Chapter Seventeen
Judson couldn’t see squat because of the blinding light that the SOB at the end of the hall had flashed at him. But his hearing was just fine, and he heard all sorts of sounds that had him charging forward despite not being able to see.
The babies were crying.
Then there’d been those gunshots. Followed by someone falling onto the floor. The thud had been unmistakable. But had it been Addie who’d fallen? Had she been shot?
“Addie,” Judson managed to get out, and the thought of her being shot got him moving even faster.
But not fast enough.
Despite not being able to see much of anything, he cleared his eyes enough to catch a glimpse of a person jumping over something and into the bedroom.
Hell.
Where was Bennie?
Keeping his gun raised and moving closer to the doorway, Judson soon got the answer to that. Bennie was on the floor, and he was bleeding. Maybe dead. He certainly wasn’t moving.
Judson had to shove aside the possibility that his fellow deputy might have been the killer’s latest victim. He couldn’t deal with that now. First, he had to somehow get Addie, the twins and Etta Jean to safety and then capture the killer. Then he could get Bennie the medical help he needed.
He considered firing off a quick text to Rory, to let him know what was going on, but every second was precious now. Judson knew that in every bone in his body. He knew he had to get to Addie or this SOB would kill her.
If he hadn’t already.
Judson made it to the door, stopping by the frame and getting another quick glimpse of Bennie. The man was breathing. That was something, at least. Maybe he could hang on a little while longer.
Maybe Addie could, too.
He peered around the edge of the door, hoping to see her—alive. And he did. But his heart dropped to his knees. She was definitely alive, for now anyway, but there was a person behind her. Someone wearing black clothes and night-vision goggles.
And that someone had a gun pointed at her head.
Damn it. The killer had her.
Now that his eyes had refocused from the burst of light, Judson took in the rest of the room with a sweeping glance.
There was a small device on the floor that looked to be an attachment for a camera flash.
It’d been simple but effective in temporarily blinding Judson.
Heck, probably Bennie, too, which explained how the deputy had gotten shot.
He wouldn’t have seen the killer coming right at him.
Judson continued looking around and spotted another gun on the floor. Maybe the one Addie had had been using. The killer could have knocked it out of her hand when he’d come at her. So, she wasn’t armed and couldn’t defend herself without risking a fatal shot to the head.
He shifted his gaze from Addie to the bathroom door, and Judson was glad to see that it was closed. Glad, too, that with the babies crying, he at least knew they were alive. He had to do something to keep them that way.
Had to do something to free Addie, too.
There was only the one person behind her. That didn’t mean that someone else, an accomplice, wasn’t outside the house. The killer’s backup. And it sickened Judson to think that the accomplice might have killed Calvin and Rory. Maybe the ranch hand who’d been in the kitchen as well.
Judson heard some soft footsteps to his right, and he snapped his gaze in that direction. His body braced for an attack.
But it was Rory and Calvin.
Alive, and unlike Bennie, neither of them was injured. Thank God. And the fact they were here told him that this person was probably acting solo.
Judson motioned for Calvin and Rory to stop. He didn’t want the killer hearing them and pulling the trigger in panic.
“What do you want with Addie?” Judson shouted out to the killer.
And he was certain this SOB wanted something or Addie would have already been dead. The only reason to hold her like this was for some kind of leverage.
“What I want is some cooperation,” the man replied.
Judson cursed. He had no trouble recognizing the voice.
Elijah.
So, he was the killer. Maybe. Or he could be the accomplice. Still, even if he hadn’t killed yet, he could be willing to start now.
“What I want is fast cooperation so we can all get the hell out of here,” Elijah added a moment later.
The man didn’t sound scared or on the verge of panic. His hand wasn’t shaking, either, and that let Judson know he was dealing with a cold-blooded killer. And it wasn’t just Addie in danger. The babies were only a wall away from this snake.
“If you want fast, then spill why you’re doing this,” Judson snapped.
He stayed partially behind the doorframe so he could duck out of the line of fire if Elijah tried to shoot him. Which he was certain that Elijah would do—once he got what he wanted.
“Two things,” Elijah said, still sounding plenty calm despite jabbing the barrel of his gun even harder against Addie.
It caused her to muffle a sound of pain, and while it was barely audible, it made Judson want to tear Elijah limb from limb. Which was no doubt why the man had done it. He likely wanted Judson on the edge, maybe going off half-cocked. That would make him easier to kill.
“First, take out your phone and toss it on the floor toward me,” Elijah spelled out as he quickly yanked off the goggles. “I need to delete a picture.”
Of all the things Judson had thought a killer might demand, that hadn’t even been on his radar. “What picture?”
Elijah made a yeah, right sound as if he wasn’t buying that Judson didn’t know what he was talking about. Still, the man explained it.
“The one you snapped of Yvette’s car as she was speeding away from the ranch. I was in the back seat with the brats, and I lifted my head just as I’m pretty sure you took that picture.”
Yeah, Judson had no trouble recalling the photo.
Or thinking that maybe he’d caught a glimpse of someone in the car with Yvette.
But that glimpse had come a split second after he’d gotten the picture of the license plate.
He had studied and restudied that photo, and there hadn’t been even a partial image of anyone other than the driver in the car.
“Do it now,” Elijah demanded, and he gave Addie another of those jabs to the temple.
Judson did take out his phone, and he considered hurling it at Elijah and trying to hit his hand. But it was too risky. It might distract him, yes. Might even cause him to drop the gun. But it also could cause him to accidently pull the trigger and kill Addie where she stood.
Instead, Judson leaned down, putting the phone on the floor on the other side of Bennie, and he shoved it in Elijah’s direction. Since Elijah was standing in the middle of the room, the phone stopped a good yard short of Addie’s feet.
Elijah cursed, and after calling Judson a crude name, he began to force Addie to move toward the phone.
“I know the photo didn’t go to the lab. I checked.
I’ve got some decent hacking skills,” he tacked on to that.
“Of course, a county lab doesn’t have as much cybersecurity as it should.
I saw what was logged in, and the photo wasn’t one of the items.”
Elijah was right about that. The photo hadn’t been sent in because the only thing of value on it was the license plate number. There’d been no glimpse of the back seat or anyone in it, only the trunk and the license plate.
Of course, Elijah wouldn’t have known that.
All he would have seen was Judson aiming his phone at Yvette’s car. If his image had indeed been captured, it was possible the lab techs could have cleaned up the image and used it to ID him.
So, yeah, in Elijah’s mind, getting that picture was critical.
But once he had it, there’d be no reason to keep any of them alive. In fact, just the opposite. He’d want them all dead. Maybe Etta Jean, too, once he discovered her in the bathroom and realized she could have overheard everything they were saying.
“You helped Yvette steal the babies,” Addie spat out. She was probably terrified, but she managed to sound more than ready and willing to make him pay for what he’d done.
“Helped?” Elijah laughed while he kept her moving.
“Sugar, I did all the hard work by convincing that dimwit Yvette that the babies were in danger from some fake bogeyman I made up, and I made her believe that the only way to save them was for us to kidnap them. Yvette went right along with everything, including handing the brats off to the first person she saw on the road. Of course, she wanted to keep them, and I had to talk her out of that. Dimwit,” he repeated in a snarl.
“I’m sure the drugs you gave Yvette helped convince her,” Judson snarled. He wanted Elijah’s attention on him.
“Maybe,” Elijah muttered, and then amended that with, “Probably. They didn’t hurt, anyway. They made her more pliable.”
So, he’d been the one to give Yvette the drugs, which had made her more suspicious. What else had Elijah done?
“Why have her take the babies only to give them to someone else?” Judson wanted to know.
“The brats weren’t the goal, Deputy.” Elijah said the title as if it were the worst kind of poison.
“Giving Yvette a motive to off herself was. After the drugs wore off and she came to what little senses she had, she was supposed to be so overcome with guilt that she couldn’t live with herself.
Of course, I would have encouraged her to do that. ”
That explained the note found in Yvette’s car. Maybe the woman had written it on her own, but Judson suspected Elijah had helped with that, too. It’d been why it was so impersonal.
“And the visits to see Rowena in jail?” Addie asked. “Did you encourage Yvette to do that?”
“I did,” Elijah admitted. “I figured Rowena could stir up the old feelings for Yvette over losing custody of her kids.”
“But why?” Addie pressed.