“I need sustenance; we burned a lot of calories last night. I was going to make us omelets.”
“Mmmmmm, omelets. That sounds amazing, but I would rather go hungry for now than let you out of this bed.”
She turned to look at him over her shoulder and laughed at the wicked grin on his sleepy face. The man appeared to be quite insatiable. And at that moment, she didn’t have a care to object. Rolling into him, she kissed him deeply and knew that it would be a bit before that omelet was made. But just as his hand was making its way up her legs to her butt, a crash sounded downstairs. Startled, she sat bolt upright. Caleb was out of the bed in a nanosecond, his gun in his hand in one fluid motion.
“Stay here!” he said, grabbing his underwear and jerking them on before he darted from the room.
Stay here? No way was she going to stay there. She was staying with the guy with the gun, no question there at all. Grabbing her robe, she threw it on and was still tying it as she hit the top of her stairs. Flying down her stairs, she skidded to a halt in the entryway when she saw Caleb on her front stoop, looking at something on the ground.
“I told you to stay in your room,” he said, not turning around.
“I wasn’t staying up there by myself, not when you’re down here with a gun. I feel safer with you. What is it?” she asked, scared what the answer would be.
“Someone threw a brick at your front door. They also left a calling card,” he said, tension in his voice as he looked at her front door. In her haste to run to his side, she hadn’t noticed the front door. In blood-red paint, someone had written: #2 was my four-leaf clover and soon will be my do over.
“Well, whoever it is, they’re pretty good at rhyming,” she said, her voice strained. Caleb stood and swept her into his arms. “The timing seems awfully coincidental.”
“I was thinking the same thing. I need to call this in. Whoever is killing these women has continually threatened you.” As he turned to move, she stopped him.
“What do you mean? I know that the note found on Andrea Vincent seemed like a possible threat and this one is definitely a threat. I wouldn’t say that is continuous; it’s just since I have been home. Right?”
“Of the other victims we have identified, all of the notes seem to be directed at you.” He winced when she staggered and slumped against the wall. “I’m sorry, I had already thrown so much at you last night and I know I was supposed to be honest. But, I just didn’t want to tell you and put more on you.”
“No, I understand. I do. I just, my God, all these years, all those times, all those emails…”
“Wait, what?” he asked. “What times, what emails?”
“I have always had a sense I was being watched. I’ve gotten emails, links to websites pretty much since the first day I moved away. Emails that I assumed were from weird fans of infamous crimes that had somehow gotten my email address. I’ve changed my email so often, I lost count, but somehow the emails continue. I don’t know how, and I was always sure it was someone new each time, that some new person who’d come across me and did some research found my email.”
“How many emails?”
“Enough. But there was never anything in the emails that made me think it was anything to take seriously.”
“And now?”
“Now? Now I am taking it very seriously. My God, this whole time...I think whoever sent those emails was the same person, not a bunch of random people, and whoever it is, has been watching me this whole time. Does that make me sound crazy?”
“Unfortunately, no. Man, what I wouldn’t give to think you were being paranoid.” He paused and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Go on upstairs and get some clothes on. I’m going to call this in.”
With a quick kiss to her temple and a hug, he moved toward her landline. The land line she kept in case of an emergency. This was an emergency to her. Her precarious world was crashing around her, and the solidly good mood she had woken up in was gone. Obliterated by a brick to her door on a beautiful and warm spring morning. The bastard knew. Somehow, he knew that she was happy. Much like he always knew her email, but how?
She had never changed her name, wasn’t willing to do that to hide from curious onlookers, because Devon Bristol died. Had he not died, well, she would have hidden herself very thoroughly. A chill raced up her spine as she thought about it, really thought about it. Terrified with the realization, she apprehensively looked up to the ceilings. Then even slower she looked down. She hoped like hell she was wrong. However, she knew she wasn’t wrong. Standing, frozen to the spot, she waited for Caleb to return from his phone call. When he returned to the entry, he seemed momentarily confused by her presence, and then a look of understanding crossed his face.
“Did you want me to go up with you when you get dressed? I’m sorry, that was inconsiderate of me. Come on…” When she didn’t move, he stopped and really looked at her. “Kara, what is it?”
“The timing was too coincidental,” she mumbled.
“It was. For all we know, he had planned this all along…”
“No. He knew. He knew I was with you. Somehow, someway, he figured it out. That we were making love. It makes sense.”
“Kara, honey, you aren’t making sense to me. What do you mean?”
“Can the detectives coming check my house?”
“For what?”
“Cameras.”
A few hours later, Kara was sitting, huddled under a throw blanket on her couch. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get her to move. She was frozen to the spot where she had sat down, and she was shivering. The signs of shock were obvious. As each room was checked and multiple cameras were found in each room, she had become quieter and more despondent.
He wanted to kick his own ass for not thinking of cameras. What the hell was he thinking? But then again, why would he have thought that the maniac they were looking for would have had the foresight to put cameras through her house before she got there, and how did he know she was moving back? Kara had been getting emails the whole time she had been away. Maybe the unsub had hacked into her computer and was able to see her emails and internet searches.
Caleb didn’t believe he could have gotten past the security system, but anything could be hacked. What worried him the most was that the person they were looking for had been able to follow her and get intel, like her email, without any issue whatsoever. This means whoever it was had to have a gift for hacking, which would mean he could have gotten into her house easily, but not with Samsonite here. Which meant that he had to have done it before she got here; there was no other possibility.
“Kara, they think they found all the cameras,” Caleb said softly, approaching her like she was a startled deer.
Kara continued to stare into space, trembling on the couch. And it was more than he could take.
“Damn it, Kara, look at me,” he said, physically shaking her.
The motion seemed to be enough, and she blinked long and then turned to look at him.
“Caleb?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m here, baby.”
“Can you hold me, just hold me?” she said as she broke into sobs.
He pulled her into his chest and hugged her tightly to him. She was still crying when his captain walked into her living room. He paused briefly, looking between the two of them. Normally, the Captain wouldn’t have showed up to this scene. But he had developed a soft spot for Kara. It was hard not to. Captain Bob Wickman also walked up to Kara like she was a startled deer and knelt on the ground in front of her, holding her hands.
“Kara. The department has all their resources on this case. I will not fail you like I failed Andrea.” His eyes stared intently into her eyes, and that was what really snapped her out of it.
“You didn’t fail Andrea. A monster killed her, a monster that we’re going to find and put down so he can’t hurt another woman again. I couldn’t put down Devon Bristol, but I sure as hell am going to find whoever is idolizing him. Whether it’s his partne
r or a random fan of his.” Squeezing his hands once, she stood up. “I need to make that statement now. I don’t think it is going to help us one bit because this is much bigger than I ever imagined. But I need to put it all down on paper.”
With that announcement, she went upstairs to her room. Caleb was about to follow her when Bob stopped him with a hand to his arm.
“Just a quick word.”
“Yeah, Cap?”
“I am not a fool. I see how you are looking at her and I see how she is relying on you. I’m not saying I have a problem with it. She needs someone like you. However, if I for one second get a whiff of your head not being in the game, I will pull you from this case. I know that we’re short right now with Ethan out and other cases to handle, but I will pull you. Understood?”
“Understood.” Caleb was about to leave and then turned and looked at his Captain. “But with all due respect, sir? There is no fucking way I will sit idly by if this case is still open and her life is in danger. He won’t hurt that woman any more than she has already been hurt; I love her too much to allow it. I want this bastard’s cold, dead heart in my hands. Understood?”
“Understood, we all do, so keep your mind on the task at hand.”
“No worries there.” Caleb looked toward the ceiling and made his way toward the stairs.
“Have you told her yet?” Bob paused and then continued when Caleb looked at him, confused. “That you love her?”
He hadn’t realized that he had admitted what had been building inside him from the moment he met Kara. A slow smile spread across his face.
“Not yet. But I will. The timing isn’t right.”
When he got to her room, she was standing in the center with a look of terror on her face.
“I can’t do it,” she said frantically.
“Do what?” he asked.
“Take a shower, get naked.” She took a breath. “I was tough down there, but when I got up here and thought, what if they missed a camera. Then what? The sick fuck will see me. It isn’t like he hasn’t seen me already. More than once. But I can’t let him see me again. He has ruined my new house for me. Fuck.”
“Kara, they got all the cameras. They even got the one in the toilet.”
“Toilet?” Her color got so pale that he worried she was about to faint. “He put one in the toilet?” Panic strained her features. “Who does that? Why?”
“To hold control over you. Sit down, head between your knees. You’re having a panic attack.”
“I-I know. I’ve had them before. So much for not being glass, huh?” she said between gasps for air.
“You aren’t glass. No one could weather all of this.” He knelt beside her, waiting for the panic to subside. “I say if you’re worried we missed a camera, let’s give him a real show. The only way to fight fire is with fire, and this creep wants to scare you. Don’t let the bastard win; show him he doesn’t scare you. You made him mad by making love to me. I say we continue making him mad until he messes up, and he will mess up. When he does, we’ll be there to bring him down.”
Caleb knew the moment he got through to her. She sat up straight, her breathing under control and looked him in the eye.
“I won’t let whoever is behind this do this to me. I won’t be a victim. I am a survivor, and he can go to hell.”
“That’s my girl!” He leaned forward and kissed her tenderly on the temple. “How about you take a shower and then we can go see Ethan.”
“Ethan?” she asked, clearly confused.
“You wanted to talk to him before making your statement.”
“Right.”
He stood up and pulled her to her feet. There was no way for him to stop himself from pulling her in for a hug. Again, he kissed the side of her head, breathing in her scent, trying to center himself. He held her to him, amazed at how she had become so important to him in such an incredibly short amount of time.
“If we didn’t have a full house downstairs, I’d make sure that if there was a camera left, we would give that bastard a real show.”
Shaking her head, she laughed quietly. His heart filled with the small victory of making her laugh. She made her way to his mouth and kissed him deeply, seemingly throwing everything into that one kiss, as if she wasn’t sure if it would be her last chance. That thought momentarily chilled him, but the heat racing straight to his groin crossed off the feeling of dread. Eventually, he had to gently push her away and send her to the shower, so he didn’t fulfill his earlier statement, to hell with the crowd downstairs. Hell, most of them were men and wouldn’t blame him, anyway. But now wasn’t the time for what the less-evolved portion of his body wanted to do.
Once she was safely in the shower, Caleb sunk to the bed, his shoulders drooped and his head in his hands. He had spent the last hours calming himself because he needed to be strong for Kara. But if he was being honest, and he was an honest man most of the time, he would admit that he was scared to death for her safety.
One thing was for certain, Caleb didn’t know what he would do if anything happened to her. He damn well knew that if this monster got a hold of her, he would be jumping out of his skin trying to find her. There was no way he could allow it. Which meant that he had to get his ass in gear and find this guy before someone else was hurt.
26
The drive to the hospital was a strained silence. Not quite awkward, just full of worry on her end, and she wasn’t missing the signs of worry on Caleb’s face. If she could smooth away those lines, she would. Maybe her walking away from him to spare him any pain would be what a better person would do.
Kara wasn’t a better person; there was just no way she was walking away from the man sitting next to her. He was everything she wanted and more. There was no way she could walk away from the person that had helped her start to open up and leave her past behind. Everything she wanted—no, needed—depended on finding the person who had been on a killing spree for at least ten years. Deep in thought, she didn’t realize they had pulled into the parking garage and that Caleb had turned the car off and turned to look at her.
“Ready?” he asked as he caressed the side of her face. She loved the feel of his fingers on her and unconsciously rubbed her face into his hand.
“Yes. It’s time I air it all out. Bad timing with Ethan in the hospital, but it needs to be done.”
They were just about to Ethan’s room when they ran smack into her parents. Numb to any further shock, she didn’t even bat an eyelash at the fact that they were there, in the hospital, apparently visiting Ethan. If they kept this up, they would visit Ethan more in two days than they had the whole time she was in the hospital.
Kara moved to go around them, and her mother’s hand shot out, wrapping around her upper arm. It was all Kara could do to hold herself back from lashing out at the woman who had raised her. Instinct is a strong thing, and her instinct was screaming at her to slap the woman right across her booted face, or at the very least, to slap her hand away. Instead, she stared her down and waited for her mother to speak.
“Your Father tells me you have been spouting off a bunch of drivel again. I needn’t warn you about spreading rumors that have no merit, do I?” Constance wore a smug expression on her face, and Kara wanted nothing more than to wipe it right off.
“I wouldn’t dream of spreading rumors that have no merit.” When her mother began to smile, Kara continued. “Don’t smile just yet, wouldn’t want your lovely face you paid for to wrinkle; I wasn’t done speaking. You see, these ‘rumors.’ as you like to call them, have much more than merit behind them, they have truth. So, do us all a favor, and spare me your disgusting attempts at threats. I am older and much wiser than I used to be. And like I told the man you married and call my father, a day of reckoning is coming; it would do you good to get out of my way. Right. Now.”
With that final statement, Kara tugged her arm out of her mother’s hand and walked down the hall to Ethan’s room, Caleb’s hand pressed firmly to her lower back. When
they walked into the room, she was stunned to see Ethan sitting up, eating Jell-O and smiling one of his most charming smiles at one of the nurses.
“Ethan!” Her face broke out in a genuine smile. Seeing him sitting up and eating was like a dream come true!
“Hey!”
As quickly as the smile had taken over her face, it faded. She wasn’t here for a happy reason, and now that she saw he was doing better than expected, she hated to set him back in any way. Yet, she knew it was time that she told Ethan everything and that he could handle what she had to say.
Ethan looked to Kara with concern in his eyes and a silent question of are you all right. And she knew the exact moment that he figured out why she was there. Ashamed, she looked to the ground. When she looked back up at him, realization and relief registered on his face.
“Kara, are you ready to tell me what happened that night?”
Caleb stood close behind her, so close that she could breathe in his scent. Somehow, he knew that his proximity to her would be something that she could use to stand tall and look her brother in the eye. Today would be the hardest day in her life, even over the abduction and repeated rapes. Today would be the day she would disappoint the one person that had been there for her through it all.
“I-I’m sorry, Ethan.”
“Sorry for what?” He was going to make her say it. And she got angry, not at him, not at herself for feeling so weak suddenly, but angry at her parents all over again. She knew while behind her Caleb was there to support her because she could sense it in his body language when he came to stand beside her. But even though he was there to hold her up, to protect her, this would still be a hard conversation to have.
“Ethan, Kara is going to go down and make a statement this morning. She wanted to talk to you first, though.”
“It’s time I told you both everything I know. Time I let some of the demons rest. Jenkins and Byrnes gave our father all the evidence from the investigation, and I watched him burn it all in the fireplace of his office. He didn’t even look at the paper that was in the file before he set it on fire. But the reason I left that November isn’t solely because of Jenkins and Byrnes and our father paying them off. That had something to do with it though because, from the moment I heard father asking his goons if the job was done, I knew something else was up. Their behavior was off, even for them. There shouldn’t have been a reason for him to want the evidence destroyed: Devon Bristol was dead, easy as cases could go, completely open-and-shut case. Or was it? Something else had to be going on. I didn’t find out that my instinct was right until that night.”
In the Night (Darkness Falls Book 1) Page 21
