Her Dying Breath (36 page)

B
renda silently admitted to herself the truth—she was in love with Nick.

She had been all her life.

That was the reason she’d never been able to love another man these past few years.

The words teetered on the tip of her tongue, but she bit them back. Nick was not ready to hear a confession of love.

She wasn’t sure she was ready to declare her feelings, either.

His labored breathing rattled in the air, making her smile, and she stroked circles on his chest. He had scars on his body that she hadn’t expected.

Scars that could have come from his military service, or…knowing his father, they could have come from him.

She touched a jagged red line that rippled from his thigh all the way down his calf. He had burn scars on his calf as well. “What happened?”

Nick instantly tensed and rolled away to get up, but she tugged his arm. “Don’t pull away, Nick. It’s just you and me.”

He shot her a dark look, his gaze meeting hers. “You don’t really want to know about my ugly scars.”

Brenda kissed him tenderly. “Yes, I do.”

Nick heaved a weary sigh, his big body stretching out beside her again. She settled next to him, giving him time to decide how much he wanted to confide in her.

“I picked up a few scars from my stint in the service,” he said. “I was shot in the abdomen, and in the chest.” He indicated the puckered ridge of both old wounds.

“But you survived?” she said softly.

“I was trained to be tough, to kill, to survive no matter what.”

“By the military?”

He shrugged, pulling her closer. She wrapped her arm around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Yes, but first by the Commander.”

Brenda rubbed a slow circle on his chest. “He treated you like a soldier?”

“He trained me and Jake both, only he was softer on Jake for some reason. He seemed to hate me from the moment I was born.”

“Nick—”

“It’s true,” he said. “I’m not saying this to solicit pity, Brenda. It’s simply a fact.”

She breathed deeply, not sure she wanted to hear what his father had done to him. But she had to, so she could understand him. “What did he do?”

Tension whispered between them, then Nick spoke in a low voice. “He put us, me, through rigorous survival exercises. Long trips into the woods and mountains, where he left me for days to see if I could find my way home. If I’d succumb to the elements.”

“You obviously passed the tests.”

Nick shrugged again. “I failed, according to him. That always brought severe punishments. Beatings. Isolation. Being thrown into a dark pit for days without a light, without a sound, without…hope.”

Brenda swallowed tears. “Like the pit you found at that compound.”

Nick’s body shook slightly, as if the memory haunted him. “Yeah.” He hissed between his teeth. “But at least he didn’t resort to the more horrific things he did to the subjects of the experiment.”

Brenda fought revulsion. Grace Granger had had a lobotomy. Others had endured shock treatment, sensory deprivation, psychotropic drugs, as well as behavior modification techniques.

Anger at his father fueled Brenda’s tone as she said, “You and Jake were children. Your father was a monster who abused you.”

Nick angled his head and looked at her, and Brenda’s heart melted. He had endured so much pain as a child, while even though she was adopted, Agnes and William had protected her.

She stroked his wide jaw. “But even though he did, you’re a strong man. A protector. You fight to put bad guys like him away.”

“Don’t make me into a hero,” Nick said in a deep voice. “I’m not, Brenda. I have my own dark side.”

“But you used that darkness for good.” She pressed her lips to his. “I want you, Nick.”

“Brenda—”

She shushed him with another kiss. “Make love to me again.”

Nick moaned her name, then cupped her face in his hands and thrust his tongue in her mouth as he slid his cock back inside her.

Nick woke from a dead sleep to the sound of his phone buzzing. Sometime in the middle of the night, he and Brenda had made it to the bed. Maybe the fifth time they’d made love.

He hugged her warm, naked body next to him, dread balling in his belly as he remembered the case.

The evidence in Brenda’s house he should have logged in last night.

The phone call from Jake, informing him about that anonymous tip.

The fact that Seven might have been trying to frame Brenda for her crimes.

But why? What did she have against Brenda?

The phone buzzed again, a grating sound that made him slip from bed to grab it. Still Brenda’s voluptuous naked body sprawled on the sheets temped him to chuck the call and go back to her.

But Dr. Bullock’s name flashed on the caller ID screen, and he punched connect. “Special Agent Blackwood.”

“This is Dr. Bullock, I have you on a three-way with the sheriff.”

Nick and Jake exchanged hellos.

“What’s going on?” Nick asked.

Dr. Bullock spoke up, “I have some interesting results from Ron Stowe’s autopsy.”

“What did you find?” Jake asked.

A hesitation, and Nick heard Bullock moving around. “There were two blood samples that I extracted from his body.”

Nick’s pulse jumped. “Two?”

“Yes,” Bullock said. “The first belonged to the victim. But the killer must have drawn her own blood because the second type belongs to a female.”

Meaning they had DNA. Finally a break. “Have you identified her?”

“Yes and no,” Bullock said. “I’ve run it through every database I have, and there’s no match in the system.”

“Then it’ll only help us if we find her and then run the match,” Jake said.

“That’s not entirely true,” Bullock said. “The blood does have genetic markers that link it to two people in our system.”

Nick scraped a hand through his hair, his agitation mounting. “Spit it out, Doctor.”

Bullock exhaled noisily. “The genetic markers indicate the woman is related to the two of you.”

Silence fell for a strained second, and then he and Jake both spoke at once.

“What the hell?” Jake mumbled.

“That’s impossible,” Nick said.

“You two don’t have a sister or other close female relative?” Bullock asked.

“No,” Jake said quickly.

“We
had
a sister,” Nick said, his mind searching for answers. “But she died at birth.”

“I don’t have the explanation, only the facts. Science doesn’t lie,” Bullock said. “This blood definitely belonged to a female, and it matches your blood, as well as the Commander’s.”

Nick’s head rolled.

“The Commander could have had another child,” Jake said, obviously thinking out loud. “Perhaps with another woman.”

Nick had never considered that possibility. “That’s true. He was missing for ten years. He could have another entire family we know nothing about.”

Brenda had awakened and sat up, tugging the covers up over her. He missed the sight of that gorgeous naked body already.

But he had to focus, and she was a distraction, so he turned away from her. The very idea that he had a sibling he didn’t know about was shocking, but to think she was the killer they were after stirred doubts and anger.

“He probably kept this family a secret for a reason,” Jake suggested.

“Because he abused this girl,” Nick said, his mind desperate for answers. “She probably realized what happened to her when the Commander was arrested. That was her trigger to start killing.”

“There’s another possibility,” Jake said.

Nick’s blood ran cold. “That our sister didn’t die like he told us.”

Jake cursed. “Yes. He faked his own death. He could have faked hers.”

Nick sank onto the side of the chaise and dropped his head into his hands. “Then what did he do with her?”

The second that stretched between them filled with the answers both of them wanted to avoid.

“He put her in the experiment,” Nick finally said.

“We don’t know that.” Jake shifted. “We don’t even know for sure if she was the sister we thought died. The idea of another family is entirely possible.”

Yes, it was. But still…“There’s one way to find out,” Nick said. “We have to exhume her body. If the grave is empty, we’ll have our answer.”

“I’ll make the arrangements,” Jake said.

“I’ll meet you at the cemetery. And Jake—”

“Yeah?”

“There’s something I have to tell you.” He glanced at Brenda, who was still watching him, waiting for answers. “Last night someone broke into Brenda’s apartment and left a roll of piano wire and a baggie of the skin samples the killer took from the victims on her bed. I’ll bring those to send to forensics.”

Jake grunted. “You didn’t feel the need to do that last night?”

Nick hated the disapproval in his brother’s tone. “Brenda walked in on Seven and took a blow to the head. She was unconscious when I arrived. The killer planted the evidence here to incriminate her.”

Another muttered curse. “All right. But get that evidence logged in and analyzed asap.”

“Did you find out anything on those names the computer analyst sent from Stowe’s computer?”

“The head of the Maidens vouched for all her girls.”

“I’m surprised she talked to you.”

“It took some persuading, but once I assured her I didn’t intend to prosecute her or bust up her escort service, she agreed. In fact, she looked into her clients, and all of them had alibis for the night Stowe was murdered.”

Dammit, another dead end.

“I’ll call about a warrant,” Jake said. “I want that grave exhumed this morning.”

Nick mumbled agreement, then ended the call and reached for his clothes. “What’s going on?” Brenda asked. “What’s this about blood work and a sister?”

Nick’s emotions snowballed. He’d allowed himself to get way too close to Brenda. He’d spilled secrets about his father’s abuse, knowing she was writing a story about the Commander and the subjects.

Knowing she could expose private thoughts he didn’t want divulged.

“I have to go.”

Brenda grabbed his arm. “Wait, Nick, talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”

He gritted his teeth. “You want me to tell you what’s going on, but you don’t share, Brenda. You just dig around in everyone else’s lives and expose their secrets for the world.”

“That my job, Nick,” Brenda said. “This town deserves to know what happened to their children.”

“What about your secrets?” Nick said, his voice harsh. “Why don’t you write your own story instead of everyone else’s?”

Shock flared in Brenda’s eyes. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.” Nick had protected himself for years from letting anyone know the truth about what his father had done to him. Yet Brenda had seduced the truth right out of him.

“No, I don’t, Nick. Last night we shared an incredible night, and I thought we were close. I just want to help you.”

“If you want to help me, tell me what you know about Seven.”

Brenda’s eyes widened with uncertainty. “I don’t know anything about her except that she’s contacted me for some reason.”

“Stop lying!” Nick shouted.

Brenda took a step back. “I’m not.”

“Yes, you are!” Nick clutched her arms and shook her. “You were at the sanitarium. For God’s sake, you met her there, didn’t you?”

Anguish robbed Brenda’s breath at the condemnation in Nick’s tone. She shook her head in denial, but the screams of the teenager needing help taunted her.

She hadn’t shared that memory with Nick.

Nor had she told him about her stay in the hospital.

So how had he known?

Realization dawned, and hurt spiraled through her. “You investigated me, didn’t you?”

Nick’s mouth compressed into a straight line. “Brenda—”

“You did, didn’t you?” She pushed her tangled hair from her face. Hair tangled from his hands and their night of frenzied lovemaking. He’d taken her on the chaise, the bed, the floor, in the shower…

She’d given him everything she had, including her heart.

But Nick had never trusted her. Instead, he’d dug up dirt in case he needed leverage against her.

“What were you going to do with what you found, Nick? Blackmail me with it if I decided to reveal something you didn’t like?”