Chapter 41

At the edge of the Genesis Valley city limits stood a dilapidated, sad-looking apartment complex. One often rented by kids just starting out, the elderly on fixed incomes, and drug abusers. Abigail parked her car in the rear of the eight-apartment complex, even though no security cameras recorded in this dark corner of the world.

Her gun in her hand, she climbed the iced-over stairs to the second landing and walked along the balcony to the far end. It was surprising the thing held her weight—the landlord should probably be shot next.

Without waiting for an invitation, she reached the last door, leaned back, and kicked her leg squarely to the left of the doorknob. The door crashed open. Nobody in this area would bother to investigate a noise. She stepped inside, gun out.

"Hello, daughter," Zeke Caine said, his gun pointed at her.

She reached behind herself and shut the door, then leveled the gun at him, aiming for his chest. "You tried to kill Laurel," she snapped.

Zeke smiled, looking comfortable in dark slacks and a white button-down shirt with the first couple of buttons open. He had apparently cleaned up after trying to commit murder.

"I think I did kill her," he said congenially, his gun aimed at Abigail's head. "Now, if you want to have a friendly conversation about this, we can. But guns down."

"Very well," she said, placing her gun at the back of her waist.

"Thank you."

She looked around. "This place is disgusting."

"I was in a bit of a rush," he admitted, tucking his gun at the front of his waist. "How did you find me?"

"I know of all your little haunts." A tidily made queen bed had been pushed into the far corner, while a round country-style table took up most of the kitchen, which only had two counters in an L-shape. The fridge hummed quietly, no doubt full of food. And one little couch faced an older TV on a series of boxes. "So this is where you bring your . . ."

"Dates," he said smoothly. "I like to call them dates."

Abigail crossed her arms. "The women you raped."

"It's not rape if they say yes to the drink," he retorted, walking around to pull out a chair. "Sit down, Abigail."

She didn't like the order, but they did need to speak. So she pulled one of the rickety wooden chairs away from the table and sat facing him, clocking the entire room.

His gun was at his waist. The counter held a hot plate, a toaster, a knife block, and several dirty dishes.

She was an expert in geometry and could calculate the distance of every object and every movement in the room. He was smart, but his IQ was nowhere near hers. Yet his narcissism blinded him to that fact.

"I preferred taking them in the church," he said thoughtfully. "There's just something about sex in the church, you know?"

"I don't," she said.

His chuckle sounded like that of a weak man. "Sure you do. You and Pastor John had some fun there, correct?"

She'd completely forgotten, to be honest. "You failed to kill Laurel."

"I kind of killed her." He lifted one shoulder. "But apparently my shot didn't hit Captain Rivers where I'd wanted. I didn't want him dead dead. But I needed him to be out for a little while longer."

"You thought he'd be arrested?" Abigail guessed.

Zeke rubbed his smoothly shaven chin. "Of course, I thought he'd be arrested. He was in the way."

"Laurel has it figured out," Abigail said. "She's smarter than you are, by far."

Zeke's eyebrows drew down. For once, he'd taken out the blue contacts, showing his true eye colors. Which matched Abigail's and Laurel's. "She is bright."

"As am I." Abigail had figured it out the second Delta Rivers had been identified as the first victim. Of course, she knew Zeke and Laurel didn't. So it had taken Laurel longer to put the pieces together. "All of this was a lead-up to your killing Deidre Snow, Laurel's mother."

He flicked lint off his pants. "Yes, I suppose it was."

"You meant to frame Huck?"

"He was in the way."

There were much easier ways to get rid of Captain Rivers. "I couldn't agree more," Abigail said. "You underestimated him."

"I most certainly did. I've ruined my life, and now you're going to have to help me, daughter."

"I am?" Abigail asked. "Why would I do that?"

His eyes glittered, probably with anger. Or fear. Who the hell knew. "Because you have a lot of money, and I need to get to somewhere that doesn't have an extradition agreement with the US."

"Ah," she murmured, righteous fury flowing through her veins. "Are we talking the Maldives, Indonesia, or Montenegro?"

He blinked. "You really don't know—there's never been a need for you to know."

"I'm thinking Seychelles," she said. That's where she'd go. In fact, she had plans in place should she ever need to run. He wasn't smart enough to realize that she was giving him this information because it would never matter for him. "I don't plan on helping you."

"But you will." He reached into his front pocket and drew out a small, black USB that he tossed on the counter behind him.

She followed his gaze. "Wow. A USB. That was dramatic. Why?"

His nostrils flared. "Do you honestly think I don't have cameras set around my church?"

Her body chilled, and then her brain took over. "There are no security cameras around the Genesis Valley Community Church."

"Yeah, there are." He smiled. "They're mine, and nobody else knows they're there. I mainly have them in the trees. They're much like the ones Fish and Wildlife use. Isn't that handy?"

She blew out air and quickly calculated her odds of getting out of this current predicament without having to leave Laurel.

"Yes, dear daughter, I have you on camera. Poor Teri Bearing. But I owe you for that one because it gave me an alibi for the other crimes. It's almost as if you wished to assist me."

She'd had no idea the bastard had killed the first victim. Hadn't had a clue. If only she had discovered the identity of Delta Rivers before deciding to fuck with him. Teri Bearing had seen Abigail with Jason back during her last charity event, and she might've heard Abigail messing with the moron's head. Abigail had been meaning to take care of her for a while, and after the finding of the first body, she figured she'd copy the killing. It was infuriating that she hadn't known the full truth.

Zeke sneered. "I can't believe you wanted to ruin my television show by leaving that woman's body by my church. I could've had a megamillion-dollar church."

She shrugged. Of course she'd wanted to ruin his big moment, which was why she'd dumped Teri's body behind the church. "You don't deserve a television show."

He stared at her. "The USB shows you committing murder. How about ten million dollars wired into this account?" He rattled off the numbers. "We both know you just memorized those."

The rage felt cleansing in her body, causing her blood to rush faster to her brain. Supplying more oxygen to that brilliant organ. "Of course I did."

"I also need papers, a couple of passports, some credit cards, and a false name. Give me a rich-sounding one. I'm going to need to find dates down there, wherever it is I'm going," he ordered.

"I don't have ten million in liquidated cash, you moron," she hissed, sounding properly angry.

"You own a pot farm, and I know you've invested wisely through the years. Make it happen, or that USB immediately ends up with good old Rachel Raprenzi at The Killing Hour . She's very involved in this case, as you know."

"I know." Abigail stood. "Fine. I'll see what I can do."

"Oh, no, no, dear daughter. You won't see what you can do. You will do it." He also stood. "You're lucky you're alive. You're lucky your sister's alive. She's tough."

A rage enveloped Abigail such as she had never felt before. It was shocking, really. She hadn't thought it possible to feel this much hatred for a simple human being. "You killed the baby. Our baby," she spat.

He blinked. "Laurel was pregnant?"

"Yes." The pain felt blinding.

He shrugged. "Whatever."

One word. One simple word. Abigail went stone cold. Icier than those rivers he'd used to kill. "This isn't over." She shifted her weight.

He lifted his hands, laughing. "Of course it's over. I win. I always do."

Faster than he could track, she dodged forward, grabbed a kitchen knife, pivoted, and sliced right into his neck. His eyes widened and he grabbed below his jaw, falling onto the chair.

In a frenzy, she stabbed him over and over again, blood spraying, pausing once to reach for the small USB on the counter and shove it into her mouth. She gagged several times but managed to swallow it before turning and plunging the knife into his eye and his neck and his chest.

Hopefully, the damn USB wouldn't perforate her colon.

He weakly lifted his arms and tried to ward her off, and she stabbed those, too.

"You never should have killed our baby," she yelled, plunging and stabbing until he went limp. Even then, she kept striking.

* * *

Huck returned to Laurel's hospital room to find her fully dressed. He shook his head. "What are you doing?"

"Abigail. She was just here. She's going after Zeke Caine. Let's go. Do you have a phone?"

"No," Huck said, grabbing her shoulder, his arm in a sling and his stitches already pissing him off. "You're staying here. You were drowned tonight, and you've just had a miscarriage. You have to be bleeding and in pain."

She looked at him, her eyes luminous. "It doesn't matter. I am bleeding, and the pain will dissipate. I can handle it. Nothing else can happen to me. I don't have anything to protect. We have to go now."

He understood her need to find Zeke Caine because he felt it as well. "Laurel."

"I'm going." She pushed past him.

Groaning, he followed her and nearly ran her over when she halted.

"We need a phone." She looked at the first officer.

The guy handed over his cell phone. "The code is 22789," he said.

"Thanks." She turned and limped down the hallway. Huck caught up to her at the outside door.

She pressed the phone to her ear. "Nester, what do you have? Okay, hospital. Then what?" She groaned. "Okay, then what? Come on. We have to find her somewhere. All right. Think, damn it, think."

They ran out to where Monty Buckley was jumping out of his rig. "Hey, what are you two doing out of the hospital?" he asked, a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"We need your truck," Huck muttered.

Monty looked from one to the other of them. "You two are certifiable. I'm driving." He tossed the flowers in the back seat.

"You're in front, Laurel." Huck walked around and lifted her in. "I want the heat on you." He was about as pissed off as pissed off could get, and so he slammed her door before jumping in the back seat.

It was going to take him awhile to process this loss, if that's what people did. Processing. He'd never understood the damned word. But right now, the only thing that mattered was keeping Laurel safe.

"Where are we going?" Monty asked.

"North." Laurel listed off different CCTV cameras that had caught Abigail.

Huck thought through what he knew of the area. "There's nothing out that way."

Laurel partially turned to look at him. "I know, but there's a gas station that confirmed the spotting of Abigail's car. She's easy to identify with her hair, and she would've known about the cameras. She wasn't hiding—she wants us to follow. Go there, Monty."

Monty mumbled under his breath the entire time but drove the fifteen minutes to the gas station.

"Stay here," Huck ordered, jumping out of the truck and striding inside. Thankfully, she did as he said. His arm ached like knives kept stabbing him. He couldn't imagine how she felt right now. And Monty should be in bed as well. The guy looked like death had finished knocking and now had entered his front door.

Huck walked up to the clerk behind the counter. The kid was young with a lot of pimples. "Hey, the FBI called you earlier, and you said you had a sighting of a redheaded woman in a black SUV."

"Yeah, man. She stopped for gas."

His shoulders straightened. "Great. Where'd she go?"

"I don't know." The kid pointed north. "She went that way."

Huck looked into the darkened night. "Is there anything out that way?"

The kid chewed on a toothpick. "There's a real crappy apartment complex, but other than that, no. I guess you could go several miles farther and hit a campsite or two."

"This apartment complex, people live there?"

The kid's head hung. "Only real sad people, dude."

"Okay, thanks." Huck jogged back outside. "There's an apartment complex, but there are also camping areas farther up."

"Morons," Monty muttered, putting the truck into Drive again. They drove for about five miles until they came to a dilapidated eightplex that might've been cream colored at one time. The paint had either rusted or peeled off. The stairs on the side to the top floor appeared as if ready to fall down.

"Looks like it used to be some type of motel," Monty muttered.

Laurel pointed to the far end. "Drive around it. There's parking on the other side."

Monty drove around the back, and Huck caught his breath at seeing Abigail's black SUV. "Holy shit," he said. "All right, you two stay here."

"No way," they both snapped.

"We need guns," Huck muttered.

Monty opened the glove box and handed Laurel a nine millimeter before reaching in his boot to hand back his Glock to Huck. "I'm keeping my service weapon," he said stubbornly.

"Fine. I'm lead." Huck stepped out and walked as carefully as he could to the stairs. "Monty, you take the bottom, I'll take the top. Laurel, you're with me."

Monty started on the lower end.

"Be stealthy. Don't knock on doors. Make no noise," Huck whispered.

"I know what I'm doing," Monty snapped back.

The first three apartments on the top floor remained deadly silent, and Huck caught his breath at seeing the broken door on the fourth one. He nodded at Laurel, and she angled around him to see.

"I go high," he whispered.

"Affirmative," she whispered back.

He moved to the other side of the door, his weapon in his hand, and kicked it open. He slipped in fast to find Abigail Caine covered in blood, her hand on a knife.

Zeke Caine was slumped in a chair next to her, blood flowing from every visible inch of him, his head down and his chin on his chest.

"Drop the knife, Abigail," Huck ordered loudly.

She dropped the knife, her bloodied hands in the air. The spray had caught her across her hair and face and entire body. She blinked, her eyes wide and dazed. "It was self-defense. He tried to kill me."