“Why not shut me up while we were there? Why let me go?”
Dwayne cracked his neck again. Like he was gearing up for something. Maggie hoped she wouldn’t have to find out what.
“You might not have suspected me but you didn’t fully trust me, either,” he said. “You kept talking about Erin’s notes but refused to tell me where they were. I remembered how annoyingly determined you were when it all first happened so I couldn’t take the chance that you had stashed it somewhere that might bite me in the ass down the line. I tried to convince you that you needed to tell me everything—to show me everything—but, in hindsight, I guess I pushed too hard. You got all weird, went to get food from the lobby and then came back with some excuse about having to leave. So I let you.”
“Did you come to my house after that?”
Maggie still wanted to know why she’d left in such a hurry.
He shook his head.
“That would be the idiot. He tried to take a crack at persuading you to take him to what you’d found. You left. From there you disappeared for a few hours. So I came back here.” His grin was back. “And who do I find snooping around my house? You didn’t find any proof I was involved but, man, did you have a mouth on you.” He shrugged. “A man can only take so much.”
“That’s when I attacked you,” she filled in. “It was in self-defense.”
A muscle in his jaw twitched.
“I should have shot you the moment I saw you,” he growled.
Maggie knew it was only a matter of time before Dwayne was done entertaining her. In fact, she couldn’t think of any reason why he was explaining everything that had happened to her in the first place.
“So what’s the plan?” she decided to go ahead and ask. If they were getting to the end of his mental rope, then she wanted to prepare herself for what was coming. It was the only way she could try to think of a plan to get Cody out unharmed. The thought of him being hurt by the deranged man in front of her was too much. She couldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t.
“My plan? It’s simple.” He reached into the back of his jeans and pulled out a gun. Maggie froze. She hadn’t seen the weapon at all. “I’m going to kill you like I killed Erin. And then? I’m going to show Matt exactly what it feels like to have everything ruined. And then I’m going to kill him, too.”
Dwayne lifted the gun, but before Maggie could scream, a shot rang out.
The man she guessed she would see in her nightmares for years to come, toppled over onto the bed. Maggie was stunned for a moment, confused as to why she wasn’t the one who had fallen. It wasn’t until she tore her eyes away from the dead body of Dwayne Meyers that she noticed the man standing in the hallway behind him.
Through the open door, Matt lowered his gun.
“I promise I didn’t wait until he was done talking and then shot him for dramatic effect,” he said. “It just took me longer than I expected to get Cody out of the house.”
“He’s okay?” Maggie rushed.
“Yeah, he’s locked in my car. I wasn’t sure how this would all shake out and didn’t want him to be in any danger.”
Maggie opened her mouth to thank him but all that came out was a sob.
Matt didn’t waste any time taking her out of the bedroom. He found Dwayne’s handcuff keys and unlocked them from her wrists. The moment Maggie’s hands were free she threw her arms around the detective’s neck and kissed him for all she was worth. He returned the favor in kind. They didn’t speak while he cut the tape off her legs next. The moment they were free Maggie let them lead her outside and right up to Matt’s car.
To say she cried the moment Cody was in her arms, unharmed, was an understatement.
To say her heart expanded to the brink of almost bursting when Matt put his arms around both of them, promising mother and child everything was going to be okay, was another giant understatement.
Together, the three of them sat in the back seat of his car and waited for first responders. It wasn’t until the sheriff arrived that Matt left their side.
And even then he wasn’t gone long at all.
* * *
MAGGIE SHOULDN’T HAVE been surprised when Kortnie met them at the ER doors. She might not have known Maggie that well but when she pulled her in for a hug, Maggie felt like they were old friends. The nurse looked exhausted and drained but still managed a joke.
“I think we might just need to get you a helmet,” she said, walking them straight back to a room.
Maggie was surprised when Matt joined in.
“Don’t worry. I’ve already thought about it.”
He gave Maggie a small smile.
She might have been tired, too, but seeing him smile gave her enough energy to be grateful. She mussed Cody’s hair. A lot of things could have gone wrong that day. If Matt hadn’t come...
Maggie didn’t want to think about what could have happened. Instead, she went through the now-familiar routine of making sure her third blow to the head hadn’t left any permanent damage. Thankfully, it hadn’t. Though the doctor insisted she stay the night for observation. She wouldn’t admit it but the idea didn’t offend her. Cody had fallen asleep on the bed next to her and she wasn’t far behind.
The only thing keeping her from giving in to the abyss of sleep was the need to talk to Matt. The sheriff had taken him outside to talk. It wasn’t until a half hour later that he reappeared. He smiled. It was tired, but there. He took the chair beside her and glanced at the TV in the corner before starting.
“They found a note in the desk at Dwayne’s,” he said, voice low. “He never planned on trying to run. After he realized we were looking into Seth together and actually getting somewhere, Dwayne wanted me to pay for everything. For not stopping Erin or you back then and for not stopping you now. That was his final stand. He didn’t write much else but I assume he would have tried to kill anyone who came. Even if it wasn’t me who got there first.” Maggie reached out and took his hand but he continued before she could try to comfort him. “You know, I thought about feeling guilty for a minute. About not being able to stop Erin or you, not being able to do what you two did instead and keeping you both out of danger.” The corners of his lips turned up ever so slightly. “But the fact of the matter is I’m damned proud of you both.”
Maggie returned the smile.
“And I’m sure Erin would be proud of you, too,” she said. “Because I know I am.”
A quiet moment passed between them. It stretched past their bruises, cuts and the damage that couldn’t be fully measured or seen. They had been broken but had survived. Together. Now it was time for them to start to heal.
Maggie patted the spot next to her on the bed. Matt didn’t question it. He slid in next to her, packing them in the hospital bed like sardines in a can. But it wasn’t uncomfortable.
In fact, it felt just right.
* * *
TWO MONTHS LATER and the twisted web that Dwayne Meyers and Seth Armstrong—whose real identity was now being looked into by the FBI—had woven had finally been mostly unraveled. The city of Kipsy and Riker County as a whole knew to thank Erin and Maggie for finding out the truth. Something that meant a great deal to the loved ones of Seth’s known victims. Two of the families drove out to give their personal thanks while the rest wrote letters or called. Maggie handled each encounter with grace, telling them that Erin was the true hero of the story, not her.
But Matt and the rest of the Riker County Sheriff’s Department didn’t see it as one-sided. Billy made it known throughout the department and county that any old grievances they’d had with Maggie had been misplaced and were absolutely over. She even received a job offer back at the Kipsy City Chronicle, which she ended up turning down. The idea of finally going forward with writing her true crime novel had taken hold of her and wasn’t letting go. Matt had already started helping her with researc
h. It only made sense. They were, after all, spending most of their free time together. Although Matt knew, even without the excuse of work, being with her and Cody was just where he wanted to be. Period.
They’d fallen into their own little routine. One that felt right. One that felt whole.
While he never in a million years would have guessed Maggie Carson could make him feel that way, Matt couldn’t deny that it had happened. It wasn’t until one Saturday, after finishing exploring a trail with Cody and returning to the house, that he was able to finally put words to what he now had.
A team.
* * * * *
Look for the next book in Tyler Anne Snell’s
THE PROTECTORS OF RIKER COUNTY
miniseries,
LOVING BABY,
available next month.
And don’t miss the previous books in
THE PROTECTORS OF RIKER COUNTY
series:
SMALL-TOWN FACE-OFF
THE DEPUTY’S WITNESS
Available now from Harlequin Intrigue!
SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM
FBI Agents Macey Night and Bowen Murphy
are on the hunt for a vigilante killer, but will the
dark attraction that burns between them
jeopardize their mission...and their lives?
Read on for a sneak preview of
INTO THE NIGHT,
the next book in the KILLER INSTINCT series
from New York Times bestselling author
Cynthia Eden.
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Into the Night
by Cynthia Eden
THE LIGHT WAS in her eyes, blinding her. Macey Night couldn’t see past that too-bright light. She was strapped onto the operating room table, but it wasn’t the straps that held her immobile.
He’d drugged her.
“I could stare into your eyes forever.” His rumbling voice came from behind the light. “So unusual, but then, you realize just how special you are, right, Dr. Night?”
She couldn’t talk. He’d gagged her. They were in the basement of the hospital, in a wing that hadn’t been used for years. Or at least, she’d thought it hadn’t been used. She’d been wrong. About so many things.
“Red hair is always rare, but to find a redhead with heterochromia... It’s like I hit the jackpot.”
A tear leaked from her eye.
“Don’t worry. I’ve made sure that you will feel everything that happens to you. I just—well, the drugs were to make sure that you wouldn’t fight back. That’s all. Not to impair the experience for you. Fighting back just ruins everything. I know what I’m talking about, believe me.” He sighed. “I had a few patients early on—they were special like you. Well, not quite like you, but I think you get the idea. They fought and things got messy.”
A whimper sounded behind her gag because he’d just taken his scalpel and cut her on the left arm, a long, slow slice from her inner wrist all the way up to her elbow.
“How was that?” he asked her. His voice was low, deep.
Nausea rolled in her stomach. Nausea from fear, from the drugs, from the absolute horror of realizing she’d been working with a monster and she hadn’t even realized it. Day in and day out, he’d been at her side. She’d even thought about dating him. Thought about having sex with him. After all, Daniel Haddox was the most respected doctor at the hospital. At thirty-five, he’d already made a name for himself. He was the best surgeon at Hartford General Hospital, everyone said so.
He was also, apparently, a sadistic serial killer.
And she was his current victim.
All because I have two different-colored eyes. Two fucking different colors.
“I’ll start slowly, just so you know what’s going to happen.” He’d moved around the table, going to her right side now. “I keep my slices light at first. I like to see how the patient reacts to the pain stimulus.”
I’m not a patient! Nothing is wrong with me! Stop! Stop!
But he’d sliced her again. A mirror image of the wound he’d given her before, a slice on her right arm that began at her inner wrist and slid all the way up to her elbow.
“Later, the slices will get deeper. I have a gift with the scalpel, haven’t you heard?” He laughed—it was a laugh that she knew too many women had found arousing. Dr. Haddox was attractive, with black hair and gleaming blue eyes. He had perfect white teeth, and the kind of easy, good-looking features that only aged well.
Doesn’t matter what he looks like on the outside. He’s a monster.
“Every time I work on a patient, I wonder...what is it like without the anesthesia?”
Sick freak.
“But not just any patient works for me. I need the special ones.” He moved toward her face and she knew he was going to slice her again. He lifted the scalpel and pressed it to her cheek.
The fingers on her right hand jerked.
Wait—did I do that? Had her hand jerked just because of some reflex or were the drugs wearing off? He’d drugged her when she’d first walked into the basement with him. Then he’d undressed her, put her on the operating table and strapped her down. But before he could touch her any more, he’d been called away. The guy had gotten a text and rushed off—to surgery. To save a patient. She wasn’t even sure how long he’d been gone. She’d been trapped on that operating table, staring up at the bright light the whole time he’d been gone. In her mind, she’d been screaming again and again for help that never came.
“You and I are going to have so much fun, and those beautiful eyes of yours will show me everything that you feel.” He paused. “I’ll be taking those eyes before I’m done.”
Her right hand moved again. She’d made it move. The drugs he’d given her were wearing off. His mistake. She often responded in unusual ways to medicine. Hell, that was one of the reasons she’d gone into medicine in the first place. When she was six, she’d almost died after taking an over-the-counter children’s pain medication. Her body processed medicines differently. She’d wanted to know why. Wanted to know how to predict who would have adverse reactions after she’d gone into cardiac arrest from a simple aspirin.
It’s not just my eyes that are different. I’m different.
But her mother...her mother had been the main reason for her drive to enter the field of medicine. Macey had been forced to watch—helplessly—as cancer destroyed her beautiful mother. She’d wanted to make a change after her mother’s death. She’d
wanted to help people.
I never wanted to die like this!
But now she could move her left hand. Daniel wasn’t paying any attention to her fingers, though. He was holding that scalpel right beneath her eye and staring down at her. She couldn’t see his face. He was just a blur of dots—courtesy of that bright light.
She twisted her right hand and caught the edge of the strap. She began to slide her hand loose.
“The eyes will be last,” he told her as if he’d just come to some major decision. “I’ve got to explore every inch of you to see why you’re different. It’s for the good of science. It’s always for the good. For the betterment of mankind, a few have to suffer.” He made a faint hmm sound. “Though I wonder about you...about us. With your mind...maybe...maybe we could have worked together.”
And maybe he was insane. No, there wasn’t any maybe about that. She’d gotten her right hand free, and her left was working diligently on the strap. Her legs were still secured, so she wasn’t going to be able to just jump off the table. Macey wasn’t even sure if her legs would hold her. The drug was still in her body, but it was fading fast.
“But you aren’t like that, are you, Dr. Night?” Now his voice had turned hard. “I watched you. Followed you. Kept my gaze on you when you thought no one was looking.”
She’d felt hunted for days, for weeks, but she’d tried to tell herself she was just being silly. She worked a lot, and the stress of the job had been making her imagine things. She was in her final few weeks of residency work, and everyone knew those hours were killer.
Only in her case, they literally were.
“You don’t get that we can’t always save every patient. Sometimes, the patients die and it is a learning experience for everyone.”
Bullshit. He was just trying to justify his insanity.
“You see things in black and white. They’re not like that, though. The world is full of gray.” He moved the scalpel away from her cheek...only to slice into her shoulder. “And red. Lots and lots of red—”
She grabbed the scalpel from him. Because he wasn’t expecting her attack, she ripped it right from his fingers, and then she shoved it into his chest as deep and as hard as she could.
Forgotten Pieces Page 18
