24. Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
Byron
W hen I finally see Lily's name pop up on my phone the most intense relief courses through me.
"Byron, I..." Her voice breaks, and it sounds like she's trying to hold in a sob, and I'm instantly alert. "Byron... She, she had me tied to a bed."
What the actual fuck? She?
"Lily, baby? Where are you? Are you safe?" I try to keep my voice even, knowing she needs me to be her steady foundation.
"I'm at Jayne's building. I'm making my way down the stairs now." She takes a deep breath before continuing; this time, she sounds much steadier. My strong girl. "There's a coffee shop across the street. I'm going to wait there. Byron, I need you to come. She's insane! "
I'm struggling to make sense of the mess of information she's giving me. On my way out the door, I grab the keys to my rental and my jacket. I remember she told me Jayne's building looked out over some fancy park in the middle of the city.
"You're so brave, Lily. I'm on my way. Can you keep me on the phone with you and send me your location at the same time?"
I hear the sound of a door opening and the blessed sound of traffic and people in the background. Lily has made it out onto the street. Strangers aren't likely to help her, but she's also less likely to be attacked in broad daylight.
"Yes. I'm sending it now. Byron." She clears her throat, but a hiccuping sob escapes anyway. "Jayne was my stalker. She's crazy."
"It's okay, baby." I soothe. "I'm on my way now. Where is she? Does she know you got away?"
A hysterical giggle bubbles up before Lily replies. "If she doesn't yet, she will soon. I tackled her like a linebacker."
"Good girl," I praise her. I send a quick nine-one-one text to Jones, telling him where to meet me as I pull into traffic, connecting the phone to the Bluetooth system. "I'm on my way, Lily. Get into that coffee shop, head to the back, and wait for me. I'll be there before you know it, okay?"
"You won't put the phone down, right?" She still sounds like she's crying, and I take a quick look at my phone screen.
"GPS says I'm ten minutes away. Maybe fifteen if I hit traffic. And I'll be here the whole time, baby. Tell me, are you in the coffee shop?" I ask, even though I know she is, by the sounds around her changing. I need to keep her talking and focused on me because I don't want her to break down when I'm not there to catch all the pieces and hold her up.
"Yeah."
"Is it busy?" I ask to keep the conversation going. Her adrenaline is going to crash soon.
"Yeah. The morning crowd. There's a line almost to the door."
"Perfect. Now find a seat and tell me about the people you see," I urge her. Did you know that people-watching is one of my favorite things to do? It's how I got into profiling."
Lily doesn't respond, and my pulse spikes. "Baby, you there?"
"You mean, it's not your... parent?"
Damn. Knowing I need to open up to her anyway, but wishing it wasn't under these circumstances, I take a deep breath and turn left to get to Lily.
"My mom, actually," I say. "It's super rare for serial killers to be female, but my mom was definitely one of a kind." It's never easy to talk about this, but I knew I would have to open up after Lily shared her past with me. We shared too many similarities; if anyone understood what I'd gone through, it would be her.
Her dad might not have killed seventeen men before he was caught, but she had to live with the stigma as the offspring of a killer.
"She's what we now refer to as a black widow. By the time they'd caught her, she'd killed more men than I like to admit. But to answer your question, no. My... uh... history with my mom isn't why I got into profiling."
She makes a noise to tell me she's still listening, and I clear my throat before continuing.
"Just a few more minutes, then I'll be there, okay? Anyway, after she was locked up, I lived with my uncle, my mother's younger brother. He's amazing. Everything anyone could ever want in a father figure. He would take me to the beach on weekends, and we'd people-watch. Together, we'd make up stories for everyone. After a time, it morphed into a game where we tried to guess the real story instead of making up a fake one."
"That... sounds nice," Lily says, and I smile, remembering those long afternoons with Uncle Jack. "He's still around, your uncle?"
"Yeah. Uncle Jack is alive and well, driving his partner insane. He finally found a man willing to put up with his shit seven years ago, and they've been traveling the world together."
"You must miss him terribly," she muses.
"Both of them, actually. Vikesh is amazing. He keeps both of us on our toes and demands my attendance to what he likes to term 'family gatherings,' even though these gatherings are only the three of us."
It's impossible to keep the fond smile from my face as I think about them. But underneath the surface is the ever-present tension and stress of having Lily unprotected out there. All because I was a coward.
"Lily, baby. I'm sorry."
I hear the unmistakable sound of a sob this time and then the soft murmuring of someone else's voice in the background. Lily muffles the line, driving me insane not being able to hear what's happening.
"Lily?" I call out, panic raising my voice.
"Sorry, I have an older lady here with me. She was worried about my crying and insisted on keeping me company until you show up. Are you far?"
"Just around the corner. I can practically smell the overpriced coffee from here," I promise her as I try to locate an open parking spot.
I continue telling her about Uncle Jack and Vikesh's antics and travels as I circle the block and finally see a space.
"I'm pulling up outside now, beautiful. Just a few more seconds, okay?"
She doesn't respond. Instead, I see a flurry of activity as she comes rushing from the coffee shop towards me. I barely make it out of the car before I find myself with an arm full of crying, hysterical woman.
"Shhh, I've got you beautiful. There you go."
With her arms wrapped tight around me, I take a deep, steadying breath before running my hands down her body to assure myself that she's okay.
"What happened," I asked after she quieted down.
We both climb into the rental and she tells me what happened after she left me. Rage builds in me as she tells me what Jayne did and said to her.
"She hasn't come out?"
Lily shakes her head, no, and I know what I have to do next, but she won't like it.
"Okay, baby. I'm going to need you to go back to the shop. Get a coffee and ask that lady to keep you company. I need to go in and see if she's still there and arrest her if she is."
"No! It's not safe. And you can't go in alone."
"I'll be fine, and I've texted Jones to meet me here. He's only a few minutes behind me."
Biting down on her lip, she lets her gaze wander to Jayne's building.
"You'll come back to me?"
"Of course," I assured her before leaning over to give her a chaste kiss. "Now go inside there, so I know you're safe."
Lily rushes into the coffee shop as I approach the front door. A doorman appears from a room in the back and opens it up for me once I flash him my badge.
The ride in the elevator goes quickly, and when I look at my phone I'm relieved to find Jones is busy pulling up. Forwarding him the floor and apartment number I pull out my gun, and head for Jayne's door.
It's still open, so I carefully go inside, clearing the large main room before heading to the back, where the bedrooms would be. I spot Lily's shoes against the kitchen counter, but before I can think about how unwise it would be to grab them, something hits me from behind, and everything goes black.