by Nancy Mehl
“I guess so. She was fine. Tried to be a good wife. I miss her . . . a little. She was a good cook. And she kept a clean house.”
“You sound like you’re talking about the maid.”
He nodded. “That’s what she was. Of course, there were side benefits.” He winked at Kaely, and she felt sick. “By the way, did everyone like my little touch with the car alarm?” He laughed. “I set that thing off over and over so it wouldn’t look strange the night I supposedly left for the store. I wanted the neighbors to notice the time. I needed an alibi. Of course, Marie was already dead by then.”
“But one of them saw her leave.”
“She saw someone who looked like Marie get in her car. I left that car at the store and then caught a cab home, still dressed like a woman. Had him drop me off in the alley behind the house. No one saw me go inside. Then, when I looked like myself again, I got into my other car, setting off the alarm so everyone would swear I was home the entire time.”
“The messages stuffed in your victims’ mouths were for me, I assume,” she said, trying to change the subject.
“Yeah. My own personal touch. Daddy didn’t like that. Made him pretty angry. I’m not sure why.”
“You messed with his MO. Changed his signature. Serial killers are pretty committed to their habits. They don’t like to see them altered.”
“Obviously. But I needed to give you a clue, didn’t I? Too bad you didn’t pick up on it, at least enough to stay away.” His smile was sickly sweet and didn’t reach his eyes.
“How did you know I’d come?” Kaely asked. That question had bothered her from the beginning.
Kenny laughed. “I didn’t. I told Ed to keep quiet when they questioned him. Refuse to talk. I was pretty sure someone would think of you. But if they didn’t, we were prepared to have Ed ask for you.” He peered closely at her. “From everything I know about you, I was convinced you wouldn’t be able to stay away. You have an overdeveloped sense of justice. How could you not try to stop someone copying your father’s killing spree?”
Kaely was shocked by his explanation. He was right. Even if she’d had to get involved on her own, she would have.
“And the laptop?” she said. “That threw me.”
He snorted. “So easy. I offered to help the outgoing activities consultant carry out his stuff. Watched him punch in the code. One night when Dr. Engle was in her office, I went in, added the message, and left. The place has only one working camera, and I know how to avoid it. Anyone would just assume Engle went out and came back. Visited one of the snack machines or something.” He scooted forward in his chair. “But I think that’s enough talking for now. We have some business to attend to.”
“One more question,” she said. Is all this stalling going to help? Does anyone know where we are? “How did you get Raymond Cooper involved in this thing?”
Kenny leaned back, and Kaely almost sighed with relief. “Oh, so you figured out good old Raymond was my helper. His house is in foreclosure. I promised to give him the money to pay it off. For his family. He wasn’t exactly sure what I was up to. I gave him a little cash up front—not enough to solve his problems, but enough to interest him. Then I sent him out to take pictures of you, your brother, and your mother. I made sure they were time stamped so Daddy would know they were taken by someone besides me. He needed to know I could take any of you out with one word. And did you like our little act? I pretended to be afraid of Raymond, so you’d think I was too much of a wimp to kill anyone. Raymond played his part beautifully.”
“Yes, he did,” Kaely said. “It never occurred to me that you were capable of such evil. But did Raymond know you were trying to make us suspect him?”
Kenny shrugged. “I made sure he had alibis. He was never a serious suspect.”
“You thought this whole thing out thoroughly, didn’t you?”
Kenny laughed. “Yes, and it worked. Once he knew you and your brother were in danger, our father finally told me everything I needed to carry out my plan.” He took a deep breath and blew it out. “But, like I said, Raymond wasn’t supposed to let Daddy hang around. I guess he didn’t have the guts to finish him off. At least you got to say good-bye.”
Ignoring the last little dig, Kaely said, “Where were you going to get all this money?”
“I guess I can tell you since you won’t be leaving here alive. A nice little insurance policy worth a half-million dollars.”
Something came to life inside Kaely. That was it. How Noah and the team would tie Kenny to the murders. If they could figure out whatever her father had written on the notepad she left, they’d surely check for an insurance policy. Then they would know. But that still didn’t lead them here. How could they possibly make it in time?
Kaely looked at Jason. He was watching her as if she had the power to save them. But she didn’t. The words of the UNSUB she’d tried to profile in Nebraska came back to her. “You’re going to die. It will not happen here, in Darkwater, but it will happen. And soon.” Was this it? Was this the day she would die?
Forty
As Noah worked on his notes, his stomach clenched with disgust. This guy was a real lowlife. But try as he might, he couldn’t figure out Beck’s motive. Could he simply be such a fan of Ed Oliphant that he was willing to become his disciple? Yet it was clear he hadn’t pleased Ed. First there was Ed’s reaction when he found out about the Scripture placed in the victims’ mouths. Then the note he wrote as he was dying. If Kenny was his protégé, why would he try to stop him?
It appeared to Noah that something had gone wrong. But what? And why? And why did Beck turn against his hero and have him killed? He felt a little sorry for Cooper, but he could have stopped Kenny at any time. At some point he knew what Kenny was up to, and so the deaths of innocent women were on his head too. It was clear that it had gone too far, past what Cooper could endure.
The detective who admitted they hadn’t followed up the way they should have with Beck walked up to the table. “Half-a-million-dollar life insurance policy on Marie Beck. Kenneth has one on his life too. Probably just to keep from looking too suspicious. And Marie had a nice trust fund from her deceased parents. She couldn’t inherit it until she turned twenty-five, which happened a couple of months ago. My guess is he’s been planning to empty their bank accounts and disappear as soon as the insurance paid off. He asked the insurance company to get him the money as quickly as they could. Told them he needed it for Marie’s final expenses. Obviously, that’s not true.”
“I’ll bet he used the promise of money to keep Raymond Cooper on the hook.”
The detective nodded. “We did some checking on him too. His family was close to being evicted from their home.”
“Well, that explains it.” He nodded at the detective. “Thanks.”
Although he could have walked away, the man just stood there. “I messed up,” he said. “This is my fault.”
Noah wanted to yell at him, but he managed a smile. “Hey, we’re all human. Kenneth Beck looked like a victim, and we were all on overdrive, looking for our UNSUB. You guys were doing your job, and you had a lot on your plate. You would have found it.”
“Yeah, we had someone looking into Beck, but it didn’t have the kind of priority it should have. We were just too slow.” The detective walked away, his head down, not looking at anyone else in the CP. Noah sighed. Working in law enforcement was tough. So much rested on shoulders that didn’t belong to superheroes, just regular human beings who make mistakes. Some days you were tired, sick, hurting, and dealing with loss, but you still had to operate perfectly. Never missing a beat, knowing one misstep could cost a life. It wasn’t surprising that suicide rates were high among law enforcement officers.
About twenty minutes later, Harper came back to the table, an odd look on her face. “We heard from the lab. They went over everything collected from the hospital parking lot last night. Most of it is nothing. Dirt that could have come from anywhere. Gum stepped on so many times ther
e’s no way to get DNA from it. Besides, it’s too old for what we need. A few other items that don’t help us. But there is one really odd thing.”
“What’s that?” Noah asked.
“A feather.”
“Oh. I remember seeing a feather in one of the evidence bags. Lots of pigeons and crows around the area. Not sure how that can help us. That’s a large one, though.”
Harper shook her head. “Believe it or not, it’s an eagle’s feather.”
The hair on the back of Noah’s neck stood up, and goose bumps erupted on his arms. “Did you say an eagle’s feather?”
Harper nodded
The words on Kaely’s pen filled his mind. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
Chief Sawyer came running toward them. “We found it,” he said, breathless. “An eagle preserve, on the outskirts of town, in an area that’s been purchased for a new apartment complex. The last houses there have been vacated and are slated to be torn down soon. If Beck got a feather caught in one of his tires and it dropped off in the parking lot . . .”
“That’s a leap, chief,” Harper said.
“But that feather was found right next to Agent Quinn’s car. And one of those empty houses would be the perfect place for Beck to take her and her brother.” He looked at Noah. “I think that’s where they are.”
Noah jumped to his feet. “I do too.” He thought about the pen. Kaely wouldn’t have known about the eagle’s feather, but Someone else did. Noah saw it as a sign. His voice cracked with emotion. “Let’s go get them.”
Kenny leaned back in his chair with his eyes fastened on Kaely’s. Jason was sitting up, still in obvious pain but at least conscious.
“How in the world do you think you’re going to get that insurance money?” Kaely asked. “The FBI is probably already onto you.”
Kenny’s laugh was hollow and cruel. “I doubt that. They’re not looking at me. I’m a victim, remember? And Cooper isn’t going to say anything. Besides, the insurance company is expediting the funds. In a few days I’ll have the money, and then I’m gone. Your friends won’t discover the truth in time.”
“You’ll never be able to move that much money. The FBI will track you.”
“I don’t owe you an explanation, but I told you, I’ve been planning this a long time. I have a bank account already set up, and I have a brand-new identity. When the insurance company pays, I’ll transfer the money immediately. Your beloved FBI will never find it.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.”
Kenny stood. “Oh, I certainly am counting on it. I learned someone with money can hide it in one of several countries—and live cheaply.”
“Half a million dollars won’t last forever.”
He laughed again, and it still sounded hollow. Void of emotion. “Maybe. But my wife’s recently inherited trust fund certainly will. I chose Marie for a reason. Actually, a few million reasons.” He nodded toward the stairs. “I have something to do, but I’ll be back.”
“Why do you want to kill us, Kenny?” Kaely asked. “If we really are related, that makes me your sister. Jason is your brother. We’ve never done anything to hurt you. Seems my—our—father is the one you should be angry with. And you’ve already killed him.”
Kenny’s face turned dark. “I did more than kill him. I showed him I was as good as he was. Better.” He glared at her. “He didn’t acknowledge me as his child, so I’m going to take away the other children he cared so much about. That will make me his only child.”
His smile chilled Kaely down to her toes. She thought she understood the minds of psychopaths more than most people, but she was still shocked by his hatred.
“My father didn’t really love any of us, Kenny,” she said. “We have a lot in common. Jason and I were rejected by Ed Oliphant too.”
Kenny stepped closer, his face again only inches from hers. “‘For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’”
She could feel his sour breath on her face.
“I’m going to end your life. Just the way our father killed all those women. Then I’m going to bury you in this house.” He pointed to the area of earth Kaely had noticed earlier. “This house is going to be bulldozed in a few days. You won’t be found for a long time. If ever.” He turned and hurried up the stairs.
Kaely didn’t know where he was going or when he would return, but she was pretty sure they didn’t have much time. She began banging her chair against the concrete floor.
“Kaely, be quiet,” Jason said, his voice faint. “He’ll hear you.”
“I hope not. We’re running out of options. I’ve got to get us out of here.”
She pulled herself up as far as possible, but the cords binding her to the beam kept her from gaining much traction. This was the best she could do. She had to make this effort count. With all her might, she struck the chair against the floor one more time. She was elated to hear another crack. A leg of the chair had splintered, and a few more thuds caused it to fall off. Kaely and what was left of the chair fell over, snapping the cords that held her to the beam.
She scooted as far as she could to get away from it, then wriggled until she could pull her bound hands over the top of the shattered chair. That gave her the ability to force her arms down and literally step over them, which put her hands in front of her. From this position she was able to use a technique that broke the plastic loop cuffs. However, one of the straps cut into her arm, and it began to bleed.
Ignoring the pain and blood, she scrambled to Jason and untied the rope holding him to the pipe. It hadn’t been tied well. He could have easily escaped himself if he hadn’t been injured.
“I need you to stay here,” she whispered. “Pretend to still be tied up. When he comes down the stairs, the first thing he’ll see is you. That will give me a few seconds to surprise him. Understand?”
Jason nodded, but he was so weak Kaely feared he might not make it. He needed help—and fast. It looked as if he was going into shock, and shock could be deadly.
“Hang on, Jason. Think about that baby. Your new son or daughter. Okay?”
He nodded and then closed his eyes. Kaely put the rope back, making it look as if it were still attached to the pipe. Then she scooted across the floor, looking for something she could use as a weapon. When she heard steps on the floor above her, heading to the basement door, she desperately grabbed the broken chair leg. It had splintered on the end and was sharp enough to cause injury. Holding it with one hand, she crawled over to the stairs. Then she hid behind them, waiting for Kenny to come down.
“You only have one chance at this,” Georgie whispered in her ear. “Bring him down now. If you don’t overpower him—”
“Go away,” Kaely whispered through clenched teeth. But Georgie was right. If she didn’t stop Kenny now, he would kill them. And what he said was most probably true. Their bodies might never be found.
Forty-One
Noah had talked his way onto one of the SWAT vans, and now they sped to where they believed Beck had taken Kaely and Jason. He found himself silently bargaining with God.
I know Tracy’s death wasn’t Your fault. I’m sorry I was angry with You. Please forgive me. But if Kaely is still alive, I’m begging You to keep her safe, Lord. I can’t lose her now. I just can’t. If You keep her alive, I’ll spend the rest of my life following You.
It felt as if it were taking forever to get there. A team had gone ahead to scout out the area, but revealing themselves too soon might make Beck kill his captives before they could breach the perimeter. Although they weren’t sure they would have the chance to reason with him, they’d also brought along a hostage negotiator. They had to be prepared for anything.
As the minutes ticked by, Noah could only hope in a God he’d once turned his back on. Was He still listening? Would He protect the woman Noah loved with all his heart and soul?
Kenny was halfway down the stairs when h
e stopped. Did he realize she’d escaped? She waited for the right moment. He took two more steps, almost to the bottom of the stairs. When his foot reached the floor, she came out from behind the stairs and swung at him with all her might, hitting him in the face and knocking him down.
His look of surprise was genuine. He’d obviously never considered that she might get free. She raised the chair leg once again. She had to knock him out and then tie him up so she and Jason could get out of the basement and find help. But as she brought the leg down, Kenny raised his hands and grabbed it. Then he got on his knees, and they both fought for the only weapon Kaely had. Kenny was much stronger than she’d counted on. His slight build was deceiving. She could see the well-developed muscles in his arms.
Although she held on with all her might, Kenny was fueled by psychopathic rage. She was no match for him. He ripped the chair leg out of her hands, causing several deep wounds in them. Then he hit her once in the face, knocking her to the floor. He stood over her, grinning. She could only watch as he raised her makeshift weapon and brought it down with great force.
The advance team communicated that, so far, they’d gone to three empty houses near the eagle preserve. They would have approached each building from behind, using trees and bushes to shield their efforts, careful not to do anything to cause suspicion, their vehicles out of sight. But they’d seen no signs telling them anyone was in those houses—or even had been there recently.
Only two houses remained—a white ranch-style home with green trim and a two-story house with a large porch. The ranch would be next.
“Give me your binoculars,” Noah told one of the SWAT team members. When he got them, he trained his sight on the two-story structure.
“What are you looking for?” the officer asked.
Noah handed him the binoculars. “Look at the windows in the basement of that two story.”
The officer stared through the binoculars for a few seconds and then lowered them. “I’d say someone’s trying to hide whatever’s in that basement.”
