Chapter Twenty-One
Ben reached across the console and pulled Brenda into his arms. There were things he wanted to say but none of those words would change what she was feeling. She was desperate, nearly beaten and yet hopeful because the woman holding Janey hostage had allowed Brenda to hear her voice.
She drew back, swiped at her eyes. He wished he had a handkerchief or tissues, but he had nothing like that in this rental car.
“Sorry about that. I’m okay.” She took a deep breath and resettled in her seat. “This is a definite step forward, right?”
“Yes. Mallory has made contact and laid out her demands. You have agreed to meet them. Now we wait for her next call.”
Brenda sniffed. “She said I had to come alone.”
“That’s the usual protocol kidnappers put on the table. But don’t worry. We’ll figure that part out as soon as we know the location.”
Ben’s cell shimmied in the cup holder. He reached for it and checked the screen. Max. He opened the text box.
Found active payments from Lawrence to a house on Mariposa Road.
Ben asked for the house number and thanked him for the good work. Once he had the number he entered the location into his maps app and reviewed the directions. Not so far from here.
“We have another address with an active account connected to Mallory. It’s very near the Bradley house where we found the second message.”
“Are we going there?” Brenda asked, her voice hopeful.
He nodded. “We are.” His phone shimmied again. This time it was the tracking app. “Lena Jenner is on the move.”
Brenda groaned. “What do we do? Follow Lena or go to this house?”
Ben considered their options. “We don’t know with any measure of certainty that Lena is involved with Mallory. She didn’t appear to be aware that Janey was even missing.”
“You’re right.” Brenda nodded. “Let’s go to the Mariposa address. Mallory and Janey could be there right now.”
A left turn out of the parking lot and they followed Airport Road until it transitioned into Johnson Road. A right on Triana Boulevard took them back to the Merrimack Mill Village area. A few more turns and they arrived on Mariposa.
“That’s it.” Brenda pointed to the house coming up on the right.
Ben slowed and pulled to the curb two houses before the one that was their target. There were no vehicles in the driveway or nearby on the street. No lights in the house.
“What if this was just a distraction?” Brenda chewed her lip. “That text did come just before Lena left her house.”
“I know it looks that way,” Ben said patiently, “but trust me, Max knows what he’s doing. If he says there’s activity on the property related to Mallory, he’s done a check of the payment history. It won’t have been just a sudden transaction, or he would have warned me.”
“Sorry.” Brenda shook her head. “I’m just…overwhelmed.”
“No explanation necessary.” Ben hitched his head toward the house. “Let’s check it out. Even if Mallory and Janey aren’t here, there may be evidence that will help us trace their movements.”
They emerged from the car and moved along the sidewalk until they reached the house. It was a one-story with large windows. Ben walked straight to the door and knocked. Brenda peeked through a window.
“It’s dark in there, but I think it might be empty,” she reported in a stage whisper. “Maybe a sofa or a love seat in the middle of the room.”
Ben checked the door. Locked. “Let’s walk around back.” He wasn’t opposed to breaking and entering when necessary, but it was best not to do it where you were likely to be seen by neighbors.
They moved around to the back of the house.
The yard was fairly small. A bit overgrown with a rickety privacy fence—all worked in their favor.
Brenda moved in close to the windows, attempting to see beyond one after the other.
Ben walked straight to the rear entrance.
A sliding glass patio door. He gave it a tug and, to his surprise, it slid open.
“Here we go.”
When Brenda joined him, he reminded her, “Stay behind me until we’ve ensured the house is clear of potential threat.”
“Got it.”
He walked in, she followed. He slid the door closed once more.
The rear entrance brought them into a small kitchen.
He tried a light switch, then another. Apparently the utilities had been shut off.
He used the flashlight app on his cell phone to scan the room.
Clear. The interior was in need of a new coat of paint on the walls but otherwise unremarkable.
Beyond the kitchen was an L-shaped living-dining room combo.
There was a sofa but no other furniture or indication of occupancy.
The place was surprisingly clean. Off the living room was a narrow hall.
The first door on the left was a bathroom.
Empty. Nothing in the cabinet over the sink or in the one beneath.
The first bedroom on the right was very small. No furniture. No indication anyone had been there recently. Brenda checked the closet.
“Empty.” She hugged herself, chafed her arms. “Looks like the whole place is empty except for that sofa in the living room.”
“Let’s see the rest.”
The next door on the right was another bedroom. It too was the same as the first one. One remaining door on the left. Unlike with the other rooms, this door was shut. The closed door put Ben on alert. He glanced at Brenda, and she stepped behind him.
He opened the door and had a look. The beam of light bumped over something on the floor. Ben moved in closer. A blanket was spread over a lump there. The shape of the lump suggested it was likely a body.
Brenda gasped, and before he could stop her, she had propelled herself around him and pulled back the blanket.
Male.
Scott Devers.
Evidently Dirk Lanier had been right.
Brenda stood over her dead husband’s body, her hands pressed to her mouth.
Ben moved to her side and ushered her into the hall. He leaned her against the wall. “Stay here. I’ll have a closer look and call Shelton.”
Ben entered the bedroom once more and used the flashlight app to get a better look.
He felt for a pulse although it was clear the man was dead.
His body wasn’t as cold as he’d expected so he examined his fingers and hands.
No indication of rigor mortis just yet. He couldn’t have been dead very long. Maybe an hour, two tops.
Next he surveyed the body for injury. There was blood on the front of his shirt. But he had not been stabbed like Cummings. He’d been shot, twice. Once in the abdomen, and the second shot, likely the kill shot, had entered the chest very close to the heart.
Moving quickly, he checked the pockets of his jeans as best he could without moving the body. He hoped to find a cell phone, but it was not there. He scanned the room. No weapon. No phone.
Ben looked in the closet then, but the room was clear save for the body in the middle of the floor.
He walked back into the hall where Brenda waited. “He hasn’t been dead long. An hour or two maybe.”
Brenda squeezed her eyes shut. “He and Cummings…” She shook her head. “They were both found in properties belonging to Mallory. If she would think nothing of killing two people…”
“You and Mallory have a deal. She isn’t going to risk hurting Janey until she has what she needs.”
“Hope not.” Brenda hugged herself more tightly.
Ben wanted to hold her and comfort her, but there wasn’t time just now. They couldn’t be sure when Mallory would make contact again. “I have to call Shelton. We should probably wait outside until he arrives.”
Brenda followed him to the front door. Ben unlocked it and they walked out. He made the call and tucked the phone back into his pocket.
Now they waited.
Brenda leaned against the front door. He glanced at her, wished he knew the right thing to say to alleviate her worry.
“I know this is hard,” he confessed. “Is there anything I can do?”
She shook her head. “The only thing we can do is wait for word from Mallory.”
They waited a minute or two more in silence. Then the distant sound of sirens and traffic filled the darkness.
“You know,” she said, “I keep thinking I’ll wake up and find that this has all been a dream. But when I open my eyes each morning it just keeps going.”
Ben put his arm around her and pulled her close. He kissed the top of her head.
Headlights bobbed in the distance. Another set and then another followed that.
“Looks like Shelton and his crew have arrived.” He dropped his arm to his side, not wanting to give Shelton something else to pick at.
The detective squealed to a stop at the curb and was out of his car before it stopped rocking.
“This is getting to be a pattern,” he announced as he approached, his shuffle weary.
Ben had warned him when he called that there was no electricity so they would need auxiliary lighting. “Maybe we’re just really good at finding the missing pieces of this case.”
Shelton snorted a laugh. Then he frowned and fished his phone from his pocket. “Shelton,” he barked in answer.
Ben glanced at Brenda, gave her a reassuring smile.
Shelton swore repeatedly, thanked the caller and then shoved his phone back into his pocket.
“Well, Ms. Devers, looks like you might be the last one standing.”
She straightened away from the door. “What do you mean?”
“That was an officer at the scene of a car accident on the other side of Chapman Mountain. He called me because I have an alert on the players related to this case. The driver involved is Lena Jenner. She’s alive but in bad shape.”
“What about her son?” Brenda asked, her voice strained with worry.
“He’s banged up but stable.”
“Do you know what happened?” Ben decided not to mention anything about the tracking device. Not just now anyway.
Shelton shook his head. “No other cars involved. She was probably driving too fast. Crashes like that happen on that stretch of road going over the mountain all the time.”
Shelton was right then… Brenda was the last one standing.
Ben would not allow anyone to get to her.