Dead End

by Nancy Mehl

  “Have you talked to Deputy Warden Clark?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  “Get him back on the phone, now. Then give the phone to Agent Hunter.”

  The detective looked confused, but he pulled out his phone and selected a saved number, then responded when his call was answered.

  “Yes, sir. I know it’s early, but we’re trying to save two lives.” The agent was quiet for a few moments. “That’s okay, sir. Special Agent Noah Hunter would like to talk with you.” The detective handed the phone to Noah.

  Noah had no time for niceties. He went right to the point, asking the question he needed to ask. When he heard the answer, it was as if all the blood in his body had just dropped to his feet. He handed the phone back to the detective, not bothering to say good-bye to Clark.

  The detective thanked the warden and hung up.

  “Agent Hunter, I need you to tell me what’s going on,” Harper said.

  Noah stared at her, his mind clicking, moving several pieces of information around until they formed a clear picture.

  He stood, facing her. “I believe I know who our UNSUB is.”

  Thirty-Eight

  Although the room was mostly dark, some light peeked around the corners of the paper covering the windows. Kaely guessed it was probably around nine or ten in the morning. By now Noah and the team at the CP would know they were missing. She prayed they’d found the notepad she’d thrown under her car before her abductor forced her into his vehicle. It wasn’t much, but it was the only thing she could do. She would have dropped the note this killer sent her as well, but she hadn’t had time. His note and the envelope were still in her jeans.

  She’d been in such a hurry to leave that she’d left her purse in her father’s room with her phone in it. Of course, her abductor would have taken it from her if she’d had it with her.

  How would they find her and Jason? Unless her father had managed to tell them something that led them in the right direction, the FBI was at a dead end. Were she and Jason were going to die? Even though she couldn’t see a way anyone could locate them in time, she prayed that God would lead law enforcement to this place before it was too late.

  Kaely kept pulling against the plastic handcuffs. They could be broken. Not everyone knew that, but she did. Unfortunately, she needed her hands in front of her to break the clasp, and the way he’d fastened her chair to the beam made it impossible for her to get into the right position.

  She decided to redirect her efforts to the chair. She jumped up and down, trying to break it. It wouldn’t take much for it come apart. She’d just heard a crack when another sound reached her ears. A car engine. He was back. Where had he gone? The prison? Was he trying to make the team think he’d been there the entire time? Or was this his partner? She couldn’t be sure. She stayed still. The last thing she needed was for him to realize she’d been trying to escape.

  The garage door slammed shut, and footsteps sounded across the floor above her, ending at the entrance to the dank basement. The door opened, and he walked down, holding on to the loose railing attached to the unstable stairs. This whole structure was falling apart. Kaely doubted he owned the house. It was most probably deserted. Even if her team had somehow discovered who he was, if nothing connected him to this place, how could they find them?

  Kaely fought against despair. She had to figure a way out of this herself. She couldn’t count on anyone else, not even Noah. Their salvation was left to her . . . and God. She had to believe He’d help her, that He would deliver her and Jason. He had always been there for her, in the big things and in the small things. Why would He desert her now? He wouldn’t. She took a deep breath and filled herself with all the faith she could muster. She had no intention of breaking down in front of their captor. Right now, she just wanted answers.

  He walked over and stood in front of her, grinning. “How does it feel to be the weak one, Kaely? Or should I say Jessica?”

  “I’m not Jessica anymore,” she said as calmly as she could. “I’m Special Agent Kaely Quinn, a trained FBI agent. And the best trained law enforcement officials in this country are looking for me. You’re no match for them.”

  He walked over and slapped her face. Hard. Her cheek stung, and she felt warm blood in her mouth. She looked at him and smiled. “Feel better?”

  His expression was one of controlled rage, but he stepped back. “Don’t you want to know why?” he asked. “Why I brought you here?”

  She heard Jason moan. He was coming to. She prayed he wouldn’t say or do anything that would cause this man to hurt him more.

  “I don’t really care,” she said, lying. “I just know you’ll spend the rest of your sad life in prison.”

  He stepped toward her again. She braced herself, but he didn’t hit her. Instead, he leaned down and put his face just inches from hers. “You still don’t see it, do you? Didn’t you ever feel as if you’d seen me before? As if you knew me?”

  She shook her head. “No. I have no idea what you mean.”

  “Look at my eyes. My nose. Don’t they seem familiar?”

  What was he talking about? He really was nuts. “No. I have a great memory. If I’d seen you before, I’d remember.”

  He pushed back the hair that covered his ears. “What about these?” he asked. “They look just like my father’s.”

  Kaely gasped involuntarily as the pieces began to fit together.

  “Finally,” he said, that irritating grin still plastered on his face. “Nice to meet you, sis.”

  “I . . . I don’t understand.”

  He grabbed a chair similar to the one she was tied to. Then he pulled it over and planted it in front of her before sitting down.

  “Seems Daddy liked to sow his seed in different places,” he said. “My mother met him at a local café. He could be charming, you know.”

  Kaely knew her father had cheated on her mother numerous times. Somehow, he was able to keep his affairs and his victims separate. She had never understood why women had responded to Ed Oliphant. He certainly hadn’t been attractive, but he had possessed a certain kind of energy. Something powerful he was able to turn on when he wanted to. For some reason, certain women had been drawn to him.

  “After she found out she was pregnant, he dumped her. When I was old enough to ask about my father, she told me he was killed in Iraq. That he was a decorated soldier. She even showed me photos of a man in a military uniform. I believed her story my entire life—until she was killed in a car crash four years ago. She didn’t have the chance to get rid of the lockbox where she kept articles about good old Ed. At first, I couldn’t figure it out. Had she known The Raggedy Man?

  “Then, at my mom’s funeral, my aunt decided I should know the truth. The photos of the soldier who was supposed to be my father were of an old school friend of my mother’s. My aunt told me my father was an infamous serial killer.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “As you can imagine, I was shocked. Horrified.”

  “So you decided to become just like him? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Ah, but it does.” He fastened his dark eyes on hers. “You see, I’d had these impulses for years. Ever since I was a young boy. Now I knew why.”

  “You’re a psychopath. Just like him.”

  Kenny shrugged. “I guess so. Seems it can be passed down in families, huh?”

  Kaely shook her head. “No. There’s no proof of that. I’m certainly not like you. And neither is my brother.”

  “That just means I’m more like Daddy than you are.”

  “So you located him and got a job at the prison.”

  He nodded. “He was pretty upset when I told him who I was. Didn’t want anything to do with me. Then I started doing favors for him—put money in his account, made sure he got the largest piece of meat at dinner, things like that. Finally, he gave in. Started talking. Eventually I got him to tell me all the tricks of his trade.”

  Kaely frowned at him. “Why would he share that? I don
’t believe you.”

  “But he did. Especially after I threatened you, our brother, and your mother.”

  Kaely shook her head again. “No. First, my father didn’t care anything about us. He didn’t have the capacity. Second, he could have gone to the warden and told him about your threats.”

  “Wrong, sis. He cared enough that I could take advantage of it. And, you see, I had someone helping me. Ed knew if he tried to turn me in, you were the first person on my list my protégé would kill. But since he didn’t know who it was, he couldn’t safely stop me. If he went to the warden, you’d get a bullet in your head. Or maybe you’d be killed in some slow, painful way.”

  He frowned. “Wait. You just said our father didn’t care, not he doesn’t. He’s dead, then?”

  He hadn’t known Ed was gone. At least, he must be dead by now. She wondered how Kenny would react to his death. “My father died early this morning. He spent the last moments of his life trying to let the police know you were the one who killed those women.”

  His eyes widened as soon as she said her father was dead, probably not hearing anything else she said. “Good,” he said, a smile on his face. My associate accomplished his mission after all, then—although he was supposed to finish Ed off right away, not let him linger.” He paused for a moment. “Will you mourn him?”

  “No. Will you?”

  “No. And I’m sure he died afraid I would kill you. Which I will, of course. I never really wanted my associate to do it.”

  Kaely still wasn’t sure why he wanted her dead, but she had no intention of arguing with him. She needed to slow down his plan. Give the team time to find her and Jason—if they could.

  Staring at the man who threatened her life, she knew she had to forget he was her half brother. He might be a damaged soul, but this was no time for compassion.

  She intended to take Kenneth Beck down—however necessary.

  Thirty-Nine

  Harper called everyone back to the table. She waited to speak until they were all settled and quiet, all eyes on her. “Agent Hunter is pretty sure he knows who we’re looking for,” she said. She nodded at him.

  Noah stood. He picked up a copy of Ed’s note and then grabbed a pen. “First, remember that Ed was dying and doped up.” He pointed at the paper. “This isn’t the letter l and this isn’t an S. I assumed the bottom of the S just wasn’t completed, but I was wrong.” He took his pen and wrote over the scribbles, creating a capital letter K. Then he moved on to the next scrawl. “Not a backward numeral four. It’s the letter e.” He pointed to the next scribble. “This almost looks like a cursive capital J. But it’s not. It’s the letter n. This last mark means nothing. Just Ed’s pen going off the page because he was weakening.”

  Harper spoke. “K . . e . . . n . . .”

  Noah nodded. “Kenny. Our UNSUB is Kenneth Beck.”

  Harper shook her head. “Your interpretation of the note is interesting, Agent Hunter, but it’s not enough. We can’t go after Beck based on this.”

  “That’s not all I have. The records we were going through were moved to a secure wing of the prison. You’ve got to have a code to get inside. Access is denied to prisoners and guards, so inmates won’t have a reason to take a guard hostage. It’s designed to keep the guards and the prison staff safer.”

  “So?” one of the detectives said. “How does that point us to Kenneth Beck?”

  “Beck tried to implicate Cooper and Dr. Engle. He said he walked past the doctor’s office and saw her with him. But Cooper couldn’t get into that area. And neither could Beck. They’re not allowed in there. They don’t even have the code to get in.”

  “Then where does this therapist meet with prisoners?” Harper asked.

  “In a room where guards can keep an eye on her. Kaely . . . I mean, Agent Quinn interviewed her father there. The office Dr. Engle has in the section I’m talking about is where she meets with administrative staff but mostly writes reports and keeps her records, things that shouldn’t be available to the prisoners. Like I said, the security in that area is new. I think Beck just forgot about that when he made his comment to us. Deputy Warden Clark confirmed my conclusion. He said there was no way Dr. Engle would have met alone with Cooper in her office. And Beck couldn’t have been walking around back there. It’s impossible.”

  “But how could Beck access the laptop?” Harper asked.

  “I don’t know. But somehow he did.”

  Harper frowned and stared at the note Noah had written on, turning the squiggles from Ed Oliphant into Kenny’s name. Noah couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Finally, she said, “If we pick him up, and you’re wrong . . . This man has been through a lot.” She shook her head. “How could he be our UNSUB when his own wife was a victim?” She focused her attention on Noah. “I think you’re wrong. Maybe Mr. Beck misspoke. Maybe he saw Raymond Cooper and Dr. Engle somewhere else.”

  “What if he killed his own wife to cover his tracks?” Noah said.

  The silence around the table was mute witness to the kind of cold-blooded inhumanity that would be capable of something so horrendous.

  Finally, Noah said, “It’s hard for me to believe too. I talked to the man after his wife was murdered. I could swear he was devastated.”

  “So, are you changing your mind?” Bell asked.

  Noah shook his head. “No. Agent Quinn taught me psychopaths are good at acting. Pretending to be whoever they think you want them to be. Just because he seemed grief-stricken doesn’t mean he was.”

  “But we checked him out carefully,” one of the detectives said. “And we found nothing in his background to make us think he was involved. Everyone we talked to said he and his wife had a perfect marriage. And his alibi checked out. He was at home with her and then left to find her when she didn’t come back from the store. His neighbors saw him.”

  “Was he seen around the time the ME placed time of death?” Harper asked.

  The detective looked uncomfortable. “Well, no. But Marie Beck was seen leaving the house. She was alive when Beck was with her.” He shook his head. “I think you’ve got this wrong.”

  “But it’s not impossible?” Noah said.

  The detective hesitated. “No, not impossible.”

  “Okay,” Harper said. She swung her gaze to Chief Sawyer. “Can you send some officers out to pick him up? Take him to the station. We’ll question him there.”

  The chief nodded.

  “If you find him,” Noah said, “I’d like to be there when you talk to him.” He looked at the detective. “Is there a life insurance policy?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Can you find out?” Noah asked pointedly. Although Noah didn’t say it, he was shocked that the police hadn’t performed a more thorough investigation when it came to Beck. They’d glossed over him because he was a victim in their eyes and because they were working so hard looking for other leads. Noah was pretty sure that was exactly what Beck had counted on. There wasn’t much anyone could do about it now. The scowl on Chief Sawyer’s face made it clear he wasn’t happy about the investigation either.

  “Agent Hunter, I’d still like you to go to the prison and finish the work you were sent here to do,” Harper said. “This is just a possibility, and we need to cover all our bases.”

  “Please,” Noah said. “Agent Quinn is . . . is very important to me. I want to do everything I can to find her.”

  Harper paused for a moment before saying, “I understand. But you need to make sure your tasks at the prison are finished. I want to know if anyone else there was involved.”

  “I’ll do it. As soon as I know Agent Quinn and her brother are safe.”

  Harper started to say something else, but stopped, sighed, and dismissed the meeting. As the people left, Noah asked Harper if he could stay at the table.

  “I want to make some notes. See if I can connect the dots. Make sure we’re on the right path.”

  “Something else Agent Quinn taught
you?”

  He nodded.

  “Fine. If you come up with anything to help us, let me know.”

  “Okay. And thanks.”

  Harper nodded and walked away. Noah grabbed a pad of paper and began to write.

  “So why did you have to kill all those women?” Kaely asked. Even though she was stalling for time, she really wanted to hear the answer.

  “I needed to show Daddy I was better than he was. Teach him that rejecting me was a mistake.”

  Now Kaely could see his real face. Psychopaths didn’t do well with rejection. Their anger can spiral into a desire for revenge, and obviously, that’s what happened to Kenny.

  “But what about Marie?” Kaely asked even though she already knew the answer. The evil in this man was mind-blowing, but Kaely fought to stay in her FBI persona. She couldn’t allow herself to be affected by him or what he’d done in the name of her father. Two serial killers in one family. How could this be?

  “Kaely, are you all right?”

  She looked over to see Jason awake, struggling to sit up. He looked around. Stared at Kenny.

  “What’s happening?” he asked.

  “Nothing. We’re okay,” she said. She locked her eyes with his. “I need you to stay calm, Jason. And quiet. Do you understand?”

  Although the expression on his face made it clear he didn’t, he nodded. Jason trusted her, and she knew he would do what she asked him to do.

  “Don’t you want to introduce me?” Kenny said. “Tell him how our little family has grown? By the way, I fixed him up the best I could. Couldn’t have him die before he knew why.”

  Kaely fought to swallow her anger. He’d saved Jason so he could kill him after his ego was fed.

  “Tell me about Marie,” she said, forcing the words out.

  Kenny shrugged. “Marrying her was just part of the plan. If you saw me as a victim, then you wouldn’t look at me as your . . . What do you call them? UNSUB?”

  “You married a woman just to kill her?” Kaely said, unable to keep the disgust out of her voice. “Did she love you?”