by W L Knightly
“You mean how he was sleeping with his caddie?” She waited as Detective Thomas nodded. “Yeah, I’ve learned some things about my husband, too, I’m afraid.”
“So, you didn’t know before when we spoke?” asked Detective Calloway. The woman was pretty, with a sunny smile and bright eyes that made Kendra long for a summer day. Anything to get past this season of death.
“I had no idea. I just learned of it last night. The young man called to tell me himself. We’re going to meet and talk about Tate.”
“Since we’ve spoken last, would you suspect anyone of being in a position to do your husband harm?” Jo asked.
“No, no one would hurt Tate. His past clients even liked him. Check into it yourself. But I thought that you already had a suspect. The man who killed the other judge.”
Calloway shook her head. “No, it’s not him. There was someone else who had it out for him. Someone who had a reason to kill him. Maybe get him out of his way?”
Kendra shook her head, but then her face fell. There was a person who she might suspect, but surely not? He couldn’t. He wouldn’t do something like that to her. Would he?
“How awful.” She covered her mouth.
“It’s our sincere belief that there is a copycat out there,” Jake said. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Kendra shook her head. She was lost and growing angrier by the second. “Who do you think it is? Someone he worked with? Someone else who wanted the job?”
“There was no one else who wanted the job, and as for anyone he worked with, it doesn’t make sense. We’re thinking there might have been another lover. Yours or one of his older ones? Someone who wasn’t happy about you two starting over in a new city. Someone who would hate to see you happy together.”
She still didn’t want to believe what she was thinking. “What makes you so sure it wasn’t him? Maybe he did it to look like it was someone trying to be like him.”
“He called and said he didn’t do it.” The detective’s words didn’t quite register.
She narrowed her eyes. “So, you’re saying that you’ve spoken to the killer and he’s given you his word?” She didn’t understand how that could be. “Aren’t you still looking for him? Why would a man on the run call in and let you know that?”
“We are looking for him, and he’s recently extended a line of communication.”
“That’s absurd. Use it to go and get him.” She closed her eyes and tried to relax, the anger still making her tense.
The two detectives exchanged a look like they had made a mistake in coming here. “We are, but that’s not what we asked. Do you know anyone who could have done this?”
“If I think of anyone, I’ll let you know.” She had to play her cards right and see if she could get Kyle to confess, but she was fairly sure that he was the only suspect she could think of.
Detective Thomas got to his feet. “I’m so sorry we disturbed you, but if you think of someone, please let us know.”
“Once again, I will.” She gave them a pointed look and then continued on to the door, which she held open for them. “I’m sorry. I just can’t deal with this right now.”
“It’s okay. We’re terribly sorry.” The female detective turned around and took the other by the hand.
As Kendra slammed the door, she fell to her knees and wept.
Chapter 17
Michael
As Michael came to, the pounding in his head got louder. And as he opened his eyes, he could already tell that things were only going to get worse. The room was dark around him, and even though he couldn’t see a hand in front of his face—not his hands, which were tied behind his back—he knew he wasn’t alone.
“Where are we?” he asked, looking around to see if he could tell where he’d been taken.
“Don’t worry about it. You’re safe for now. I’m going to kill you when the time is right but not at the moment.” Madden seemed to be busy with some kind of device, from the way what little light there was reflected. He was bent over, his night vision goggles helping him see what he was doing.
“You should let me go. They’re going to be looking for me.”
“They’ll never find you.”
“They’ll check this part of town.”
“And yet, we’re no longer in the place I took you from, so as I said, they’ll never find you.” He turned his attention back to the device.
“I can give you money, you know? You could get away. You know it’s just a matter of time, and then they’ll catch you. You’ll die in prison.”
“No, I’ll die long before prison, Senator. And I wouldn’t go using death as a way to bargain your freedom. The only way death is going to free you is when you experience it.”
“I’m sorry for what you went through, but that wasn’t me. You’d be killing an innocent man. All of those others? They were innocent too. You should let me go. I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t help my son ever again.”
“You’re a real piece of shit, you know that? I might have had a son if you and yours hadn’t taken my wife away.”
“There’s still time for that, you know? You’re young enough, handsome enough. A woman would want to be with you. Run away and go find her. Lose yourself on a deserted island for all I care. You could have the wife, the child you want.”
“I had the best wife and mother, the best child,” said Madden in his raspy tone. “Your son took that, and now I’m going to take it all from him.”
Michael hated his level tone, and it sent chills up his back, thinking of what kind of torture he was in for. “What’s that you’re working on? Are you going to blow something up with that?”
“How about I shove it down your throat so you’ll stop talking? This isn’t chat time. I’m not your friend. Now shut your fucking mouth so I can concentrate.”
Michael didn’t want him to concentrate. “Whatever you’re planning, the cops will stop you. I have the entire department on my side. They probably already know what’s going on and are looking for me. I did tell my girlfriend and son where I was going.”
“You mean that young lady you’re fucking? She’s not worried about you. She’s got enough lined up. She’s not ever sleeping in a cold bed.”
Michael’s ego wasn’t what it was hours before his kidnapping. He sat having to piss, not sure when he’d ever have another private moment to himself. “I’m thirsty. I need a bathroom.”
Madden looked over like a wild-eyed monster. “You can soil yourself for all I care. And as for water, what mercy or comfort was my family given?”
Michael wished he could piss on the other man’s shoes. He closed his eyes and tried to think about anything else. He had never been so sorry he hadn’t gone before leaving the house. He hated to feel like a child, but if things didn’t change, he would have to do what he had to.
All he could think to do was play on his sympathies. “We’re alike, you and me,” he said to Madden. “We both have proven what a father would do for his children.”
“I’m nothing like you,” said Madden. “I’m not a monster like you. All of you deserved your punishments for how you treated me through the trial. I was hurting, and you all kicked me while I was down. You started this game with me, and I’m finishing it.”
“My daughter had nothing to do with this. I’ve begged you once, and now I beg you again. Please spare her.”
A throaty laugh filled the room, and upon the echo reverberating back at him, Michael realized it was much bigger than he expected.
“Like I’d tell you what my intentions are for your daughter. It’s best you’re left to wonder, like me. Do you know how many times I’ve laid in my bed and cringed at the thought of your son on top of my wife, cutting the life out of her while he defiled her body?” He took a deep breath, and Michael actually sympathized with the bastard in some small way.
“Maybe I’ve already killed her,” the Hangman growled. “All I know is, there is someone else out there, and they’re not
as friendly as me. They’ll probably kill her, just like they killed Tate Bodin. I’m sure you know who I’m thinking of.”
“You think my son did it, don’t you? Well, he’s not taking the blame for what you did. You probably want to pin another murder on him and send him up to prison.”
“Why would I spare his life? If anyone deserves to die, it’s that little fucker. I can’t even remember all the times I sat dreaming of his demise. I want it to be slow and painful and, of course, by my hands. No one will get the honor.”
“You’re sadistic.” He fought against his restraints, but Madden laughed at him.
“You’re not going to get free. You might want to save your strength for the game.”
There was suddenly more light shining in the room as Madden struck a match and burned the end of a rope. “Wouldn’t want your noose fraying, now would we?”
The stink of the burned rope stung his nose and made him grow nauseated. “Get this over with.”
“Nah, I want you to wonder. I took you when I had the opportunity. I’ll kill you when I have another. Until then, consider this time to say your prayers. That is, if you still believe in God. Or did you ever?”
Michael had made peace with his maker long ago, and while he was sure that God had turned his back on him, he wondered what Madden believed. “What about you? What will you tell God? You know this is wrong.”
“I’ve stopped believing in a god that allowed my little girl to be brutalized and killed. I’ve stopped believing in a god who would let a piece of shit like you have children who would take away mine. I stopped believing in a god that would punish me for what I’m going to do to you. Which is everything you deserve.”
He tied the noose, put it down, and lifted up another device. This time, Michael thought it sounded like some kind of wheel turning. The sweat was dripping down in his eyes, making it even more impossible to see, and the excruciating pain and annoyance from it was almost too much to bear. He squinted, hoping to make the stinging stop, but it only pushed more sweat into the creases of his eyes.
“I can’t see,” he said, growling out. “Please wipe my face and let me go take a piss like a human being.” His commands fell on deaf ears, and he squeezed his legs together. “Please, dammit! Before I piss right here and you get to smell it.”
“Then you’d know what I smelled when I walked into that house. It wasn’t the smell of blood that got to me—that was horrible in its own right—but the piss. My little girl, she had an accident when she was being killed. The smell had mixed with the blood and stung my nose. I can still smell that every fucking day. So you won’t bother me one bit. In fact, I think it would be quite poetic if you had to sit there in your own puddle and know you’re about to die.”
“What my son did was horrendous.” Michael could see it. He always could. But it had been so hard to think of his own son committing such crimes against those two that he had made sure no one gave him any of the gory details.
“Do you even have a clue? Did you know how horrendous it was when you were buying him off?” The pulley wheel squeaked as he turned it, sounding like a sewer rat.
Michael shook his head. “No. I have no idea. All I cared about was that my son didn’t do it. It couldn’t be true.” His time for denial was over. Now he would take whatever came his way. “I didn’t even look at the photographs, and in case you’re wondering, Thomas told me he wouldn’t show them to Kyle but once. He said that he didn’t want him to see his trophy image. He said that my son was sick. That he got off on that kind of torture, but I refused to believe it.”
He didn’t have any secrets here. It was time to confess all of his thoughts. “I think he killed Tate Bodin too,” Michael said. “And I’m afraid if I’m around to protect him, he’s going to get sent up once and for all.”
“He’s going to pay, all right, but don’t worry. I’ll keep your son out of prison this time.”
Michael broke down and cried. He sobbed like a baby, knowing that all that had happened to those people was his fault. If he had never cheated with Brenda and gotten her pregnant, then he would have had a much better life, without all of the bullshit. Even being senator was part of the problem, and he’d done all he could to fight to save his reputation. He didn’t like the idea of it all being on him, but it was ultimately. “I never meant for any of this to happen. I just had to fight for my survival.”
“Why aren’t you fighting now?” asked Madden.
“Maybe it’s because I’m too weak. Maybe it’s because I’m tired of it. I’ve spent the past several years trying to make it all work, and the only time I really feel alive is when I’m between the legs of a twenty-year-old, and even she’s getting tired of me.” He had already decided if he got out of this mess, he was divorcing his wife. Once and for all. No more was he going to be burdened by the expectations of others, and if it cost him his job, so be it. He had done all he could do in DC anyway.
“You’re awful chatty,” said Madden. “A lot on your mind, I suppose.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Too much.”
Madden rose to his feet, and Michael saw the rope unravel. It was a long piece, and he knew the rope was going to be the only way he was getting out of that place alive. And heaven help him, he was just about resigned to his fate.
Chapter 18
Jake
Jo hadn’t spoken much from the time they left Kendra’s to the time they finished up their lunch at Speed’s.
“You’ve got a lot on your mind,” said Jake, who had felt like he was mostly alone.
She shook her head as she popped the last French fry into her mouth. “Sorry. I’m just thinking about our visit with Kendra. Is something off about her to you? Do you think that she’s telling the truth about being faithful? I mean, think about it. Your husband is gay, and he’s sleeping with you to procreate and nothing more.”
“Maybe he was bisexual. Wanted to experience both worlds. It’s highly likely she’s telling the truth about it.”
“I believe her, but not about herself. I think she might have felt neglected enough to be seeing someone else. I know I wouldn’t want to go too long without sex.”
The statement surprised him. “How long would you not want to go?”
Jo dusted the salt from the table and put her napkin on her plate. “I don’t know. Anything more than a month would be hard. How long can you go without? We both know you’ve indulged with the doctor.”
“I can’t do more than a week, assisted or otherwise.” Jake counted the weeks since she’d been in town, and if he wasn’t sleeping with her, then who was? “Did you and Sam?” His tone was much more suspicious than he intended, but he wasn’t sorry for asking. He needed to know if she had something else on the side. His emotional stability was riding on the fact that the two of them might actually have a chance.
“Oh, heaven’s no.” She made a face. “We’re not talking about me or Sam. We’re talking about her.”
“Why should she be any different than you?”
Jo suddenly paled. “That wasn’t my point. But never mind. I didn’t know you were going to get that personal with me.”
“Since we are getting personal, how long has it been for you?”
Her eyes widened. “None of your business. Just forget I said anything.”
Jake wanted to know how long it had been and with whom. He felt a bit slighted. “Have you been seeing someone since you moved down?”
“Jake, let it go.”
“No, I mean, as far as I know, you haven’t been with anyone sexually.”
“And there’s a reason for that.” She began to turn a bright shade of pink. Jake wondered what she meant. But before he could press her, she rolled her eyes. “It’s just that anyone would prefer the real thing.”
“Ah, okay. Assisted or otherwise.” He felt like an idiot for pressing. “I’m sorry. I just thought that maybe you and someone had hooked up that I didn’t know about.”
“Not that it would be any of
your business, but no. And back to Kendra. I think she was seeing someone that didn’t run on batteries.”
“We’ll have Sam try to figure it out. I saw there was a security camera, so we’ll have Sam retrieve that too once we get our warrant.”
“That sounds good to me. I hope we can nail this sucker to the wall. He’s sure made a lot of extra work for us.” She had already forgotten all about their talk, but Jake couldn’t stop thinking about her laying back and touching herself.
She suddenly turned pale. “What?”
Jake snapped out of his thoughts. “What is going on with you and Sam? Do you two still talk outside of work?”
“I told you we’re just friends. I wasn’t interested in him like that.”
“Why not? He’s a nice guy. Some might say good looking, too.”
“Some might, but he just wasn’t for me.” Jo took a sip of her drink, and Jake took the chance to sip his coffee, which was getting a bit cold now. He raised his hand, and Ruth Anne sauntered up to pour more coffee.
But Jake covered his cup. “I’m done, thanks. But could you get us two slices of pie and some forks to go? I also want to pay my tab off.” He handed her his card and then turned toward Jo, who gave him a sideward look.
“I could have saved you the trouble and the expense. I was going to pay for mine.”
“Sorry, but I guess now you don’t have to. See? I saved you money.”
“I don’t mind buying now and then.”
“No lady of—with me is going to pay for anything.”
“Jake? Can I ask you something?”
He turned his attention to Ruth Anne, who came over with the receipt, and then he signed his name. He waited for her to leave to go get their pie and turned back toward her. “Ask me anything you want.”
“Do you have a type?” She gave him a curious look when he made a face in response. “Come on, tell me. You made me fess up about a vibrator. The least you could do is spill a little of your own tea.”
