Malice

by C. M. Sutter

  “Okay, but you have to go silent a few miles out. We don’t want to tip him off. I’ll be waiting at the kiddie park. Please hurry. I don’t want him to lose his patience and take it out on her.”

  “We’re on our way. Jade, stay put.”

  “I will, I promise.”

  I sucked in a deep breath to calm my nerves. I had to sound believable when I made the call. I was sure Ed would be listening. I wanted so badly to go in and put an end to the madness Ed had created, but I couldn’t put Pam’s life in jeopardy. I pressed the recent calls button next to her name, and the phone rang on her end. It was time for me to lie through my teeth. She picked up on the third ring.

  “Agent Monroe, are you here?”

  Now that I was listening intently, I heard the fear in her voice. “Sorry, I had a little hiccup on the way, but I should arrive in about twenty minutes. Wouldn’t you know, I ran over some construction debris a few miles back, and my tire went flat.” I chuckled, trying to sound lighthearted. “I just finished changing it, so I’m heading out again. I’ll be there soon.”

  “Oh, okay. Please hurry.”

  The phone abruptly went dead, and I feared for Pam’s life.

  Chapter 53

  I paced the parking lot to get rid of my increasing tension. My patience was being tested to its limit. I visualized the layout of the house. We had seen the foyer and caught a quick glance of the family room, kitchen, and dining room as we passed by on our way to the library.

  I imagined the probable scenario. Pam would have to be free and appear normal as she answered the door. It was the only way Ed would be guaranteed that I’d enter. He’d be hiding somewhere, likely at my back so he could attack me from behind. I was sure I’d get the Taser again, and Pam probably would too. It was how he’d disable both of us until we were restrained. That would be the worst-case scenario, and with a quick flick of his knife, he could slit our throats before anyone had time to reach us. I had an idea that might work and would share it with the guys as soon as they arrived.

  I pulled out my cell phone and checked the time—ten minutes had passed since I spoke with Pam. I was going crazy with worry. At the fifteen-minute mark, I called J.T.

  “What’s your ETA?”

  “We’re exiting the highway right now and going dark—no sirens or lights. We’ll be at your location in three minutes. Hold tight, Jade.”

  I hung up and looked east. Soon I’d see headlights from several vehicles heading in my direction. When a car passed by as it left the neighborhood, I ducked behind the Explorer. I couldn’t take any chances with curious neighbors. Finally, I saw headlights in the distance. I inhaled deeply and shook off my fears. We had a job to do, and a woman’s life was at risk. It was time to get serious. Three vehicles screeched to a stop in the parking lot across from the Explorer. Hardy, J.T., Lyles, Franklin, Andrews, and Tyler jumped out of their cars and headed toward me.

  “You okay, Jade?” J.T. asked.

  “I’m fine. We need to plan our approach and fast. Here’s what I was thinking. Pam will appear as normal as possible when she answers the door. Ed wouldn’t want her to do anything to raise my suspicion. He expects me to walk in casually, and that’s likely when he’ll try to zap me from behind.”

  “So we have to blitz attack him before he nails you,” J.T. said.

  “I’ll take the hit if I have to as long as you guys get to him quickly. Don’t forget about that knife he carries. He’s probably going to be watching from a window that illuminates the porch.”

  “Is there another way in where he won’t see us?” Hardy asked.

  “Nothing that would be close enough to him. That’s why I think my plan will work.”

  J.T. raked his hair and shook his head. “I don’t like this already.”

  I gave him a frown. “Just listen before you rule it out. I’ll put on a vest under my blazer. He’ll zap me when I walk in, and I’ll fall to the ground. It’s the only way to get him close enough to take him out. A few elbow slams to the face will knock him for a loop, and then you guys can rush him. You have to be hiding in the bushes near the door. He’ll see anyone on the porch.”

  “You’re assuming it’s going to go like you’ve planned. What if the porch light is off?”

  “So much the better.”

  “What if he isn’t behind the door but hiding somewhere else in the house?”

  I shrugged. “He won’t be far from Pam, I’m sure of that, and we don’t have other options at the moment. My gun has more reach than his knife.” I jerked my chin. “I need a vest.”

  Hardy opened his trunk and grabbed one. “Be careful, Jade.”

  I pulled the vest over my shoulders and tightened it around my torso then situated my shoulder holster. “I will, Cap. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this.”

  Hardy gave J.T. an eyebrow raise.

  “Okay, I have to drive in so everything looks normal. Go ahead and start out. Once you reach the driveway, stay behind the trees. Remember, he could be watching from any window. You need to be in position when I reach the door. If the porch light is on, go with my plan to hide in the shrubbery. If it’s off, you can stay out of sight on the porch.”

  The men took off on foot and ran until I couldn’t see them any longer. I climbed into the Explorer a minute later. As I passed them at the bottom of the driveway, I gave them a thumbs-up and glanced back through the rearview mirror. They cautiously approached the house while staying in the shadows of the trees bordering the driveway.

  The porch was illuminated by six brass coach lamps. I knew the plan and parked strategically to block any chance of the guys being seen as they crossed the driveway. They needed that extra barrier between the driveway and the porch in case he was watching. I approached the house slowly as I nonchalantly glanced at every window that faced the front. I remembered seeing the curtains flutter earlier that day when Missy peeked out, and they’d just fluttered again. Instinctively, I reached to my waist to activate my radio and realized I wasn’t wearing one.

  The guys knew what to do. I had to have faith that everyone would come out of this okay, especially Pam. I stepped up to the porch, glanced at both sidelights, and rang the doorbell. I listened closely. Did I hear two sets of footsteps, or had he already taken his place, waiting to pounce? The clip-clop of shoes approached the front door. I peered through the right sidelight, but with thick gauzelike material covering the glass, I found it difficult to see anything clearly. I quickly looked to my right as the doorknob turned. Movement in the shrubbery told me the guys were in place.

  The door opened, and Pam stood on the other side. She wore a deep black mark under her right eye. “Agent Monroe, thank you for coming back.” Pam looked to be forcing a smile, and her eyes darted to my left.

  I took that as my clue that Ed was hiding somewhere on that side of the door. She held the door open, and I passed through. I hadn’t anticipated her slamming it at my back and turning the dead bolt.

  “What the—”

  “I’m so sorry, Agent Monroe.”

  Within seconds I felt a thick arm around my neck and hot breath against my ear. “You think I was born yesterday, Agent Bitch?”

  He blindsided me and came from the right. Then he pulled my service weapon out from under my blazer. He began a wicked round of laughter. “Wearing a vest, are ya? You came prepared for the Taser but not for anything else.”

  “Don’t give me so much credit, Ed. It has nothing to do with you. I always wear a vest.” I couldn’t let him think I came prepared and that the team was right outside.

  He pushed me out of the foyer and jerked his head at Pam. I didn’t have a clue where we were going, and the guys would have to guess what to do next.

  Pam cried out. “Ed, please, the kids are in the house.”

  “Then keep your damn mouth shut and you won’t wake them up. Get in the dining room and take a seat.”

  I tried to remember the home’s layout. Did the dining room have windows or not? Wi
th my gun jammed against my back, Ed shoved me through the doorway. I took a quick glance at the right side of the room and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Three windows lined that wall.

  I quickly pulled out the two chairs that faced the window. “Here, Pam, sit next to me.”

  I watched as Ed toyed with my gun and paced. He was a ticking time bomb. The knife sheath, strapped to his belt on his right hip, was exposed. He had to be carrying a bowie knife, just as Dr. Torres told us days ago, and from handle to blade tip, I’d guess it to be a foot long. If only I could find a way to grab it.

  Ed yelled out, “This isn’t how I wanted things to go down!”

  “Tell me what you want, Ed, and maybe I can help.”

  “Shut up! You don’t have a say in this. It’s between me and that bitch.”

  He waved my gun erratically at Pam. I had to calm him before something terrible happened.

  “Ed, I know you’re angry. Pam left you for that piece of shit, which was more than wrong. You’re a much better man than William. You were jealous of him because he was rich, but he’s a horrible person. William is an arrogant, boastful, lying jerk, and you want to take him down along with his business.”

  “Damn straight I do.”

  I continued on and tried to distract him from focusing on Pam. “He needs to feel that humiliation, to lose all his money, and to have the entire city scoff at him. He deserves it, but that’s already taking place.”

  “Agent Monroe, please.” Tears sprang from Pam’s eyes. I knew she didn’t understand what I was doing.

  Ed got dangerously close to Pam. I needed him to focus on me instead. “Ed!”

  “What do you want, bitch?”

  “Listen to me. You don’t need to do anything. William is in jail, and he’ll be exposed tomorrow. Everyone will know what a lying phony he is. His career will be ruined without you doing anything to anybody. He’ll be in prison for years.”

  “Wrong. Don’t try to play me.” Ed held the barrel of my gun against Pam’s neck. “I heard her talking to her mom earlier, and she said William was out of town because of a business problem. Nice try, Agent Dumbshit. No matter what, this cheating bitch is going to pay too. I have nothing to lose whether I kill five people or fifty. I’ll get the death sentence no matter what.”

  I saw movement beyond the glass. J.T., Hardy, and the rest of the team, hidden under the windowsills, had their guns aimed at Ed.

  Ed’s anger was escalating, and in seconds he would attack. I had to do something now.

  He tucked my gun in his waistband and slid the knife out of the sheath. “I’ve dreamed of this day when I could finally silence you forever.” He reached for Pam’s throat.

  I looked at J.T., gave him a nod, then lunged at Pam and knocked her to the ground. Gunfire exploded through the windows, sending shards of glass in every direction, like hundreds of knives. We dove under the table, and I held Pam close to my chest. I turned my head and saw Ed slide down the wall only feet away, his body riddled with bullet holes.

  “Don’t move, Pam, and keep your head down.” I crawled across the floor and ripped out my gun from Ed’s waistband. I removed the knife from his clenched hand then checked his pulse—he was dead. I stood, looked out the window, and gave the guys a nod.

  “Pam, it’s safe to come out.” I knelt at the table’s edge and called her toward me. She didn’t need to look at her former husband’s bloody body. She crawled to me and stood. I quickly got her out of that room and closed the door behind us. “Why don’t you check on your kids? I have to let my colleagues in.”

  I inhaled a deep breath and walked to the front door. J.T., Hardy, and the guys were waiting on the porch. When they entered the foyer, I gave them a welcoming hug.

  “Are you and Pam okay?” J.T. asked.

  “Yeah, we’re good. It looks like she got punched in the face before I arrived, though.” I closed my eyes for a second to take in everything that had transpired over the last twenty minutes, then I tipped my chin toward the back of the house. “She went upstairs to check on her kids.” I gave J.T. a long grateful look. “Thanks, partner. I knew I could depend on you.”

  He squeezed my shoulder and smiled. “No sweat. That’s what partners do.”

  Hardy directed his men to get busy. “Get on the horn and call the ME. We probably need a medic here too, and get Forensics out here even though the SEC will be rifling through this place tomorrow. We have to do everything by the book.”

  Pam joined us in the kitchen ten minutes later. “The kids were awake in their beds. I got them calmed down enough to fall back asleep.”

  “I’d suggest taking them out of here tonight. This house is a crime scene, and the SEC will seal it tomorrow, anyway. Do you have somewhere to go?” I asked.

  Pam gently dabbed her swollen red eyes and nodded. “We’ll go to my mom’s house.” She reached for me and held me tightly. “You saved my life, Agent Monroe. I can never thank you enough.”

  My own eyes welled up with emotion. “Everything will be okay in time. We need to sit down and talk, though, before this place is teeming with people.”

  Chapter 54

  Pam and I escaped to the quiet solitude of a spare bedroom on the far side of the second story. We sat across from each other on the bed, and I pulled out my notepad from my purse.

  “I know this seems unusually formal, but I have to know why Ed went off the deep end. There will be plenty of paperwork to fill out before my partner and I leave Omaha.”

  “I understand, Agent Monroe.”

  I gave her a thoughtful smile—she had been through a lot. “You can call me Jade.”

  “Like I told you this afternoon, Jade”—she gave me a quick glance—“Ed and I divorced a few years back. As long as I had known him, he was kind of off, but stupid me thought of it as edgy and sort of wild. I had no idea he was mentally sick. After years of marriage, I began seeking out something else.”

  “Or do you mean someone else?”

  She nodded and wiped her battered eye. “Ed quit work, and we were barely getting by. His mood swings became more frequent. He was seeing a therapist who put him on strong meds for his behavioral problems. After seven years together, I was just tired of him. I thought a divorce would end our bitter relationship, but that only caused things to get worse. The courts ruled in my favor, and I got full custody of the kids. That’s when Ed moved back to Little Rock. I had no idea he returned to Omaha.”

  I set my pen on my notepad. “Pam, Ed has been here for some time. It doesn’t sound like you watch TV much, and to be honest, there hasn’t been news coverage on this case. We squelched what we reported to the media because they would have turned this city into a panic zone. There was news of a serial killer in Omaha, and that’s why my partner and I showed up last Thursday. That serial killer was Ed.”

  Pam sobbed into her hands. “It’s all my fault. He should have been committed years ago.”

  “Why was Ed so angry? It sounds like it began before you met William.”

  “It did, but the cheating and divorce made everything worse. Ed grew up in an abusive home and not what you might think.”

  I nodded. “Go on.”

  “It was his mother who was abusive, and her violence was taken out on his dad. She swore at him constantly, punched him, and threw things at him—it was nonstop. The woman was psychotic, and the police were often at their house because of domestic abuse. Then one day the father up and disappeared. From that point on, Ed was alone with the mom, suffering her verbal and physical abuse. She told him his no-good father left them and all men were trash. Ed felt worthless, and I believe it was at that point that he actually became somewhat misogynistic. Two weeks later, as he was walking near the creek at the far side of their property, he noticed a foul smell.”

  I groaned, knowing full well where that story was going. “He found his dad?”

  “Yes, and it was during the summer. Ed could tell it was a human body even though it had decayed beyond recognit
ion. The one thing he never got over was seeing the knife protruding from the man’s throat.”

  “Oh my God. So his hatred all these years was actually toward his mom, not you?”

  “For most of his life it was her. His mom went to prison, and Ed grew up in foster care. He resented everyone from that point on, so I was surprised when he wanted to get married. I believe our eventual divorce, and the fact that I was awarded full custody of the children, sent him over the edge and rekindled his hatred toward women. Recently, his phone calls became even more threatening. I think the fact that William had just legally adopted the kids sent Ed into a full-blown tailspin. That could have been the final trigger.”

  I patted Pam’s hand. “Ed was delusional. Maybe he thought by ruining William’s reputation and bankrupting him, he would somehow regain custody of the children. Truth is, Ed could have sat back and watched William ruin himself.”

  “But—”

  “But that’s the way it is, Pam. I doubt if William, his high-powered attorney, and all the money in the world will get him out of this jam. Greed got the best of him. You and the kids will be on your own for quite some time.” I tipped my head toward the door and put my notepad away. “Come on. You need to pack some things. I’ll help you get the kids ready.”

  Chapter 55

  We spent the next morning tying up loose ends. Hardy’s team, along with J.T. and myself, filled out pages of paperwork that went back to the first murder we knew was related to the case—Sarah Cummings. I contacted the ME’s office and told Joe that he could release the victims’ bodies to their respective families. We canceled the tip line, and I drew up a statement that Hardy could give to the media.

  I excused myself from the conference room and took a trip downstairs to the city jail before the SEC arrived. I signed in at the counter and asked to see William Stewart. I waited only a few minutes before the guard escorted me in.

  I knew William had to be worried. Today was the day he’d have to confess his sins to the authorities. There wasn’t enough bravado in the world that he could muster up to get him out of the predicament he alone had caused. The SEC would come down on him hard, and he probably wouldn’t see the light of day for years.