Be Mine Forever (Detectives Kane and Alton)

After taking the purse and flask to Sandy, the unmistakable sound of Kane’s siren blared outside and Rowley closed the door to the family room before he hustled to let them in. He needed to speak to them without Sandy overhearing. He opened the door to Jenna and Kane. Rio and Agent Carter followed them inside. He looked at their concerned faces. “Sandy is in the family room, she’s conscious and doesn’t know about upstairs. Can we keep it that way?”

“Sure.” Jenna lowered her voice. “What’s it look like?”

Rowley leaned in so only she could hear. “I figure it’s another cheerleader murder.”

Thirty

Trembling with a confusing mixture of exhilaration and blind panic, he drove like a maniac in the direction of the old barn. His girl was giggling about how they’d come close to being discovered. The deputy’s SUV had pulled up out front just as they reached the front door to leave. They had planned to lock the backdoor and leave by the front. The deputy had come inside, missing them by seconds. The backdoor had clicked shut behind them just as he’d entered the front door calling out a woman’s name. “That was too darn close and who is the woman he was calling out for?”

“His wife, I figure.” His girl grinned at him like a cat who’d just finished a plate of cream. “Some pregnant woman was upstairs when I was taking the cleaning stuff into the bedroom. I had to kill her.”

Sickened, he turned to look at her, swerving on the road before she screamed at him to be careful. “You’ve killed a pregnant woman? How and why? What did she do to you to make you kill her?”

“She could have seen us and told the cops. I know her, she’s married to one of the deputies, and now he’ll be out for our blood.” His girl shrugged. “She was easy to kill, I hit her with my flashlight and when she dropped, I kicked her in the face just to be sure.”

Sweat trickled between his shoulder blades and the bile curdling in his stomach threatened to rush up his throat. He had to get away from her and find time to think. “I’ll drop you home. I’ll go and burn the clothes now. If you’ve killed a deputy’s wife, they’ll be hunting us down tonight. They’ll have already found Becky. They’ll find us, I know it.”

“Not if we’re careful. There was some blood when you killed Becky, so when you’re done, wash your clothes, take a shower, and make sure you clean your boots with bleach. When they’re dry polish them to get rid of the smell.” She gripped his arm. “No evidence means they can’t catch us.”

Realization dawned on him. He’d. Killed. Becky. His girl had ordered him to hit her and he’d complied without question. There’d been no thrill and he’d seen the betrayal in Becky’s eyes as he’d slammed the flashlight into her head. I’m a murderer. He glanced at his girl; things had changed and being with her unnerved him now. He couldn’t trust her and didn’t know what she might do next. “This was the last one. It’s getting too hot out there. Did you see all the Blackwater deputies in town today? We came too close to being caught.”

“We’ll stop when I say and I have one more to kill. When she’s dead, I’ll be happy.” She leaned against him. “You want to make me happy, don’t you?”

He cleared his throat. Her touch suddenly made his skin crawl. “Sure I do, you know that, right?”

He had to make an excuse—anything not to kill again—but he’d seen her face and the thrill she’d gotten from killing. She’d never be satisfied. Now he’d killed Becky, he was in deep shit. If he tried to stop his girl, she’d turn on him and murder him in his sleep. He needed help, someone he could trust to give him advice, someone who couldn’t tell the cops. As he drove, he ran the idea through his mind. A priest was out of the question, he wasn’t Catholic, and old Doc Brown would find some excuse to tell the sheriff. He’d have to talk to someone before his girl chose her next victim.

Thirty-One

Torn between giving reassurance to her friend and processing a crime scene, Jenna turned to Carter. “Call Shane for me please and then go upstairs with Rio to give Wolfe a rundown of what’s happened. We’ll need to preserve the crime scene. I’ll speak to Sandy and be right there.”

“Sure.” Carter glanced at the forensics kit in Kane’s hand. “We’ll need gloves, a mask, and booties.”

“Help yourself.” Kane dropped the bag on the hall stand and flipped it open.

Jenna looked at them. “Not one word about the other victim to Sandy. She’s been through enough already.”

“I hear sirens in the distance, it must be the paramedics.” Kane frowned. “If you want to speak to her, you’d better hurry.”

“You know how to deal with trauma victims far better than I do. I’ll be the support crew and take down notes. I can imagine the pain she’s in, my head still aches from the slap from Mr. Law.” Jenna opened the door to the family room and went inside with Kane close behind her. She smiled at Sandy. “We leave you alone for a few minutes and look what happens.”

“Me? Look at you with a black eye.” Sandy leaned back in the chair. “At least you fought back. I played possum and hoped they’d leave me alone.”

“That was the best thing to do.” Kane squeezed her shoulder. “It wasn’t you they came here to hurt. We figure they were looking for someone else. What do you remember?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember much at all.” Sandy was holding a wad of tissues to her cheek in an attempt to slow the flow of blood. “I don’t figure I can tell you anything.”

“Yeah you can.” Kane squatted beside her. “You’d be surprised what the mind sees even if we don’t register it at first. Go back to when you arrived. Did you see any vehicles parked close by?”

“No, only the red pickup

next door, and it’s always there at night.” Sandy looked at him. “Everything was normal. I cleaned up the papers and dirty footprints left by the delivery guys, poured a cup of hot chocolate from the Thermos, and came up here to rest and watch the first display of fireworks.”

“Did you have the doors closed downstairs?” Kane pulled out more tissues from a box on the floor and handed them to her.

“I checked the backdoor when I arrived.” Sandy dabbed at the cut on her head and winced. “It was locked then and the front door needs a key to open it.”

“Then what happened?” Kane smiled at her. “You sat here and drank your chocolate. Did you fall asleep?”