Broken Justice (Fractured Minds Series Book 6)

by Kate Allenton

  A confession from Elliot would never happen, no matter how hard I poked him. I walked out of the Sheriff’s department as the first prickles of pain started in my head. I met Ford’s gaze in the parking lot and clenched my eyes closed. Breathing deep and even breaths, I called out, “I need my meds.”

  His arms wrapped around me within seconds as he led me across the parking lot. Even the faintest trace of sunlight made the pain ten times worse. I lifted my hand and covered my eyes, trusting him to get me into the SUV.

  Ford lifted me in his arms and slid me onto the leather seat just as every muscle in my body tensed tight.

  “I saw it through the glass’s video feed. I’ve got the meds,” Sam said.

  I heard the sound of the zipper on the container. That sound alone made me want to scream and throw the container out the window. My head pounded a million times worse than ever. So bad that I just wanted to ball up and die to make it stop.

  Ford eased me up into the seat and uncapped the needle, gently pushing it into my arm. He hit the plunger, and a warmth spread through my body as my eyes started to droop.

  “I’ve got you, Red,” Ford whispered in my ear.

  Chapter 24

  I awoke in a darkened room I didn’t recognize. Was that what my life was going to equate to? Fighting migraines and missing out on hours of my life on a daily basis? I didn’t want that for me, and I damn sure didn’t want it for Ford.

  He was seated across the room, his face was lit by the harsh, bluish light of his laptop.

  I eased up, wiping the sleep from my eyes. “You shouldn’t have to babysit me when I get headaches. It’s not too late to back out.”

  He set his laptop on the table and crossed the room. “Lucy, we all come with baggage, and the only difference is that I can help you carry it since you got rid of mine. Watching you sleep isn’t a hardship.”

  I pulled him down next to me. “I love you, Ford Rain, even though you have to be my baggage bellhop.”

  He smiled and cupped my cheek with his hands. “I love you too, my damsel in distress.”

  A full belly laugh burst from my lips. A genuine smile filled his lips, and a sparkle lit his eyes. He was in it with me for the long haul, flaws and all. “We could use a break from all of this.”

  “We’ll take a break when Elliot is dead and in the ground. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”

  “Even if that means to Vegas and we skip a big wedding?”

  “Even there.” He leaned in and kissed me. “Now, why don’t you go get dressed and we’ll meet the others at the diner. I bet you’re starving.”

  My grumbling stomach answered that question. I climbed off the bed, grabbed some clothes, and strolled into the bathroom. The cold tap water I splashed on my face really revived me.

  Within ten minutes, I walked out of the bathroom to find Ford staring out the window to the parking lot below.

  “You’re worried,” I asked.

  “Cautious,” he answered, leaving the window. He moved across the room and picked up Sam’s super-spy, video-streaming glasses and slid them up my nose. “You need to keep these on until this is over.”

  “But I’m going to be with you guys,” I said about to slide them off my face.

  Shaking his head, he pushed them back up my nose. “Even when you’re with us. Just humor me, please.”

  I nodded and rested my palm on his chest. If my stomach wasn’t demanding food and this hotel offered some type of room service, we wouldn’t be leaving, instead I’d just take Ford back to bed and pretend this was our escape from the craziness.

  “Lucy?” Ford asked.

  “Fine, but just until we stop the guy, and then that’s it.”

  “Agreed,” he said, taking my hand. He led me out of the hotel and toward the diner where I’d picked up the coffee several hours before. There weren’t many people inside. Several sat by themselves at different tables. Carson, Noah, and Sam were seated at a round table near the back of the room and motioned us over.

  Ford pulled out a chair, and I sat on the cold, well-worn vinyl seat.

  “Welcome back to the land of the living,” Sam said, tearing into a cracker packet. He plopped one into his mouth and offered me the other.

  I took it and snapped it in half, tossing a piece into my mouth and handing the other half to Ford.

  “Any dreams you want to share?” Noah asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t think I dreamt at all.”

  The waitress came, took our orders and disappeared again.

  The air was thick with tension. The guys looked grim. There was a pensiveness in the air. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Maybe it was being in a strange town. Or maybe it was because we still didn’t know how to take Sebastian down. Unease skirted my spine.

  I scanned the other diners again, only this time taking my time to really look at them. Were any of them more interested in us than they should be?

  If they were, they were damn good at hiding it.

  “Lucy,” Carson said, my name pulling my attention back to where it mattered. “The police collected blood evidence from one of the missing girls.”

  Maybe the pensiveness I was tuning into was at my own table. Were they worried I would want to touch the blood or even more worried that I wouldn’t?

  “Really?” I asked with hope in my voice.

  “No,” Ford said. “You know what the doctor said. You know what adding more toppings could do to her.”

  “Only if the person is alive would I have to live with it. If the blood came from someone dead, I should be okay.”

  Ford met my gaze. “Are you willing to tempt fate?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know.” Was I? I swallowed hard and chewed my bottom lip. I already knew who the killer would be, but did that mean he’d show me where he was hiding the bodies? I needed proof, and I wasn’t sure watching him kill again would give me any.

  “Ford’s right. You should save that trick for when it matters most,” Sam said, glancing up from his phone.

  The food arrived, the subject changed to the missing girls. The guys passed their opinions around the table as easily as salt and pepper. Nothing about this was going to be easy.

  The State’s Attorney had a long reach, and with that came power. We’d theorized that he’d been killing since high school, and his appetite hadn’t only increased over time; he’d perfected his MO. Catching him was going to be like going on a snipe hunt on a moonless night. Wearing a blindfold

  I was sipping my coffee when Gabby appeared outside the café. A woman stood next to her, clutching an oversize bag tight against her body. I watched as the two argued before Gabby pointed directly at me, and the other woman turned to look.

  Pink claimed the other woman’s cheeks, yet she nodded. Gabby left her standing on the sidewalk and entered the diner and walked straight up to me.

  “Do you guys mind if I steal Lucy for just a bit?”

  All the guys looked at me expectantly.

  “No, they don’t mind.” I rose from my seat and ran my hand over Ford’s shoulders. “I have my phone, and I’m covered,” I said, tapping my glasses.

  Code word for I was packing a weapon of some sort. Sometimes that weapon was a gun, but in this case, it was a pen that was holding my hair up in the messy bun. Not that I’d need it. Gabby left little question on whether or not she had a weapon. It was strapped into her shoulder holster.

  “I’ll drop her off at the hotel when we’re done,” Gabby offered.

  “Where are you taking her?” Noah asked.

  “Just a short field trip. She won’t be in any danger.”

  “It’s fine, Dad.” I aimed a jaunty smile at Noah. “Elliot isn’t even in town. We have eyes on him, remember?”

  “You’re assuming Elliot is working alone,” Noah said with a raised brow.

  “He has a point,” Carson said.

  “I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Sam said. “I’ll see if I can reach Asher to find out
the location of the psycho killer.”

  “I’ll be back in a bit.” I wiggled my fingers in a wave and walked to where Gabby was holding the door.

  She led me over to the woman she had left waiting. “Miranda, I’d like you to meet Lucy. Lucy, this is Miranda, my sister. She’s going to help us.”

  “Uh, help us do what exactly?” I asked.

  “She’s going to help us hunt for graves.”

  “Hunt for graves? Perfect and just how are we going to do that?” I gestured with my thumb over my shoulder toward the table inside. “Didn’t you tell them I wouldn’t be in danger?”

  “Miranda’s got this thing for finding dead bodies.” Gabby said.

  I turned my gaze to Miranda but they didn’t elaborate.

  “And you’ll be in the woods, and I have a gun. You’ll be just fine.” Gabby added.

  “Why can’t the guys come with us. I would think that more eyes would be better.” I said.

  “Miranda can’t work with an audience. Even having you with us, might make things more difficult.”

  I slowly nodded, and we began to walk to a nearby SUV. Gabby clicked the fob, and we all slid inside, Miranda in the passenger seat and me in the back.

  “Lucy can see the ghosts of our missing girls too,” Gabby blurted out as if to fill the awkward silence.

  “That should help.” Miranda glanced over her shoulder. Her large, moss-colored green eyes were startling against her pale skin and light hair. Where some might mistake this woman as timid or weak, the vibe I got from her was exactly the opposite. She was in this hunt for reasons they’d yet to share.

  “I don’t see how,” I said. “It’s not like they talk to me. As a matter of fact, they kind of act like they’re ready to kill me.”

  “I’m not sure that’s what they were trying to do. I think they were trying to communicate,” Gabby said.

  “How did you appear in my room?” I asked.

  “In my astral state. I tracked the ghosts and found them there haunting you. It was a surprise to both of us,” Gabby answered.

  “Oh, great. So, you guys are some New Agers. I’m guessing Miranda’s bag is filled with crystals, sage, and a ghost-tracking compass.”

  “Something like that, although no compass.” I saw the smile in Miranda’s profile. “We won’t need my crystal ball.”

  “The ghosts are in the forest,” Gabby said. “There are a handful that are always within the same quarter-mile.”

  “You believe some of them are buried there?” I asked.

  “Some, but not all,” Gabby said.

  The tall buildings in the business district gave way to tree lined streets and suburban neighborhoods. I relaxed in the backseat and turned my gaze out the window, trying to memorize the way back to my hotel should these two decide to kick me out of the car when they realized I wasn’t going to be able to help. Just because I could see ghosts didn’t mean I had any control over the encounters. Quite the opposite. In hindsight, I’d only thought Gabby would be sane considering she was a cop but talking about ghosts in the woods and New Age stuff left me second-guessing the hard-nose stereotype I’d pegged on her.

  “Did you talk to the psychic and warn her that Sebastian was following her that day?”

  “I did. I thought she should be forewarned.”

  I nodded. “And did she tell you where the bodies were buried?”

  “She said they were within the city limits.”

  “Okay, hold up.” I unhooked my seatbelt and leaned forward. “Let’s review what we know about Sebastian He wouldn’t leave bodies in shallow graves, hoping you won’t find them. Not the man I met. Elliot is smart and cunning. He’s calculating. He’s considered every detail, including what the victims are going to wear.”

  “What are you suggesting?” Gabby asked.

  “I’m thinking you need to concentrate on properties that had meaning to him, probably somewhere that would require a warrant to dig up, and that’s assuming the bodies are still in the area and he hasn’t destroyed them altogether. What about his childhood home? Does his mom still live here?”

  “Yeah, his mother does, but she’s a bit senile,” Miranda answered.

  “That’s good for us. We need to look around her property.”

  Gabby glanced in the rearview mirror. “What if he followed you here and he’s home?”

  “I’d know. My cop friend is supposed to have eyes on him, and I haven’t gotten a message that he’s left.”

  Gabby parked down the street from a three-story house. The home was surrounded by a manicured front yard and woods and buildings in the back.

  “Elliots have lived here for generations.”

  “I’m sure that house has a lot of secrets,” I said, climbing out of the SUV and jogging across the street with the others.

  “How do you want to do this?” Gabby asked.

  “You two check out the property and look for anything that looks like it could be hiding dead bodies. I’ll keep the mother occupied,” I said.

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?” Hesitation in Miranda’s voice suggested that she finally realized that her crystals might not be able to save me in a jam.

  “Sure. What’s the worst that can happen? She kicks me out of her yard.” I smiled and touched the pen holding my hair in place. The inconspicuous every day item would work as a weapon in a pinch.

  Chapter 25

  I walked up to the door and waited until Gabby and Miranda disappeared around the house before I knocked on the door.

  Scuffling feet sliding across hardwood floors got louder as they approached.

  Three clicks and clanks later when the last bolt slid unlocked, the door opened for me. A short woman with a walking cane and tight gray curls stared out at me.

  “Yes?” she asked.

  Words got stuck in my throat as I stared at the old woman wearing the exact same style white dress and scarf that Sebastian liked to dress his victims in. Ice slithered down my spine. This was the woman Sebastian was fantasizing as he killed over and over again.

  “Are you okay, dear?” The woman asked.

  “Hi, Mrs. Elliot, I’m Dr. Lucy Bray, and I was hoping to ask you a few questions about your son, Sebastian.”

  The woman’s brows dipped as she glanced around my body. “What about him?”

  “I’m doing a paper on Sebastian’s success, and as such, I wanted to learn more about how he was as a child and his family life. He had to get his work ethic from somewhere,” I answered.

  “Sure, come on in.” The woman opened the door wider for me to pass. “I have lots of stories about Sebastian.”

  I followed the woman and was overwhelmed by the sensation of walking into a shrine to a killer. The long entryway was filled with portraits of Sebastian at all ages. Killer eyes staring at me from mismatched frames made goosebumps rise on my arms.

  Crocheted dollies rested on the coffee table. An afghan of clashing colors was draped across the back of a plastic-covered couch. The plastic didn’t seem to bother the three cats lounging on the cushions. Stairs led up to the second floor. Beyond the living room, I could see the lights in the kitchen.

  “Come, let me make you some tea,” she said and shuffled fast for an older woman with leg issues.

  I followed her until we reached the kitchen. Unlike the display of colors in the other room, this one was decorated in nothing but a sterile white. It was almost as if two very different people had decorated the house. I could only imagine what Sebastian’s childhood room looked like.

  Old drawings and report cards were hanging by magnets in the shapes of states on the fridge. “You have a nice collection of state magnets,” I said and gestured. “Have you been to all of those places?”

  “Not all of them, but some. My Sebastian brings them home for me. He gets his love for collecting things from me.”

  “Oh? What does he collect?” I asked, mentally cataloging all the spots Sebastian had been so I could ask Sam to search those areas
for other missing women.

  Mrs. Elliot put on a water kettle to make some tea. “White roses. He loves them and how pure they are. My Sebastian can’t see colors. He gets that from me too.”

  That explained some of the differences in the house and the mismatched items. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to his father? I haven’t seen many pictures of him.”

  “He’s dead,” Mrs. Elliot said without emotion. “I killed him.”

  “Pardon me,” I choked out. This little old woman didn’t look like a killer. If anything, she looked look like she couldn’t hurt a fly.

  “I caught him lying to me. He was sleeping around, and I kicked him out and burned his stuff. He had a heart attack while he was watching his stuff turn to ashes in the yard. Sebastian says I broke his daddy’s heart.”

  Okay, maybe my judgment was off. Maybe this woman knew how to hit where it hurt; only she used her mind instead of her muscles. I was beginning to understand where Sebastian got his brains and his need for retribution. It looked like it actually did start at home.

  “Wow. That must have been hard.”

  “Well, I told my Sebastian that lying is from the devil’s tongue.”

  I pressed my lips together, wondering if this woman would beat me with her cane if she knew I was lying about why I was there.

  A flash of movement in the backyard caught my gaze, and the woman was mid-turn.

  “Is Sebastian gay?” I blurted out like a bingo player who had just daubed the winning number.

  Mrs. Elliot snapped her gaze back to mine just in time for Gabby and Miranda to duck beneath one of the backyard windows.

  “Oh no, not my Sebastian. He’s a catch. Women love him, and he can’t keep the women away.”

  I coughed and covered my mouth. Mrs. Elliot was delusional. I was beginning to wonder if she knew her son at all.

  The water had started to steam when movement in the living room caught my gaze. I took a step in that direction and froze.

  A ghostly woman wearing a dress and scarf walked through a closed door and disappeared out of sight.