Don't Say a Word

by Beverly Barton

  “Believe it or not, I used to be fun-loving, happy-go-lucky like my mom, but after Bryan died, I knew that anybody I associated with, anybody that I cared about, was a potential target. That’s why I kept pushing you away. Trying not to get involved with you. Once we started working together, I was that much more determined not to involve you.”

  “Well, now I think I’ve seen the real you a couple of times.” She smiled, thinking of the day they met. “The day we met, you were quite the charmer. But, Will, it’s been so long now, surely they aren’t still after you.”

  “They’ve already tried three times since I went into the army. That bullet wound you asked about a minute ago—that was the first time. They got me in the shoulder. The second time, they put a bomb under my car. Lucky for me, it ignited and burned up the car, but I got out before the gas tank blew. The third time, they missed me, but the high-powered rifle exploded the store window behind me and hit a customer in the leg. They’ll keep trying. It’s an honor thing with Oscar’s family now. His sons are going to keep on trying until they die. If they find me again, they’ll try again.”

  “Even now that you’re with the TBI? I’d think they’d be afraid to mess with a special agent.”

  “It’s helped. They haven’t done anything for the last five years, but that doesn’t mean they won’t in the future. My family thinks it’s over now because Oscar Kraft died in prison six years ago, but I’m not sure it is.”

  Rage welled up inside Julia, but when she spoke, she was very calm. “Then we’ll go after them, Will. We’ll get them first. I’ll help you get them.”

  Will stared at her, then leaned back his head and laughed. “I should’ve known you’d say that.”

  “I’m serious. We can get them. We can go after them as soon as we solve this case. Let them worry for a change about who’s going to show up. Let them watch their backs. But we’ll do it legally, with a charge of attempted murder. We can do it together.”

  Will pulled her close and their lips met, tenderly, softly, until Will pulled back, held her shoulders, and looked seriously into her eyes.

  “That’s a hell of a thing for two law enforcement officers to contemplate, but I have to say, Julia, it’s as tempting as hell.”

  Chapter 21

  Early the next morning, Will rolled the linen-draped cart of breakfast foods he’d ordered down through the suite’s foyer and into the dining area. Under the silver warming domes were scrambled eggs, bacon, buttered toast, biscuits, and every kind of breakfast pastry, including Julia’s favorite, jelly doughnuts. He’d also ordered pancakes and fresh fruit, icy orange and grapefruit juice, and a steaming pot of coffee. After the fireworks they’d set off in bed last night, both of them were going to need some serious sustenance.

  Today he was in a good mood. Better than he’d been in years. Despite a major lack of sleep. He hadn’t been able to keep his hands off Julia, and she had been as eager in their lovemaking as he was, and that was saying something. She was as energetic and thorough in bed as she was on her detective job. He smiled and poured himself a cup of coffee.

  After so much struggling to keep Julia at arm’s length, he felt relieved, like somebody had lifted a two-hundred-pound stone off his chest. It had been different with Julia, so different than any other woman he’d been with. She was the first woman he’d told about his past, the only woman he’d let into his private life. He didn’t regret it. He was glad—glad he could be himself and quit worrying about her, at least for today, anyway.

  “Good morning.”

  When he glanced up, he found Julia standing at the bedroom door. She had just gotten out of the shower, and he was sorry he had missed it. He’d surely never forget the shower they’d shared last night. She had on the white hotel robe and slippers, and he was pretty sure she wore nothing underneath it. His loins roused and took note, and that boded very well for the way they’d spend the rest of their time at the Bellagio. She walked over and sat down beside him. She smiled and entwined her fingers with his, and he was sure he had never seen anybody look so beautiful in his life. Oh God, he had it bad for her. Embarrassingly so. But who wouldn’t?

  “You fixed me all this for breakfast? What a guy.”

  “Of course. I come from a long line of chefs and restaurateurs, you know.”

  “Liar. I heard the room service guy come in. But that’s okay. I’m starving. I’m still weak from last night. You worked me over pretty good.”

  “I worked you over? If I recall, and do I ever, it was pretty much the other way around.”

  “Are you complaining, Special Agent?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  This time Julia smiled. “So you’re as happy as I am this morning? No regrets? No turning back?”

  “See this satiated smile on my face. See this fantastic breakfast I ordered up for you. You bet I’m happy.”

  Will poured her a cup of coffee and took another sip of his own. He lifted off the warming domes and some delicious aromas wafted out. “Heard anything from Tam this morning?”

  “Not yet. I hope she’s come up with something pertinent from Lockhart’s files.”

  “Forensic reports should be back on Gloria Varranzo by the time we get home.”

  “I want to pick up her backlog of cases and see what I can find out. There’s got to be a connection.”

  Will handed her a plate. “We’ll do it at my place. I’ve been wanting to show you where I live.”

  Julia picked out a jelly doughnut. “Could’ve fooled me on that one.”

  “Now you know why I was hesitant. Want some orange juice?”

  She nodded and tasted a strip of bacon. “This is delicious. You did good, Brannock.”

  “Wait until you taste my specialty. Homemade ravioli.”

  “You made that sound provocative.”

  Will laughed, and Julia did, too. “Turns out that you have a nice smile, Brannock. I’m glad I’m finally getting to see it instead of that serious frown of yours.”

  “Among other things.”

  “Oh yeah, we can’t forget those other things.”

  They grinned at each other. Will’s phone dinged and vibrated where he’d placed it on the coffee table. He picked it up and read J.D.’s name on caller ID. “It’s your brother.”

  “Uh-oh. Tell him what a good time you’re showing me in your personal little Bellagio luxury seduction suite.”

  “I think not,” he said, feeling a bit uncomfortable with that idea. “We’ll keep all this under wraps for a while. We’ll choose the exact right time to tell him. After this case is over.”

  “Scaredy-cat.”

  Will ignored that. He punched the button. “Yeah, J.D.? What’s up?”

  J.D.’s voice sounded worried. “I’m looking for my sister. Can’t get an answer on her phone. Are you with her?”

  “Yeah. Her battery’s probably dead.”

  Julia nodded yes to that explanation, and Will handed her the cell phone. While she talked, he dialed the office on the hotel phone and told Phil Hayes what they’d found out and approximately when they’d be flying into Chattanooga. Phil told him that the task force members had been interviewing Gloria Varranzo’s partners and clients. He and Julia would need to interview the rest of her family and some of the neighbors as soon as they returned. Phil also said the woman had more enemies than Genghis Khan, just like the other two victims. Will hung up and watched Julia talking with J.D. There would be more unlikable victims hanging by the neck minus their tongues, and so far the task force wasn’t having a lot of luck figuring out who was the killer or where he’d strike again. And he would. It was just a matter of time. The Tongue Slasher would kill until they caught him, but catch him they would.

  Julia hung up but kept looking at the screen. “Tam just texted. Said we need to pick up Varranzo’s digital files at her law offices. She’s still working on connections between Lockhart and VanVeter.”

  “We’ll stop by and get them and take them to my house. I’ll hel
p you go through them.”

  “All work and no play?”

  “I am planning on some major play, count on it. In fact, playing might be high on my priority list from now on.”

  “I can go for that.”

  It was amazing how different their relationship had become, and so quickly. On the day they met, he never would have dreamed in a million years that it would come to this. In fact, he thought at first that she’d make a point to never lay eyes on him again. He had liked her even then, but she had been a hands-off, not interested, no dice kind of girl and didn’t mind showing it. He just thanked his lucky stars that she’d changed her mind.

  “You know, I think Bellagio serves even better breakfasts than McDonald’s. But, I don’t know, you can hardly beat an Egg McMuffin and hash browns.”

  “Think so, huh?” He took a bite of toast, then spread strawberry preserves on the other half.

  “Egg McMuffins are hard to beat, you have to admit.”

  “Let’s take a slow shower and talk about that. A really slow and hot and slippery shower. The plane won’t be ready for hours.”

  Smiling in an extremely promising and erotic invitation, Julia held out her hand. Will took it, thankful he finally could.

  Folger Parmentier had never been so pleased with himself. He had beaten the latest charges against him without breaking a sweat. He shouldn’t have, of course. He chuckled to himself. Truth was, he had forced that college girl to have sex with him, had done everything the prosecution said he did. But the bitch wanted it all, every single thing he did, no matter what she said to the contrary. She wanted it hard and rough, like all women did. And he gave her exactly what she asked for, and with a great deal of enthusiasm, at that.

  Gloria Varranzo had done a great job in court, lying her head off, characterizing the victim as an immoral slut, just as she did every time he was accused of wrongdoing. Too bad old Gloria was dead now and couldn’t represent him anymore. But her partner had finished up the closing argument for her, and Folger had walked, scot-free. Again. Of course, the five hundred thousand dollars his daddy had given Gloria up front had helped things along quite a bit. Man, it was good to be alive and kicking. He hadn’t felt so powerful in a long, long time. His dad was ill and wouldn’t last much longer. Finally. Soon he could inherit the Parmentier estate and do whatever he wanted, without any parental restraints whatsoever. As far as he was concerned, it couldn’t happen soon enough.

  Relaxing back into the comfortable black-and-white striped cushions on the lounge beside his pool, he cleaned his designer sunglasses on a towel, poked them back over his nose, and relaxed. He shut his eyes, glad that that little bitch Patti Ann had been bought off, once and for all, and would quit causing him trouble. Hell, she’d probably be calling him before a week was over, wanting to come over for more. She liked being tied up and whipped, among other sick things. She’d be back. They all came back. He paid them well enough.

  Grinning lazily, he visualized how he’d make her beg him for it. She’d have to crawl on her hands and knees back to the whipping post he’d built in his secret basement room. She’d scream prettily, but then her screams wouldn’t be so pretty, not with the instruments he intended to use on her. So deep was he into his deviant sexual fantasies that he didn’t hear the killer’s soft footfalls just behind him; didn’t have a clue that he was about to become one of the victims in that infamous room he kept downstairs. He fought hard at first against the cloying effects of the ether-soaked towel pressed against his face, but the killer’s grip was too hard and strong. Within seconds, Folger stopped all his struggling and blacked out, unaware that the horrors awaiting him would be even worse than the ones he had inflicted on others, with such unparalleled enjoyment.

  The Tongue Slasher took all the time he needed. He unwrapped the leather cloth holding his deadly tools. An uncharacteristic rush of excitement flooded him. He was pleased, of course, at the deaths of his other victims. For years he had prayed unceasingly for their righteous punishment and painful demise, but to no avail. All of them deserved to die, every single one—to die horribly, for all the evil they’d done. But Parmentier, Parmentier was the Devil incarnate. The lives he had destroyed during his young life were incalculable. And he would not stop. He enjoyed his crimes.

  The killer was interested in only one of Parmentier’s many vicious crimes. Horrible as it was, he had gotten away with it, too. But now, no longer would he smirk and grin and pay off people for their silence and their lies. Folger Parmentier would pay the price today, right now.

  The two of them were alone together in Parmentier’s basement torture chamber. The killer had been impressed with the wide variety of whips and chains and blindfolds and handcuffs that he’d found neatly hung on the walls, not to mention the video equipment. Yes, Parmentier’s hidden recreation room, designed for his deviant fun and games, was completely soundproof. Screams for help could not be heard. Perfect in every way, because now the sinner was all alone inside his own worst nightmare. He would be punished in the way he deserved. The killer placed the noose around Folger Parmentier’s throat. The coins, the scales, the knife, and the pliers were lying on the table. It wouldn’t be long now before the victim awoke. The killer looked forward to it with a vicious, vindictive eagerness that he hadn’t felt before. This was the one who started it all. He would pay more severely than his minions and henchmen had.

  Picking up Folger Parmentier’s fancy sunglasses that had probably cost thousands of dollars, he went outside, placed the dark glasses on his nose, and relaxed on the lounge chair beside the pool. The man who’d caused him the worst pain of his entire life was bound and unconscious in his own basement. He wasn’t going anywhere. Patiently, he watched the faraway road down the hill that edged Parmentier’s property. It was quite isolated out here. There was no hurry. No one was going to bother them so far out of town. He listened to the distant call of a blue jay. Yes, it was a nice, quiet place to live. Soon it would be a nice, quiet place to die. Parmentier had chosen this place so that his victims’ screams couldn’t be heard. He had chosen well. Parmentier would soon find out how helpless all the victims he’d brought here had felt as he raped and beat them. He leaned back and let the sun warm his skin, but the heat did not penetrate to his heart. His heart had been frozen, icy and hard, for the last ten years.

  Julia drove home, finding it nearly impossible to believe what had happened between Will and her in Las Vegas. But it was so right, so meant to be. After hearing about the tragedy of Will’s past, the loss he’d suffered as a boy, she understood him so much better, understood his pain, his fear that someone else he loved might lose their life because of him. This guy, Kraft, had not only ruined Will’s life but had changed his personality, changed him into a cautious, emotionally remote loner. She was lucky he had allowed her into his private life. After she found out the truth, she decided that she suited him more than most women would. She could take care of herself and was usually armed and ready for trouble, especially now that she knew what was going on. She would be vigilant. No one was going to get to Will when she was around, not if she and her Glock had anything to do with it.

  Stopping at Cathy’s front sidewalk, Julia got out, slammed the Charger’s door, and opened the picket gate. She’d left Jasper in Cathy’s care, and she was eager to pick him up. As she walked up the marigold-lined brick path, she felt that Cathy would be pleased that Julia and Will had gotten together romantically. She’d been pushing hard enough for them to hook up, ever since Julia had arrived in Chattanooga. No one answered when Julia knocked, and the front door was locked. They could be at church, or perhaps they’d just gone out for dinner.

  There was a huge fenced-in yard out back, and she walked around the house, looking for her beloved bloodhound. Jasper must have picked up her scent on the river wind, because he came barreling out of the dense glade of trees at about a hundred miles an hour. The other dogs were right behind him, all yapping and barking. She went inside the yard and shut th
e gate, kneeling down and hugging the lovable old bloodhound. She petted the others, too, gave them some of the baby talk that she used with Jasper, and then attached Jasper’s leash. She peered back into the shadowy woods, wondering if Cathy and Lonnie were somewhere out there; in Lonnie’s private studio, perhaps. It didn’t matter. She punched in Cathy’s number, got her voice mail, and left her a message that she’d already picked up Jasper. Otherwise, Cathy would be worried about him.

  Jasper was thrilled to see her and eager to get home. His beating tail proved it. He scrambled up into the front passenger’s seat. She started the engine and headed home. Will was insisting that she spend the night at his place tonight. When she reminded him of Jasper, he said to bring him along. A decision that Will just might regret, she thought, amused. However, based on the way Will and Jasper loved on each other, they had already bonded. She grinned to herself, very interested in what kind of house Will had chosen. If she had to guess, it would be extremely isolated and well protected. Probably has a moat, too, she thought. But he had good reasons to be careful, and now she understood that.

  Inside her house, she checked for messages. There was a call from Charlie Sinclair, and she punched redial but got no answer. She glanced at her watch, wondering where he was. Maybe he was feeding the boarded animals out back and couldn’t hear his phone. Maybe he was out fishing with Lonnie and Cathy. Their boat was gone, now that she thought about it. Not to worry; he’d call back if it was important. Tam had called but hadn’t left a message. Max Hazard had called and asked her out on a date again.

  On the way back from the airport, she and Will had made a stop at Gloria Varranzo’s law offices and picked up her digital files. They planned to go over them tonight at his house. Will had gone downtown to check in at headquarters so Phil could fill him in on anything else that had happened during the short time they’d been away. They also needed to e-mail more photographs of persons of interest to Maria Bota and see if she could identify the man she’d seen at the Lockhart crime scene. She found herself rushing around, throwing things in her overnight bag, so eager to be with Will again that she finally stopped, shirt in hand, and chided herself for the girlish giddiness. For Pete’s sake, Julia, act like an adult. Quit behaving like some trembling adolescent. Still, the thought of Will’s hard body and warm lips inching down over her belly sent all kinds of electric currents bouncing around over her flesh.