“Yeah? You think so?” he asked giving her a hubba, hubba wag with his brows. “She’s just being friendly. Besides, I’m old enough to be her…uncle?” Gerard’s phone rang. He answered it. “That was Gunny,” he said hanging up. “He’s here and he’s offering to help.”
“Well, that’s nice of him. You go talk to him. I have a lot of work waiting for me.” He waved and walked off. Jessie was glad he was gone. She really needed to get as far away from him as she could after making that dumb comment about Morgan. She could feel the tension tightening across her shoulders. When had she suddenly become the kind of woman she loathed? Being weak was a flaw, not an attribute. She entered the restroom and stared at her reflection in the mirror thinking she should suggest he go ahead and date Morgan to show she wasn’t weak. She jerked her head back. Was she nuts? Who was she trying to prove that to, Zach or herself? She had nothing to gain and a whole lot to lose. If Zach wanted to date Morgan, he would. He didn’t need her approval, especially since she hadn’t mentioned anything about an appointment with the shrink. And why was that? Because she’d put her job before her personal life—that’s why. If she couldn’t hold her part of the bargain up, how could she expect him to abide by his promise? She couldn’t.
Glancing at Zach’s desk, she noticed the Reaper’s file with a sticky note attached to the cover saying the government vehicle he’d reported earlier had been abandoned not far from where Zach had reported seeing it. What Zach hadn’t told her was that there was another body in the trunk of the vehicle and the woman had red hair. Jessie took a deep breath and blew it out. This guy was really getting to her. She shouldn’t have been surprised, but it was beginning to look like this mystery man was a lot smarter than they were. With a sigh of frustration, she opened the file to glance at the notes. There was no doubt about it; the mystery man was one clever criminal, always one step ahead of the police. Looking at the photographs of the young pretty women he’d killed gave her an unsettled feeling. This bastard had her scared out of her mind. Jessie got up and walked to the small refrigerator and removed a bottle of water. Unscrewing the cap, she slugged back the liquid determined to put an end to Morton and this mystery man. Now all she had to do was wait for the guys to come back with a report on their findings at her place.
Walking into Zach’s home gave Jessie a warm fuzzy feeling. She had to admit, she did miss the comfort of the familiar feeling of coming home to him. Although she loved her childhood home, it didn’t quite measure up to the satisfaction she’d felt living with him—despite her hang-ups. She glanced around. It was such a cute bungalow that enveloped her like a wool blanket on a blustery cold night.
“Are you ready for some wine?”
“Phew, I thought you’d never ask.” Her comment was like déjà vu and brought a smile to their faces.
“Why don’t you unpack your stuff while I open the bottle?”
“Oh, I can just live out of my suitcase. I don’t want to infringe on your space.”
“Your drawers are still empty, Jessie.”
She swallowed hard, unable to say anything. She mouthed a thank you and walked away, a tinge of guilt punching her insides.
21
JESSIE CHECKED THE CLOCK on the wall and noted it was eleven-thirty. “Zach, what time was Jennifer Smith due in here this morning for questioning?”
“Ten o’clock. Why?”
“Something’s wrong,” he said. “She’s either skipped town because she’s guilty, or she’s irresponsible and blew us off—”
“Or she’s been abducted,” Jessie said, cutting him off. She flipped through the list of phone numbers and called Charlene Miller. “Mrs. Miller, Detective Kensington here. We were expecting Jennifer here at the precinct for questioning at ten o’clock, but she hasn’t shown up.”
“She hasn’t?” her panicked voice echoed through the receiver. “I watched her get into the taxi this morning at nine o’clock.”
“Was she planning to go anywhere else first?”
“No. Not that I know of. Oh my God, do you think something has happened to her?”
Jessie didn’t answer her question. “Do you have a list of her friends?”
“My nieces weren’t raised in New York, so no, they have no friends who live here.”
“Give me an idea of the things she likes to do so we can check those areas. Shopping? Would she have gone back to the cemetery?”
“I don’t know. We spent the entire day shopping yesterday. I even bought her a leopard jacket hoping to cheer her up. She’s been very upset about her mother…maybe she did go back to the cemetery. I don’t know. Oh my God, oh my God. What should I do?”
“We’re sending a car out to the cemetery right now. Where else might she have gone? Were there any stores she absolutely fell in love with and wanted to go back before she left the city? Did she meet someone while you were shopping and maybe went to see them again?” Jessie could feel a rush of adrenaline surge through her body. “What cab company did you use?”
“Oh, I don’t know. The doorman wasn’t here at the time she left. He usually hails the cabs for us, but Jennifer didn’t mind. She liked the idea of flagging down her own cab.”
“Do you know if it was a weird green colored cab?”
“No. It was like an old police car with telephone numbers plastered all over it. Why?”
“Because New York is full of gypsy cabs who aren’t licensed through the city, and we never know who they are until we catch them red-handed.”
“Are they bad people?” she asked in a rush of words “Is that who you think has my niece?”
“I don’t know, Mrs. Miller. I’m just trying to find a logical explanation, that’s all. Have you tried calling her?”
“No. I haven’t tried. I thought she was with you and didn’t want to interrupt. Here’s her number. I’ll call using my husband’s cell phone.” Jessie keyed in the number at the same time and let it ring until Jennifer’s voice message came on. “Nothing.” Charlene’s voice cracked. “I’ll never forgive myself if we don’t find her.”
“Is Marilyn with you? Maybe she knows something.” Charlene shouted for the girl. The conversation paused while Jessie listened to her talk to her niece. “Detective, Marilyn said Jennifer was nervous about meeting with you today and was anxious to have it behind her.”
“Was she nervous enough that she would have blown us off?”
“Marilyn is shaking her head no.”
“Okay, just as a place to start, give me a list of the stores that you went to yesterday. I want to know who you saw; anyone she might have spoken to—even a simple conversation. Obviously, you won’t know the person’s name, but a description would be helpful. Whatever you can tell me, no matter how silly you think it is.”
“Oh God, my mind is blank. Let me converse with Marilyn and I’ll call you right back with a list. You want restaurants, coffee shops, every place?”
“Yes. Everything and anything you can tell me.”
“She’s not at the cemetery,” Zach said, interrupting.
Jessie acknowledged Zach with a nod. “Our guys checked the cemetery and she’s not there. All right, the sooner you call me back, the sooner we can start our search. Do you have a recent photograph of Jennifer that you can send to my cellphone?”
“I took one yesterday while we were in Central Park.”
The words, Central Park, rang in Jessie’s ears and brought Lily Sloper to mind. She shuddered and forced it from her mind. “Okay, that’s a good start. I’ll wait for your list.”
“Wha…where am I?” Jennifer cried out afraid of the dark, a childhood fear that lingered long after being locked in a closet as punishment. That same panic seized her now, hitting every nerve in her body.
Lying on her side, a blindfold pulled so tight the throbbing pain bounced against her skull. She shivered from the dank cement floor where she lay naked. A strong smell of urine caused bile to rise to the back of her throat and she gagged, but the pain seizing every
part of her body stopped her. Where the hell was she? She told herself to calm down so she could think straight but the unexplained muzzy feeling in her head caused confusion. Had she taken something?
And then it came to her. It was the cab driver. She’d sensed it the minute she’d slid across the back seat. His cold menacing green eyes watching her every move in the mirror. Fearing for her life, she remembered telling him she’d changed her mind but as soon as she’d reached for the door handle, the locks had clicked into place…and then that sickening smell. What was that horrible smell coming out through the hose from under the front seat? She remembered banging on the window that separated them . . . but he’d paid no attention.
It wasn’t until she tried to move that she realized her arms had been bound behind her back, her fingers numb from being in the same position too long. She tried to move to brace her feet against the wall, but the chains around her ankles held her captive. Who was doing this to her and why? Sharp pains rocketed down her entire body. Fear thick as blood caused her mind to blank. She had to figure a way out of this—she was too young to die. Jennifer gasped. Was this her mother’s killer?
She screamed out for help, but no one came. She began to cry, sobbing like a baby wondering where she was, her shoulders jerking and causing more pain, but she couldn’t stop. She wiggled her hands trying to free herself, but it was useless. Every movement, every breath was filled with so much pain, it caused her breath to labor.
A sudden awareness of him lying next to her made her scream, but he only laughed. His hot, foul smelling breath close to her nose made her gag. She heard him snicker. “Let me go, dammit!”
“That’s it,” he said. “Beg. I love it when they beg.”
“Get away from me, you pig,” she spat at him. He laughed again and squeezed her jaws apart to open her mouth and shoved his sticky, slimy tongue in and out causing his breathing to escalate to a pant. It wasn’t long before he started pumping his hard erection against her bare legs. Jennifer used what little strength she had to stop him, but it only served to give him the pleasure he sought.
“That’s it baby, do that again,” he said.
Repulsed, Jennifer tried to jerk her head back to stop him, but he held her head in a vice-like grip and continued until he finally released a series of spasmodic moans and climaxed all over her thighs, his hot semen dripping down over her bare skin. The sickening taste in her mouth from his disgusting saliva caused her to spit at him again. This time, it angered him even more and the impact from his hard punch to her gut made her double over. But she didn’t cry out from the pain. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
He finally spoke. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he growled. “Now, I have to punish you. She felt the coldness of steel prick her leg as it slid across her thigh. Another trickle of liquid slid down the side of her leg and she knew she’d been cut. She jerked and released a loud scream.
“I love it when they scream,” The roughness of his voice irritated her as much as the blade of that knife. “You can scream all you want. There’s no one here but us.”
“Please mister, please don’t hurt me. I’ll give you anything you want. I’ve got lots of money coming to me.”
“I don’t want your money, Jennifer,” he sneered. “What I want is for you to understand what it’s like to be used. That’s why I just used you as my whore.”
“I don’t use people.”
“Oh, yes you do. You’ve used everyone in your life, including your mother,” he said sharply. “She cried many times over that.”
“When did I do that? she asked in a wobbly voice, sad that her mother had cried.
“When you cut her off after she married old Harlan. She thought she’d lost you forever, but she should have known it would only last until your money ran out.
“How do you know so much about me?”
“I made it my business to know.”
“Do I know you?” He didn’t answer. “I begged her not to marry him, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”
“I didn’t like him either, but were you paying her bills?”
“No.”
“So now, I’m doing what she should have done.”
“I promise I won’t do it again. Please, don’t hurt me anymore. I’ve learned my lesson.” When he slid the knife across her other thigh, she fought back the scream. She grimaced from the sting.
She wondered if the detectives would be able to track her down through her cell phone. That was probably the first thing he’d thrown away. She tried to show him a calmer side. Maybe he’d take pity on her and let her go. She attempted to take a softer approach, but her tone came out demanding. “Who are you?”
He laughed. “You are in no position to demand anything from me or anyone else. I’ve waited a long time for this day so I could punish you for convincing your mother to take out that insurance policy because you wanted to be sure your meal ticket would always be there. Is that why you killed her?”
“I didn’t kill my mother,” she shouted. “I loved her. She was wonderful to me.” Anger seeped into her chest and she fired back. “Did you kill my mother?”
He smacked her hard across the face and she began to cry. “You only loved her when she gave you a fist full of money. Go ahead and cry. You’ll get no sympathy from me.” She felt his strong hands press under her arms and pull her upright. Naked and shivering, she felt him remove the heavy chains from her ankles. She felt some relief thinking her wrists were next, but he did not make an attempt to remove them.
His voice suddenly changed from harsh to sympathetic. “Alright,” he said, “stop that blubbering. You’re breaking my heart.” Surprised he’d admitted that, she thought she might just have saved her own life. “There, there,” he said and rubbed her shoulder trying to comfort her.
His sudden kindness confused her into thinking maybe he wasn’t going to kill her after all. Maybe he just wanted to get his jollies off and shock her into being a better person. She would do whatever he asked, so long as he’d let her go. “Thank you,” she said.
“You are most welcome. Are you hungry?”
She nodded. “I am.”
“Okay. Then open your mouth. I made a chocolate sundae for you and it’s melting.”
“If you’ll free my hands, I could eat it myself.”
“Nice try, sweetheart, but I can’t do that. Come now, my dear,” he said, “open your mouth.”
She did as he asked and could feel her mouth filling with the cream that he’d squirted from an aerosol can. She remembered doing that as a kid. She loved whipped cream.
“You’re going to love the taste of this whipped cream,” he said.
Whipped cream wasn’t what she would have chosen for herself, but she was so hungry she would be satisfied with anything.
“How do you like that, dear?” he asked when it expanded inside her mouth and held it open, her jaw aching from the large wad. She tried to use her tongue to push it out, but it was cemented underneath. She couldn’t breathe. The panic returned. She tried to take in a lungful of air but quickly realized it was cutting off what little space she had for air. She tried to cough, but the only noise she could express was deep in her throat, while the fumes from the wad made her lightheaded. She felt woozy and fell back against the wall, bracing herself with her elbows.
He laughed. “You are so gullible, Jennifer,” he said pulling on her arm. Come with me. We’re going on a journey.” He said in a soft voice again. But she knew better than to believe him. Her legs were weak, but he pulled her along, every step filled with pain. When a rush of wind whipped around her she knew they were outside. Jennifer hated being cold, but the circulation of air was helping her breathe better. All hope of getting away had now vanished. She tripped and his grip tightened helping her to remain upright. For some reason, the cold snow felt good on her bare feet, and for the first time, being cold no longer mattered. Nothing mattered.
“Step down,” he said gruffly. Jennifer did as
she was told, stepping onto what felt like a wooden floor. “Now, lie down.” With what little strength she had left, she jerked back, shaking her head, trying to make it known she didn’t want to do what he was asking. He shoved her until she lost her footing and fell into the tight quarters, hitting her head on the edge. She grimaced in pain, and he laughed.
He removed her blindfold so he could look into her eyes. She searched his face but did not recognize him. His sickening smirk told her she was about to die. “Are you sorry for hurting your mother?” he asked. Jennifer nodded in agreement. “Good. Then you’ve learned something today.” She nodded again. “Now, it’s time for you to apologize to her.”
When the creaking sound of a hinge, the thud of the lid closing down on top, the lock clicking into place, she had no choice but to lie still and wait for the circulation of air to diminish.
It didn’t take long before the thudding of her heart slowed down to just the slightest beat. She thought she was hallucinating when she heard her mother call out to her from the beautiful flower garden where she stood. Carly walked toward her just like she’d always done and reached for her hand; her smile as beautiful as she remembered. Jennifer took her outstretched hand and together they skipped along the golden path and she knew she’d been forgiven.
22
JESSIE’S ATTENTION WAS DRAWN to her phone when she saw a text from the phone carrier. “Morton just texted his mother a few minutes ago telling her he’s on his way and should be there within the week.”
“We need to go talk to the captain and have him approve our trip to Connecticut,” Zach said.
She ignored what he was saying and said what was on her mind. She cleared her throat. “It’s been a few days now and Jennifer still hasn’t been found.”
“Jessie, I think you need to accept that she’s probably dead by now. Based on what we know about her, she wouldn’t have left before getting her inheritance. Missing Persons is doing the best they can.”
Deadly Obsessions (Kensington-Gerard Detective series Book 3) Page 16
