In the Night (Darkness Falls Book 1)

by Melissa Sinclair

  “I hope he suffered,” she whispered, and then the drugs took full effect, and she fell back into unconsciousness.

  3

  Ten years later

  Shit, it was hot today. And he had gotten stuck walking the stupid dog in the frickin’ heat once again. Damn his sister always tricking him into doing her chores. At least he was able to bring his fishing pole so he could go fishing for a bit. Bobby was so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed his dog, Cheddar, had run ahead of him; that is, until he heard him barking. He knew he was supposed to keep him leashed when he walked him, but he didn’t care. No one was going to tell him what to do. Anyway, Cheddar was a good dog, and he wouldn’t run away.

  “What you got there, buddy?” he asked when he realized Cheddar was busy trying to pick something up. Bobby frowned when he got closer. What the hell is that? he thought. It wasn’t until he was about five feet away that he was able to identify what it was, and he promptly threw up the beef stroganoff he had eaten for lunch.

  Digging in his pocket, he pulled out the cell phone his mom made him take with him everywhere. Just in case, she would say, and he would roll his eyes and say, Ah ma, I’m twelve now, I’m practically a man. I don’t need to be treated like a baby. Yet he was secretly thrilled that she gave him a phone to have. It made him feel like a man, but he didn’t feel like a man as he dialed 911, glancing at the fresh vomit on his shirt.

  “911 what’s your emergency?” a calm, female voice asked.

  “My name is Bobby Smits, and my dog just found a woman’s body in the river by my house.”

  Caleb Montgomery sat behind the wheel of his department-issued vehicle, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, waiting for Ethan Vanderbilt to get his ass in gear. They had just gotten called in from a much-needed vacation that had lasted a whole half a day. Apparently, there was a floater in the river that some kid had found while on his way to go fishing with his dog. Why did a kid always have to find the floaters?

  Just the luck of the draw, he supposed. Captain had called them in because he knew they were the best two detectives he had, and apparently, they had an idea of who the floater was. He had been told that the victim was a female, and she was fresh. Captain Bob Wickman only called people in from a much-needed and well-deserved vacation when something big was happening. Which meant that Caleb had a pretty damn good idea who had been found.

  Ethan flung open the door and settled in next to him, hair still wet. Ethan was tall, dark, blue-eyed, and sculpted. The man was who most women drooled over. Caleb was comfortable enough in himself to admit that his partner could get his pick of women. Caleb didn’t do so bad himself in that aspect; he just didn’t have time and had not found a woman patient enough to date a cop. Ethan and Caleb both knew one thing: in their line of work, it was easy to get a woman who was interested in dating a cop; just not easy to keep the woman interested when they were gone at all hours of the day and night.

  “So, what we got?” Ethan asked from next to him, jarring him from his thoughts.

  “Captain called and told us to get our asses back in. A body was found floating in the water. Most likely the vic is Andrea Vincent.”

  “He actually said that?”

  “Not exactly, I added that part. But you know as well as I do that with budget cuts the way they are right now, the only way Captain would call us in for more overtime is if somebody important has been found floating in the river.”

  “Yeah, I suspected the same thing. I was already thinking that the body is Andrea Vincent.”

  “We are in for a very shitty afternoon.”

  Andrea Vincent was the daughter of a local Senator who had gone missing a few days back. After days of searching, they’d come up empty. She had last been seen leaving a small get-together at a friend’s apartment at the university, much to her parents’ disdain because the friend’s apartment happened to be the boy she was seeing that they didn’t approve of. Speculation was that she had wandered off drunk and had possibly gotten hurt. Of course, the other working theory was that she had run off with the guy her parents hated or they had gotten into a fight, and he had done something to her. But he had been the one to call her in missing and was checked and cleared of any wrongdoing. The third theory was the possibility it was something more sinister that had caused her disappearance. If it was her, one thing was for certain, they were about to find out how sinister her disappearance was.

  The only thing that was clear at this point was that, if it was Andrea Vincent, she had met an untimely death. At only twenty years old, she was the apple of her parents’ eyes and set to follow in her father’s footsteps. By all accounts, everyone loved her, and everyone wanted to be her. She had the whole world at her feet and a bright future in front of her.

  When they approached the crime scene, Caleb’s stomach sunk. The place was swarming with media, which meant someone had already gone to the press. Floaters weren’t found every day, but they also weren’t uncommon, so for the media to be this interested meant that the body found was that of someone high profile enough to leak the information and important enough to bring the vultures to the scene.

  Scanning the crowd, Caleb immediately found Captain Wickman on the sidelines fielding questions. Captain being there sealed the deal, so to speak, on Andrea Vincent being the body. There was no doubt in his mind that she was who had been found.

  As they approached the cordoned off area, the captain put his hand up to signal to the media that he was done answering questions. Turning, he moved toward the two of them.

  “Captain,” Caleb said. Ethan stood quietly next to him, assessing the area just as Caleb was. It was common for murderers to stand on the sideline in the crowd to watch the festivities after their victims were found. While the captain hadn’t said as much on the phone, his body language said it all as he approached them. Andrea Vincent was found, but not only that. She had been murdered.

  “Montgomery, Vanderbilt. We have ourselves a serious situation here.”

  “Have her parents been notified yet?” Caleb asked, indicating he was aware of what kind of situation they had.

  “I am about to go over there right now. I’m hoping that they don’t get wind of this until I get there. I made some calls, and one of his aides said he’s in a meeting for another thirty minutes. After which he and his wife are scheduled to do another television plea for any help in finding their daughter. I came down to identify her so her parents wouldn’t have to.”

  Captain Bob Wickman fought back tears. Caleb felt like someone had punched him in the gut at the sight of this six-foot-five man, who was ex-military, fighting the onslaught of tears. Everyone knew that the captain was childhood friends with Senator Vincent and that Andrea was his goddaughter. So, yes, it was understandable that he would want to be here to identify her body.

  “Captain, we have everything under control on this end. Go be with them. They're going to need to hear this from you, not them,” Caleb said. Ethan and the captain didn’t have to ask who he meant by them; they knew he meant the media.

  With a nod of his head, he made his way to the tape sectioning off the crime scene and once again had to field questions from the media. Damn vultures, Caleb thought. The captain was grieving and had to hide it with every bit of strength he could muster so he wouldn’t give away anything to the media before he was able to tell the senator and his wife that their only daughter was killed; not only killed, but most likely killed at the hands of someone else.

  Caleb and Ethan made their way toward ME Shirley Hottenstein and CSI Brett Albrecht. Brett was standing behind a tarp that had been erected to hide the body from the media. Hottenstein had been with them for a long time and was still able to be compassionate when examining a body. Albrecht was newer to the team but seemed solid and capable. In their line of work, sometimes people became immune to the discovery of another body. But after a quick look at all the team that had been assembled, Caleb knew that was not the case here.

 
Once they’d made their way to the tarp, both men stood with their backs toward the cameras, blocking the camera's view of their faces as well as the two people collecting evidence by the body. No need for the media to be able to read their expressions, or worse, their lips. With a glance back at the cameras, Caleb knew they were well out of earshot of the media.

  “What you got for us, Shirley?” Ethan asked, speaking for the first time since they’d gotten to the crime scene.

  “I am sure it is no surprise to you who we have here.”

  “No, no surprise,” Caleb said somberly.

  “How’s the captain doing?” Albrecht asked.

  “Holding his own. But he’s shaken. She was murdered?” Caleb asked, already knowing the answer.

  “It would appear so.”

  “How?”

  “I can’t really say for sure until I get her back to the morgue. But it appears strangulation. It also appears she was raped.”

  “Shit, does Captain know that?” Ethan asked.

  “No. I don’t know for sure, and he was hurting already. I wanted to be sure before I gave him that news.”

  “She looks...preserved. She couldn’t have been in the water long. And there appears to be no decomp.”

  “Very good eye. It appears she was dumped probably early this morning.”

  “What makes you think that?” Caleb asked, recognizing that Ethan was deferring the question and answer portion of this conversation to him while he canvassed the crowd some more.

  “According to liver temp, she’s only been dead for about twelve hours. Like I said, it looks like she was strangled, which would indicate she was dead when she was dumped. If not, there’ll be water in her lungs. If there is water in the lungs, then she was dumped antemortem.”

  “That bastard had her for a while before dumping her, and we have a small window of time from death to dumping to discovering her. Which begs the question, how was she found so quickly? The perp didn’t try to weigh her down?”

  “No. As a matter of fact, we found this attached to her.” Albrecht pointed to the flotation device lying next to the body.

  “What do you mean?” Caleb asked, confusion slowly turning to stark anger when he realized what he meant. He had assumed the flotation device was from the boy witness. “Are you trying to tell me that whoever dumped her wanted us to find her and ensured that by using this flotation device? Why would someone do that?”

  “I’m not sure. What I can tell you is, she was found so quickly because she was wearing this flotation device. And she was tied to that big rock,” he said, pointing to a huge boulder on the shoreline. “Whoever did this doesn’t appear to have tried to weigh her down; in fact, they seem to have done everything short of putting a spotlight on her to help us find her. Finding out why is your job.”

  “You’re telling me that not only did he tie her to the rock so she couldn’t float away, he put a bright flotation device on her to keep her above water and noticeable.”

  “That’s what I’m saying.”

  “Where is the boy that found her?” Ethan asked quietly.

  “Cathy has him over there away from the media. She’s questioning him. She had to wait for his mom to get here, but it doesn’t look like he has any information that’s going to help us. He’s doing pretty good, considering. About as solid as a child witness can be. One more thing before you go,” Shirley said as they were about to turn to go find the boy.

  “What’s that?”

  “Albrecht, want to give me a hand?” Carefully, they rolled her to her side. She pointed to the left buttock. “The bastard carved some letters on her buttocks. It looks like DB and XII. Could mean dead body or it could be initials. I am not sure about the XII—”

  “The fuck! Are you sure?” Ethan’s startled exclamation had both men looking his way. They watched as Ethan came closer to the body and knelt beside it to view the carved letters.

  “What’s wrong?” Caleb asked, knowing that Ethan’s pale face meant something was terribly wrong.

  “I need to go see my sister. Let’s check on Cathy to make sure she has everything under control and doesn’t need help interviewing the boy, and then I’ll fill you in on the way.”

  “The way? Where are we going?” Caleb asked, concerned by the alarm on his partner’s face.

  “I told you, I need to see my sister.” Ethan glanced down at his watch and then looked back up at Caleb. “She should be pulling in anytime now.”

  4

  It was sweltering outside. Kara hated the heat; she rolled up the window in her car, opting for air conditioning over fresh air. Judging by the skyline ahead of her, there was a storm brewing, and there was one thing she hated more than heat, and that was when it stormed. Once upon a time, things had been different. Once upon a time, she had loved the warmth, loved storms, loved running in the rain. Now the change in weather made her body ache and reminded her of those days.

  She felt a shiver go up her spine at the thought of where she was going. She pulled her car off the highway and headed home. Home. That is if you could call it that. Seeing as how she hadn’t returned in ten years, it was hard to think of the town she grew up in as her home. And it wasn’t like when she lived there it felt like much of a home anyway.

  What had possessed her to agree to return to this horrible place? The place that had irrevocably changed her life forever? She had just started to feel like she had gained control of her life again, and then she let Ethan convince her to at least consider moving back here. She must be truly crazy to return to this place; she could feel her blood pressure rise the closer she got to her parents’ house. Now that her father was governor, they lived in the Governor’s Mansion, but they had kept their abundantly opulent house.

  She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until after she passed the monstrosity of a house that she used to call her home or, rather, where she used to live with her family. Ethan was her only family now, and she wanted to be closer to him. She would just have to adjust to the move back. If there was anything she was good at, it was adjusting to changes. Anyway, things would be different this time. They had to be. Other than being near Ethan, working at the hospital that she could thank for her current path in life was probably the easiest part of this move.

  She looked in her rearview mirror at Samsonite sleeping on the backseat of her car. Samsonite had been with her for five of the last ten years. Once she was out of that hideous dorm and able to get a place of her own, the first thing she did was research guard dogs. Then it was just a matter of finding the right one, and Samsonite had claimed her from the moment she laid her eyes on him. He was her best friend and one hell of a guard dog. Sure, he looked innocent enough, but he was deadly if need be. Thank God, he’d never had to be.

  Kara felt her pulse quicken again at the thought of being here in the town her parents had raised her in. She hadn’t seen them in nearly ten years, ever since she had left that place right before her father’s election. She had said goodbye to this town, goodbye to them and vowed to never step foot in that house again. She moved on and tried to forget the events of that summer. She moved far away and hoped no one had heard of her. Of course, that was a ridiculous idea. Everyone had heard of her. She went to the college she had chosen for herself, not the one her parents had wanted her to go to. Of all the schools she’d been accepted to, it had been the farthest one away.

  But no matter where she went, someone recognized her, and she would hear the whispers. You couldn’t blame them; she was hot news back then. After all, it wasn’t every day a gubernatorial candidate’s only daughter was kidnapped and tortured. And it wasn’t every day that same daughter publicly denounced said father in front of dozens of reporters, telling them that she didn’t endorse her father as a candidate and would not be voting for him. It also wasn’t every day that someone with her name and her parents’ money walked away from it all. But it happened then, and it made for a lot of gossip.

  And, yet, her father had won
that election, and it was shortly before his win that she left. She had never told anyone why she left; she had never put any of the rumors to rest. She had never even told Ethan. It was something she never cared to discuss, and something she preferred to ignore had happened. Much like a lot of the events in her life.

  Now ten years later, most of the gossip had stopped. She was sure there was still plenty of gossip around the local garden clubs, but it wasn’t like she intended on joining any of them. Her hands clenched on the steering wheel, causing her knuckles to go white as she got farther away from her parents’ house. The air in her car suddenly felt stifling, and she rolled down her windows to let some fresh air in.

  She had always hated her parents’ ostentatious house. She had always hated the way they held their money above everyone’s head. It was one more reason to leave them all behind. And one more reason she decided to do it all on her own the last ten years. After a small loan from Ethan, that is. A loan she had paid off, with interest, as soon as she could afford to.

  Kara had taken a semester off college because she needed to recover physically as well as emotionally. The dean had been willing to allow her to enter late, because of what had happened. Her parents had pulled strings to allow her to take the semester off. At the time, she had appreciated it, until a few weeks later. Then everything hit the fan, and she left. Once she left and was out from under Stanley and Constance Vanderbilt’s thumb, she finally felt some freedom. Kara decided to go to the school she had picked for herself, not the one her parents chose. They had also allowed her to start late.

  She’d been accepted to all of the schools she had applied to. Her parents had insisted she apply to all the Ivy League schools in the country. They wanted to be able to say she was accepted to them all, but that in the end, she had chosen their alma mater. It was all about appearances with them. Thankfully, her parents could have cared less to know anything about her. And they didn’t know about the extra college she had applied to. The elite college, that wasn’t Ivy League, so it wasn’t deemed good enough by their standards.