Chapter Twenty-Two
Two nights later, inside Marigold House, Linus lit a fire in the living room—which was slowly becoming their go-to hangout spot—hoping they could both kick back with the dogs, relax, and spend a quiet evening together for the first time in days.
In fact, the entire town could sleep better knowing the serial killer, who had been active for more than fifteen years, had been transported out of town to the county jail.
“Confronted with the fact that we found Abby so quickly, Derrick finally started talking. He admitted that Joely Harrison was his first victim back in 2008. Imagine committing your first murder at nineteen,” Linus said, looking up at Lake with his head in her lap.
“What do you think he was burying the night Abby saw him in the yard, besides a bunny rabbit, of course?”
“Rumors are already floating around that the cops found a few souvenirs in a metal box—specifically driver’s licenses—tying him to Amanda Jenner, Gail Pinter, and Cillia French. Given time, I would think that tearing his place apart would reveal more things he kept from the other victims. Who knows what he decided to bury in the same hole he dug for the pet bunny? Is that when he dropped the tin box in the hole or beforehand? Whatever it was, it will eventually come out. Did I tell you I got an email from Sofia? I forwarded it to Brent. Jimmy said that the guy she described fits what Derrick looked like ten years ago. She even sat down with a sketch artist in Denver and provided a very good likeness. And it seems Derrick had access to a black SUV that belonged to his uncle.”
Lake ran her fingers through Linus’s hair, lost in thought. “It’s chilling to think that he had so many victims. Imagine how many lives could have been saved if he had been caught after the first one went missing.”
She paused, her fingers still feathering his hair. “We may never know what he was burying that night,” Lake continued, her voice tinged with unease. “But I can’t shake off how he looked when I apologized that morning. I’ll remember that smirk on his face for a long time.”
“He certainly had me fooled.”
“Not really. You had a gut feeling something was off. I keep wondering if Fiona Fowler suspected anything?”
“They always ask the wife or the girlfriend what they knew. It’s a fact Derrick was most active at nighttime. Maybe he waited until Fiona went to work the third shift when he had all the time in the world to stalk his prey.”
He twisted in her lap. “I can’t believe he lived and worked among us for so long without anyone suspecting a thing. When I think of how I felt the day I found Gabby’s remains, I’m sick at heart. To know Derrick did that… How many more are out there like him, blending into our daily lives all the while harboring such evil intent?”
The weight of Derrick’s gruesome dark side hung heavy over their moment of peace. She shuddered at the thought of the horrors he had inflicted on the unsuspecting women simply crossing over that bridge to get somewhere else. “Unfortunately, the world is full of predators we can’t always recognize as such. We can’t always determine good and evil in a person. They hide that part of themselves. Maybe Fiona had no clue who he really was. What’s important is that we brought light to this one horrible man. We found Abby, and we stopped him from hurting anyone else. That was our goal, and we did it.”
“Yeah. But it was your idea to go to the monastery, a brilliant move. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have found her until it was too late.”
“Wonder why Derrick kept her alive and not the others. Why did he take her there, to that spot?”
“I heard Eastlyn and Birk talking about that. They decided it was because he knew her. Abby was a neighbor and had lived around the corner for years. The other victims were yanked off the bridge as strangers and killed right there without having any emotional ties to them.”
“Even though Derrick was angry with Abby, you’re saying he couldn’t kill her outright. I’m not sure I believe that. A killer’s a killer. If she’d stayed there much longer, she would’ve died from exposure or starved to death.”
“It’s their theory, not mine. I’m sure they’ll look into Derrick’s past association with the boys’ school or whatever it was when Derrick spent his summers out there. The answer could be in its close proximity to his family’s cabin. I suppose time will tell.”
“You have to admit, it was a decent choice. If you hadn’t remembered the cabin or the monastery…,” her voice trailed off at the implications.
He picked up a strand of her mahogany-colored hair and twirled it through his fingers. “Do we have to keep talking about this? I realize we need to pick a time and celebrate Abby’s release and Derrick’s incarceration, but does it have to be tonight? Can’t we focus on other things?”
Lake smiled mischievously, tracing a finger along Linus’s jawline. “By now, I know what that look means. Aren’t you exhausted from all the running around we did today?”
“Exhausted, yes, but not too tired for a little celebration of our own,” he whispered, sitting up to take her chin. On one elbow, he pressed his mouth to hers.
A tenderness spread through Lake’s chest as she pulled him closer, the weight of the day slowly melting away as they lost themselves in each other.
The doorbell rang.
“Damn it!” Linus muttered. “What now? Can’t we get five minutes to ourselves?” After a bout of grumbling, he got up to answer the door but hesitated. “Maybe you should see who that is.”
Sputtering with laughter, she looked down at his building pants. “Yes, I think I should.”
“Check the door camera first,” he cautioned as he watched her sashay past him and out to the entryway.
“It’s Eastlyn,” Lake provided as she opened the door. “What are you doing here? Is Abby okay?”
“She’s fine,” Eastlyn replied. “Quentin kept her overnight at the hospital for dehydration. In a couple of days, she’ll be good as new. Although the traumatic experience will remain, I’m sure.”
Lake ushered her inside, leading her into the living room. “Then what brings you here after such a busy day?”
Eastlyn acknowledged Linus with a nod and kept her focus on him. “I wanted to let you know that Derrick is the one who broke into your house and messed it up. Yours, too,” she said, pivoting back to Lake. “His favorite brand of running shoes is Adidas and his shoe size is eleven. That fits with what we found at the other houses, too. It’s the damnedest thing. He clammed up immediately when we got him to jail but then once he started talking, he’s turned into a chatterbox, admitting to all kinds of things.”
“Like what?” Linus asked.
“We only have his word for it, mind you, but he’s provided a name that goes with those remains found on the same side of the bridge as Gabby. He says she’s a woman he picked up hitching a ride last June into San Francisco. Derrick claims her name was Erin Benton. Needless to say, we were skeptical. But it turns out, one search through a database and we find that eighteen-year-old Erin Benton has been missing since last June. Bingo. Her story to Derrick was that she got into a fight with her boyfriend, and the boyfriend dumped her at the side of the road near San Sebastian. According to Benton’s family, the couple had started out that day near Porterville, running off to elope.”
“They were getting married?” Lake repeated. “And he dumped her on the trip there? Wow. Just. Wow. What kind of rotten luck is that? She jumped into a vehicle with a serial killer after getting dumped.”
“That’s what I said,” Eastlyn murmured. “Anyway, we’ll verify the story with the boyfriend. But I thought Linus might want to know that we have a name. We’ll need DNA and all that to confirm but I thought I’d let you know on my way home.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that. Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Lake and I were talking earlier about Derrick. How well did you know him? Did you ever suspect he might be—”
Eastlyn held up a hand. “Let me stop you there. You can’t know what’s inside someone. Brent had a conversation with Fiona Fowler earlier. The girlfriend had no clue what he was doing during those nights she was at work.”
“We figured,” Lake stated. “But people will always wonder and talk.”
“They probably will,” Eastlyn established. “Think of it this way. If you thought Linus here was a fairly normal guy when you first met him, but his behavior changed at some point, you might suspect him of doing nefarious things when he went out by himself. Whereas Derrick started out at nineteen, murdering his first victim, Fiona never noticed a change in him. I’m trying to say that Fiona only knew the Derrick who killed. She never knew Derrick any other way. His behavior stayed the same because he was a cold-blooded killer early on and never needed to pretend to be anything different. His personality and emotions stayed on the same even keel. He didn’t outwardly exhibit anything different to the people who knew him.”
Linus nodded. “That helps. Thanks. Because I could see myself for years down the road questioning how I missed Derrick’s dark side.”
“I don’t understand why he took the books from the library about serial killers, though,” Lake said. “He’d already been killing for years by then.”
“Look, from our standpoint, the investigation is mere hours old. Give us a chance to really dig into his patterns and mindset. We’ve made great strides, but we still have a long way to go in nailing down Derrick’s timeline, his work schedule, and matching up victims to his older activity. Maybe he needed the books to try and pinpoint where they made mistakes so he wouldn’t get caught.”
“That sounds reasonable enough,” Lake concluded.
“In other words, don’t rush the investigation,” Linus decided.
“You look like you could use eight hours of sleep,” Lake noted.
“I’d settle for five or six. Cooper’s been after me to take vacation time. I think after the past week, I’m going to put in for two solid weeks off.”
“I’m not much of a traveler, but you deserve a trip to somewhere exotic,” Lake said with a smile. “Like a second honeymoon.”
“I never got a first one,” Eastlyn chortled. “If I could get away anywhere, I’d settle for someplace with no internet or phone service.”
“What about a creepy cabin in the woods?” Linus quipped.
Eastlyn shuddered at the idea of that. “On second thought, maybe I’ll make do with staying home and hanging out beachside right here.”
“Hopefully, things will get back to normal,” Lake said. “Do you know if Derrick was working with Callum Riggs?”
“Yeah, that’s a great question,” Linus muttered. “What was his role in all this? Is that guy talking?”
“From what I know, his lawyers are going for an insanity plea. Not sure that will work, though. According to his ex-wife, he’s been trolling the internet for women. Guess who he was in contact with recently?”
“The underage Alice?” Lake guessed with disgust.
“Nope. Her mother, Karen,” Eastlyn provided. “Karen may have led Callum Riggs to believe that Alice was his daughter from an affair they had years earlier, like fifteen years ago. He’s been trying to persuade Karen to let him meet Alice. Karen has refused that outright, not wanting her husband Tom to know the truth.”
Lake traded looks with Linus. “That night, she and Tom stopped by to thank us, Karen did seem to know Riggs. Remember, she said something about saving her little girl from that man. He’s a monster.”
“I remember. What a mess,” Linus stressed. “And he set fire to the boats in the harbor strictly to distract the town so that he could kidnap Alice? He just picked boats at random to blow up? That’s crazy.”
“Don’t throw that word ‘crazy’ around. Don’t plant that seed with a jury pool.”
“You’re right. Sorry. So, it’s just a coincidence that Riggs drove a black SUV?”
“Cadillac Escalade,” Eastlyn amended with a nod. “Not your run-of-the-mill SUV. More like the 4Runner that Kingsley had access to and still does—the kind with the big-looking bush grille guard in the front that people might mistake for a cop car.”
“I see,” Linus said, trying to keep it straight in his head.
“It’s not that difficult,” Eastlyn pointed out. “Riggs tried to abduct Alice, a girl he believes is his fourteen-year-old daughter, from a relationship that he had with Karen Barrett. He used his expertise from the military to build four controlled devices that he thought would distract half the town by setting them off in the harbor attached to four boats. It worked. We were all focused on fighting the fires. He was able to separate Alice from the rest of her group at school by using her boyfriend as a lure. Fortunately, you came along near the bridge and rescued her. Because Lake found out his identity from the gas receipts at Wally’s, we had a name, registration, address, and bingo. When Mr. Tanaka saw him mooring off Crab Shack Cove, the Coast Guard closed in on him and he blew up his own boat out of a desperate attempt to escape.”
“There were two separate cases,” Lake clarified. “Callum Riggs kidnapping Alice and Derrick Kingsley the serial killer.”
“You got it. We live in a complicated world these days,” she noted as she turned to head back toward the entry hall and then stopped, thumping her head. “Jeez, I’m so exhausted that I almost forgot the most important reason I stopped by tonight. Derrick keeps saying he did something to your dogs while he was in the house.”
Lake stared down at Jack, then studied Scout and Farley. “But the dogs are fine. You think he gave them something?”
“You mean like put something in their water or food?” Linus asked. “Because the night he came inside here, the dogs were on a walk with us.”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know for certain,” Eastlyn replied. “He’s vague about it. But if you haven’t seen any signs that the dogs ingested anything that might harm them or make them ill, maybe Derrick is just jerking us around. I thought you needed to know, though.”
“Thanks, Eastlyn,” Lake said as she walked the cop to the door. As she waved Eastlyn off, worry settled in her stomach. “Do you think Derrick put something in their food?”
Linus scooped Jack up to inspect him for any sign of illness. “That’s been weeks ago. If it’s true, we would’ve seen evidence of that. They would have exhibited vomiting by now or some other signs they ate something bad. We’ve seen nothing like that from any of them.”
“Weird. Why would Derrick say that?”
“To mess with us.”
“Just to make sure I’m checking the bags of food in the fridge,” Lake said, heading for the kitchen. “You’re right, though. They’ve gone through almost everything I had on hand, so I placed a reorder like I always do. I received a new delivery of dog food not two days ago.”
Once she reached the refrigerator, she opened the door and stopped. “You don’t suppose he messed with the food that was just delivered, do you? The dogs haven’t eaten any of that. But it sat outside on the porch for a couple of hours until I came home from work. I’m not sure how long it was out there because things have been kinda crazy lately.”
“We’ll take a look at each one to make sure.” Linus helped her sort through the pre-packaged food, looking for any signs Derrick had tampered with the bags.
After several minutes, Lake found one of the plastic packages had one small slit at the end. Linus discovered another one with the same kind of cut near the top. Then Lake found a puncture hole in another bag.
“That’s never happened before,” Lake noted. “The food is delivered in boxes and comes sealed up. Derrick must’ve gone to a lot of trouble to sabotage our dogs’ food.”
“We should have these tested,” Linus suggested. “I’ll take these to Cord tomorrow and see what he says.”
Starting to panic, Lake huffed out a breath. “We can’t feed any of this to them for breakfast.”
“It’s okay. We have the dry food you usually mix in with the fresh. There’s also an unopened bag at my place for backup.”
“What a vile man,” Lake fumed. “I can’t give my dogs anything that’s been in the house.”
“Have I told you that I love the way you go all protective like that with the dogs,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. He nibbled his way down her jaw to her neck, placing kisses along the way.
Despite her mood, laughter escaped. “I’m worried about our dogs and you’re trying to get me into bed.”
“I’ll make sure the dogs don’t eat anything Derrick might’ve touched. I’ll find out what he put in the food from Cord. I promise you that. But we can’t do anything about it tonight. And the dogs are fine.”
She looked across the kitchen to find three pups staring back at her, knowing he was right “Well, okay. But I want this tainted food out of my house and out of their reach.”
He swatted her playfully on the fanny. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. You get ready for bed. I’ll be up in a second after I take this stuff to my truck.”
As the night wore on, Lake found they could laugh even during challenging times. After they both took long, hot showers, they enjoyed each other’s company, finding solace in the intimacy. They were grateful for the bond that had seen them through such dark days.
Whispered promises in the heat of the moment and shared laughter had brought them full circle. Whatever darkness lurked in the world outside, as long as they had each other, they could overcome any challenges that came their way.
On the other side of the bedroom, three dogs, sensing the shift in mood as their humans reveled in their victory, wagged their tails in joyful delight and fell asleep.