Deep in Death: A Shelby Nichols Adventure (25 page)

Sean exited the freeway in a poorer part of town with smaller houses and vacant lots. We exited more slowly, but the light at the end of the exit turned red and with no other cars exiting, I knew we’d end up right behind him. I quickly ducked back down, hearing Geoff swear in his mind. He hunched his shoulders and with his elbow resting on the door, held his hand to his face, covering some of his mouth and nose.

Geoff studied Sean by looking through Sean’s rearview mirror, thinking something about him looked familiar. He wondered if he’d ever questioned him about Darcy’s disappearance. Hopefully with his face half-covered, Sean wouldn’t recognize him if he had. As Sean glanced into his rearview mirror Geoff stiffened, but couldn’t tell if Sean recognized him or not.

The light changed, and Sean made the left turn through the intersection, then took a quick right at the next street. Geoff followed, but continued down the road, turning right one street further down, hoping to pick Sean up at the bottom of the street. “You can get back up now,” he said. “I don’t think he made us, but we’ll have to be extra careful from here on out.”

He slowed at the stop sign and sighed with relief to see Sean’s car traveling North under the freeway before making a left on the other side. We followed under the freeway, turning left as well, but we lost sight of him. There were a few houses here, but most were in bad shape with boarded up windows and overgrown bushes and weeds.

Not seeing his car, Geoff turned right at the next street and found a lane on the left that curved toward a dilapidated house. Since the house was at the end of the curve, we couldn’t see it very well, but from the way it was situated, Geoff was thinking it was the perfect place for Sean to commit murder.

Geoff pulled over to the side of the street and turned off the car. “You stay here. I’m going to take a look down that lane and see if his car is there.” Before I could say a word, he was out the door and walking toward the lane.

Chapter 12

I sat tight, since it was never my intention to get out of the car until Sean was long gone. While waiting, I chewed on my fingernail for a moment, then realized what I was doing and stopped. I glanced at the other houses on the street and swallowed. I couldn’t tell if anyone lived there, but if they did, I worried that they were the kind that had guns aimed at my head and could pull the trigger at any moment.

The car door opened, startling me, and Geoff jumped back in. “He’s there. What do you want to do?”

I let out my breath, holding a hand to my chest. “Sheesh, you scared me to death.”

“Sorry.”

“That’s okay,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m just a little nervous. So, what’s the exact address?”

Geoff glanced at the street sign. “Looks like it’s four-seventy-one Ashwood Lane.”

“Good. Let me write that down.” I grabbed a pen from my purse and wrote it on my arm since I didn’t have any paper. “This is what we’ll do. From what I could pick up, he won’t be there long. He was mainly just coming to open some windows and set out some air freshener. Once he leaves, we could go look in the windows for evidence or something. If we find anything that looks suspicious, we could call the cops and give them this address.”

“Hmm…just look in the windows, huh?”

“Well…maybe if the windows are open, I could squeeze in and take a look around, while you stand guard. Is that okay?”

“Yeah,” he said with a smile. “That should work since I’m not a cop anymore.” He thought if we found any evidence it would speed things up, and the police could get a search warrant right away and arrest that no-good-son-of-a-bitch.

I smiled back, glad to know we understood each other. He really was the best choice for this job, and I was glad I’d called him.

A few minutes later, Sean pulled out of the lane and headed back to the freeway entrance. My heart rate doubled, knowing it was time to move. As soon as his car was out of sight, Geoff and I both jumped out of his car and ran down the lane.

The small house at the end looked like it was falling apart, and there were gaping spaces where the wood siding had fallen off. Half the shingles on the tall roof were missing, and the railing around the porch was broken in several places. Curtains covered the windows from the inside and a screen door hung half open and broken in front of the main door.

We hurried around back and found a few windows wide open. From Geoff’s vantage point, he thought the nearest one probably opened into the kitchen, so that’s the one I went for. Geoff helped hoist me up and I half-tumbled onto the floor.

“I’ll keep watch,” he said. “But don’t take too long.”

“I won’t,” I agreed.

My heart was pounding to beat the devil, but I swallowed my fear and took in my surroundings. Although way outdated and dusty, the kitchen was surprisingly well-kept. I noted a staircase directly in front of the backdoor that led to a basement. It was dark down there, but I figured that was the most likely place to hide a body, so with trepidation, I started down the stairs.

By the time I got to the bottom of the steps, my legs were shaking so bad I could hardly walk. I stood in front of a closed door with a bolt from this side, effectively locking up anyone inside. I swallowed, then pulled the bolt and turned the knob. A rush of cool air washed over me, but at least no smell of decay came with it. Still, I could hardly make my legs move into the room. Since it was too dark to see inside, I flipped the switch at the bottom of the stairs.

A bare light bulb illuminated two big pieces of green shag carpet that covered the cement floor. At the far end, chains with manacles dangled from the ceiling. Closer to the stairs, a longer chain was bolted into the cement just above the carpet with a similar manacle.

A roll-away bed on wheels was pushed against a wall beside an open door that led to a bathroom. Imagining the horrors of what went on in that room tightened my chest, and I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. Was this enough evidence to put Sean away for good? I needed to find the bodies. They had to be here somewhere, but where?

A cold chill settled around me, and a faint breeze filled with the scent of gardenias brushed my cheek.
Upstairs.
Gah! I jumped about half a foot. Was that a woman’s voice? Leaving the light on and the door opened, I ran upstairs as fast as I could, skidding through the kitchen and into the hallway. How had I heard her voice in my head? Was it Darcy? Was I going crazy?

With my chest heaving, I stopped to listen, and the scent of gardenias wrapped around me again. Two doors opening into bedrooms off the hall stood open, so I quickly glanced into each room, finding one with a bed and the other filled with boxes. Could the bodies be in the boxes?

Higher.
I cringed to hear the same voice in my head, but this time it didn’t scare me quite so much. “Higher where?” I whispered. There wasn’t another floor…unless she meant the attic. From the high-pitched roof, I knew there had to be one, but I didn’t know where to look for the stairs. I searched the hall, but besides the bathroom there wasn’t another doorway, and the ceiling didn’t have an opening that would lead to an attic.

Closet.
“Okay, I’ll check the closets.” I looked through both bedroom closets, but they were empty and I couldn’t find any trace of a doorway or staircase in either one of them. I groaned in frustration and a breeze whipped around me, sending my hair flying into my face. It seemed to be pushing me in the direction of the living room. I took the hint and rushed down the hall and into the room.

I scanned the room and found a closet door near the front door. “Yes!” I let out my breath with relief and opened the door. Inside, a dark staircase led upward to a closed door at the top. This was it. I hesitated, fearful of what I’d find, but time was passing and I needed to get out of that house. Plus, I didn’t want another breeze to start pushing me up. That was just too freaky.

Swallowing my fear, I found enough strength in my legs to get them moving and started up the steep stairs. With each step, the wood creaked and I cringed, hardly daring to breathe, but kept going until reaching the top. I hesitated at the door, chewing on my bottom lip, then took a deep breath and grabbed the knob. It turned easily and I pushed it open.

The musty smell of decay hit me first, but I took a quick step inside and pursed my lips against a tiny scream. Shrouded in gray light, the shrunken bodies of five women sat in a semi-circle. With skin tight on skeletal remains, and blond hair still flowing from their skulls, they sat as if waiting for a play to begin. I gasped and covered my mouth in shocked horror.

My eyes watered with sudden tears at what had been done to them. I blinked them away, then swallowed and backed to the stairs. I’d seen enough. It was time to call the police. I closed the door behind me and started down the stairs. Just then, my phone rang. In the silence it startled me, and I quickly answered with a frightened whisper. “Hello?”

“Babe, I got your message. What’s going on?” Ramos asked.

Relief poured over me just to hear his voice. “Ramos…thank God. I’m with a retired detective and we followed the serial killer I was telling you about. We’re at his…the killer’s…other house. I called you first to see if you could come, but when you didn’t answer, I called the detective instead. I couldn’t wait since the killer was leaving and if I didn’t follow him, I wouldn’t know where this place was, but we found it and we’re here now. The detective’s guarding the outside and I came in to find evidence to put him away. Oh, Ramos, I just found the bodies of five women…it’s bad.”

“You’re inside? Give me the address. Now!”

“Okay…” His alarm tightened my throat and I raised my arm to recite the address, hardly managing to whisper the numbers.

“I’m on my way. Get out of there.”

“I’m calling Dimples…” He hung up before I could finish, so I quickly left the closet and hurried back to the kitchen. I glanced out the windows to the back and side of the house for Geoff, but couldn’t see him anywhere. A shiver of dread ran down my spine and my stomach clenched. Oh no! Where the hell was he? Why wasn’t he out there?

I swallowed and glanced at my phone to push number six on my speed dial for Dimples. As it started to ring, I reached the window and began to climb out. I got both my legs out and slid to the ground, but my phone slid from my fingers. I heard Dimples answer, but before I could pick it up, I heard the same ethereal voice as before only more urgent.
Run!
 

My breath caught, and I didn’t know what to do. With Dimples shouting my name on the phone, I couldn’t leave without picking it up. I grabbed it with shaking hands, just as the back door flew open. My eyes widened with fear to find Sean rushing toward me, his face contorted with rage.

“Four-seventy-one Ashw…”

Sean grabbed the phone from my hand and smashed it against the house. I turned to run, but he was too fast for me, grabbing my hair, and pulling it into his fist with an iron grip. I yelled but he clamped his arm around my neck and began to choke me.

“You bitch!! You’ve ruined everything!”

As I struggled for breath, he pulled me backwards into the house. Through the door, he dragged me down the basement stairs. My vision went dark before he released his grip and shoved me to the ground. Wheezing in deep breaths of air, I felt the cold manacle slip around my ankle and heard the snap as it locked shut.

Sean straightened and backed away, shoving his hands through his hair and breathing heavily. He was thinking how much he wanted to kill me with his bare hands, but he didn’t have time. Not now that I’d called the police. He had to destroy everything or they’d arrest him and he couldn’t let that happen.

A groan came from the other side of the room, and I glanced over to find Geoff, his arms manacled to the chains attached to the ceiling. Blood trickled from a gash in the side of his head. His feet barely touched the ground and his head rolled to the side. He groaned again and managed to get his feet under him, relieving some of the strain on his hands. With deep breaths, he lifted his head and glanced up, trying to figure out what had happened. Then he saw me with Sean and swore under his breath.

“You won’t get away with this,” Geoff said.

Sean sneered at him. “You don’t know anything. You’re just stupid. You’re the one who interviewed me about the woman I killed and you didn’t have a clue.” He snorted. “And now, you thought you could follow me and I wouldn’t know? That’s even more stupid.”

He turned his gaze on me. “What were you doing upstairs Shelby? Did you see my trophies?” He huffed out a breath. “Good thing this basement is sound-proof or you might have heard something and run off. I wouldn’t have even known you were here, since your friend didn’t say anything. Now that was clever. Too bad it doesn’t matter since you’re both going to die down here. Because of you I have to burn this place down.”

Anger radiated from him, and his fists tightened. He wanted to torture me so bad it hurt. If only he could hear me screaming, maybe some of his pain would go away. He took a step toward me, then stopped. He didn’t have time. Not if he wanted to get away. He had to burn this place down. No one knew it belonged to him, so there was no evidence tying him to anything. Once we were dead, and the house was gone, he could start over. He could kill as many women as he wanted, and no one would ever know it was him. He glanced at me, still burning with desire to choke me again.

I held my breath, hoping he’d turn around and walk out. Even though he meant to burn the house down, I also knew that Ramos was on his way, and hopefully Dimples had heard enough to come too.

Sean howled with frustration, then turned away and slammed the door behind him.

I sagged as relief poured over me. I’d never been so frightened in my life, and it wasn’t over yet. I sat up and glanced at Geoff, hot remorse tightening my stomach. “I’m so sorry I involved you in all this. Are you hurt bad?”

“Nah, just a bump on the head…and don’t be sorry. This is my fault. I let him get the drop on me. I feel like an idiot. The worst part is, he looks vaguely familiar, but I don’t really remember that guy, and he’s the killer.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be out of here in no time.”

“How’s that possible?”

“I told a friend where I was and he’s on his way.” I quickly explained Ramos’ phone call on the staircase, and in the process, happened to mention his name.

“Ramos?” Geoff asked. His brows drew together. “You don’t mean the guy who works for Joey “The Knife” Manetto do you?”

“Uh…yeah,” I said. “I think that’s the same one.” I tried to play dumb, but that only went so far.

“How the hell do you know him?” Geoff couldn’t believe a nice woman like me could be involved with someone like Ramos. He was a hit-man. I couldn’t possibly know that…unless… 

“Um…well…it’s a long story.”

Geoff’s eyes widened and he choked back another curse before shaking his head and sighing with resignation. “It’s all right. Don’t tell me about it. Not a thing. I don’t want to know.”

“That’s probably best,” I agreed.

Geoff closed his mouth on a snort. In his position, he could hardly complain if the famous hit-man came to his rescue. Good thing he wasn’t a detective anymore. But how did I know him? That was quite the puzzle. Maybe it had something to do with my premonitions? Hmm…if we got out of this alive, maybe he’d have to check it out, just for the hell of it.