Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“You bitch, you nearly broke my wrist!”
Nearly? How unfortunate. She’d hoped that she had succeeded in breaking his bones.
Lily slowly opened her eyes. “Better go to the hospital and get that checked out, just in case…” Her voice came out raspy.
A little too rough. “And while you’re there…
” She focused on the jerk in front of her.
“You can explain why a dead man is still alive and kicking, Detective Swain.” Because the absolute bastard Benedict Swain was standing in front of her.
“I’ve got to say, death has been very kind to you. ”
“Are you fucking joking right now?”
“Why are people always asking me that? No, I’m not joking. Death was kind. But I can promise you, that kindness will not last much longer.” A sad shake of her head that sent some nausea flooding through her. What had been in that needle? “You’re about to meet hell.”
He laughed in her face.
Sort of the reaction she’d expected, but, still, annoying. “Do you think I won’t be found?”
The laughter lingered in the air, his amusement so very heavy. Stifling. “Who’s gonna find you?” A smirk. “Your Fed ex? You think FBI Special Agent Gage Emerick is going to rush to the rescue and be your big hero?”
She didn’t want a hero.
“Forget it. That dumbass is probably on his way down to New Orleans. Besides, you and I both know he couldn’t find his own asshole with a flashlight.” More laughter. “He always used you for the hard work. I did my research. I know just how useless he is.”
“The man can at least find his own asshole. With or without a flashlight.” She shifted in the wooden chair as she tried to take stock of her surroundings. Her hands were cuffed behind her. The cold metal dug into her wrists. “You’re underestimating him.”
“No, I’m just anticipating his moves. You told Gage that my next vics would be either Hatch Davis or Westin Blanchard.
” The smug smirk lingered on his lips. “He always follows what you say. Westin is the one with the history of violence, so that means the Fed will figure I am going after him. Gage likes glory, so he’ll probably want to swoop down to the Big Easy and try to catch me himself.
” One hand grabbed her shoulder as he leaned forward and put his mouth to her ear. “But I’m not there.”
“Obviously.” She didn’t let any emotion enter her voice. “How do you know what I told him?”
“I still have a lot of access to police info. Back doors in, if you will. Plenty of chatter went down when Gage was trying to get protection for the vics he thought would be hit next.”
“Are you really going to tell me that I was wrong? That you don’t intend to kill Hatch and Westin?
” Where was she? Her gaze darted around.
There were fishing poles on the walls. Wooden walls.
Faded furniture. A little kitchen to the right.
“Are we in yet another cabin? Just how are you finding these places?”
He released her and straightened to his full height as he glared down at her. She knew he wanted her to be afraid. Too bad for him. She was far too angry to be afraid.
“This was my father’s place,” he snapped at her.
“Even has a beautiful fucking lake not too far away. Not that I ever got to see it, not while I was growing up. I didn’t exactly fit into my old man’s life.
” His eyes glinted. “That lake is gonna be your final resting place. No one will ever find you. Atlas Bennett will spend the rest of his days searching for you. Think that will rip him apart?”
“I doubt it. Atlas doesn’t love me so I don’t see why he would be ripped apart by my absence.”
Her calm words and certain tone had him blinking…and backing up another step. A holster rested on his hip. A gun inside that holster. She was sure he must have a knife on him, too.
The better to carve me open? She was getting away. She would not go out screaming in agony with this sonofabitch.
But he was blinking at her now. Confusion had appeared on his face.
“Is that why you took me?” Lily asked him, voice polite. Curious. “Because you thought it would hurt Atlas?” Her lips tightened. “If so, that annoys me. I’m more than some tool to be used to hurt a man.”
“You’re a fucking killer! Just like your mother!” The smirk was gone. The confusion gone. Spittle flew from his mouth.
Oh, yes, that’s the way. Put that DNA everywhere. “What on earth makes you think that? I research killers, I—”
“You fuck them, Lily.” His breath huffed out. “You think I don’t know what you did with Atlas? You moved in with him right away. I wasn’t even cold in the ground!”
“Hate to point out the obvious, but you are not in the ground. Also, we weren’t involved, so I could do whatever I wanted. By the way, I wanted Atlas.”
“And I wanted to be wrong about you! I liked you.”
“Did you?” She wasn’t so sure about that.
“You rejected me.”
Considering that you’ve kidnapped me, twice, and that you drugged me, I feel that rejection was a good choice. “Yes, I stand by that.”
He blinked.
“Who died in your place?” Lily asked him.
He laughed.
Oh, but he was certainly full of himself. So confident. Almost high on his power. That overconfidence could work in her favor.
“You called me that day,” he recalled. “Asking for help. I didn’t intend for you to be there, you know. Didn’t realize you were watching Atlas so closely.”
“I called you even as I saw Atlas being attacked. You answered my call, so that means you weren’t the one who attacked him.
” She pulled lightly at the cuffs. Not like she could do some Houdini routine out of those.
But maybe she could still get up with them on her.
Her feet pressed into the floor. Her legs weren’t secured.
Her arms were behind her, but if she shot up quickly, her arms would just slide up and away from the chair.
Once she was standing, perhaps she could hurl her whole body at Benedict. Knock him to the floor. And then what?
Hmmm.
She truly hated to think this way but…just what would her mother do?
Poison, of course. But not like Lily had some poison right near her. If only.
“Oh, that was a friend…” He eased back another step.
“The same friend who taught me how to wire that bomb to explode at the cabin.” He raised a clenched hand.
A hand with a slightly swollen wrist. “Boom.” His fingers spread.
“An ex-con who thought I’d go easy on him because he was cooperating with me.
Screw that shit. He was going down, too.
People have to pay for their crimes. Justice will be served. ”
“You put your badge on his body. You killed him…” She considered the timeline. “You did that while Atlas and I were in the basement?”
A nod.
“And how did you do it?” Keep him talking. If he was talking, he wasn’t killing her, and she could keep coming up with options to save her own life.
And to end his.
“You wouldn’t have stabbed him,” Lily decided. “Or shot him. Not like you could have some sort of injury that didn’t match the narrative you were trying to sell.”
His hand shoved into his pocket, only to rise a moment later, fingers holding tightly to a clear, glass vial. Liquid was in that vial. Looked like water, but she was sure it wasn’t. “Took a page from your playbook, Lily.”
Definitely not water. “Poison.”
A nod. “Who the hell is gonna run his bloodwork? Do a tox screen? The overtaxed ME? Nah. The poor vic died in a blaze. Burned beyond recognition. Don’t even know if they can do all those blood tests and tox screens and shit now. Not with the condition of the body they recovered.”
She didn’t take her gaze off the poison.
“It’s not my playbook. My mother used poison.
” But now she was worried. More worried than she’d been before.
“What did you give me…at the car?” Was poison already in her blood?
Was the clock ticking down and she didn’t know it?
If so, she really needed to speed this scene along.
“A sedative. Worked like a charm, didn’t it?
This…” He eyed the vial. “This will put you in the grave fast. Wanted to talk to you first. Needed our one-on-one session. A session with the great Dr. Lily Gallo.” Rough laughter.
“I had to personally let you know that you didn’t see what was right in front of your face. ”
“I’m not great.” He was so wrong on that. “But then, neither are you.”
His jaw tightened.
“The evidence pointed to you, and, for the record, I did figure it out. The cuffs were the first tip-off. Police grade handcuffs that you used on me and on Atlas and on the other two kills in Dallas. Guess you just couldn’t resist grabbing them from the station and using them on your victims.”
His eyes narrowed.
“The killer was punishing his prey, but…you’d had run-ins with both of the victims, hadn’t you? With the drug dealer, William Lloyd. With the domestic abuser and accused rapist, Conry Harding.”
“The charges wouldn’t damn well stick,” he snapped. “They kept walking.”
“So you punished them on your own. You started with William. Then you went right back for Conry.”
“They were dangerous men! They deserved what they got.”
She kept hammering at him. “You deleted all the files on your computer. Took as much from your office at the station as you could because you were trying to hide your ties to those men.” This was more that she’d figured out.
More that made sense to her. “Just as you trashed your own place, didn’t you? ”
That smug smile spread on his face.
“Your place.” She inclined her head toward him. “My place.”
“You had a list of killers, Lily. A whole freaking list of people who belonged in the ground. I saw it when I was at your house. You’d gone to answer the phone, talking to your friend Sloane, and I knew, as soon as I saw that info, I knew…”
“You knew you had plenty of people to punish.”
A nod. “Yes. Yes.”
“But you didn’t want anyone to ever suspect you. So you faked your death.”
A shrug. “I became the ultimate victim.”