The Harbinger Collection: Hard-boiled Mysteries Not for the Faint of Heart (A McCray Crime Collection)

by Carolyn McCray

  “Oh and all the cleanup,” Adelene fretted. “Tsk. Tsk. Your hobby should never be more work than work.”

  “Here, here,” Lacey said turning back to them.

  Glad to know even serial killers could be lazy.

  “That profiler would have been on to us anyway,” Adelene said. “Better to have one last glorious kill before we are captured.”

  Well, at least Nicole death wouldn’t be in vain as Lacey finally got the chainsaw going.

  CHAPTER 17

  Kent hit the gas pedal, hard. He wasn’t even sure what kind of car he’d stolen, he’d just broken into and hotwired the first one he’d come to.

  “She’s not at the house,” Joshua yelled in his ear.

  “What do you mean?” Kent asked.

  “They moved her, but I’ve got their location. You need to head west.”

  Not even looking, Kent slammed on the brakes and made a hard left turn. Honking horns complained but he could care less. Buzz Kill had Nicole.

  This was his fault. All his fault. And not his usual angst ridden guilt either. This time it was true. Lucky 37 had given him all the clues. He’d practically painted a sign over Lacey and Adelene’s names, pointing to them as Buzz Kill but Kent had been too self-involved. Too narrow-minded to see that a mother-daughter team, especially one that had just practically been torn limb-to-limb, could be the culprits.

  “Next right,” Joshua advised in his ear.

  Kent went up and over the corner pavement, cutting it so close. The car’s suspension would never be the same again, but Kent couldn’t care less.

  He dug the accelerator into the floorboard. Maybe he should have paid attention to the type of car he’d stolen. This certainly wasn’t Nicole’s Mustang.

  “Next left and it is the last building on your right.”

  Joshua had guided him to a warehouse district. A bunch of really big buildings without a lot of people around at night to care.

  The perfect kill zone.

  But he couldn’t think like that. He had to assume Nicole was still alive. She had to be alive. If she died because he wasn’t quick enough…

  Kent shook his head physically to get him out of that mindset. He was going to be on time.

  Right?

  * * *

  Nicole clenched her teeth as Lacey stumbled her way over. It turned out the chainsaw, especially running was a bit much for her injured arm. But she refused her mother’s help. If Nicole’s life hadn’t been on the line, the sight would have been almost YouTube worthy.

  But Lacey was determined to be the one to start on Nicole.

  The chainsaw’s loud engine filled the room with threat. The whir of the blades. Nicole had seen enough of Buzz Kill’s crime scenes to know what that chainsaw would do to her.

  Could do to her. If it ever got there. Lacey stumbled again, having to right herself on a metal table. Her bad arm was still in the sling and the hand was limp. It had only been sewn back on less than twenty-four hours ago.

  “Oh for the love of god,” Adelene said, snatching the chainsaw away from her daughter. “You can do the carving,” she continued as she revved the engine.

  Without her daughter’s restrictions, Adelene brought the chainsaw over her head and angled down at Nicole.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, turning away from the blade that never came. Instead Lacey stumbled forward, nearly getting sliced in half. Adelene had to stop the attack to catch her daughter.

  “Lacey, what are you doing? I said I’d do it.”

  The daughter tossed her chin over her shoulder. “I was pushed.”

  Framed in the low light was Kent. And he had that smirk that Nicole loved so much as long as it wasn’t pointed at her.

  “How quaint,” Adelene said with profound bitterness in her tone. Nicole guessed she wasn’t all that fond of men, let alone Kent. Most female serial killers had some form of abuse from men. As a matter of fact, their first kill many times was in true self-defense, but then some switch got thrown and they started to do it for enjoyment.

  But these two women? They killed men, women, they didn’t seem to care. They certainly fit no pattern that Nicole was aware of. They were just two whack jobs with a chainsaw.

  “The white knight come to save his fair maiden?” Adelene jested.

  Kent smiled. “Oh, I am no knight my dear, and trust me she’s no maiden.”

  Nicole smiled back. That was her slightly crazy profiler fiancé. Just the man she wanted to see. Screw a white knight. She’d take an off-balanced G-man over a knight any day.

  “But you came with no weapon,” Lacey sneered. “Men.”

  Little did they know Kent.

  “And exactly what kind of weapon should I have brought to a chainsaw fight?”

  “Something more than you did,” Adelene said as she took a run at Kent who casually ducked the blade and threw a punch to the woman’s solar plexus. Adelene tripped, barely righting herself as the chainsaw clanged against the cement floor.

  “Really?” Kent smirked. “I’m liking my odds right about now.”

  Only Kent could stand in the middle of room, facing two serial killers, one armed with a chainsaw and look that incredibly smug.

  Go, Kent.

  “I suppose you want to know why?” Lacey asked, stepping forward, blocking Kent from her mother who was still recovering from the blow.

  Kent shrugged. “Does it matter?”

  Lacey cocked her pretty little sadistic head. “I thought you always wanted to know the why? Isn’t that the most important part?”

  “Apparently you seem to think so, so shoot,” Kent said as he circled the two women. Nicole could tell that he was angling for her though. His eyes seldom left her.

  “Nature or nurture,” Adelene said, finally able to stand upright. “We may never know since I gave her my genes and I raised her. I thought I had kept my desires under wraps. I thought I had been so careful.”

  “You mean making all of your kills look like accidents?” Kent asked

  “Oh mom,” Lacey said. “I had no idea you were killing my entire childhood.”

  “Oh thank goodness,” Adelene said, patting her hand over her heart.

  The two were acting like they were talking about an apple pie recipe. Kent kept telling Nicole that she didn’t really understand the true extent to which a psychopathic mind worked vs. an average one. Nicole was finally starting to get it. There was a level of detachment that was hard to grasp.

  “No, mom,” Lacey said. “It was like I told you. I had those urges for a while, then some random chick cut in front of me at Starbucks. I held it together in the shop, but then followed her and well… she wasn’t going to take cuts anymore.”

  Kent kept circling, obviously trying to get an advantageous angle on the situation. Nicole wished she could do something other than just sit there as the two spun their origin tale.

  “I came home,” Lacey said “and was crying, tears of happiness and fear and told my Mom what I had done… and what did you say Mom?”

  “Oh thank god,” Adelene said with a chuckle. “The ruse was over. Finally I could be myself, my true self around my daughter.”

  How very heartwarming. Nicole was certain Lifetime channel was just itching to do a story about them. But now it was all starting to make sense. The bizarre evolution of Buzz Kill. The profile had been contaminated from the start. Not only were there two killers, but they had an inciting incident that none of them could have known.

  “And that’s when you decided a chainsaw was the thing?”

  “Oh no, no,” Adelene said. “That came later. First we had to take care of Tanya, that little bitch.”

  “She kept denying she had the necklace that should have been ours,” Lacey spat.

  “But we knew that once it was found out, we’d be suspects so if we wanted to keep killing, and we really, really, really wanted to keep killing we would have to switch it up completely.”

  “And naturally you landed on a chainsaw?”
Kent retorted.

  Adelene smiled though. “My father was a farmer. I used to love waking up to the sound of a chainsaw.”

  “And I loved the blood splatter, so we were both happy campers,” Lacey concluded.

  The two were nuts. Certifiable. Kent had told her over and over again how psychopaths had no conscious. No shame. No boundaries. Nicole found that hard to believe. Even this deep into her career.

  But here they stood. Two uncaring, wacked psychopaths.

  Kent had not been exaggerating at all.

  They were unredeemable. Kent described them like a photo’s negative. They were there, but they weren’t really there.

  Nicole had enough. “Just get this over with Kent.”

  CHAPTER 18

  Kent was so glad to hear that. Without preamble, he charged Adelene. She wasn’t ready so her chainsaw was only half up when he hit. He used one arm to shove the chainsaw up and back. The thing was too heavy for her to hold on to with one hand so it hit the floor and skid. Kent took a split second to kick it toward Nicole.

  Luckily his fiancée was on her toes, literally, sliding the chair over as the blade hit it, sawing through the wood. She was one quarter free now.

  Adelene wasn’t going down without a fight though. She threw a pretty decent left hook, landing on Kent’s chin. His head snapped around. That left her right side open though and he landed a punch to her kidney. The woman doubled over so Kent kicked her in the head, throwing her backwards.

  He had to give her some quarter, she used the momentum to get herself to Nicole and picked up the chainsaw again.

  Wiping her mouth with her sleeve, she smiled with bloody teeth.

  “You think you’re so good,” Adelene sneered. “You’re nothing.”

  Kent had heard it all before. These psychopaths and their vision of themselves. Always so much smarter than they really were. Which was kind of the problem with living in your own altered reality. It distorted your perception. A perception that could prove fatal.

  She ran at him again. Holding the chainsaw lowered, bracing it against her hip. Perfect.

  Kent allowed her to run at him until the last second. Then he stepped aside and kicked at the back of her knee. The force of it brought her down, right on top of her own chainsaw.

  That had to hurt. Apparently her screams confirmed the fact.

  The wound though was fairly superficial.

  It had bloodied her but not much more.

  She got up, turned on him and had the true look of a psychopath in her eyes. They were devoid of fear. Devoid of any normal human emotion. Now there was only bloodlust and revenge.

  Both worked in his favor.

  Once you dug deep down into the reptilian brain, yes, you gained some strength because you set caution aside, but you lost upper brain functions. Like thinking things through and strategizing.

  Now Adelene was just a beast. Strong but thoughtless.

  She swung the chainsaw high, coming at him like an enraged bull. Guess she hadn’t seen many bullfights. The bull usually lost. Badly.

  As a matter of fact, Kent wasn’t even sure why bullfighting was such a popular sport in Spain. Since the bullfighter won 99.9% of the time. Now if the bull won 50% of the time that might make for some interesting viewing.

  For now though he had to contend with his own chainsaw wielding bull.

  She came at him with ferocity, growling, her lips wide open but her teeth clenched.

  “Behind you!” Nicole screamed.

  Kent didn’t have time to turn around.

  * * *

  Lacey was charging Kent from the back. He was going to get caught between the two psychopaths. Nicole had to do something.

  But she only had a three-legged chair and one foot loose.

  She swung her free foot and knocked Lacey’s legs out from under her.

  The young woman screamed as she fell on her bad arm. Boo hoo.

  Nicole was now on her side as well. Not good. She pushed with her one free foot until she hit a wall. She banged and banged until she broke not just one leg, but two. Now to break the last one.

  Kent had narrowly avoided the chainsaw. Only his jacket had lost one sleeve. He seemed unharmed since he was busy taunting Adelene.

  “A little harder when your victim isn’t drugged, eh?”

  The older woman’s face was flush and her pupils dilated so completely her eyes seemed black. As black as her soul.

  Lacey rose and kicked Nicole in the stomach.

  “Bitch.”

  That’s right. You aren’t the only predator in this room. Nicole was able to get her feet under her and heft her way up. Of course she still had the frame of a chair on her back, but what was Kent always saying? Use your environment to your advantage?

  She turned around and back pedaled until she slammed into Lacey, crushing her against the metal wall.

  “I’ve got her!”

  * * *

  Kent had perhaps never been more proud of Nicole then in this moment. The detective was really showing her spunk. No wonder why he had proposed to her. She looked so cute with her sweat soaked hair and blotchy face, holding off an injured serial killer with a chair.

  God he loved her.

  Then a chainsaw came swinging his way and he had to get his head back in the game. Adelene after all was armed and he wasn’t.

  That was about to change.

  Any subtlety or skill had long since vanished in Adelene’s attacks. Instead it was all brute strength and a reliance on the whirring blade to get the job done.

  Not so much.

  Kent blocked with his elbow, knocking her arm away, then he hooked his forearm over hers and heard a very satisfying crack. He’d just dislocated her elbow.

  The chainsaw clambered to the ground, skidding right over to him.

  Adelene’s eyes widened as she clutched her arm to her body, backing away from him. He hoped she recognized the intelligent glint in his eye. Even with his and Nicole’s lives on the line, he refused to go Neanderthal. His mind was his greatest asset.

  He made a fake run at Adelene, watching carefully as she defended herself by turning in profile and backing a step. Good to know.

  He faked again, forcing her to turn toward him and to the right.

  This time was no fake and he corrected at the last second to intercept her as she turned in profile again. Adelene screamed as the blade made contact with her side, cutting into her flank.

  This time it was no superficial wound. Bright red blood gushed down her side. A few more seconds and it would have been a fatal wound. As of now, it just crippled her.

  She now had two weak spots to protect.

  Kent was going to take advantage of that.

  He came at her again, this time straight on. She was surprised that he had in fact not feigned or pivoted so he caught her square in the body. Her screams echoed off the walls. He hoped she remembered all the times she had created those screams.

  The blade was deep in her belly, but Kent didn’t let off until he got through to the other side.

  “Mom!” Lacey screamed as the top half of Adelene fell to the floor. Shortly thereafter the lower half crumpled to the ground as well.

  He turned toward Lacey.

  Her face blanched. Psychopaths may not exhibit a lot of fear. But faced with imminent death, even they had a physiological response.

  “You need me,” Lacey stammered.

  “For what exactly?” Kent asked, holding the chainsaw off to one side as he helped Nicole out of her restraints.

  “We’re the first confirmed mother daughter team. I could provide you with a wealth of knowledge,” Lacey tried to convince him.

  Oh, how little she knew him. Perhaps under other circumstances he might have been intrigued by the idea, however Lacey had threatened Nicole so it was kind of game over.

  His fiancée stepped out of the way. There was nothing between him and Lacey. She moved to the left, trying to get some space between her and her beloved chainsaw
.

  “You said you liked blood splatter,” Kent said closing the distance.

  Lacey gulped. “You aren’t really going to kill an unarmed, injured woman are you?’

  “Why not?” Kent asked.

  “Because, because that would be murder and you’re a profiler.”

  “No, I just see that whole self-defense situation a little more fluid than most. It may not be the heat of the moment, but you’re still a danger.”

  As much as he would like to, he didn’t take a run at her. As much as he liked to say otherwise, he usually did kill in the heat of the moment. While he truly was in danger. But now? Lacey did look helpless. He knew better than to think she was anything but a murderer, but he was having a hard time cutting her apart.

  Then suddenly Lacey launched at him. Now he had no problem. He turned the chainsaw blade on its side, hacking at her bad arm. She screamed as the limb dropped off her body.

  He wasn’t done yet. Kent flipped the blade again, cutting crosswise, ripping into her neck. Lacey’s hot carotid blood sprayed his face as her head lolled to the side. She fell to the floor, dead before she hit it.

  Only then did Kent realize Lacey didn’t make a run at him at all. It had been Nicole who had pushed Lacey into him.

  Again, pride surged in his chest for his fiancée. She had saved them both in his moment of weakness.

  * * *

  Nicole leaned against the wall. The chloroform was still circulating in her system. Adrenaline had gotten her this far, but with the danger over, she was having a hard time staying upright.

  Kent rushed over and scooped her up. He was wet and sticky with blood. She hugged him anyway.

  “You found me,” she smiled, wiping his lips off before she kissed them.

  “Only with Lucky 37’s help.”

  She could understand why her fiancé frowned. That serial rapist had inserted himself into their lives. She knew that Kent was beyond frustrated he couldn’t capture the man. And then to have him help on cases. That was just salt in the wound.

  But for now she didn’t care as she hugged Kent. That had been close. Too close. Never again was she going to do any nice favors for victims that was for sure. If they checked themselves out of the hospital, all the more power to them.