Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Beau’s lashes fluttered open.
“You broke the syringe before I could pump enough tranquilizer in you.”
Darkness. All around him.
“I was thinking you wouldn’t open those eyes again until the flames had started, but I guess, this way, you can take it all in and know why you have to die. I can also have the pleasure of carrying out a friend’s very special last request.”
His arms…were behind his back. Something cold and hard was around his wrists. He jerked. Handcuffs, again? It is so not my night.
“Yeah, those would be handcuffs. You can’t break them. Owen Bell couldn’t break out of his when you slapped them on him. Neither could Everett.”
A light flared in front of Beau. A match striking. And that match lit up the face of the man speaking. A smile curved his lips. “Surprised?” He blew out a hard breath.
The match died.
Darkness came back.
“Mostly…” Beau growled, “just pissed.”
Laughter chased him in the dark.
“The app to locate his phone still has Beau showing near the police station, but Douglas swears that the Jag is gone. That Beau is gone.” Fear was about to rip Avalon apart as she spoke on her phone to Ophelia.
“Lane and I are here now. We came back to the station as soon as Royal called us.” Worry filled Ophelia’s voice. “Beau’s not here. I don’t see—oh, no.”
“What?” She nearly broke the phone. “What is it?”
Royal crowded behind her.
“Beau’s phone. Or at least, I think it is. Smashed to hell near a curb.”
Royal swore. Avalon had the phone on speaker, and she held the device gripped in her right hand.
“Someone took him.”
Avalon heard that statement clearly. It had come from Lane.
“She can hear you.” A quick retort from Ophelia. “I am trying not to freak her out.”
“Too late,” Avalon shot back. “I’m freaked. Someone took him?” The arsonist. And if he had Beau…
What had Royal told me that he overheard? Something about Beau waking up…in hell.
Hell was fire. Flames that surrounded you. Trapped you. Killed you. “No.” Low. Hard. “No.” Louder. Harder. “No!”
Royal swore again.
“We’re going to find him,” Ophelia promised quickly. “You stay where you are, understand? We’re going in the station to get help. We will find him.” She hung up.
Avalon stared down at her phone. But she didn’t see the device. She saw flames. “He’s going to put Beau in the fire.”
“The fuck he is.”
Her head whipped up so that she could meet Royal’s glare. “We both know what hell is.” Hell was flames that consumed you.
Royal swallowed.
“We have to find Beau,” she said. “Now.”
“We don’t know where to look?—”
A ring broke through his words. Not her phone. His.
Hope rushed through her. The last time a call had come through on his line, it had been Beau.
No, not really Beau. Beau’s phone, but someone else speaking. Royal had said the voice was male. Hushed.
The phone rang again.
“Answer it!” Avalon practically yelled.
He shook his head as if waking from a stupor, and he answered the phone.
“Speaker, speaker!” Avalon had to hear everything.
His finger swiped on the screen to put the call on speaker.
“Royal? Hey, man, it’s Kai.”
Royal’s breath expelled in a disappointed rush. “Not the fuck now, Kai.”
“I know it’s late, but I can’t get Beau on the phone.”
A tear slid down her cheek. I need Beau. I need him.
“He wanted me to call him if an arson investigator showed up at the bar.”
“Not. Now,” Royal snarled.
“Jeez, what the hell is wrong with you? Look, I swear I saw someone go in the bar. The place has that yellow police tape up everywhere, but someone just went in. At this hour, I doubt if it’s the arson investigator. Probably just some punk-ass kids thinking they are gonna find liquor inside. But I wanted to report to Beau. I’m going around the back of the building now and—oh.”
That was it. Kai just stopped.
“What is it?” Royal demanded.
“Beau’s Jag. Guess it’s him inside. Sorry for the false alarm. Didn’t see him pull up. I was, uh, on a nature call. Forget I?—”
“No!” A sharp cry from Royal.
“No!” An equally wild cry from Avalon.
“Uh…there a problem?”
“Get eyes on Beau,” Royal ordered him. “But be careful. Very, very careful.”
Avalon was already running for the door. Beau was at LeBlanc’s, so that meant she was about to be at LeBlanc’s, too.
“What’s happening?” Kai’s worried voice.
Avalon heard the question from right behind her. She looked back.
Royal was on her heels.
“We think Beau’s in danger,” Royal said.
Think? Oh, there was no thinking about it. Beau was in danger.
And they were going to save him.
“Everett Thomas and I grew up together. Did you know that? No? You’ve certainly been a busy bastard. Digging up the past left and right. Figured you’d either hit on that point or were damn close to the discovery.” A flash of another match lit his face. He bent the match and lit a candle. The light sputtered around him. A thick, white candle that sat on the charred remains of a table inside of LeBlanc’s.
Not in the main part of the bar. No, the main part had been destroyed. The fancy counter. All of the rows of expensive whiskey that he’d stocked for customers. Gone in an inferno that left ash and destruction in its wake. But the building had once been a huge warehouse. Full of twists and turns. Back rooms. Patches on the first floor had been spared in the fire.
Even in the faint light of that flickering candle, he recognized his place. He’d sweat blood to reshape LeBlanc’s from what it had first been when he bought the building. How could he not know it?
Beau was in a chair. One of the few that had somehow survived the blaze. The chair wobbled beneath him. Not close to steady. When he inhaled, he smelled smoke and…whiskey? Yes, the scent of whiskey was everywhere. And his clothes…why where his clothes so wet?
But his clothes didn’t matter at the moment. What mattered was the killer who waited in front of him. Right near that white candle.
“If you had stopped poking at the past, you wouldn’t be here right now. But you were digging. Digging and digging. You’d left New Orleans. I’d left. Even Everett had left…but you would not stop, would you?”
Beau lifted his chin. “Fuck yourself.”
“You moved here because she did, didn’t you?”
Yes.
“Can you keep a secret? Oh, wait, you’ll be dead soon. Of course, you can keep it.” His hand waved over the flame of the candle. The light from the match had long since died. “We came here because of her, too.”
Avalon.
“Everett got off on killing women who looked like her. Did you notice that? All the same build, height, and hair close in shade to hers. Even the eyes were the same. It was because she got away. Made her special. I tried that bit a few times, too, but…hell, I knew they weren’t her. No substitute for the original, am I right?”
“You’re…dead.” His tongue felt thick in his mouth, and Beau swore he could taste ash.
“No, but you will be, soon enough. I’m going to carry out Everett’s last wish. It’s kind of the least I can do, considering I’m the one who ordered the hit on him.”
“Bastard!”
He picked up something that had been on the table near the flickering candle. Sauntered forward. “Do you recognize this?”
Beau squinted.
“You should because it’s your knife. It was in evidence at the station. I took the liberty of slipping it out of evidence. I waited for you to come out. I knew you’d go for your Jag.” More laughter. “After all these years, you had to go for the Jag again, didn’t you?”
“How…” His heart thudded. Almost painful. Heavy in his chest.
“That tranquilizer hits hard, doesn’t it? I’m really not good with doses. And I have no idea how much actually got into your system before your burly ass broke the syringe. Drugs aren’t my thing. And, honestly, knives aren’t, either.” He peered down at the knife in his hand. “Too much blood. I don’t like blood. Everett, though? He did. When we were teens, we experimented.”
The cuffs bit into Beau’s wrists. The chair rocked as he strained. Rocked.
“I liked the fire. Started small. You know, burning the foster houses I was in. Burning clothes. Toys. Took a while to work up to people.”
“Because you’re…not supposed to burn people!”
“Royal is like your brother, isn’t he? But not really? That’s how Everett and I were, too.” He still held the knife. “He came into the group home where I was one day. Sometimes, you just connect with someone, you know? Everett liked to use his knife. I tried to tell him it was too messy. Since I was fire, I thought it would be cool if he was my opposite. I burned. Why not let him drown? Fire and water. Kinda cool, huh?”
No, it wasn’t.
“We tried water for him. Didn’t work so well. Everett said you couldn’t hear the screams under the water. He liked to hear the screams. For him, I think that was the best part.”
“Because he was…a sick…fuck…” Beau could feel blood dripping from his wrists. He’d strained so hard against the cuffs that he was bleeding.
“He was. Agreed. Damn but I loved that about him.” A sigh. “He got me to kill my mom. Like yours, my mom dumped me. I was seven. She just walked away. Told people I scared her. Me. A freaking kid. But I found her. Everett and I did. She had a whole other life. Another kid. I watched her and I waited and when she was alone, I trapped her in my fire.”
The first victim. The forty-year-old wife and mother. “You killed your…own mother?”
“It was what she deserved. Mr. Carter was next. My old shop teacher. He was going to turn me in because he caught me messing around with some flames in his class. So I messed around with flames at his house.” He took another step toward Beau. “You’re so much like me, do you see it?”
“I see…a sick freak.” And I will be killing you.
“Your mom abandoned you. You made your own family—a brother—with Royal. I’ve been watching you. I know. My mom abandoned me. I found my own brother, Everett.”
“You just told me.” His breath heaved out. The bastard was so close with that damn knife. “You just told me you…killed Everett.”
“He was going to tell you about me. He didn’t like being locked up. He couldn’t handle it. I knew he’d break when Avalon went to see him. I told you already, his victims? They were her. It’s because of the day at the pool. It’s because?—”
A door slammed.
The killer’s head whipped around. His body went still.
Beau rocked forward in the chair. Kept straining against the cuffs. Rocked back. The unsteady chair swayed.
No other sounds followed the slamming of the door. The killer’s shoulders relaxed. “This building is gonna come down. Well, it’s going to burn again, then come down. Everyone will say it’s a reflash. That happens. Fires can reignite in places like this.” He looked back at Beau. “I first saw Avalon at her birthday party. A fancy country club gig. Everett had gotten a job as a lifeguard. That was why the drowning death would have been so brilliant! He had a girl, and he was holding her under the water while I watched. Avalon came rushing up, so we had to let the girl surface. We thought for sure Avalon saw us. We tried to act like we were helping the girl. But what if Avalon knew the truth? That was why I had to go to Avalon’s house. Avalon couldn’t talk to any cops. What if she remembered us? I set the fire to stop her.” Fast, rushed words. Almost as if he talked more to himself than to Beau. “She should have died. But you—you came to save her.”
“Will…always save her.”
“No, you won’t. You’ll be dead. The dead can’t save anyone.” He glanced at his knife. “Everett told Avalon that he wanted you found, and he wanted your intestines cut out and tied in a bow. Don’t you think that’s the least I can do for him? Fulfill his dying wish? He was just like a brother to me. This part will be for my brother.” He raised the knife and?—
“Get away from him!” A voice blasted from the shadows.
Kai’s voice.
Kai burst from the darkness. He ran forward.
The killer whirled toward him.
Even as Kai ran forward, Beau lifted his legs and slammed them into the killer. As hard as he could. He caught the killer in the back and upper thigh, and the man slammed into the ash-covered floor. The chair swayed beneath Beau and then it toppled straight back. It fell, and the wood broke apart. Beau twisted and heaved, and he managed to jerk free of the chair, but the cuffs were still behind his back. He jumped to his feet.
Just in time to see the knife plunge into Kai’s chest.
“Kai’s not answering his phone.” Royal’s voice was tight with fear and fury. “Dammit, I should be driving!”
“I’ve got this.” What she had was the gas pedal all the way down to the floorboard. They’d taken Beau’s backup ride, an SUV, and she was currently hurtling them toward LeBlanc’s. “You texted Ophelia and Lane?”
“Yes, they’re going to meet us at LeBlanc’s.” His hand slammed into the dashboard. “This can’t be happening!”
It was happening. Beau was in danger. Every moment counted. The road was dark and empty ahead, and the car couldn’t go any faster.
Why couldn’t the car go faster?
Hold on, Beau. Hold on.
“Stay where you are, or I will slice his throat.” The knife was at Kai’s throat. “He’s currently still breathing, but you take one more step toward me, and he’ll be choking on his own blood.”
Was Kai still breathing? Beau couldn’t tell for sure. But he stopped advancing because this was Kai’s life.
“Another hero.” Disgust. “What are you doing now, recruiting them?”
“You don’t want to kill him.”
“Well, I didn’t want to kill you, either, but you wouldn’t stay away from Avalon. I wanted to kill her years ago. I tried. Everett tried. But she always had guards. Because of you. It was fucking unfinished business, don’t you get that? She saw us at the country club.”
“What happened to the girl at the country club?” Beau knew he had to keep the prick talking. Talking and not slicing Kai’s throat. Beau also knew exactly what had happened to the girl. She’s dead.
“Avalon came close to the pool we were using. It was supposed to be a private area. Avalon’s stupid party was on the damn other side of the country club! She shouldn’t have been there. Damn Avalon.”
Beau inched forward.
“We had to let the girl go. But only then. Only for a moment. Everett took care of her when everyone was gone. She was so drunk that she didn’t even realize what we’d been doing to her. That was the trick for Everett back then. Get them drunk. Then they don’t care, not until the pain starts.” He lifted the knife away from Kai’s throat. “He liked these so much. Loved them. Said there was nothing on earth like the slice into flesh. Don’t worry, I made sure that he got to feel lots of cuts before he died. A tribute, wasn’t it?”
Not exactly. Beau took a lunging step?—
“Stop!” The knife was back at Kai’s throat.
Beau stopped. Keep him talking. “How’d you get the inmates to attack Everett?”
“Like you are the only one with gang ties? How do you think I survived in New Orleans? The circles you and I ran in were so close back in those days. So very, very close. We could have been best friends in another life. A life without Avalon.”
Beau weaved. No, his damn knees buckled. A sudden wave of dizziness had him crashing back to the floor.
“That would be the tranquilizer. Okay, I’m starting to see why Owen Bell enjoyed it so much. Note to self, it can be useful.”
Beau blinked blearily. His eyes locked on the candle flame. It flickered over and over.
And then a booted foot kicked him in the face. Beau stopped tasting ash and instead tasted blood as he flew back. His head slammed into the floor, and the cuffs drove into his back as he fell on top of his bound hands.
Then the knife was at his throat. “I sent them after you in the hospital.”
The gang members that had come to kill him when he’d been sixteen.
“You were supposed to steal a car that night. Not steal my prey. I told them you couldn’t be trusted. That you were going to talk to the cops. Tell them everything about the car theft ring. You should have left my Avalon alone. Let her burn.”
“Not…” He spat out blood. “Yours.”
“She will be. You and that bastard over there? You’re both about to burn. You’ll be alive when it happens. That’s the best part. I’ll trap you in here, and you won’t get out. But first…about that bow that Everett wanted…” And the knife dropped down Beau’s body. It sliced open his shirt. And the bastard stabbed him in the gut.
Beau roared in pain. The knife stabbed him again.
And again.
His arms were behind him. He couldn’t fight back with his fists. His body was too damn weak.
“I didn’t want to kill Everett, but I had no choice. Then I had to take out the guard who’d helped us communicate because I can’t leave witnesses behind. That’s why I have to finish with Avalon. No witnesses.” He pulled the knife back. “I hate the blood. It gets everywhere. It’s slimy and messy, and I don’t know why Everett enjoyed it so?—”
Beau headbutted him. As hard as he could, he just rammed his head right into the prick’s. The knife flew from the guy’s hand. Beau saw it hurl across the room. But in the next instant, the man’s fist was swinging toward Beau’s face. One punch. Another. Another.
Beau’s head banged into the floor once more. Hard. He turned and he saw the flicker of that candle.
The fist hit him again.
He’d been stabbed over and over. He felt damn numb. From the tranquilizer? From the blood loss? Beau didn’t know. Part of him just wanted to close his eyes. To rest for a moment.
But another part of him…wanted Avalon. And he wouldn’t see Avalon again if he closed his damn eyes.
He rolled his body. A hard, awkward twist that got him away from that swinging fist. Then Beau heaved up on his knees. Freaking cuffs! His attacker came at him again, and Beau launched his shoulder into the man’s chest. They both crashed onto the floor once more. The candle wobbled. The flame flickered and flickered and…
“Beau?”
Someone was calling him.
“Beau!”
Someone important. The call pierced through the numbness. Avalon!
And the bastard with him was laughing.
“Do you think…” A whisper in Beau’s ear. “That she’ll fight the fire for you? My money says she won’t. I think she’ll run as soon as she sees the flames.” Then he shoved Beau. Leapt to his feet.
Beau tried to rise. His legs…dammit, he hated being so weak!
His gaze darted around the darkened room. He’d heard Avalon’s voice. Where was she?
His eyes drifted past the candle. The candle that flickered and danced. Flickered and?—
“Did you wonder why your clothes were so wet? I used all the good whiskey the last time I was here, but don’t worry, I brought my own this time. A much cheaper version, but it will still get the job done.” And he yanked up the candle. Put it…put it next to some kind of puddle in the middle of that darkness and?—
Fire.
It leapt to life. It raced out, flashing as if following a perfect trail that had been created just for it.
Beau realized why he’d smelled so much whiskey when he first opened his eyes. Why his clothes were wet. He doused me with whiskey. He doused the whole room.
And the fire was coming for Beau.
The bastard lit more matches. Spread his fire. And it blazed toward Beau.
“Beau!” Avalon’s scream.
“Get away!” Beau tried to yell back. “Stay away!”
The fire closed in.