatever plan the two of you hatched. What’s your play so I can help move this along?”

  “Why, have you got somewhere to be?” she asked.

  “Actually, yes, but I’m staying here with you for now in the event Carl shows up.”

  “Ah yes, Carl.” She pressed her lips to Sloan’s neck. “You think I’m a woman in need of saving.”

  He stepped back and met her gaze. “You don’t have a weak bone in your body, but you do have pressure points to exploit. Carl is smart. If he’s not done with you, he’ll find your vulnerability, and judging by the men downstairs, Carson, and your sister, I’d say he has five ways to bring you to your knees.”

  She tilted her head. “You know mine. It’s only fair I know yours.”

  “I’m not vulnerable, Doc. After my niece’s abduction and death, I took care of that.” That was all he’d cop to. Lucy was a survivor just like he was. It was what drew her to him. She was unpredictable and cunning. Her only problem was she wore her heart on her sleeve, and Sloan wasn’t the only one who knew it.

  “See, that’s why we could never be more than a booty call. You view your relationships at an arm’s distance, and I hold mine close to my heart. We’re like friction, two opposing forces that produce a spark. Combustible when together and harmless when apart. I don’t want your job offer, just your body.”

  Sloan pulled her hard against his body and kissed her once more. “You’ll want more.”

  Her eyes sparkled as she slipped out of his arms and started putting on her shoes. “I have to go deal with this stuff. Thanks for keeping me company. It will keep the others downstairs guessing as to what we were up to.”