Skin

by Patricia Rosemoor

  Disappointed.

  At least he had the one he really wanted. A real challenge for once. He would take her to the forest preserve and get rid of the sister and girl later.

  oOo

  PUCINSKI WAS driving with lights and sirens flashing, DeSalvo and uniformed backup spread out a short distance behind him. He navigated straight through a red light at an intersection and narrowly missed a jerk who wasn’t paying attention. Pissed him off good. He’d like to give the careless bastard a ticket but couldn’t stop.

  “Can’t you go any faster?” Wyndham urged. “We’re already more than ten minutes behind Lilith.”

  “I’d fly if I could; believe me. Settle down. We’ll be there in two minutes.”

  Wyndham was near basket-casenervous over the Mitchell woman. Apparently, she’d gotten to him good. Pucinski wondered how exactly that had happened under the circumstances

  “Interesting how this all turned out,” he mused. “You were one of our chief persons of interest.”

  “If so, why are we going after O’Malley just on Lilith’s word?”

  “Something I should have picked up on earlier, if I hadn’t been so worried about Carrie... Caresse... Officer Walker. Why did Lilith Mitchell think O’Malley was involved in the investigation unless he made her believe that?”

  “Your undercover officer never suspected him?”

  “She did identify O’Malley as a person of interest, but only as a customer in the club night after night.”

  “I don’t understand,” Wyndham said. “O’Malley is a cop. Why is he doing this? What the hell is his motive?”

  Pucinski didn’t know why he hadn’t put it all together before, other than you didn’t usually suspect someone on the job, at least not in a vile case like this.

  He said, “O’Malley’s ex-wife, who happens to be alive, is the motive. She blew the whistle on him about his brutality issue after he made his last arrest. He’d been abusing her for years, and she knew what he was doing on the job. He finally pushed her too far. Her deposition got him suspended, then reassigned as a paper pusher while he was working on his anger management. He needed a psych evaluation to clear him, to get him off desk duty. In the meantime, the wife left him and got full custody of his kids.”

  “And he’s one of our finest.”

  “Don’t equate him with everyone else on the job!” Pucinski snapped. “Most of us eat out our guts trying to bring fucks like this one in.”

  He could use a swig of Pepto-Bismol now.

  Approaching the side street where he would turn, Pucinski cut his siren and flashing lights. He’d already cautioned backup to do the same. He hit the intersection, From the address, he knew the building was on the next block. Plenty of parking. He pulled to the curb and got out in tandem with Wyndham. The building was numbered. This was it, but it was dark. Shuttered tight as far as he could tell.

  Abandoned.

  “What are we waiting for?” Wyndham asked.

  “Keep your shorts on.” He nodded to the car pulling up behind his. A patrol car was coming down the street. And he could see a second patrol car turning in from the main artery. “That’s what I was waiting for. Backup.”

  DeSalvo was out of his car before the squad pulled up. “What’s the plan?”

  “We circle the building, don’t leave an opening in case he’s still inside. I want the others in place near any other doors before we go in.”

  “I’m going with you,” Wyndham said.

  “You’re staying out here at the curb until I say otherwise.”

  “But Lilith–”

  “Is in better hands than yours for the moment. You make a wrong move, and she’s dead.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Wyndham stepped down.

  Pucinski figured he’d been watching too many movies with average Joes turning into heroes. Real life didn’t work like that.

  Seconds later, Pucinski was surrounded by officers and gave them their orders. Then with a last glance at a very frustrated Wyndham who stood sour-faced at the curb as ordered, he and DeSalvo headed down the drive alongside the building. They found a door with a metal hasp and lock.

  “I’m gonna bet this lock in place means he’s already long gone,” Pucinski said in a low voice.

  The lock was rusty, and Pucinski broke it open with the butt of his flashlight. Guns and lights aimed together with two hands, he and DeSalvo went inside. Steps just inside led downward to the basement.

  His gut knotting, Pucinski stopped for a minute to collect himself. He’d seen all kinds of things working homicide. For once he was hoping for something better than he expected.

  “What are we waiting for?” DeSalvo was practically on top of him, agitating to get down there.

  A faint light shone from below.

  Did that mean O’Malley was still down there, after all?

  Snapping off his flashlight, Pucinski nodded to the younger cop to do the same and then moved. Adrenaline shooting through him, he had to hold himself back from running to the basement, gun blazing. He carefully took the last steps and looked around.

  A girl handcuffed to a radiator turned his way, looking frightened through a swollen mask of bruises and blood. The way she was dressed, this had to be Carmen, but he didn’t think even her parents would recognize the poor kid the way she looked now.

  He put a finger to his lips but she cried, “Not ’ere! Took Lilith, an’ I think ’e’s going to kill ’er!”

  “Unlock that handcuff,” he told DeSalvo as he went to the girl who lay so freaking still on the cot.

  Hannah. He couldn’t see the resemblance to her sister through the ravages of a brutal beating, but she had the same long, dark hair and was wearing what was left of a too-tight, too-short dress. Checking to make sure she still had a pulse, a small part of him was relieved. He retrieved his own handcuff key and unlocked her constraint, then pulled out his cell and called for an ambulance.

  Carmen limped to the cot. One look at Hannah and she started to sob. “My fault she’s ’urt.” Her voice slurred from her injuries. “I thought we could take ’im.”

  Shaking his head, Pucinski rose and almost put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her before realizing she might be hurt there, too. “None of this is your fault, Carmen. The bastard who did this to you girls – he’s gonna pay. And that’s a promise I can keep.”

  His mind was spinning, already making connections, telling him where to find O’Malley. He hoped to God he could get there before the bastard did the Mitchell woman.

  “I’m leaving you in charge, DeSalvo. You stay with them until the paramedics get here. I want you at the hospital. Get the girl’s statement.”

  “Yeah, sure. Where are you going?”

  “To bring down a murderer.”

  Once outside, he told one of the uniformed officers what was going on. Told him and his partner to stay with DeSalvo. Told the other team to follow.

  “Where’s Lilith?” Wyndham demanded. “She’s not dead?”

  “That’s what we’re going to find out. Get in.”

  Wyndham didn’t even have his door closed when Pucinski ripped his car away from the abandoned building. The patrol car was right behind him.

  “Where the hell are we going?”

  “Where they found the first two women,” Pucinski said. “Forest preserve. My gut tells me that’s where we’ll find the Mitchell wom... where we’ll find Lilith.”

  This was personal now. This was someone he knew despite trying not to. Someone who’d put herself on the line for others, as foolish as that had been. He’d tried to warn her, to convince her how dangerous it was to challenge a killer. She simply hadn’t listened.

  Guilt and who knew what else drove Lilith Mitchell.

  He didn’t want to think of where that had landed her now.

  oOo

  Chapter 22

  THROWN ACROSS the backseat. Hands cuffed behind her back. Feet trussed together. Gag in her mouth.

  Lids fluttering as she trie
d to focus, Lilith saw Gabe’s dark form in the driver’s seat. Gradually, her mind cleared, and she realized what was happening. She struggled to free herself but could barely move. Horrified, she realized she was as helpless as the others must have been before he hunted them.

  And as terrified.

  The car pulled off the main road and then the road altogether. Uneven ground below made the vehicle buck and twist.

  A moment later, it stopped.

  An armed Gabe pulled Lilith from the backseat by her hair. She screamed through her gag and thrashed wildly. Though she was nearly upside down, he jerked her even harder so she fell.

  “Fighting will only make it worse.”

  She wouldn’t give in to fear. She wouldn’t. As long as she didn’t give in, she had a chance.

  Gabe righted Lilith, his free hand all over her as she got to her feet. He squeezed her flesh cruelly so that she had to bite back a cry. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Removing the gag and freeing her hands, he stepped around her, motioned to the rope tying her legs.

  “Do it!” He pointed the rifle at her.

  Wishing she’d come to earlier so she would have had time to think, to plan, Lilith worked on the ropes, while darting her gaze from him to the surrounding dark. She was looking for opportunity, waiting for the moment she could either run or strike back.

  She couldn’t give in. She wouldn’t

  “Don’t fuck with me, Lilith. Jennifer fucked with me. Turned me in. My own wife.”

  “Did you abuse her, too, Gabe?” Certain he didn’t expect her to challenge him when her life was hanging in the balance, Lilith was equally certain he still had something to prove before killing her. “Did Jennifer finally have enough of your abuse and tell people what you were?”

  “She didn’t understand a cop needs a release. Neither of you understands what it’s like, living with violence every day.”

  Thinking about those three years under Marlon Aldrich’s fists, Lilith said, “You don’t know a damn thing about what I understand.”

  She whipped the rope at him, but he was faster. He ducked and hit her in the chest with the rifle barrel.

  “Shut your mouth and start undressing!” He waved the weapon at her.

  Lilith’s hands shook as they automatically moved from her stomach to the zipper on her hoodie. That blow tightened her chest so she couldn’t talk. She could hardly get her breath.

  Gabe laughed. “Before I’m through, you’ll be begging me for mercy just like the others did.”

  Like the others? Certain her being naked would give him the advantage, she stopped her hands from undoing anything. She wasn’t like his other victims. She might be terrified, but she wasn’t weak. She could do this. Beat him at his own game. She took a quick look around. A full moon cast a silver-blue glow over trees and more trees. Her mind furiously computed her odds for escape.

  The car...

  Finally able to take a deep breath, she held her hands palm out toward him and backed up toward his car.

  She calmly said, “You’re wasting your time.”

  “You deaf or just stupid?”

  “You’re wasting–“

  “Don’t bother with that interrupt his script crap. Now strip!”

  “Or you’ll what? Kill me?” Lilith backed up further and wedged her bottom on the edge of the rear seat. “Do it and you’ll never get all my blood out of this car.”

  The night sky was bright enough that it lit his face, now pulled into a mask of pure evil as he said, “No one will have reason to look in there.”

  If he came for her to drag her out again, she had a chance. “They will after Caresse talks. She’s the undercover cop working the case. But you already know that. What you don’t know is that she’s alive, Gabe. I found her where you left her in that trash bin and got her to the hospital before she bled out.” And then she lied. “She already fingered you, and Pucinski has the task force tracking you down.”

  “Bullshit!”

  But she could tell that he didn’t know whether or not to believe her. Pucinski had said Caresse – Carrie – was going to live. So she would be able to finger him.

  “That’s how I knew it was you, Gabe. Pucinski told me she’d been working undercover for weeks and that you had nothing to do with the case. Then it all clicked for me. The reason you kept trying to warn me off. That little demonstration at the Street Survival class.”

  With a frustrated growl, Gabe lunged forward to grab Lilith, keeping the rifle out of her range. Exactly what she’d beenwaiting for. On the seat and at an angle under him, she snap-kicked, her foot glancing off his groin. Not a solid hit, but enough to slow him down.

  “Bitch!”

  Flying up out of the seat, she grabbed the rifle and tossed it into the car, then lunged at him, hands striking. He was already recuperating. He dodged and grabbed her, and pulled her down to the forest floor. Before he could get a good grip on her, she pulled away from him.

  On her butt facing Gabe, resting her weight on her hands on the ground in back of her, Lilith kept him at bay with raised legs. He pulled his knife. Tried to get at her. But no matter which way he feinted, she spun on her rear, ready to kick, to shatter a knee if he got close enough.

  “What’s the matter, Gabe, don’t want to chance getting hurt?”

  “You shouldn’t taunt a killer, Lilith. You ought to reconsider your attitude. Now I’m going to make you suffer.”

  “Like you didn’t make the others suffer.”

  “They only got a taste.”

  “Then come show me.”

  He lunged, knife-hand first. She kicked out at the weapon. Missed. The knife ripped through her leg. Lilith cried out and Gabe laughed. Blood soaked her exercise pants. He lunged again. She kicked with her other foot, this time making contact with the knife and scrambling after it where it landed.

  Gabe threw himself on top of her and flattened her. He punched her in the face. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.

  An easy flip and he got behind her, wrapped an arm around her neck. He was cutting off her air, which came in striated gasps. She was struggling to breathe and losing the battle.

  Think! she told herself, while trying not to panic.

  She forced her fingers to the ‘v’ inside his elbow, gouged his flesh and pulled down with all her strength. His hold slackened. She tucked her chin inside his elbow so he couldn’t strangle her.

  Quick as lightning, she slid her hands up his arms, over his shoulders, along his neck, anchored her fingers around his ears and went for his eyes with her thumbs. He jerked his head away. Her nails scraped one of his eyeballs and left bloody trails down his cheek.

  Gabe screamed and ripped himself away. Lilith scooted out from under him, grabbed the knife and stuck it in her pocket. Then limped to the car. The cut on her leg burned like hellfire. By the time he got to his feet – demented and one-eyed – she had hold of the rifle she’d taken from him. Pointing it at him, she said, “Now it’s your turn, Gabe. Strip.”

  “What the –?”

  “DO IT!”

  “You’re crazy!” Maybe she was crazy.

  She was so seeing-red furious that it burned away any remaining fear.

  The bastard had tried to kill her. He’d tortured and beaten her sister and Carmen. She didn’t even know if Hannah would survive. And he’d scalped the two women he’d murdered.

  The only thing she could think about was giving him a taste. And as she raised the rifle to her shoulder, she saw his expression shift when he realized she would shoot him if he didn’t do as she ordered.

  His finger fumbled with the buttons on his hunting jacket and shirt.

  “How does it feel knowing you’re going to be hunted like an animal?” she asked. Guilt had motivated her to find Hannah and ID him. Revenge was a stronger motivation, and she certainly had reason enough. “Does it give you a curl of anticipation deep down inside? Or are you terrified like they must have been?”

  “You’r
e just like the others. You don’t have the stomach for it.”

  “Don’t underestimate me, Gabe. I survived three years under the thumb of a bastard like you. And then I made sure I would never be any man’s victim again. Face it. You’ve met your match.”

  His chest was now bare. He hesitated as if he was rethinking things. She aimed at his right arm and shot. The bullet ripped through the outer flesh and passed through, leaving a new splatter of blood.

  “Bitch!”

  “Don’t fuck with me, Gabe. Faster!”

  Gabe stripped off the rest of his clothes, wincing when he moved the wounded arm. “You don’t want to do this to me. I can take you, remember. I can make it worse than you ever dreamed.”

  “You didn’t let me win that match in class,” Lilith said, then, when he was naked, she stared at him and shook her head. “You don’t even look like much of a man to me.”

  oOo

  PUCINSKI BRAKED his car with a screech mere feet from a Forest Preserve entrance sign. “This is the place.

  “It better be,” Wyndham said. “Go!”

  Pucinski aimed the car on the road to the parking lot, but as the beams swept along a curve...

  “There!” Wyndham pointed. “Tire tracks across the grass.”

  Pucinski followed the trail left by O’Malley’s car. He flashed his beams on bright until he spotted it, doors open. He jumped out of the car and saw the signs of a struggle. And found a pile of men’s clothing, just as the squad car pulled up behind him.

  A shot echoing through the trees made him jump. “Son of a bitch!” He looked to Wyndham.

  Without a word, they both ran all-out into the stand of trees, the uniformed officers following.

  oOo

  LILITH HELD the rifle. Waited. Listened to the thrashing sounds ahead. Ignored the pain telegraphing from the cut on her leg. Anger still fueled her, made her feel bulletproof.

  She’d given him a ten-second head start.

  Five to go.

  She gave him three. Took off, followed the sounds of his running feet deeper into the woods. When they stopped, so did she.

  Where was he?