The Bones of Others

by Vickie McKeehan

  Impressed, he asked, “How did you manage to do that when your aunt and uncle watched your every move?”

  “Well, they did have to send me to school. I got to be really good on the computer so I volunteered to teach senior citizens the basic skills about the Internet and computer software. It didn’t happen overnight. The job started out as a summer thing after my teachers recommended me for the slot. Then that fall I was a freshman in high school. By this time I was looking for any extra credit I could get so I could graduate early and get out of there. Teaching the class got me off campus and into a senior complex my aunt and uncle knew nothing about. During the time I spent with the old folks, I’d look up missing persons cases. If I had info from the dreams, I’d call in an anonymous tip to whatever agency was involved in the investigation. They never knew it was me.”

  “Clever girl and smart to use what you saw in the dreams. Were there ever any resolutions?”

  “Oh yeah. Three found alive. They found the girls where I said they’d be.”

  “Amazing. So that’s how you found Ali Crandon and Hailey and Erin. It’s why you don’t want credit—”

  “For a talent that doesn’t really belong to me but now it seems it belongs to you—and more pronounced.” It took a few minutes for realization to dawn on what he’d said. “Are you saying you’re able to see Brandon Hiller in the act of killing…Jenna?”

  Anger, revulsion moved into his eyes. “I saw it all, everything, except for where he buried her. God. I wished I hadn’t.” He rubbed at his forehead as if he too were battling a migraine.

  “You get headaches when you see what happens.”

  “I do. That child was so scared during all of it. I saw the terror in her eyes, the hurt, the pain. Don’t make me repeat what he did to her.”

  “I…I wouldn’t. I have a pretty good idea.”

  He got up then, went to her. He plucked her off her feet, devoured her mouth. They fell back onto the chair while she slid boneless onto his lap, wrapping around him like a glove.

  “I want you to know that whatever I felt once,” she reached for his hand, placed it over her heart. “Here inside me, that thing that drove me to find…that piece of shit…is gone because of you. It’s lifted. I have a new perspective now, Josh. The Jennas out there still need justice. For me, the question now is what do I do about all of it?”

  “You mean we, what do we do about it? And what do we do about what I see, what I’m able to see because of Kiya? If you think I can live with this gift and not be a part of bringing the bad guys in, think again. Without question, we go after Hiller. Then we find this human-trafficking ring, see if we can rescue as many as we can. Period. There’s no other option.”

  She grinned. “That’s what I hoped you’d say.”

  “And no guilt from either one of us no matter what drastic measures we use?”

  “I’m on board with that. Although I do think we’ll have to handle the rescues a little differently?”

  “Why’s that?”

  “It’s actually your fault.” When she noticed the crease lines form on his forehead, she felt a slight case of pity for him and explained, “The Artemis Foundation is high profile now, Josh. I’m the face of the foundation and you among others sit on the board. From this point going forward, will we really be able to use such harsh measures to deal with scum and fly under the radar? I don’t think so.”

  “Ah. I see what you mean. We’ll have to take a more covert approach.”

  “And we’ll have to handle Hiller differently as well.”

  “You’re right.”

  “If we turn these guys trafficking into the cops, we’ll need proof, evidence to help put them away for life, otherwise they’ll walk. I’ve been around Harry enough to know cops need evidence to take to the DA. If the DA doesn’t think the case is strong enough they won’t even bother prosecuting. If the evidence doesn’t hold up that opens the door for these guys to plead, when they plead, they get lighter sentences and with it a pass to re-offend down the road at some later date. More victims.”

  “And if we don’t turn them over to the cops we’d be considered vigilantes by some members of society.”

  “Some might consider that. But I like to think what we’re doing is protecting. Plus, I’m not sure if I care at this point what people think about me. Do you?”

  He shook his head. “What do you think those upstanding members of society would think about a wolf bringing me back from the dead? I have a wolf’s spirit running through my body that’s as strong as anything I’ve ever felt.”

  “Then I guess we’re in agreement.”

  “We do whatever it is we have to do.”

  “Agreed.”

  Somehow in a short span of time, Lena Bowers, the widow and grieving mom, had bonded with the streetwise, troubled Zoe. Having Zoe in the house brought Lena a happiness she hadn’t felt since before her son, Jason, had shipped off to Afghanistan only to be brought back to Seattle in a box.

  It was an unusual pairing to say the least. But it seemed to be working. When the detective Harry Drummond had stopped by to question Lena about Skye’s whereabouts, Zoe had looked on as Lena staunchly stonewalled the cop on Skye’s behalf. The loyalty hadn’t gone unnoticed by Zoe, who now had a roof over her head, clean clothes, all the food she could eat, and she didn’t have to fend off advances from a man three times her age. That might have been the major reason Lena and Zoe had been able to form such an unlikely attachment to each other.

  But now that more than a week had gone by, the two were going nuts trying to figure out where Skye and Josh had gotten off to. Neither one had answered their cell phones in almost six days. They weren’t at home either. Lena and Zoe had stopped by both places and checked.

  “Where could they be?”

  “I’m not sure. Sometimes Skye goes for a whole week without contacting me. But she wanted to go with me to the lawyer’s office, that Doug Jenkins, to make the introductions and she never showed up. That’s unlike her.”

  “I hope they’re okay.”

  “Me, too, sweetie. I know Skye can take care of herself, but I wish she’d call and let us know she’s okay.”

  “Where else is there to look? I could go out tonight, walk some of the streets—”

  “No! Skye would not want you doing that. If she hasn’t gotten in touch by tomorrow, we’ll both go out looking for her.”

  Even at the cabin there were work-related issues a mile long that Josh had dodged for far too long and cranky business partners that had to be dealt with. While Skye spent the afternoon returning phone calls, Josh sat at his laptop. Because in between catching up on emails and sorting through marketing strategies, he learned as much information as he could about Brandon Hiller. His habits, such as they were, included living out of his van, a van as it turns out he’d borrowed from his sister’s husband.

  By that night Josh had a plate number for the van as well as Hiller’s debit card number. It was only a matter of time before Hiller used it—when that happened they’d have a location to stake out—and a reason to leave Orcas.

  When Skye learned what all he’d accomplished over a span of a couple of hours, she couldn’t help but be blown away by Josh’s talent at tracking info on the predator so quickly. She had to admit, he was better at using his skills than she’d given him credit. Even though she’d been using Kiya’s spirit for years to find the missing, Josh had been able to find Whitfield with a few keystrokes on the Internet. And now, thanks to technology and Josh’s skills, they might be able to get Hiller off the streets—for good.

  But while Kiya had been a strong enough energy in spirit, Josh on the other hand was both a presence and a force to be reckoned with.

  No way would she want to encounter him in one of those dark alleys she routinely walked down every night. He could more than hold his own with anyone or anything. The fact that the visions were keeping him up nights, disturbing his sleep, was a problem, but one she could help him handle just as
Kiya had done so with her all those years ago.

  But if the connection between the two of them was so strong, so fierce, how is it the man could not know, not be able to pick up on the fact that she was in love with him?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The narrow lane lined with rows of houses and parked cars was silent as a mausoleum while the residents still dozed in their beds. The suburban neighborhood might’ve been around for decades, the homes all old, but the lawns and flowerbeds were well trimmed and there was still evidence children lived behind those doors. Tricycles and bikes had been left out on porches while a few toys littered the sidewalks and left strewn along the grassy curbs. These were starter homes where young couples made children, sent them out to play with brothers and sisters, packed them off to school, and prayed they’d chosen well for an area so the kids would stay safe through all of it.

  Not a good place to find Brandon Randle Hiller lurking about.

  A hint of sun pinked and reddened the fringe of clouds to the east, which made for a picture perfect springtime sunrise. If Skye hadn’t been so juiced about finally cornering Brandon Hiller, she might’ve enjoyed what promised to be the first decent day of spring they’d seen in two weeks. She glanced over at Josh, sitting behind the wheel. The look on his face told her he was just as amped as she was.

  It was Josh who zeroed in on Hiller’s blue van. “There. Parked five cars up, sandwiched between the red Mazda and the gray pickup. He’s still asleep.”

  “How can you tell that from here?”

  Josh gave her a withering stare. “I hear him snoring.”

  It would take some getting used to, she surmised to reconcile the nerd with wolf tendencies.

  “I guess I’d be wasting my breath to suggest you wait in the car.”

  Now it was Skye’s turn to return the dismissive glare. “You know the answer to that already.”

  “Then let me be the one to approach the back of the van. Wait until I get the door open.”

  “It’s probably locked.”

  “Of course it’s locked. But I won’t need a key.”

  “My, but we are feeling awfully cocky this early in the morning, aren’t we?”

  “You just have the cops on speed dial. I’ll get the information we need out of Hiller, then turn him over to Drummond just as we agreed.”

  They crawled out of the Fusion at the same time from opposite doors, and started up the street. The minute Josh reached the double doors of the van, with his bare hands, he wrenched open the handle until the lock popped open. He peeled back the metal like a tin can.

  Hiller was stretched out in the back, or had been. The noisy crunching to get inside woke Hiller just in time for him to try to evade through the front driver’s seat. But Josh was quicker. He reached in, grabbed the man’s leg and pulled him out onto the street, banging Hiller’s head on the rusted bumper.

  Josh caught Hiller’s shirt collar, bunched it into his fists, brought him closer to his face. “You know a guy named Whitfield?”

  “No. Why’re you hassling me just because I need a place to sleep? I’m just trying to catch a few winks here. I’ll move on, I promise.”

  Not in this lifetime, thought Josh as he closed his grip around the man’s throat.

  Hiller rasped out, “You guys cops?”

  “Nope. You won’t hear a Miranda warning out of us. Do we understand each other?”

  “Sure. What do you want?”

  “Answers. Where does Whitfield keep the girls while they’re waiting for transport out of the country?”

  Hiller swallowed hard. Josh noticed the man’s pupils get bigger, felt his heart race with fear right before he saw the man’s crotch area grow damp. A yellow stream of pee began to trickle onto the cement indicating the grown man had wet his pants.

  “If I tell you, will you let me go?” Hiller asked.

  “Not a chance. Time’s up, Hiller. It happens to all of us sooner or later, particularly to very bad men like you. Your time was up when you started killing little kids. But right this minute, I want to know where Whitfield holds the girls?” Josh applied even more pressure, cutting off more of the man’s air.

  “There’s a warehouse along the docks.”

  “There’s a ton of warehouses along the docks, be more specific.”

  Up till then Skye had been silent letting Josh scare the crap out of the guy or in this case the pee, but now she wanted to know, “How close to where you were holding Erin did he keep the girls?”

  Hiller attempted to move his head, but struggled for his next breath as Josh tightened his hold yet again. Instead Hiller let his eyes wander over to Skye. “Four…maybe…five miles away.”

  “I’m thinking Brandon here wants you to loosen your vise-like grip on his throat so he can draw us a map to the area he’s talking about and show us…precisely.”

  “Is that so?” Josh said. “Is that what you want to do Brandon?”

  Hiller nodded.

  While Skye dashed back to the car to get a pen and piece of paper, Josh looked into Hiller’s vacant eyes and cautioned. “That’s a good start, Brandon, a real good start. But keep this in mind. If you should make a mistake drawing that map and I’m not able to locate those girls, if I have to come back, I’ll snap your neck like a twig. Got it?”

  “Yeah,” Brandon screeched out. “Who are you guys?”

  “Concerned citizens.”

  The minute Skye ran back she put her hand on Josh’s arm. “I have to ask him something else.” They’d gone over the order of things and so far it had worked. Keeping to what they’d preplanned, Skye turned to Hiller. “The day you took Erin, by any chance was Whitfield with you…beforehand?”

  Hiller nodded again. “Sure.”

  “Where? Why?”

  Hiller shrugged one shoulder. “He had to point out the one he wanted me to take, didn’t he? He had an order for a redhead so…that’s what we went after.”

  Sensing the man might be playing her, she countered, “Erin was at school that day. There was no way Whitfield could have been around Erin to point her out?”

  Hiller snorted. “Look, we’d been scoping out chicks at the marketplace for a couple of hours during lunch. But there were no redheads young enough to fit Whitfield’s order. That’s when he suggested I hang around the school—and wait. See what I could find there. ’Lo and behold, she comes hotfooting it across campus. Knowing what he was looking for, I followed her to the train.”

  “So Whitfield was right there just like you thought that day,” Josh pointed out.

  “Fifth and Cherry. Looks like.” Skye turned back to Hiller. “But you made the mistake of going out that Saturday night and left Erin alone, didn’t you? Erin gets away, escapes…”

  “I heard on the news you got her out, otherwise that scared little rabbit would have stayed planted right there where I left her.”

  “Me?” Skye asked in mock surprise. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I saw on the news it was that Skye Cree person. But Whitfield couldn’t have been very happy with you about that?”

  “Are you kidding? Whitfield was fucking furious. He had to settle for a hooker, which he doesn’t like to do.”

  Skye’s brow knitted. “Ah, the redheaded hooker named Lucy,” Skye said flatly. “Is Lucy still alive?”

  “How the fuck would I know? She was alive when I handed her over to Whitfield. That’s all I know. He usually doesn’t kill ’em unless they give him a problem or…”

  “Or what?” Josh asked, cocking a brow.

  Hiller’s eyes darted away. “Unless the guys get a little too carried away—you know, a little too rough during...”

  That disgusting thought brought Skye right back to what they believed Hiller had done to Jenna. Skye needed to get him back on track. “Now for the bonus round, Hiller. And this is the biggie. What did you do with Jenna Donofrio’s body?”

  “Hey, who said anything about that? I’m not…”

  Skye watched as Josh sq
ueezed the man’s throat again, letting his fingers wrap tighter until Hiller’s eyes started to bug out. “We know you killed Jenna, Brandon. You might as well tell us where she is, otherwise this guy here might get upset and he won’t be able to control his innate tendencies.”

  “How…how…do you…know…about Jenna?” Brandon stammered.

  This time Josh ran his thumb up the man’s Adam’s apple and pressed down—harder. “The woman here has psychic abilities. Seriously though, that’s not the answer we want to hear right now. I could howl for you and show you I mean business, but I really don’t want to wake up the entire neighborhood this early. Now answer the question. Where did you bury Jenna?”

  “Okay. Okay. She’s at Whitfield’s place. I put her there myself.”

  Josh’s eyes locked with Skye’s. “Looks like Brandon will be drawing two maps instead of one.”

  After Josh left Brandon Hiller tied up inside his van so there was no chance of him getting away, he drove Skye to a pay phone so she could place an anonymous call to the police. In a span of exactly one-hundred-and-twenty-eight seconds, she informed them where they could find the pedophile but also explained that he was the one responsible for the murder of Jenna Donofrio. To prove it, they stopped at an office center chain, scanned the map into a document format, and then found a coffee shop with wifi where they could use a dummy account to send the map via email to Harry directly as an attachment.

  When they’d finished with that, they followed Hiller’s directions to an old abandoned manufacturing area near the docks. They parked the car two streets over and set out on foot to see if they could locate where Whitfield had been holding the girls.

  “What’s the plan?”