Chapter Twenty-Two
Bree stared at the screen. How was Jeter contacting her through this system? It was a closed system, not utilized for communication outside of the Dallas law enforcement department.
Had Jeter somehow found a way to hack into their system from the hospital? She thought he was still unconscious, but obviously not.
Her cell phone buzzed in her hand, a video call from Tanner. She needed to let him know that Jeter was somehow in the law enforcement system. God only knew what he could do from there.
She was still staring at the computer screen when she pressed the receive button for Tanner’s call. Was there any way to trace Jeter through the air gap system?
“Tanner, we’ve got a problem. Jeter has somehow—”
Her stomach dropped as she finally looked away from the computer and at the screen of her phone. It wasn’t Tanner’s brown eyes looking back at her. It was the face from her nightmares.
She stared at the picture in silence, unable to even force any words past her throat that seemed suddenly completely closed. If she could figure out anything to say anyway.
Why did Jeter have Tanner’s phone?
The computer screen beeped softly in front of her.
Put in headphones. If you’re interested in seeing Deputy Dempsey again alive.
Bree couldn’t stop the small cry that escaped her. She reached down into her bag and pulled out the headphones, placing them in her ears.
“Bethany, you look well,” Jeter said. “It’s so good to see you. I chose this computer for a reason. I want you to set your phone against the screen and keep your hands resting on the front of the keyboard, but not typing anything. This way I can see you and your hands, and I can hear you.”
“What do you want?” she said softly.
“Right at this moment I want to make sure nobody knows that you’re talking to me.
So I’m going to turn off the video feed on my end—” the phone screen went black “—but I can still see and hear you. Now, put the phone where I said and your hands on the keyboard. I know what you’re capable of, and we’ll not have any of that. ”
She did as he asked.
“Good. That’s very good, Bethany.”
Bile curdled in her gut and her fingers began to shake. This was just like when she’d been a child. He’d always been behind her back, looking over her shoulder, where she couldn’t see him. All she’d ever been able to do was hear his voice.
“How do you have Tanner’s phone?” she finally got out.
“He lent it to me.”
“I find that hard to believe.” The best possible scenario would be that Jeter had somehow stolen Tanner’s phone without him being aware of it. The worst... Bree couldn’t even stand to think about the worst.
“How about you just ask him yourself.”
Tension flooded her body. “What?”
Instead of a picture on her phone, a small video box opened on the computer screen.
It was Tanner, lying in a box—a casket. His hands were bound and crossed on his chest. He had a gag in his mouth.
Bree couldn’t hold back the little sob that escaped her.
“Quiet now, Bethany. If you let anyone know you’re talking to me, you’re going to watch your boyfriend die pretty brutally. After all, he’s already in a casket. Makes cleanup pretty easy.”
“You son of a—”
Bree’s words were cut off as Whitaker walked up to her. Instantly the video box containing Tanner disappeared from the screen.
“Everything okay?” Whitaker asked.
Bree’s fingers grasped the end of the keyboard hard. Jeter was watching. If she moved to warn Whitaker she had no doubt Tanner was a dead man.
“Yeah. Just wrapping things up. Ready to get home—you know how it is.”
“What did Tanner say when he called?”
Bree swallowed hard, struggling not to give herself away. “Not much. That he would be back soon and we would talk.”
Think. She had to figure out a way to let Whitaker or someone know Jeter had Tanner.
“All right. I’ll let you finish up here. I’m not going to fly back to Risk Peak for another couple of days. Just want to make sure Penelope doesn’t need any further help.”
“I’m sure she appreciates that.”
Whitaker gave her a smile and walked off. Bree wanted to scream out for him to come back.
“See, you handled that quite well.” Jeter’s voice came back on in her ear. The picture popped back on the computer screen. “Now maybe if you continue to follow directions so well, your Tanner will live to see another day.”
It was all she could do to stop herself from reaching up and touching the screen. Touching Tanner. As if her touch could somehow make this all go away.
“It’s like the case you’ve been working, isn’t it?
I’ve been watching. I can’t help but be proud of what you did there.
Helping arrest Gresham, Elliot the others.
Those people were reasonably adept. The Dallas Police Department would’ve never caught them without your help. The women in the boxes would be dead.”
“Were you a part of all this?” Bree didn’t know how it was possible, but if it was, Jeter would be the one to accomplish it.
“Oh, no. I can’t take credit for that. But it did make it very easy and convenient to follow you the last day.”
She was sure it had been. She’d been trying to work as fast as possible, only hiding herself from the killers. She’d never dreamed somebody would backdoor their way into what she was already backdooring into.
“But the prison bus accident. You orchestrated that.” She already knew it was the truth, she didn’t have to ask it as a question.
“Come on now, Bethany. You had to have known I would get out. You’ve always known I would come for you.”
Bree shut her eyes. He was right. She hadn’t wanted to admit it, even to herself, but she’d always known Jeter was going to find a way to come after her.
She’d let herself become so soft. Someone her mother—who had given her life trying to protect Bree and teach her how to best combat the dangers posed by Jeter and the Organization—wouldn’t even recognize now.
Bree had let herself fall prey to the magic of her and Tanner’s love. Like that was some sort of protection. As if it was some sort of talisman able to protect them from the reality of the evil of the Organization.
She’d let herself believe that the law would be able to control Jeter, someone who’d fooled the entire world for decades.
She should’ve known better.
She studied the video of Tanner on the screen once again. He didn’t look panicked. The only way someone would even know that he was scared at all—and he had to be, sitting inside a casket with a madman standing over him—was by the frantic movement of his finger against his chest.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
She should’ve never allowed herself to stop permanently in Risk Peak. She’d brought this danger straight to Tanner.
“Why all the theatrics?” she finally asked Jeter. “Are you trying to outdrama the case we just worked on?”
“Don’t worry I’m not going to drown Tanner, not when suffocation will work just fine. Or if we need to speed things up, I’ve always got some carbon monoxide.”
Bree swallowed another sob, looking at Tanner again.
His finger was still moving in overtime. She wanted to reach out and grab it, just to calm it. To...
His finger was moving in a pattern.
Bree fought to keep her face neutral. To keep this news away from Jeter.
What are you trying to tell me, hot lips?
Because he definitely was.
Tanner must know where he was. Why would Jeter gag Tanner? It was just as much overkill as using the voice modulator.
She watched his fingers more carefully. Yes. He was using Morse code.
W-H-I-T. Pause. S-H-E-L-B-Y. Pause. S-C-E-N-E.
The message repeated from there. When they’d first gotten here, Whitaker had taken Tanner to the crime scene where the girl from his neighborhood had been found. Where was that? Bree wasn’t completely sure, but knew it was somewhere on the south side of town.
If Jeter had hacked the Dallas PD system, he would definitely have knowledge of that location.
The question was, how did Bree let anyone else know where Tanner was without alerting Jeter.
“What do you want, Jeter?”
“I want a lot of things. I want you to not have run away a dozen years ago. I want you to have not betrayed me a few months ago. But for right now, I’ll settle for you trading yourself for Tanner’s life.”
She would do it. She would do it in a heartbeat, every single time. She would give herself over to Jeter a thousand times if it meant Tanner lived.
“Fine. I’ll do it. I—”
Before she could say anything else, Penelope walked over and stopped directly in front of Bree’s computer station. “Everything okay? Where’s Tanner?”
Jeter’s voice came on in her ear as the picture disappeared once again from the computer screen. “Get rid of her, Bethany. We’ll go ahead and close the casket so Tanner can get a taste of what it might feel like in a few minutes if you don’t cooperate.”
“Um...” Bree looked up at Penelope trying not to sweat. “You’ll have to ask Whitaker. They were hanging out together last time I saw them. I’m sure Tanner’s around here somewhere.”
Penelope’s eyes narrowed. She glanced down at Bree’s hands then back up to her face.
The woman suspected something, or was at least noticing something was off. Bree could do nothing to warn the other woman. If Penelope said the wrong thing it would cost Tanner his life.
“Well, I just wanted to come by and say thank you for all the work you did with the case. We wouldn’t have been able to get those women out, without you.”
Bree gave a little nod. This was the last time she was going to be able to signal to anyone that Tanner was in trouble. How could she do it?
“I’m glad I could help.”
Penelope was still studying her. “And I’m really glad that you and I got to spend some time together and get to know each other so well. All the one-on-one time we spent together.”
Bree kept her face completely neutral. She and Penelope very definitely had not gotten to know each other. Bree had forgotten the woman’s name more than once.
“Um, yeah. That was nice.”
“You listening to music like you always do when you’re working?” Penelope continued.
“Get rid of her, now, Bethany.”
“Yeah. Music. You know how I love music when I’m working.” Bree nodded.
“You’ll be sure to get me that footage you set up before you leave, right? The special recordings you set up? Sorry we were so hard on you about that. I guess even I get territorial sometimes when it comes to cases.”
The monitor footage. Yes, it would still be running even now. If Penelope checked it she would be able to see what Jeter was sending her right now.
And even better, Jeter had no idea it existed since Bree didn’t use an official Dallas PD system.
“Yes.” Bree nodded enthusiastically. “You will very definitely want to look through that for the case. Jeremy knows how to access it. You’ll want to do that first thing. Thanks, Penelope.”
Penelope nodded and said a fast goodbye.
Bree prayed the woman had understood exactly what she meant and was checking to get the necessary screenshots right now.
“She’s gone. Where do you want me to meet you?”
Jeter rattled off an address and Bree knew right away it wasn’t where he was holding Tanner. It was nowhere near Whitaker’s old neighborhood.
“That’s where Tanner is? And if I come there and agree to stay with you, you’ll let him go?”
“That’s the deal. He’ll be right here beside me. And the moment you agree to go away with me, you can send a message to one of your little cop friends and have them come rescue our Tanner. If everyone moves quickly enough, maybe Tanner will get out of this before he suffocates. You have my word.”
Bree barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Jeter had no intention of letting Tanner out of that casket alive.
“Put the picture back on. I want to see him one more time. If I go away with you this will be the last time I’ll ever be able to.”
She needed to make sure Penelope got the message about where Tanner was. Saw that it was his fingers moving.
Jeter put the video of Tanner back up on the screen. Bree bit back a sob as Jeter had to pry open the casket cover in order for her to be able to see him. Sweat was running off his forehead and his eyes were a lot more apprehensive now.
His finger still kept beating the same Morse code pattern. Tanner knew he was in trouble, but was not panicking.
Bree brought her fingers up to her mouth and kissed them and then placed them on the screen.
Hopefully to Jeter it would look like she was saying goodbye to Tanner.
But once she got her fingers to the screen, where she was out of Jeter’s view, she pointed to Tanner’s finger tapping the code.
She pointed three times, praying it would be enough.
They had to get to Tanner.
“Fine, I’m coming. Leave the casket open. I can meet you at that address in fifteen minutes.”
“I don’t think so. I think the casket being closed gives you more incentive to move more quickly.
How long do you think it takes for someone to suffocate in a casket?
An hour? Thirty minutes? I bet you’d like to Google that, wouldn’t you, but you can’t because you’re going to leave your phone on video with me the whole time.
If at any point I can’t see your hands or I think you’re trying to warn someone about what’s going on, your boyfriend dies. ”
Bree got up, keeping the phone so Jeter could see what she was doing. She was going to need to get a car. She knew how to steal one, but doing it in a police department parking lot was not the best of circumstances. But what other choice did she have?
She was almost to the door when Whitaker’s voice called out.
“Bree, where you going?”
She grimaced and turned back to him, keeping the phone at an awkward angle where Jeter could still see everything.
“I, uh, just needed some fresh air. And thought I might grab a bite to eat or something. I’ll be back in just a few.”
“I think you ought to wait until Tanner gets back. I don’t think he would like for you to be wandering around by yourself even if Jeter is in the hospital.”
How was she going to get out of here without making this a huge deal? “Yeah. But I—”
“Or I can come with you,” Whitaker offered.
Damn it. She tightened her grip on the phone. “No I—”
“Hey, Whit, can I talk to you for a second?” Penelope walked up to them and placed a hand on Whitaker’s shoulder.
“Sure. But—”
“This can’t wait. It’s about one of the victims.”
Whitaker looked torn. “It’s not a good idea for Bree to be going outside on her own.”
Penelope studied Bree. “You still listening to your music?”
Bree touched her headphones. “Yeah. Helps me relax.” The woman had to have remembered her earlier comment about how music distracted her.
“Here’s the keys to my car. It’s parked right out front. Go do what you need to do. We’ll see you soon.”
Bree turned and walked away, leaving Penelope behind to calm the blustering Whitaker and hopefully figure it all out.
Bree prayed it was enough.