Jayden Roe Mystery 02-The Final Lie

by Lily Campbell

  Keira breathed a laugh. “No, but Ruby here wanted you informed.”

  Jay felt a wave of relief wash over him and felt an idea take hold. “Put me on speaker.”

  “Already done,” Keira said.

  “I don’t have time to explain, but would you guys be willing to take on a pair of guests?”

  “You mean Hector and Natalie. They’re alive?” Ruby asked.

  “Of course. So?”

  “We’ll do it. Is, er, Keira going to stay?”

  “I'd like her to,” Jay said, hoping she wasn’t going to fight the point.

  “Good. Send them our way.”

  Jay thanked them and switched back to Elliot’s call, only to hear the man trying to calm a raging Hector who was trying to find out exactly what Jay’s orders had been.

  “Enough!” he finally yelled, after a few attempts to break through more politely failed. “Elliot, get in touch with your cousin. She’ll give you the details. And you two, please just trust him and say nothing to anyone. You’ll understand when you get there. Once you are safe, Elliot, you can tell them my orders and my plan.”

  Hector muttered an oath, but Natalie’s voice was firm. “We’ll do as you ask, Jay, but if Elliot’s explanation isn’t good enough, I’ll not be stopped from letting my family know that I am safe.”

  Jay chuckled. “I understand.”

  The call disconnected, and Jay turned back to Gary. He felt his heart fall out through his feet. Gary Peters was nowhere in sight.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Stella forced her body to remain floppy. She had decided to try pretending to faint and then not rousing the next time her captor came to visit. She didn’t know how long had passed or where Miranda might be now, but if it got her out of these chains and this room, it would all be worth it.

  “Is she serious?” she heard a male voice chuckle. It sounded vaguely familiar, but she didn’t try to figure it out as she was deposited by the two silent people who had carried her out of the room.

  Now she heard the female voice that belonged to the woman who always injected her. “Looks like it. Wouldn’t have bothered, but you said you wanted to talk, so…”

  Stella turned her mind from their conversation as the man laughed, seeming entirely at ease. She opened her eyes a tiny fraction. She seemed to be in a living room of sorts, sparsely furnished. The edges of the window were dark, making her think it must be night outside.

  Good. The cover of darkness might give me the upper hand.

  She felt adrenaline light her blood anew. There was a doorway to the left of the dark window. By the light from this room, it seemed to give into a dark kitchen, hopefully with a back door.

  Stella knew she’d only get one chance. She was too weak to outrun or fend off anyone, so her best chance was to wait for their guard to be down and then try and get out.

  The man chuckled again then seemed to breathe out a heavy sigh. “You two can wait outside, but stay close, I’ll need you to take her back once her little game is over.”

  Stella felt ice flood her veins. A desperate part of her mind hoped his words had not been about her.

  Two sets of footsteps retreated in the direction her head was pointing and the distant sound of a door opening and closing met her ears.

  “You going to stop faking yet, Ms. Haraby?”

  Stella felt her breathing stutter, but didn’t dare move. Her mind raced to come up with a new plan. She was still out of that underground room and no longer in chains. She had to try and make this work.

  “Looks like they’re matched in stubbornness,” said the woman.

  “Turn her around. It might motivate her to stop wasting my time.”

  Stella stayed floppy as she was seized by the ankles and spun on the hardwood floor until she was facing the other way.

  All that was visible in the thin line of sight she was allowing herself was a wall of glass. It looks like a floor-to-ceiling fish tank, but this one did not hold anything other than water. To either side was a closed door.

  “Very well. Stay lying on the floor. I know you’re still harboring thoughts about trying to escape me, so I wanted to make a few things plain. My game is about to hit the final stretch, and I can afford no mistakes.”

  Stella heard the voice, cold, calm, and utterly uncaring.

  “Keep your eyes on that tank. Your companion has reached the end of her stay, and I would like to demonstrate the only way anyone leaves my cells. Fetch her.”

  Stella watched the woman’s feet step over her and the door to the left of the tank was opened. The smell of blood drifted over her face as the woman reached inside and pulled something out on wheels.

  Shock overrode all else, and Stella felt her eyes go wide. Miranda Williams was strapped to a metal gurney that held her upright as if she were standing. She was entirely naked, and her body bore the marks of torture on every inch.

  “Ah, see now? Isn’t it better with your eyes all the way open?”

  Stella cringed automatically at the sound of the voice, but couldn’t tear her eyes from Miranda. Though limp, her chest was still rising and falling in a steady motion. The woman, still dressed head-to-toe in black, shifted her head to look at the man behind Stella. He must have given some silent command because she then nodded and moved toward the other door.

  Stella finally gave up on any chance of escape. She tried to move, but her arms shook with fear and fatigue and only managed to push herself halfway up.

  She watched in helpless horror as the gurney was directed into the next doorway and fitted onto another machine just beyond the door. The woman stood back and the man moved to crouch by Stella’s head.

  He, too, was dressed head-to-toe in black, but in his hands was a small control. He tilted his head as she looked at him, her eyes wide with fear.

  “Are you watching?”

  He pressed a button. Stella’s head immediately swiveled back to the tank where the gurney was now being raised by a lift. There was a pause then the mechanical whirring began again and the gurney disappeared from sight.

  “Ready?”

  There was a soft click followed by more whirring. The gurney appeared again, but this time slowly descending into the water of the tank. Stella couldn’t seem to control her movements. She wanted to look away, to shut her eyes, but nothing was responding. Miranda’s head went below the surface, and for a few seconds nothing seemed to happen. Suddenly, her eyes flew open, and her body began to jerk, a short, desperate fight for oxygen.

  Stella watched the body fall limp and felt primal fire flood her body. As he pressed the button to raise the gurney and its corpse, she pushed off the floor and ran for the kitchen.

  Her hand closed on the handle to the back door when a fist collided with the side of her head with enough force to send it ricocheting off the cabinet beside the door.

  She snatched with her hands, scratching and clawing at his arms and anything else she could as her vision wavered.

  She was hit again and felt her knees collide with the floor. Her vision swam, but she still made a feral snatch at his head as he bent to her level. He caught her wrist and twisted until the bones splintered.

  Stella screamed and the man laughed, removing his mask. She tried to bring his face into view as her vision darkened. All she was able to make out was a broad smile, a smile she had seen before, and the knowledge made her blood run cold as darkness swallowed her.

  ***

  Jayden took several steadying breaths. He couldn’t simply chase after Gary Peters. That would ruin all his plans to come and see the man in secret. No one could know that they had spoken.

  Of course, Gary might already be blabbing on the phone to Lloyd.

  Jay shook his head. If that were true, then he had to find a way to offer his surrender as Gary had suggested. At that point, whoever was playing this game would know he had tried to cheat, and he felt certain that they would not take the infraction lightly.

  Jay jumped as his phone rang again a
nd answered it without looking.

  “Jay? Where the hell are you?”

  Jay frowned at the near-panic in Dave’s voice. “I told you I was going out. Weren’t you also meant to go out to view the last few houses?”

  He heard Dave curse. “I was on my way to the next one when I heard the news, then I spotted activity at the edge of Hoggs Bayou.”

  “Activity?”

  “The police, or at least the sheriff and two officers. I tried ringing your phone, but it said busy. I phoned the hotel to send you a message and they said you’d never come back.”

  Jay began walking. “I still don't see how that made you afraid.”

  There was a long pause. When Dave’s voice came back, it had dropped to a low whisper. “They found a body. I can’t see much from here, but they’re wheeling it up now.”

  Jay stumbled half a step, but tried to keep his voice level. “And you thought it might be me? Isn’t it more likely to be another of the serial killer’s victims?”

  There was a long pause. “You’re right. I suppose after I heard the news coming out of Natchitoches… I’m sorry.”

  Jay stopped in the act of reaching for his car door. “Last I heard, there’d been no victims.”

  He heard Dave heave a sigh. “They found two bodies.”

  Jay tilted his head to the side. Was Dave apologizing because he felt Jay might have known them or because he had guessed who the intended targets were supposed to be?

  “Never mind that,” Jay told Dave. “I’m coming to Hoggs Bayou—”

  “No need. They’re leaving. Meet me back at the hotel. We can track their secret log.”

  The phone went dead, and Jay stared at it for a moment. Dave had really come out of his shell, scolding him and ordering him about. The slight anger this caused vanished almost immediately. It was his own fault for not letting Dave in on his plan. Like with Ruby before, he felt that if only he and Gary knew, then there was only one possible weak link.

  Sighing at how paranoid this sick game was leaving him, he got in his car. He needed to either find out where Stella was being held and whoever was running the show, do it fast or he would go insane.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  “Any luck?” Jay asked, coming into the hotel room and spotting Dave already on his laptop.

  Dave threw him a cursory wave, stroked a few more keys then finally turned around. “There’s nothing in the system yet, but I suppose that is to be expected as they’ll be wanting this hushed up.”

  “You sound certain that it is another victim.”

  “As you pointed out, that is the most likely option. Plus the fact that they left before me but there is still no above board update.”

  Jay nodded then winced as his headache spiked.

  The body can’t be Stella’s. It can’t. Otherwise the game would be over.

  He refused to accept that he might have been wrong. Even Dave had agreed that the leads in Salisbury had been too targeted to be coincidence.

  “Are you okay?” Dave asked, tilting his head to take Jay in.

  Jay stopped rubbing his temples and sighed. “I feel like I had a rough night, but I can’t remember waking even once.”

  Dave’s lips twitched. “By the snoring, I can attest that you slept like the dead. But here,” he turned and reached into his backpack. “This might help.”

  Jay stepped forward to take the headache tablets and glanced at Dave’s arm, where a long scratch stood out. “What happened to you?”

  Dave’s eyes darted down and he shrugged. “Got too careless. Didn’t realize Hoggs Bayou would have such vicious plants.”

  Jay tried to laugh, but the worry over the identity of the corpse was smothering.

  Dave stood and gripped his shoulder, waiting for Jay to look up. “It won’t be her. She’s the chip that is keeping you playing, too valuable to be tossed away.”

  Jay let out a sigh. “And if this isn’t some game aimed at me?”

  “You mean if you got that wrong? But then I’d have had to be wrong too, and I refuse to believe that,” he said with such a convincing air of self-importance that Jay felt a laugh bubble past his lips.

  “Thanks,” he muttered, feeling the weight ease a little. “I just wish I understood what they might want.”

  Dave released his shoulder and moved back to sit at the computer. “I’m certain you’ll get there.”

  Jay moved back towards his own work space. “Don’t you mean we?”

  Dave cast him a sidelong glance and a smile. “No. If this is personal to you, then only you can figure out what the goal is meant to be.”

  Jay shook his head in defeat and powered up his computer. Behind him, he heard Dave begin typing again. “Has something come in?”

  “No. I don’t like being idle. I’m sorting through Lloyd’s people. He seems to have quite a collection of the sort of heartless mercenaries that are great for dirty work..”

  Jay kept his eyes on his own computer but mind whirring. Thugs like those would easily have been able to carry out the attacks in Salisbury, Washington and Natchitoches, but they could never have been the master minds.

  Neither could Lloyd.

  Jay thought of the USB Gary had vanished with and hoped that the man was not now sharing its contents with Lloyd. For all that Dave’s words had made it sound like Lloyd was the head, Jay knew he wasn’t. Whoever was behind this was smart enough to keep one pace ahead of him, while neatly planning for and tying off all steps so that there was no way back. Lloyd didn’t have that ability.

  For once in your life, Gary, don’t be an idiot.

  If Gary Peters looked at the information alone and verified it carefully and secretly, Jay was certain the man would find him again.

  If not… “Do you think he’ll accept my surrender in exchange for Stella?” Jay asked in the silent room.

  Dave knocked something over, and Jay turned in time to see him looking entirely adrift. “Excuse me?”

  Jay sighed, deciding he may as well finish now that the thought had burst out of him. “Whoever is playing this game. If it is me they want, do you think they’d accept my surrender for Stella?”

  Dave held his gaze a long moment and then sighed. “No.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you aren’t the kind to surrender. This has been targeted enough that you cannot believe that they do not know that about you? As such, they would never believe it.”

  “Then how do we get her out alive?”

  Something fluttered behind Dave’s eyes. Jay watched the other man look away and realized that he didn’t think there was much chance of that outcome.

  Jay shook off the crushing feeling. “You’re right. I’m not the sort to surrender. I think that I just need to clear my head. Maybe I’ll start jogging or something.”

  Dave drew in a sharp breath. “We have movement.”

  Jay shot out of his chair and was beside Dave in moments. He met the green-blue gaze and they both turned back to the screen where the secret log of Carthage police department had been accessed.

  “Whose access code was used?” They watched the screen intently, waiting for whatever file they were loading to drop.

  “The sheriff’s.”

  “You memorize them?”

  Dave shrugged. “My mind kind of does that on its own.”

  Jay smiled at the half smothered pride in the other man’s voice. It seemed Dave was starting to believe in his own self-worth.

  The first thing to appear on their screen was a photograph. Jay felt his stomach clench as blond hair appeared. The distorted features of someone who had drowned violently followed. He looked away as the rest of the naked body appeared, beaten and broken.

  “Christ.”

  Dave also turned away, but his face was determined. “I think that’s Miranda Williams.”

  Jay half choked. “But the hair—”

  “Might have been dyed. Yes, look at this.”

  Dave hit a few keys and split the screen,
keeping up the sheriff's photo and bringing up a tabloid image of a very drunk Miranda Williams. Even with the distortion, the resemblance was clear.

  Jay swore again as his mind raced. “As we’ve been chasing Stella’s leads, then that confirms our suspicions that whoever took Miranda also took Stella.”

  “Yes. It also confirms what you told Ms. Carmichael. That they might have both been taken. though only one was the intended target.”

  Jay raised his eyes to the screen as another document landed. Dave closed the tabloid image and devoted the screen entirely to their piggy-back into the police’s hidden mainframe.

  “Looks like they agree,”

  Jay frowned. “But how? They couldn’t possibly have run an ID so fast, especially without letting the wrong people hear about it.”

  “Maybe she had an ID on her?” Dave ventured as he scrolled through the report, ticking off notes on his notepad.

  Jay cast a glance over the handwritten list. He felt his breath catch even though it hadn’t been unexpected. The list covered the main points that seemed to define this serial killer’s chosen target. Everything matched. The age, race, physical attributes.

  “What is your next move?” Dave asked, looking up from his list to Jay.

  Jay met the gaze steadily. “We need to find out if Miranda was a natural blond or had dark hair. Then I want to see if any of the other victims had had their hair dyed.”

  Dave half smiled. “I see. You think that if Miranda was taken because of Stella, the killer might have tried to make her more palatable?”

  Jay felt his eyes narrow. “That is one possibility. If not, then why not just kill her another way, or dump her body elsewhere. Look at the marks. They look the same as the other victims. This is the sort of ritualistic stuff that defines serial killers.”

  “So if he wasn’t making her fit the pattern to make killing her more satisfying, what else could he have dyed her hair for?”

  “To remind me he still has Stella,” Jay replied, eyes losing focus as he thought. “He knows we’ve closed in, and this is a reminder to not do anything rash.”