by Ranae Rose
Salinger returned with a halligan and a hammer.
“Stand back,” Jeremy said, taking the tools. He’d used them to open doors before.
He shoved the halligan’s point into the lock’s hasp, then hit the tool on the head with the heavy hammer.
It gave way, pieces of cheap metal flying.
The second one yielded too, and then he was twisting the doorknob – it was that easy.
The first thing that hit him was the room’s smell, a combination of vomit, urine and stale air. The second was the sight of a blonde teenager who looked just like the photos he’d seen of Olivia, only thinner and paler.
She sat on the edge of a twin bed and flinched when they entered, her shoulders beginning to shake. “Oh my god!”
There was a plastic ten gallon bucket in the far corner of the room – presumably, the smell of vomit and urine was coming from it. There was also an empty bowl on the floor, and a half-full glass of water.
Jeremy approached, taking in the dark circles under her eyes and the knots in her long hair. There were no obvious wounds, and no blood on the front of her t-shirt or shorts.
“Olivia.” He knelt in front of her, trying to get a better look. “Are you hurt at all?”
For a few seconds, she wouldn’t answer – just sobbed harder.
He repeated the question.
In answer, she shifted on the mattress, turning her back halfway to him.
His stomach turned.
The back of her head was more red than blonde, dried blood matted in her hair.
Jesus. He bit his tongue before he could swear out loud. She had a nasty cut on the back of her head, that much was clear – it should’ve had stitches.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?”
She shook her head.
“You were pregnant when you were taken. Are you still?”
She nodded.
“Everything okay with the pregnancy?”
She shrugged. “I – I don’t know. I never got to go to the doctor.”
“I mean, you haven’t been bleeding or hurting?”
“No.”
Thank Christ. “Good. We’ve got an ambulance coming. It’ll take you straight to the hospital and they’ll check you out there, okay?”
She nodded. “Where’s that woman?”
A sour taste filled Jeremy’s mouth, and the truth tumbled out before he could wonder whether it’d be best to save the news for later. “She’s dead.”
“Good!” Olivia let out a sigh that turned into one long sob, and then she did the unexpected.
Jeremy rocked back on his heels when she threw her arms around him.
She’d slid forward off the bed – all at once, he was holding all of her weight.
She was so small and light that it was a lot like holding Paige, who was several years younger. The scents of blood, sweat and fear drifted up from her hair and clothing, damn near breaking his heart.
The wail of ambulance sirens became audible, and soon he could hear the emergency vehicle pulling into the driveway.
He knew he should’ve let the EMTs move her, but she wouldn’t let go, and so he carried her out of the room.
“Jesus Christ,” his lieutenant muttered under his breath, his gaze settling on Olivia’s bloody head when Jeremy walked past.
She was crying on his shoulder, oblivious.
Jeremy caught his lieutenant’s gaze for a second and wondered if he had the same look of relief and horror in his eyes.
He carried Olivia out the front door, sighing in relief when he saw paramedics climbing out of the ambulance.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said to Olivia as they left the rundown house behind, “I know some people who can’t wait to see you.”
CHAPTER 25
Lucia took a deep breath. Walking into the hospital was like something out of a dream – a breath of fresh air riding the tail-end of a nightmare. The thought of facing Olivia’s parents was mortifying, but it didn’t matter – wild horses couldn’t have stopped her from rushing to see Olivia.
Jeremy stepped off the elevator with her, and they walked side-by-side down a second floor corridor. The bright lights and antiseptic smell put Lucia even more on edge, and her heart raced.
“Here we are.” Jeremy stopped by Room 216, the door of which was cracked open a few inches.
Lucia knocked, feeling her heartbeat in every inch of her body, even her knuckles as they met wood.
Olivia’s father answered the door.
“Mr. Kilpatrick.” Her heart was in her throat now, its pulse making her dizzy. “May I see Olivia?”
He was silent for a second, and her heart plunged. Would he turn her away?
She wouldn’t really be able to blame him, but…
He opened the door wide, stepping aside.
“I’ll wait right here,” Jeremy said.
She nodded and stepped inside, breathing deeply.
Olivia sat propped up in bed in a pale blue patterned hospital gown, her phone in her lap. Her mother sat in a chair beside her, and there was a bouquet of yellow lilies on the bedside stand. She looked thinner than Lucia had ever seen her, and there were dark half-moons beneath her eyes. A strip of white gauze circled her head. And yet, it was nothing compared to the terrible things Lucia had imagined.
She hurried forward, her words tumbling out like rushing water. “Olivia! I’m so, so sorry!”
Olivia’s jaw dropped, and she shook her head, meeting Lucia’s eyes. “I thought that woman killed you. I saw you lying in the grass, and there was blood all over you – I thought you were dead, until an hour ago.”
Lucia grasped one of Olivia’s hands – the one that didn’t have an IV running into it. “I’m fine. When I came to, you were gone. God, I can’t believe I was so stupid. I should’ve never taken you on that walk.”
“I’m glad you’re not dead,” Olivia said, pulling her hand free and wiping the back of it across her eyes. “I thought you were dead, and it was my fault.”
It was so backwards, it made Lucia’s head spin. “Olivia, I’m the adult – everything that happened was my fault, not yours. I should’ve known better.”
“But I’m the one who didn’t want to go home. I—”
“Shhh. Don’t you dare argue, or I’ll have to leave. You’re supposed to be resting.”
Lucia had a thousand questions, but she didn’t dare ask Olivia to relive her ordeal.
Jeremy had filled her in on the basics, so she knew that Beverly Johannsson had held Olivia captive in her daughter’s old bedroom as a part of some delusional plan to preserve her pregnancy, which she’d assumed Olivia would have otherwise chosen to terminate.
Lucia could only begin to imagine how terrifying it must’ve been to be kept under lock and key by that maniac – a murderer.
Lucia apologized thoroughly to Olivia’s parents – again.
“It’s okay.” Mrs. Kilpatrick cut her off. “Our daughter is safe, and so is our grandchild. We can’t hold a grudge when we’ve been given a miracle.”
Olivia flashed Lucia the briefest of smiles. “I thought they were going to kill me when they found out about the pregnancy. At least I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
“What about your boyfriend?” Lucia asked. “Does he know yet?”
Olivia nodded at the bedside table. “He brought those.”
Lucia shifted her gaze to the golden lilies and noticed, for the first time, that there were sprigs of baby’s breath tucked among them.
“A nurse said we could take a look at the delivery rooms before I leave the hospital,” she added. “And they did an ultrasound – I’m almost eight weeks along.”
Lucia’s eyes stung, and she nodded, unable to look away from Olivia. As thin and tired as she looked, seeing her safe and hearing her talk about the future was pure sunlight to Lucia’s soul.
“I’m so glad you and the baby are okay,” Lucia said. “When Jeremy told me they’d found you, it was the best news I’d
ever gotten in my life.”
It’d felt like what Mrs. Kilpatrick had called it: a miracle. When Lucia left Olivia to rest and walked back down the hospital corridors, even the antiseptic air smelled sweet. Her heart was so light it felt like it might float away, and she had to hold Jeremy’s hand to stay grounded.
* * * * *
Lucia’s questions were answered gradually, in a cascade of strange facts that eventually formed a bizarre story.
Luckily, she had Jeremy to give her the inside scoop on what had happened.
The first thing she’d learned was her attacker’s name: Beverly Johansson. Just shy of forty, she’d been a cashier at a convenience store near the border of Riley and New Hanover Counties. She’d been a resident of Riley County, and investigation had confirmed her as the killer of both Brianna Haynes and Kaylee Wright.
The jogging outfit she’d worn on the evening she’d attacked Lucia and Olivia had been found in her home, where she lived alone. So had a handbag with a brick inside – the strangest murder weapon Lucia had ever heard of. She’d bludgeoned her victims by swinging the bag, and had strangled Brianna with the strap.
All of that was crazy enough, but it was her motivation that truly made Lucia’s head spin.
She’d grown up on a compound in Oklahoma owned by a cult called the Eternal Family Foundation. Its leader had killed a man in a drunk driving incident when she’d been sixteen, and when he’d been sentenced to prison, the cult had disbanded.
Her mother had died a year prior of kidney dysfunction, and Beverly wound up in Alabama, where she gave birth at sixteen and married at seventeen.
The marriage had lasted less than a year, and she’d moved through a string of Southern towns, eventually settling in North Carolina.
Information on the cult Beverly had grown up in shed light on the possible motive behind her violence. It had been an aggressively pro-family and pro-life cult, placing an emphasis on childbearing and withholding adult status from women until they gave birth.
The sexual morals of the cult were murky, but it seemed obvious that the entire thing had been a way for their leader to acquire his own harem of brainwashed women and girls. Possibly, he’d even been the father of Beverly’s daughter.
Police had located the daughter, who claimed that she and her mother had become estranged after she’d become pregnant and chosen to terminate her pregnancy.
Subsequent investigation had revealed that Brianna and Kaylee had both patronized the Riley County Women’s Health Center for its low cost birth control, and Kaylee had even volunteered there.
The center didn’t offer abortion services, but the fact that they so much as provided information on them to interested women, like Beverly’s daughter, had presumably been enough to incur her wrath. After all, within the cult she’d grown up in, offering a pregnant woman options would’ve been an unforgiveable sin.
And motherhood would’ve been Beverly’s greatest achievement. When her daughter had committed the double offense of seeking an abortion and cutting off contact with her, it must’ve been enough to push her into unimaginable darkness.
Darkness that had swallowed up three innocent lives in addition to Beverly’s, and injured others.
Finally free from the shadow of that darkness, Lucia felt lucky beyond reason. Light seemed bright and life sweeter, something never to be taken for granted.
* * * * *
Liam and Alicia’s place stood alone on a rural road, miles out of town. Liam, Jeremy, Grey and Henry were gathered in the kitchen, and then there was their hostess, Alicia, plus Kerry and Sasha. And Lucia.
Not being the odd man out among his cousin and friends was a new feeling for Jeremy. For years, they’d included him in the occasional dinner or beach trip, but on the occasions he’d brought anyone at all, it’d been Paige.
This time he’d brought Lucia, and they were an even set as they lingered in the kitchen and living room, enjoying after-dinner drinks.
Well, the others were enjoying their drinks. Jeremy barely tasted his, he was so caught up in watching Lucia. It’d been a week since Olivia had been recovered, and now that she was out of the hospital, it was like Lucia could finally breathe again. She radiated life and warmth.
The ladies were all enjoying Alicia’s homemade sangria, and so was Liam. Henry and Grey held beers. Jeremy did too, though he drank it half-heartedly, knowing he’d be driving home that night.
The real pleasure he got out of the night didn’t come from the drink, or even from the excellent food. It came from Lucia, pure and simple.
She was chatting with the girls as if she’d known them her entire life. It was incredible how she could do that – make people she barely knew feel so at ease, and feel so at ease around them.
He couldn’t have exerted that degree of social artistry if his life had depended on it. He and Lucia were opposites, but that was just as well. Opposite strengths meant opposite weaknesses. If her accepting nature ever made her vulnerable, he’d gladly be the grumpy ass there to protect her.
As for her, she made him feel more at home among his own family and friends than he ever had in the past, despite the fact that he’d known Liam all his life. It was uncanny and incredible, the way she made him feel whole in a way he never had before.
With anyone else, there might’ve been an awkwardness in bringing them into this sphere of his life, but not her. She made everything better.
For a moment, as he watched her laugh at something Sasha had said, he felt a pang of awe and desire so sharp that he set his drink down on the counter and just stared.
He hadn’t thought anyone could make him feel like that. Not at his age, with his history. But every time he so much as laid eyes on her, he was proven wrong.
The sheer power of the desire he felt for her was almost frightening. Almost, but not quite. Emotions that were both overpowering and positive were few and far in between. The feelings that hit you hardest were usually the ones that knocked you down and left you scarred. He’d take all of this he could get, while he could get it.
“Hey.” Grey gestured with his beer bottle, stepping into Jeremy’s peripheral vision.
Jeremy dragged his gaze away from Lucia and settled it on Grey. He liked the guy, but there was no question that Lucia was more enjoyable to look at.
“She really okay?” Grey asked.
Alicia had asked Lucia how she was doing at dinner, but they’d passed over the subject quickly, keeping the conversation light.
Jeremy nodded. “She’s tougher than she looks.”
With all her smiles, she seemed soft. But beneath her cotton-candy sweet exterior, she had nerves of steel, and an incredible ability to bounce back.
“No wonder she fits in, then.” Liam nodded toward the women, then picked up a cheese cube from a tray on the counter and tossed it to the little terrier begging at his feet.
He was right. Alicia, Sasha and Kerry had all been through their own slices of hell and had emerged triumphant. Maybe that was part of why this gathering felt so right. Lucia was every bit as resilient as the women she was lost in conversation with – they all shared the same steel nerves, though they were different in other ways.
It was no surprise that their unusual strength seemed to be overshadowing all their differences. From small, quiet Kerry to Sasha’s larger-than-life personality, they were kindred spirits.
“How the hell did we get so lucky?” Liam asked, as if he’d read Jeremy’s mind.
“I can only speak for myself,” Grey said, “but it was probably my dashing good looks and innate charm.”
Henry snorted.
“You scoff,” Grey said, “but you don’t know what it’s like to actually have to attract a woman with your best qualities. Sasha chose you as her boy toy because you’re her opposite. While you’re grumping around in the background waiting for an unseen threat to surface, she’s free to steal the spotlight – just how she likes it.”
“I’m not her boy toy.” Henry put down h
is beer. “We’re getting married.”
“So? That just means she likes playing with you enough to keep you.”
Henry just shrugged, even when Grey ribbed him with an off-color joke about the ways Henry might’ve impressed his fiancée into keeping him around.
Sasha had softened the edges of Henry’s surliness, no doubt about it. Although Grey wasn’t exactly off base about Henry’s habitual vigilance, the man seemed more at peace than he had months ago.
“I guess that leaves me and Jeremy,” Liam said. “The whole neighbor situation is pretty helpful, isn’t it?”
Jeremy nodded. He never would’ve met Lucia if she hadn’t moved in across the street.
The thought was depressing.
Grey turned to Jeremy. “Tell the truth – when she first moved in, did you walk out of your house in uniform before your shifts and strike poses on your front porch to catch her attention?”
“Something like that.” He wasn’t about to admit that his mother had been the one trying to get them together in the beginning, not him. “Gotta take the benefits of jobs like ours where you can get them, right?”
Liam, Henry and Grey were all corrections officers at the Riley Correctional Center, the largest prison in the state.
Grey’s expression grew serious. “Wish Kerry had been my neighbor. I could’ve gotten her to warm up to me a lot faster if I’d had an excuse to dazzle her in uniform.”
When the women drifted toward the counter to get refills from the sangria pitcher, Lucia flashed Jeremy a knowing smile.
The heat it sparked stayed with him even after she went back to her conversation with the girls, and he shot the breeze with the guys – the only people in his life who could understand the strange hell that was seeing the woman you cared about touched by incomprehensible evil.
After what they’d been through, they knew.
It felt strange, but good, not to be alone.
CHAPTER 26
About a week after Olivia was discharged from the hospital with a clean bill of health, Lucia finally allowed herself to get excited over the prospect of Jeremy’s birthday party.
