by Dover, L. P.
Angry tears filled my eyes. “And you blamed it all on my parents.” I wasn’t heartless, and it killed me to know that my parents gave him up to have a better life and it ended up being worse than they could’ve imagined. If he wasn’t a psychotic murderer, I actually would’ve welcomed him to my family with open arms.
“It is their fault,” Jude snapped, jerking against his restraints. “They gave me up as if I was nothing. You got everything, and I’ve hated you for it ever since.”
Storming over to him, I pulled a stack of photos out of my back pocket. “You don’t know shit. You see this,” I said, thrusting the picture of him and my mother after she just had him. “That’s you in my mom’s arms. She loved you and was devastated she had to give you up.” I switched the picture to one of him and both my parents. They stared lovingly down at the baby in my mom’s arms. “My father loved you too. I hate he’s not alive to make you pay for what you did to my mother.”
Jude stared right into my eyes. “He’s not here because I killed him too.”
It was as if I’d just had the breath knocked out of me. Everything in the room spun. Reed marched over and grabbed him by the neck. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Jude tried to talk, his voice raspy from Reed’s choke hold on him. All I could do was stare. How could he have killed my dad? “Go into my room and look in my top drawer,” Jude said, struggling to breathe, “you’ll understand then.”
Reed let him go and huffed. When he looked down at me, all I could do was sit there, frozen in place. I didn’t know what to think or how to feel. “I’ll go look,” Reed offered.
I grabbed his arm before he could walk away. “No, I will.”
Reed pulled me off to the side. “There’s a picture of you and your parents in there. I don’t know what all you’re going to find.”
That terrified me, but I couldn’t let Jude see that. I held my head up high. “Doesn’t matter. I’m going in there.”
Reed stayed with Jude while I slowly walked down the hall to what I assumed was Jude’s bedroom. It was the only room with the light on. I stopped at the door and took a deep breath before venturing inside. When I first stepped in, it looked like a murder scene. There was blood on the floor and on the bed with clothes strewn out everywhere from Jude’s suitcase. A dresser was in the corner of the room with Jude’s plane tickets to Vermont on top, along with the picture of me and my parents. He’d stolen it from my mother’s house.
Closing my eyes, I slammed my hands down on the dresser.
“Kennedy, you okay in there,” Reed called out.
“Fine,” I shouted back.
It all depended on what I was about to find in the top drawer of the dresser. With my hand on the knob, I jerked it open and my heart stopped when I got a good look at the contents inside. Slamming a hand over my mouth, I stared at it all in silence. There were tons of pictures of me and my family over the years, tracing back to when I was around six years old. They weren’t pictures he stole from my mother’s house either; they were ones he took himself. The thought sickened me to the core.
Hands shaking, I fiddled through the pictures until I felt something underneath. It felt like fabric, maybe a hat of some sorts. When I pulled it out from under the photos, I stumbled back into the wall. “Oh my God,” I cried, closing my eyes from the sight before me. In my hand was my father’s favorite fishing hat. One side of it was covered in blood.
Silent tears fell from my eyes and I struggled to breathe. It was said my father had hit his head on his boat before falling into the water and drowning. None of that was true. I had the proof right there in my hands. Jude killed my father.
All I could see was red. Jude had taken my world away from me when he killed my mother, and now I found out he’d taken more than that. My skin tingled as if my whole body had been electrocuted. It hurt and I wanted to scream out my rage rage, but I couldn’t. Clutching my dad’s hat, I fell to my knees.
My knee brushed up against something on the floor and when I looked down at it, I picked it up. A knife wrapped in bubble wrap. No doubt the one Jude was going to take to Vermont to kill me. I ripped away the wrapping and carried it down the hall, along with my father’s hat.
I didn’t even look at Reed when I turned the corner. All I could focus on was Jude. I charged right up to him and punched him so hard I felt a bone in my hand crack. It hurt like hell, but the pain in my chest hurt worse.
“You killed him,” I shouted.
Jude leaned his head back and laughed. “My first kill. I was hoping you’d be out fishing with him too, but for some reason you weren’t there that morning. I hit him over the head with a two by four and off he went into the water.”
Everything moved in slow motion after that. All I could hear was Jude’s laugh in my ear. I raised the knife and plunged it in his chest, his laughs turning into a choked gasp. He slowly lowered his head to see the knife jutting out of his skin.
“You missed,” he growled, coughing up blood.
My throat felt so thick I didn’t even know if I could talk. “What are you talking about? You have no heart.” I intentionally stabbed him in the upper right chest, he needed to suffer, slow and painful.
Reed carefully took the hat from my grasp. “This was your father’s?”
I nodded. “He wore it the morning he died.”
Jude coughed and sucked in a ragged breath. “Should’ve seen his face. It was like he’d seen a ghost.” They looked so much alike. I could only imagine how my father felt.
I stood over him. “Did you tell him who you were?”
He chuckled. “Didn’t have to. He knew the second he saw me. I told him you and his wife were next.”
Growling, Reed slapped him across the face. “Shut the fuck up.”
“No,” I said, holding up a hand, “I have to hear this.” I glared down at Jude. “Did my mother know who you were?” When he didn’t answer, I grabbed the hilt of the knife and twisted it. More blood flowed out of his wound. There was already a puddle on the floor. “Answer me,” I shouted.
“No,” he replied, choking on his blood. “I didn’t get the chance.”
I twisted the knife more and relished in his screams of pain. They were muffled by the small towel Reed shoved into his mouth, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he suffered. “Good. At least she died without knowing what an evil piece of shit you are.” The knife fell to the floor and I stepped away from Jude. His face slowly turned white and I knew it was only a matter of time. There was blood all over my gloves and I ripped them off.
Reed came to my side to steady me. “It took all I had not to kill him.”
Jude’s head lolled from side to side as he went in and out of consciousness. “I could tell,” I whispered. “You had me a little scared there for a while.”
He clutched my arm and I looked up at him. “I know,” he said, clearly tormented by the look in his eyes. “I could see it on your face. The last thing I want is for you to be afraid of me.”
My eyes burned. “Never. I love you.”
“I need to call my people and get you out of here.”
Shaking my head, I walked back over to Jude. “He’s not dead yet.” I stared down at him and he opened his hazel eyes, his breaths shallow and raspy. “How does it feel to know you failed? You might’ve taken those I love away from me, but I’m still alive and I have others who love me.”
His eyes rolled in and out of the back of his head. “I … I still have my mark on you.”
I rubbed a hand over the scar on my chest. “Maybe, but I don’t think of you when I look at it. It’s a reminder of how happy my family was without you.”
Reed grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back. “It won’t be long now.”
He was right. Jude took his last breath a few seconds later. Reed wrapped his arms around me and I cried; it was over. “I need to call my supervisor. When they get here, you need to be out of sight. You’ll have to wait for me in the woods.”
I n
odded. “Okay.” I stepped away from him so he could make his call. Jude was in the chair with his head hung, but there was always that fear he’d come back to life. I know it sounds crazy but you see it all the time in movies. “What if he’s not dead?” I said. “The bad guys always come back.”
Reed looked over at Jude and pulled out his gun, shooting him right in the head. I closed my eyes and looked away from the carnage. “He’s not coming back, Kennedy. I can promise you that.” He kissed the side of my head and sighed. “Take this and stay out of sight. I’ll be out there as soon as I can.”
He handed me my father’s hat and I held it to my chest as I hurried out the back door and into the woods. There was only so far I could get before everything came crashing down. I collapsed against a tree and slid down to the ground.
It was over … finally.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kennedy
By the time I woke up, all I could remember was getting home and taking a shower before crashing into bed. Exhaustion couldn’t begin to describe the way I felt. It was now almost lunch time, the longest I’d ever slept since I was in high school. Reed wasn’t in the bedroom, but I could hear him downstairs, along with other voices.
Jumping out of bed, I threw on a pair of black gym shorts and the first T-shirt I could grab out of my luggage. It just so happened it was my Bojangles T-shirt with a biscuit on it that said It’s Bo’ Time. My hair was a tangled mess, but I didn’t care. I had to hear what was going on. Plus, I wanted to see Amy. She was passed out when we got home, but I had no doubt she’d heard what had happened.
I raced downstairs and when I turned the corner to the kitchen, Reed and Amy weren’t the only ones sitting at the table. John and Robyn were also there. Gasping, Robyn jumped out of her chair and ran over to me, jerking me into her arms.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” she cried, holding me tight.
John met my gaze and joined us, giving me that stern look only a father could give their child. “Thanks for telling us you were in town.”
Robyn let me go and I hugged him. “You know we couldn’t, John,” I murmured, hugging him hard.
“I know,” he murmured back. “I’m just happy you have closure now.”
Tears sprung to my eyes. “Me too. Do you know everything?”
He released me and nodded. “Reed told me.”
“And I overheard it,” Amy cut in, raising her hand in the air. She took a bite of her sandwich. “Gotta say, it feels like I’m in a movie. You don’t see this kind of stuff every day.”
Robyn fluffed my hair and sighed. “It’s crazy out there today. Once the media got word of Jude’s death, it’s all you can see on the news.”
I glanced at everyone but settled on Reed who was still at the table, sitting beside Amy. “What are they saying?” I asked him. When he met me in the woods last night, we rode back to the lake house in silence. I wanted to talk to him, but no words would come out.
Standing, he approached me slowly. “Only that an anonymous tip had led the police to Jude and there was a standoff at his house where he was killed.”
“What about all the other murders? Did it come out that he was responsible for my father’s death?” I asked.
John squeezed my shoulder, his expression sad. “Yes.” The FBI was satisfied with everything Reed had done and were able to find all the evidence they needed at Jude’s house to convict him of all the crimes. John said there were a ton of things they found that I might be interested to look at, but I wasn’t ready for that just yet.
Amy had tears in her eyes. “All this time, nobody knew. At least, your father got the justice he deserved.”
“And my mother,” I cried. “Now they can be happy in heaven together.”
John guided me over to the table and I sat down. Amy squeezed my hand and held it while Robyn sat on my other side, holding my other hand. With a worried look on his face, Reed stood next to the table with his arms crossed over his chest. Our eyes met and he smiled, but I could tell something was on his mind.
“What are you going to do now?” Amy asked.
Robyn bumped me with her shoulder. “You can stay with me and John for a while honey.”
I looked at them both and would love to stay, but there was only one place I wanted to be. “I really want to go back to Wyoming. The last place I want to be is here with the media frenzy.”
John sat across from me. “Maybe we can visit you then?”
He glanced over at Reed and Reed nodded. “Of course. Anytime.”
Robyn squealed with delight. “That’ll be fun. You’ll have to show me around. What are you going to do about your house in Vermont though?”
I shrugged. “Keep it. I really love that place. It’ll be nice to go back to it every once in a while.”
Amy snorted. “If you’re not going back there right now, I’d like to get away for a bit. I think after all the shit that just happened it would be nice to get out of here.”
That made me laugh. “Go for it. I’ll give you the keys.”
John glanced down at his phone and sighed when he looked at Robyn. “Honey, we should probably go. I have a lot of paperwork to do. Plus, I know Kennedy has a lot going on right now.”
Robyn kissed the side of my head. “Don’t you dare leave town without seeing me again. I’ll cook you and Reed dinner.”
I hugged her again. “Sounds great. We’ll be there.”
John said a few words to Reed and they shook hands before walking out of the kitchen and to the front door. Reed had that same concerned look on his face and I narrowed my gaze. “You okay?”
He nodded toward the door. “Can we talk?”
I peered over at Amy and she started back on her sandwich. “I’ll be fine in here.”
Reed opened the back door and I walked out with him behind me. It was a hot, humid day by the lake which brought back so many memories of being back in North Carolina. There were a couple of rocking chairs on the back porch so I sat in one and he sat in the other.
“You got me worried, Reed,” I said, searching his face for any kind of clue as to why he seemed concerned.
He averted his gaze to the water. “You didn’t say much to me on the way home last night.”
There were a couple of people water skiing and I watched them. “I literally couldn’t form words,” I confessed. “My mind was going ninety miles an hour though.”
“I’m sorry you had to see me the way I was.”
I jerked my face his way. “Is that what this is about? You’re thinking I’m scared of you?”
Reluctantly, he met my eyes. “Seeing the fear in your eyes fucked me up, sunshine. With Jude being so close to you, I can’t begin to describe how fiercely I wanted to protect you. It went against my nature not to kill him.”
Seeing the pain in his eyes made my heart break. I got up and sat on his lap. “I needed to be the one to end it, Reed.”
He nodded. “I know. Now that it’s over, we really both need a break. I told my supervisor this morning that I’m out for two months.”
“Nice,” I exclaimed excitedly. He smiled and it lightened the mood. “What are we going to do? I really think we need a vacation.”
“I do too,” he agreed, holding me tight. “We just need to head back to Wyoming for about a week and then you can pick our destination.”
I bit my lip. “I want to go somewhere tropical with crystal blue water.”
Reed pulled me down to his lips and kissed me. “I know exactly where we can go.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kennedy
The news of Jude had spread all across the country; it was everywhere. It turned out that he wasn’t abused at all. Never once did he have to work to pay the rent like he’d claimed. He only said those things to get sympathy from others. Friends of his adoptive parents said that Shirley and Henry loved Jude and gave him everything he could ever want. Some of them even admitted they were afraid of Jude and wouldn’t be surprised if he’
d killed Henry just to get the insurance money. After Henry died, Jude had gotten everything which turned out to be half a million dollars.
You couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing our story on every news station. And of all things, there were even talk show hosts talking about it and how it wouldn’t surprise them if a movie was made about it. I hated that Jude’s name got recognition, I also hated that I couldn’t turn around without being bombarded by it all — but unfortunately, there was no other way around it. What Jude did was unspeakable and completely deranged. I didn’t want the public or Hollywood to sensationalize it all making judgments of what had happened. Without Reed by my side it really would have taken more of a toll on me.
With the media hunting me down, John thought it’d be good to give a statement, in which I did. Reed and I had to stay in town an extra couple of days because of it. I stood in front of dozens of reporters and answered their questions. Of course, I had to leave out that I was the one who killed him.
The good thing was that it was over. It was the closure my soul needed. Don’t get me wrong, it still pained me when I thought about all my family had been through, but at least I could live again. Or I thought I could.
With Reed and I still in Belmont, I had to stay on the down low. Even though it was all over when we went to the grocery store the other night to pick up some ice cream, within seconds I had about twenty people swarm me wanting pictures. I did get to see some of my past students which was nice. I was really going to miss this community and the kids at school.
Sitting in the parking lot of Bojangles, Reed told me to keep my sunglasses on while he went inside to get our chicken. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’d seen people with their phones taking pictures of me. I just hoped it wouldn’t be like that in Wyoming, especially since I’d like to get a job. Eventually it would all die down, but right now my family’s story was hot news.
Looking down at my phone, Ian was scheduled to fly in to pick us up in two hours. I glanced through the back window of our rental car, and I could see Reed inside the restaurant, laughing it up with some of the workers. I couldn’t leave without my stock of Bojangles chicken. Even Reed refused to leave without it.
