Deadly Shadows (32 page)

* * * *

He saw her walk out the bathroom door smiling. He sat on the bench, and just as she
turned towards him, he hung his head. The champagne flute carelessly clasped in his hands,
dangling between his knees.

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The body guard was busy inside with the rest of the Kinncaids, talking to Aiden. Who
knew how much time they had?

“What is this?” her voice carried over him, through him. Stirred the beast. “The trouble
bench?” Jesslyn heaved a sigh and walked over to him before plopping down beside him on the
leather covered seat.

“You know it can’t be that bad,” she quipped and pushed his shoulder.

His head came up. Could she see what was to come in his eyes?

“Hey, are you okay? What’s wrong?” she asked, concern written on her features. Worry
in her dark eyes.

Eyes. Her eyes. They’d haunted him, plagued him for the last week.

He shook his head, looked away from her, then back. “Nothing. No, everything.”

His shoulders slumped, “I don’t know who to talk to. I don’t know what to do.

Everything is falling apart.” His head bumped as he leaned back against the wall. To himself,
he smiled. This might just be easier than he thought.

Jesslyn looked towards the restaurant. And he could all but see how she was thinking
that perhaps she should get back.

Too late for that, my dear.

It was always like that, as though they knew before what he had in store for them. No, he
couldn’t let her go back. No, he had to keep her here. Maybe she sensed the danger on some
level. Jesslyn looked back to him and a soft smile played on her mouth. “I guess I might as
well make it two for two. When friends are in need….” He had no idea what she was talking
about. He needed to get her out of here.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she tried tentatively.

He studied her, gave her what he hoped was a pitiful look and shrugged. “Might as well.

Maybe you can help me, Jess.” A sigh wafted from his lips. “But not here. Could we go outside
or something?”

He saw the refusal swirl within the dark of her eyes. Her head shook back and forth.

“Not outside. But maybe Aiden’s office?”

Hell. It needed to be outside. Away from everyone, away from it all. The office? That
would be in some other part of the hotel. He’d planned to take her away from here, to finish it
tonight. He started to refuse her while thinking about how to continue with his plan, but
something stayed him. If the office was private it could work, and if it was all he could get,
that’s what he’d take--for now. Besides, he could always get her away later. After their private
meeting. It would still work. Finally, he nodded, shrugged and got up.

Jesslyn did likewise and walked across the lobby towards the front desk with the door set
to the side and behind it.

“Ms. Black,” the attendant said.

“I’m going to Mr. Kinncaid’s office,” she said, and the blonde Barbie nodded. Damn it.

He wanted no one to see them.

The door clicked shut behind them as they made their way down the dimly lit hall.

A roar from the beast within him. Ahhh … Soon … All would be as it should be soon.

Her smell drifted behind him. It bought back pleasant memories.

No, those didn’t matter. He had to do this. Had to. No choice.

Their heels clicked on the wooden floors. Finally, the hallway ended.

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It would finally be finished. He smiled and started humming his favorite symphony. The
notes whirled within his mind. A balm, an enticement.

Jesslyn stopped dead in her tracks. Slowly she turned. Her head was shaking back and
forth. Her lips formed the words, “No, no.” But no sound came out.

He saw the recognition in her eyes. The moment she must have remembered completely
the power he had, the great things he was capable of. Slowly, he nodded.

The monster smiled.

* * * *

Aiden made his way around the room. Where the hell was she? The back of his neck tingled. He was being paranoid. They were in a public hotel for God’s sake. He checked his watch again. She’d been gone for almost twenty minutes. John came up to him. “Bathrooms are clear and so is the lobby. Doorman didn’t see her leave. The receptionist is busy on the phone.”

“What are you so anxious about?” Gavin asked, coming to stand by him.

“Have you seen Jesslyn?” Again he scanned the room. The girls were still at their table, though now Bray and Quin sat with them as did his mother. Jock was talking to some men. T.J.

was nowhere in sight and neither was Jesslyn. Where had the Chief gone? And the agents?

They hadn’t even said hello. Something was up, he could feel it.

“No, I haven’t. Relax, Aiden, everything is fine,” Gavin slapped him on the back, and he ignored it.

“Something’s wrong.”

His brother’s sigh filled the air. “You’re over-reacting. Calm down.”

John said, “I don’t believe in coincidences.”

Neither did Aiden. “Where did you see her last?”

John scanned the room and walked towards the doors. “Going into the restroom with her friend.”T.J. walked through the door, looked around and headed for them. Aiden met her halfway. “Where’s Jesslyn?” he barked without preamble.

T.J. looked distracted, and shook her head, “I don’t know. I left her a few minutes ago in the bathroom. Have you seen Tim?”

Aiden shook his head and latched onto T.J.’s arm. He could hear Gavin mutter something about manners. He didn’t care.

“Will you please slow down? God, how does Jesslyn put up with you?” She yanked her arm from his grasp. “What is your problem?”

Aiden stopped in the lobby and looked into her eyes.

“Stephens!” They both turned. Chief Garrison hurried towards them, behind him were Litton and Jones.

“What happened?” T.J. asked her boss.

“They didn’t match,” Garrison said coming to stop a few feet away.

What didn’t match? Aiden wondered what the hell they were talking about.

“The samples? You’re sure?” T.J. asked, clearly alarmed.

Jones spoke up, looked at Aiden, then back at T.J. “Yeah, Denver just called. Forensics are back. The samples from the Jeep and Maddy are identical. Kirk isn’t our guy.”

“What?” Aiden asked.

“Damn it,” John muttered.

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“Hair samples,” Garrison answered. “They don’t match. We arrested the wrong man.”

The tingle on the back of his neck started to burn. The last time he’d felt it … “Where the hell is Jesslyn?” he all but shouted.

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“David?” Jesslyn shook her head. No. It had to be a mistake. It had to. Slowly she took a step back. His dark eyes were no longer familiar. Images and memories jagged and blackened before, solidified into the entire remembrance of one horrific night.

He stood frozen looking at her in that odd detached way, a chilling smile on his lips.

“But, but … You’re my friend. What about Sally? The kids?” This had to be a horrible dream. The man was married with a family.

His dark eyes cast down and he raked a hand through his blonde hair. “Sally is just like all the rest.” His low, calm voice all but sighed. He was so
normal
,
as though they were discussing nothing more than the rainfall. “She went snooping.” He tsked. “Shouldn’t snoop.

She and the kids are in the basement.”

Terror clouded her mind, her thoughts, petrified her, until he looked at her again. His sheepish grin was one she’d come to know and trust.

She took another step backwards. If she could just get to Aiden’s office. The door was a few feet behind her.

Keep him talking.

“Why, David? Why? This isn’t right. You know this isn’t right,” she tried.

His head swiftly came up, and the predatory gleam in his eyes made her breath catch.

Stupid! So damn stupid. She was alone with him and no one knew where she was.
See
what ya get for ditching your bodyguard?

Her gaze quickly glanced over the secretary’s desk. The top was meticulously clean, only a lightweight phone sat on the edge. No help there.

“Because it was my destiny. My father taught me that. God told both of us that it was my path. Then when I questioned it, I also found the answer in the heavens, in the stars. Yes, this is my mission.” His face was that of a stranger, twisted in some emotion she had no name for.

“They were whores all of them. Every last one of them. There’s no need to feel bad for them.

Every one of them got what they deserved.”

My God, how many were there?

He stared at her with flat, shark eyes. “Jezebels. He told me that. Father taught me that.”

David’s thin shoulders lifted in a negligent shrug. But his voice was razor sharp. “They betrayed, turned the heads of married men. They tempted righteous men from their vows!

Marriage is holy. Sacred!” His voice sounded as if repeating a long remembered rule. “To be revered and respected.” His lip curled back from his teeth. “And they only defiled it. God wanted them punished, and the heavens agreed.”

“God?” God told him to kill women? The man was demented, and she was here, alone with him. Think! Think! Keep him talking, about anything.

“But you go to church, David, here in town. God doesn’t tell us to kill each other. Or do you just ignore the services? Aren’t you into astrology?” Keep him talking. Just keep talking.

Another small step back. Her heel brushed up against the door. She leaned back, even as he

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raged at her.

“I’ve tried to find a balance between everything. God made the heavens.” His voice was so calm, a teacher explaining an answer to a student. “If the stars give the signs, so does God.”

There was something she never heard before. She didn’t know what to say, decided to simply remain silent.

“They were all just like her. HER!” he suddenly yelled. Spittle flew from his mouth.

His fists bunched at his sides

So far, David hadn’t moved. He just stood there, waving his hands, calmly explaining one minute and losing his temper the next. It was like a switch going on and off. It was terrifying.

Aiden
!
Jesslyn licked her lips. The elongated handle bit into her back. “Who? Who do they become?”

A demonic laugh erupted from his chest. “Her! She ruined our family. The harlot broke our family. She tried to steal my father away from us, away from his calling. She dared to fracture what God put together. He couldn’t allow that, could he?” His voice softened at the end. A confused little boy asking for help, trapped in the mind of a lunatic.

He was stark raving mad. Jesslyn slowly moved her shoulder in a shrug. What the hell did she say to that?

David shook his head, the dim lights reflected off his tawny locks. “No, of course he couldn’t. I don’t think he meant to kill her. She came by our house that night. When we got home we heard them yelling and fighting. Mother was very upset. Very upset.” His soft voice reasoned, then rose, His hands came up, clenched the empty air.

“But that woman, that
whore
didn’t listen.” Menace dripped from his tongue as it leapt from his eyes.

Jesslyn moved a hand behind her, grasped the handle.

David’s chest rose and fell as he sighed, a wry smirk on his lips. “He had to kill her, he simply had no choice. That’s what he told Mother and me. God told him to kill her to save our family. I saw Father carry her out into the night. Her harlot’s hair trailing like a condemning banner behind her.”

Oh my, God. Jesslyn’s hand shook as she tightened her hold on the cool metal.

“But still it wasn’t enough. I came home from school one day and found my mother dead in the bathtub, her wrists dripping blood. That slut stole my mother from me!” he shouted.

Then he shrugged. “I decided then and there I would rid the world of all of them. Those single women, trying their wiles on married men, tempting them from family and home. I prayed about it for years. My father hated her too for ruining everything.” He sighed. “God wanted me to do this, to begin this mission. I redeem them. I gave them the cross.”

What the hell was he talking about? She wasn’t about to ask.

David reached behind him. Silver flashed in the light. Jesslyn’s eyes locked to the knife.

She knew what it felt like, pressed against soft flesh. The cold. The sting.

He took a step towards her. She jerked on the handle, could have cried when the door opened and almost stumbled into the room. She shoved against the door to close it even as David rammed into the other side.

“Please, please, please.” Her hands shook as she tried to get the door closed. His weight pushed the door open further. Jesslyn’s eyes frantically searched the dimly lit room.

Something. Something. The fireplace!

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“Jesslyn,” his calm voice said, “don’t do this. You’ll only make me angry. I’ll make it quick, I promise.”

“Fuck you.” Jesslyn jumped away from the door and sprinted across the room to the fireplace. She grabbed the poker and whirled.

David slowly got up off the floor. He kicked the door shut, reached up and flicked the lock. Please, please, help me, she prayed. David smiled and started towards her.

Her hands shook on the iron weapon. It was heavy. She’d only get one chance. One chance.