Chapter 16
16
CHANDLER
E llie’s soft snores from the other side of the truck warmed me from the inside out. A semitruck’s headlights flashed from the other side of the interstate, and I narrowed my eyes to keep from being momentarily blinded. Fuck, I hated driving at night.
The sharp ring of an incoming call jolted me into action, swiping the screen to answer before the sound could wake my sleeping beauty.
My?
Hell, Alec was right about me falling and not tripping.
“Hey,” I said softly. “Hold on a second while I get my earbuds in.” One hand on the wheel, I blindly dug around the center console, retrieving the small plastic square case. I waited for the connection to click over once both were in place. “There. Sorry, driving back from Waco now.”
“It’s nearly ten,” Alec stated from the other end of the line. “You’ve been there all day?”
“Your observation skills are uncanny. No wonder you’re a Ranger.” A deep rumbled laugh seemed to vibrate the buds in my ear. “What did you find out?”
“You first.”
Sighing, I switched hands on the wheel and leaned against the door. “The surveillance footage showed nothing we could use. She was there alone, then left alone. Her car is still in the parking lot. We had it opened, but again, nothing. Her friends said she’d just broken up with a boyfriend and was at the bar that night to drink her anger away.”
“Why didn’t they go with her?”
“They have exams coming up, they said.” I rolled my eyes. Who let their upset friend go out to drink alone? “To their credit, it’s not like we’ve spread the news of a man abducting women and killing them since we had zero clue where he was hunting his victims. But I have a feeling the media will pick up on it now.”
“Yep. We just positively ID’d her. The parents are on the way to Dallas to collect the body, and I’m already fielding calls from multiple news outlets in Waco.”
Guilt gnawed, making the Whataburger cheeseburger I ate for dinner sit heavy in my stomach. “Ellie had a thought that this victim is an anomaly. We shouldn’t consider Waco his hunting ground now. Instead, still consider someone local or inside The Church.”
“Smart girl.”
“That she is.”
“Oh hell.” Alec cackled. “You’ve got it bad. I swear I heard a teen girl lovesick sigh at the end of that.”
“Did not,” I denied gruffly.
“Anyway, I agree with her. All of this is pointing toward that place or a local. That’s how he knows which victims to target, knows they won’t be missed.”
“Why this latest victim though?” I thumped my thumb on the steering wheel. “Why go from unidentifiable victims to snatching a woman at a bar, a college student no less? The age doesn’t even fit with the other victims.”
“Desperation?”
“Maybe. We should focus on why this one was special to make him bypass his normal target. So we’re back to thinking a local or someone inside The Church as our unsub.”
“The local part is hard for me to comprehend. We’ve gone over your profile and compared it to the local residents and came up empty, remember? But…,” he said, drawing out the word. “Okay, here’s an idea. Not everyone in Orin comes into town frequently. There are lots of loners. So it could be one of them, someone I’m not thinking of because I’ve never met them personally or seen them around town. The Jacob angle is the strongest possibility to me. Everything points to him. Hell, he already makes it known he wants Ellie to come back to him. Or maybe a member’s wife left when she realized the type of utopia wasn’t what she wanted.”
“You mean turning women into nothing but mindless, submissive sex toys.”
“Exactly. What woman from the outside would agree to that unless they were already in an abusive relationship?”
“Okay, I see what you’re saying. The woman came with the husband, or boyfriend, stayed a few years, realized it wasn’t what she wanted after all, and left, leaving our unsub desperate to have her back.” I nodded. “That sounds plausible. Between that scenario or Jacob himself, we need to get in there and ask questions, and start looking at some of those loners you mentioned and compare them to the profile.”
Alec let out a heavy sigh. “There’s only one way Jacob will let us through the gates.”
I glanced to the other side of the truck. Her lips had parted, lashes fluttering with the movement behind her lids. “That’s not going to happen. I won’t use her as our key to get into the compound.”
“Can you get a warrant?”
Sighing, I rubbed my brows. “No. Especially not with this new victim being from Waco. I can’t justify breaking their freedom of religion on a gut feeling.”
“What did she say about that fucker Swann and the timeline of current victims starting up when she walked out on him? He patrols that area, would see the women leaving the community. Maybe picked them up in his squad car saying he would help them get somewhere safe.”
“She said it’s not him.” What she revealed about Swann’s impotence flashed in my mind, making a question surface. “Was the recent victim raped?”
“Yes,” Alec growled. “The ME confirmed both vaginal and anal tearing.”
“Is there a way he can tell if it was done… organically?” I rolled my eyes at myself.
“What? What are you getting at.”
“I need to know if the unsub raped them himself or if he used other objects.” Silence carried over the phone. Alec was too smart for his own good. He knew I was holding something back. And I was, but now that I was on this line of thinking, something else occurred to me. “What if he stabs them not because they’re done being useful, but because they can’t give him what he wants?”
“A boner?”
“Exactly. Impotence is high in men like this. It could be why he started abducting women in the beginning. To test out different ways to help him get hard.”
“I’m disturbed by the information that you store in that head of yours, Chan.”
I chuckled. “Me too.”
“I’ll ask the ME to look for evidence of objects used. This case just keeps getting more fucked-up the deeper we dig.”
“I’ve never had a case that doesn’t,” I admitted. It was the truth too. The deeper you dug into the disturbed mind to find out the why, shit got fucking crazy.
“Moving off disturbing shit. What were you and Ellie already doing in Waco when I called this morning?”
I shrugged even though he couldn’t see me. “She needed a new coat and so did I, and then, well….” I sighed. “Did you know they never told her a birth date?”
“Get the fuck out. I thought they just didn’t tell her the year or didn’t have a calendar when she said she didn’t know how old she was.”
“Same. So she’s never had a birthday.”
“Please tell me you rectified that today. I’ll taser your ass if you didn’t.”
“Of course I did.” I held a breath, not wanting to admit what was sitting heavy on my chest.
“But?” he drew out, indicating he wanted me to fill in the blanks I was obviously leaving out.
“Fuck, you’re observant. I had fun today, real fun watching her and just hanging out.” I left getting the best head I’d ever had in my life out. Didn’t want to make him jealous. “This is getting real, and I don’t know how I’ll let her go when all this is done.” I swallowed hard. “When I’m with her, it all doesn't seem so bad.”
“What doesn’t.”
“Life. Living. My job. The world.”
He whistled, nearly shattering my eardrums. “Don’t fuck this up, Chan.”
“Stop it with the fucking Chan shit.”
“Never. Especially now that I know you hate it.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “If you’ve found someone who understands your dark, fucked-up head and helps lift some of the weight our jobs press on our shoulders daily, well, then, I’m damn jealous.”
“But it can’t go past this, right?” I relaxed back against the seat, suddenly realizing I was sitting up straight, tension tightening my spine.
“That’s all up to you and her. I will tell you one truth.” He paused, leaving me hanging for his next words. “You fuck this up and hurt her, I will kill you.”
The seriousness in his tone had me sitting straight in the seat once again. “I have a feeling you mean that.”
“She’s a good woman who’s been through hell. I wouldn’t be much of a man if I sat back and watched her get hurt again.” His sigh filled the earbuds. “I’ll go talk to the ME, then head out. Should be back in Orin by morning. Don’t wake me until Tuesday unless something big happens in the case.”
Concern for my friend grew as his loud yawn filled my ears. “How about you get a hotel, put it on the FBI’s tab. I don’t want you falling asleep at the wheel.”
“Aw, Chan Chan, you do care.”
“Seriously? Now you’re saying it twice.”
“I’ll be fine, but thanks for the offer. You’re a good friend. Later.”
Flicking my blinker, I slowed to take the single exit to the small town of Orin, Texas. The light at the main intersection blinked red in all directions. With zero other cars on the road for miles, I rolled through, foregoing coming to a complete stop. I hadn’t even crossed the intersection when blue and red lights flashed in the rearview.
“Fucking hell,” I muttered under my breath as I pulled to the shoulder and slammed the truck into Park. I grimaced when the noise had Ellie shifting in the seat. I held a breath until she settled and fell back asleep. I loved that she felt safe with me to sleep that soundly, to know I’d protect her from all dangers.
Tearing my gaze away from her, I squinted at the side mirror. With the glaring lights, there was no way to see the face of the officer approaching, but I certainly recognized the cocky-ass swagger and stocky stature.
Fucking Swann.
Him pulling me over the second I turned into town couldn’t be a coincidence. It was almost like he was waiting for me. Alec’s reasoning behind keeping Swann as a suspect lingered in the back of my head as the fucker stopped beside the driver side window. The window I had yet to roll down. I smiled through the tinted glass, and his annoyed scowl deepened.
With the end of a blue ballpoint pen, he tapped against the window. Once it was halfway down, he leaned closer. The smell of stale booze wafted off him like it was clinging to his pores. “Do you know why I pulled you over?” he said with an unfriendly smile that made his full cheeks bunch.
“Because you’re a cocky prick who feels the need to prove his power by preying on the innocent and unassuming?” I raised both brows like I expected him to agree to my pointedly accurate statement.
“Get out of the truck,” he growled and took a step back, fully expecting me to obey his direct order.
“That’s a solid no.” Using my heels against the floorboard as leverage, I raised off the seat and pulled out my badge. Flipping the leather covering down, I pointed toward my papers. “Mine’s bigger than yours.”
I shouldn’t goad this manipulative asshat. I really shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help it.
“You think you’re tough shit, don’t you?”
I nodded and gave a pointed look to my still raised papers. “This is proof.”
“You can’t even find the man behind the case you’re here to solve.” Okay, he had a point there. “You’re nothing more than a posturing Fed leaving all the hard work to us locals.” No point there. “Where have you been?”
I didn’t miss the way he shifted to see through to the passenger seat. I angled my shoulders so he couldn’t see Ellie without making it obvious.
“Well now, Chief Swann, it’s none of your business where I’ve been. I don’t have to report my whereabouts to you.”
“You can’t save her,” Swann snarled, some of his spit flicking on the tinted window.
My hackles rose at the clear threat. “Save who from what?”
“This is her life. She belongs with me. After everything I did for her, she’s mine.”
Disgusted and furious at his words of ownership over another person, I reached for the door handle, ready to kick his ass all the way to Dallas.
“I don’t belong to anyone.”
Keeping my gaze on Swann in case he tried to do something stupid like taser me, I leaned back against the seat. The now awake Ellie kneeled in the seat, both hands on her hips, glaring the promise of death at the idiot police chief.
“Oh, hey there, Lizzy. You okay? I was worried about you.” He dropped the asshole stance and stepped toward the truck. “What were you doing leaving town? It’s not safe, not for someone like you.”
“You don’t own me, Brett.” Her words were hard, but I heard the tremble in her voice. Standing up to one’s abuser took guts, but even the strongest person would feel distress during the confrontation. “I’ve told you before, I’m not coming back. I’m not coming back to you, to Jacob, no one.”
“So, what, you’re with him now?” he mocked. “The gay Fed who’ll use you and leave? I’m here for you. I’ve always been there for you.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head, sending dark short locks brushing against her neck. “You’ve been there for you. Leave me alone, Brett. Let me go.”
“No,” he snapped before regaining some of his composure. “You’re just confused. You’ll see soon that you’re better with me than with anyone else. We understand each other. We were meant to be together.” Sliding that hard gaze to me, he attempted to stab me with his beady brown eyes. “This isn’t over. Watch your back, Fed.”
In the side mirror, I tracked each of his steps as he sauntered back to the squad car. Even after he’d sped away, clearly going over the thirty-five mile per hour speed limit, I sat staring into the dark, barren landscape.
Who threatens a federal agent? The same asshole who won’t take no for an answer from the woman he supposedly loves. Clearly something was off in his head, as it was with most narcissists. Was it enough to drive him to murder though? Could he be the man I was hunting, my unsub hidden cleverly in a police uniform?
“I take it back,” Ellie said, bringing me out of my own thoughts. “You can totally make fun of his limp dick.”
Despite it all, I tipped my head back and laughed.
This woman. I’d be a fool to ever let her go.
“Thank you for an amazing day,” she said on a yawn as we turned into her apartment complex. She stretched her arms high above her head, hooking two fingers together in an exaggerated stretch. “Best birthday ever.”
“Investigating a murder victim’s last steps and a little shopping at a sporting goods store.” I clicked my tongue. “I really know how to make a girl feel special.”
I slowed to avoid missing a cat that dashed in front of the truck, then stopped to not hit the dog chasing the cat, and paused even longer to avoid the person chasing the dog. I shook my head at the entire scene while smiling.
“If you’d like to make me feel really special, you could—” Ellie sat up straight in the seat and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the dash as she squinted through the windshield. “Witch’s tits.”
“What?” I scanned the parking lot on high alert. “What do you see?”
“Not what. Who.” The groan in her voice caught me off guard. I followed her pointer finger through the darkened parking lot. My headlights swept the area as I pulled into a parking spot, illuminating two figures standing in front of her door. “My parents.”
Oh hell.
My face between her thighs, making her scream my name before burying myself balls deep into that tight pussy I was teased with earlier—that was what I was hoping for to end the night, not an awkward meet-up with the parents who you want to strangle for giving their child to an abuser.
I slid the gearshift into Park and cut the engine. The man who I assumed was her father narrowed his eyes at me, a look of contempt passing over his weathered face. A tall full-figured woman with stringy brown hair and dark eyes smiled, but there was no joy behind it. She stood beside Ellie’s father holding a small brown box between her hands.
“I can run them over,” I said out of the corner of my mouth. “All you have to say is yes. Or code word ‘Chandler’s dick tastes better than my Blow Pops.’”
With a lopsided smile, Ellie shook her head. “Even though that statement is accurate, I’ll pass. They’re not too terrible. It’s their quarterly visit to remind me how I’m a disappointment, tell me I should come back to the community, or that I’ll rot in hell for not attending to my husband.” She sliced a hand through the air like she was physically cutting herself off. “You know, typical parent guilt stuff.”
“I don’t think it’s typical, but I do understand.” I tightened my hands on the wheel. “I’m told on a regular basis that since I don’t attend church three times a week and didn’t rise to my parents’ aspirations of being a preacher that I’m doomed to burn for all eternity.” I shot her a look and shrugged. “Parents. Am I right?”
Hand on the door handle, she turned to look over her shoulder. A strange expression washed over her features as she looked at me, really looked as if trying to convey something words could never explain. The moment I was alone in the truck, what that look meant hit me in the heart like a powerful punch.
That beautiful, strong woman was falling for me.
And what that revelation did to the dark, broken parts of me solidified one thing.
I was falling hard too.