Vicious (2 page)

She blinked away the distraction.
Stay on the facts. You already know his motive
.

The women were dehydrated, bruised, and emotionally wounded but that was the extent of their injuries. During those ten long days of captivity, the man wearing a mask had dropped a bottle of water and a container of nuts and dried fruits into their cages daily. Not once had he attempted to touch the women or even to speak to them. But then torturing or murdering anyone at this stage in the game wasn’t the goal—wasn’t even on the agenda.

Spears had other plans.

“Since he didn’t speak,” Jess ventured, “how can you be certain the person wearing the mask was a man?” There were numerous reasons to make the assumption but she wanted to hear each woman’s rationale for coming to that conclusion. The smallest new insight might make a difference.

“His hands.” Melaney’s brow furrowed as if she were concentrating hard on the question. “He had big hands with thick fingers.”

“He didn’t wear gloves?”

Another shake of her head confirmed he had not. Just went to show the level of confidence the man had in the hiding place used for holding the women. Claudia had mentioned his broad shoulders and muscled arms, as well as his hands. She’d also said he had dark eyes. Jess suspected Melaney had kept her gaze lowered whenever their keeper entered the room. Claudia, on the other hand, had studied his height, six feet at least, and his build—a little on the stocky side.

According to the descriptions provided by Melaney and Claudia, different men had abducted them at approximately the same time on the same night. Both insisted Rory had described yet a third man. All three women had received a phone call about winning a weekend getaway. That ruse had served a simple purpose, ensuring no one who knew the women grew suspicious when they disappeared. The abductions were a carefully choreographed series of untraceable steps in various locations for achieving the singular goal of a madman. The organized operation confirmed the Bureau’s theory that Spears had built a network of followers ready to do his bidding.

“What happened when you were finally moved from the cages?”

“He drugged us again.” Melaney looked around the room as if searching for a safe place to rest her gaze. “When we came to, we were on the side of the road. Naked and all tied up so we couldn’t go for help.” Her lips trembled. “But we were alive.”

She fell silent for a time. No doubt reliving the horrors and the relief.

“We started yelling for help. We kept screaming and crying, hoping someone would hear us. I don’t know how much later—hours I guess—a trucker stopped. The guy was headed into the woods to pee when we managed to get his attention.” She exhaled a shuddering breath. “Our voices were so weak by then it was a miracle he heard us.”

Jess had interviewed the truck driver who discovered the women on that Tennessee mountain road. Otis Berry was short, bone thin, and sixty-eight years old. He had a bad knee that caused him to hobble and a bad back that kept him stooped over, making him easy to rule out as a suspect.

“Can you tell me anything else about Rory?” Rory Stinnett was the third woman, the one Spears had chosen to keep.
Victim number one
. Jess worked at calming another bout of churning in her stomach.

Something awful was coming. Spears had some twisted finale planned. She could feel it. And, dammit, she couldn’t seem to do anything to stop it.

“We cried and talked a lot. Tried to figure out ways to escape but none of them worked.” Melaney scrubbed at her tears with the backs of her hands. “We didn’t know whether he was going to kill us or what. He never told us anything. Until Claudia and I were with the police we had no idea what was going on.”

“I’m sure you’d seen the headlines about Eric Spears, the serial killer called the Player, before your abduction?” Just saying his name out loud changed the rhythm of Jess’s heart. She tightened her grip on her pencil.

“I’m a nursing student. I don’t have time for the news or anything else. But Claudia had heard of him and all those women he killed.” Melaney’s voice quaked on the last.

Not just women
. Jess didn’t bother correcting her. Eric Spears had murdered a federal agent who’d graduated from the Bureau’s training academy with her. The truth was there were likely far more victims than they suspected. They might never know just how many lives Eric Spears had taken… or would take before he was stopped.

Just let me close to him one more time
.

“A few more questions, Miss Lands.” Jess resigned herself to the fact that she’d gotten all she was going to at this time. “Do you remember how the place where you were held smelled? If there were any windows? Any other furniture? Could you hear any noises from the outside?”

Melaney shook her head in answer to each question.

Okay, go back to the beginning
. “Do you recall anything different or strange that happened in school or at home in the week or so before you were abducted? Besides the phone call about the weekend getaway you’d supposedly won?” Jess qualified.

The young woman stared at Jess as if she were completely overwhelmed and totally lost. Finally, she shook her head yet again, more tears shining in her eyes as renewed defeat clouded her face.

Enough
. Jess stood and moved to the side of her bed. She placed a business card on the tray table. She wasn’t usually the touchy-feely type but she gave Melaney’s hand a gentle squeeze just the same. “Anything you remember or need, no matter when it is—day or night, tomorrow or weeks from now—you call me. Don’t hesitate.”

A jerky nod was her answer.

“Thank you, Melaney.”

Jess turned and started for the door. She was thankful these two women were safe and unharmed for the most part. As grateful as she was, she wished something—anything—one or the other remembered could help them find Rory Stinnett.

How much time did they have before Stinnett became a statistic in the massive case file on the Player?

“Wait.” Melaney’s tinny voice resonated against the sterile white walls of the room.

Jess stopped, turned, and waited. Adrenaline pumped through her. There was something different in the other woman’s tone now… a new kind of fear or desperation crammed into that one word.

Melaney visibly struggled as if she feared her words would somehow change what happened next. She toyed with the card Jess had left for her. “I wasn’t going to mention it.” She made an aching sound in her throat. “The drug was sucking me into the darkness, and I wasn’t sure if I really heard what I thought I heard. Claudia said she didn’t remember anyone saying anything. I figured maybe I imagined it.”

Jess’s thoughts, the very blood flowing through her veins, hushed.

Melaney moistened her chapped lips. “But, when you came in here and introduced yourself, I knew I hadn’t imagined it.”

A chill crept into Jess’s bones. “You may have seen me or heard my name on the news.” Her own voice sounded strained. Her chest seemed to be rising and falling too rapidly, yet she couldn’t draw enough air into her lungs.

Melaney shook her head. “Told you I don’t watch the news.”

Jess moved closer to the foot of her bed. “All right. What do you think you heard?”

“He whispered… or maybe it was the drug that made his voice seem so low and quiet.”

Holding her breath, Jess waited for the rest.

“He said,
tell Jess this is all for her
.”

Somehow, Jess managed a stiff nod. “Thank you, Melaney.”

When she would have turned away, Melaney’s voice stopped her again. “Are you the reason he did this to us?”

Jess would’ve given just about anything to be able to say no…

3

Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, 9:52 p.m.

Sergeant Chet Harper waited at the drop-off area outside baggage claims. The somber face he wore warned it was going to be a long night.

During the return flight from Knoxville, Jess and Dan hadn’t spent a lot of time talking. He’d made his thoughts on the matter perfectly clear: Jess should basically go into hiding. She had made her opinion equally clear: that was not happening. After the stalemate, she had prevented thoughts of Spears from intruding by fantasizing about the long, hot bath she intended to indulge in before climbing into bed next to Dan—even if he was frustrated at her—and shutting out the world for a few hours.

But that was going to have to wait now.

Her team had a new case.

The instant the plane had settled on the tarmac she couldn’t take the not knowing anymore. She had checked her phone and listened to her messages. Dan had given her that look when she’d powered it on before the pilot announced it was okay to do so. She’d pretended not to notice and turned to stare out the window. The first message had been from Harper. They had a double homicide. A particularly gruesome one judging by the sound of her detective’s voice. The two victims were both young and female.

Harper had said in the voice mail that he would pick Jess up at the airport. A reasonable call for her senior detective to make since Dan would need to retrieve his SUV from short-term parking and head home. There was no reason for them both to spend the next few hours, maybe the rest of the night, at a crime scene. At this point, Dan wasn’t saying much. Having her rush off to a crime scene the minute they landed didn’t exactly make him happy, but her team had caught this case. She had an obligation to her detectives and to the department. More importantly, she had an obligation to the victims.

It wasn’t as if Chief of Police Daniel Burnett didn’t fully grasp those facts. She glanced up at the man next to her. His face was grim. The lines of exhaustion told her just how worried he was about her and about Spears. She couldn’t fault him for that. She was damned worried herself.

“Sergeant,” Jess said in greeting as she and Dan approached Harper and his vehicle.

“Ma’am.” He gave her a smile, and then nodded to Dan. “Chief.”

“I’ll keep you posted on my whereabouts at all times,” Jess promised Dan. He didn’t really want her out of his sight. Every move Spears made had him struggling harder to protect her. He was terrified he would fail. She wished she could make him see there was no way to fully protect her from what was coming.

There were no real choices in this deadlock. For this torment to ever end, she had to face Spears eventually.

During the past fifteen or so hours, she had come to terms with the reality that there was only one way to stop him. The tricky part was managing that feat without getting herself badly injured or… dead. A thread of unfamiliar fear wove its way through her. This time she wasn’t the only one depending on whether she kept breathing or not. Having those pink lines appear on that pregnancy test this morning had changed everything.

“Sergeant, you know what I expect.” Dan’s voice drew her from the troubling thoughts. He glanced at the Birmingham Police Department cruiser waiting right behind Harper’s SUV. “Don’t lose your surveillance detail, and do not allow Chief Harris out of your sight even for a second. We have every reason to believe Spears or one or more of his followers are close. We can’t take anything for granted.”

Harper nodded. “I understand, sir.”

Jess gave Dan’s arm a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll be fine.”

Dan exhaled a heavy breath but finally gave her a nod. “Don’t make me regret allowing you to stay on the job.”

Regret was one thing she didn’t want between them ever again. Whatever happened, no more regrets. They’d both spent far too much time lamenting the past as it was. They weren’t kids anymore.

“No regrets,” she reminded him. “Mutual respect and trust.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “You win. Respect and trust.” That ghost of a smile he managed couldn’t have been easy but it warmed her heart.

“I’ll be home as soon as I can,” she promised.

Home
. Jess moved toward the waiting SUV, keeping her back straight and her step purposeful. Strange as it seemed when she took the time to think about it, Birmingham was home again. She’d made a bit of a detour, spending most of her adult life far away from Birmingham, Alabama.

Far away from Dan
.

But she was back. Spears had her rammed into a corner in many respects but she had no intention of allowing him to prevent her from living her life or doing her job.

Right now, two homicide victims were waiting for their killer to be found.

“Your weapon’s in the glove box, Chief,” Harper let her know as she settled into the front passenger seat and fastened her safety belt.

“Thank you, Sergeant.” Jess claimed her Glock and held it for a long moment. Air travel restrictions and the lack of time to gain the necessary clearance had prevented her from taking her weapon with her. The Bureau had sent an armed escort to collect her and Dan from the airport in Knoxville, and then to shuttle them back for their return flight. Being armed hadn’t really been necessary.

She drew in a deep, steadying breath. Her law enforcement career spanned more than two decades. First as a field agent and then a profiler for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and now as deputy chief of Birmingham’s new Special Problems Unit, a modified Major Crimes Division. Not having her weapon with her was like forgetting to wear underwear. She just didn’t feel comfortable.

“Give me a rundown on what we have.” Jess stashed the Glock in her bag. Harper hadn’t given her much in his voice mail. The sooner she was focused on the case the quicker she could push aside the pain of not being able to help Rory Stinnett, the woman Spears hadn’t released.

“The two victims, Lisa Templeton and Alisha Burgess, were last seen at Chuck’s Roadhouse after midnight last night.” Harper merged onto I-20 west/I-59 south. “They closed the joint and left together.”

Since the vics were last spotted in a public place, maybe there were reliable witnesses who would remember whether or not the women had left with anyone.

“The vics share a house in Homewood,” Harper went on. “A couple hours ago a friend, Stacey Jernigan, who works with Lisa Templeton, dropped by to find out why she didn’t come to work today. The front door was ajar and Jernigan went inside.”