“Goddamn it! Do not compare me to that piece of shit Cade Boyd.”
She’d hit a nerve with that little slip of the tongue. “No, no, I didn’t mean to do that.” She scrubbed a hand over her face. “Look, it’s just that I’ve never been able to rely on a single soul except for Baylee and Kit. It’s a habit. Opening up, you get hurt.”
“Oh, baby, no one wants to get hurt. But you, you’re like a cactus. Don’t get too close to Quinn Tyler, or those spikes of hers are liable to cut deep and leave a gaping hole.”
She huffed out a breath, getting madder by the minute. “What brought this on, because I won’t talk about the past? I let you push me last night to open up, but this is… just back off! Maybe if I’d had a Hallmark moment growing up…” Her voice trailed off before picking up steam again. “Why do you have to poke at me about stupid old dreams, Reese? What makes you think I’d want to talk about them if I were having them?
“Because. Both Kit and Baylee were tormented for years by their dreams. Both ignored them until they couldn’t. If it weren’t for Kit’s dream about Alana and Jessica we might still be wondering how this whole thing got started.”
He wondered if he should even bring it up and then decided to hell with it. “Besides, you were crying in your sleep last night. Calling out for a kitten you couldn’t have, forced to leave a place you didn’t want to leave, people you didn’t want saying goodbye.”
It had broken his heart at the time, watching those big fat tears roll down her cheeks even while she slept.
She blinked in surprise. “What? That’s…”
“You were tossing and turning and wanting the kitten. You were also saying something about Broggy, whatever that means. You sounded like a small child, Quinn, not more than two or three years old.”
“But…it’s just a dream I’ve had since I was a kid, that’s all.” She eyed his face, noticed he wasn’t buying it.
“Okay, maybe it’s my first memory or something. I don’t know. It’s stuck like glue to my brain though.” She went into detail about the farm and the animals and the tall man. “I remember crying that I had to leave that beautiful, clean place. Even at such a young age, I knew for certain I did not want to crawl back in that car with Ella.”
“And earlier, just now?”
“Boy, you won’t let anything go, will you?”
He sent her a curvy grin. “I’m like a dog with a bone. Maybe talking about it will help you sleep.”
“Oh, please. Therapy is something I tried…once…a long time ago. Talk, blah, blah, more talk, doesn’t help a whit.”
“So you shouldn’t mind telling me then.”
She hunched her shoulders, giving in, and murmured, “I dream about those years when Ella had it bad with the drugs—and men, back in those sleazy motel rooms around all kinds of other junkies. I’ve seen ugly things, Reese, things a normal child shouldn’t see, or even know about.”
He picked up her hand and brought it to his lips, placed a kiss on the palm. “You need a distraction.”
She whooshed out a laugh. “Is that what you’re calling it? Why allude to the deed? Why not just get down to it? ”
“Because seduction, the buildup is, a diversion you’ll thank me for later.” With that, he lifted up her chin with one finger, leaned over, took her mouth, managed to tug out a low groan from somewhere inside.
Her blood heated. Juices spiked as she gave back every bit as good as she got. Layer by layer, lust built in her belly. She shimmied onto his lap, felt the hard lump in his jeans. “I want you. I’ve wanted you for weeks now.”
“Ditto.” He pulled her robe apart, took a moment to stare at the perfect breasts before cocking his head and taking a pebbled point into his mouth.
At that moment, Reese’s cell phone rang.
“It’s three in the morning!” Quinn grumbled. “Doesn’t anyone sleep anymore?”
“Which means I better answer.” He reached for the phone. “Reese here. What? When? Okay, but you handle it until we get there. Yeah, I’ll let Jake know. He’s probably got his cell turned off for the night.”
Quinn grabbed his hand. “What?”
“Donovan says someone broke into the Book & Bean, went so far as to get inside and pour gasoline near the back door, even lit a match, took off though when something spooked them. He says there was a brief fizzle of a fire because the sprinklers kicked in, doused it. The place reeks of gasoline though. We’ll have to clean the shop up before Kit opens in a couple of hours.”
“This is ridiculous. We’re in defensive mode here. We need to go on the offense, not just sit back and wait for those assholes to keep hitting us.”
“Might be the second time in the last forty-eight we’ve agreed on anything. I’m done waiting for the phone to ring to find out what disaster they’ve planned for us next.” He got to his feet, walked to the bottom of the back staircase before turning to tell her, “And we’re going to finish what we started here, Quinn. Count on it.”
“Damn right we are,” she muttered when he left to go upstairs to get Jake.
When he got back to the hotel suite, Collin did his best to open the door and be as quiet as possible. But in his inebriated state, half high, half drunk, he knocked over a lamp trying to find the light switch.
His brother, who had been passed out himself only hours earlier, pounced. “Where the fuck have you been?”
Collin snorted the laugh of the very intoxicated. “Hey bro, had somethin’ to take care of, took longer than I thought, that’s all. You go back to bed now, get some sleep, it’s late.”
Cade picked up on the inflection of the lie, mainly because he knew his brother. “Where’d you go, Collin? I want to know. Now! Don’t try to bullshit me.”
“Scott and I took a little drive, that’s all.”
“Scott? The cops are crawling all over The Enclave and you go joyriding with Scott!”
“He’s always up for an adventure, you know that. Besides, the cops have torn up our home, our cousins had to find other places to live, too. I dropped by his house in Santa Monica. We’re family; family covers each other’s asses. He covered mine tonight.”
“Then tell me where you were.”
He started fidgeting. “Look, I’m tired.”
Cade took a step toward him. Fearing the worst, he caught the unmistakable whiff and narrowed his eyes. “You reek with the smell of gasoline. What did you do, Collin?”
“I made sure the Book & Bean is toast. Okay? You wouldn’t do anything so… That left it up to me and Scotty.”
“You and Scott set fire to the Book & Bean? You idiot! Boston put in a security system with surveillance. That’s why I told you to wait.” He slapped Collin across the face, hard. “Pack! Now! We have to get out of here in case anyone followed you back here.”
Cade picked up his cell phone, dialed his cousin, Scott Geller. The minute Scott picked up, Cade went into a frenzied rant. “Since you let Collin talk you into insanity, you need to get your ass over here. Now! You’ve compromised this whole thing. You’ll have to rent another car. Use a rental agency at LAX. And don’t leave a paper trail either.”
On the other end of the phone, Scott, the middle son of Frank Geller, did his best to explain. “Hey, I tried to talk him out of it, but you know Collin when he sets his head on something. He just won’t be persuaded to listen to reason.”
“Yeah, right, sure you did. Boston put in a security system with a camera. There’s video out there now.”
“I didn’t get close enough for that. Collin is the one who went inside, set the fire. We took off right after.”
“I don’t care who did it, we’ve got to move just in case you guys were followed and Collin led them back here. Why do I have to do all the thinking?”
“I thought if I went with him, it would go faster.”
“Just get over here with another car. You know the drill, make sure you aren’t followed.”
CHAPTER 9 Book 3
“Stupid idiot obviously didn
’t see the security camera,” Reese pointed out to Jake and Dylan as they watched the tape of Collin jimmying the back door lock in the dark of night, then stepping inside the bookstore. “What the hell does he keep looking around for anyway?”
The three men continued to stare at the computer screen while Collin made a big production of walking around behind the counter, bending down, searching right then left.
“It isn’t matches. He dumps the gas right there in the back storage area and then takes out his own lighter. Good thing the sprinkler system kicked in.”
“And the silent alarm alerted the fire department.” Reese replayed the video for another scan to view it from the beginning when Collin had first appeared at the back door. “Look at that, he comes in and goes directly to the counter. And right here, he’s still looking around for something…wait a minute, see that right there. What is that he takes out of his pocket?”
Dylan leaned over Reese and tapped in a few keys to enlarge the image. “Is that a candle?”
“There’s no gas at the Book & Bean is there?”
Jake shook his head. “Nope. Kit does all the baking at the house, off-site. No oven here except for a microwave.”
“Remember St. John said Quinn’s apartment exploded because they unhooked the gas connection to the dryer.”
“That’s what he’s looking for then, a gas source, stupid asshole.”
“And look here. Something spooks him. He throws the candle down into the gasoline and takes off like a shot out the back door.”
“Maybe Cade,” Dylan surmised. “But then he’s smart enough not to get within camera range. Waiting in the car, maybe?”
“I don’t think it was Cade that spooked him. My guess is this was a rogue act by Collin and not sanctioned by his brother,” Reese stated. “See right here, he gets flustered when he discovers there’s no source of gas like at Quinn’s, doesn’t know what to do next. Check out the panicked look on his face, right here.” Reese stopped the video. They all stared at the screen.
Clearly puzzled, Jake asked. “Why do you think he went rogue?”
“Because Cade isn’t this stupid to hit where there’s a surveillance camera at the back door. Collin, on the other hand, is stupid times two.”
“No argument there but if Cade wasn’t with him…who alerted him, scared him off?”
“Had to be Mr. X,” Dylan surmised.
“I don’t think so.”
Jake eyed Reese. “If you know something, now would be a good time to spit it out.”
“There was a part of that e-mail I didn’t share with…everyone.” He spared a quick glance over in Quinn’s direction as she continued to help Kit and Baylee clean up the back area of the store where the fire had done most of the damage to the wooden oak flooring. At the moment, she was busy mopping up water from the floor from the sprinkler system.
He lowered his voice to a whisper. “He pointed us in the direction of Connor for Claire’s murder, right?”
Jake nodded. “At the time I thought he was yanking my chain.”
“He got it wrong. We know that now since Max has DNA pointing to either Collin or Cade.”
“Go on.”
“Before he ever got started on this whole process, he did considerable legwork on his own, checked out all of the people associated with Alana and Jessica—in detail.” He studied Jake’s face. “Yeah, that includes everything about Kit. But when he found out about the abuse after Alana was gone, he reevaluated things where she was concerned, considerably.”
“You aren’t making me feel warm and fuzzy about the guy, Reese.”
“Hold on, hear me out. He might have moved on past Kit, but not so with Jessica’s branch of the family tree or with Frank’s or Eva’s for that matter.
“It seems he came up with some interesting findings. He discovered the cousins share a weakness for cocaine and partying, along with a penchant for prostitutes. He suspects Cade of killing several call girls, strangling them. He sent me a list of women who worked as escorts and have since gone missing.”
“Let me get this straight. Mr. X sent you a list of call girls Cade is supposed to have killed? Okay, I’m feeling a whole lot skeptical here, Reese. Not saying he isn’t capable but…”
“He’s capable. Cade tried to strangle Quinn. She told me about the incident that happened in college and said if it hadn’t been for Adam Gatz showing up when he did, she’s convinced Cade would have killed her that night.”
“But what does that have to do with who spooked Collin?” Dylan posed.
“I’m getting to it. Cade’s got a temper, right? I’ve seen it firsthand. And after talking to Quinn, knowing what he did to her in the heat of the moment, it’s easy to see him going a step further and killing defenseless women. These call girls put themselves in a vulnerable position. A man like Cade’s going to push his advantage. And there isn’t a damn one of us that doesn’t suspect he blew up Quinn’s building, right?
“Let’s consider Collin for a minute. He’s not the brightest. The most you can say about Collin is he’s a follower, a dipshit absolutely, but is he a serial killer?
“Which brings us to their cousins? What do we really know about Adam and Jacob Gatz, or Taylor, Scott, and Garrett Geller for that matter?”
A stupefied Jake asked, “Where are you going with this, Reese?”
“Mr. X was wrong about Connor killing Claire, right? What if Cade’s good for killing these hookers but with a caveat? What if Cade had help?”
“That still doesn’t tell me who you think spooked Collin,” Dylan pointed out.
“Think outside the box. Don’t focus on the obvious. Cade and Collin have gone off the deep end before and Collin is easy to manipulate. But Collin’s the obvious accomplice, too obvious.”
“You think Cade is getting help from a cousin, the cousin gets a pass because we’re focused on Collin. That’s a leap, even for a skeptic like you, Reese.”
“There might be two killers involved, that’s all I’m saying. Cade being one of them and the cousin, whichever one it is, either is part of the actually killings or simply helps dispose of the bodies. Either way, he covers it up for the Type A, more aggressive personality, which would be Cade. Think about it. Cade’s already fingered as the guy who blew up Quinn’s building. He’s killed before, no question about that. What if this partner in crime is someone other than Collin? I think our Mr. X isn’t infallible, brilliant in some areas, sure, but not without errors in logic.”
“You think one of the cousins helped Cade kill these call girls and Claire?”
“Cade could have killed Claire by himself. But the hookers? Anyone of the cousins could have helped him with those. Since Cade doesn’t like to get his own hands dirty he would most likely want help disposing of the bodies. I say we dig into the lives of the other cousins.”
At that moment, Quinn meandered over to the monitor they were supposed to be watching. Reese deftly changed direction from serial killer back to the subject at hand. “Watch this, see; it looks like it was definitely Collin who started the fire.”
Jake and Dylan exchanged knowing glances. But it was Jake who led the charge to conceal their previous discussion even further. “We’ll turn the tape over to St. John, of course, give him more fuel for his case against Collin.”
“Collin’s such an idiot if he thinks he can waltz in here and do this to one of us.” She placed a brief kiss on Reese’s cheek before moving on to help Kit get set up for the morning rush.
Dylan wiggled his eyes up and down. “So, you and Quinn hooked up, huh?”
“Yeah, Surfer Boy, we’ll pass you a note about it in study hall, how’s that?”
“Wise ass,” Dylan muttered. “Maybe I should mention to her how you suck at personal relationships.”
“Yeah? Like you know so much about having anything but a one-night stand? At least I have a track record for going out multiple times with the same woman.”
Jake ignored the same kind of banter he�
��d heard between these two for years. “Guys, could we focus here?” Once he was certain Quinn was out of earshot, he picked up the cousin theory again where they’d left off. “Let’s say Cade’s the killer of the call girls, how in the world does Mr. X know about these missing escorts?”
“Legwork maybe? Look, I don’t know. He pointed you in the right direction in Claire’s murder. He just pinpointed the wrong brother or cousin. And Cade’s a bully, in personal relationships, in court, in all aspects of his life. I’m thinking our Mr. X dug around enough to find out some very disturbing things about the Boyd, Geller, and Gatz family tree.”
Dylan agreed, “Connor was a bully, might be they all are. How do you know he isn’t the one who murdered these call girls?”
“I don’t. That’s the point here, guys. Up to this point we’ve pretty much been led around by the nose, pointed in the direction people wanted us to go. I say it’s time we did some digging of our own, get solid answers on our own. Get off our asses and get involved in this thing for real, put an end to it.”
“I want Collin and Cade to do time, lots of time,” Jake agreed.
“Same here. Go on the offensive. Then we need to find some evidence, turn it over to the cops,” Dylan reasoned. “Now you’re talking. We cut them off at the knees by taking away their funds, Operation Neuter, and then get down to finding out what these guys are really like on our own terms, hit ’em where they hurt.”
Pleased that his friends were on board, Reese stated matter-of-factly, “Then what are we waiting for?”
Once the three men had a united goal, they set out to put the plan in motion.
It was decided someone needed to go undercover that very day.
For the rest of the morning, Dylan devised the best possible way to get inside BBG&G. At his laptop, it didn’t take longer than fifteen minutes to breach the firm’s simple firewall to their network.
Stupid amateurs, Dylan decided, used the most common passwords. Simple passwords were like wrapped Christmas presents sitting around under the tree, waiting for a determined hacker to discover and use them to his advantage.
Evil Secrets Trilogy Boxed Set Page 84
