Chapter 21
21
ELLIE
W orst. Morning. Ever.
I could say that with absolute fact. Of course the asshat who thought I was his left a note, after burning down my place and my neighbors’. And that couch. I really didn’t love that couch, but I did after last night’s activities.
“Order up, Ellie.” The loud ding after Cook’s gruff voice snapped me to attention.
The warm plate of steaming food slid along the steel shelf. I grabbed it before the plate could slide off the edge. I shot a look into the kitchen. What was Cook’s deal today? He seemed gruffer, more on edge than usual. Shrugging it off, I turned and used my ass to open the swinging door.
The murmur of various conversations and a few cackles of laughter enveloped me as I weaved through the full tables. I hitched my chin, acknowledging Alec where he sat in a far back booth, laptop open and eyes on me. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I felt safer having him here even though I fought him and Chandler on it last night. After the scalp incident and now the fire, it was obvious the killer was escalating.
I smiled at Rancher Joe, patting his broad shoulder after dropping off his overflowing plate. He smiled, those brown spotted teeth from years of dipping showing. Sally stood across the diner, steaming coffee pot in hand as she talked with a table of four regulars.
Taking the moment, I scanned the dining room. How could someone I knew, someone from this town, be responsible for all this? The things he did to those women... my shoulders shook at the thought. I’d probably delivered him pancakes or served him a few drinks at the bar. This man, whoever he was, was part of our community. Yet none of us knew who it was.
I took in the various faces, trying to see behind the mask like I used to do in the compound. But everyone seemed… ordinary. Not a vile face, set of dark ominous eyes, or wave of ick from anyone in here. It wasn’t the entire town but most. A part of me wanted the killer to be Jacob or someone within The Church. That way they would have a reason to shut it down. There wouldn’t be any legal red tape if that group was harboring a serial killer.
“Hey, Ellie.” I turned to the familiar voice. Ryan, Brett’s older brother, stood at the door, hands shoved deep in the back pockets of his maroon scrubs.
“Hey, yourself. Good to see you.” I turned, looking for a free table, but came up empty. “Do you mind waiting for a table, or you want something to go?”
He smiled, those straight white teeth sparkling. How he was related to Brett was a mystery. The two were polar opposites.
“I’ll just get a cup of coffee to go, if that’s okay. I need to get to the clinic. It’s my day without Janice’s help.”
I held up a single finger, indicating for him to hold that thought. After grabbing a large Styrofoam cup, I filled it to the brim, stirred in three sugars, and popped a lid on the top.
“Thanks,” he said when I handed him the cup. “Hey, sorry about your place, by the way.”
I groaned, having forgotten about it for a split second. “Thanks. It’s more of a hassle than anything. I’m just glad no one was hurt.”
“Yeah, extensive burns would’ve been beyond my fixing.” He sighed and took a quick sip. “I wish I could do more sometimes.”
Reaching out, I grabbed his bicep and gave it a squeeze. “You’re doing what you can. And we all appreciate it.”
“How are you feeling, by the way? Any more symptoms?”
“No,” I said, feeling a blush heat my cheeks. “I figured out what was causing it.”
“And?”
I waved him off. “It was nothing.” My name being called had me turning. A man wearing coveralls had his cup raised in the air. “Listen, I gotta get back to it. But I’ll stop by sometime, we can catch up?”
“Sounds good.” Before he turned to the door, Ryan raised his coffee in the air, acknowledging someone. Alec raised his hand in the back before turning his attention back to the laptop. “He seems to be hanging around a lot. You seeing him too?”
“Too?” I squeaked.
“Janice,” Ryan said sheepishly. “She told me about you and that FBI guy.”
“I’m going to kill her.” My name was called again. Sighing, I offered Ryan a sad smile. “No, Alec is just here as my bodyguard. Listen, I’ll explain it all later. Gotta go.”
Turning before he could say anything else, I rushed toward the table with the now frowning customer. “Hold your horses,” I said to the regular.
“Horses are gone. You know that,” he joked. “Sold them years back.”
I nodded as he continued talking about the good old days when his land held hundreds of horses. It wasn’t until the terrible drought three years ago that he sold them all.
An idea popped in my head. Bouncing on my toes, I refilled his mug, a bit of the near boiling liquid splashing over the edge with the jostling movement. With a hasty apology, I wiped up the spill with the rag on my shoulder and raced to Alec’s booth.
“Ellie, something wrong?” He raised his brows, not looking up from his computer screen.
“We’re assuming this person lives here, right? If this person knows me well enough to want me to come home…. Where did he do it?” That got his attention. Turning in the booth, he rested an ankle over top of the opposite knee. “The women. If he held them, did all that terrible stuff, that takes space. Private space. So where did he do it?”
His lips parted, then closed. With a nod, he grabbed his phone resting on the table. “That’s a good question. Chan had?—”
I held up a hand, a laugh caught in my throat. “Did you just say Chan?”
“Yep. You should use it too. He hates it.”
“No, thanks, I like being on his good side.” For the second time in a matter of minutes, my cheeks heated. This time I pressed my cold fingers to the warm skin, trying to calm the flush.
“I bet you do.” His chuckle was deep and full of secret humor. “Anyway, Chandler had mentioned this guy needing a place to hold the women, but that was before we narrowed the suspects down to a local with the ability to get to and from Waco. I have his list of suspects that I’m already running through the DMV for him. I’ll look for property in their names too. I highly doubt this person would use some forgotten barn or shack that didn’t belong to him. This fucker is too cautious, too calculated for that. Good idea, Ellie. I’ll look into it.”
Smiling like a fool, one because of the reminder of Chandler and two because I just helped a little with the case, I weaved through the tables, topping off coffee and taking orders. For over an hour, I was in the zone, doing my job with zero issues or complaints until he walked through the door.
The breakfast rush had thinned, leaving nearly all the tables open for him to choose from. Tugging at the utility belt weighing down his uniform pants, Brett strutted to the booth on the opposite side of the diner from Alec and stuffed himself into the bench seat.
Internally I groaned again, wishing he could be more like his brother. Kind, caring, not an asshole.
His raised hand and flick of his fingers was more of a command than a polite request for my attention. My boots dragged against the floor, almost like the dread that was weighing in my stomach had also turned my feet to the heaviest of lead.
“What can I get for you?” I asked, plastering my fakest smile across my face.
“Oh, come on now, Lizzy.” My grip tightened so much that the pencil in my hand nearly snapped. “Is that any way to greet me?” Tipping his face up, he tried for his most charming smile. Good thing I knew better. “After what all we’ve been through together? I at least deserve a ‘Good morning’ or a real smile, don’t you think?”
His words ignited an internal war. An all-out battle between knowing he was manipulating me and wondering if I was wrong for being so rude. Clearing my throat, I stepped out of reach of his hand, which had risen in search of my own. Reaching into my apron, I desperately searched for a piece of candy to ground me but came up empty.
“Good morning,” I gritted out, balling my hand into a fist in the apron, nails making crescent moon indentions in my palm. “Now, what do you want?”
“What I want is for you to stop making me out as the bad guy.” I sighed as he leaned back against the booth, stretching his arms out wide along the back. His growing beer belly pushed at the table’s edge. “You were the one who left. Shouldn’t I be the one that’s upset?”
“I’m not falling for this, Brett.” I took another retreating step, hating that his words were hitting a healing raw spot in my soul. “What do you want to eat?”
“You’re being really ungrateful for what I did for you.”
“You mean Ryan,” I corrected.
He snorted and gave me a once-over. “That outfit looks terrible on you.” My shoulders rounded in on themselves despite my internal voice screaming at me to stand up to him. “You always were a little too skinny in all the wrong places. But I overlooked that and took care of you when you needed it.”
Did he? It was so long ago it was hard to remember now. He was there that first year when I was a complete mess. A year of taking care of me without asking for anything in return. But then he did. He found my weak spot and capitalized on my need for comfort and companionship. Those didn’t come free. He took from me, just like Jacob. They both took what I wasn’t knowingly willing to give. They took from me and never gave anything in return.
Unlike a sexy-as-hell, caring, selfless, protective FBI agent I was in love with.
A real smile tugged at my lips.
“There’s that smile. I knew you’d see the truth. I just had to remind you, like usual.”
I shook my head. “This smile isn’t for you. It’s not because of you.” Brett’s smug grin fell into a scowl. “It’s because of him. I know what you’re doing, and I’m stronger now. I won’t fall for it. You can go fuck yourself, Brett Swann, because I sure as hell won’t ever do it again.”
“You’re a damn fool,” he sneered, all his vileness poured into those words. “He’ll leave you. Leave you here where you’ll be a nothing again. No family, no friends, not even a full damn name.” The tears I wasn’t willing to let him see burned in my throat. “You will be mine again. I just have to wait for you to see that without me you’re nothing. Nothing, Ellie. And will never be anything more than a body to use. Because that’s all you’re good for.”
Quick movement in my periphery had me staggering back, the suddenness causing a bolt of panic to send my heart racing. But it wasn’t Brett reaching for me. No, it was an enormous body moving around my own. The smack of skin and a hard crack echoed through the diner. I blinked and Alec now stood between me and Brett, his shoulders rising and falling with heavy, quick breaths.
“You broke my nose,” Brett screamed. “You fucking broke my nose.”
Peering around Alec’s waist, I couldn’t help but giggle at Brett holding both hands over his nose, blood pouring between his fingers.
“I did not. I fucking held back so I wouldn’t break that or your thick damn skull.” Gripping the back of Brett’s uniform, Alec dragged him out of the booth. Brett’s utility belt slammed to the floor, causing the salt and pepper shakers on neighboring tables to rattle with the impact. “You’re done talking to her like that. Any woman for that matter,” Alec snapped as he dragged Brett behind him, moving toward the door. At the front, Alec yanked Brett upright and pulled his face close. “If I were you, I’d be terrified of what Agent Peters will do when he finds out how you talked to his girl.”
“Mine.” Blood sprayed as Brett hissed the word. “She’s not his.”
“She’s whoever’s she wants to be. Get the fuck out.” With his free hand, Alec pulled the door open and shoved Brett out, who stumbled to stay upright. His back slammed against the wooden railing on the other side of the small landing. “And I’m not joking around. Peters can be scary as hell when he wants to be. Run.”
The bell above the door crashed to the floor with Alec’s hard shove. He grimaced.
“I’ll buy the place a new one.” He inspected the trail of blood along the stained floor. “And clean this up.”
“I’ve got it. Thank you.” Against my better judgment, I glanced out the window. Brett stood leaning against his cruiser, those dark eyes filled with hate and anger glaring into my soul. “I’ll never be free of him or Jacob, will I?”
“Hey.” He laid a large hand on my shoulder. “Don’t let that asshole get you down. We’ll figure it out. One step at a time.”
I laughed and wiped away the rogue tear that had escaped. “Right. I need to survive all this first before I start thinking about the future.”
“I didn’t mean?—”
“I know. I know what you meant. But it doesn’t make it any less true.” Squaring my shoulders, I tilted my chin to look up at my large friend. “Surviving a serial killer’s obsession shouldn’t be tougher than what I’ve been through already in life, right?”
Alec laughed and patted between my shoulder blades in an awkward, fully platonic attempt at comfort. “Right. Now, where’s the mop? Looks like a damn crime scene in here.”
As I made my way to the utility closet, I fought the urge to text Chandler. The desperate need to hear from him was eating at my rational thinking. This was my problem to handle, not his. I would not depend on him for any kind of support. Even if I desperately wanted it. Because there was a bit of truth in Brett’s words.
Chandler would leave.
And I’d be left here, alone.
A forgotten small-town nobody once again.