Chained Guilt (Hidden Guilt (Detective Series) Book 1)

by Terry Keys

  “Whatever.” Stacy chuckled. “We get along just fine, thank you very much. And I was smart enough to get you here. Oh, and here are some pictures of your little princess. She looks like shit, doesn’t she? That’s because I’m giving her a teensy-weensy dose of something to make her . . . Hmmm. Let’s just say she’s dying. Slowly. Don’t worry, it will take a long time before she’s gone.”

  “You’re a sadistic whore!” Miranda yelled, struggling against her restraints.

  Stacy let Miranda yell her little heart out as she crossed the room with the laptop under her arm, laughing in glee as she headed upstairs.

  **

  “Porter, are you coming in today or what?” De Luca snapped. She’d gotten his voicemail again.

  De Luca had news. Her hunch had paid off. The handwriting analyst had matched the taunting letters left for David to the note left on his windshield by none other than Stacy. A ninety-eight percent match! What was the bitch up to? She had to let David know, but where was he? She stared down at her phone for several seconds and then decided to head over to Stacy’s house. She’d already gotten the address of the estate. Perhaps David was over there. She was so intent on her task, she failed to notice the car that passed her and then pulled a U-turn behind her, gradually allowing several cars to separate them.

  De Luca parked her red SVT Mustang in the driveway. She knocked on the door several times but got no answer. She looked around and peeked into the garage window. Stacy wasn’t home.

  She rang the doorbell twice for good measure. Nothing. She had just stepped off the front porch when she thought she heard someone yelling. She paused and listened some more. Definite yelling, but it sounded muffled and far away. She knew the sound was coming from inside.

  She took the porch steps two at a time and, without waiting, kicked open the front door.

  “Police!” she called out.

  The muffled yelling continued. De Luca pulled her gun and moved slowly into the house.

  “Police!” she yelled again. “Show yourself!”

  “Help!”

  The sound came from somewhere below her. She hurried into the kitchen, and the cries got louder. She spied a padlocked door near the pantry and put her ear to it. Bingo! De Luca used the butt of her gun to smash the padlock. Her heart pounded.

  “I should call for backup,” she muttered, but the cries for help from below grew more frantic.

  “Who’s down there!” she shouted.

  “Miranda!”

  De Luca swore, reaching for her phone.

  “I’m Miranda Porter! Please help me!”

  “I’m coming!” De Luca rushed down the stairs, dismayed when she saw the skeletal frame of a woman lying on a dingy, stained mattress, one bony wrist manacled to a metal ring cemented into the wall. Miranda Porter. The woman stared at her in wide-eyed dismay, tears streaming down her face.

  “It’s okay.” De Luca attempted to reassure her as she stepped closer, holstering her gun. “It’s okay. I’m going to get you out of here.”

  The woman whimpered.

  “I’m Detective De Luca. I work with your husband, David. Don’t you worry; I’m going to get you out of here.”

  Miranda’s eyes filled with tears as she sobbed softly. “You found me. You found me.”

  She repeated the words over and over.

  “Where’s—”

  “She’s gone,” Miranda said, her voice trembling. “She left a little while ago. She comes down here to feed me, and usually doesn’t come back for a day or two.” She jerked on the chain with what little strength she had left. “Please take this off me!”

  De Luca hurried over to Miranda, her heart aching. The woman had apparently been held here for months. She looked at the handcuff attaching her wrist to the chain. Perhaps her cuff key would open it.

  “Behind you!” Miranda yelled.

  Too late. The words had just registered in De Luca’s brain when she felt the blow hit the back of her head. She fell facedown beside Miranda, her head throbbing and her vision blurred.

  “Almost busted me, didn’t you?” a voice above her said mockingly. “You little nagging bitch; I knew I didn’t like you. Now you get a new home here with Miranda. I should just put a bullet in you and be done with it.”

  De Luca felt her gun being removed from the holster at her waist but was in no condition to stop it. With ears buzzing and her vision dancing crazily, De Luca rolled over to find Stacy standing above her, a shovel in her hand. She swore and attempted to rise, but Stacy lunged forward and kicked her in the head. Darkness threatened as Miranda’s cries echoed around her.

  By the time De Luca regained her senses a bit, she’d been restrained next to Miranda, both wrists manacled to the metal ring in the wall. Then Stacy began tearing the detective’s clothing from her body piece by piece. When De Luca thrashed about and tried to kick off her attacker, Stacy smacked her hard in the head. The darkness returned. As De Luca hung limply from her restraints, Stacy used a knife to hack away at the detective’s hair. Miranda watched, deathly still and silent.

  “Well now,” Stacy finally said, sitting back on her heels. “This wasn’t how I intended on spending my morning. Kidnapping a detective?” She laughed and shot Miranda an evil look. “Well, at least now you’ll have some company.”

  57

  Stacy had taken care of De Luca, but now she had to ditch the detective’s car. All at once, a brilliant idea came to her. She would ditch De Luca’s car in the same manner and in the exact same spot she’d ditched Miranda’s. She had to hurry. She knew David and Hilary had gone for a bike ride. He’d told her of their plans earlier and said he wanted no distractions, which meant no cell phones. She’d have to hurry back to the house to make sure De Luca hadn’t left him a message about where she was going or what she’d found.

  At David’s house, she found two cell phones on the dining room table, just as expected.

  “He’s so damn predictable,” she mumbled, a satisfied grin on her face.

  Picking up David’s phone, she accessed his text and voicemail messages and deleted those De Luca had left. Once that little detail was taken care of, she carefully placed the phone back on the table exactly where she’d found it.

  **

  “Thanks for the bike ride, Dad,” Hilary said as the two coasted into the driveway an hour later. “I have to admit, I didn’t want to go at first, but I’m glad we did. Can we do it again soon?”

  “Of course we can do it again,” I said, beaming. “It’s good ‘us’ time, and it sure doesn’t hurt to get out in the fresh air and get some exercise.”

  We climbed off our bikes and stored them on the side of the house.

  “I’m gonna go take a shower,” Hillary said as we headed inside. “I love you, Dad.”

  “Love you too, honey.” I smiled till my cheeks hurt. I was glad to see her in such a good mood.

  “Oh, and Rodney said dinner one night, just the three of us, sounds good.”

  I gave her a thumbs-up, and she disappeared up the stairs. I headed to the dining room to get my phone. As expected, Stacy had left me a note. She wrote that Captain Wilcrest had called twice. She had to go to work and would be done with her shift later that evening. I decided to call the captain to see what was up.

  “Hey, Cap.”

  “David, where’ve you been? I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for over an hour.”

  “Hilary and I went for a bike ride. I told her we were leaving modern technology behind, so we left our cell phones at home.” I frowned. “Why? What’s up?”

  “Our guy is back. That’s what’s up.”

  My heart plummeted to my stomach. Another taunt regarding Miranda? Another bit of flesh or hair? “More evidence left?”

  “No, worse.”

  “Worse? What do you—”

  “I need you to come down to the same spot where Miranda had her wreck, David. Over the bridge. There’s been another accident.”

  I rushed upstairs to tell
Hilary I was leaving and sped over to the scene of the accident. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was De Luca’s car, in the exact spot where we’d found Miranda’s nearly a year ago. The similarities were mindboggling. The scene was almost identical. The same skid marks on the street. Every detail copied. My heart skipped a beat.. What the hell was going on?

  “Any sign of her?” I asked as I climbed out of my car and approached the captain, who stood nearby in deep discussion with several patrol officers. He turned to me and shook his head.

  “No, David.” He gazed over the lake. “Of course, we’re going to comb this area. We’re looking for witnesses now—the usual.”

  “So this is a copycat?”

  “Way too early to make any assumptions,” he said, scratching his head. “But it looks like that’s exactly what it is. You okay? I know you guys are new partners and all, but . . .”

  I gazed at her car and then at the lake. This had to be linked to Miranda’s case, and I said as much to the captain.

  “But why?” Wilcrest said, perplexed.

  “I have no ideas at the moment,” I admitted.

  Another officer approached and gestured for the captain. I waited, examining De Luca’s car while he spoke with the officer. No sign of foul play, no sign of blood, no sign of my partner.

  “David, De Luca’s phone was found in the car. While her latest messages and voicemail had been deleted, we were able to pull De Luca’s phone records for the last ten hours.” He paused, looking at me. “She called you five times today. You know what that’s about?”

  I swore. “Like I said, Cap, Hilary and I went on a bike ride, and I left my phone at home. That won’t happen again.”

  I glanced at the captain. I didn’t like the look on his face.

  “Can they trace her movements from the GPS on her phone?”

  “We may be able to. Working on that now.” The captain sighed wearily. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, and I have no idea why De Luca’s disappearance is linked to Miranda’s, but it appears someone is playing games with us, David . . . with you.”

  58

  “Hello, sweetie!” I smiled as Karen got on the phone.

  “Hey, Daddy!”

  “You sound great today,” I said, relieved. She was getting better.

  “Yeah, I’m all better! Grandma fixed me all up. A few cans of Campbell’s soup was all I needed!”

  I laughed. “So the doctors couldn’t figure anything out, but Grandma fixed everything with soup, eh?”

  “Not just soup, Dad. Campbell’s soup!”

  “Okay, I get it,” I said. “Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better. I need to take care of a few errands, and then I’ll be over to get you.”

  “Okay, Daddy. I missed you, but I had fun with Grandma and Grandpa.

  I disconnected the call and decided now was as good a time as any to settle the mess between Hilary and Stacy. I found Stacy sitting on the living room couch, a magazine in her lap.

  “Hilary, could you come down here, please?” I hollered up the stairs.

  “What are you doing, David?” Stacy asked.

  Hilary came downstairs, hovering at the bottom step. “What is it, Dad?”

  “Listen, I’m going to head over to Grandma and Grandpa’s to pick up Karen. I also have to make one stop to check out a new lead I’m working on. While I’m gone, I want you two to talk. We’re a family now. Not to mention, Stacy and I have a baby coming. Talk like adults and work this out.” I eyed each of them. “I’m not asking you. This is not a request. I insist on peace in this house. I love you both.”

  With that, I grabbed my car keys and moved to the front door.

  “I’ll be back with Karen in a few hours.”

  I wasn’t sure if this was the right call, but I was desperate. I hoped they could both be adult enough and cared for me enough to see I was at my wit’s end with their relationship. Maybe both would cave a little, do some compromising. Either it would work as planned, or I would return to find one of them standing over the other’s body. Probably not much gray area with this one.

  I needed to go back down to the bridge where Miranda and DeLuca had wrecked their cars. Miranda’s accident happened at night, so there wasn’t much hope of eyewitnesses on passing boats or barges. DeLuca’s crash, however, had occurred in broad daylight. I was hoping someone might have seen something. I know the cops assigned to the case had asked around, but something in my gut told me to give it another shot.

  I walked down and asked a few questions to the crew members milling about the boats docked along the waterway. Nothing. They all said the same thing—the bridge was too high, too far away to hear anything.

  “Excuse me, Detective?”

  A middle aged-man approached me. His clothes and the stench that followed told me this guy was definitely a full-time deckhand.

  “Yes? What can I do for you?” I said.

  “Well it might be nothing. I didn’t hear the wreck or nothing, but . . .”

  “Did you see something?”

  “Well, I did but I didn’t. I didn’t actually see the crash or hear it, but I looked up not long after. Couldn’t have been long after because no one else from down here had even noticed, and there wasn’t no cops or ambulances yet. Eventually a few cars stopped to help, but when I first looked up I saw a woman. Looked like she was dragging whoever had wrecked. I figured she was trying to help, so I didn’t think much of it at first. Long ways up to that bridge. I don’t have no description, I just know it wasn’t no man. I could tell that much. Only reason I’m saying something now is I’m hearing they didn’t find no body and maybe it was a kidnapping.”

  I thanked him for telling me what he’d seen, and he went on his way. I stood where he told me he was standing that night, and it was definitely too far away for any meaningful descriptions to be given. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was something. I conducted several more interviews but no one else had seen a thing, or they weren’t talking if they had. I believed I’d gotten everything I could from my visit and decided to head for my Karen.

  Several hours later, I returned with a vibrant Karen in tow. She offered an enthusiastic greeting to Stacy as well.

  “Karen!” Stacy said after she burst through the door. “We missed you, kiddo!”

  “Where’s Hilary?” I asked when she didn’t appear.

  “She’s okay,” Stacy said. “We had a good talk. I think we’re going to be able to make this work. I let her go over to Rodney’s to hang out. I took her over and dropped her off myself.”

  I was shocked that Stacy had allowed her to go to Rodney’s, but maybe earning the teen’s trust was a step in the right direction.

  When Stacy left to pick Hilary up, I tucked Karen away to sleep. With the travel, it had been a long day for all of us.

  “Good night, princess.”

  “Good night, Daddy. I love you.”

  I closed her door and went back downstairs to wait for Stacy and Hilary’s return. As I waited I turned my attention back to DeLuca’s disappearance. I had to start making heads or tails of this. I needed to find out what DeLuca had been working on. Could she have been working on Miranda’s case? What had she been doing in the lab when we crossed paths at the station? I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but maybe this perp knew of our relationship and was looking for another way to punish me, toy with me.

  And then I snapped. This was never about Miranda or her story. Her story was a coincidence. That meant Carter had been telling the truth about his involvement or lack thereof. This perp, whoever he was, was hurting people I cared about. DeLuca had figured it out, or was getting close, but had somehow tipped off the maniac, who then had to get rid of her too. What had DeLuca found out? Where had she been digging? I heard keys fumbling in the door.

  “Hey, Dad,” Hilary said as she kissed me on the forehead. “I’m off to bed. Probably gonna listen to some music before I go to sleep. I do have a science project I need to finish too.”

>   “Okay. Good night,” I said, kissing her on the cheek. “I want to take you and your sister canoeing tomorrow, so don’t make any plans, okay?”

  “Sounds good. See you in the morning.”

  I grabbed Stacy’s hand, and we walked upstairs to our room. I didn’t want to talk or rehash whatever she and Hilary had spoken about. We got into our pj’s and climbed in bed. I put my arm out, and Stacy snuggled into my chest.

  I believed the best things in life were acquired through hard work. I’d learned that early, back when I played football in high school. You lift hard, you gain muscle. Doesn’t come overnight but it comes. I could finally see a glimmer of light at the end of this Stacy-Hilary tunnel, and it warmed my heart. The good times would be like gaining that muscle back in high school—slow and steady, but worth the effort. And I’d probably have to be the glue for a while longer until they trusted each other. I could handle that. As my eyes closed, my mind drifted to Miranda. I still longed for her. Even as Stacy lay in my arms, pregnant with my child, I wondered if the longing, the ache, would ever go away. I loved Stacy, but it was different. I guess nearly two decades of affection for someone didn’t simply disappear overnight.

  The next morning, the four of us sat down for breakfast. We each ate our cereal in peace.

  “This ain’t so bad now, is it?” I asked.

  “No.” Stacy smiled. “It’s good. I like it. Glad I’m a part of it.”

  “I’m taking the girls canoeing today while you work your shift,” I said. “Tonight maybe we can all catch a movie or something.”

  “Don’t you have to work?” Stacy said.

  I didn’t answer. I needed to think, and being away from the station made that easier. Cap knew about my preference for working alone, and as long as I kept him updated, he didn’t mind. I didn’t want to think about Miranda. I didn’t want to think about De Luca. I didn’t want to think about the link between the two, or that a serial killer had somehow worked his way into my life. For just a little while, I wanted to forget.