Another almost smile. Heck, she might be thawing toward him a little.
“That’s very kind of you. Thank you. Can I get someone to help you with the boxes?”
Shaking his head, Drake hefted the second box under his arm. “Thank you, Doctor, but we’ve got this.”
Did they have it? A clue that could finally move this case forward? Logan was as hopeful as he’d been since arriving in Corville. He had a good feeling about this.
Chapter Thirty
Ava needed a shower. And a scrub brush with a strong disinfectant. And hot, hot water. Ewww.
Reading these letters to Wade Bryson made her feel incredibly dirty and not in a good way. The women – and some of the men – hadn’t held back and had written in vivid detail what they wanted to do to Wade should they ever have the opportunity. Or a conjugal visit.
Wade hadn’t been exaggerating. He had a whole contingent of people who loved him, but so far, none were willing to kill for him. She’d been sitting at the kitchen table reading letters the better part of the afternoon and evening, only taking a break to eat dinner with the family. She’d just placed the last one back in the box. Definitely creeped out, but she hadn’t found much for them to run with. In fact, it looked like they’d come up with a great big goose egg.
They were once again back to square one. They had nothing and no one.
Logan was in the living room playing a game of Go Fish with Brianna and Colt while Ava worked. He’d already read Wade’s own outgoing mail and the doctor was correct in saying it appeared completely innocuous. He was his usual audacious and bragging self, enjoying being fawned over by a female but there was nothing in there that looked like it might set off one of his followers to do deadly deeds.
If anything, they were almost all the same, generic really. He didn’t ask them anything personal. Mostly he wrote about himself and how he was simply misunderstood, but a good man deep down. He’d been trying to help law enforcement but his efforts had been twisted and bastardized.
Wade didn’t seem to care about these women as people. They simply existed to orbit him like the sun. And he never mentioned his family. Not once.
The incoming letters were much more disturbing, of course. From both men and women, these were people that clearly had issues in their life. The fact that they’d zeroed in on a serial killer as the one person that could understand them left Ava shaking her head.
Some of the letters were from people who admired Wade. They wanted to be like him and sought his counsel.
That’s disturbing as hell. We need to look at these people.
Some of the letters were from lovelorn women who were sure all Wade needed was the love of a good woman and he wouldn’t ever want to kill again. It was in this stack that she’d found the icky ones that made her feel dirty. And more than a few nude photos.
Some of the letters wanted something personal of Wade’s to sell online. They were simply businesspeople who made money off of serial killer groupies.
Three words that shouldn’t even go together. Serial killer groupies. WTF?
There were, however, no offers to kill on Wade’s behalf. No inquiries about the Bryson family. Those disturbed enough to ask for advice appeared to be more worried about the people they wanted to kill rather than anyone Wade might want dead.
He also hadn’t followed up with any of these letter-writers. Some had written multiple times but had eventually given up. Wade might like admirers but he didn’t want to take the time to write them back.
She was packing up the boxes and placing them on the floor when Logan joined her in the kitchen.
“All done? Did you find anything?”
Wrinkling her nose, she shook her head. “Nothing. There’s nothing here, although after reading these letters I weep for humanity. What have we come to as a society?”
Logan poured out milk into two plastic glasses before snagging a beer for himself.
“That’s a small sliver of the population, babe. There have always been troubled people throughout history. We just get to see more of them with our occupations.”
“Aren’t we a glass half-full kind of guy tonight.”
He held up his beer bottle. “More like a bottle full. Are you coming out to play with us? Brianna, the little card shark, is beating the pants off of me and Colt.”
“She wins a lot.”
“Does she cheat?”
“Logan Wright, what a terrible thing to say about your own daughter.” Ava laughed at his expression. “And in answer to your question, yes, I think she does cheat. You have to watch her closely. I’ve caught her trying to look at mine or Colt’s cards. Have you been paying attention?”
“I will now,” Logan declared chuckling. “Damn, she must really like to win.”
“She gets that from you.”
“Yeah, because winning means nothing to you. Seriously, are you coming out into the living room? I could use the help. It’s two against one out there.”
There was no point in beating the proverbial dead horse. She’d been through all the letters and while she’d seen some severely disturbed individuals she wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley – or anywhere else, for that matter – none of them had offered to do Wade’s bidding. She had set aside a few letters to check out though simply because they gave her the willies when she read them. Someone needed to look into those people and make sure they hadn’t acted on their homicidal tendencies.
“I’ll help you if you pop some popcorn.”
Logan threw back his head and laughed. “That’s it? That’s all you want? Just some butter and salt drenched kernels.”
“No, I want a gigantic bowl full of them.”
He bowed low and gave her a playful wink. “Your wish is my command.”
She insinuated her fingers underneath the hem of his t-shirt and stroked the flesh that stretched across his washboard abs. “Oh yeah? I’ve got a few commands for later then.”
“If we’re naked, I’m totally on board.”
Sliding her hands up his torso, she then wrapped her arms around his lean waist and rested her head on his chest. This felt so amazingly good. Close to her husband, his warm familiar scent, the heavy and reassuring thud of his heartbeat under her cheek.
“I can make that happen.”
“Is this because I’m going to be home more?”
She looked up into his crystal blue gaze. “I’d be all over your fine self no matter what but it doesn’t hurt.”
“You’re pretty hot too, good girl.”
A shiver always ran through her at his endearment. It reminded her of…the old days. When she’d wondered if she would ever be able to take this tiger and turn him into a housecat.
Turns out the answer is no. But I don’t care. I wouldn’t have him any other way.
“Thank you, though. I could say that the kids are going to be thrilled but I am, too. You’re the only one that I want making me insane for the rest of my life.”
“Back at you, babe. No one makes me crazier than you do.” He leaned down and pressed his lips tenderly to her forehead. “I didn’t do it just for you. I did it for me. I was missing far too much in our lives. I felt like a ghost in my own family.”
It had been like that. He’d haunted their home but he hadn’t ever been truly there. That was going to change and she couldn’t be more thrilled.
Except…it didn’t feel right that the last case he led ended like this. He should be going out with a blaze of glory. This felt more like a whimper of defeat.
The question had been bugging her all evening as her hope had faded. Was Logan ready to give up?
It was a question that only he could answer. Did she dare ask it?
“So…what now?”
He backed away and reached for his beer. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Five or six years ago she might have bought that answer but she knew better now. His fingers were twitchy, drumming a pattern on the counter. He was avoiding her question.
<
br /> “You know what I mean. Where do we go from here?”
He didn’t answer for a long time and she stayed quiet, letting him gather his thoughts. This was his investigation and he got to make the call when he’d had enough.
“I don’t know,” he eventually said, his voice soft. “Lyle deserves to have his killer found but I’ve dug through every lead I can find. There’s nothing there. I think I’m going to call Jason and tell him that he should assign someone else. Someone better.”
Her husband was so silly sometimes.
“There isn’t anyone better. Jason and Jared would say the same thing. If you can’t find this person, I doubt anyone can.”
He gave her a crooked grin. “You have to say that because you’re married to me.”
“I’m not saying it because you’re my husband. I’m saying it because it’s true. If they assign someone else what are they going to do? They’re going to go through the evidence that we’ve already been through a dozen times or more.”
“They might see something we didn’t.”
She couldn’t deny the possibility. Fresh eyes could make the world of difference. Perhaps this was one case that needed a new perspective. It was still sad though that Logan hadn’t cracked the case. He didn’t like losing any more than their daughter did.
This case was personal. Everything with the Bryson family and especially Wade was deeply intimate for him. It brought up memories that he didn’t want to deal with. Yet, despite all of that he’d come back here and worked on Lyle’s murder.
Because he felt like it was the right thing to do. The people of Corville would never understand Logan Wright. Not truly. They blamed him for the passing of an era when they should thank him for weeding out a remorseless killer.
“Are you okay with this?”
The man she loved was no quitter but he also wasn’t about to keep banging his head against a wall and make zero progress.
“Fuck no, I am not okay with it. But I’m going to be eventually. I tried my best and I couldn’t get the job done. It happens, babe.”
Just not to you, my love.
Ava had to blink back the tears as her heart squeezed tight in her chest. She could feel the pain Logan was in as if she had a real physical wound. He couldn’t hide the conflict in his eyes, the tension in his jaw. He wasn’t fine with this.
But there were other cases and clients. He couldn’t spend forever here.
They had a life to get back to. The kids would be starting school soon and summer was almost over. Corville would get back to normal, too.
She just couldn’t let him go out like this. Not with this case.
“How about tomorrow morning I drop the twins at Mom’s house and you and me…we hunker down with the evidence. One last time.” She placed her hand on his jaw, letting her fingers brush the stubble there. “Just so we can say we did everything we could.”
His slow smile was her answer. “Babe, I think that’s a great idea. I’ll even pick up a frozen pizza.”
One more time. They couldn’t give up. Not yet.
Chapter Thirty-One
Logan was having a particularly pleasant dream while wrapped around Ava when his phone rudely interrupted his beauty sleep. Without opening his eyes, he reached behind him and felt around on the bedside table until he located the offending piece of technology. Ava stirred in his arms but he gently kissed her cheek. It was time to get up anyway. The twins would be anxious for breakfast in about half an hour.
“Go back to sleep, baby,” he murmured in her ear. “It’s my phone. Probably work.”
She seemed to understand and simply wound up more tightly in the blankets. Slipping out of bed, he placed the phone against his ear and hurried out of the bedroom hoping his wife would easily go back to sleep. The screen displayed a photo of his partner Jason who must have been having another bout of insomnia.
“You better have a damn good reason for calling me this early in the morning.”
“Sadly, I do. Sorry about waking you up but I knew you’d want to know right away.”
Dressed in only his boxers, Logan headed straight for the kitchen and the coffeemaker. He and Ava had a busy day ahead of them and caffeine was going to be a requirement.
“Know what? Is everyone okay?”
It was rare but sometimes a consultant was injured while working a case.
“Everyone’s fine,” Jason assured him. “But I just got a call from an old buddy, a journalist. I used to help him out on occasion and this morning he returned the favor. It hasn’t been made public yet, and officials are trying to keep it quiet, but Wade Bryson broke out of prison last night. There’s a massive manhunt underway. It’s going to make the news eventually, of course, but they’re hoping to catch him quickly and quietly.”
Logan had to replay Jason’s words in his head several times before he could make heads or tails of them. He’d had no coffee and was still half asleep but the words Wade and broke out of prison had been said in the same sentence.
Words he’d never thought he would hear, frankly. He’d sort of assumed Wade was tucked up safely and would never see freedom again. He was someone they didn’t need to worry about. Out of the equation and very much not Logan’s problem.
Logan finally found his voice. “Broke out of prison? How the fuck did he do that? No, wait. Don’t tell me. He just waltzed out in front of God and everybody. That would be just his way.”
Jason chuckled on the other end of the line. “That would be just his way, wouldn’t it? But that’s not quite how it happened. Right now, they think he snuck out inside a supplier’s truck.”
“Don’t they fucking count heads or something? Didn’t anyone notice he was gone?”
Having visited that prison twice in a short period of time, Logan could attest that the security measures appeared solid but then he’d only seen a portion of them.
“He was supposed to be in a session with the prison shrink last night after he mouthed off to a guard during dinner. That’s the last he was seen.”
Logan heartily wished that the coffeemaker would hurry the hell up. “Are you telling me that Wade Bryson has been on the run since last night at dinnertime? And they’re trying to keep it quiet? Christ.”
“He has, and they won’t be able to keep it quiet much longer. I think they’d hoped to catch him quickly, but it didn’t happen and now they’ll need the public’s help to spot him.”
His brain was already working on the practicality of Wade’s situation. What would he need and when would he need it? And where would he go to get it?
“Wade is smart but I doubt he did this alone,” Logan said. “He had to have had some help.”
“According to you, he doesn’t have any help on the outside,” Jason pointed out. “You didn’t see anything in the letters and he didn’t have any visitors.”
That was true.
Except…Wade was seeing the prison psychiatrist regularly. Several times a week, in fact.
And he was supposed to be with her last night when he disappeared.
Dr. Bartlett.
“Maybe his help wasn’t from the outside,” Logan replied, pissed off at himself that he hadn’t seen it long before. “Maybe it was from the inside.”
“The inside? You mean a guard helped him?”
Logan had always trusted his gut and it was speaking loud and clear at the moment.
“Jason, try your source again. See if Dr. Marilyn Bartlett showed up for work this morning. My bet is she didn’t. She’s probably already cleared out her bank accounts and she’s on the run. With Wade. I’d also bet money that she’s the reason he didn’t get put in solitary for mouthing off at the guard last night. That’s what would normally happen. I bet she intervened and they were so sick of Wade’s shit they let her deal with it. Or she might have even paid off the guard.”
Logan wondered whether this had been planned for a long time or if his visit yesterday had prompted the two of them to make a move.
“
Jesus,” Jason breathed. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“Wish I was but I think I’m right. Can you get me into her home? I want to search it. It might hold a clue as to where she and Wade ran off to. I’ll also need Jared to start digging up anything he can get on her. It might help us find him.”
There was a small silence before Jason replied. “Technically, it’s not your problem.”
“True,” Logan conceded. “But I put him behind bars and that’s where he needs to be. Believe me when I say that he’s up to no good outside. He’s not going to lay low and become a model citizen. He’s always believed he was wronged when he was convicted and he loves to kill. It gives him a rush and he hasn’t had that for a long time. He won’t be able to help himself, especially once he gets started. He could go on a spree and then he’s everyone’s problem.”
I might be the one person in the world who can get inside Wade’s head. Scary as shit.
“Let me make some calls. Get a shower if you haven’t already had one because I think today is going to suck. I’ll call you when I have more details. Logan, I hope you’re wrong about the doctor.”
“I hope so too, but I’m not.”
He just hoped that she was still alive, because Wade wouldn’t hesitate to kill her when she’d outlived her usefulness.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ava and Logan had dropped the twins with her mother and headed out for Dr. Bartlett’s home as soon as they’d both showered. The house was near the prison so they had time to eat their breakfast on the go and discuss what they might find, where Wade might be, and of course what he might be planning to do next.
There were many possibilities and few of them were good news. While many escaped prisoners might lie low and try to keep their nose clean so they wouldn’t attract any attention to themselves, Logan seemed positive that Wade wouldn’t take that route. He loved attention so he wasn’t going to disappear somewhere for years. He’d want to make a splash and get the sensational headlines. The question was how long did they have before his first kill? Who would he target?
Justice Divided (Cowboy Justice Association Book 10) Page 16
