by K. J. Dahlen
The longer she stared at the photo the more she knew she’d seen this man at some point in her life. Her brows were furrowed as she tried to remember him so at first, she didn’t notice the sound in the room. Then her subconscious picked up on the slight tapping sound. First, one single tap, then a single tap and a double tap, then it was a single tap, a double tap and a triple tap. She raised her eyes to the sound. Her frown deepened as she tried to remember where she had heard that rhythm before.
Her eyes went down to the photo again, but the tapping wouldn’t stop. Raising her hands to her temple she gasped as pain flashed inside her head. She got to her feet and stumbled away from the table.
Peaches and Page rushed to her side and they led her back to her bedroom.
“What is it?” Peaches asked softly.
“I’m not sure,” Cassie admitted. “I know that man, at least I think I’ve seen him before. I just can’t remember where.”
Peaches sat down on the bed beside her. Putting her arm around Cassie’s shoulders, she hugged her friend. “Is this nightmare never going to end?” she whispered.
Cassie hugged her friend back. “It has to, it has to end soon. I don’t know if I can take much more.”
“Maybe I should call Deke,” Paige suggested. “He’d want to know about this.”
Cassie nodded. “I know he would. Okay, I’m ready to go back out there. I need to know who this guy is.” Getting to her feet, she went back out to the kitchen slowly. She made her way to the table and sat down. Picking up the file, she stared at the photo for a long time. Then she laid it back down on the table and stared at Lance for a moment. “What is his name?”
“His name is Elliot Handlin.” Then he shrugged. “I don’t want to tell you any more about him unless you know him somehow.”
Cassie frowned again. She kept looking back at the photo. Then she heard the tapping again. This time, she glanced around the table and noticed it was Victor’s fingers that were tapping out the strange rhythm. She stared at his face for a moment then closed her eyes and let her mind wander. When the tapping stopped, Cassie opened her eyes and stared at Victor. She could see the sweat on his forehead.
His eyes were blank but his expression was anything but.
She was curious about his reactions, but her eyes dropped to the photo in front of her.
His face was familiar to her but she didn’t know the name Elliot Handlin. Suddenly, she got to her feet. So quickly were her movements that the chair flew back and her hands came up to cover her mouth. Her eyes went to Lance then went to Victor. Backing away, tears began rolling down her face.
At that moment, the front door flew open and Deke came inside. “What the fuck is going on here?’ he demanded.
Lance stood up and held out his hands. “We came up here to see if Cassie could identify someone. I don’t know what’s going on now.”
Deke went over to Cassie and put his arms around her. “Are you all right? You shouldn’t even be out of bed right now.”
Cassie glanced at him and nodded. “I’m okay, but I’m glad you’re here.” She went back to the table and picked up the photo. Handing it over to Lance, who was sitting again by this time, she told him, “I knew him by the name of Seymour. I saw him only once when I was eight years old. He came to Janelle’s very late one night but he wasn’t alone. He had his nephew with him. A nephew named Victor.” She turned her head and studied Victor Shroder very carefully. “You were there that night,” she claimed calmly.
“What are you talking about?” Victor tried to bluff. “I have no idea who that man even is.”
“You called him uncle,” Cassie insisted. “You and Janelle built the crypt and you poured the cement.”
“Crypt? Cement? What are you talking about?” Lance demanded.
Cassie sat down and told her tale, “One night when I was eight, Janelle had beaten me earlier that day and thrown me in the basement. She tied me to the wall and she thought I was out of it. I stayed quiet, so she would leave me alone and not hurt me anymore. The night in question, it was very late when Janelle came downstairs with two men. One was someone she called Seymour and the other man she didn’t name but he was there. He was younger than Seymour by a number of years. Seymour came down the stairs carrying a small child over his shoulder. A little girl. She’d been beaten and was bloody. He tossed her down on the floor and I could barely see her chest move as she took a breath.”
Lance stared at her as everyone listened.
“Janelle was screaming at him, wondering what the hell he’d done to her. Seymour told her things got out of hand. I watched as the other man lowered two more young kids down on the floor. They weren’t beaten like the girl was but they were barely breathing. From where I was, I could see they were younger than the first girl. Janelle checked them out and she told them they used too much chloroform on them. She told them they had almost killed the brats.” Cassie pointed at Victor. “He noticed me first. He called out to his uncle that I was a potential witness. Janelle laughed and told them not to worry about me. She told them I was unconscious for the night. That she’d beaten me and thrown me down here as punishment and that I wouldn’t remember anything the next morning.”
“What happened then?” Deke asked, keeping one eye on Victor but his hand curled around one of hers.
“Janelle checked the beaten girl again, and she was gone. She’d stopped breathing and her pain was ended. Janelle ranted about losing money because Seymour couldn’t keep it in his pants. Seymour began arguing with her but it didn’t make much difference. She said now, they would have to get rid of all three bodies.” Cassie shook her head. “Victor wanted to add my body to the others but Janelle wouldn’t let him. She assured them both I wouldn’t be a problem. The she noticed a stack of bricks in the corner and she laughed. She told them getting rid of the bodies wouldn’t be a problem. She got Victor to help her build a small narrow bench against the outside wall and once it was done, they put the three small bodies inside and filled it with cement. They topped it off with another row of blocks and by the time they left, the crypt they’d built looked like a small bench running along the wall. I kept as quiet as I could while they worked but couldn’t help but cry when I was alone again.”
Lance turned his eyes to his partner and asked, “What makes you think Victor was there?”
“The tapping. The man that night kept tapping out a pattern. He seemed nervous the whole time he was down there. First, one tap then one and two taps then one, two and three taps. He kept it up while Janelle and Seymour were arguing.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to Victor.
“She’s crazy. I’m not related to that monster. I didn’t kill three little kids and I didn’t help bury them in some crazy woman’s basement.”
“You do realize we can check that out,” Lance pointed out. “If the bench is there and if the three bodies are in it, her story will make sense.” He turned to Cassie. “Did you hear any names that night? Did they name any of the kids?”
“Seymour carefully touched the girl’s face when he placed her inside the bench. He whispered the name Michelle. Then when the other two kids were dumped in beside her, he looked at Janelle and said they would have to replace Elle and Orlando with two others.” She shook her head. “Janelle wasn’t impressed. She didn’t have two small children to replace them. She said the buyers wouldn’t be happy about the delay.”
Lance nodded. “Those are three of the names of kids we haven’t found yet.” He looked at his partner. “I hope to Christ you can prove you aren’t related to Seymour and you weren’t there that night, but if we find even a smidgen of evidence you were there, you won’t see daylight again in your lifetime. And neither will your uncle.” Slipping his hand inside his pocket, he pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
Before he could do anything else, Victor slipped his hand into his jacket and grabbed his gun. He slammed it upside of Lance’s face toppling him over in his chair then swu
ng the gun to where Deke sat. Firing off a round, the bullet hit Deke’s chest and he fell back to the floor. Victor then pushed the table over and stood there pointing the gun at the women.
Cassie got to her feet and screamed as she went to kneel beside Deke.
Victor grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to stand in front of him. He placed the gun barrel at her temple and snarled to the other three women. “Me and her are leaving. If you make any moves toward either of us I won’t hesitate to shoot you, then I’ll shoot her.”
Peaches, Paige and Peggy huddled in fear and they didn’t move. As soon as Cassie and Victor left the house they rushed over to Deke and Lance. Lance was just waking up and Deke was trying to get to a sitting position. Peggy pushed him back on the floor and told him to lay still.
Blood stained his shirt and a few minutes later, they all heard pounding footsteps coming toward them. Gator, Deacon and Iceman joined the group.
“What the fuck happened here?” Iceman growled taking in the scene.
Peggy was pressing a cloth to his wound and Paige was wiping the blood from Lance’s face. Peggy turned to them and said, “Victor Shroder shot him and took Cassie.”
Deke grimaced as he told them, “The sonofabitch took Cassie at gunpoint. He’s involved with Janelle Walden’s group. His uncle is one of the men involved and he’s been covering for his sorry ass all these years.”
“Where did he go?” Gator asked.
“I have no fucking clue.” Deke growled. “But I’m gonna find that little fuckhead and I’m gonna kill him if he hurts her.” He glared at Lance, “Hell, I might kill him just for the fun of it.”
Lance nodded as he took the bloody towel away from his nose. “I might help you do it.”
Deacon turned to Lance, “Where would he go?”
Lance looked unsure of anything anymore and he didn’t give an answer.
Then Iceman knelt down and picked up the photo of Elliot Handlin. He turned to Lance and asked, “Does he have anything to do with this man?”
Lance shrugged. “Cassie seems to think he’s family, why?”
Iceman snarled, “Because this man is a disease on humanity…that’s why.”
“You know him?” Lance asked.
“Yeah, I know him.” Iceman nodded. “I don’t know what name he goes by these days but I knew him as Seymour Dent. He’s a lowlife from Boston. Thinks he’s a big shot. He moved to New York about twelve, fifteen years ago.”
Lance shook his head. “Do you know Victor Shroder?”
Iceman shook his head. “Never met him but Seymour has a couple of nephews. One is named Victor the other one is in my MC. His name is Tommy.”
Gator knelt down beside Deke to check his wound. It was a clean wound, high on his chest, just under his clavicle. It was painful but not lethal.
Peggy cleaned him up and was bandaging the wound.
Deke got to his feet. “Let’s try Boston then.”
“You shouldn’t be going anywhere,” Gator told him. “You’ve lost too much blood.”
Deke glared at the older man. “If you think I’m staying behind you’re fucking nuts. That’s my woman he took and my babies.”
“All the more reason to stay put,” Sam called from the doorway.
“Where the hell did you come from?” Deke asked with a hateful expression on his face.
“Never mind that.” Sam glared back at him. He, Raine and Sabbath were standing there watching the rest of them. “He knows you but he don’t know me or my guys. If this creep sees you, he might shoot first and ask questions later. He sees us and he won’t think anything is wrong until it’s too late.”
Deke stared at his father for a few minutes then asked, “And why should I trust you to bring her back here?”
Sam just stared at his son for a moment then turned his back and walked away.
Raine shook his head and growled, “Dumbass.” Then he too, turned and walked away. Sabbath glared at Deke but didn’t say anything, and he left as well.
“I’d better call and let my guys know there’s a shit storm coming their way,” Iceman announced to no one directly.
Deke looked over at the other man and grimaced. “Iceman, she was wearing the locket I gave her.”
Iceman frowned. “So what? How is that gonna help us find her?”
“There’s a tracking device in the locket. After my father kidnapped her, I wanted a way to keep track of her, so she wouldn’t be in that position again. I wasn’t gonna take any more chances with losing her.” Deke sat down in the nearest chair. “We should be able to track where he takes her.”
“Do you have the tracking program?”
“Zipper does.” Deke nodded.
~* * * *~
Cassie watched the road and the man behind the wheel. Before they hit the highway, she thought she’d seen motorcycles parked just inside the wood line outside the compound. With their lights off, she didn’t think Victor had seen them yet. He was driving like a crazy man weaving in and out of traffic and going well over the speed limit. She knew they were going toward Boston but she didn’t know where they would end up once they got there. She prayed whoever was on the bikes would follow and get her back to Deke. She prayed the bullet that hit him hadn’t taken his life. She wouldn’t allow herself to think Deke was gone from her life, she couldn’t. He had promised her she would never be alone again.
Victor stopped along the highway long enough to tie her hands together once they got away from Troy and up until now, she had been quiet but that was about to change. “So what are you going to do now?”
“Shut up bitch!” Victor barked as he maneuvered through traffic. He had a look in his eyes that didn’t bode well for Cassie.
He kept checking the rear view mirror and when he didn’t see anyone following them, he began to relax a bit. “So how long were you watching us that night?” he finally asked.
Cassie could plainly see how nervous he was and she noticed the slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. “From the moment you came down the stairs until you left.”
“Janelle said you wouldn’t remember a thing,” he grumbled.
Cassie scoffed. “Yeah, she used to say a lot of things that only a fool would believe. She only learned at the very end, how strong I was.” She glanced at the side mirror and saw the lights of motorcycles following them. She prayed they belonged to someone she knew. They were far enough back not to draw attention to themselves, yet close enough to keep the car in their sights.
“So did Calderone Vincinti really kill her?” Victor wanted to know. “That was the rumor we heard anyway.”
Cassie shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care how the bitch died.”
“That’s cold, really cold. And your father, Flynn Rearden?” he asked. “Do you care about how he died?”
“Not really,” Cassie admitted. “His brother might but I don’t.”
“His brother?” Victor asked.
“Flynn has an older brother named Donavan. He wanted to kill me, so don’t think you are the only one.”
He grunted. “Maybe I’ll let him know where you are and let him have the pleasure.”
“The dumbass is probably dead by now.” Cassie rolled her eyes. “He thinks he’s going after Calderone and going to live through it?” She waited for a moment then asked, “So why did you become a cop?”
Victor barked out a laugh. “Seymour thought I would be his inside man. If the kiddy ring ever came to light, he thought I could steer the investigation away from him.”
“And isn’t that what you’ve been doing all these years?”
Victor turned his head to stare at her for a moment. When he turned back to watch the road, he nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing. Watching his fucking back and he doesn’t even appreciate it.”
“Do you do know what he dropped into the crypt that night?” Cassie asked.
Victor frowned. “What are you talking about?”<
br />
“Your uncle.”
“What about him?”
“While you and Janelle were mixing up the cement he reached inside your jacket pocket and took something out. Just before you both turned around, he slipped it inside Michelle’s small hand. He made it look like she grabbed it before she died.”
Victor hissed. “The lousy bastard.” He glanced at her quickly. “Did you see what it was?”
Cassie shook her head. “It was too dark down there. All I could see was that he had something from your jacket.”
Victor thought for a moment then swore. “Damn, so that’s what happened to it. My uncle gave me a harmonica a couple of days before that night. He wanted me to play it often.” He groaned. “He wanted my DNA on the mouthpiece, so I would be blamed if the kids were ever found. That bastard!” he yelled as his hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. “I’m gonna kill him.”
Cassie didn’t say anything as she turned her head and watched the landscape changing. They were getting close to Boston now and she had no idea what was going to happen next.
CHAPTER NINE
When they came into Boston, the traffic was congested. It was late afternoon and because of the time of year, it was already getting dark outside. Victor drove deep into the city, then making several turns he came to an abandoned neighborhood filled with empty warehouses and old shops. After a few minutes, he pulled into a parking lot. He made his way as close to the building as possible and once they got there he shut off the engine. Turning in his seat, he stared at her for the longest time. Before he said anything, he reached inside his jacket and grabbed his weapon. “The question I have to think about now is what to do with you before I deal with Seymour.”
“Why do you have to do anything to me at all?” Cassie wanted to know.
