Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
“He’s a dick.” Preston strode back into the den.
“Yes.” Her nose crinkled. “I did try to warn you about that very thing. Honestly, I warned Lily, too. They met in med school, and I knew from the start that he just wasn’t right for her.”
“Because he’s a dick?”
“Because she had to pretend to be someone she wasn’t with him. FYI, it’s probably a good thing that Atlas and Lily left town. Atlas does not like to be anywhere near that guy.”
He strode toward the table on the left and picked up his phone. “They didn’t leave town.”
“What?” She snapped her gaping mouth closed.
“Of course, they did. Lily was going to finish getting checked out at the hospital, and, after the ultrasound was complete, then Atlas was going to whisk her and the babies away somewhere safe.” Sloane broke off as she caught the hard set of his jaw.
Her shoulders slumped in understanding. “Lily didn’t leave because she was worried about me. ”
A faint incline of his head. “Also, fun fact, apparently, someone named Desmond Yoruba has been tailing us.”
That tracked. “Desmond is Atlas’s best friend.
” A delicate throat clearing. “Also his guard. An enforcer type. Very good at blending with shadows.” Very good at eliminating threats.
She hadn’t caught sight of Desmond even once.
Not surprising, given how good the man tended to be at concealment.
She rubbed her palms against the soft legs of her jeans.
“How do you know about Desmond? Did Atlas tell you that he was here?”
“Noble spotted him. Guy is apparently lurking not too far from the property right now.” His fingers tapped over the phone.
She craned her neck. “Are you texting Noble?” The same Noble that Dominic wanted her checking out. “You know, I still haven’t gotten my phone back yet. It’s rather a necessary device.” What did a woman have to do in order to retrieve her phone?
His fingers kept tapping on the phone’s screen.
“Your phone is in your car, which is in impound. Debra was going to bring the phone over. Or have one of her deputies deliver it.” His head lifted.
“But seeing as how she was sealed in a body storage locker, there will probably be a delay on that delivery.”
Uh, huh, there would definitely be a delay. “Maybe we could go and pick it up,” she mumbled. “When we’re on the way to see Debra.” A visit to check on Debra had to be their next stop.
“You know killers.”
“I study killers.” A careful correction. Though, for the record, she did know quite a lot of them, too. Sort of went along with her job description.
“You’re in their heads all the time.”
“Not all the time.” Now she was a bit disgruntled. “I do have hobbies.”
A little line cut between his eyebrows. “Is this kind of acceleration normal? He takes us, he takes Bridget, he kills Bridget, and then he knocks out the sheriff investigating the case? All so quickly?”
Chill bumps rose on her skin. “It’s very not normal. In fact, I’ve never seen this type of acceleration with a serial killer. To me, it feels more like the actions of a spree killer.” This perp was very unpredictable.
“Explain. Lecture me like I’m a student in your class.”
Right. Well… “First, do you mind if I borrow that phone of yours? Because I’m pretty sure—and by pretty sure, I mean one hundred percent sure—that Dominic was telling me to contact Josie and get her to illegally search Noble’s phone records so we could confirm that he was actually in Charlotte when you called him.
Dominic knows Josie. They have a…complicated relationship. ” Hello, understatement.
“How so?”
“Oh, um, he’s in love with her. Kinda the he’d-burn-down-the-world-for-her love, but he also killed her dad, so she’s not exactly jumping on the Dom wagon.” She held out her hand. “Your phone?”
“I just texted her. Josie said give her five minutes.”
Sloane blinked. “You texted Josie?” To be clear.
“You called her before, from my phone,” he reminded her. “So I just sent her a quick text about Noble. I understood what Dominic was telling you to do.”
“Do you trust Noble?” A question that had to be asked.
“I pay Noble.”
“That’s not a yes.”
“It’s also not a no.” The little furrow between his brows grew deeper. “Tell me about spree killers.”
Fine. “There’s no cooling off with spree killers. Serial killers tend to get almost a high from their attacks. When they commit the kill, that can sustain them for a while.”
“Like a fucking vampire drinking blood? Getting enough of a fix to last?”
“Yeah, sort of. Serial killers can go days, weeks, months, or even years without claiming another victim. Until the urges within them get too strong again and they have to act. It’s a compulsion.”
His hand tightened around the phone.
“Spree killers will kill multiple people.” So far, we’ve only had one death here.
Bridget. But the killer intended for me and Preston to die.
“It doesn’t fit perfectly.” Her fingers rose to rub against her aching, left temple.
It had pretty much started throbbing the instant she’d seen Gage.
He had a way of producing headaches. “Spree killers can switch locations. They’ll attack multiple people.
Their behavior is usually spurred by a trigger.
Could be some big emotional event or a life stressor that just pushes the individual over the edge. ”
He stared straight at her. “You.”
“Me…what?”
“You’re the event.”
“Ah…”
He stalked closer to her. “He knew who you were, Sloane. He carved your initials into the tree.”
Yes, about those initials…“We need to see if he did the same thing with Bridget. And if he did attack someone else before you, maybe he marked a tree near the person’s burial site the same way.
Might help with any searches that we conduct in the woods.
We should be looking for a sign—carvings in a tree—like the one he did for us. ”
“It’s you.”
Sloane bristled. “Okay, stop saying that because you’re freaking me out, and I don’t like it!”
“Who did you tell about Mitchell Donahue’s remains?”
“What?”
“Gage Emerick knew—”
“Because I reached out to the FBI!” But not to Gage, specifically. Definitely not to Gage.
“How did you find the remains? How did you know where to look for Mitchell?”
“I had a general area that was my search zone.” A deep exhale. Then the full truth, “Mary Jean helped me. She…she actually reached out to me. Remember when I said that I found her? Technically, she found me.”
His face hardened. “Why did she find you?”
“Because she’d heard a story about me and Lily.” Dammit. This was going to hurt. “She was in a psychiatric facility.”
His face turned to stone.
She kept talking, fast. “And the story she heard—she overheard some of the psychiatrists talking about our research. The offspring of serial killers. She heard the doctors discussing how Lily and I were looking to examine what made those children different from their parents. Mary Jean reached out to me. She told me about Mitchell. She told me about you. She told me about Mitchell’s favorite camping spot, a secluded place not too far from the Eldorado National Forest, and I went there. ”
“A…psychiatric hospital? That’s where she was?” He backed up a step. “How long was she there?”
Sloane swallowed. “Preston, we should—”
“How long was she there?”
“Years. Off and on. She, um, she battled addiction. She didn’t have an easy life.”
Pain flashed in his eyes, and Sloane wanted to stop talking.
She wanted to yank the words back, but she couldn’t.
Because there were some things he deserved to know.
“She was on drugs when she left you at the fire station. Mary Jean told me that she’d been clean while she had you, but as soon as you were there, she went back to the drugs.
She—she knew she changed when she was on the drugs.
It made life easier for her. Mary Jean said that life was just too hard for her and that her drugs dulled the sharp edges. ”
His eyes closed. “Fuck. Fuck.”
“Preston—” She reached out to him.
He backed away even as his eyes flew open. “My dad was a serial killer. My mom was a drug addict. One who spent years in a psych ward. How the hell can you want to be near me?”
“Easy. You are not them. You are strong. You are determined. You are probably one of the most resilient people that I have ever met, and I’m pretty sure I was in love with you before we ever even spoke a single word to each other.” Wait, no…dammit.
He gaped at her.
She gaped right back at him.
So much for holding that back. “I did not mean to announce it quite in that manner.” Too late now, Sloane. “It would be great if you could perhaps just forget about that part?”
Slowly, he shook his head. “I will never forget.” Another step back.
He’s walking away. “Preston…”
“I told you before, I don’t deserve you. You should never have let me fuck you. I’m tainted, Sloane. Damned. I am—”
“Oh, cut the bullshit.” Now she was mad. “Don’t you dare talk that way about the man I—” Love. She’d almost done it again. What was with her? Why could she not control herself? “Don’t talk that way about yourself.”
“You don’t know me. We just met days ago.”
“I knew you before I met you.” A roll of her shoulders. “You aren’t your parents. You help people. You don’t hurt them.”
He stared at her. Took another step back. “How did Mary Jean die?”
Her eyelids flickered. “A drug overdose.”
“When?”
“Shortly after I found Mitchell’s remains.” This gutted her. Because…I think bringing those remains back pushed her over the edge.
Did Preston suspect the same thing? Was he going to blame her? She spun away and stared out at the mountains. All of that light. All of that land. All of that freedom.
“They knew what I’d done.” Preston’s voice. So low and deep. Dark.
She wanted to look back at him.
But…
She stared at the light.