by Debra Webb
“I can take care of that,” Jess offered. They both shooed her away and kept doing what they were doing.
“I need to get going,” Sylvia announced when the last plate was rinsed and stacked neatly in the sink. “I have to be up really early in the morning to meet the guy from the university.”
“He’s about twenty-five,” Gina interjected. “It takes a couple extra hours to prepare for that much staying power.”
“He’s thirty,” Sylvia argued, “and this is work.”
“That’s perfect,” Gina argued. “No strings, just great sex.”
Jess grabbed a couple of the stemmed glasses and headed for the sink. She wasn’t touching that one. She didn’t need any more reminders of Gina and Dan’s “no strings” relationship. The silence in the room warned that everyone knew what Jess was thinking.
“Well,” Gina rushed to add, “I’m out of here, ladies. See you at the press conference,” she said to Jess. “Let me know what you find out about Atkins Electric.”
Jess promised to keep her posted as she walked her to the door.
Sylvia joined Jess there but didn’t leave immediately. “She’s having a tough time getting past what happened with her sister.”
Seemed impossible that it had been just last week. It felt like a lifetime ago. “It was a lot to swallow.” Jess frowned. “She’s lucky to have such a good friend.”
Sylvia shrugged. “I can be good when I want to. Besides, I know what it’s like to have something like this happen.”
Sylvia’s sister Nina was schizophrenic. About eleven years ago Nina had been married to Dan. She’d gone over the edge, tried to kill him, for God’s sake. Nina had been in an institution since. It was a sad story. One that clearly weighed heavily on Syliva. Dan, too. He felt guilty to this day for failing to see what no one had told him about.
Jess smiled, trying to lighten the moment. “And all this time I thought you were too stuck up to do something so nice.”
“Don’t let tonight fool you, Harris. I am exceedingly stuck up and for good reason.”
With that Sylvia was gone with nothing more than a wave as she descended the stairs.
Jess closed the door, locked up, and set the alarm. That big old claw-foot tub was calling her name.
After turning the knobs to fill the tub, she dragged off her clothes and paused. She still looked the same. She smoothed a hand over her belly. But what if everything was different? How would she protect this child? The parents of all those missing little girls had done their best, and still evil had snatched their very hearts.
Jess was going to need Dan and Lil. Like Gina, she was also going to need to take a long, hard look at her life and consider changes.
“No more thinking.”
With her phone and her Glock on the floor next to the tub, Jess eased into the warm water and relaxed. She just wanted to close her eyes and forget the world for a few short minutes. Her muscles needed this reprieve.
Her cell clanged and vibrated on the floor.
“Damn it.” Couldn’t a woman have her bath without being disturbed? She looked over the rim of the tub and glared at her phone.
Lily.
Jess snatched up the phone. “Hey. You okay?”
“I’m okay,” her sister assured her. “I was just feeling lonely. Blake’s in bed already and I guess I got to thinking about the kids being gone… I just needed to hear your voice, Jess.”
Jess smiled and relaxed in the tub once more. “Well, I’m right here, Lil. We can talk all night if you want.”
Lily told her all about what the kids were up to at college, and Jess decided she was the one who’d needed to hear her sister’s voice. She really was glad to be home.
By the time the bath water had cooled, Lil was ready to go to bed. Jess said good night and set her phone back on the floor.
She reached to pull the drain plug and something tiny and white near the toilet caught her eye. She squinted and tried to make it out. It was the little ball of toilet paper she’d rolled up and stuffed in that hole.
She shuddered. If there was some sort of bug going in and out of that damned hole… she shuddered again. She’d just have to get some caulk or something more permanent to fill the damned thing.
Jess had no tolerance for bugs or spiders.
When she’d dried off and dragged on her robe, she crouched down next to the toilet and had a look. She made another ball of toilet paper and stuffed the hole once more. “Damned old houses.”
If she ever bought another house it would not be a historic one.
Too many creaks and cracks and critters.
She grabbed her phone and her Glock and went to bed.
She closed her eyes and wished for sleep… but that wasn’t going to happen for a while. All those little faces on her case board were looking at her, waiting for her to find them. Add to that the three women whose photos Spears had sent her… were waiting for someone to find them.
How could Jess dare sleep when those women were targets because of her? When those children needed her to find them… to find justice for them?
She felt as if she were running in circles. There was nothing but vague leads on the Man in the Moon case, and Spears’s followers were watching her, leaving her flowers and exchanging photos.
Jess admitted defeat and sat up. Whether it was the suggestion Gina had passed along about the construction crews in the vicinity of the victims or that one meter reader, Jerry Bullock, who been so nervous during his interview, she couldn’t shut her brain off yet and pretend she’d done all she could this day.
She threw the covers back and got up.
This was going to be a long night and she didn’t want to do this alone.
She made the call. When he answered she said the words before she lost her nerve. “Can you come over? I need a sounding board.”
For fifteen minutes Jess paced the floor. She studied those pictures and reviewed the reports she had read from all twenty abductions. Not the first clue or piece of evidence had been found, and the Man in the Moon had gotten off scot-free. What was he doing taking these kinds of risks now? Was he feeling remorseful, as she and Lori had discussed earlier? What life-changing event had occurred to trigger his need to reach out to Jess with these gifts?
Had her recent visibility on the news stirred an interest? Maybe he’d decided it was time and he wanted a high-profile cop to nail him.
“Doesn’t make sense.” He’d said in his last message that this was all for her. “Unless…”
The security system chimed, and she rushed to the door. She disarmed the system, unlocked the door, and yanked it open. It wasn’t until she opened her mouth to speak that she realized what she’d done. Ice curled around her, made her body quake.
“Shit.”
“What?” Dan ushered her back so he could come inside and close the door. When he’d locked it and reset the alarm, he surveyed her, worry etched across his face. “What happened?”
She blinked, felt like kicking herself for the stupid mistake. “I knew you were coming so I… I forgot to check the monitor.”
No matter that a cop waited outside… no matter that she had known Dan was coming, she’d made a mistake.
And that was how easy it was to become a victim.
Dan put his arms around her and pulled her close. “You’re tired. That’s all.”
She nodded against the warmth and strength of his chest. She knew this, but that didn’t change the fact that she’d made a mistake. Somehow she couldn’t get past that.
“Come on.” He guided her to the sofa. “You said you needed a sounding board. What do you want to talk about?”
She stalled at the sofa. “I changed my mind.” Her throat ached and she couldn’t trust herself to speak anymore.
He looked disappointed. “You want me to go back home?”
Was that what she wanted? She’d spent the last month and a half sending him home on work nights and beating herself up when she didn’t. S
he searched his face, knew every angle and line. Her body hummed with need just standing this close to him.
She shook her head. “I don’t want you to go.”
His fingers dived into her hair and he pulled her close. “I love you, Jess,” he whispered against her lips.
“Love you,” she murmured between fiery kisses.
He kissed her until she melted against him. All the fear and worries about what was coming next for them faded.
Dan was here and that was all that mattered.
11:55 p.m.
He stared at the moon and cursed himself.
His body ached with that relentless craving. A craving he had conquered for more than a dozen years. How could he be so helpless now… after all this time? Where was his strength?
He tightened the obedience belt to the final notch, screaming with the agony of the nails burrowing more deeply into his ribs. Still the urge would not be silenced.
She had done this to him. It was her fault. Jess Harris had become Birmingham’s sweetheart and she had ruined his life.
And now, as he stared at the bones spread on the blanket beneath the moonlight, he could barely breathe.
There was no turning back. No undoing the evil.
Dropping to his knees, he folded the blanket carefully, drawing the precious treasure into a protected bundle. He felt the blood oozing into his waistband, but he no longer cared.
Agony swelled again, bursting from his lips in low moans. He had been good for so long. His sweet Lucy and his Lord and Savior had given him the strength. The whore he’d married as a foolish young man had taken his baby girl from him. For years he had searched for a replacement to soothe his soul.
Satan had put that idea in his heart! He hadn’t meant to do it.
He’d lost control. He was weak… so weak.
But none had ever taken the place of his sweet, sweet Lucy. He’d tried to teach them, but they resisted until he sent them to heaven.
Finally the whore had died, and Lucy had come back to him.
He had walked the path of goodness since that day.
Until now.
“Forgive me, Father,” he cried as he searched the heavens for a sign. “I have broken our covenant. I am lost!”
But there would be no sign and no forgiveness this time. All was lost.
What if someone else had seen him take the girl?
Fear speared his heart. He jumped to his feet, the bundle held tightly to his chest, and rushed into the house. The dogs watched as he paced back and forth in hopes of working off some of the anxiety crushing him in its ruthless grip.
He’d always been so careful… every step meticulously calculated. Not tonight. Tonight had been filled with chaos and complications.
Complications he should have seen coming.
Think! He had to think. He’d had to move this treasure from beneath the burying tree sooner than he’d intended. The order had come and he’d had no choice.
Then he’d lost control and taken a new one.
“God, why have you forsaken me?” He wailed.
The police could be coming for him now! Harris could be coming for him!
He’d made a terrible, terrible mistake. This wasn’t part of the plan.
He hadn’t wanted to do this. But he’d seen her playing in the street… watching her… listening to her voice had roused the demon. He’d been weak and he’d lost control.
It wasn’t his fault… not his fault at all.
He moaned, the sound low and deep in his throat.
She was responsible.
Penelope curled around his leg, trying to comfort him with her rubbing and purring. He nudged the cat away. He had to think.
The basement! He could hide this precious delivery in the basement just in case there was trouble tonight.
He hurried to the closet and his secret door. He didn’t bother with the flashlight. The darkness was his ally.
He felt his way down the steep stairs that descended into the basement. It was safe down here so he pulled the string that lit the bare bulb dangling from the ceiling. Taking his time he scanned the shelves and the boxes for the perfect spot.
The Christmas box. Yes, that would serve his purpose. He gently placed the precious bundle atop another sturdy box, one that contained old photographs he no longer cared to look at. He should have thrown it away a long time ago. He swiped the dust from the Christmas box and opened the flaps. After moving aside the piles of colorful balls and strands of shiny tinsel, he placed the precious bundle inside, positioned tinsel over it and quickly closed the flaps.
“There.” His body twitched with relief. This little one was safe now.
He turned off the light and climbed the stairs. Quickly, he assured his secret door was hidden once more. Just in case. His heart continued to pound as sweat slid down his body, joining the blood soaking into his trousers.
He closed his eyes and fought the longing to touch the new treasure.
He slowed his breathing and focused his mind on Lucy.
Whimpering brushed his senses. His breath hardened to rock in his lungs, stiffening his spine.
She was awake.
“Shhh,” he urged. “You mustn’t cry.”
Her cries grew louder and he cried with her. “Please,” he begged, “don’t cry.”
She sobbed harder.
He sank to the floor, the demon inside him howling with need. He banged his head against the wall… fought the urges… but it was too late.
It was done.
Atkins Electric, Homewood, Friday, August 20, 7:45 a.m.
The lights aren’t on yet,” Lori powered her car window down and leaned her head out. “Nope. No lights.”
“Let’s drive down the back alley,” Jess suggested, “see if anyone’s parked back there. I’d like to get in the door before they open for business.” She had no desire to stand around waiting for the owner’s attention.
This was a long shot. A really, really long shot, but Jess couldn’t ignore the lead.
The storefront had a typical retail façade. Big plate-glass display windows with a double glass door in the middle. The parking out front was limited, since the store sat so close to the four-lane street between two busy intersections. Jess figured the employees parked in the back. The BPD cruiser following her around this morning had parked in front at the very end of the line of slots. Dan must have instructed the uniforms not to horn into her space. They were staying back as much as possible.
Little flashes from last night threaded through her mind, distracting her. Somehow she’d just been too weary to care what the cop outside her door had thought or what Lori would think when she picked Jess up this morning. It only mattered that she had needed to be in Dan’s arms. When he’d kissed her good-bye this morning she’d almost told him her period was late.
But Lori had arrived and that was that.
“There’s a truck,” Lori said, pulling Jess back to the present.
Silver Dodge Ram. Older model. Next to the rear entrance was a picnic table and one of those portable smoking stations.
“Someone’s in there,” Jess said. “Let’s go back around front and park. We’ll beat on the door until whoever’s in there lets us in.” There was a door on the back of the building, but it was steel with no window. Out front she could flash her badge. That usually worked if a person had nothing to hide.
Lori rolled into the parking slot and shifted into Park. “Who’s playing bad cop?” she asked as she opened her door.
Jess pushed her sunglasses up her nose. “You have to ask?” She emerged from the car and shoved the door shut with her hip. “Why don’t you go around and keep an eye on that back door, just in case.”
“On my way.” Lori headed around the hood of the Mustang. She jerked to a stop. “Wait! I saw someone behind the counter.” Lori bounded up to the front entrance.
Jess was right on her heels. At the door she peered through the glass, on which a sign boasted an opening time of
eight a.m.
Jess rapped on the door. “Birmingham PD,” she called out. “Sir, we need to speak with you.”
An older man shuffled to the door, peering at Jess with a frown furrowing his face. “We open at eight,” he said through the glass.
Judging by his age—seventy, at least—this was likely the surviving brother who had been a part of this company during the Man in the Moon abductions. And apparently he had no desire to open his doors one minute before that posted time. She flashed her badge. “Sir, I need to speak with you now.”
He stared at the badge a long moment, then nodded. “Give me just a minute.”
Jess managed to keep her smile in place until he’d backed away and turned to do whatever it was he felt necessary before admitting her into his store.
“I guess he has to get the key,” she grumbled.
“I hope I’m not so ornery when I get that old.” Lori set her hands on her hips and leaned closer to the glass to see if he was coming back yet.
“I can’t say anything,” Jess admitted. “I think I was born that ornery.” She jerked her head toward the police cruiser. “Have one of our friends go on around and watch that back door just in case Mr. Atkins decides he doesn’t want to talk this morning.”
Lori hustled over to give the order. Jess heaved a big breath. Maybe at least this guy could offer something new. The more rocks they turned over the greater the likelihood they would uncover new leads.
A flash of black and a deep roar snagged Jess’s attention, had her bracing for trouble. A vehicle wheeled into the parking slot next to Lori’s Mustang.
Not an Infiniti. Dodge Charger.
She managed to relax enough to get a decent breath. “What in the world does he want?” she muttered as Lori joined her at the door once more.
Buddy Corlew climbed out of the beefy hot rod and gave them a nod. “Morning, ladies.”
“Corlew.” Jess folded her arms over her chest. If he was here trying to grovel for information he could forget it. Whatever grudge he had with Dan he could settle with Dan. She was trying to solve a case. Besides, she already had enough friends who wanted to play games.
