More Than a Lawman

by Anna J. Stewart

  She jogged over to what indeed was a metal eyesore with an enormous pair of hearts mingling on the side panel. “Hearts Aligned Catering. Wait a minute.” She skimmed her fingers across the small print under the business name on the side of the vehicle. “It lists three locations, but this address.” She pulled out her phone and accessed the notes she kept on the Iceman’s killings. “That’s only a few blocks from where the third victim was found. Didn’t Hector’s file say he worked in food service during high school and part of college?”

  “Sure did.”

  “And here.” She tapped her finger against the van. “That’s a location we haven’t seen before. How much do you want to bet that building has an industrial-sized freezer.”

  “You and your bets.” Simmons pulled out his phone and motioned for her to follow him to the car. “Hello, Lieutenant Santos, it’s Simmons. Eden and I found—” He stopped, closed his eyes and nodded. “Sure. Okay. Just a minute.” He held out his phone. “Cole wants to talk to you.”

  Eden scowled and braced herself. “Hey, Cole.”

  “I’m not even going to ask how you talked Agent Simmons into taking you with him.”

  “Because I told him if he didn’t I’d just Uber it behind him. How did things go with Dr. Tanner?” She jumped into the car beside Simmons.

  “Productive. I’ll be happy to fill you in once you’re back at the station.”

  “We have a stop to make first.”

  “No, we don’t,” Simmons said loud enough for Cole to hear.

  “Batsakis used to work for a catering company. Up until a few years ago, there were three different locations servicing the Sacramento area. One off Watt Avenue, which is near where both Elliot Scarbrough’s and Pam Norris’s bodies were discovered. Another was in West Sac—”

  “Let me guess,” Cole drawled. “The warehouse where we found you.”

  “Right.” She resisted the urge to shiver. “Agent Simmons and I just found a third location off Highway 16 and Sloughhouse. We’re headed out there now.” She swore she could hear him counting to ten.

  “Sloughhouse has its own sheriff’s department, Eden,” Cole said. “We’ll need to coordinate with them—”

  “Then coordinate,” she interrupted before giving him the address. “We’ll meet you there.”

  “Eden, don’t you dare—”

  She hung up. “They’re on their way,” Eden told Simmons. “Better get a move on, Agent. We’re losing daylight.”

  * * *

  “I’m not going in there without backup.” Simmons activated the child-lock button to stop Eden from getting out of the car. “And you’re not going in there at all.”

  “What are the chances anyone is in there, anyway?” she asked. What were the chances anyone was anywhere in the Sacramento suburb known for its extensive property lines and low population?

  The deserted single-story warehouse—one of half a dozen scattered up and down the road—had been overrun with anemic trees, weeds and the barest idea of shrubbery. Even from where they’d parked across the highway, Eden could see the parking lot cement had cracked, as had the foundation of the poorly roofed structure. Several broken windows hadn’t been boarded up.

  Before they’d hit the dead zone that was this section of Sloughhouse, she’d managed to find out on her cell that the property and surrounding buildings had been in foreclosure for almost as long as Hearts Aligned Catering had been out of business. “Seems the perfect place for a serial killer to hole up,” Eden murmured. “We could walk around, just to make sure it’s empty.”

  “Could,” Simmons said, glancing down the road to where a large truck had pulled into an auto supply warehouse. “We won’t. Cole warned me you’d try something like this. He said common sense tends to vanish when you’re close to getting an answer—”

  “It does not!” She just tended to lose her patience with all the formalities that Cole and his fellow law-enforcement buddies had to put up with.

  “Good. Then waiting for Cole and the rest of the team isn’t an issue. Besides, I’m not about to put you in any kind of jeopardy, real or potential. The last thing I need is to get into a knock-down-drag-out with your boyfriend.” He twisted his wedding band in that nervous habit she’d noticed.

  “He’s not my boyfriend.” Calling Cole that didn’t sit right with her. But not for the reason some might have thought. Because he felt like...more. She chewed on her nearly nonexistent thumbnail. Yeah, she’d much rather stalk a serial killer than discuss...this.

  “Please.” Simmons grinned. “The two of you give off more heat than a nuclear reactor. Everyone in the station is talking about it, so get used to it.” He twisted round in his seat to look at her. “He’s your boyfriend.”

  She made a face at him and tried to deflect. “I’m pretty sure I had this recurring nightmare in high school.” Her cheeks went hot and she willed Cole and the patrol cars to drive faster. “Except I was naked and giving a speech.”

  “You know the one thing I miss most since my separation?” Simmons’s wistful tone sank into her. “Being happy. Looking forward to going home. Now all I have are boxes and memories.”

  Eden thought back to her own boxes and memories. Funny. The instant she heard the word home spoken, it wasn’t her town house she thought of.

  It was Cole’s boat.

  That unease she’d been avoiding circled low in her belly. “What happened with your wife?” she asked him.

  “Denise’s murder.” It took a moment for him to continue, as if he didn’t want to put it into words. “I couldn’t let it go. Accessed files I shouldn’t have. Pushed where I didn’t have a right to, as you well know. My fellow agents lost faith in me. They stopped wanting to work with me. I ended up on a desk. Then in the bottom of a bottle.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a poker chip. “Six months sober.” He twirled it in his fingers. “Figured I’d give it a full year before I tried to fix things with her. If that’s even possible.” Regret and resignation mingled in his voice.

  “What’s her name?”

  “Suzanna.”

  “Kids?”

  “Never seemed to be time.” Simmons glanced over at her. “For me. Biggest mistake I made, giving up. I didn’t even fight when she told me to leave, but I couldn’t stop thinking here I was, an FBI agent, and I couldn’t find the maniac who murdered my baby sister.”

  Eden reached over and closed his hand around the chip. “We’ll find him. And then you’ll call Suzanna and go home.”

  “It’s too late for me, Eden.”

  “You love her. It’s never too late to fight for her. So fight. Speaking of fighting...” Even Cole’s car seemed angry when it pulled up and parked hood to hood with Simmons’s. “Will you let me out now?”

  The lock clicked.

  “Before you get upset—” Eden called out to Cole as she approached him.

  “Why would I be upset?” Cole asked, casting a look as a Sloughhouse sheriff’s vehicle parked behind him. “It’s not like you’re out and about chasing after a murderer who left you strung up in a freezer.”

  Allie got out of the passenger seat of his car, dressed in a shade of green that reminded Eden of the moss that grew on her roof during the winter.

  Suddenly uncertain, Eden managed, “I had protection.” Which she was thinking she might need from Cole about now.

  “Like I promised, she was never out of my sight,” Simmons said as he joined them. Jack brought up the rear as two more patrol cars arrived. “And I locked her in the car until you got here.”

  “Nice to know you didn’t let her drive you completely off the rails. Sorry she talked you into this,” Cole said.

  “You’d think I was a toddler who escaped the playpen,” Eden scoffed. “Allie, tell them—”

  “I’m her
e to keep track of you while they do their jobs.” Her friend locked her hand around Eden’s wrist. “Should I ask Cole for his handcuffs?”

  “Oh, please.” Eden laughed. “It’s not like he’s going to be in there.”

  “You don’t know what is going on in there, Eden. We could find a dozen more bodies or I might get creative and lock you in the deep freeze myself.” Cole moved in, loomed over her, and only then did she see the specter of worry hovering in his eyes. She’d scared him. Again. “Now, please get in the car and stay with Allie while we check things out. Do you hear me?”

  “Would you like me to bow and kiss your feet before you go?” she snapped.

  “In the car,” Allie ordered and moved in between them. Eden couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard Allie sound so cold.

  “Wait—”

  But Allie had already shoved her inside the vehicle. The door slammed and she found herself in complete silence. Allie circled around the SUV and got in on the other side, while Cole, Jack, Simmons and the officers finalized their plan with elaborate hand gestures.

  “He cares about you, Eden.” Allie sounded frustrated; her friend never usually sounded that way. “You should have seen the look on his face when he got to the station and you were gone. It didn’t help that you didn’t even tell me where you were going.”

  “It was a last-minute idea.” Eden folded her hands in her lap. “And I know he cares about me.” She almost wished she didn’t. “He said he’s in love with me.”

  “And?”

  “And? And what?” How did Allie not see what a disaster this was? How could she not understand that Cole Delaney loving her was the worst-possible news? “That’s enough, isn’t it? Well, along with the marathon sex session—”

  “Do I look like I’m in the mood for girl talk?” Allie’s clipped tone did nothing to erase Eden’s fear. “Let’s pretend for one minute you actually have feelings, shall we? I know I’m usually the touchy-feely one, the one you’re afraid will read too much into things and tell you why you feel and think the way you do. But tough. You’re pretending that this isn’t anything more than a fling with Cole when we both know it’s more. Stop. It’s cruel. He loves you, Eden. He’s in love with you. And you’re treating it as if it’s a joke.”

  “I am not.” She just didn’t want it to be real. Because when things got real...people got hurt.

  “Tell me you aren’t already thinking of how to drive him away. To convince him what he’s feeling is adrenaline. That you’re not terrified of being happy.”

  “How can any of us be happy?” Eden demanded. “We know the evil that’s out there, how fast life can be taken away. Simone couldn’t be happy with Vince and it’s not like you’ve found Prince Charming even with your cartoon-princess aura.”

  The silence pressed in on Eden, forcing her heart open in a way she’d tried to prevent for almost two decades. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You didn’t deserve that.”

  “It’s not the first time you’ve hurt my feelings. It won’t be the last. And I’m perfectly happy with my cartoon-princess aura, thank you very much.”

  Eden shook her head. “Why can’t you ever punch back at me? Why do you have to always be so fair and logical?”

  “Because fairness, logic and love don’t always go hand in hand. Something I’m sure Cole is struggling with at the moment. You need to talk to him about this, Eden. You need to tell him what you’re feeling.”

  “I can’t. I can’t love him, Allie.” How she hated the tears that burned her throat and eyes. They were a sign of weakness, of a loss of control. And Eden needed to stay in control. “Because if I do...whoever I love...they die.” Her heart jumped into her throat as she watched Cole and his fellow officers surround the building, weapons out. She looked at Allie, silently willing her friend to understand what she couldn’t.

  Allie’s expression softened beneath her black crop of hair, as if she’d been pushing for just this reaction.

  “People leave me,” Eden whispered. “Chloe. Mom and Dad. Logan. Everyone leaves me. And I’ve just found it’s easier if I leave them first.”

  “Easier on whom?” Allie asked. “News flash, Eden. It’s been twenty years and Simone and I are still here, so consider that theory disproved. You can push as hard as you want—we aren’t going anywhere.” She stroked Eden’s hair. “I hate to break it to you, but neither is Cole.” She scooted toward Eden and drew her head onto her shoulder.

  “It’s my fault,” Eden said softly.

  “What? Antagonizing Cole? Well, yeah.” Allie laughed. “But you do it with such panache.”

  “Not Cole.” It took every ounce of air in her body to set the words free. “Chloe. It’s my fault she’s dead.” She squeezed her eyes shut as Allie’s body went stiff. It was too late to stop now. All these years...all this time, the paralyzing guilt had built inside of her, the fear someone was going to learn her secret—that it was her fault a nine-year-old girl was dead. The truth spilled out. “After we all went to bed, after we thought we were so grown-up because we went camping in Simone’s backyard.”

  “That backyard was over fifteen acres of wild trees and grass,” Allie said. “Any one of us could have gotten lost. It’s why we had the buddy—”

  “I was her buddy, remember? She woke me up so I could go with her to the bathroom, but I told her to go by herself.” The sob erupted deep from Eden’s heart. A sob that she’d been keeping at bay for two decades. “I was so selfish. I told her to stop whining and just go. And I went back to sleep.”

  “Oh, Eden.” Allie hugged her. “Why didn’t you ever tell us?”

  “How could I? Every night I wish myself back there. I want another chance to be a good friend. I want to go with her, so she’ll come back. So she’ll be alive.” So she and her friends could live a life that wasn’t inundated with killers and darkness.

  “We can’t do that,” Allie said. “I know because I’ve tried, too. But it wasn’t your fault, Eden. We were nine years old. And while you might have cornered the market on it, we were all selfish and bratty. Chloe wandered and got lost, and unfortunately, someone found her. I don’t know a lot, Eden, but I am sure of one thing. If you had been with her, Eden, you’d be dead, too.”

  “I know.” Eden hesitated. She’d gone this far. What was one more step? “And sometimes I think I should be.”

  Bang! Bang, bang!

  Eden shoved Allie away. “Cole.”

  “No, Eden. Wait!” Allie grabbed for her, but Eden was out of the car before her friend could stop her. It wasn’t until she reached the front door of the warehouse that Eden realized what she’d done. What she’d always done. She’d acted without thinking.

  Heart pounding, she pressed her back against the wall. She could see Allie across the road, gesturing madly for her to come back. Eden shook her head. Better to stay where she was, out of the line of fire. She ducked down and scooted along the wall under the large window to the corner of the building. She could hear shouts and muted orders echoing from inside the warehouse.

  Eden’s feet crunched in the broken glass strewn with chunks of drywall and concrete. Had they lucked out again? Had they cornered him? Was the Iceman inside? Had they stopped him before he could kill Jeff Cottswold?

  Another inch to the left and she’d have cover. Slowly, she gripped the wall and pushed herself up to check around the corner.

  Allie screamed her name as an arm locked around Eden’s throat.

  The few seconds it took for her to realize what was happening felt like hours. She sucked in a breath, smelled sweat and damp, alcohol and filth. She drew her arm forward, jabbing with her elbow. Ten years of self-defense classes had finally paid off. She made solid contact with his sternum as she kicked back with her left foot, catching him in the shin.

  He grunted, gasped for air as he threw he
r to the ground. Glass gouged into her palms and knees. Another figure then leaped into view, coming to Eden’s defense.

  She couldn’t move, couldn’t seem to even shout for help. Suddenly, a glint of metal flashed as her attacker extended his arm at her protector.

  Something sprayed across her face. Eden had shut her eyes, but now she swiped at her cheeks and heard the distinctive thud of a body hitting the ground.

  The hulking hooded figure darted into the thick brush.

  Eden pushed herself up. “No.” Her heart stopped. Agent Simmons clutched a hand against the blood at his throat. “No, no, no.” She scrambled to her feet and ripped her jacket off, pressing it to the gaping wound. She pried his hand free and used all of her weight to stem the streaming flow of blood. “Someone call an ambulance!” she hollered as she spotted people emerging from the building.

  “Where did he go?” Jack yelled as he and the others came running.

  “There!” Eden jerked her chin over her shoulder as she focused on Simmons.

  “Eden?” Cole dropped down beside her, gun drawn, but she didn’t give him more than a glance as she stared into Anthony Simmons’s eyes. “Ah, man. Bowie! EMTs now! Allie! We need you! Hang in there, buddy. Agent Simmons, can you hear me?”

  “Don’t you die on me,” Eden ordered, dismissing the glassy, vacant stare that dropped over Anthony’s face. “Don’t. You. Dare.”

  “Fight.” The raspy gurgle in Simmons’s voice was the sound nightmares were made of. “You. Fight.” He dropped a hand on Cole’s as he added more pressure to Eden’s.

  “Suzanna needs you,” Eden sobbed. “Don’t leave her.” Don’t leave me. She couldn’t take another death on her hands. Another life lost...

  “Suzanna...” His eyes closed.

  Not again. Not someone else. Not because of her. “Where’s that ambulance?” Eden screamed.

  * * *