Stiffening her spine, she forced herself to step through the doorway, her gaze darting around the surprisingly large space that looked like it’d been used as a nightclub. How could she have lived on the estate for the majority of her life and never realized there was all this just below her feet?
With an effort, she shook off her sense of unreality and turned her attention toward the two people who were standing near an open closet. Her heart squeezed with fear as she caught sight of her mother pointing a gun at Ash.
She didn’t know how she was going to convince her mother not to shoot. The older woman was obviously bat-shit crazy. But she had to try.
“I thought we were supposed to meet for lunch?” she said, strolling forward.
Ash whipped his head around, sending her a horrified glare. “Remi,” he snapped. “Get the hell out of here.”
She ignored the command, her attention focused on her mother, who was smiling at her with smug satisfaction.
“I knew there must be a reason you wanted me away from the house,” the older woman told her. “You never invite me to lunch. I snuck back to find your . . .” She sent a sour glance toward Ash. “Boyfriend trespassing on my private property.”
Remi came to a halt in the center of the room. It wasn’t just fear of her mother, although there was plenty of that bubbling through her gut; it was more a sense that there was an evil surrounding the older woman. Remi had an irrational horror that she might become contaminated.
Tilting her chin, she tried to act as if her heart wasn’t slamming around her chest with an erratic refusal to find a rhythm and stick with it.
“You shot Albert.” She didn’t know why, but they were the first words that burst from her mouth.
Her mother arched her brows, as if baffled that Remi couldn’t comprehend her need to kill the man who’d devoted his life to her. “A pity, I’ll admit,” she said. “He’s been a loyal servant, but he’s not stupid. After today, he would know about my little secret. I couldn’t let him tell anyone.”
Remi slowly shook her head. “So many people hurt and all because you wanted me dead.”
“Yes,” Liza swiftly agreed. “It’s your fault.”
“Bullshit,” Ash growled, moving to stand at Remi’s side. He pointed a finger at the older woman. “It was you. No one else.”
Remi sucked in a sharp breath. Was the man trying to get himself killed? Reaching out, she gave his arm a warning squeeze, trying to silently tell him that the cops were on the way.
They just had to stay alive until they arrived.
“When did this all start?” she demanded, trying to distract her mother from Ash.
Liza glowered at Ash, clearly trying to decide whether to pull the trigger. Then she gave a small shrug. “Ten years ago.”
“Ten years?” Remi didn’t bother to hide her shock.
“The first woman I killed was an accident. I saw her, and she reminded me of you. The next thing I knew, I was following her to her house.” Her mother shrugged, as if she was discussing an impulsive decision to get a tattoo. “I didn’t know why. Not until she was lying on the ground with her throat slit.”
Nausea rolled through Remi. “Oh my God.”
“It was awful, of course, but the sight purged the poison that had been escalating inside me.” There wasn’t a trace of guilt on the older woman’s face. In fact, there was a glitter in her eyes that suggested she was relishing the memory. “It was over a year before I felt the darkness return.”
Remi swallowed the lump in her throat. “Is that how you found all your victims? Just seeing them on the street?”
“No.” Liza shook her head. “Some I encountered during my charity work. There were always the catering and cleaning staff I hired for my events, as well as the occasional models if I included a fashion show. Sometimes I would see their picture in the paper. In the past few years, I began to use social media.”
“That’s how you found Angel and Rachel,” Ash accused.
Liza sent him a frown, as if annoyed he would intrude in their conversation. “Yes,” she snapped.
“Why did you carve a C into their flesh?” Ash demanded.
“They were my cancer. Their death was meant to end the disease.”
Ash continued to press her. “Did you mark the women you killed and burned?”
Liza paused, her lips parting in surprise. “Very good, Detective,” she murmured, clearly assuming no one had connected the deaths of those women to the Butcher.
Remi grimaced. When Ash had told her Jax had discovered more victims, she’d been horrified. Now that she knew they’d been brutally murdered and set on fire by her own mother . . .
She didn’t have words to describe her revulsion.
“Why not just kill me?” she burst out.
Liza looked oddly offended by the question. “I may be sick, Remi, but I am your mother,” she chastised. “I tried to battle the urges.”
Remi shuddered. Since her earliest memories, she’d blamed herself for her mother’s lack of affection. Her childish mind had been convinced it had to be her fault, that she wasn’t lovable.
Now she knew it had nothing to do with her. Liza Harding-Walsh was completely insane.
“Until the night you followed me home from the art show,” Remi reminded her mother. She needed to keep the older woman talking. The cops had to be close.
Liza kept the gun pointed at Ash even as her attention was focused on Remi. “There was a voice in my head that was telling me the only way to destroy the malignancy was to cut it out of me,” she said, as if that was all the excuse she needed to kill her own daughter.
Remi paused, battling against the urge to try to make sense of her mother’s madness. “You took me through the tunnels,” she instead said.
“Yes.” She offered a condescending smile. “I wanted you to be in your room, surrounded by the things you loved.”
“Nice,” Remi muttered. “What happened?”
“You passed out before I could get you in the house.” Her mother’s face tightened with something that might have been pain. “Then the door opened and your father appeared.”
Remi released a startled gasp, unable to imagine her father’s reaction. “That must have been a shock to him,” she rasped.
“No. He confessed that he’d begun to suspect I was the killer weeks before,” Liza admitted.
“The file,” Ash muttered.
Remi glanced at him in confusion. “What file?”
“Your father had a file hidden in his desk, with a map of the murder locations along with notes that were written in code,” he explained, glancing toward Liza. “I’m guessing he was trying to determine if his wife could have crossed paths with the victims before they died.”
“Oh.” Remi gave a shake of her head, disgusted with her gullibility. Of course, in her defense, Liza possessed an extraordinary talent for lying. “You never believed Dad was having an affair. You canceled dinner with Bobby because you were planning to kill Tiffany Holloway.”
Her mother sniffed at the note of repugnance in Remi’s voice. “I could sense Gage was watching me,” she said. “Sometimes I would even catch him tailing me when I drove around the city.”
“What happened that night?” Remi demanded.
“He found us on the stairs. You’d already collapsed, so he carried you into the kitchen,” Liza told her. “Then we went into the living room, so we could talk. He insisted that I tell him everything.”
Remi could easily visualize her father. He would have been distraught, perhaps even in a panic, but he loved his wife. He would be desperate to help her, no matter what she’d done.
“Did you confess?”
“Yes.” Liza clicked her tongue. “A mistake, but I hoped he would understand.”
Remi shivered. “Of course he didn’t understand. No one would.”
Liza pretended she didn’t hear Remi. Or maybe she truly hadn’t. She looked lost in her memories.
“He pleaded fo
r me to go to a hospital. I knew what he meant. He was going to lock me in some horrible institution with crazy people for the rest of my life.” The older woman made a choked sound. “I couldn’t let that happen.”
A terrible fear curdled in the pit of Remi’s stomach. “What did you do?”
Liza’s features hardened. “I pretended to agree. Then, when Gage came toward me to give me a hug, I slashed his throat.”
“You . . .” Remi swayed, momentarily afraid she might pass out. Then a strong arm encircled her waist, keeping her upright. She’d known her father was dead. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t found his body. Deep in her heart, she’d known he was gone. But the realization that her mother had slaughtered him just to protect her terrible secret threatened to overwhelm her. “I thought you loved him?”
Fury darkened her mother’s eyes, offering a rare glimpse of the emotions that stewed just beneath the surface.
“I loved him with all my heart.” She jerked her hand to the side, pointing the gun at Remi. “It was because of you. If you’d never come into our lives, everything would have been fine.”
The accusation didn’t hurt Remi. Her mother was incapable of taking responsibility for the evil she’d committed. Besides, Remi was still reeling from the image of her father lying in the middle of the living-room floor with his throat cut.
“What did you do with him?” she rasped.
The emotion was wiped from Liza’s face. Almost as if she could turn it on and off like a switch.
“There’s a special trapdoor behind the bar. It took me a half hour to wrap his body in the plastic my father kept in the garage and drag him down here.” Her gaze flicked toward the bar before returning to Remi. “By the time I got back, I heard you calling the police. There was no time to clean up, so I grabbed some clothes and headed to the garage. I didn’t want to be found at the estate.”
Remi swayed again, her gaze lowering to the ground. “He’s down there?” There was a shrill edge to her voice, revealing the swelling hysteria that made it hard for her to breathe.
Sensing her horror, Ash pressed his lips to the top of her head, his arm tightening around her waist. “Shh.”
“I had no choice,” Liza insisted.
Remi was forced to pause and gather her shattered thoughts. Later, she could grieve a second time for her father, she grimly reminded herself. And try to process the damage her mother had wreaked on dozens of families.
For now, she was supposed to be keeping the woman talking. Something Liza was oddly happy to do.
“After he was dead, why not kill me?” Remi asked.
“Before Gage died, he made me swear I wouldn’t hurt you. I tried to keep my promise. I truly did.” Liza restlessly shifted, as if she was growing bored with the conversation. “But my illness became overwhelming.”
Remi barely heard her mother’s pathetic excuses. Instead, she clung to the fact that her father had used the last of his strength to try to protect her.
Proof of just how much he’d loved her.
It was Ash who continued the conversation, perhaps knowing it was imperative that they play for time. “You had the women surgically altered to look like Remi?”
Liza sent him a dismissive frown. “Dr. Bode is a personal friend and always in need of cash. It was easy to convince him to help me.”
Remi grimaced. Those poor girls. “Why would you go to such an effort?”
“I thought they would help to prevent the darkness from returning so swiftly. I sensed that I was spiraling out of control,” she finally admitted, a nerve twitching next to her eye. Where the hell were the cops? “But they only made it worse.”
Ash gave Remi’s waist a warning squeeze, as if he was sensing the same brittle tension in the air.
“You killed Angel in the park,” he said, the words an accusation, not a question.
“Yes. She was such a disappointment.” Liza’s tone was sharp, clearly blaming Angel for getting her throat slit. “She was prostituting herself for drugs.”
“Why did you drive the Mustang?” Ash demanded.
Liza looked confused. As if she barely recalled the murder. “What?”
“You drove Gage’s car to the park.”
“Oh.” The older woman shrugged. “I knew Angel would recognize mine. I didn’t want her to know I was following her. I’d forgotten just how awful it was to drive when there was snow on the road.” She shook her head. “I nearly killed myself.”
Remi didn’t miss her mother’s concern for herself and not for the young man she’d nearly run over. Of course, it was becoming clear that Liza Harding-Walsh was incapable of looking at the world beyond her own needs and desires.
Before Ash could speak again, the sound of sirens echoed through the tunnels.
Remi’s mouth went dry as she watched the older woman stiffen in fear.
“This has to end, Mother,” she pleaded softly.
“It does.” A hectic flush stained Liza’s face, her hand lifting the gun to aim it at Remi’s forehead. “And there’s only one cure.”
Without warning, Ash was rushing forward, plowing into Liza in an attempt to knock away the weapon. He was quick, but Liza’s finger managed to squeeze the trigger. The gunshot was deafening in the underground space, and Remi screamed as the two hit the floor with a heavy thud. She stumbled toward Ash as he rolled onto his back, the front of his shirt coated in blood.
Was it his or her mother’s?
The question was answered when Liza scrambled to her feet. She was disheveled but clearly unharmed.
“Ash,” Remi cried, falling to her knees next to him.
No, no, no. She’d lost her father. She couldn’t lose Ash.
It would break her.
“Remi.” Ash reached up his arm before she could determine the extent of his injuries, trying to tug her behind him. “She has another gun in her purse.”
Remi glanced up. She hadn’t realized her mother had dropped the weapon, but now she was struggling to yank open her handbag. A voice in the back of her mind told Remi to make a dash for the door. There was a chance she could escape before her mother could get out the gun and shoot her. But she didn’t budge. She wasn’t going to leave Ash. It didn’t matter what happened to her.
But before her mother could find the gun, Remi caught the sound of footsteps stomping through the tunnels.
The cavalry had arrived.
A miracle.
“It’s over,” she rasped.
Her mother glanced toward the door, her face going blank as the footsteps sounded just outside the door. There was no way out this time.
“Yes.” Liza dropped her purse, something that might have been relief rippling over her face. “Thank God. It’s over.”
Moving like she was on autopilot, the older woman walked toward the bar. Remi watched in confusion. Was her mother going to have a last drink before being hauled off to jail?
Feeling as if she was frozen in place, Remi remained kneeling next to Ash even as she saw her mother reach beneath the bar to pull out a long knife. She couldn’t believe the woman was delusional enough to think she could overpower Remi.
But while Remi prepared to fight off the older woman, Liza merely smiled as she lifted the knife and pressed it against her throat.
Remi made a strangled sound as she quickly ducked her head. She was going to have enough nightmares. She didn’t need to add the sight of her mother dying.
Ash tightened his grasp, pulling her tightly against his side as the police—led by Jax—rushed into the room.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Nate and Ellie’s wedding had been a small, simple church ceremony with only family in attendance. It had been beautiful, emphasizing the glowing happiness between the bride and groom. The reception, on the other hand, was a loud, noisy affair with at least a hundred people crammed into the rented VFW hall.
Remi was sitting at a back table with Ash. He’d insisted he didn’t feel up to joining the mass of people who were
dancing near the DJ and flashing lights, but she suspected he’d been worried she would be feeling battered by the chaos.
And, in truth, she couldn’t deny that she was nearing her limit. She loved the Marcel family, but they could be overwhelming. And she was still feeling raw from recent events.
Snuggled close beside Ash, who was holding her hand, she smiled politely at one of the numerous great-aunts who had appeared from the crowd. Ash hadn’t scoped out the layout of the hall properly, which meant he hadn’t realized the path to the bathroom passed next to their table. Over the course of the past two hours, they’d had every guest at the reception stop by to chat.
“Such a beautiful ceremony, wasn’t it?” the older woman breathed, her red hat, which matched her silk dress, tilted at an odd angle. That and the flush on her plump cheeks revealed she had been enjoying the heavily spiked punch.
“Yes, Aunt Harriet,” Ash readily agreed.
The woman sent Ash an arch glance. “I assume we’ll soon be hearing the church bells ringing for you two?”
Remi kicked his heel beneath the table. Ash grunted but kept his answer vague.
“Who can say?”
The woman heaved a disappointed sigh before heading toward the bathroom.
Ash sent Remi a chiding frown. “I don’t know why you insist on keeping everything such a secret,” he said.
In this moment, Remi had to admit it seemed like a stupid decision. Ash was always a potently attractive man. But today, he was downright gorgeous.
Allowing her gaze to run over his hard body, encased in a gray tuxedo, she felt her mouth go dry. Then, with an effort, she sternly reminded herself of exactly why she’d insisted they remain silent.
In the past month, Ash had been rushed to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his shoulder. Thankfully, the bullet had gone through without causing any major damage and it was healing quickly. Then, the word that Liza Harding-Walsh was the Chicago Butcher had spread through the city like wildfire. Remi was barely able to leave her house without being hounded by reporters. Eventually, the horde had grown tired of her refusal to speak, but not before Liza had been plastered across every major news outlet in the country.
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