LUCY: The Complete Lucy Kendall Series with Bonus Content (The Lucy Kendall Series Book 5)

by Stacy Green

  Holding my right arm close, I dropped to the floor next to Maura. Chris drew closer, his gun ready to fire.

  Could I tell her to fight? What if I whispered where to kick, and she could get the gun out of his hands? Where had the knife gone?

  The twine dug into her skin. Her calves had gone blue from lack of circulation. My right arm was useless. If he shot me, Kelly had no chance.

  And I’d never see her again.

  I put the cushion over Maura’s face.

  “Please don’t do this!”

  This is your punishment for all your bad deeds–an innocent life.

  I couldn’t use both hands, so I lay across the tattered cushion until I had all of my weight behind me. Maura fought, writhing and begging, her tied legs flopping up and down. I closed my eyes and pictured Kelly’s face.

  Disappointed. The word ghosted over me as though Kelly had stepped into the room.

  She wouldn’t want this. And Chris was going to kill us both anyway.

  Damned if I wasn’t going to put up some kind of fight.

  35

  Maura’s movements slowed, but she remained conscious. I couldn’t fake anything this time. It all had to be real. I took a deep breath and rolled over to my right side, dumping my weight onto my broken wrist.

  Indescribable pain shot up my arm and into my shoulder. I instinctively curled up against it as my body tried to protect itself. Maura jerked again, and I tumbled off her, the cushion still in my left arm. I ended up on my back, teeth gritted against the pain and trying to catch my breath.

  “Jesus Christ.” Chris stomped over to me, the toes of his boots close enough to touch. “What the hell was that?”

  “It’s my arm.” I looked up at Chris through very real tears. “She pushed back, and I lost my balance. I can’t kill her this way. I don’t have the strength.”

  “Well you better figure out how to get it done, Lucy, because the river is rising. Kelly doesn’t have a lot of time.” He leered down at me, an angel of death so high off his own ego he’d missed his mistake.

  You almost found her. You just didn’t look closely enough…the river is rising.

  Where had I been with a rising river?

  The cemetery.

  Something feral took over. I didn’t stop to think. I raised my bound legs and slammed them into Chris’s kneecap. He stumbled back, his boots connecting with Maura’s heaving form. As soon as she felt the contact, she raised her own legs and blindly kicked. The impact was enough to send him off balance and make his grip on the gun perilous. As she rolled behind me, I managed to get on my knees. I dove forward and crashed my head into Chris’s groin.

  “You stupid bitch.” His body went rigid, but he didn’t drop the gun, instead bringing it down hard on my head. I saw stars, but I didn’t stop. I reared back and drove in harder, sending him toward the folding chair.

  Chris grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. He’d gone rabid, eyes wide enough to explode from their sockets and white spittle foaming around his mouth. He looked at me with more hatred than I imagined possible.

  “Lucy, we could have been so good together. But you had to screw it all up. And now I’ve got to pay the price.” He stuck the muzzle of the gun beneath my chin. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of being scared now. At least I wouldn’t have Maura’s death on my conscience. And Kelly would have been proud of me.

  “You’re just like my mother,” he snarled, his spit splashing onto my cheek.

  I didn’t see the knife until it drove into his neck.

  36

  The duct tape still hung from Maura’s temple. Her tears must have made the glue wear off. She’d cut the twine off her ankles. Chris had been so absorbed in me he didn’t even realized she was escaping.

  His arrogance had been his demise after all.

  He stood motionless, hands going slack. I wrenched the gun away and got to my feet.

  The knife stuck out of his neck, blood pouring down his chest and arm. His eyes flashed around the room, his expression frozen in disbelief.

  Maura staggered away, some of the shredded duct tape still tangled in her fingers. Her terrified eyes met mine “He wanted you to kill me.”

  I nodded.

  “It sounded like you’ve killed other people.”

  The gun felt awkward in my left hand, but I could probably hit her from this close distance. If she talked…no. I wouldn’t become Mary Weston.

  Chris collapsed onto the floor with a loud thud, gasping for air. I edged closer for a better look at his neck. I didn’t think she’d hit the carotid artery, but he was going to bleed out if we didn’t get help. Lennox wouldn’t be happy, and if I turned out to be wrong about Kelly, I’d need Chris.

  “Maura, get his phone out of his pocket.”

  She shook her head.

  “It’s fine. He’s not going to pull the knife out. He’s a paramedic. He knows it’s the only thing keeping him alive.” I smiled down at him.

  Chris’s glazed eyes met mine. “Just kill me.”

  “I’m not giving you the satisfaction. Maura, get the phone.”

  With her hands still tied, her efforts were clumsy. But she still managed to pull the smartphone out of his pocket. She started to dial 911.

  “No,” I said. “People are looking for me. I want you to call Detective Todd Beckett of the Philadelphia police.” I gave Maura the number and then rattled off Mac’s address. “Tell Detective Beckett to get here now and to send EMS. And then give me the phone.”

  Wide-eyed, Maura did as she was told. She never stopped looking at me.

  “He’s on his way.” She hadn’t ended the call. I could hear Todd shouting over the line.

  “Give me the phone,” I said. “Go into the kitchen and find another knife to cut your hands free. And then bring all the towels you can. We need to try to slow down the bleeding.”

  “You want him to live?”

  I looked at her disgusted face and wondered if she could distinguish between Chris and me. Or did she just see two depraved killers?

  “He’s kidnapped my best friend. I need him to live. Please, give me the phone.”

  Maura hesitated. Todd kept screaming. Chris gulped for air, his blood staining the floor. His eyes closed. Finally, she handed me the phone and started for the kitchen.

  “Todd.”

  “Lucy,” he shouted. “Thank God. Are you all right?”

  “I’ll live. Chris is touch and go, and we don’t have much time. I know where Kelly is, and I need your help.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  37

  Chris’s pulse slowed and became almost nonexistent. His blood soaked the towels Maura scrounged up from the kitchen. My left hand hurt from keeping pressure on his neck. Touching him felt repulsive, but I had to try. There were stories only he could tell.

  “Why don’t you pull the knife out and let him bleed to death?” Maura sat in the open doorway, her long legs blocking the entrance. Great purple spots about the size of a man’s fist lined her leg. Her jittery hands gave me the impression she would very much like a cigarette. She rubbed at the duct tape residue on her forehead.

  “He’s a serial killer,” I said. “The FBI has a lot of questions for him.”

  Was that the only reason? Was there still some part of me that felt connected to Chris and would mourn his death?

  “What about you?” Her hoarse voice bothered me more than the bruises. I couldn’t explain why. I just knew that the sound of it dug into my nerves like a rusting needle.

  I looked down at Chris. His face had lost all of its color, his lips tinged with blue. His breathing was sporadic. “I have questions too.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” She stared at me with no sign of fear, only curiosity. “It sounded like you kill men like the one who hurt my little girl.”

  I wasn’t about to answer her. She might feel a kinship with me now, but a few hours could change everything.

  “I didn’t know.” Maura’s ho
arse voice cracked. “I swear to God, if I’d caught him in the act, I’d have cut his dick off.”

  Chris’s blood soaked through the towels and dripped onto my knee. “I believe you. I’m sorry about your daughter. Get her therapy, make sure she knows it’s not her fault and you love her.”

  “It happened to you?”

  I pressed harder against the towel. “My sister.”

  “I’m sorry.” Maura tugged at her top, suddenly self-conscious. Lit up by the porch light, her disheveled blond hair looked like a broken halo. “I don’t have the best job prospects.”

  “I’m not judging you.”

  She grunted something that sounded like appreciation, but her gravelly voice made it impossible to tell. “He took your friend. You were going to kill me to save her, which I totally get. What stopped you?”

  A haggard moan came from Chris, and I enjoyed a flash of satisfaction at his suffering. “Knowing that if he actually let me see Kelly again, I’d have to tell her I’d killed an innocent mother. She’d never forgive me.”

  “Tell her I said thank you.”

  A wave of urgency made me feel like I was slowly turning inside out. “I hope I get the chance.”

  Emergency lights streamed into the doorway. Maura got to her feet. “Oh look. EMS brought friends.”

  Two armed patrol officers approached the doorway, guns at the ready. Maura’s hands immediately went into the air. “Look, I’m the one who got kidnapped.” She jerked her head toward me. “So did Lucy. The piece of shit who did it is bleeding to death on the carpet.”

  A female paramedic pushed past the officer. She had a sapphire stud in her nose, and I dully wondered if she ever worried about a drunk trying to yank it out. An intricate ivy tattoo on her neck stood out against her ashen skin. Her gloved hands shoved mine away and applied new pressure.

  “Chris!” The tattooed medic glared up at me while her partner began to pack gauze around the blade. Removing the knife would be up to the emergency room doctors. “What the hell happened?”

  “He’s the Silver Stalker,” I said. “He kidnapped Maura and then me. We got lucky.”

  The woman looked at me as if I’d just started speaking a foreign language. “Are you kidding me? Chris Hale? You’re nuts.”

  She’d find out soon enough. Lennox would have his hands full with the media. Chris’s story had it all: generations of evil, a handsome hero, and a series of brutal murders that probably spanned years. “Talk to the FBI agent when he gets here. By the way,” I pointed at Maura, “she needs medical attention, too, if you hadn’t noticed. He abused her pretty badly before he started in on me.”

  The tattooed medic ducked her head and began to assist her partner. “She’s stable. Get her out to the other rig.”

  My emotions tangled. “You know she saved my life. She’s not someone to just throw away.”

  Blue-gloved hands flying, the female paramedic ignored me. I had no reason to be angry. Critical patients were treated first. Medical professionals didn’t base their standards of care on someone’s vocation. And I needed Chris to live. Yet I couldn’t stop the indignation.

  “You’re just going to ignore me? While you try to save someone who is pure evil? Do you realize that? Is it because you think you know him? Or he’s got a pretty face? That means nothing, lady. He’s a killer!”

  A steady hand touched my shoulder. Maura. “It’s okay,” she said. “Let’s just go outside and get away from him.”

  My throat burned as I tried to catch my breath. What was I doing?

  “Come on,” Maura urged. She walked outside, aided by one of the patrol officers.

  I didn’t move. Part of me wanted to witness Chris taking his final breath. I deserved to be there.

  “Lucy!” I hadn’t noticed Todd’s arrival. Flashing his badge, he cut by the patrol officers and hurried toward me, stopping at the sight of my splinted arm. He cradled me close, examining the arm. “How badly are you hurt?”

  I finally managed to look away from the carnage on the floor. “I broke it when I fell at his apartment. Chris splinted it. But I’ll probably need surgery.” Seeing Todd’s pale, scared face reminded me of what was still at stake. “Doesn’t matter right now. We need to get to Kelly.”

  “You should get checked out.” Todd’s gallant tone was wasted. We didn’t have time.

  “I’m fine.” I headed for the door. “Let’s go.”

  “We need to question her,” the responding officer said.

  “She’s my witness,” Todd said. “I’m working with Special Agent Lennox on the Silver Stalker case. He’ll be here momentarily.”

  He took my uninjured arm and led me toward the door, ignoring the other officers. He spoke quietly into my ear. “Lennox is going to stay here and deal with this case. You and I are going after Kelly. I’ve already sent a squad car to Monteray Cemetery and told them to look for any disturbed areas that aren’t already underwater. I’ve got a second team in the abandoned building. Agent Williams is digging up everything she can about the place’s history. No pun intended.”

  He kept a gentle hold on me as I walked down the steps and toward his car. I toddled like a child, stress and the ketamine still disrupting my system. “I told you on the phone, Kelly’s not in the building. She’s in the cemetery.”

  Additional police officers had arrived. I turned my head, hoping none would recognize me. We passed by the ambulance where Maura sat, attended to by another med. She raised her hand, and I nodded.

  “This way.” Todd steered me to the right. “Kelly being in the cemetery makes no sense,” Todd said. “That place has been underwater for years.”

  “Not the vaults on the hill. I’ve seen them.”

  We’d almost reached Todd’s car, but he stepped in front of me. “You said Chris drugged you with ketamine. That stuff messes with you pretty good. I think you’re confused.”

  “I’m not confused.” I brushed past him to the car, wincing as my arm bounced against my chest. “Just drive, and I’ll explain it.”

  Todd grumbled something about my being stubborn, but he got in and started the engine.

  The dashboard clock said it was 1:00 a.m. “What day is it?”

  “Sunday morning.” Todd said. “You disappeared yesterday evening.” He looked disgusted as he put the car in gear and pulled onto the street. “Chris had Cook’s car. We realized it after we checked security footage and ran the plate.”

  “It’s my fault,” I said. “The ketamine makes you lose your inhibitions. I told him you guys were watching.”

  “We should have been prepared. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “I just want to get to Kelly.”

  Todd took the first freeway exit toward the northern part of town. “Tell me why you think she’s in the cemetery.”

  I tried to remember the last few hours. Much of it was just a blur of fear and desperation. Part of me still believed I would wake up from this terrible nightmare. “Chris never forgot his grandfather,” I said.

  “Big surprise,” Todd grunted.

  The pain in my arm seemed to ramp up with every second, and no matter how hard I tried to remain motionless, I felt every jolt of the car. “During the Weston’s killing spree, Chris used to go with him at night, looking for girls. He even picked one out.”

  Chris had been so proud of that detail. Would he have turned out differently if his mother and grandfather weren’t sadistic killers, or was he predisposed to evil?

  “Last winter, I think Chris planned to kill his mother, but his grandfather prevented it,” I said. “They had some kind of fun family bonding time. While he shared his life story with me, Chris mentioned his grandfather should have been buried in the family crypt. That he was a war hero, and so were his ancestors. That’s where his grandfather had wanted to be buried.”

  “Okay.” Todd didn’t seem to be impressed. “But there are a lot of family vaults in this area. Most of them probably have a crypt since they’re all old. How c
an you possibly narrow it down to Monteray Cemetery?”

  It took me a minute to remember the answer, and when I did manage to speak, my mouth moved in slow motion, as though the muscles forgot how to work. “Because right after he injected the ketamine, Chris told me I’d almost found Kelly. That I’d looked in the wrong place. And then at Mac’s, he said Kelly didn’t have much time, the water was rising. The cemetery is the only place that makes sense.”

  “Maybe. The river is rising fast thanks to all of the rain, and the ground has got to be saturated. But,” Todd’s voice grew gentle, “this guy spent nearly a year playing with your head. How do you know he’s not doing it again?”

  “I don’t. I’m just hoping that he was too far into the heat of the moment to lie.” I refused to give up hope. “But why do you think I didn’t pull the knife out of his throat?”

  “You’re not going down for that,” Todd said with finality. “I don’t care who his uncle is. The guy’s a killer, and he had two women held hostage.”

  “I didn’t stab him. Maura did.”

  Todd glanced at me. “Really?”

  “I was going to kill her.” I felt no shame in telling the truth. “Chris said the only way I’d see Kelly again was to kill her and prove to him that I’d really be his partner. I didn’t think I had a choice. And I came close. But Maura kept fighting, and then I thought about Kelly and what she’d say if she knew what I’d done.”

  I hoped Maura and her daughter got the help they needed. Maybe the entire experience would give her the confidence to turn her life around.

  “You did the right thing.” Todd laid his hand on my knee. “I always knew you had it in you.”

  The praise made me feel like I needed a shower. “Maura saved us. I fought back, but I was too injured and couldn’t get to my feet. She got loose enough to get the knife. I didn’t even know he’d put it down.”