Until Death (14 page)

Then he leaned in real close to her.

Her fingers were slick around the handle of her butcher knife, slick with his blood and her sweat.

The masked man’s lips feathered over her ear. “You’re not safe…”

That wasn’t a secret. He had a damn knife at her throat. Ivy tensed, knowing what she had to do. She’d need to move fast. She’d have to hit him again, take him
down.

Or I’ll die…

“He’s the one who wants you,” the masked man rasped. “He’s the one who started it all…”

What?

“Your
friend…
Cameron…”

Once more, her gaze cut to Cameron. He was advancing, slowly and…Cameron had a knife in his hand. She could just see it—hidden behind his leg. Another one of her kitchen knives.

“
He did it all…
” The masked man told her. “And you never knew.”

Ivy yanked back on the handle of her knife. There was a wet
slosh
as the blade slid out of her attacker.

His knife sliced over her neck and—

Cameron roared. He attacked. Cameron grabbed the masked man and yanked him away from Ivy. Then he drove his knife right at the killer’s chest.

Only the masked man seemed far too ready for his attack. He dodged that blade and launched himself at Cameron. Their bodies twisted—Cameron and that masked man—and they fell back, tumbling down the stairs again and again with a sickening crunch of bones.

And then they stopped, a heap at the bottom of the stairs. Ivy stared down at them, horrified.

The masked man began to move.

So did Cameron. Cameron drove his fist at the other guy.

She looked at the bloody knife in her hand, and Ivy crept down the stairs.

Bennett slammed on the brakes and jumped out of his car. The car door hung open as he raced toward Ivy’s house. He grabbed for that front doorknob, but it was locked. “Ivy!” The door was hard, sturdy, reinforced…and there was going to be no breaking it in easily.

But the back door isn’t like this one.
He remembered seeing it before—and thinking that Ivy needed more security back there.

He ran to the back door and saw the broken glass littering the ground. The door was open, swaying a bit in the breeze. He rushed inside. “
Ivy!”
He had to find her.

Then he heard the grunts, the thud of fists hitting flesh.

Bennett burst out of the kitchen. Two men were fighting at the foot of the stairs. Cameron Wilde and a man with dark hair, a man bleeding and snarling.

A white Mardi Gras mask lay just a few feet from the struggling men.

Ivy was there, inching down the stairs. Her gaze was totally locked on the two men. The knife in her hand dripped blood and she began to lift it. Up, up—

He had his gun out and he aimed it at the two men. “Freeze the fuck
now!”

They froze. Cameron jerked away from the man and his desperate gaze found Bennett. “Shoot him, now! He came to kill Ivy!”

The alarm blared all around them. Bennett caught sight of a white Mardi Gras mask on the floor—part of the mask had broken away. “I said freeze,” Bennett roared. “Both of you!”

Ivy was on the steps, far too close to those damn men. His gaze flew over them—Cameron had blood dripping from his busted lip. The other man—he was just as Ivy had described the first night. Tall, broad-shouldered, dark-haired. His blue eyes glittered and a smirk twisted his lips.

Both men appeared unarmed.

Appeared.

Both men were also between him and Ivy, and that shit just wasn’t going to fly.

“The place is going to be swarming with cops in moments.” Bennett motioned to the dark-haired man. “You’re not getting away.”

The man laughed.

“
Shoot
him!” Cameron yelled. “He killed Shelly, he killed—”

“My brother,” Ivy said, her voice breaking.

Oh, fuck. Bennett didn’t even know how Ivy was holding things together if Hugh was dead.

“Hugh?” Cameron shook his head. “Not Hugh. He’s…he’s my best friend.” And he sounded confused.

The dark-haired man laughed. “And that’s how your fucking house of cards goes down…
down, down, down
…”

Bennett knew Cameron was going to attack. He saw the man’s eyes blaze with hate and rage and—

Cameron lunged for the killer. Only the killer was moving, too. But not going toward Cameron. The man turned and grabbed for Ivy.

She slashed out with the knife, and it cut across the killer’s forearm. The man yelled and he reached for her again. She sliced out with a butcher knife once more.

Cameron drove his fist into the man’s back. “She was never for you! Leave her the hell alone!”

The dark-haired man rammed his elbow into Cameron’s face. Bones crunched and Cameron fell back, howling in pain.

Bennett was already racing forward. He jumped over Cameron, intent on his target. Before that bastard could grab for Ivy again, Bennett had his gun pressed to the back of the man’s head. “I told you to freeze before. Move again, so much as an inch, and I will pull the trigger.”

Cameron was behind him, still moaning and groaning, but from the sound of things, getting to his feet.

Ivy stood just two steps above the killer. The knife was clenched in her fist. Her eyes burned with her fear and horror.

He killed Hugh.

The man in front of Bennett…laughed.

Bennett’s finger started to squeeze that trigger.

“This is almost like the way your father went out,” the man murmured to Ivy. “Isn’t it? Except the gun is at the back of my head, not being forced
into
my mouth by Cameron.”

Ivy’s face bleached of its last remaining bit of color. She lifted the knife, as if she’d stab the man again.

“Don’t, Ivy,” Bennett said because…shit, hadn’t he suspected the same thing? That Cameron had killed Ivy’s father? But how—how did the man in front of him know that?

That’s how your fucking house of cards goes down, down, down…

“He’s lying!” Cameron yelled from behind Bennett. Bennett didn’t look at him. He was afraid that if he took his eyes off the dark-haired man, the guy would go for Ivy once more. “You know…Ivy you know I always protect you!”

But…

Did he?

The man before Bennett lifted his hands. “I’ll tell you everything, Detective. All our secrets.”

Our
secrets?

“All our lies…”

Our…

The man laughed again. “All our kills…and dear cousin Cameron planned so many of them—”

“No!” Cameron shouted and then—then Bennett felt a white-hot pain in his back. Fast and deep, cutting through flesh and muscle, sinking into him. It was a familiar pain. One that the Greenville Trapper had made sure he’d never forget.

That bastard Cameron just stabbed a knife into my back.

“
Bennett!”
Ivy screamed. She tried to shove past the dark-haired killer and grab for Bennett, but the man’s hands flew out and locked around Ivy. He caught her around the waist even as his other hand flew out and twisted her wrist, squeezing it so that she was forced to drop her knife. The butcher knife clattered down the stairs as Ivy struggled against him. She dropped her body, yanking down hard in an attempt to force her freedom.

And when she dropped, Bennett fired his gun. The bullet flew right toward the dark-haired SOB. It sank into his chest. The guy’s mouth opened in shock, then he slumped down on Ivy.

Bennett wanted to whirl and fire at Cameron. The traitorous jerk was behind him. He’d yanked the knife out of Bennett’s back and he was—

Cameron put the blade to Bennett’s throat. “Drop the gun,
now.
”

Bennett didn’t drop his weapon. If he did that, then Cameron would slice open his jugular. And while Bennett bled out, Cameron would attack Ivy.

Not happening.

Ivy shoved the other man off her. He fell in a heap, sagging against the stair railing. His eyes were closed. Blood covered his chest. Bennett thought he’d hit the guy’s heart, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Drop the gun,” Cameron said.

The fool had made a mistake. He’d stopped to give orders. He should have just tried to cut Bennett’s throat when he had the chance. Cameron thought that Bennett valued his own life—more than anything else. That the threat of death would work to control him.

So wrong.

Ivy mattered more to him than his own life.

In the distance, he could hear the shriek of police sirens. They wouldn’t get there in time, though, not in time to stop him.

Bennett smiled at Ivy. He knew he’d have to move fast. And he knew that Cameron might cut him too deep. It was a risk he had to take.

Another psycho with a knife…story of my life.

But he wasn’t scared of this psycho. He was just pissed.

Ivy was crouched on the stairs. She shook her head as she gazed up at him. “Bennett…”

I love you.

Then—in a lightning fast move—Bennett twisted his wrist, aiming the gun
behind
him, and he fired back as fast as he could, pulling the trigger on his weapon. He could feel the burn of the bullet slide past his own side as it flew back and sank deep into Cameron’s stomach.

Cameron grunted at the impact, and then his knife sliced across Bennett’s throat as he stumbled back. But Bennett was already moving, too, spinning around fast so the blade barely nicked the surface of his skin. Bennett brought his gun up. He aimed it right between Cameron’s eyes.

Cameron dropped the knife. He staggered, falling down to the bottom of the stairs as he grabbed his stomach. “You…you shot me!”

Hell, yes, he had.

Cameron curled up even more. His face was chalk white and his eyes burned with hate.

“
Ivy
!” Bennett desperately called her name. He needed to touch her. To hold her. But he wasn’t taking his aim off Cameron. He had the feeling that sick jerk was just waiting for a weak moment so he could attack again.

But then she was there. Wrapping her arms around his stomach. Holding tight. Warm. Soft.
Alive.

“No!” Cameron yelled. “No, she doesn’t go back to you!” He straightened up, but kept one hand over his bleeding gut. “Not after all I did…”

“All of those women,” Bennett said because he’d figured it out. “They were her, weren’t they? Only it wasn’t just one killer hunting…” Now it made sense to him. Two different cities…two different killers. One in New Orleans. One in Mobile.

And the victims…the women…
all with dark hair like Ivy.

“Cameron?” Ivy’s voice shook with shock.

Cameron’s face hardened. “You’re the one who looked so good in blood. Remember that day at your…your grandfather’s old PI office? That guy with the knife had cut you…you bled and bled…so beautiful.”

Bennett felt Ivy tremble beside him.

The sirens were louder. The other cops would be there soon. The nightmare would be over.

With more bodies left to bury.

“I killed for you,” Cameron said as he gazed up at Ivy. “You hated your father. He was always in your way. Always controlling you. I told him that I would take care of you, that he could step back, and you know what he said?
To me?
”

Bennett wanted to pull the trigger more than he wanted his next breath.

I’m the cop. I’m supposed to hold back.

But…

That bastard had hurt Ivy.

“Your drunken ass of a father told me I wasn’t good enough for you. That I couldn’t have
you.”
Cameron’s stare cut to Bennett. He smiled. “I was better than him. I hadn’t left you. I never would. So I just…I eliminated the problem between us.”

“You shot my father,” Ivy whispered.

“I put him out of his misery!” Brutal words.

“And all those women?” Bennett asked him, sickened. “Did you put them out of their misery, too?” He had a feeling there were so many dead bodies out there, courtesy of Cameron.

Cameron’s face hardened. “I killed the first one when Ivy told me our night together had been a ‘mistake’, that it wouldn’t happen again. Because we were such good
friends
.”

“You sonofabitch.” Ivy took a step toward Cameron. “I didn’t love you. I never loved you. I loved Bennett! It was always him!”

“No!” Cameron shook his head. Hard. “He didn’t love you! He screwed with your head. It was me, it was—” He lunged toward her.

Bennett shoved Ivy to the side and he fired his weapon.

Cameron’s body fell back.

“It wasn’t you,” Bennett said flatly. “Not even close, asshole.”

Ivy glanced back at him. He could feel the blood pooling down his back, and his knees were getting weak. He threw out a hand, holding onto the banister, even as he kept his gun pointed at Cameron. The guy was still breathing, so that meant Cameron was a threat.

One I need to end.

“Go unlock the front door, Ivy,” Bennett said.
I want her away from Cameron.
“The other cops will be pulling up any moment.”
This will all be over.

“How badly are you hurt?” Ivy asked him.

“Not enough to kill me.” He’d make that a promise. “Get the door, baby, please…” Because he didn’t want her to see what would happen next. He’d rather Ivy not remember him this way.

She hurried off the stairs, skirted around Cameron, then rushed toward the foyer.

Bennett glanced down at the man slumped on the stairs. The dark-haired fellow who’d called Cameron his cousin.

The man who was glaring at him.

Yeah, I knew you weren’t done yet, either.

“You didn’t just kill the dark-haired women, did you?” Bennett asked him. “You killed anyone you wanted.
That’s
why the councilman was murdered. Cameron liked the women who looked like Ivy, but you just liked killing.”

The sick freak smiled at Bennett. “Sounds like…” He heaved out a rough breath. “You know me.”

“I do,” Bennett said sadly. He knew the man’s type exactly. A killer, through and through. A man who now thought he had nothing to lose.

I guess I missed his heart. Maybe because a screwed-up killer like him doesn’t have one.

The guy lunged up at Bennett.

He fired. Damn near point blank.

The bastard didn’t get up again.

Bennett kept his hold on the banister as he slowly made his way down to the bottom of the stairs. Then he leaned over Cameron, ignoring the pain that radiated from his back and ignoring the blood that dripped off him. He wouldn’t have long. Ivy would be back at any moment.

He put the gun to Cameron’s head. “She was never for you,” he said again.

Cameron’s eyes opened. He squinted, staring up at Bennett.

“You think you’ll play the crazy card. You think you’ll convince a jury that you were manipulated by whoever that dumb fuck was up there on the stairs.” Cameron’s cousin? Maybe. Bennett didn’t care who the guy had been. He knew exactly how this game played out. “You think you’ll get sent to some psych ward for a few months, maybe even a few years, but then you’ll get out again.”

Cameron’s lips began to curl.

Bennett pushed the gun down a bit harder. “You won’t. I’m not going to let you ever get near her again.”

Blood covered Cameron’s once perfectly white teeth. “You’re the cop. True blue…you can’t kill me like this.”

Couldn’t he?
Without a hesitation.
“You don’t know me. For Ivy, I would do anything.”

That smile of Cameron’s dimmed.

“You won’t hurt her again.”

He heard the screech of brakes outside. The cops, back-up, finally at the scene. If he wanted to take out Cameron, this was the moment.

“Bennett…”

He stiffened at that voice. Not Ivy’s voice. A man’s voice, pain-filled.

He kept the gun on Cameron, but Bennett turned his head. There, at the top of the stairs, watching him with wide eyes—
her eyes—
was Hugh. A very bloody but still alive Hugh.