Chapter 34
CILLA
“You came.” The singsong voice sounded so wrong with the distorter.
I jerked my head up as I stumbled to my feet only to fall back on my butt in fear. I started crab walking to get away from him.
He just kept advancing.
Angry that I was at the disadvantage—again. I kicked out, nailing him in the knee.
He swore, the voice making my flight response kick in.
Must get away.
But I rolled onto my elbow right onto the slip.
He stepped on my hip then down on the thigh he’d cut. “Right where I wanted you. This is much more fun than killing your protector.”
“No. I don’t believe you.” I winced at the pressure, then curled around myself at the kick to my side.
“You’re all alone.” The black eyes dragged me back to that night when he loomed over me.
I shook and put my arms up over my head.
“I don’t have time to tie you properly.” He pushed the hair out of my eyes, then thumbed away one of my tears and tasted it.
“Your tears were the only ones I wanted to live on forever. It’s almost enough for me to hold onto you.
” He leaned in and smelled my hair, then flinched. “You smell like him.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Where are you, Bastian? Dom?
“No matter. I can wash you. I wouldn’t mind watching you wither under my ropes.” His voice got closer to my ear as he tasted the skin there.
I saw the shadow. It dented the fear clawing at my throat and making me shrink.
Bastian?
It took everything in me to smile up at him before I ripped off his mask.
He recoiled and tried to hide the majority of his face, but I clawed at his face. Everyone should know who and what he was.
I felt skin under my fingernails and the tearing as I dug deeper.
He howled and stumbled back.
The voice distorter made the shriek metallic and spine chilling.
But seeing Bastian over him, a crowbar in his hand. The metallic thwack against bone had me hiding my eyes.
Too late, the blood splatter striped my face.
I tried to swipe it away.
The man rolled onto his side, blood trickling down his head. His patrician face, all angles with slight jowls. His eyes wheeled, no room for the whites with the thick contacts he wore.
I scrambled away, trying to get onto my feet, but my thigh burned from his thick booted feet on my skin.
“Cilla. Roll this way.”
I followed direction, finding Dom on the other side of me.
He gathered me into his chest. “I got you.”
“Safety Locke?” The adrenaline was leeching out of me.
“We got him.”
“Cilla?”
I fumbled out of Dominic’s arms at his voice. “Locke?”
The sobs came at the sight of his ashen face. The rope burns. I touched them gently, then wrapped my arms around his shoulders. I could hear him hissing in pain, but he held me just as tightly.
“I thought I lost you,” he said against my hair. “Don’t you ever fucking do that to me again.”
I put my face into his neck. “Never.”
“Where is he?” Locke staggered to his feet, holding me against him.
“Bastian hit him with a freaking crowbar.”
“He’s getting a case of that stupid overpriced tequila he likes.” He pressed a kiss to my temple, then to my mouth. “After I break one over his head for bringing you here.” He framed my face with his big hands. “I told you to stay put.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” I wrapped my arms around his middle and he hissed again. “Sorry. Sorry.”
He held on tighter. “Nope. That’s a good pain. Keep hanging on.”
We huddled together as the wharf exploded with Kendrick agents as well as the Salem PD and feds.
I turned into Locke, holding on tighter as the click and whir of cameras dented the voices around us.
“It’s over,” he said against my skin. “Just hang on and I’ll get you out of here.”
“Hold up, Jordan.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the familiar voice. This time he was out of uniform. “Detective Stone?”
Locke held me tighter, his eyes scanning the scene.
“Priscilla—are you okay?”
I nodded. “This time it’s this guy who got hurt.”
Stone gave Locke a once over. “This was reckless.”
“It was.” He coughed a little.
“You should have pulled me in.”
Locke nodded. “But I didn’t. I respect you, but your department is shit.”
Stone huffed out a harsh laugh. “I wish I couldn’t agree with you. The feds are going to take all the credit for this one.”
“Even though it was your hard work that helped find him.” I shook my head. “That’s not fair.”
“All I care is that he’s caught.” Stone sighed. “It’s going to be a shit show. The killer is Judge Hathorne.”
Locke straightened. “Holy shit. Are you kidding me?”
We both turned and saw the man on his knees with his hands cuffed behind him. With the hood pushed back, he just looked like a pathetic old man.
Stone shook his head. “That’s why the press is losing their damn shit.”
I looked up at Locke. “Do you know him?”
“Just by reputation. He was running to be a district court justice.” Locke ran his hand down my back. “The Salem PD thought they were in hot water for ignoring a serial killer before.” He shook his head.
Stone sighed. “My captain is losing his goddamn mind. I’m glad you two are all right.” He held his hand out and Locke grasped it. “Please stay out of my district from now on.”
I laughed. “Deal.”
Stone melted into the sea of agents.
“He just looks like an old man, now,” I said quietly. “He killed so many people. Picking people who would go unnoticed.”
“Until you, Cilla. He chose wrong and I’ve never been more grateful. You’re the strongest woman I know.”
I wrapped my arm around his back. “Can we please never come back to this wharf?”
“So, the boat is off limits?”
I pressed my face into his chest. “Hell no, I expect to honeymoon on that sucker.” I linked my arm through his.
“Honeymoon?”
I grinned up at him. “I mean there’s no way you’re not marrying me at this point, right?”
He frowned. “I would like to have done the asking.”
“Oh, you will.” I pulled him away from the chaos toward the stairs to the parking lot. Every damn muscle in my body hurt, but I couldn’t stop the smile. “I love you, Locke.”
Shouts had both of us turning around.
The judge broke away from the federal officer. He pitched himself toward me, and Locke hauled me out of reach. The judge stumbled off the edge of the dock into the dark waters, his hands cuffed behind his back.
He sunk like a stone.
I gasped and sagged against Locke.
He looked over the edge for a moment before he led me away.
I wasn’t sure which was better. Him dying in the space where he caused so much pain, or being tried for his offenses.
Two officers dove in after him, hauling him out of the water.
The judge’s face was slack when they dumped him on the slip. Medics, who had been part of the emergency call, rushed forward and brought him back.
Locke turned me away from the scene. “He’s going to fucking pay for what he did.”
“I’m glad you didn’t kill him.” I pressed my forehead to his bearded chin. “I don’t want another death weighing you down.”
“All I care about is that you’re ok.”
“I am now. Can we go home now?”
“We can definitely go back to the tower. And maybe you could help me with something in a few days?”
“Anything.”
He lowered his mouth to mine. “I love you, Cilla.”
I wrapped my arm around his neck, and held on to his strong back with the other.
I was never letting him go again.