28 Days: a romantic suspense

by Lexi Buchanan

  “And you are now?” Coulter asked, a brow raised.

  “Yes.” He sobbed and his eyes burned with hatred as he said, “I was ready to kill her…my mother…and as much as I hate her, I would never forgive myself if I acted on it. It was time to turn myself in to protect her…and to finally be free of her.”

  Saige met Coulter’s gaze and saw the same doubts shining in his eyes. Was Paul really the killer or was he lying to escape his mother?

  “I know what you’re both thinking. All you have to do is send my DNA for testing and it will be a match to the one that was never identified in the shack where Saige was held.”

  Coulter nodded and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, calling in the arrest.

  The sheriff arrived with the cavalry, and once they hauled Paul to the station, the sheriff, Coulter, and a deputy medical examiner carefully opened the box.

  Sheriff Hodges cursed and Coulter’s face tightened with anger before he met her curious gaze.

  “It’s the missing jewelry from the college girls.”

  Blood thundered in her ears and her vision started to dim.

  Quinten would be freed.

  Coulter caught her as she passed out.

  Day 15

  3:00am

  * * *

  Coulter had one hell of a headache when he came out of the interview room. Not only had Paul Lewis told them enough about each and every crime scene, going back to Kelsey Louise Ingram, the second college girl killed, he’d also told them how his own parents had treated him. Nothing should surprise him anymore, but he was.

  He pressed a finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, praying the headache wouldn’t turn into a migraine, and then...he smelled coffee—real coffee and not the junk they dished out at the sheriff’s station.

  His eyes snapped open and his heart fluttered in his chest.

  “Amber?” he whispered, thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him. “It is you.”

  She smiled while he stared at her like an idiot. Her riot of fire-orange hair was loose down her back and she looked like she was fresh out of college in her jeans, t-shirt, and sweater. But just the sight of her made him wake up.

  “Figured you’d need this.” She handed him the cup. “I decided to drive up to take his DNA myself…I missed you.”

  “I shouldn’t be glad you’re here in the middle of the night, but I am.”

  “Good.” Amber turned and smiled at someone to her right, but he couldn’t take his eyes from her as his libido took on a life of its own.

  She slipped her hand into his and gave a tug. “Saige is waiting for you.”

  Well, that snapped him out of his lustful thoughts. “She’s still here?”

  “She is. Wanted to wait and talk to you before she left.”

  “Okay.”

  Amber led him down the hall and toward the waiting room where they found Saige. He offered her a tired smile when she met his gaze. “Have you given them your statement yet?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I have a copy and the nice deputy sheriff faxed a copy to Daniel Sterling.” She shrugged. “Daniel hadn’t been too happy to be woken this late, but when I told him why it couldn’t wait until morning, he was awake and waiting for the fax. He has it now and will wait to talk to you tomorrow, um, later today before he goes to the governor.”

  Coulter slumped down in the chair opposite and smiled when Amber sat next to him, her hand slipping back into his. He’d never had anyone to offer him comfort before, and he liked it. A lot.

  He turned his attention back to Saige. “Saige, this is the Amber McGregor. She’s the ME in Tampa, who I’ve worked with on several of the cases involving Paul. She’s here to administer the DNA test and see if it is a match with the DNA in the evidence file. Later today, an agent will be here to do a polygraph test. I’m trying to cover all bases, but we have a confession. He’s told us things that only the killer would know. Even though we have all that, I can’t help feeling that something is off.” He rubbed at his brow again, his headache becoming intense.

  “You don’t think he’s guilty?” Saige queried.

  “Oh, he’s guilty. I’m just not sure if he’s guilty of everything that he said he was, or if he just wants us to look after him because he can’t take care of himself and is tired of his mother having that control.”

  “Yeah, it’s the whole food and exercise thing that has me worried,” Saige agreed.

  “You’re both over thinking it.” Amber pointed out, watching him with concern in her eyes. “I’m going to drive you back to the motel.”

  “Alex is picking me up. He should be here by now.”

  “Get some sleep, Saige, and I’ll call you when I’m awake. We’ll sort out where to meet up.” He stood and tucked Amber into his side. “Hopefully, later today we’ll know more and have a strong case to get Quinten released and his record wiped.”

  “You really think that can happen?” Saige asked, and he didn’t miss the hopeful note in her voice.

  Coulter hesitated, but admitted, “I think it’s a strong possibility now. We have a confession, evidence that links Paul to the victims. Once we have the DNA, and the polygraph results, if they link Paul to that shack, we’ll take it from there.”

  Saige was silent and bit her lip. “Thank you.”

  Walking outside with Saige, he watched as she climbed into Alex’s car, and he couldn’t help but wonder why Alex hadn’t been inside with her. Surely he’d want to know what was going on so that he could appeal for his brother’s quick release. Something to think about when he wasn’t so tired.

  “Was that the truth?” Amber asked.

  He didn’t need to ask her what she meant, he knew. “Personally, I think that Quinten will be released within the next few days. The governor is up for reelection and there is already a lot of protesting going on at the prison over the death penalty, especially Quinten’s case. So I think the governor will want the Peterson case to disappear quickly. I didn’t want to get her hopes up just in case I’m wrong.”

  Amber hugged him close. “You’re a big softy, Detective Coulter Robinson.”

  He felt himself blush at her observation as he did what he’d been itching to do from the moment they first met; he ran his fingers through her hair. “It’s so soft,” he mumbled.

  “C’mon before you drop...and if you’re good I might let you feel how soft the rest of me is.”

  Headache or not, he was certainly up for that.

  * * *

  4:15pm

  * * *

  Alex talked Saige into having a pre-dinner drink in town, and he wished he hadn’t bothered.

  From the minute they walked into the small bar, the occupants hadn’t taken their eyes from them. Saige sat with her back to them, but not Alex. He needed to keep his eye on them.

  Saige watched him gaze around the old bar with its wooden tables in need of a fresh lick of paint, and the chairs worn so thin from years of use that they looked ready to fall apart underneath any poor sucker who sat on one wrong. He’d been coming to this bar since he turned twenty-one and not one thing had changed.

  “Have they stopped staring at us yet?” Saige took a drink of her beer and let the bottle dangle in her hand.

  “No.” Alex sighed. “Ignore them.”

  She chuckled. “You mean like you are?” Raising a brow, she sat forward and asked, “What do you think is going on with my father?”

  He raised a brow. “About the evasive answers he keeps giving you about the hospital?”

  “Yeah. I remember everything but that now...at least, I think I do.” She shrugged and although she tried to act as though it didn’t bother her, he knew that it did.

  “I think once Quinten is free you both need to take a trip to the hospital and ask questions. I’m guessing you’d be able to request to see your medical records from your time there. Maybe ask Daniel if he can get some sort of legal paperwork to give you access just in case the hospital doesn’t cooper
ate.”

  “Hmm.” Saige sat back, thoughtful for a few minutes. “That could work.”

  “Why do I sense a but in there?”

  Saige set her bottle of beer down on the table and played with the spare beer mat. “It bothers me a lot that my father won’t answer the simplest of questions about that time. I get that he was worried about me and wants to protect me, but something isn’t right. My curiosity is piqued and that’s his fault,” she said, tiredly.

  “Do you think he’s hiding something?” he asked her outright because Alex sure as hell thought he was.

  “Only because he won’t answer my questions.” She drained her bottle and eyed him before she smiled.

  He recognized that smile. She was about to put him on the spot.

  He narrowed his eyes.

  Saige threw back her head and laughed, which made him smile. Alex knew that his brother had loved to watch Saige when she laughed and he could understand why. Quinten used to tell him that he could watch her laugh all day, every day, and not just because of her infectious laugh, it was because she laughed with her whole body and soul.

  “Spit it out, Saige. I’m dying of curiosity,” Alex drawled, while he watched her and drained his warm beer, which he did with a wince.

  Saige smirked. “I was about to ask you about Christina.”

  His heart thudded in his chest. “What about her?”

  “Are you going to take her with you when you head back to Tampa?” Saige looked nervous and he wasn’t sure if it was because Christina would be leaving her father or something else.

  “Would it bother you if I did?”

  “A few weeks ago I probably would have said yes, but now, I’m not sure that it would. My father and Christina haven’t been happy for years. I knew that before my memory even returned…now that it has, I remember things I’d rather forget.” She grimaced at the memory. It wasn’t pleasant and really made her see her dad in a new light. “Perhaps Christina will be happier with you, and my father will find someone else to love this time around. I guess I just want everyone happy...Quinten and me included.”

  Alex wanted Christina with him because she’d been inside of him for years and still was. He loved her and had gone off the rails when she ended things between them the first time. This time though, he had no intention of letting her walk away from him because she kept him grounded.

  “She’s coming with me.”

  “Good.” Saige offered him a smile. “Are you ready to leave? I think I need some of Pattie’s cooking in my stomach, which is currently full of alcohol.”

  “Let’s go.” He stood and led her from the bar.

  * * *

  8:15pm

  * * *

  “Detective, I’m beginning to think that you like Pattie’s cooking just as much as I do.” Saige smiled as she walked into the room and found the detective there.

  Coulter smiled. “I did enjoy the breakfast the other day, but I’m afraid I’ve just eaten.”

  “With Amber,” Saige teased quietly, and was delighted when he blushed. “I’ll let you off the hook. Come and sit”—Saige slid her arm through his and tugged him into a chair beside hers—“and have dessert and coffee.” She grinned, not knowing anyone who could refuse dessert and coffee.

  “Well, if you insist.”

  Saige was happy to see him and, regardless of what he’d come to tell her, she enjoyed his company. She’d been surprised last night when she saw him with the medical examiner. The woman had looked younger than Coulter, but it was obvious how Amber felt about him. Saige had a feeling that the other woman’s feelings were returned just as strongly.

  Coulter cleared his throat and gave her a pointed look. “You’re staring,” he commented.

  She chuckled. “So I was...So, not that I’m complaining, but to what do I owe the pleasure?”

  She caught his small smile when she placed a slice of lemon meringue pie in front of him and poured his coffee.

  He still looked tired and she knew he must have had a difficult day of questioning and following leads to see if Paul’s story checked out. In truth, she was impatient to find out how his day had gone, but she wanted him to tell her in his own time.

  “This is really good,” Coulter began around a bite of the pie. “The best I’ve ever tasted.”

  “I know. It’s my favorite dessert.” Saige watched him, but her impatience grated on her and she finally gave up. “Please tell me?”

  “I wondered how long you’d wait to ask.” He offered her a wry smile, and after he drained his cup, he held her gaze.

  “According to the polygraph test, Paul Lewis is telling the truth. The test isn’t always accurate. However, he was arrested with the jewelry belonging to the college girls—both his and Tracy’s fingerprints were on them. He has also given a detailed account of the murders, the description of the girls, how they were taken and several other details that only the killer would know. With all of that evidence, the DA has charged him with eight counts of first degree murder, and the abduction and attempted murder of you.”

  “Then that means...wait, Tracy?”

  “Tracy’s prints were found on the box. I don’t know why yet, as Paul wouldn’t say. As for Quentin,” Coulter paused. “The governor is well aware of what’s going on. He has agreed to a full pardon and immediate release of Quinten, providing the DNA test comes back a match to the unidentified blood found along with Quinten’s eight years ago.”

  “Won’t they wait for Paul’s trial first before releasing him? I want to believe that he’ll just walk free with his record clean, but I don’t want to get my hopes up, even though that’s easier said than done.”

  Coulter took hold of her hand. “Saige, everything Paul has told us so far has shown that he’s telling the truth. He couldn’t tell us anything about the first murder. He says his memory about the first one is hazy—that it had been a crime of passion and he just reacted. He woke up covered in blood and had some images in his head of it, but that is it. That really isn’t unusual for a serial killer. Something set off the chain of events before that first kill. But he told us everything else, Saige.” Coulter took her other hand. “Did you know that he went to the same school as two of the girls?”

  “What?” Saige said, shocked. “Why wasn’t that looked into at the time?”

  “I honestly don’t know. The fact was he wasn’t around during the investigation, so I’m guessing the officers who questioned the people of the town weren’t even told about Paul.”

  “I have to say that I never saw that coming with Paul,” Saige said.

  Coulter stood and squeezed Saige on the arm. “I’ll call the minute I know something about Quinten.”

  Saige nodded. “Thank you.”

  Day 16

  6:30pm

  * * *

  Saige paced restlessly in the living room with her cell phone in hand. Coulter was certain the DNA results would be back today and so far she hadn’t heard anything. The temptation to call him was getting stronger, but she really didn’t want to bother him if he was busy.

  Turning at the end of the living room for what felt like the millionth time, Saige stopped dead when she found Coulter leaning against the doorjamb. She waited as he walked toward her not giving anything away with the blank expression on his face.

  As he approached his lips twitched and finally he smiled. “The governor has ordered his release and his record expunged.”

  Saige blinked.

  “Really?” she whispered.

  Coulter nodded. “Really.”

  The next minute she was wrapped around the detective with great, big sobs wracking her body. Saige knew that he tried to soothe her but, no matter what he said or did, her tears wouldn’t stop.

  Even when a commotion outside of the room startled her, she lifted her head but rested it against Coulter’s large chest.

  “You have to watch this,” Christina shouted, running into the room with Alex and her husband following closely behind.
/>
  Christina switched the television on and flicked the channels until she found what she was looking for.

  The image was of Governor Stewart Sheffield at a press conference, and then he started to talk…

  “I can confirm that Quinten James Peterson will be released from Harlington with all charges dropped and his record expunged later this week.

  “His release comes after the arrest of Paul Lewis, who has confessed to murdering the five college girls and the kidnapping and subsequent torture of Saige Lockwood, which Quinten Peterson was wrongfully convicted of eight years ago. In addition, Paul Lewis has confessed to the murder of Jocelyn Peterson, Quinten Peterson’s ex-wife and two recent murders—Fern Jordan, who worked for Quinten Peterson’s defense attorney, and Tracy Adams, a one-time friend of Mr. Lewis.

  “Mr. Lewis has been questioned extensively and is aware of things that only the killer would know. When he was arrested he had in his possession a jewelry box, which contained souvenirs taken from the victims. DNA evidence confirms that the jewelry belonged to all of the victims and contained Mr. Lewis’s fingerprints. His DNA is a match to the one sample found in the shack eight years ago, which had remained unidentified until now.

  “At this time, we would like to extend our sincere apology to Mr. Peterson and his family and we are grateful that we were able to locate and apprehend the real killer before an innocent man lost his life.”

  Saige turned to Coulter. “He’s being released this week?”

  Coulter leaned close and whispered, “We have to be at the prison at four in the morning to pick him up.” He smiled down at her. “Tell Alex when he’s alone.”

  Saige nodded.

  “When?” Alex asked.

  “I’m not sure yet,” Coulter replied.