With much grinding of gears and experimentation with the clutch, Owens finally got the vehicle moving at a slow speed. He headed for the tunnel that would take him to New Jersey, and the home of his wife’s best friend. If anyone knew where to find his daughters, it would be Carol Richards.
Owens moved through the tunnel, while grinding gears and making plans.
***
Amy greeted Matt at her back door of her townhouse while wearing a red negligee.
The boy’s eyes nearly popped out of his head and they were embracing before she even closed the door. As always, Amy’s neighbors weren’t at home, and thanks to a privacy fence, they were out of view of prying eyes.
Their coupling was intense and Amy gave herself to Matt without restriction. When the teen was finally sated, they lay in each other’s arms and traded soft kisses.
“Matt?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you think I’m a good person?”
“What? Yeah, of course you’re a good person.”
“What if I did something bad for a very good reason?”
Matt laughed.
“Like what, steal a loaf of bread when you were starving?”
“No, and I’m serious. Would you protect me if I did something wrong?”
Matt lifted himself up on one elbow and peered down into Amy’s eyes.
“I love you, Amy. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.”
Amy touched him on the cheek and said the words she had earlier rehearsed.
“I love you too, Matt, and I know that you’ll love and protect me no matter what.”
Amy was once again swallowed up in Matt’s arms.
She smiled.
Her plan would work.
***
Pierce noticed that Stacey was swelling with as much pride as Cynthia’s mother, as Cynthia was sworn in as a law-enforcement officer. Stacey deserved to feel proud of Dave Owens’ daughter, she had nurtured the girl and been a friend to her ever since their first meeting.
Stacey and others had tried to help Sammi Owens, but the elder daughter of Dave Owens was emotionally devastated by the revelation of her father’s crimes. She sought refuge in drugs and promiscuous sex.
The sex often left Sammi feeling empty, while her abuse of drugs caused her death. Janet Owens, now Grace Gannon, insisted that her ex-husband not be informed of his daughter’s demise. No one argued with her, and anyway, as far as the state was concerned, the family had ceased to exist years earlier.
The police academy graduation was a joyous occasion for Pierce. He believed that Cynthia would go on to do far more good than anyone could imagine. Cynthia admitted to Pierce that she was driven to be a cop partly as a way to make up for all the evil her father had perpetrated.
She was drawn towards doing good and helping people, not only because she admired those who did, but because, as she once told Pierce, “It’s like I owe it to the world, Rick. Do you know what I mean? My father scarred the world, and I feel it’s my duty to heal it.”
Pierce did understand, and if families had karma, the Owens family would soon balance the cosmic scales.
The Pierces and the Collins drove home with good memories and light hearts, pleased that at least something beneficial came out of the nightmare killing spree of The Monsters.
CHAPTER 20
Shortly after entering New Jersey, the tow truck Owens was driving began to make ominous sounds. His inept and abusive use of the vehicle’s gears and clutches had taken a toll. When the vehicle refused to go faster than twenty miles an hour, Owens took the first exit he came to and wound up in Jersey City, New Jersey. The city had over a quarter of a million people and he could lose himself among them.
Owens forced the vehicle along, as dark smoke began coming out of the exhaust. Owens drove into the parking lot of a supermarket on JFK Boulevard and parked the truck at the rear of the building to abandon it.
When he noticed the fast food restaurant across the avenue, Owens headed for it. He used what little money was left after paying the toll for the tunnel to get something to eat. It was the first sign of an appetite he’d had in days and was spawned by the aroma of the food. The greasy meal was good, the best he had eaten in years, but it made him drowsy, and he hadn’t slept in over a day.
It took hours of patient watching and waiting, but Owens finally had a new vehicle. An elderly woman loaded up her car with groceries, then thoughtfully pushed her cart several yards away to place in a corral. Once the woman turned from the cart, a look of bewilderment came over her. She had forgotten where her car was just that quick, Owens knew she had. After looking around, the old lady headed off in the wrong direction, leaving her vehicle unattended.
Watching the woman made Owens think of his mother, who had died from Alzheimer’s disease. She had displayed similar acts of forgetfulness at times.
Owens pushed aside his sympathy for the woman and jumped in her car. Not only was the trunk filled with food, but the keys were in the ignition and the old woman’s purse lay on the seat.
Owens drove out of Jersey City and headed towards the street where he once lived with his family.
***
In an area of New Jersey known as The Pine Barrens, Amy Lowe drove along a dirt road that was not much wider than a trail.
The Pine Barrens stretched across the southern end of New Jersey and, despite the state’s dense population, it was still a very rural and undeveloped area. It was also sometimes referred to as the Pinelands and was reportedly the home of The Jersey Devil, a Bigfoot type creature, in that there were numerous tales of sightings, but no one had ever snapped a verifiable photo of the beast or captured it. Sightings of The Jersey Devil go back over two-hundred years.
The area was also home to several ghost towns, due to the fact that many factory and mill communities had sprung up and disappeared over the centuries, leaving behind various traces of their existence.
Amy hadn’t been in the area for years, but was certain that she could find the old cabin that she was looking for. The cabin belonged to the parents of a former student of hers. Amy had been sleeping with the young man, and they had spent a week in the cabin during one summer.
The cabin was in a secluded area and hidden from view by trees and bushes. The dirt road leading to it was sparsely traveled and led to the cabin and another home that was farther north. Amy remembered her lover at the time saying that his parents had only used the cabin once. Her former student had moved to the west coast, and the cabin was likely sitting vacant.
After driving around lost for nearly an hour she finally found the place. Many trees had been damaged by a tropical storm the year before, and it had caused the surrounding area to look different. There were still the jagged trunks of once proud trees jutting up from the ground, they had been snapped in half by high winds.
The turn-off road was as she remembered it, although most of its gravel surface had sunk into the earth. Amy parked in front of the cabin and her hopes sank when she saw it, for it too had suffered damage.
Half of the wide front porch was crushed, like from a fallen tree. That tree also destroyed the power lines, and yet, the cabin otherwise seemed the same.
Amy left her vehicle and looked around. When she noticed the old stone well sitting off in a weedy field, she walked some distance to get to it.
The well pre-dated the current home on the property and had been dug by hand nearly a century earlier. It was wide and had its own tar paper roof, which was battle-scarred by scores of frigid winters and humid summers. The wooden bucket that had once been lowered into it to draw water was long gone, as was the crank that had controlled the rope the bucket was attached to.
Amy had once made a wish at the well, one that hadn’t come true, but she liked the well anyway. It reminded her of one of a similar age and style that sat on the Pierce property. That well had been to her and Rick Pierce what a porch swing was to other lovers.
The two of them had spent many youthful
hours by that well, and had even made love beside it one warm summer night.
Amy pulled her mind from the past, but before leaving the well, she took a bright pink ball from her purse and tossed it in the center of the wide hole. The small splashing sound came quickly, as the water table in the Pine Barrens was nearer the surface than in most areas.
Amy searched her memory and took off through the woods, while stepping carefully over the fallen trees and withered downed branches. She came upon the spot she had been looking for sooner than she would have liked, and guessed that it was less than half a mile from the well. Still, it would have to do.
A small pool of water bubbled up from the ground inside a depression in the earth. Floating upon its surface was the bright pink ball that Amy had tossed in the well. Years ago, her lover had used a soccer ball to show her how the well was connected to the spring. She had also marveled at how pure the water tasted.
If the ransom money were dropped inside the well in a watertight container, Amy could safely retrieve it at the spring.
Past the spring was a small hill. Once she was over that hill, a short hike through the trees would place Amy at the rear of an abandoned farm. The farm had ceased operations during the seventies after a grain explosion destroyed a silo and killed the farmer.
After walking to the farm, Amy saw that the ruins were as she remembered them. She also saw that the road leading to the collapsed silo was clear of debris or fallen trees. That road led out to a county road.
Twenty minutes after the money was dropped in the well, Amy could be on a highway and headed out of the area.
She hiked back to the well. This time she tossed in a coin and made a wish.
Amy’s wish was that her plan go off without a hitch, and that by week’s end, she’d be a wealthy woman. Amy turned away from the well and walked back to the cabin. As she climbed up the three wooden steps that led to the porch. She let out a startled cry as a shape emerged from the woods on her right.
She smiled when she saw that it was just a deer, and then she tried the doorknob.
The door was locked. Amy pounded on the weathered wood while asking if there was anyone inside. When she received no response, she returned to her car and grabbed supplies from the trunk. It took her two trips to load the supplies onto the porch, and on the second trip she also carried a crowbar.
It took a great deal of straining, but Amy eventually pried open the door. That was when she saw that the fallen tree had also punched a small hole into the roof, and that leaves were scattered on the floor of the interior. No matter, the place would do for the purpose she had in mind for it.
Amy was planning to kidnap Ricardo Pierce’s wife and hold her hostage in the cabin for a million-dollar ransom. She had spent days obsessing over the million dollars she hoped to gain and had come up with a plan. She was convinced it would work and had committed to carrying it out.
A spiral staircase at the rear led up to the bedroom loft. The bedframe was made of metal and the headboard and footboards had bars. Amy removed the lengths of chain and the padlocks from one of the bags and began running the chain through the bars. Once the chains were attached and the padlocks secured, Val Pierce would be her prisoner.
Amy grimaced at her handiwork, but then, she thought about the ransom money, and about all the many things a million dollars could buy.
Val Pierce would be fine. Amy had no desire to harm her, and anyway, the bitch was with a man who rightfully belonged to her. If she hadn’t foolishly discarded Pierce in college, Amy knew that he would have married her instead.
In a way, the kidnapping would just be setting things right.
Such were the justifications that ran through Amy Lowe’s mind.
***
Owens only made it into the next county before he had to pull over. The pain in his middle had returned, and he found that he needed to use a restroom. He wasn’t sure what was causing the sudden diarrhea. It could be his disease or perhaps it was the fact that he was going cold turkey off the pain meds. Then again, the fast food he’d eaten had been the richest meal he’d had in years.
He pulled into the parking lot of a gas station and ran into the attached convenience store to use the bathroom.
Thanks to the forty-eight dollars he had found in the old lady’s purse, Owens had money again. He bought something to treat the stomach upset and a bottle of medicine for pain. Owens also bought a bottle of sleeping pills. If he were trapped by the cops somewhere, he’d rather kill himself than go back to prison.
Once he was in the car again, he added gas to the tank and got back on the road. After only going two miles, Owens had to use the bathroom again. The stomach remedy hadn’t kicked in yet and Owens pulled the car into the parking lot of a restaurant, then rushed inside to use their men’s room.
Stalking the night to abduct and slaughter women was okay with Owens, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave the restaurant without buying something. After all, he had just used their toilet, the least he could do was buy a cup of coffee to go.
Back in the car once more, Owens sat the untouched coffee in a cup holder and headed towards his destination with the hope of getting answers.
***
A damn parking lot. Owens thought. His property was now a section of a huge parking lot for a shopping center. The collection of big box stores had been built on his block as well as the adjoining streets. Not only was Owens’ home long gone, but so was the house that had belonged to the best friend of Owens’ ex-wife, Carol Richards.
After his arrest and notoriety, Owens’ neighborhood was invaded by the press and later became a sort of tourist attraction for the type of people who feed on news of true crimes.
Owens’ family left the house for good after claiming their belongings, and the residence was invaded by vandals one night. Holes were punched in the walls by a sledgehammer and pipes in the basement were damaged, causing flooding.
Over time, the home’s exterior was used as a canvas for graffiti artists and the values of home prices in the area plummeted. Owens’ neighbors began selling their houses for what they could and fled to other areas. By the time the real estate development company swooped in to buy the few remaining occupied homes, they sold for a fraction of their true value.
Owens drove around the parking lot in a daze while feeling like everything he once knew was gone. He finally parked in a space where he was positive his house had once sat.
The sun was going down, and so were Owens’ eyelids, which were refusing to stay open. Owens laid his head back against the car’s headrest. He was out in seconds.
Oddly enough, he had fallen asleep in the very spot where in years past he often dozed off in his recliner. It was as close to home as he would ever get.
CHAPTER 21
Amy arrived home after dark, but then decided to go elsewhere.
She drove towards the Pierce farm and intended to watch it for a while. She had bought a pair of binoculars earlier as she gathered the supplies she needed, and intended to put them to use.
When she reached the farm, she was driving only a short distance behind Rick Pierce, as he and Val returned home. After returning from Pennsylvania, Pierce and Val had picked up their daughters from Jake and Stacey’s house where Christy was babysitting Sophia and Rosa.
Amy eased her car onto the shoulder of the road where she’d been parked when she first met Matt. When she saw that the vehicle that had been driving in front of her had stopped near Pierce’s gate, she brought the binoculars up and followed the car with her eyes.
Rick Pierce was driving, and he must have activated a remote, because the gates opened on their own and allowed him to drive onto the property.
Amy zoomed in with the binoculars and saw that Pierce had gotten out of the car and was reaching into the back seat.
Pierce straightened again after a few moments and Amy saw a sleeping Sophia was in his left arm. After walking around to the other side of the car, Pierce joined Val, who had alread
y freed the latches on Rosa’s car seat. Pierce picked up his younger daughter, who was asleep, but stirring.
Little Rosa opened her eyes for a moment, smiled, and murmured something before falling back to sleep. Pierce kissed Rosa on the cheek, and then kissed Sophia as well. Val had the front door open by the time Pierce reached it and the family walked into their home.
Amy lowered the binoculars and thought about the scene she had just witnessed in secret.
Unbeknownst to her, she was also being watched by Dave Owens.
***
Owens had gotten Rick Pierce’s address from Li Ming, and she had even shown him the pictures of the home that had been in the magazine.
Owens had recognized Valeria Pierce as the woman who had escaped from Jack Murphy’s van and thought of her as being instrumental in his downfall.
The fact that Val and Pierce appeared to be happily married only made him hate the two of them more. He then realized with disgust that it was due to his actions that the two of them had ever met in the first place.
When Owens woke up from his nap in the parking lot, he had driven to Pierce’s home to spy on the detective. He’d left his stolen car parked near the locked construction fence, and had blanched when he saw the sign on the gate and realized that he was standing on land that belonged to a prison.
He had wisely moved through the sparse woods to reach the house. Although traffic was light in the area, the last thing Owens needed was for Rick Pierce to drive by and recognize him.
He had debated going to Florida where his ex-wife’s brother lived. The man must know what happened to Owens’ daughters, and he would make him talk. However, just thinking about the long trip made Owens weary, and, he was aware that his health was in decline. As much as he wanted to see his daughters, Owens wanted, no, he needed to get revenge on Pierce.
Angels (A Detective Pierce Novel Book 3) Page 9
