The Drowned Woman: An absolutely unputdownable mystery and suspense thriller (Jericho and Wright Thrillers Book 2)

by CJ Lyons

  Leah placed a hand on his shoulder from behind. He turned and leaned into her as if unable to support his own weight. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I hope I’m wrong.”

  “So do I.” He straightened, sniffed. “Guess we’d better go talk to Risa, decide what to do next.”

  Together they walked around the other cars, heading toward the van. Suddenly Jack stopped, twisting as if he’d heard or seen something. “Leah, look out!”

  Before she could turn to face the threat, pain exploded throughout her body.

  Forty-Three

  Luka had patrol officers corral the Homans and their weapons, secure the evidence, and call animal control while he waited for Krichek to bring a search warrant. Thanks to Nate and Emily, and Emily’s video, they had more than enough probable cause.

  Nate and Emily were now both inside the kennel, comforting the dog. “You’re gonna keep him, right?” Luka overheard Emily ask Nate as he approached the fence where Ruby watched them. Nate hugged the dog tight, burying his face in the mangy creature’s fur. Luka hoped he wasn’t getting too attached—he wasn’t even sure that the poor thing would survive.

  “Who were you talking about?” he asked Ruby. “When Dale backed down.”

  She made a harrumphing noise. “His grandfather and I play poker together. Occasionally we entertain each other in other ways.” An arch smile slid over her features. “He owns all this, runs the family. Those boys do not want to get on his wrong side, believe you me.”

  He filed that tidbit away for a future discussion, wondering if Leah knew who her mother was associating with. Although Wallace Homan, the patriarch of the family, kept his hands clean and had never been arrested—he left the dirty work to the younger generations. “How did you know the kids were here?”

  “Couldn’t find them for dinner, so I used the find-me function on Emily’s phone. But the real question is where’s Leah? She insists I have to call her if Emily gets a hangnail, but she’s not picking up.”

  “That’s my fault. Her phone will be off—she’s doing a sensitive witness interview for us.”

  “And she acts like I’m the lousy mother. Wasn’t that the whole reason why she took this new job, so she’d be here for Em? I don’t see her picking her up from school, I don’t see her dealing with that Miss Fancy-pants vice-principal, I don’t see her spending her own damn money buying new toys when there’s a house chock full of toys just across the river—”

  Luka took her arm and steered Ruby into the barn, out of earshot of the kids. “I hope you don’t talk like that around Emily. Because Leah is working damn hard at being a good mother, providing for Emily and you, while dealing with her own grief.” His voice was low but filled with unexpected anger. Who was he defending? Leah or his own bad choices? Nate’s mom, his own sister, was dead of a drug overdose and he could have—should have—seen how bad off she was. Cherise was murdered but he let himself be convinced that she’d killed herself.

  “Don’t talk to me about grief,” Ruby snapped. “I know about grief. About losing someone so dear it rips out a chunk of your soul.”

  “Then you should take it easy on Leah. Anyone can see she misses the ER. Every time a siren goes off, she’s like a thoroughbred ready to race. But she gave it all up for Emily.”

  “I know, I know…” She paused. “At least she has a job. And a roof over her head. Life wasn’t as easy for me, you know.” She narrowed her eyes at Luka. “I heard you talking about your fiancée last night, about how it changed your life, how you still visit where she died every year. I’ve spent my whole life struggling since I lost Leah’s father and I didn’t have anyone to help me. I had to go it alone.”

  “That’s not true. Leah told me she was raised by her great-aunt Nellie, that Nellie tried to help you, too.”

  “Nellie’s help always came with too many strings. Get a job, stop moving around, take my meds, stop drinking. I had a life to live, too, you know. But Leah never gives me credit for that, for all the good things I did for her. Like leaving her with Nellie. Or helping her now. Letting her into my house.”

  Nellie had left Leah the house when she died, not Ruby, but Luka didn’t waste breath on arguing. Ruby was damaged, but it was clear that she was also striving to do better for her daughter and granddaughter. “I think Leah appreciates your help,” he said slowly. “But you also need to appreciate what she’s going through. Especially if you’ve gone through it yourself.”

  “I know,” Ruby said, as if suddenly Luka was her biggest fan. “I keep telling her, don’t make the same mistakes I made, that I know what I’m talking about, but she never listens to me. She treats me like she’s still that sullen eleven-year-old I left at Nellie’s. Never seems to realize that I gave her the greatest gift of all by leaving her behind—”

  The animal control van arrived, interrupting them. Jessie Trevasian hopped out, her usual dour expression pulling her face down. She was in her mid-fifties and had been doing her job for Craven County for a quarter of a century with no intention of leaving anytime soon. People she barely tolerated, but animals she loved.

  Luka left Ruby in the barn and joined Jessie, who was assessing the situation, photographing the dog’s living conditions.

  “The kids said he had no food or water when they arrived, seemed dehydrated.” He showed her the video Emily had shot. “They saw welts on his back and the Homan boys shoot him with a paintball gun.”

  Jessie shot the house a glare that could have been a lethal projectile in its own right. “Lost track of how many animals we’ve had to remove from this family.”

  Luka nodded. At least this trip he didn’t have to call Children and Youth.

  “That boy, who’s he?” Jessie asked, studying Nate and his interaction with the dog as she and Luka approached the kennel.

  “My nephew. Nate.”

  “He’s a good one, kind-hearted. Putting himself in harm’s way to protect an animal—there’s grown men wouldn’t do that to save a human’s life.”

  Luka found himself beaming with pride. Then he quickly felt guilty. He’d played no role in building Nate’s character. So far. “Kid’s been through a lot. I imagine if you repeated that to him, it would mean a great deal.”

  “Happy to.” She left Luka at the gate and entered the kennel, crouching down to Nate and the dog’s level, talking to him softly. “This guy have a name?”

  “Rex,” Emily supplied, obviously wanting to be part of the action. “Short for T-Rex.”

  But Nate only shook his head. “Dunno. Not sure.”

  “Then Rex it is,” Jessie declared as if it were written in stone.

  Nate finally met Jessie’s eyes. “He gonna die?”

  “Not if I have anything to do with it.” She pulled back the dog’s gums, glanced at its eyes and ears. “He’s pretty sick and neglected, but he’s young, has some fight left in him, I reckon. Don’t you, Rex?”

  The dog lifted its snout and gave a single wag of its tail. “Good boy,” Nate told it. “This lady’s gonna take care of you.”

  “Sure am,” Jessie assured him. “Want to give him a hug before I take him?” Nate wrapped his arms around the dog, then let them fall away. Jessie carefully lifted the animal into her arms. “Honor to meet you, Nate. You should be proud, you saved a life today.”

  Nate said nothing, just kept staring at the empty patch of grass and mud where Rex had lain. Luka escorted Jessie to her van, then returned to the kennel. Nate still sat in the mud, Emily standing over him, both hands on her hips, their backs to Luka.

  “Nate, you gotta ask. If you want to keep Rex, you need to say something to Luka.”

  “Can’t.” Nate sounded heartbroken. “Can’t ask for anything that will make him send me back to foster. Can’t risk it.”

  “But you love Rex, I can tell,” Emily responded.

  Nate stood, brushing grass and dirt from his jeans with swift, angry motions. “I don’t love anything. Never will. You love something, someone just comes along a
nd steals it from you. You love someone and they just go and leave. I’m never gonna love anyone, not ever.”

  He sounded so damn certain, as if he’d deciphered the mystery of the universe. Luka’s chest tightened because Nate’s words echoed in his own heart—a seventeen-year-old echo of a decision he’d made after Cherise was taken from him. Better to live alone than risk the pain of letting anyone get too close.

  Emily wrapped her arm in Nate’s, leaning her head against his arm. Their backs were to Luka and the silhouette they formed made him blink—yet another echo of Cherise.

  “Nate, Nate,” Emily said in a tone that implied worldly wisdom. “I know it hurts. But you can’t go your whole life trying not to love.”

  “Sure I can,” Nate snapped. But he didn’t move away, allowed her to lean her weight on him.

  “No. You can’t. Because who wants to live a whole life full of nothing?”

  Nate shrugged one shoulder. Luka sniffed and the kids both turned to him, surprised a grownup was paying attention. “You know, Nate,” Luka said. “I’m very proud of what you did today. Once they get Rex better, he’s going to need a good home.”

  Nate stared at Luka as if searching out some hidden trick Luka was trying to play on him.

  “Taking care of an animal is a lot of responsibility and hard work. You up for that?”

  Emily tugged at Nate’s arm as she jumped up and down, splashing mud over them all. “He is, we are, yes, sir, please, please!”

  “What do you say, Nate?”

  The joy filling Nate’s face was answer enough for Luka. “Yes, sir. I’d like that.”

  “Okay, then. You two go find Ruby. She’s going to take you home.”

  “You’re not coming?” Nate asked.

  “I’ve got to get back to work. But tomorrow, a special breakfast, just the two of us, okay?”

  Nate scuffed the dirt with his heel but nodded. Luka returned to his car and steered around the other official vehicles, heading back down the lane. He decided that he didn’t care if he had to work overtime tonight, he wasn’t going to miss his promised breakfast with Nate.

  He stopped at the end of the lane, ready to turn right towards Cambria City, when a white van with the familiar Keystone Shale logo drove past him and turned down Old River Road. Luka wondered at that—there was nothing down there except for an old pumping station. The small station had never been able to keep the area drained enough to protect the train tracks, so the railroad had finally built a bridge over the marshlands that were periodically flooded. Keystone probably used the station to monitor water quality—otherwise why else would Jack O’Brien be headed down a road no one ever used anymore?

  The van’s passenger seat had been empty. Risa was probably still tied up with Leah, finishing her interview. Luka tried to call Leah but it went straight to voicemail, confirming his theory. Next he called Krichek.

  “Congrats, boss,” Krichek said. “Heard you nailed the Homans for our hit and skip.”

  “Still figuring out which Homan exactly, but it’s a start.”

  “And you found us one of Chaos’ victims in Smithfield. Ahearn’s going to let me act as liaison with the feds, work with their profiler.” Excitement filled his voice. “Oh, and I heard back from the Indiana PD—not much left of our landscaper, but they found enough to do DNA testing. So that’s another kill confirmed.”

  The thought didn’t make Luka feel better—he would have preferred Chaos to have lied about his other victims. Although, the more bodies the more potential evidence. Chaos might be smart, but he wasn’t perfect. Sooner or later he’d screw up and leave something of himself at a crime scene.

  “Any sightings of Massimo?” Luka asked.

  “No. I’ve got NYPD watching his apartment and office, and the staties are monitoring all the LPRs, but so far no joy.” The automated license plate readers covered most of the interstates and the turnpike, but Chaos was too smart for that. Luka was certain he’d stick to back roads. Plus, the man no doubt had an escape plan ready to go. Given his diversion this morning with Vogel, he was already hours ahead of them.

  “Did you ever get a chance to get Jack O’Brien’s statement? He seemed suspicious of Massimo before anyone else.”

  “No, sorry.” Krichek sounded abashed. “I got too busy with—”

  “No apologies necessary. I just saw him head down Old River Road toward the old pumping station.”

  “I think Keystone uses that place for water monitoring. O’Brien’s probably trying to get some work in before he and Risa take off. Ahearn gave him permission to take her to a hotel in DC until we catch this actor. That way they’ll be close enough to come back if we need them for anything and in the meantime, the feds can protect them better than we can.”

  More likely Ahearn was using the feds to avoid paying for the overtime it would take for their people to watch over Risa. Luka switched his indicator to left. “I’ll get O’Brien on record before I head back in.”

  “Great, I’ll cross it off my to-do list.” Krichek was clearly enjoying the new responsibility he had been given. It was the best of all worlds for a detective: gaining valuable experience without the administrative hassles that came with Luka’s job, the job McKinley was temporarily tasked with.

  But only temporarily, Luka promised himself as he turned down Old River Road. Somehow Luka was going to find a way to be there when they nailed Chaos. Cherise deserved that much.

  Forty-Four

  Leah woke in darkness. Memories flooded over her. A visceral image of finding Ian’s body, her feelings of terror and anguish. The same terror that threatened to overwhelm her now. She was panting, breathing too fast, and forced herself to close her eyes and take slow deep breaths.

  Her skull throbbed, her mouth was parched, and every muscle in her body felt twisted with cramps. What happened? The question slogged through the mire of her mind. She’d seen something—no, someone.

  She blinked, the slight movement reverberating through her head, releasing more pain. She licked her lips, swallowed, and took another breath. A cloth hood covered her head. The air inside it tasted strange, sickly sweet. Yet, strangely familiar. Her lips and the skin around her mouth burned. Slowly, painfully, she took inventory of the rest of her body.

  There was a distinct area of throbbing pain between her shoulder blades. Her hands were bound behind her, numb as her weight rested against them. Thin plastic bit into her wrists—zip ties? Her legs were free, and she could stretch them out without hitting anything. Relief flooded over her as the image of Cliff’s hogtied body filled her vision. She wasn’t in a car trunk, thank God. The floor felt like rough concrete, cold and damp, but not wet.

  Her muscles protested when she tried to sit up, so she compromised, rolling first onto her side, releasing the weight against her hands, waiting for the pins and needles to subside and feeling to return as she rubbed the cloth covering her head against the floor, finally sliding her face free.

  The room—a cellar?—felt expansive but the darkness was almost complete. No matter how much she blinked, her vision remained blurred, but as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she realized there was a faint shadow of light coming from above. A partially covered window? Or maybe it was night? How much time had she lost?

  She made out silhouettes of what appeared to be large pieces of equipment—a boiler, maybe? The building smelled old; more than that, it smelled wet, like algae and mildew. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she saw a row of several large pipes coming out of the floor to connect to the larger piece of equipment. Then she shifted her gaze to the wall behind her and realized that the patch of darkness against the floor was a human body.

  “Hello?” she called softly as she scraped her aching body over the concrete floor. No response. Who was it? She strained to remember what had happened before she blacked out. Risa, she’d been with Risa… Risa and Jack.

  She scanned the room, her vision slowly clearing, but didn’t see anyone else. Only one person. What ha
d happened to the other?

  Finally, she reached the other person. Like her, their head was covered with a hood. As soon as Leah stretched her arms behind her back to pull the covering loose, she realized it was a woman.

  “Risa?” She rocked her body to shake Risa, was rewarded with a low moaning. “Risa, wake up!”

  Risa sputtered and groaned. Leah twisted her body around to face her. Risa’s eyes blinked open. “Wha—” Her voice was gravelly. She licked her lips, tried again. “Where?” Then she arched up, eyes wide with panic, arms flailing behind her. “No, no! Jack, where’s Jack?”

  “Did you see who took us?”

  “No.” She shook her head as if trying to clear cobwebs. “I didn’t see. Did you?”

  “No, but Jack did.” Leah measured her words, the memory slowly coming together. “He tried to warn me, but it was too late.”

  “Where is he? Is he okay?”

  “I don’t know.” Leah fought through the fog clouding her brain. “Think, though. Chaos won’t hurt him. Because if he killed Jack, you’d have no reason to cooperate.”

  “Maybe he’s holding him hostage like us?” Risa slumped against the wall behind her. “Dom never liked Jack. Even if he doesn’t kill him, he might still hurt him.” She was silent for a moment then stared at Leah. “What are you doing here? Why did he take you?”

  “I think it’s because I found out he was drugging you.”

  “We already knew that.”

  “No. This is a different kind of drug. We found GHB in your tox screen.”

  “The date rape drug?”

  Leah nodded. “I was asking Jack if I could test him as well since he was with you last night. It would explain why the timing of the nicotine dosing was off and why neither of you remember much of last night.”