Chapter 29
Savvy
The first thing that strikes me is the silence inside.
A dead silence.
An involuntary shiver runs down my spine, and I shoot off a silent prayer I won’t find death inside.
It’s also dark down here. I don’t bother looking for a light switch, and I don’t want to use my flashlight, because that would only make me an easy target.
Instead, I blink a few times to help my eyes adjust to the limited light from the parking lot coming in through the small, open window.
Did someone come in or go out through that window?
A little spark of hope ignites in my chest. Maybe the kids were here but got out?
I motion for Auden to follow me as I start moving into the basement, keeping my back to the wall. I make out a few random pieces of furniture, clearly the space is used for storage, but right now those are places for someone to hide.
While keeping an eye on the rest of the room, my attention is focused on the large bookcase to my left.
One of the sides is maybe a foot and a half or so from the wall, almost creating a room divider.
But a foot and a half is enough for me to get through, and if anyone is hiding behind there, they’d have their eyes on the other side, which is wide open to the room.
That might give me an element of surprise, because I’m sure whoever is down here is well aware of our presence by now.
I turn and signal Auden with a finger to my lips. Then I point a finger at myself and the route I plan to take, before indicating for him to go toward the other end of the bookcase. That way, if the perp is back there, we’ll have him covered from both sides.
God, I really hope there is another explanation for KC’s disappearance, because the thought of him having any part in the abduction of the kids makes my stomach turn.
Slowly, I start easing myself through the narrow space, trying not to brush up against anything.
Taking in a deep breath, I brace myself for what or who I might be about to face and poke my head around the corner.
What I wasn’t expecting was the still body of a man, lying on his side facing away from me, but I have no trouble recognizing my own deputy.
I take two cautious steps toward him, making sure this isn’t some trap to draw me closer, but when I notice no movement at all, I rush to his side and immediately feel for a pulse.
“Don’t worry, he’s alive. For now.”
My hand immediately reaches for the gun I set down so I could press my fingers to KC’s carotid. Stupid.
“If you touch that gun, I’ll shoot you, him, and then those brats on the other side of that armoire.”
My hand is frozen in midair as I stare in disbelief at the man I thought was my friend. The man I trusted to have my back when facing off with a dangerous criminal. Except, he’s the dangerous criminal.
Those poor kids. I hope to hell they managed to get out.
I shake my head, trying to make sense of what is going on.
“Auden, what is happening? What the hell are you doing?”
He smiles, and I’m almost surprise to see that familiar boyish smile instead of the evil sneer more suited to this moment.
“Not what I planned, I can tell you that,” he responds easily. “But I’m nothing if not adaptable, and I think this way is going to work out even better. The other way was messy, but I might actually walk out of here the hero today.”
He laughs, full of himself and, I hope, distracted.
“I know you’re smarter than that, Savvy,” he suddenly snaps when I inch my hand closer to my gun. “Back away.”
When I don’t immediately move, he aims his gun at KC’s head instead of me. Message received; I crawl backward. That seems to amuse him.
“Imagine that, the great Savannah Colter on her knees for me.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, genuinely confused as he approaches. “What have I ever done to you?”
He’s still smiling as he crouches down and picks up my gun with his free hand. When he straightens up, he backs up only a few steps to the bookcase and slides my sidearm on a shelf. Then he turns his own weapon back on me.
“You’re funny. You think this is all about you? It isn’t,” he spits out. “This time it’s about me. I’m going to have the upper hand. I’m going to win this one. You want to know how?”
I don’t think he’s really expecting an answer so I keep quiet, hoping he’ll keep talking, so I can figure out my next move.
“See this?” He holds up his gun without ever shifting the barrel away from me.
“This belongs to your wonder boy here. He will become the permanent stain on the reputation of this town and your sheriff’s department.
Sweet justice, if you ask me. One of Silence’s favorite sons will go down as the serial killer who terrorized the sweet, innocent town.
After all, he’s wearing the boots.” He chuckles, kicking KC’s foot before he continues, “Slaughtering a total of four and setting the church on fire—maybe getting himself killed in the process or on purpose—was the original plan. But this is much better, five victims, and one of them will be Edwards County’s beloved sheriff.
They’ll hear the gunshots, but your father will take charge, and he does everything by the book.
They’ll come in cautiously, giving me time to take care of the kids. ”
The pieces of the puzzle start coming together.
Auden? He hadn’t even pinged on my radar as a potential suspect. But the boots, the uniform, even the scrap of blue fabric pulled from a bramble bush near where Ben’s body was found now makes sense. The state trooper uniform is blue.
He’s planning for KC to take the fall for all of it. I can see the scenario playing out now. He’ll shoot me with KC’s gun, and then he’ll kill KC with his own. Justified shooting, and no one would ever doubt him. He’ll come out a hero.
But maybe if I can keep him talking. He seems high on his own perceived genius, so perhaps if I keep asking questions, he’ll feel compelled to show his superiority, giving others outside a chance to start wondering what the hell is taking so long and come looking.
“But why?” I can’t help ask. “Why any of it? What have Franklin Wyatt, or Ben…my God, Auden, and those two kids, KC…what have any of us ever done to you?”
“They threatened me, and I don’t like being threatened.
Franklin was nobody. A hookup I met online.
A quick fuck I could keep out of my daily life, but he wanted more.
Said he’d leave his husband for me, and I told him not to bother.
He threatened to expose me, called me gutless, so I showed him gutless. ”
I remember the state of Franklin Wyatt’s body and shiver at the callous reference.
Who is this man? Never, in a million years, would I have seen that coming. God, he was almost legendary in town with his endless string of flavors of the day, always women, and never lasting. I’ve known him for years and would never have suspected he swung both ways.
How the hell did I miss that?
“Ben saw me come up the embankment after I dumped Franklin,” he continues, obviously caught up in his own story. “When he heard about the body, he cornered me at The Kerrigan one night, drunk out of his brain, and tried to blackmail me.”
He smiles again, but this time I don’t see the boyish charm I always thought he was conveying, but a more sinister, dark individual.
“KC is an easy target,” he continues his self-aggrandizing confession.
“Golden boy wonder of the Evans County Sheriff’s department.
He can be made to fit any of the evidence collected, which is why he’s wearing my boots.
And the kids? Well, they will be part of the grand finale.
The small details that make this plot entirely plausible.
A little divine justice the girl happens to be Nate’s spawn.
I’m going to enjoy watching him suffer when he loses you both. ”
The man is insane. Evil personified.
I’m now convinced he wouldn’t flinch putting a bullet in me.
Truth be told, at this point, I wouldn’t flinch putting one in him either.
I cock my head slightly, positive I just heard movement behind the bookcase, but I quickly cover it by asking, “And killing me? What sins have I committed?”
“You have to ask? Everybody loves Savvy,” he says in an exaggerated singsong voice, before he leans forward and stabs a finger at his own chest. “But I loved them first…Nathan.”
He almost spits out the name, and I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face. Nate? He loved Nate? I wasn’t even aware at the time they knew each other.
“But of course the princess of Silence, the heir apparent of Edwards County, caught his eye instead,” he mocks.
“And why wouldn’t he? I was just the awkward, bastard son of the world’s worst mother and one of the sheriff’s underlings whose name she refused to share.
But I loved watching you suffer those years after he disappeared. ”
My God, how could I not have seen how much he hates me? It’s clear as day now.
Morbid curiosity has me ask the next question.
“You said you loved them first…who else?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know you stole Matt from me too.”
This is like a one-two punch, and leaves me reeling.
“Matt? But you introduced me to him,” I remind him, completely thrown off guard.
“Only because you showed up to my place just as he was leaving after fucking me only minutes before.”
I put my hands over my ears and shake my head, unwilling to hear more, but Auden is relentless.
“I had to stand by and watch as you two became the most enviable couple in town. I thought you were the diversion, but it turns out I was. And when I showed up at the quarry to confront Matt—to tell him he belonged with me—he laughed in my face. No one laughs in my face.”
He takes three big steps toward me and presses the barrel between my eyes.
“I have lived to see you suffer…you don’t deserve another single moment of happiness.”
I’m suddenly knocked to the ground, the sound of a gunshot ringing in my ears.