Cold Case at Carlton's Canyon (16 page)

Her breath rasped out, and she clutched his shoulders, savoring the feel of his thickness inside her.

She had never felt more complete. More...of everything. Pleasure blended with emotions, making her throat close as feelings for Justin overpowered her.

Fear immediately seized her.

She could not have feelings for him. He was a Texas Ranger married to his job just as she was. He could die on the job just like her father had.

And then she’d be left behind again, alone and...broken.

Instincts warned her to stop this foolishness now. To forget that she’d needed him and that he’d seemed to want her just as much as she wanted him.

That it was the best sex she’d ever experienced.

But that was it—just sex. Yes, just sex.

Sex was normal. A tension release. They were two consenting adults simply working off the strain of the past few days.

As long as she kept their lovemaking in perspective.

She should pull away.

But when she looked down into his passion-glazed eyes, and hunger heated his expression, she couldn’t make herself leave the rug.

Justin must have felt the same way and wanted her to know the sex meant nothing because he rolled her sideways, then stood up and strode into the bathroom.

She closed her eyes, reminding herself that they were on the same page, but disappointment made unwanted tears swell in her eyes.

She wanted him again.

The door creaked open, and she took a deep breath, expecting him to leave. Instead, he crawled back onto the rug with her, slid his arms around her and spooned her.

Amanda wanted to turn around and kiss him again, but forced herself to lie still.

Just for tonight, she’d let him hold her.

* * *

I
T
WAS
ALREADY
Friday. One more day until the reunion.

One more day until the town would see that they couldn’t stand by and let innocent teenagers be bullied and brutalized and tormented.

They thought words couldn’t hurt a child. But words could be cruel and cut a frail person to the bone just like a knife could.

Anticipation rose, exhilarating and sweet. Ten years of watching those who’d sinned climb their way to the top in spite of their shortcomings.

This week they’d returned to brag and gloat as if the ones they’d trampled on didn’t matter.

But they did matter.

Tomorrow when they gathered to celebrate, they would be talking about funerals and goodbyes and the end of their glory days.

And justice would finally be served.

Julie and Lynn would attend that party, but they wouldn’t be dancing.

No...dead girls didn’t dance.

Chapter Twenty

Justin started to leave Amanda’s bed a half dozen times during the night. But each time he’d felt her lush, warm body against his and hadn’t been able to bring himself to go.

Because he wanted her again.

They had made love over and over during the night. Finally they’d slept.

Both of them had been exhausted from the investigation and the tension had triggered their need for raw sex.

Nothing more.

Then why don’t you want to walk away?

He climbed from bed, unable to answer that question because the answer terrified him. Because he was starting to care for Amanda.

She turned over and murmured his name, and he lowered his head and kissed her. “Time for reality. That press conference is this morning. And I need to question Bernadette again.”

Her so-called confession had haunted him during the night. She’d said the girls deserved to die. But she’d never actually admitted that she’d killed them.

He needed to grill her for details. Make sure they had the right unsub.

Amanda’s life depended on it.

* * *

T
HE
MENTION
OF
the press conference drove thoughts of another lovemaking session with Justin to the back of Amanda’s mind. She heard her shower kick on, and she was tempted to join Justin, but with daylight streaming through the window, she had to face reality and the truth.

She and Justin were coworkers who’d relieved their stress in bed together. It happened.

She’d get over it.

Hoping to end the nightmare today, she dragged on a T-shirt, then went to the kitchen to make coffee. Her stomach growled, and she checked the fridge, then pulled out eggs and bread and whipped up some French toast.

Finally the shower turned off, a relief as it was much too tempting to think of Justin naked in there alone. When he entered the kitchen, his hair was damp, and he looked sexy as hell.

God help her. She was seriously falling for him.

His dark gaze met hers, stirring erotic memories of the night before. His jaw tightened as he glanced at the table, and she suddenly wanted to forget breakfast and make love on the table.

He cleared his throat, hunger flaring in his eyes as if he’d read her thoughts. But the look faded and his professional mask fell back over his chiseled face.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’m starving.”

So was she. But not for food.

Still, she kept that comment to herself. Couldn’t invite more personal interaction today. They had to finish this case.

So she handed him a mug of coffee and set their plates on the table. Still, the ordinary routine felt intimate, his masculine body taking up all the air in the room.

He wolfed his food down, then studied her while he sipped his coffee. “I’m going to question Bernadette, make sure we tie up details while you hold the press conference.”

His statement made her refocus. “I’ve been thinking about that,” she said. “Maybe I should postpone and go with you. We need to find out what she did with Lynn and Julie.”

He shook his head. “No, go ahead with the meeting. The town has to be up in arms now and panicking. Talking to them is the right move. But I wouldn’t reveal Bernadette’s name.”

“I don’t plan to,” she said. “But I do want to urge people to come forward if they have any information.” She stood, carried her dishes to the sink and rinsed them.

“I’ll clean up while you shower,” Justin offered.

Unaccustomed to having a man in her kitchen, she rushed to the bedroom to get ready for the day. After the conference, a family picnic was scheduled to jumpstart the reunion.

She wanted to be there and study the group just in case they were wrong about Bernadette.

Hopefully Lynn and Julie would show up safe and sound.

As soon as she finished showering and dressing, she phoned her deputy to check on Bernadette.

“She slept like the dead all night.”

“Sergeant Thorpe will be there soon to talk to her. When he arrives, go home and get some rest. I’m heading to the office to hold a press conference with the mayor.”

An hour later, she stood with the mayor in front of the county courthouse and greeted the media. Reporters immediately hurled questions at her.

“What’s happening in Sunset Mesa?”

“Did you find the missing girls?”

“Is this a serial killer?”

Amanda held up her hand in the universal signal for them to hold the questions. “At this point, we do believe that the disappearance of several women from this town and neighboring counties is related. The bodies of three victims have recently been found—Tina Grimes, Kelly Lambert and Suzy Turner. Police believe that they were kidnapped and murdered by the same perpetrator and that the upcoming ten-year class reunion at Canyon High triggered the perpetrator to escalate.”

Hands shot up, but she waved them off and continued. “We do have a suspect in custody although I’m not at liberty to disclose the name yet as we’re still investigating. That said, there are still other women missing at this time. If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Lynn Faust and Julie Kane, please call my office immediately.”

“How were the women murdered?” someone shouted.

“Do you think Lynn Faust and Julie Kane are dead?”

Amanda gritted her teeth. “As I said, if anyone has any information, please call my office immediately.”

She glanced at the mayor and turned to duck inside so he could smooth ruffled feathers, but another shout echoed behind her.

“What if you have the wrong person? What if the women in town are still in danger?”

Amanda slowly turned around to see who’d voiced the question and frowned at the sight of Kelly Lambert’s maid of honor, Betty Jacobs. “Are we still in danger, Sheriff?”

Amanda wanted to tell the young woman no, that she was sure they had the right perpetrator. But she couldn’t lie. And if she assured the residents and her former classmates they were safe and another woman was abducted, it would be her fault.

“All I can say is that we have a suspect in custody. Until we confirm that this person is the one we’ve been looking for, I would urge all the women in town to be on guard. Travel in pairs and don’t trust anyone.”

* * *

J
USTIN
BROUGHT
A
mini recorder in with him to see Bernadette. The deputy sheriff met him at the hospital room door.

“I talked to Sheriff Blair and told her the suspect has been asleep all night.”

“She didn’t wake and say anything? Talk in her sleep?”

The deputy shook his head. “They must have given her some heavy-duty drugs. Not a peep all night.”

“Thanks. I’ll handle it now.”

The deputy left, and Justin stepped inside and closed the door. He walked over to the bed and studied Bernadette. Granted, she had suffered emotional problems and had killed her aunt’s cat, but was she a serial murderer?

Considering her emotional issues, did she have the organizational skills and patience to wait months before abductions and to commit this many crimes without being caught?

He touched her hand. “Bernadette, it’s time to wake up and talk.”

Her eyes suddenly popped open as if she’d been faking sleep. They looked cloudy, hazed with drugs, but the same sinister smile he’d seen the night before stretched across her face.

“Talk to me,” he said in a low voice. “You came back to town for the reunion to show off your new face, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” she murmured. “But do you think those bitches cared?”

“But
you
cared, didn’t you? You’ve been angry since high school. You decided to start taking your revenge out on them ten years ago.”

Bernadette reached for the water on the steel table beside the bed, and he handed it to her. She took a long sip, then laid her head back down.

“They should have noticed,” she said. “Should have let me stay at that inn. But they thought they owned the school, and now they think they own the town.”

“That’s wrong,” he said. “I understand why you’re upset. They hurt you ten years ago and now they’re still doing it.”

“I wasn’t the only one,” Bernadette said. “There were others. The geeks like me. Like Carlton Butts. You know he killed himself because of them.”

“Yes, I heard that. But you decided to fix yourself and to make them pay instead of committing suicide.”

“They’re not worth dying for.”

“But they deserved to die. You said that.”

“Yes, they deserved to die.”

“So you practiced killing with your aunt’s cats?”

Bernadette’s eyes widened. “You talked to that mean old hag?”

“You hated your aunt, didn’t you? Like everyone else, she abandoned you.”

“She loved those damn cats more than she did me. She threw me out, but she kept taking in those mangy strays. They pissed all over the place. Her trailer smelled like garbage and cat urine, but she chose that over me.”

“She hurt you so badly that you killed one of her cats. Then the teens at school wronged you, so you retaliated by abducting and killing them one at a time.”

Bernadette twisted sideways, clutching the sheet to her neck.

“You can talk to me here or down at the station,” Justin said. “Either way, Bernadette, you have to tell me what happened. I’m on your side.”

She pierced him with a look of rage. “You’re not on my side. No one is.”

“I can stand up for you if you tell me what happened. Who was the first girl you abducted?”

She looked down at her fingers where they were wrapped around the sheet. “I took them all, made them suffer for what they did.”

Suffer? She’d strangled them, but there was no evidence of torture or sexual assault. Or that the victims had been beaten.

“How did you make them suffer?” he asked.

She chuckled. “You know how. You found Kelly and Suzy.”

“You humiliated them by leaving them in public places. But Tina’s body was found in a creek. What about Melanie and Avery and Carly and Denise? Why didn’t you leave their bodies for us to find?”

“Because I had more on my list who had to pay.” A bitter laugh sounded. “And it was fun watching the police run in circles.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Who was the first one you took?”

She shifted restlessly, then rubbed her temple as if she had to strain to think. “I don’t know, I get them all confused. It’s been a long time.”

“Avery Portland, wasn’t it? Or was it Melanie Hoit?”

A heartbeat passed and Bernadette breathed deeply. “Avery was supposed to be at the school dance.”

“But she disappeared and no one heard from her again,” Justin said. “And Melanie?”

“From the mall. She was a shopaholic. A rich daddy’s girl.” Her eyes hardened. “Everyone wanted to be like Melanie.”

“What did you do with their bodies?”

Bernadette looked him straight in the face then gave a small shrug. “I don’t remember.”

“How did you kill them?”

Her eyes darted sideways. “I told you I made them suffer.”

“How? Did you beat them? Stab them? Torture them before you ended it?”

“I choked them,” she said. “I watched them beg for another breath, but I took it away.” She snapped her fingers. “And just like that, they were gone. The world’s a better place without them.”

“What about Gina Mazer? Where did you abduct her?”

Bernadette pinched the bridge of her nose. “I told you I can’t remember them all. They were all alike, one blending into another.” Her eye began to twitch. “The stupid meds the doctor gave me...they make me forget.”

Or maybe she wasn’t the killer. Because there was no one named Gina Mazer in the case files.

“So now you’re ready to finish it,” he said quietly. “You’re ready to go public. You did all this for the glory, to prove something. You can’t do that, Bernadette, if you don’t let everyone know you’re responsible.”

“Then tell them to take my picture and put it all over the news. Bernadette Willis finally gets payback for the abuse she suffered.”

Justin hesitated. “Okay, but for the record, you have to tell me how you carried out the crimes.”

“I told you I choked them.”

“How?” Justin pressed. “With your hands? A scarf? A rope?”

Bernadette began picking at her fingernails. “With a scarf. One I took from my aunt’s house. It smelled like cat urine. I wrapped it around their throats and squeezed it so hard they choked on the odor.”

A hysterical laugh echoed from her, and Justin silently cursed.

Either Bernadette was just plain crazy and wanted to taunt him with her sadistic games.

Or...she hadn’t killed the women.

Because the killer had used a man’s belt to strangle the victims. That was one detail they’d held back from the press.

The one detail that only the police and the real killer knew.

* * *

T
HE
POLICE
HAD
a suspect in custody. Some classmate of all the dead girls named Bernadette.

Another one of the odd ducks in school. One those mean girls had picked on.

Bernadette understood the reason they’d had to die.

Maybe when this was over they could be friends.