by Lisa Gardner
His brother was waiting with a saucepan to heat broth.
They fed their mother wordlessly. Didn’t take a drop for themselves, but spooned beef bouillon past her bloodless lips, while tearing up chunks of stale bread. Finally she sighed, and he thought the worst had passed.
“He’s gone, Mama,” he heard himself say. “Things will be better now. You’ll see.”
And then her bloodless face came up. Her lifeless eyes turned vibrant, snapping blue, and her cheeks filled with a color that was frightening to behold.
“Better? Better? You ungrateful little bastard! He put a roof over your head, he put food on the table. And what did he ever ask for in return? A little respect from his wife and kids? Was that too much, Frank? Was that really too goddamn much?”
“No, Mama,” he tried to say, already frantically backing up from the table. His nervous gaze darted to his equally nervous brother. They had never seen her like this.
She rose from the table, too pale, too thin, too bony, and stalked her older son across the room.
“We have no food!”
“I know, Mama—”
“We have no money!”
“I know, Mama—”
“We will lose this house.”
“No, Mama!”
But she would not be placated; closer she came and closer. And now he had backed up all the way across the room, his shoulders pressed against the wall.
“You are a bad boy, you are a filthy boy, you are a rotten, ungrateful, selfish little boy. What did I ever do to deserve a boy as bad as you!”
His brother was weeping. The broth grew cold on the table. And the man-child realized now that there truly was no escape. His father had gone. A new monster had already arisen to take his place.
The boy lowered his hands. He exposed his face. The first blow didn’t even feel that bad, nothing like his father’s. But his mother learned very quickly.
And he did nothing. He kept his hands at his sides. He let his mother beat him. Then he slid down, down, down to the hot, dusty floor while his mother went to get his father’s belt.
“Run away,” he told his brother. “Run now, while you still can.”
But his brother was too terrified to move. And his mother was back soon enough, snapping the strip of leather through the air, and already getting a feel for its cutting hiss.
The man woke up harshly. His breathing was ragged, his eyes were wild. Where was he? What had happened? For a moment, he thought the black void had taken over completely. Then he got his bearings.
He was standing in the middle of a room. And in his hands, he held a box of matches, the first match already clutched between his fingers …
The man gently laid the matches back on the table. Then he quickly stepped away, grabbing at his head and trying to tell himself he wasn’t yet insane.
He needed aspirin. He needed water, he needed something far more potent than that. Not yet, not yet, no time. His fingers clawed his rough-shaven cheeks, sinking into his temples as if through sheer force of will he could keep his skull from shattering apart.
He had to hold it together. Not much longer. Not much more time.
Helplessly, he found himself staring at the matches again. And then he knew what he must do. He retrieved the box from the table. He held the precious sticks in the palm of his hand, and he thought of things he had not thought of in a long, long time.
He thought of fire. He thought that all things of beauty must die. And then he allowed himself to remember that day in the cabin, and what had happened next.
CHAPTER 43
Lee County, Virginia
1:24 A.M.
Temperature: 94 degrees
“This is the most irresponsible handling of a case I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s inappropriate and, frankly, it’s goddamn criminal! We lose this man, Quincy, and I swear to God I will spend the next two years making your life a living hell. I want you off this property as fast as you can drive. And don’t bother heading back to Quantico. I know about your little chats with Special Agents Kaplan and Ennunzio. So much as step one foot onto Academy grounds, and I’ll have you arrested at the gate. Your work on this case is over. As far as I’m concerned, your whole fucking career is over. Now get out of my sight.”
Special Agent Harkoos finally wrapped up his tirade and stormed away. His navy-blue blazer hung limply in the heavy heat. His face, covered in sweat before he’d started yelling, was dripping. In other words, he looked about the same as the other FBI agents now swarming the abandoned sawmill.
“I don’t think he likes you much,” Rainie said to Quincy.
He turned toward her. “Be honest with me. Do I look that ridiculous in a navy blue suit?”
“Most of the time.”
“Huh. The things you learn thirty years too late.”
They started walking toward their car. Their light tones fooled neither of them. Harkoos’s dressing-down had been thorough and honest. They were fired from the case, banned from the Academy, and once word of this disaster spread, probably finished as consultants in the tight, incestuous world of high-profile law enforcement investigations. Reputations were built in a lifetime, but ruined in only a matter of minutes.
Quincy had a hollow, sick feeling in his stomach, one he hadn’t had in ages.
“When we catch the Eco-Killer, they’ll quickly forget about this,” Rainie offered.
“Perhaps.”
“Irresponsible is only irresponsible if you fail. Succeed, however, and irresponsible quickly becomes merely unorthodox.”
“True.”
“Quincy, those guys had the same body and same evidence we did last night, and they weren’t even in the area when you gave them a call. Frankly, if we hadn’t gone off the deep end, that girl would still be floating in a cavern, and the fourth victim would be no closer to discovery. Harkoos is just mad because you beat him to the punch. There’s nothing more embarrassing than being upstaged, especially by a bunch of outsiders.”
Quincy stopped walking. “I’m sick of this,” he said abruptly.
“Politics is never fun.”
“No! I don’t mean this damn case. Fuck this case. You’re absolutely right. Failure today, hero tomorrow. It’s always changing and none of it means a thing.”
Rainie had stopped moving completely. He could see her pale face in the thin moonlight. He rarely swore, and the fact that he was driven to it now had her both fascinated and frightened.
“I don’t want things to be like this between us, Rainie.”
Her expression faltered. She looked down at the ground. “I know.”
“You are the best thing that ever happened to me, and if I don’t tell you that enough, then I am a total idiot.”
“You’re not a total idiot.”
“I don’t know about kids. I’ll be honest: the very thought scares me to death. I was not a great father, Rainie. I’m still not a great father. But I am willing to talk about it. If this is what you really, truly want, then I can at least explore the notion.”
“I want.”
“All right, then you have to be honest with me. Is it only kids you want? Because I tried … I thought … Rainie, each time I’ve asked you to marry me, why have you never said yes?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Because I thought you’d never stop asking. You’re not the idiot, Quincy. It’s me.”
He felt the world spin again. He had thought … Had been so sure … “Does that mean …”
“You think you’re scared of kids? Hell, Quince, I’m scared of everything. I’m scared of commitment and I’m scared of responsibility. I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you and I’m afraid one day I’ll physically harm my child. We all get a little older, but we never completely outgrow our past. And mine is looming behind me now, this big giant shadow I want so desperately to leave behind.”
“Oh, Rainie …”
“I tell myself to be happy with what I’ve got. You, me, this is a good gig, better than anythin
g I thought I’d have. And we do important work and meet important people, and hey, that’s not bad for a woman who used to be a human punching bag. But … but I get so restless now. Maybe happiness is like a drug. You get a little, then you want a lot. I don’t know, Quincy. I want so badly not to want so much, but I think I can’t help it anymore. I want more you. I want more me. I want … kids and white picket fences and maybe tea cozies, except I’m not sure I know what a tea cozy is. Maybe you’re frightened. But I’m pretty sure I’ve lost my mind.”
“Rainie, you are the strongest, bravest woman I know.”
“Oh, you’re just saying that so I don’t whoop your ass.”
She kicked at the ground in disgust, and Quincy finally smiled. It amazed him how much better he already felt. The world had righted. His hands had steadied. It was as if a crushing weight he didn’t even know he’d been carrying had suddenly been lifted off his chest.
This was not the time, he knew. This was not the place. But then he’d spent too much of his life waiting for perfect moments that had never come. And he knew better than most how fleeting opportunity could be. Life gave, but life also took away. He was older, wiser, and he didn’t want any more regrets.
He went down on his knee, a crush of dirt and pine needles staining his suit. He took hold of Rainie’s hands. She was crying openly now, tears streaming down her face, but she didn’t pull away.
“Grow old with me, Rainie,” he whispered. “We’ll adopt some children. We’ll cut back on cases, create a home, then do the fashionable thing and write our memoirs. I’ll be terrified. You can help show me the way.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be a good mother!”
“We’ll learn together.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be a good wife!”
“Rainie, I just need you to be you. And then I’m the happiest man in the world.”
“Oh for God’s sake, get up off the dirt.” But she was clasping his hands with both of hers now, and crying harder, and since he wouldn’t get up, she sank down to the ground with him. “We have to talk more.”
“I know.”
“I mean about something other than work!”
“I understand that, too.”
“And you have to tell me when you’re frightened, Quincy. I can’t stand it when you pull away.”
“I’ll try.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
She sniffed. “I mean, better than okay. I mean yes, I’ll marry you. What the hell. If we can catch a few killers, we oughtta be able to figure out this domestic thing.”
“You would think so,” Quincy agreed. He pulled her closer, wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He could feel her trembling now and understood for the first time that she was as nervous as he. It gave him strength. You didn’t have to know all the answers. You just had to be brave enough to try.
“I love you, Rainie,” he whispered in her ear.
“I love you, too.”
She gripped him tighter and he kissed all the tears from her face.
The call came almost an hour later. They had made it back to I-81 and were heading north, seeking a more populated Virginia. They had both turned on their cell phones. No reason to dodge the FBI anymore and Quincy wanted to be ready when Kimberly and Mac had new information.
The caller wasn’t Kimberly, however. It was Kaplan.
“I have some news from the name game,” the special agent said.
“It’s only fair to tell you, we’ve been officially removed from the case,” Quincy replied.
“Well then, you didn’t hear this from me. But I’ve had my people scouring every contractor with ties to Georgia in the past ten years. Good news, we got a few hits. Bad news, none of them panned out. Better news, then I expanded the search.”
“Expanded?”
“I started looking at everyone on the whole damn base. Now we got lots of hits, but I thought there was one you should know about right away. Dr. Ennunzio. The linguist.”
“He used to live in Georgia?”
“Worked there. A high-profile string of kidnappings that had him flying in and out of Atlanta for a good three years. Say ’ninety-eight to two thousand. Which would be …”
“The same time the Eco-Killer started up his game. Dammit.” Quincy smacked the wheel. He already had Kaplan on the phone, so he turned to Rainie. “Quick, dial Kimberly! Tell her it’s Ennunzio, and get Nora Ray away from him quick!”
Kimberly wasn’t sleeping. Sleeping would be the smart thing to do. Recharge while she had a chance. Catch some desperately needed shut-eye. But she didn’t sleep.
She was tracing lines on Mac’s bronzed shoulder with her index finger. Then she ran her fingers through the light smattering of hair on his chest. She couldn’t get over the feel of him, his skin like warm satin to the touch.
He snored. She’d learned that right away. He was also unbearably hot and heavy. Twice he’d flung his large frame over, tossing one arm across her chest or over her hip in a highly proprietary manner. She thought she should break him of that habit, while finding it secretly endearing.
And then she suspected she was experiencing the same downward slide she’d witnessed in other women—they started out strong and independent with firm beliefs on how to manage men, then caved like spun sugar when Tall, Dark, and Handsome crooked his little finger.
Well, she wasn’t going to cave, she decided. Not totally, anyway. She was going to demand her own side of the bed. Space where she could sprawl comfortably and sleep. Just as soon as she stopped tracing the ripple of his triceps, or the hard line of his jaw …
Now her fingers wandered down to his hip and were rewarded by a growing length against the juncture of her thighs.
Her phone rang. Her hand stilled. She swore a word nice young women probably weren’t supposed to use in bed. Then she was frantically trying to kick off the tangle of sheets.
“I fucking hate cell phones,” Mac said clearly.
“Cheater! You were awake.”
“Delightfully so. Wanna punish me? I could use a good spanking.”
“This had better be good,” Kimberly declared, “or I’ll break every microchip in this damn phone.”
But they already knew it would be urgent. Given the early morning hour, it was probably Ray Lee Chee with news on the fourth victim. They’d had their reprieve. Now, time was up.
Kimberly flipped open the phone, already expecting the worst, and then was genuinely startled to hear Rainie’s voice on the other end of the line.
“It’s Ennunzio!” she said without preamble. “Where the hell are you?”
Kimberly rattled off the name of the motel and the exit number, still in shock.
“Get him secured,” Rainie was saying. “We’re on our way. And Kimberly—take care of Nora Ray.”
The phone went click. Mac and Kimberly scrambled for clothes.
Dark out. Very hot. They pressed against the wall of the motel, working their way down to Ennunzio’s room with weapons drawn and faces tense. They came to Nora Ray’s room first. Kimberly knocked. No answer.
“Deep sleeper,” Mac murmured.
“Don’t we both wish.”
They cut across the parking lot, moving now with anxious speed. Ennunzio’s room was in the other wing of the L-shaped building. Door closed. Lights off. Kimberly pressed her ear against the door and listened. First nothing. Then, the sudden, crashing sound of furniture—or a body—being thrown around the room.
“Go, go, go!” Kimberly cried.
Mac heaved up a leg and kicked in the cheap wooden door. It snapped back, caught on the chain. He gave it one more thunderous whack, and the door ricocheted into the wall.
“Police, freeze!”
“Nora Ray, where are you?”
Kimberly and Mac rolled into the room, one taking high, another taking low. In the next instant, Kimberly’s groping fingers snapped on the light.
In front of them, two people were clearly involved in a st
ruggle. Chairs had been tossed, the bed destroyed, the TV toppled. But it was not Dr. Ennunzio bearing down on a frightened girl. It was Nora Ray who had the special agent, clad in just a pair of boxers, backed into a corner. Now she loomed over him, brandishing a giant, gleaming needle.
“Nora Ray!” Kimberly said in shock.
“He killed my sister.”
“It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me. I swear to God!” Ennunzio pressed harder against the wall. “I think … I think it was my brother.”
CHAPTER 44
Wytheville, Virginia
3:24 A.M.
Temperature: 94 degrees
“You have to understand, I don’t think he’s well.”
“Your brother may have kidnapped and killed over ten women. Being not well is the least of his problems!”
“I don’t think he meant to hurt them—”
“Holy shit!” Mac drew up short. He was looming above Ennunzio, who was now slumped on the edge of his bed. Quincy and Rainie had arrived and guarded the door, while in the right-hand corner, Kimberly kept watch over Nora Ray. Kimberly had taken the girl’s needle away. Hostility in the small room, however, remained sky-high. “You’re the caller!”
Ennunzio bowed his head.
“What the hell? You’ve been playing me from the start!”
“I was not trying to play you. I’ve been trying to help—”
“You said the caller might be the killer. What was that all about?”
“I wanted you to take the calls more seriously. Honest to God, I’ve been trying very hard to assist, I just don’t know much myself.”
“You could’ve given me your brother’s name.”
“It wouldn’t have done you any good. Frank Ennunzio doesn’t exist. However he’s living now, it’s under an assumed name. Please, you have to understand, I haven’t actually spoken to my brother in over thirty years.”
That brought them all to attention. Mac frowned, not liking this newest bit of news. He crossed his arms over his chest and started to pace the tiny room.
