by Mary Burton
Todd shook his head, moving to the head of the bed beside Nicole. He reached down and pulled the baby from her arms. ‘It has to be the three of us to complete the Family.’
‘No!’ Nicole yelled.
He moved toward Kendall. ‘Take our baby, Kendall.’
Kendall took the child, not daring a glance at Nicole’s stricken face. The bundled infant squirmed in her arms as if sensing she’d been wrenched away from her mother.
Todd leveled his gun at Nicole’s head. ‘It’s just the three of us now.’
Kendall clutched the baby tight against her. ‘Don’t kill her, Todd. You and I and the baby will leave but don’t kill Nicole. Don’t make me hate you.’
The memory of her mother’s screams echoed in her head. ‘You killed my mother. If you kill Nicole I will never forgive you.’
He frowned. ‘We are family. You can’t hate me.’
‘Families hate all the time. If you want me to love you, leave Nicole alone. She can’t hurt us now.’
Tears streamed down Nicole’s face.
Todd stared at Kendall. The raw pain in his eyes was almost heartbreaking. ‘I didn’t want to kill her. I just came back to talk to her. But she got so angry. She found me with Ruth and Judith. She didn’t understand how much I loved them.’
Tears choked Kendall’s throat. ‘And you stabbed her.’
Todd lifted the gun, holding it to his temple. ‘I didn’t want to.’
‘Don’t kill Nicole. If you love me you’ll leave her be.’
A tense silence followed and then he nodded. ‘Okay. For you, I’ll let her live.’
He moved toward Kendall, the gun in his left hand. He wrapped his right arm around her and guided her and the baby out of the room and down the stairs.
Behind them, Nicole’s weeping filled the house. ‘My baby!’ Her moans mingled with the child’s cries.
The front door opened. Cold air hit Kendall’s face and she held the baby closer. He put her in the cab of the truck and hurried around the front of the vehicle, all the while keeping his gaze on her. He got behind the wheel and fired up the engine. He took a moment to adjust the heater so that she and the baby would be comfortable. But the windows, shattered from his bullets, allowed the cold air into the cab. The baby cried louder.
‘Why is she crying?’ He sounded angry, annoyed.
‘I don’t know.’
‘Tell her to shut up or I’m tossing her out the window.’
Kendall held the baby close and started to rock her gently back and forth.
Todd put the truck in drive just as flashing blue lights appeared at the top of the driveway. Kendall clutched the baby. At least ten police cars blocked the entrance.
She nearly wept with relief.
Todd cursed and thrust the truck into reverse. He started driving toward them, then quickly veered onto a dirt road that intersected the driveway.
The side road was bumpy and rough and the flat tires made the truck unwieldy. Kendall bounced in the seat. With the baby in her arms, it was nearly impossible to keep her balance. She fell forward and hit the dash hard with her shoulder before she righted herself.
Todd didn’t even toss her a side glance. He kept driving down the narrowing road. Snow started to fall and soon the windshield wipers couldn’t keep pace.
Without any notice, the truck’s tires hit a slick spot and the vehicle skidded sideways until it hit the side of a tree.
Ayden parked his car at the top of the driveway. Gun drawn, he pushed through the house’s front door. His gaze swept the dimly lighted interior.
From upstairs, he heard Nicole’s cries. He didn’t rush up as instinct demanded. Instead, he and the uniformed cops flanking him methodically swept the house’s interior. Until he knew differently he wouldn’t assume Todd was working alone.
Once the house was cleared, he followed Nicole’s cries to the third floor. He moved down the hallway toward the lighted room at the end. Her cries tore at his heart.
‘My baby,’ Nicole cried.
Ayden burst into the room. Nicole lay back against the pillow, her body wrapped in blood-stained sheets.
‘He’s taken the baby,’ she said.
‘Is there anyone else working with him?’
‘No.’
Immediately, Ayden holstered his gun and went to Nicole. He got on his phone. ‘This is Sergeant David Ayden. I need a rescue squad.’ He gave the address before closing the phone. ‘Nicole.’
She stared up at him with bloodshot eyes. Sweat had matted her hair to her head. ‘He took my baby. And he took Kendall.’
‘Where are they going?’
‘He didn’t say.’
Blood was normal at birth. But Nicole was losing too much. And her face was deadly pale. He raised the sheet and realized Nicole was hemorrhaging.
Jacob cursed when he saw the truck careen off the road. The driver’s side took the brunt of the impact but he feared for Kendall.
‘Jesus,’ he said.
Zack pulled out his gun.
Jacob slammed on his brakes and put the car in park. He drew his gun and jumped out of the driver’s seat. He was less than twenty feet from the truck.
‘Get out with your hands where I can see them!’ Jacob shouted.
Todd appeared to be slumped over the steering wheel but straightened at the sound of Jacob’s voice. He grabbed a handful of Kendall’s hair and pulled her toward him and pressed the gun to her head. A baby’s cry broke the tense silence.
Todd pulled Kendall out of the driver’s side of the cab and held her in front of him as a shield. She clutched the baby, trying to turn sideways so she could protect the child. Todd forced her to face Jacob. ‘Leave us alone or I’ll kill them both now.’
Zack and Jacob kept their weapons trained on Todd. ‘Okay,’ Jacob said, but the detectives didn’t move.
Todd snarled at Jacob. ‘Put your guns down!’ He cocked the hammer of his gun and pressed it to Kendall’s temple.
Terrified, Kendall kept her head bowed low over the baby.
‘Okay. Okay.’ Zack didn’t budge. He kept his gun pointed at Todd.
Jacob also kept his gun pointed at Todd.
Agitated, Todd jerked back Kendall’s head. For just a brief instant Jacob’s gaze locked with hers. There was fire in her eyes.
‘Put your gun down, Detective, or I’ll kill her!’
The baby’s cries cut though the night. The air was bitter cold and the snowflakes were falling heavily.
In that moment, Kendall racked her heeled boot down his shin.
Todd winced and for just a split second was distracted. That was all Jacob needed. He fired. The bullet hit Todd in the head.
Blood splattered on Kendall’s face. For a moment, Todd stood frozen, his eyes wide, the hole in his forehead oozing blood. Then he teetered back and fell into the snow. Kendall, the baby still in her arms, collapsed to her knees.
Jacob moved quickly toward Todd, his gun pointed at him. Zack followed. Their gazes were not on Kendall but Todd. Both were ready to fire again if need be.
Only when Jacob was certain that the man was dead did he spare a glance at Kendall. He holstered his weapon.
Dropping to his knees, he pulled Kendall into his arms. The baby squirmed and wailed between them.
‘Is he dead?’ Kendall said.
‘Yes.’
The baby’s cries quieted.
Jacob stroked Kendall’s hair, now coated with snow and blood. ‘I was afraid I wouldn’t find you.’
‘Me too.’ She savored his warmth. Only now did she realize just how cold she was. She started to tremble.
He shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. His scent clung to the worn leather and calmed her nerves.
‘How is Nicole?’
‘Ayden is with her.’ She glanced down at the baby, who had calmed. ‘I want to see her.’
‘Sure.’
When they returned to the house the ambulance had arrived. The flashing blue
lights of the cop cars and the red lights of the rescue squad lighted up the night.
Nicole had been loaded onto a gurney and was being wheeled to the ambulance. A grim-faced Ayden was at her side. Kendall hurried over and glanced down at Nicole’s pale face.
‘Nicole.’
Her eyes opened slowly. ‘The baby?’
Kendall lowered the child so Nicole could see her daughter. ‘She’s here. She’s fine.’
Nicole started to cry. ‘Thank you.’
The rescue squad worker glanced at Kendall. ‘We need to get her to the hospital right away.’
Kendall moved back so they could load Nicole into the ambulance bay. She handed the baby to the attendant. ‘What’s wrong with her?’
‘She’s hemorrhaging.’ He got into the back of the cab and Ayden shut the doors. The rescue squad raced off into the night.
Jacob wrapped his arm around Kendall’s shoulders and she turned her face into his chest and started to weep.
Epilogue
Saturday, April 12, noon
The April morning was warm and the sky a vivid azure. The small stone church was filled with people as Nicole stood by the christening font holding her three-month-old daughter, whom she’d named Elizabeth. Jacob, wearing a dark suit, sat in the front row. On his left sat Zack and Lindsay. She was in her second trimester and her stomach delicately rounded. To Zack’s left sat David Ayden and his two boys. The boys looked uncomfortable in their new suits and squirmed when their father wasn’t looking.
Kendall stood at the front of the church next to Nicole. Kendall wore a silk blue wrap dress and had pulled her hair into some kind of twist. Her high heels accentuated long legs that always took Jacob’s breath away when he watched her walk.
‘And who offers this child for baptism?’ the priest asked.
‘I do,’ Nicole said proudly. She looked radiant. Her cream-colored dress accentuated her slim figure. Dark hair skimmed her shoulders.
Nicole handed the baby to the priest and watched as he settled the baby into the crook of his arm. He moved to the stone font and scooped a handful of water and gently trickled it over Elizabeth’s small head.
‘Elizabeth Kendall Piper, I baptize you in the name of the father and the son and the holy ghost.’ The priest turned to Kendall. ‘Who stands up for this child?’
Kendall smiled proudly. ‘I do.’
After the baptism was complete, Kendall took her place back on the pew beside Jacob. She smiled up at him. He took her hand in his and squeezed gently. He loved her scent. Loved touching her. And already, he ached to be alone with her.
The last few months had been filled with so much change. The first days after Elizabeth’s birth, Nicole had been in a serious condition. She’d lost a lot of blood during the delivery and it had taken an emergency hysterectomy to save her life. When she’d finally been able to sit up and nurse her baby girl, all her fears about loving the child had vanished. She’d banished all thoughts of relinquishing the baby.
Two weeks after the baby’s harrowing birth, Kendall had driven mother and daughter home from the hospital. The first weeks after Elizabeth came home had been rocky. Neither Kendall nor Nicole had gotten much sleep, but by late February the three had settled into a routine. By mid-March, Nicole, with Elizabeth in a front pack baby carrier, had returned to her studio.
Kendall had requested a leave of absence from the station to care for Nicole and recover from her own trauma. Brett had insisted she stay on the job. She’d quit. She’d put her house up for sale and was looking for another job.
The service ended and the congregation stood. Jacob pressed his hand into the small of Kendall’s back and guided her out of the church. Bright sunshine shone down on them.
David stood by Nicole as his boys made goofy faces at Elizabeth. The baby seemed to thoroughly enjoy the attention.
Kendall leaned close to Jacob. ‘Do you think Ayden is ever going to ask Nicole out on a real date?’
Jacob grinned. ‘He wants to, but he’s waiting for the right time. She was so sick and weak at first and then she was so worried about getting back to work.’
She turned her gaze to Jacob. ‘Tell him that life has settled down and he should get a move on.’
Jacob shook his head. ‘I’m not getting in on that.’
‘On what?’ The question came from Lindsay. Zack’s arm casually draped over her arm.
‘Ayden and Nicole.’
Zack rolled his eyes. ‘I’m not a part of this.’
Lindsay laughed. ‘If you don’t prod the man along I will.’
Zack chuckled. ‘He’ll get around to asking her out.’
Kendall stared at Ayden. The man had been a rock during the weeks following Todd’s death.
Ayden and Jacob had worked with Detective Houseman and Cole Markham to piece together Todd’s troubled and dangerous past. What they’d learned was that Todd had never gotten over his parents’ divorce. He’d resented and envied the life his father had built with his new wife. During his brief visits to the Turner house, Todd had developed an unhealthy obsession with his half sisters. Police now believe he’d assaulted the oldest two. When his stepmother caught him with Ruth and Judith, she’d gone into a rage. Todd had left but had returned two days later, on Saturday morning. That’s when he’d stabbed the Turners, injured Vicky, and tried to get to Kendall and Adrianna, who were locked in the closet, where Mrs Turner had hidden them. If not for the neighbor’s intervention, Todd likely would have killed the whole family that day.
Alaska troopers believed that Todd had fled to Alaska, where he lived for twenty-five years. That’s where Todd had started killing prostitutes. He’d chosen sisters to murder because he was continuing with his obsession with his own sisters. In Denver, he’d killed Diane and her sister, Courtney, before heading east.
It was Adrianna’s father’s files that had supplied the last few pieces of the puzzle. Social workers discovered Delia Turner had had a brother who had been awarded the girls. He’d wrongly believed that the girls should be separated and their names changed to protect them. The five little girls had needed each other, but the uncle and social worker had decided differently.
In Virginia, Todd had tracked down the uncle and through him the adoption agency that had placed the sisters. He had broken into the agency and stolen the girls’ records. He’d set fire to the agency to cover up the theft.
The day Jackie had been murdered marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Turners’ killings.
Kendall had had lunch with Adrianna a couple of times. Adrianna was still reeling from what she’d learned. They were both taking their reunion slowly, understanding that family bonds could only be built over time.
And as she’d gotten to know Adrianna she’d started to remember her older sisters. The memories were just flashes: laughing by a swing set, eating ice cream cones in the cool grass, and holding hands as they danced in circles. The memories weren’t much, but they gave her a sense of peace and of feeling connected.
Jacob looped his fingers with Kendall’s. He leaned over so that his lips brushed her ear. He spoke in a low voice that only she could hear. ‘I love you.’
The words came hard for him. He’d spent his life closed and afraid to love but he’d found the courage to love Kendall.
Kendall smiled warmly and met his gaze. ‘I love you too.’
He traced his calloused thumb over the palm of her hand. ‘Marry me.’
That surprised her. They’d not spoken of marriage at all. She lifted an eyebrow. ‘Did I hear you correctly?’
‘Marry me.’
She could be just as cautious as he was. ‘Are you sure about this? You’re not just overwhelmed by the emotion of the day? Because it’s understandable that you would be thinking about the future …’
Jacob kissed her, stopping her midsentence. ‘I love you. I want us to get married.’
Kendall stared into his eyes. Her gaze reflected so much love, hope, and vulnerability that it made
his knees weak. ‘Yes. I’ll marry you.’
Read on for the first chapter from Mary Burton’s terrifying new thriller Dying Scream …
Available from Penguin in May 2011.
Prologue
Sunday, September 24, 10:00 P.M.
Time had degraded the videotaped image of the cowering woman.
A line skimmed down the center screen now peppered with electronic snow, and a sallow haze paled the image’s once vibrant colors.
As he’d made his movies over the last twelve years, he’d expected them to last forever. He’d never realized excessive viewing coupled with time would degrade the tapes of his three actresses and their final performances. The first tape wasn’t a great loss. He didn’t understand lighting, costumes, or camera angles. He’d been rushed and nervous. But as time passed, he’d gained experience and confidence and by the last tape, he’d honed his moviemaking talent.
Remote in hand, he leaned forward and directed his attention to the most recent tape in his collection. He tuned out the annoying technical distractions and focused on the woman.
A pale satin slip, the shade of forget-me-nots, skimmed her full breasts and slim body and pooled over long legs tucked under her round bottom. A blond wig covered chestnut hair and accentuated a pale face and listless brown eyes underscored by smudged mascara. Blue-black bruises darkened her cheeks. She stared sightlessly toward the ceiling, cradling the hand he’d broken the last time she’d resisted.
Off-screen a door opened and closed. Keys jangled. The woman straightened and tried to stand, but a waist-hugging chain forced her to remain on her knees. ‘Hello?’
He’d never stepped in view of the camera lens. ‘Sorry I’m late. I didn’t mean to be gone so long.’
The woman’s chest started to rise and fall in rapid, short breaths. ‘I thought you weren’t coming back.’
He’d been gone eighteen hours. ‘I couldn’t leave you forever.’
Over the last two weeks, he’d left her intermittently. Each time he made his exit, he threatened never to return as he shut the door. Then from a closed circuit television he watched as she begged him not to leave and yanked at her tether. Then after three, five, or ten hours, he’d return. Each time she wept, her expressive features reflected relief, horror, and flickers of anger. Slowly he’d been breaking her down, teaching her that her world revolved around him alone.
