Kill for Me

Chapter Five

Dutton, Friday, February 2, 7:45 p.m.

Luke stood at the door to the bunker, ignoring the reporters’ shouts for a comment. TV news vans parked along the road and a helicopter made sweeps of the area.

Chase Wharton would be giving a press conference in less than an hour in which he’d relate all the events of the day, including the murders of the five dead teenagers and the abductions of the unidentified others. Until then, they’d maintained radio silence on everything but the capture and death of O’Brien, Granville, Mansfield, and Loomis, as well as the unidentified guard Luke had found at the far end of the bunker.

Five dead, guilty men. Five dead innocent girls. His mama would say the numbers were an omen. He wasn’t entirely sure she’d be wrong.

But they’d had some luck, managing to get the helicopter bearing Daniel and the girl off to Atlanta before the first reporter arrived. They hoped to keep the surviving Jane Doe’s existence under wraps until she woke and told them exactly what had happened.

After the press conference, they’d move the bodies of the five teens to the morgue and the media would be like rabid dogs. Luckily Chase was handling the media. Luke always came too close to telling them all to fuck off, and that wouldn’t do.

“You can go in, Agent Papadopoulos,” the officer guarding the door said. He was a state trooper, one of many called in to maintain security.

“Thanks. I’m trying to work up the energy.” More like the nerve. They were still in there, waiting. Five dead girls. You have to face them. But he didn’t want to.

The trooper’s face creased in sympathy. “Any news on Agent Vartanian?”

“He’s okay.” Alex had called him with the news. So get in there and get this done. It had been three hours since he’d first entered the bunker. In that time they’d moved the dead men to the morgue. They’d fielded questions from reporters who still thought the capture and killing of Mack O’Brien was the day’s big story. How little they knew.

Hell. Mack O’Brien was old news by now. But in a twisted way, it was O’Brien who had blown the lid off Granville and his depravity, both now and thirteen years before.

He still stood at the bunker door. Stop procrastinating, Papa.

Which of course he was. Every time he closed his eyes he could see Angel’s dead eyes staring. He didn’t want to see her again. But rarely did Luke get what he wanted. He’d opened the bunker door when his cell rang. “Papadopoulos,” he said.

“I know,” the familiar voice said dryly. “You said you would call. You never called.”

Luke thought of his mother sitting by the phone, waiting for word on Daniel, who she considered her adopted son. “I’m sorry, Mama. I’ve been a little busy. Daniel’s fine.”

“Well, that I now know, no thanks to you,” she said mildly, and he knew she wasn’t angry. “Demi finally came to get the children and I drove myself to the hospital.”

“You did? On the highway?” His mother was terrified of I-75 during rush hour.

“I did. On the highway,” she affirmed, sounding pleased with herself. “I am sitting in the ICU waiting room with Daniel’s Alex. She’s strong, no? She’ll be good for Daniel.”

“I think so, too. So what did the doctor tell you, exactly?”

“He said Daniel is in the ICU, but stable, and you can visit him tomorrow.”

“That’s good. How will you get home, Mama?” She didn’t drive well at night.

“Your brother will come get me when he closes up his store for the night. You do what you need to do, Luka, and do not worry about your mama. Bye-bye.”

You do what you need to do. “Wait. Have you seen Daniel’s sister yet?”

“Of course. I met her at her parents’ funeral last week.”

“No, I mean she’s there, right now, in the hospital.”

“She is hurt, too?” his mother asked, alarmed.

“No, Mama. She may be waiting with another patient who was also hurt today.”

“But Daniel is her brother,” she said, her ire clearly up now. “She should be here.”

Luke thought of the expression on Susannah’s face when they’d loaded Daniel into the helicopter. She’d looked stricken and conflicted. And so incredibly alone.

“It’s a little more complicated than that, Mama.”

“Complicated! There’s nothing compli- Oh, wait.” Her voice abruptly slid from outraged to approving. “Alex has told me Daniel’s sister is in the chapel. That is good.”

Luke’s brows lifted. Somehow the thought of Susannah Vartanian in a chapel didn’t quite click. “Make sure she knows about Daniel, please.”

“Of course, Lukamou,” she said quietly, and the endearment soothed his soul.

“Thanks, Mama.” Luke straightened his shoulders and entered the bunker. A heavy quiet hung over the place, broken only by an occasional hushed voice. Shadows filled the hallways, but the rooms in which the crime lab teams worked were brighter than day, lit by CSU’s big lights. Ed Randall’s people knew their jobs and did them expertly.

Luke slowly reexamined each cell as he passed, the horror of looking at the five dead teenagers freezing his gut all over again. Their hands and feet had been bagged by the ME, and a body bag sat neatly folded beside each body, waiting to be used.

Look away. But he wouldn’t allow himself to. He hadn’t arrived in time to save them, but the dead still needed him. Who were they? How did they get here? Had they been abducted, or like Angel, had they been victims long before arriving in this place?

Luke found the ME tech bagging one of the girls’ hands, his head bent low. In the quiet Luke heard a single muted sob that tore at his own heart.

“Malcolm?” Luke said.

Malcolm Zuckerman stilled, then placed the girl’s hand carefully at her side. When he looked up, the man had tears in his eyes. “I’ve seen a lot of shit on this job, Papa, but this… never anything like this. She can’t weigh more than eighty pounds. Her hair came out in my hand,” he whispered harshly. “What kind of animal could do this?”

“I don’t know.” Luke had seen victims just like this, way too many times, and had asked that same question, way too many times. “Have you printed them?”

“Yeah. Trey took the prints up to the lab. He’s driving the five dead guys to the morgue.” Malcolm’s smile was twisted. “He won the toss.”

“Lucky bastard. We’ll run the girls’ prints through NCMEC and cross our fingers that they’re in the system.” The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children kept the prints of missing kids in a database-when prints were available. So many parents meant to get their kids printed, but for various reasons never did. Luke had made sure his sister Demi’s six kids were printed. It was the least he could do to protect his own.

“Fingers crossed. When can we take these victims out of this place?”

“Forty-five minutes. Maybe an hour. After Chase’s press conference.”

Malcolm snorted, back to his old demeanor. “Chase’s gettin’ to be a regular celebrity. This is what… his third press conference this week?”

“With all the press conferences on the O’Brien case, this one will be his fourth.”

Malcolm shook his head. “Goddamn crazy week.”

“For all of us. I’ll let you know when it’s okay to take the bodies.”

“Luke?” It was Ed Randall, his voice muffled. “Come here, quick.”

Luke found the head of the crime lab crouched next to an empty cot frame. The mattress sat on the floor on a plastic sheet. “What is it?” Luke asked.

Ed looked up, his eyes sparkling. “A name, part of one anyway. Come see.”

“A name?” Luke crouched next to where Ed was shining his flashlight. The name had been scratched into the metal, barely breaking the rusted surface. “Ashley,” Luke murmured. “Ashley Os-that’s all she wrote. Osborne, Oswald? It’s a start.”

“I think Ashley wanted to hide that she’d done it. The etching was covered with a paste of dirt mixed with something else.”

“Something else?” Luke asked, his brows raised. “What else?”

“I’ll know when I test it,” Ed said, “but probably urine. There were definitely at least three other victims held here, Luke. Their mattresses are soaked with fresh urine.”

Luke’s nose had supplied him with the same information. “Can we get DNA from any of the mattresses or from this dirt paste you scraped off Ashley’s name?”

“Chances are fair. That they’re all postpubescent girls will make it easier.”

“Why?”

“Because the DNA from urine comes from epithelial cells shed by the skin in passing, not from the urine itself. I’ve already sent samples back to the lab for testing.” Ed rocked back on his heels. “Before you ask another question, how is Daniel?”

“He’s okay. We can visit him tomorrow.”

“Thank God. Did Daniel see anything this afternoon, before he was shot?”

“We’ll ask him when he wakes up. What else have you found here? Chase is going into a press conference in thirty minutes and needs an update.”

“A box of prefilled IV bags, a box of syringes, an old gurney, and an IV pole.”

Luke frowned. “This was some kind of hospital? That doesn’t make sense. These girls were held in filth and look like they didn’t have proper nutrition for weeks.”

“Just telling you what I found,” Ed said. “We have eight guns, seven cell phones, two homemade knives, one switchblade, and a kit of wicked-looking scalpels.”

“What about the cell phones?”

“Excepting the phones belonging to Daniel, Alex, and Loomis, all the rest are throwaways. I noted all the calls on the logs, in and out.”

Luke scanned Ed’s notes. “Mansfield and Loomis both got texts from Mack O’Brien.” He looked up. “Luring them here.”

“The only call that stood out was from Granville to a number that doesn’t match any of the others. He made it about a half hour after Mansfield ’s text from Mack O’Brien.”

Luke’s eyes narrowed. “He called his partner.”

Ed nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

“This is more than I thought we’d have. I’ll call Chase with the update. After that, I’m going to Granville’s. Pete Haywood’s doing the search of his house as soon as Chloe gets us a signed warrant. Let’s meet in Chase’s conference room at ten tonight.”

“Agent Papadopoulos!” The urgent shout came from the door, echoing in the hall.

Both Luke and Ed ran to the entrance where the state trooper beckoned. “Urgent call from an Agent Haywood. Toby Granville’s house is on fire.”

Atlanta , Friday, February 2, 8:00 p.m.

Sitting alone in the quiet of the chapel, Susannah had finally sorted through her thoughts and knew what she had to do. She’d known since that morning when she’d boarded the flight in New York. She was going to testify, lend her voice to the outcry of the others. She was going to see justice done, no matter how high the cost.

The cost would be very high indeed, but the return had dropped substantially. This morning she’d been prepared to see several men sitting at the defendant’s table. Now, after the dust had settled, there would be only one. Mayor Garth Davis was the sole survivor of Simon’s club. Only one man would face those whose lives he’d ruined.

Only one. But the cost had not dwindled an iota. Her life, her job… all would be forever changed. Still, she would testify, for the fifteen other rape victims whose lives might have been spared such pain had she spoken sooner. For the five girls Luke had found dead in that bunker, and for the ones who were still missing. For the Jane Doe who’d looked up at her like she was God. And for you, too, Susannah?

“Yes,” she murmured. “For me, too.” For my self-respect. I want my self-respect.

“Excuse me. May I sit here?”

Susannah looked up at a tall woman with dark hair and intense eyes, carrying a purse the size of Susannah’s briefcase. The chapel was empty except for the two of them. There were many other seats. Susannah opened her mouth to say no, but something about the woman’s eyes stopped her. Perhaps she needs company, Susannah thought, and silently nodded her assent.

The scent of peaches tickled Susannah’s nose as the woman sat and settled her purse on her lap. She was familiar, somehow. I’ve met her before.

“You are a Catholic?” the woman asked, surprise in her thickly accented voice.

Susannah followed the woman’s gaze to the rosary she clutched in her own hands. “Yes.” Much to her parents’ chagrin, which had been the original point years ago. “I found the rosary up by the podium. I didn’t think anyone would mind if I used it.”

“You’ll take one of mine,” the woman pronounced, digging in her enormous purse. “I have extra.” She was Eastern European. Or… Greek. Okay. Now it made sense.

“You’re Mrs. Papadopoulos,” Susannah murmured. Luke’s mother. “You came to my parents’ funeral.”

“I did.” She took the borrowed rosary from Susannah’s hand and replaced it with her own. “You’ll call me Mama Papa. Everyone does.”

One side of Susannah’s mouth lifted. Somehow she couldn’t see Luke’s mother taking no for an answer on anything. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome.” Mrs. Papadopoulos drew a second rosary from her purse and began to pray. “Do you not pray for your brother?” she asked abruptly.

Susannah dropped her gaze. “Of course.” But she hadn’t been, not really. She’d been praying for the strength to do what needed to be done. No matter what the cost.

“Daniel is out of danger,” Mrs. Papadopoulos told her. “He will be all right.”

Thank you. Her heart whispered the prayer her mind would not allow. “Thank you,” she murmured to Luke’s mother, still feeling the woman’s probing stare.

“Complicated,” the woman finally muttered. “So why are you really here, Susannah?”

Susannah frowned. Nosy woman. “Because it was quiet. I needed to think.”

“About?”

She looked up, her eyes cool. “It’s not really your business, Mrs. Papadopoulos.”

She expected the woman to flounce away. Instead she smiled, gently. “I know. I ask anyway. Daniel is my family. You are Daniel’s family.” She shrugged. “So I ask.”

Sudden tears burned at Susannah’s eyes and again she dropped her gaze. Her throat grew thick, but the words seemed to bubble up. “I’m at a crossroads.”

“Life is full of crossroads.”

“I know. But this one is a big one.” It’s my life, my career. My dreams.

Mrs. Papadopoulos seemed to consider this. “So you came to church.”

“No, I actually came here because it was quiet.” She’d escaped here. She’d done so once before, escaping to a church after she’d committed a deed so contemptible…

She’d hated herself then, had been too ashamed even to confess to a priest. But still she’d escaped to a church and had somehow found the strength to go on. To do something that approximated the right thing. Today she would do the one right thing. This time there would be no turning back. This time she’d have her self-respect.

Luke’s mother looked at the rosary in Susannah’s hands. “And you found peace.”

“As much as I…” Deserve. “As much as I can expect.” More than peace, she’d found strength, and of the two, strength was what she needed most today.

“When first I come in, I thought you were a doctor.” Luke’s mother tugged at the scrubs Susannah wore. “What happened to your clothes?”

“My clothes were messed up. One of the nurses loaned me these until I can get some more clothes.”

Mrs. Papadopoulos grasped her enormous purse in both hands. “Where is your suitcase? I will get your clothes and bring them here. You stay here with Daniel.”

“I don’t have any more clothes. I, um, didn’t bring any with me.”

“You came all the way from New York City and brought not one stitch of clothing?” The woman lifted her brows and Susannah felt compelled to explain.

“I came today on an impulse.”

“An impulse.” She shook her head. “Complicated. So you did not plan to stay?”

“No. I’ll go home…” Susannah frowned, suddenly unsure and uncomfortable to be so. “I’m waiting for another patient to wake up. When she’s all right, I’ll go home.”

Mrs. Papadopoulos stood up. “Well, you cannot go anywhere dressed like that. You have not even any shoes.” It was true. Susannah wore hospital slippers. “Give me your sizes. My granddaughter works in a clothing store at the mall. She is a fashionable girl. She will get pretty things.” She stood up and Susannah followed suit.

“Mrs. Papadopoulos, you don’t have to-” A fierce look had Susannah backpedaling. “Mama Papa, you don’t have to do that.”

“I know.” Mrs. Papadopoulos stared down at her and Susannah could see where her son got his probing black eyes that seemed to see too much. “Daniel’s Alex told me what you did for that girl, the one you saved.”

Susannah frowned. “I don’t think anybody is supposed to know about her.”

Mrs. Papadopoulos shrugged. “Already I have forgotten her.” Then she smiled kindly. “You didn’t have to save her.”

Susannah swallowed hard. She’d had blood drawn and cultures taken, knowing every possible test would be run to ensure her health. Still it was possible she could pay dearly for what she had done today.

But Jane Doe had paid dearly for what she had not done all those years ago. “Yes, I did. I really did.”

“Then yes, I do,” Mrs. Papadopoulos said, so gently that new tears sprang to Susannah’s eyes. “I really do. So say thank you and allow me this good deed today.”

The need to do a good deed Susannah could understand. “I’m a seven petite,” she said. “Thank you.” Luke’s mother gave her a giant hug and left her alone in the chapel.

Susannah squared her shoulders. She’d done what she needed to do this morning when she’d found the box. She’d done what she needed to do that afternoon, when she’d saved Jane Doe from bleeding to death. Now she’d do what she needed to do tonight. Daniel’s boss had given her the phone number for Chloe Hathaway, the state’s attorney who’d be prosecuting the sole remaining survivor of Simon’s club.

Susannah picked up her briefcase and left the haven of the chapel. She had things to do. Calls to make. Her self-respect to regain. But first she’d check on Jane Doe.

Ridgefield House, Friday, February 2, 8:00 p.m.

“They’re ready,” Rocky said.

Looking up from the personnel files on the computer screen, Bobby stowed the fury that bubbled up at the sight of Rocky, who’d put everything in jeopardy. I should have gone to the river place myself. Now Bobby had to find a new doctor to issue health certificates on each shipment and a new cop on the inside of Dutton’s sheriff’s office.

At least Chili had come through. Finally. The scanner was abuzz with calls for every available firehouse to converge on Granville’s house. Mansfield ’s should be next. Who knew what incriminating evidence those two had kept in their homes?

The business would be protected. And tonight there was money to be made.

Bobby looked over the five young women standing in a row. Two were brand new pretties from the river place and they were clean again, dressed and presentable. The other three were old hands. Every one had her eyes downcast. Every one trembled, two of them shaking so hard their dangling earrings swayed. Good. Fear was good.

The outcome of tonight’s business venture was a foregone conclusion in Bobby’s mind. Haynes liked blondes with that healthy, tanned, all-American look. That look was Bobby’s niche in an ever-expanding market of foreign imports. They offered their clients a chance to buy American. “Haynes will choose the blonde. Ashley, right?”

“No.” The blonde shrank away while the other four slumped in relief. “Please.”

Bobby smiled pleasantly. “Rocky, what is Ashley’s home address?”

“Her family lives at 721 Snowbird Drive, Panama City, Florida,” Rocky replied instantly. “Her mother died two years ago and her father works the night shift. Now that she’s ‘run away,’ her father’s hired a sitter to stay with her brother while he’s at work. Her brother sometimes sneaks out at night to hang at the-”

“That’s good enough,” Bobby said when the blonde began to cry. “I know everything about your family, Ashley. One misstep, one dissatisfied client, and someone in your house will die. Painfully. You’re the one who wanted adventure and now you have it. So stop crying. My clients want smiles. Rocky, get them out of here. I have work to do.”

Bobby reopened the personnel files and was deep into review of a very promising medical candidate when the throwaway cell phone trilled. This was the number given to contacts and informers, those who could be convinced to become Bobby’s personnel because they’d done some very naughty things they didn’t want made public.

Information was power. Bobby liked power. The incoming number had an Atlanta area code. “Yes?”

“You said to call if anything happened at the hospital. I have information.”

It took Bobby a few moments to place the voice. Oh, yes. Jennifer Ohman, the ICU nurse with the drug problem. Informants usually had a drug problem. Or a gambling problem. Or a sex problem. Whatever the secret addiction, the result was the same.

“Well, go ahead. I don’t have all day.”

“Two patients were airlifted from Dutton. Special Agent Daniel Vartanian was one.”

Bobby abruptly straightened. That Vartanian had been shot had been on the police scanner, along with the deaths of Loomis, Mansfield, Granville, and Mack O’Brien, plus the guard they hadn’t identified. Chatter regarding any other dead bodies the police might have found in the bunker was noticeably absent. “Who was the second?”

“She’s a Jane Doe, sixteen or seventeen. She was critical but survived surgery.”

Bobby slowly stood, the swirling, bubbling fury within becoming flat dread. “And?”

“She’s stable. They’re keeping her secret, with a guard posted at her door, 24/7.”

Bobby drew a very deep breath. Rocky had been very clear that all the girls left behind were dead. So either this girl was a modern-day Lazarus, or Rocky had lied. Either way, Rocky had made a serious miscalculation. “I see.”

“There’s more. Two others came in by ambulance, a man and a woman. Bailey Crighton was one. She’s the woman who’s been missing for a week.”

“I know who she is.” Granville, you asshole. Rocky, you idiot. “And the man?”

“Some army chaplain. Beasley. No, Beardsley. That’s it. They’re both in stable condition. That’s all I know.” The nurse hesitated. “So now we’re even, right?”

Now there were three people to neutralize and one lone nurse would not be sufficient, but the nurse would still be a valuable asset. “No, I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. I want the girl dead. Poison her, smother her, I don’t care. I do not want her to wake up. Do you understand?”

“But… No. I won’t do that.”

That’s what they all said, initially. Some had to be pushed harder than others, but in the end the outcome was the same. Every one did as they were told. “Yes, you will.”

“But I can’t.” The nurse sounded horrified. They all said that, too.

“Let’s see…” The file on the nurse was thorough. Bobby’s cop on the inside of Atlanta PD had done well, as usual. “You live with your sister. Your son lives with his father, because you lost custody. You let your husband have your son if he wouldn’t expose your little problem. How considerate of him. You can’t watch them all the time, dear.”

“I’ll… I’ll go to the police,” the nurse said, desperation pushing the horror aside.

“And tell them what? That you were caught with drugs you stole from your hospital with intent to both use and sell, but my cop let you go and now some evil villain is blackmailing you? How long do you think you’ll keep your job when the truth comes out? The day my cop let you go with a warning, you belonged to me. You’ll kill the girl tonight or by this time tomorrow one person in your family will be dead. For every day you delay, another person in your family will die. Now go do what you’re told.”

Bobby hung up, then placed another call. “Paul, it’s me.”

There was a beat of silence, then a low whistle. “Hell of a mess you got there.”

“Really?” Bobby drawled, annoyed. “I had no idea. Look, I need you. Usual pay, usual way.” Paul was a useful man-a no-nonsense cop with a wide, reliable information network and absolutely no moral compass other than unwavering loyalty to the highest bidder. “I want to know who in GBI is working the Granville case by midnight, down to the lowest admin assistant.”

“Or the guy emptying the trash. Yeah, I got it.”

“Good. I want to know which local departments are supporting them and if any of the locals are deep enough to be an ear. I want to know their steps-”

“Before they take them,” Paul finished. “Got that, too. Is that all?”

Bobby studied the photo Charles had left that afternoon in an oh-so-clever parting jab. In it a stone-faced Susannah Vartanian stood next to her brother at their parents’ funeral. Dealing with Susannah would have to wait for now, thanks to Rocky’s blunder. But when all the threats to the business were neutralized, it would be Susannah’s turn.

“For now, but stay ready. I’ll be waiting for your call. Don’t be late.”

“Have I ever been?” And not waiting for an answer, Paul was gone.

“Rocky! Come here.”

Rocky’s footsteps thundered down the stairs. “What’s wrong?”

“Everything. I have some extra duty for you. It’s time to start fixing your mess.”