Chapter 49
Chapter Forty-Nine
It didn’t take Maggie long to learn that Jack Richards was out on parole, having been pinched again for possession.
It was sad, but apparently his time at Starry Meadows hadn’t done him a lot of favors.
Anatoly had a hard time feeling sympathy given he was now their lead suspect, but he tried to show compassion all the same.
Maggie gave him the full run down on her experience with the man as they were driving.
Apparently, he’d been busted the first time for prescribing himself narcotics.
The story was tragic and all too typical.
An accident had left Richards in chronic pain and when he got hooked on popping pills, he utilized his own prescription pad to keep himself stocked up.
At least until someone caught on to what he was doing.
“His first arrest they were lenient, though he still lost his ability to practice medicine,” Maggie was explaining.
She’d looked him up in the system to get all the current details and was now sharing them with Anatoly as they drove to the hovel that was Richards’s home on the outside.
Once he’d owned a beautiful cabin on the lake in the mountains according to his file.
“The judge threw him in Starry Meadows and it looks like he completed the program, but a few months later, he got picked up on a routine drug bust. Looks like he graduated from pills to street drugs and though he was suspected of distributing, they couldn’t prove it.
That’s when the wife bailed and took the kids with her while he was on the inside.
Now he’s out on parole and I guess looking for revenge.
That’s the only explanation I can figure. ”
Anatoly let out a sad sigh. “Is terrible what happened but is no excuse for murder.”
Maggie nodded in agreement, her hard ass demeanor back in place as they pulled to a stop up the block. “Stay in the car,” she commanded as she put the vehicle in park and turned it off. “I’ll signal you if it’s safe to join me.”
Under other circumstances, he might have objected. He was a vampire after all, he could handle himself, but given she had half a dozen uniformed officers to back her up, Anatoly didn’t fuss.
“You can listen on the radio,” she told him, tuning it to the appropriate station. “But no matter what you hear, promise me you’ll stay here.”
“Da, I will remain in car,” he answered. He wanted to reassure her that he wouldn’t do anything foolish. “Be careful, Maggie,” he told her gently and took a moment to squeeze her hand.
She grinned back at him confidently and double checked her firearm. “I will be. See you after.” To his surprise, she leaned over and kissed his cheek before bailing out of the car.
It took the police a couple minutes to sync up and get into position. All the while, Anatoly remained calm right up until he lost sight of Maggie in the darkness. Then he turned his attention to the radio, listening intently for any sign of what was going on.
At first, there was only silence as they crept up on the ramshackle house.
This wasn’t the first time Anatoly had been in poor neighborhoods, but before, he had been a priest there to offer solace.
Now, his significant other was in harm’s way and that didn’t sit right with him.
If Jack Richards really was their killer, he had every reason to resist arrest and that meant Maggie might be hurt.
He shoved the thought out of his mind and instead focused on praying that everything would work out as it was meant to. All he could really do was leave it in God’s hands and that was exactly what he was going to do.
The radio remained frustratingly silent save for the command to breach the door.
After that, it was quiet again, the minutes stretching out, his mouth dry and spine uncomfortably straight.
Anatoly wished he was with her in the thick of it, but knew that wasn’t his place, and so he waited on the literal edge of his seat.
“Clear. Suspect in custody,” Maggie’s voice washed over him, releasing him from the tension that had built up in the dark, quiet car. “You can come in now,” she said the words directly to him and he shot out of the vehicle the second she did.
It took him no time at all to walk down the street.
He was just in time to see a bedraggled man being stuffed into the back seat of a police cruiser.
A dark feeling settled in the pit of his stomach as he made eye contact with the suspect through the window.
That was the gaze of a man who had seen too much, done too much, and had no regrets. It made Anatoly shiver.
Maggie was standing on the porch speaking to another officer when he came up.
She smiled at him. “Found him hiding out in the upstairs bedroom. Come take a look, I’d like your input,” she told Anatoly when he stopped beside her.
They moved inside together and the vampire’s eyes scanned the messy living space with a frown.
Nothing was clean; there was trash littered across every surface and stacks of papers, likely bills, cluttering the kitchen table.
Flies and gnats hovered over half-eaten food containers and a general, foul odor permeated the air.
Anatoly didn’t understand how anyone could live like this, but he kept the thought to himself.
“Up here,” Maggie said, guiding him into the kitchen where a door lead up a flight of creaky stairs. She went first, flashlight in hand, and Anatoly followed without hesitation.
What they found when they got to the top would have stopped his heart cold if it weren’t already dead.
The wall between the two bedrooms had been haphazardly torn down, creating an open space with a pair of large folding tables set up in the middle.
There were no beds, no other furniture. When he looked closer, Anatoly could see the boxes of supplies and who knew what else cluttering the space.
Then Anatoly’s gaze caught the back wall where there were dozens of photographs pinned to the flaking drywall in a haphazard array.
“We got our copycat,” Maggie said, her voice belying the smile on her face. “We’re searching the house and yard, but this floor is incriminating enough.”
“Maggie, your picture is on wall,” Anatoly pointed out as though she couldn’t see it for herself plain as day.
She nodded, seeming entirely too unbothered by this reality. “So is Father Abrams’s and Jean Thomas’s,” she countered. “I’ve got an officer confirming, but we think the last person, possibly the next target, is the judge who tried Richards’s first case.” She indicated the picture of an older man.
None of it made Anatoly feel any better. The only thing that would satisfy him was finding out that Jack Richards would be spending a very long time behind bars where he couldn’t enact whatever scheme he’d been planning against Maggie.
“What is next move?” he asked instead, trying not to look too hard at a photo of Maggie that he recognized. She was dressed up, wearing a pink sweater, and stepping into a familiar church. He shuddered again and resisted the urge to grasp her hand.
“Paperwork.” She grinned. “A lot of paperwork.”
He grunted at that. “You act as though case is closed…”
Maggie put a hand on his arm and squeezed. Her touch was reassuring, but he still felt very uneasy. Something wasn’t adding up for him.
“Because it is. We got our guy and with the evidence we uncovered just in this room, he’ll be going away for a double homicide at the very least.” She dropped her hand as they heard boots on the stairs.
He wasn’t convinced. “How was Richards draining blood from victims?” His confusion was genuine as he asked.
Maggie indicated the boxes. “Medical supplies. Everything one might need to run a port on a drugged victim. It lines up with both autopsy reports.” She might have said more to comfort him, it looked as though she wanted to speak further, but they were joined by an officer then.
“Detective, Lieutenant Martin is here. He’d like a word,” the officer called.
“I’ll be right down,” she returned, then smiled again at Anatoly. “When I’m done, we’ll go celebrate, okay?”
He nodded, even though celebrating was the last thing on his mind. They may have found who had killed Father Abrams, but Anatoly knew Jack Richards was no vampire.
The serial killer was still out there.