No One Left to Tell (68 page)

‘If we could find her, we could ask her.’

‘If we could find her, I’d charge her ass for conspiracy to commit murder,’ he said sourly. ‘She gave me a key to a safe-deposit box. Why?’

‘Why don’t we get dressed, go to the bank, and find out?’ She started to get up, but he held her a little closer.

‘Because I’ll have to get a court order first and I don’t want to let you go just yet. Let’s take another few minutes.’

She relaxed into him. ‘I think we’ve earned that much.’

He thought he’d earned a lot more than that, images of lingering and savoring still playing in his mind. But first . . . ‘I need to talk to you about something. This secret of mine that wasn’t so secret. It will come out and it could be unpleasant.’

‘Are you afraid of unpleasant?’

‘No,’ he said, and found it was true. ‘But I don’t know if you are.’

‘After all this, you can really ask me that? You think I’m afraid of a little bad press?’

‘Anderson said that when the courts find out about me, I won’t be able to prosecute anymore – that there’ll be too much conflict of interest.’

‘Anderson was a crook.’

‘But he could be right. I might have to give up my career.’

‘That would suck. But you’d deal. You’d find another way to stand for the victims.’

‘You sound so sure.’

‘It’s who you are. The job is just the means to the end. If you want to tell your story, tell it. I’ll stand by you. But if you think it’s nobody’s business, then don’t.’

‘I don’t want anyone to think they have a hold over me.’

‘Grayson, you knocked on Rex’s door, knowing Anderson would tell your secrets. You confronted Rex when you could have walked away.’

‘No, I couldn’t have walked away. It would have been wrong.’

‘My point exactly,’ she said. She leaned up over him, brushing his mouth with her lips. ‘I think that you think too much.’

He ran his hand down her side. ‘I was thinking this morning, too.’

‘Oh no,’ she teased.

‘Oh yes. About how I’d rushed before.’

Her eyes darkened, impossibly. ‘I liked it. But if you think you can do better . . .’

The feline challenge in her voice set his pulse pounding. He reached for her, took her mouth slowly, making her hum deep in her throat. When she reached for him he stopped her, linking their fingers together, rolling her on her back.

‘Does that hurt?’ he whispered. ‘Your back?’

‘Not enough for me to tell you to stop. Let me touch you.’

A shudder shook him. ‘Not yet. Let me have you.’

‘You do.’ She lifted her hips against him. ‘Grayson, please. Hurry.’

‘No. Not this morning. Let me have you. All of you.’ He dipped his head to her breast and her sigh turned into a moan. ‘Every last inch of you.’

He lingered and he savored and he made her breath catch in her throat. When she urged him to hurry he slowed down even more until he had her begging. He kissed his way down her body and back up, wondering if he’d ever get his fill.

‘Please.’ Her whispers had become hoarse. ‘Please. I need—’

He slid into her and her eyes closed. ‘This?’

‘You. I need you, whoever you want to be.’

‘Look at me.’ She opened her eyes and he knew exactly who he wanted to be. ‘Yours.’ Holding her gaze, he started to move. ‘I want to be yours.’

He linked their hands again, watching every flicker of her eyes, every bite of her lip, increasing his thrusts until she writhed, until she arched like a bow, her body gripping his in one long slow beautiful spasm as she went over, dragging him with her.

It was quietly cataclysmic, different from anything he’d ever had before. Different from anything with her before. He hung over her, breathing hard, looking into her eyes as her body softened like warm wax. He didn’t have words, so he kissed her, knowing that this moment he’d remember. When he lifted his head, tears ran down her cheeks. ‘Did I hurt you?’

‘No,’ she whispered. ‘It’s just . . . so . . . big.’

He might have made a joke at another time. But not now. He understood exactly what she meant. This was sacred. ‘I know.’

He rolled them to their sides, holding her as tightly as she held him. The minutes passed and he didn’t want to let her go, but the ringing of the phone intruded.

Grayson reached out for it, not wanting to move. ‘Hello?’ It came out of him surly.

‘Good morning, Mr Smith.’

Grayson rolled his eyes. ‘Good morning, Lieutenant Hyatt.’

‘Mrs Shaffer has regained consciousness. We get five minutes to talk to her. How fast can you be at the hospital?’

He was suddenly alert. ‘Thirty minutes or less.’

‘Then I’ll wait for you to arrive.’

‘What is it?’ Paige asked.

‘Adele’s awake.’ Grayson forced himself from the bed, looked out the window and blessed his brother. Sometime during the morning hours the Escalade had materialized on his curb. ‘We’ve got thirty minutes to get dressed, walk the dog, and drive.’

Friday, April 8, 9.45
A.M
.

Adele Shaffer was in ICU, Darren sitting at her side. Adele stared at the wall, her face as pale as the pillowcase. Darren rose when Paige, Grayson and Hyatt entered.

‘Mrs Shaffer?’ Hyatt said. ‘I am Lieutenant Peter Hyatt, with the homicide division of the police department. This is State’s Attorney Grayson Smith and his associate, Paige Holden. They’ve been investigating the MAC program. And the McClouds.’

Grayson gave the chair to Paige, crouching by the bed so that he was at eyelevel with Adele. ‘Hi,’ he said with a smile. ‘We need your help. Your husband said you thought someone was trying to kill you. You were right.’

Adele’s eyes widened briefly, as if that was all the energy she had.

‘The MAC program ran for sixteen years,’ Paige said. ‘Every year there was a twelve-year-old girl with curly blond hair, just like you had. Of those sixteen women, you are the only one left alive.’ Behind her, Darren Shaffer gasped.

Adele closed her eyes. ‘They said no one would believe me,’ she breathed.

‘We will,’ Grayson said. ‘We promise. Please tell us what happened.’

‘They said they’d kill my family.’ A tear ran down Adele’s cheek and Paige dabbed it with a tissue. ‘I didn’t have a dad. My mother was always high. But I had three little brothers and I didn’t want them hurt. They said they’d give us money for food. I didn’t want my brothers to starve. So I never said anything.’

‘It’s time to tell,’ Paige said. ‘You were a MAC kid in 1994. You were twelve.’

‘I thought it was the best day of my life,’ she whispered. ‘They got me a new dress. We had ice cream and so much food. Then the kids from the other schools started to go home, a few at a time. I was the only one left. She asked if I wanted to see upstairs.’

‘Who’s “she”, Mrs Shaffer?’ Hyatt asked quietly.

‘Mrs McCloud. His
wife
.’ She spat the word weakly, but her sentiment was clear. ‘The room was pink. I hate pink now.’ She swallowed. ‘And then
he
came in. The senator.’ Another tear slipped down her cheek and again, Paige wiped it dry.

‘I’m sorry, Mrs Shaffer,’ Hyatt said, ‘but we have to ask you exactly what he did.’

‘I never wanted to remember. But I never forgot. He pushed up my dress . . .’ She began to cry softly. ‘He raped me. I tried to fight, but he was too big. He held me down. Held his hand over my mouth. I thought I was going to die. I wanted to.’

Paige took her hand. ‘I’m sorry, Adele. We’re so sorry this happened to you. But please try to tell us what happened next?’

‘He thanked me. I’ve always remembered that. He thanked me. Like I had a choice. Left me there, crying. A man came in. He was the one who’d picked me up from my house. He . . . washed me. I was too scared to move by then. He was the one who told me what would happen if I told. Then he put my medallion box in my hand and took me downstairs and put me in the car.
She
came, too.’

‘You mean Mrs McCloud?’ Paige asked gently.

‘Yes. She made me eat chocolate. It made me sleepy.’

‘She drugged you,’ Grayson said.

‘Oh,’ Darren breathed, horrified. ‘That’s why you were so freaked by the chocolates that were left at the house on Tuesday.’

More tears ran down her cheeks. ‘I thought I was losing my mind.’

Paige brushed Adele’s hair from her wet cheeks, dried her tears. ‘You weren’t. So Mrs McCloud made you eat the chocolate. Then what?’

‘When the car got close to my house they stopped. I was so groggy, I couldn’t wake up. She pushed me out the door and I fell in the dirt. I woke up later and it was dark and I was cold. I went home. My mother didn’t even know I was gone. My dress was ruined so I took it off and burned it.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me about this?’ Darren asked.

Adele kept her gaze on the wall. ‘I . . . it messed me up. I went to a mental hospital. I didn’t want you to know. Didn’t want you to know that I was crazy. Think that I’d hurt Allie. I went to see my psychiatrist on Tuesday. Then I went shopping. That’s the truth.’

‘I’m sorry, baby,’ Darren said, anguished. ‘I didn’t understand.’

‘I know. But I hoped you loved me enough so that it wouldn’t matter.’

‘Mrs Shaffer, who did this to you?’ Grayson asked. ‘Who stabbed you?’

‘Mrs McCloud.’

Paige sucked in a startled breath. ‘
Mrs
McCloud?’

‘The senator’s
wife
stabbed you?’ Grayson clarified.

‘Yes,’ Adele whispered. ‘I asked her why . . . I told her I had a life. She said that was the problem.’

‘Did you have an automobile?’ Hyatt asked.

‘I parked it in the alley. She took it. Left me in the dirt. Again.’

The nurse cleared her throat. ‘Your five minutes are up. You have to go.’

‘Thank you, Adele,’ Paige said. ‘I know this was hard.’

‘They’ll deny it,’ she said wearily. ‘I have no proof.’

‘We’re working on that,’ Hyatt said. ‘You concentrate on getting better.’ He handed a card to Darren Shaffer. ‘This is my direct number, with Assistant SA Smith’s number on the back. Please contact us if you remember anything else. We’ll keep you updated with our investigation.’

Paige followed Grayson and Hyatt into the hall, then leaned against the wall and made herself breathe. ‘
Mrs
McCloud stabbed her? I knew she must have known about the abuse, but . . . why? Why would Dianna McCloud try to kill Adele? And does that mean that she killed the others?’

‘Good questions, Miss Holden,’ Hyatt said.

‘Very good questions,’ Grayson agreed. ‘We assumed that the same person who’d molested the girls had killed them as adults. For now, we need to separate the crimes. The senator did the sexual abuse – we know that. Adele’s account matches Rex McCloud’s, but I don’t want to bring the senator in for questioning yet. We need hard evidence on the sexual assault. At this point, it’s he-said, she-said.’

‘It’s unlikely you will find physical evidence of the rape,’ Hyatt said. ‘It’s been eighteen years since Mrs Shaffer’s assault.’

Grayson frowned. ‘I know. I don’t want to tip them off yet because we have to rethink the murders, too. We have circumstantial evidence that the senator killed Crystal. That hasn’t changed.’

‘You mean the uneven ligature marks around her throat,’ Hyatt said. ‘And the fact that Senator McCloud has a weaker hand.’

Grayson nodded. ‘Yes. And that Crystal had two killers. The senator strangled her and a second person stabbed her. We assumed the senator would need help with the other victims, too. But now . . . Mrs McCloud changes things. She may have been the person to stab Crystal. She might have killed all the MAC victims or the senator might have.’

‘Or they did it together,’ Paige muttered. ‘What a team.’

‘But Dianna might still have needed help to get the victims hung after drugging them, and I don’t know that the senator could have done it. We do know she tried to kill Adele, so we should start there. First step is to get physical evidence of the attempted murder. Then we can get a warrant to search the McClouds’ home and see what we can find that connects to everything else. Until then, I don’t want them to suspect we know or they could destroy any evidence that still exists.’

‘Adele’s car,’ Paige said. ‘If Mrs McCloud stabbed her and drove the car away, we might find fingerprints or blood. Or maybe she kept Adele’s purse.’

‘That would get us the warrant to search the McCloud condo. If we get the right judge, we might get into the estate too.’ Grayson gave Paige a nod. ‘You were right.’

‘About what?’ Hyatt asked.

‘Paige thought Mrs McCloud was involved in the MAC assaults when the girls were twelve. I don’t think either of us expected the senator’s wife was a killer, though.’

‘Attempted killer,’ Hyatt said with a frown.

Grayson shrugged. ‘She gave Adele a chocolate when she was twelve that made her groggy. That’s how the Shaffers’ dog was drugged and how Betsy Malone died.’

Hyatt looked impressed. ‘Very good, Counselor. I’ll get my people started on finding that car. Keep me posted.’

‘I need a second before we leave,’ Paige said to Grayson when Hyatt was gone. She stopped at the nurse’s station. ‘I’d like to check on a patient, please? Logan Booker.’

‘Relationship to the patient?’ the nurse asked.

‘I’m his neighbor,’ Paige said. She pointed to Grayson. ‘He saved his life.’

The nurse smiled. ‘I see. Logan’s on this floor. He’s stable.’

‘I heard the doctors were able to save his leg,’ Paige said, holding her breath.

‘So far so good. His aunt came from Philly to care for him and to bury her sister.’

‘Logan’s mother,’ Paige murmured. ‘Poor Logan.’

‘I know. When he’s able to travel, the aunt said she’ll take him with her to live. She seems like a nice woman. You can see him if you like.’

Paige looked up at Grayson. ‘Do we have time?’

‘Sure. Let’s go.’ But he didn’t move, just stood there looking troubled.

‘What is it?’ she asked.

‘I have to talk to Ramon Muñoz. I’ve been putting it off,’ he admitted. ‘I don’t know what to say to make things right. But I need to talk to him. Today.’