The Killer You Know

by Kimberly Van Meter

  The pastor looked defeated. “Yes.”

  “You were the only one she was sleeping with?”

  “She was a virgin when she came to me.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Simms blushed. “Because I could tell. There was...blood our first time.”

  Not entirely open and shut on that score but if Simms thought his DNA would match, there was no need to dig any further into Rhia’s sex life until proven otherwise.

  He knocked on the window and deputies walked in. “Forrest Simms, you are under arrest for unlawful sex with a minor. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights as I’ve explained them to you?”

  Simms bobbed a miserable nod.

  “Take him away, boys,” Silas said to the deputies, who then put Simms in handcuffs and led him away.

  Same story, different pervert trying to justify actions that had no defense. God, he hated pedophiles.

  He joined Quinn in the surveillance room.

  “Somehow that didn’t feel as satisfying as I thought it would,” Quinn admitted, chewing her bottom lip. “Do you believe him? That he didn’t kill Rhia?”

  “I don’t know. He lied about his relationship with the girl to protect his own self-interests. Who’s to say that he wouldn’t lie about killing her, too?”

  Quinn nodded but seemed troubled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Why don’t I feel better about this?”

  “Sometimes the truth sucks,” he answered.

  “What do you think? Do you think he killed Rhia?” she asked.

  “I think we should just follow the evidence and see where it leads us. Speculating is what gets people all twisted up.”

  Detective Douche-bag walked by and cast a flip smile Quinn’s way and she turned away pointedly. Just knowing what that guy did made Silas’s blood boil.

  She sensed his rage and cooled him with a look. “He’s small and petty. We have more interesting things to chase after. Can you check and see if any additional DNA evidence has come through on Rhia’s case? I need to run by my uncle’s shop and talk to him. I know he’s going to be really bummed to learn about Pastor Simms.”

  He nodded and watched her go. Silas met the detective’s gaze with a hard one of his own. A wordless exchange passed between the two men like two dogs circling each other before a fight.

  Who would back down first?

  As expected, Harrison did.

  So maybe he’s not as dumb as he looks. Damn, he was hoping Harrison would bow up on him. Silas could use a punching bag.

  Another time.

  Silas walked into Lester’s office but was shocked when Lester looked angry enough to eat nails.

  “Shut the door.”

  Silas followed the sheriff’s gruff instruction. “Something wrong?”

  “Something wrong? Everything is wrong, you little shit,” Lester grumped, his scowl deep enough to drown kittens. “What the hell is going on around here? Since you’ve come around, all hell has broken loose and now you’ve got the pastor arrested for fooling around with that girl?”

  “I asked for a DNA sample. He confessed to sleeping with her.”

  “You badgered him into a confession,” Lester persisted. “Forrest Simms is a man of God!”

  “No, he’s a man,” Silas corrected the sheriff. “Plain and simple. Subject to the same temptations as the rest of us. He messed around with a kid. Somehow I doubt God would be okay with that.”

  Lester’s fight seeped out of him as he stared down Silas. “What’s happening to my little town?”

  Silas didn’t have the heart to tell Lester that Port Orion had never been immune to evil.

  And Lester should’ve already known that.

  “Look, Mick Creech buried the story about Sara Westfall’s accident. There’s a possibility that someone tampered with the accident report.”

  “What makes you say that?” he asked, wiping at his brow.

  “Because Emily Westfall said the night her sister died, she hadn’t been drinking. She’d gotten a call and blazed out of there, seemingly to meet whoever had called but she ended up dying instead.”

  Lester shook his head. “Son, surely I don’t have to tell you that Emily Westfall isn’t right in the head? She’s not a credible witness.”

  “That’s why I wouldn’t put her on the stand but her testimony is enough for a second look at the report.”

  “For crying out loud, would you like to tear down all our old cases?” Lester said, scowling. “I’m starting to wish I hadn’t given you carte blanche on this case.”

  Silas didn’t want to be disrespectful to the man but Lester was digging his heels in for the wrong reasons. He didn’t want to turn over stones, nor did he want to reopen old cases and Silas needed to do exactly that.

  “Were you patronizing me when you said I could look into Spencer’s case?”

  “Hell, of course I was. I know you need closure. I thought this would do that for you. I had no idea you were going to turn my town upside down and backward in an attempt to find what was likely a goddamn transient who’s long gone by now.”

  Lester’s face turned florid, his eyes hot.

  Silas’s temper reacted in kind. He leaned forward to meet Lester’s gaze. “Someone is out there, someone in Port Orion, who is doing all sorts of bad things right under the radar. Someone killed Sara Westfall to keep what she knew from coming out. Someone might’ve killed Rhia Daniels for the same reason.”

  “And Spencer?” Lester returned caustically. “Was a little boy snooping around, getting caught doing something he shouldn’t have? Do you hear yourself? You’re trying to make connections where there aren’t any!”

  “And you’re too damn old to see that there is something wrong going on in this town!”

  “So far all I’ve seen you do is rile up good people, spread fear and discontent and disrupt a good way of life. You might’ve hated this place but the people who still live here are pretty happy with it.”

  “This isn’t a vendetta against Port Orion,” Silas said. “If anything, I’m trying to protect this place from a killer who is hiding in plain sight.”

  “You haven’t come to me with a shred of evidence that would convince me that anything other than your one-sided need for vengeance is at work.”

  “Do you attend Pastor Simms’s church?”

  “Every Sunday,” Lester answered with a stubborn tilt of his chin.

  “Then you’re in no way positioned to remain objective,” Silas pointed out. “I get it, you’re attached, but you have to stop being emotional about this and start looking at the facts. Something doesn’t pass the smell test and you know it. Stop sticking your head in the sand and be the damn sheriff. The people need you to stand up for them.”

  “I have always stood up for my community,” Lester said.

  “Well, show me. All I see right now is a man who’s too tired to care about solving crimes and just wants to wave and smile in parades.”

  Silas knew the minute the words left his mouth, he’d pushed too far.

  Lester shot from his chair, his eyes blazing. “Get out! Get out of my office right now! I’m not going to listen to another minute of your bullshit. I defended you, stood by you and made sure you didn’t turn into a worthless pile of crap after your brother died and this is the thanks I get? Out!”

  Silas had lost any ground he’d gained. The best course of action was to go but not before he left Lester with one final piece of leather to chew. “I’ll go. But before you start blustering that I’m out of line for suggesting that you’re turning a blind eye to what’s going on right beneath your nose, you ought to look into your lead detective’s behavior. He attacked Quinn
right here in your station and he’s going to do it again because he knows there ain’t nobody who’s going to stop him, least of all, you.”

  Silas left Lester in blustering silence.

  He may have just screwed everything up but if he was going to be forced out of this town, he was going to make sure that Quinn was safe before he left.

  Even if she’s going to be pissed as hell when she finds out.

  Chapter 26

  Quinn left the station to talk to Uncle Leo. She wanted to be the one to break the news about Pastor Simms.

  She walked into the shop, smiling faintly at the familiar smell of lingering chemical solutions and stopped a minute to appreciate her uncle’s talent.

  Leo loved his Thailand photographs. The lush green canopies and the local wild fauna as well as the people, were his passion. He said that his time in Thailand always reinvigorated him and he certainly always seemed happier when he returned, almost dreamy at times.

  Uncle Leo had an entire series on orphans that’d won him some awards. Not surprising, their little eyes had looked so haunting. Even now, each time Quinn looked at his wall, those eyes told a sad story.

  That was the mark of a true professional.

  Quinn always thought her uncle had the chops to work for National Geographic but he preferred to stay local.

  Such a good man, sacrificing his opportunity for the love of his small town and of her, of course.

  Leo appeared from the dark room, wiping his hands. “This is a surprise,” he said, smiling. “Are you here on an official capacity?”

  “Actually, sort of,” she answered, biting her lip as she tried to find the gentlest way to break the news. “I have something to tell you and I didn’t want you to hear through the grapevine.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that,” he said, worried. “Is everything okay?”

  “An arrest was made today in Rhia Daniels’s case,” she said, placing a hand on his arm.

  Uncle Leo’s gaze widened. “Who?”

  “Pastor Simms.”

  “No.” Leo sucked a sharp breath. “Not possible. Pastor Simms is a good man.”

  “Well, that remains to be seen. He was arrested for unlawful sex with a minor. Silas believes the pastor was also Rhia’s baby-daddy.”

  Leo made a look of distaste. “Honey, please. Let’s be a little more respectful. But to your original statement, I can’t believe it.”

  “I know, that’s why I wanted to tell you myself. I knew it would be a shock.”

  “Shock isn’t the word. Why do they think he would kill her?”

  “Maybe he was terrified that their secret would ruin him?” she suggested. “Either way, unless the pastor has a really good alibi for the night Rhia was killed...it doesn’t look good for the man.”

  “That’s a damn shame.” Leo shook his head sadly. “The sins of the flesh catch us all.”

  “That was very Old Testament.”

  “I suppose Silas wasn’t too happy to find out that Rhia’s death was probably not related to his brother’s murder.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Quinn disagreed. “Granted, our evidence is more circumstantial than concrete but we’ve uncovered some incriminating bits of information, suggesting that Sara Westfall was murdered by the same person who killed Spencer Kelly.”

  “Oh? Such as?”

  “Sorry, can’t tell just yet.” She smiled, patting his cheek with love. “But you’ll be the first to know when I can spill the beans.”

  She turned to leave but Uncle Leo caught her hand. Quinn turned with a smile. “Are you okay?”

  Uncle Leo’s grip tightened and her smile faltered as something she didn’t quite recognize flared in his eyes but it was gone in a blink. A heartbeat later he was back to the man she knew and loved, causing her to question if she’d seen anything at all.

  “Yes, yes,” he said, dropping her hand. “I’m just being a sentimental old man. Go on. I’ll see you at home.”

  “Okay,” she said as she left but Quinn couldn’t shake the odd feeling that her uncle had wanted to tell her something.

  She called Silas, planning to suggest lunch but he told her to meet him at the hotel instead.

  Thirsty little devil, she thought with a smile, guessing that a little nooky was on the agenda for lunch but when she arrived, he looked neither cuddly nor approachable.

  Unless a grouchy bear was considered cuddly.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Lester threw me out of the station.”

  Her mouth gaped. “He did what?”

  “He kicked me out.”

  “Why the hell did he do that?” she asked, confused.

  “I pushed him too hard. But something had to be said.”

  “I don’t understand. What did you say?”

  “It was about the pastor. I think he really would’ve been content to look the other way and when I got the search warrant for the DNA, he knew there was no way he could and it pissed him off.”

  “But Lester has always been a straight shooter,” she protested, uncomprehending the version of events as Silas was telling them. “Why wouldn’t he want the pastor brought in?”

  “Because it rocks the boat of his quiet community. He doesn’t want to do the hard work anymore and, hell, I’m not blaming him for wanting to cycle out to his retirement on a slow ride to shore but I can’t ignore evidence that’s staring me in the face.”

  Quinn’s heart ached for Lester but she was conflicted, too. “What if...” God, she could barely manage the words; they felt like sacrilege leaving her lips. “What if the reason Lester doesn’t want anyone poking around is because...he’s the one who’s guilty?”

  The grim set of Silas’s lips told her he worried about that possibility, as well but Silas admitted, “I’ve got nothing tying Lester to the murders, though, and I sure as hell can’t drag the sheriff in for questioning. I might as well fashion the rope to hang myself with if I try a stunt like that.”

  A thought occurred to Quinn. “My uncle and Lester are very close. Best friends for as long as I can remember. When I went to talk to my uncle about the pastor, he seemed... I don’t know, odd.”

  “Odd how?”

  “I can’t explain it and I feel terrible for even mentioning it. I feel all I’ve done is dangle half-chewed leads in front of this investigation without anything substantial to go to press or court with.”

  “Don’t ignore your gut,” Silas told her. “If your uncle knows something, we need to find out.”

  “I’m just saying, if Lester was up to something bad, my uncle is such a good man he’d try to protect his best friend. Even if he shouldn’t.”

  Quinn wanted to wash her mouth out for saying something so evil but that look her uncle had given her...it’d sent a warning tingle down her back, something she’d never experienced with Leo.

  “Maybe it’s time I talk to your uncle.”

  “No,” Quinn said quickly. “I’ll do it. I don’t want him to think he’s being interrogated. He’s a good man, Silas. I don’t want to upset him.”

  “Fine. You try and see if your uncle will talk but if he doesn’t, you have to let me try.”

  Quinn nodded though she hated the idea of Silas going after Leo. Silas could be very abrasive and she didn’t want her uncle to bear the brunt of all that Kelly intensity.

  Silas’s scowl grew deeper as he said, “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

  “What is it?”

  “I told Lester about Harrison.”

  “You did what?”

  “If Lester throws me off this case and withdraws his invitation to help, I’m not leaving you with that asshole without some kind of protection.”

  “Why did you do that?” she said, h
er ears growing hot. “I told you I’d handle it.”

  “Yeah, well, I handled it. If Lester was serious about doing his job, as he was when he took offense with what I had to say, he’ll can Harrison or at the very least, scare the crap out of him so he doesn’t go near you again.”

  “Silas, I can’t believe you. I told you I didn’t need you to be my hero,” she said, trying to hold her temper in check but she was mortified that Silas had told Lester her business. “I am fully capable of handling Harrison. When are you going to learn that I’m not some weak female who needs a man to protect her?”

  “Look, I did what I did and I don’t regret it. You can be mad all you want. I’d do it again.”

  Quinn wanted to slap his face. “That wasn’t your place.”

  “Probably not. I did it anyway.”

  She could tell by his set jaw he wasn’t going to budge. He believed he did the right thing and he wouldn’t back down, no matter her feelings on the subject.

  Quinn grabbed her purse and left the hotel before she did something stupid.

  If Silas was kicked off this investigation, that would mean finding the true killer would be up to her.

  She wasn’t going to waste precious time fighting with Silas.

  Not even when she wanted to show him just how much he’d stepped over the line.

  Rain check, Kelly. Rain check.

  * * *

  Silas watched Quinn go and didn’t try to stop her. She was pissed, just as he knew she would be but he didn’t care.

  He wasn’t about to leave Quinn to Harrison’s continued harassment.

  Men like Harrison didn’t stop until someone made them. He knew Lester wouldn’t, not in his current frame of mind, and Silas wasn’t willing to take the chance that Harrison might get his hands on Quinn again.

  So, yeah, Quinn could be pissed as a wet cat and she would just have to deal with it because he didn’t regret his decision to spill the beans.

  He ought to check in on the coroner but he was too agitated. After about an hour of trying to focus on his notes, he gave up and decided to get some air.

  Grabbing his coat, he stalked out, needing something to take the edge off.