All Through the Night (Liar's Web) (23 page)

Jake knew instinctively that Bo sensed the urgency in his tone. Without pausing to question him, Bo headed out the door at breakneck speed and began mobilizing the other officers.

Lenny watched Bo hustle out of the room, his eyes wild with anxiety and bewilderment. “What's happening, Trueblood?”

Although he wanted to give way to his own fear and nervousness, Jake forced himself to put on a professional face. “Official police business, Lenny. You stay your ass here at the police station and don't get involved in this.”

As Jake moved to walk past him, Lenny reached out and grabbed him by the wrist, his eyes filled with terror. “Tell me the truth! Is Darcel in danger?”

Jake hesitated before he spoke, torn between his desire to keep Lenny out of the loop and his innate sense of fair play. Despite his negative feelings toward the guy, he was Darcel's brother. She loved him. And judging by the way he'd voluntarily made his way to the sheriff's office today, he loved her too. So far he had a shitty way of showing it, but it was love nonetheless.

“
Andre is out there somewhere. If my hunch is correct, he killed Ronnie. In all likelihood, he killed Cree as well. If all that is true, he's tried twice now to kill Darcel. My gut tells me he's gonna try a third time. I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure he doesn't succeed.”

“
Where are you going?”

Jake tried to shake off his annoyance. Through gritted teeth, he said, “To your sister's house. I can't reach her by landline or cell phone. I've got to get to her.” Unspoken words hung in the air.
I've got to get to her…before Andre does.

When Lenny moved to follow behind him, Jake turned on his heel and grabbed the other man by the collar, shoving him into the nearest seat. “What part of stay your ass here don't you understand? Do not under any circumstances follow me! Don't make me lock you up in a jail cell, Lenny!'

Lenny held up his hands in surrender, his face filled with terror. “I'm not going to be a problem, Sheriff. Go! Go find my sister!”

Jake threw him a nod of acknowledgement before he stalked out the door, his long strides full of force and determination. More than anything he wanted Lenny to know that he loved his sister and he would go to the ends of the earth to keep her safe. He wasn't a religious man by any means, but in this one instance, he sent a heartfelt prayer to the man above in the hope he wasn't too late to save the woman he loved.

* * * *

“
What a mess.” Andre surveyed the shattered glass and spilled lemonade. With his shoe, he deliberately began pushing a shard of glass around on the floor, grinding it under his heel until it was shimmering dust.

“
Y-Yes, I'm so clumsy,” she said feebly as she bent down to pick up the splinters. Her mind was whirling busily as she tried to process the fact she was face-to-face with a killer. She had to stay calm. She had no illusions about why he'd come here today. He meant to kill her, to silence her in the same way he'd silenced Ronnie. He knew she was the sole living witness to his heinous crime—murdering his own brother. She quickly palmed a shard of glass in her hand, knowing that if it came down to it, she would fight for her life against this animal.

“
Leave it!” Andre ordered as he pulled her by the arm and jerked her to her feet. She stumbled a bit then steadied herself, all the while keeping a firm grip on the jagged piece of glass.

“
Why couldn't you just let your punk-ass brother do his own dirty work?” She looked into Andre's eyes, shivering as she saw the ruthless glint in them and the cool, calm determination of a remorseless killer. “Why couldn't you just stay out of it?”

She stared back into his soulless eyes, unwavering as she faced him down. “Because I love my brother. I could never do what you did.”

He let out a harsh laugh. “You don't know shit about my relationship with Ronnie.”

“
I know you killed him.” Once the words were spoken, she couldn't reel them back in. She'd thrown all her cards down on the table in the hopes she could catch him off guard and make a break for it. Eerily, his face still remained composed, her words seeming to bounce right off him like rubber.

“
Yeah, I killed him.” He shrugged, his face a cold mask of indifference. “He was trying to take away my business. He tripped out. We went into our enterprise together—fifty, fifty. An even split right down the middle.” Andre sneered as he reminisced about his twin. “He always thought he was so tough. When we were kids, he always called me a mama's boy. As time went by it became clear who the real mama's boy was in the family. Whenever things got tough, he crumbled.

“
Who do ya think he called in to clean up all his messes when he punked out?” he asked angrily, his facial features twisting unnaturally into a grimace that distorted his face. “Then he decided to bail out on me. He wanted to go legit, didn't want nothing to do with the hustle anymore. He threatened to get rid of our product, to throw it all away so we wouldn't get busted. Said he didn't want to spend the rest of his life behind bars.”

“
I still don't understand why you had to kill him.”

Andre cackled with laughter, his eyes betraying a hint of madness as he reflected on his murderous actions. “I guess he grew a pair of balls after all. He threatened me. Told me he was gonna go to the cops and let ‘em know everything unless I cut him loose and paid him off. Why the hell was I going to give him half of everything when he was bailing on me? I still had Cree to deal with…he wanted a cut of everything, too.

“
You know what they say?” he asked in a sing-song voice. “Too many people wanting a slice of the pie. We argued that night at the Sugar Shack. He wanted to take the $2,000 cash you were delivering that night, along with a few other bundles of cash. I couldn't let him do that.”

“
You killed your twin brother over a monetary dispute?” she asked in a voice laced with disgust. Although she was genuinely horrified by his actions, she was still playing the game, drawing him out so she could make her move.

Andre pointed a finger in her face, his voice filled with explosive rage as he shouted, “Don't you judge me!”

“
And Cree? You killed him too, didn't you?” Her fingers tightened around the shard of glass.

Andre raised his hands and began slowly clapping them, the noise ringing out in the silence of her home. “Bravo, Darcel. I smoked Cree. He knew too much. He got too greedy. He was threatening to go to the cops about Ronnie unless I gave him the lion's share of the profits. It makes you wonder what kind of a fool he took me for, doesn't it? I shot him with the same gun I used on Ronnie then I made sure his prints were all over the weapon.

“
As a final touch, I wrote a letter confessing to Ronnie's murder that I left near Cree's body. It was like an episode of CSI,” he said with a demented chuckle. “I'll give it to you. You're a hell of a lot smarter than the cops. What's that sheriff's name…Truesdale. Truewell.” He snapped his fingers as the name came to him. “No, Trueblood, ain't it?” Andre leered at her and licked his lips as he looked her up and down.

He leaned toward her and caressed the side of her face, his closeness making her shiver with disgust. “It seems you've gotten awfully close to Trueblood, haven't you? Staying at his place, just the two of you shacked up there. Can't say I blame him, girl. Damn, you're fine!”

Without warning, Andre placed his lips on hers in a forceful, demanding kiss. She seized the moment and raised her arm in the air, slashing downward at his face with the jagged piece of glass. As the glass pierced his flesh, Andre let out a wild wail of pain, accompanied by a slew of curse words.

Darcel didn't hesitate for a moment. She pivoted toward the front door, adrenaline coursing through her veins, as she scrambled to escape. She felt herself being pulled back by her shirt, and she fought wildly against his fierce grip, knowing she was fighting for her very life against this madman. The sound of the ripping fabric rang out in her ears, and she let loose a scream as Andre wrapped a muscled arm around her waist and pulled her tightly into him.

“
You're gonna pay for that, you stupid bitch!” He reached into his waistband and pulled out a gun, pointing it at her temple as she struggled against him. She let out a yelp of pain as he punched her in the back, and an agonizing sensation shot through her.

He grinned as her knees buckled under the weight of intense back spasms and she let out a low, keening moan. “Told you I'd make you pay for that!” Blood trickled down the side of his face where a deep cut lay exposed. “You made me bleed. Cut up my face!” he screamed as he released her so he could sop up the blood with his shirt. He cursed up a storm as he wiped the liquid away, only to have more blood flow from the open wound. “This is bleeding like a stuck pig,” he muttered as he pressed the fabric against the cut and applied pressure.

The front door burst open, and Lenny stood in the doorway, his face filled with anxiety as he called out her name. “Darcel! Where are you?”

At the sound of his voice, Andre yanked her against him again and pressed the gun to her temple. Darcel watched her brother's eyes widen as he caught sight of Andre.

“
Andre, put the gun down. Just let her go, man. Please don't hurt my sister!” he begged.

Andre tightened his grip on her, his fingers digging into her skin. “Your sister shouldn't have stuck her nose in my business.”

“
She's not responsible for any of this, man. It's my fault, all of it. I sent her to the wharf that night, something I never should've done.” He sent his sister a look of deep regret. “She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because of me, Andre. It was all my fault.”

“
You're right about that.”

With an eerie grin plastered on his face, Andre raised the gun, pointed it in Lenny's direction, and fired it. A popping sound filled the air as he fired the gun a second time, and Lenny cried out, clutching his abdomen, doubling over in pain. Darcel let out an earth-shattering cry to wake the dead. It felt like an out-of-body experience as she watched in horror as Lenny's blood-soaked body hit the hardwood floor with a thud.

Again, she heard the loud bang of gunfire and braced herself to feel the crushing pain of being shot at point-blank range. She looked on in shock as Andre slumped forward, his body slamming to the ground as blood gushed from his temple. She saw Jake rushing toward her, heard concern and emotion in his voice as he asked her if she was okay. She nodded her head then pushed him away, scrambling over to where Lenny lay slumped on the floor.

“
Lenny!” she screamed out her brother's name, kneeling next to where he lay on the floor, cradling his head in her hands. Jake nudged her out the way and began CPR, his hands pumping against Lenny's chest in rhythmic motions. Darcel stood frozen as Jake felt his pulse then continued to thump his chest. “Get a towel! Now!” he yelled as he continued his frantic movements.

She ran to the kitchen and rummaged through the drawers, pulling forth her favorite red-and-white tea towel. Scrambling, she made her way back to Lenny, not wasting a second as she pressed the towel against his gunshot wounds and tried to stem the flow of blood.

“
Please, God, don't take my brother. Please, God,” she mumbled incoherently as thoughts of her parents raced through her mind. Lenny looked so lifeless and weak, so unlike the larger-than-life man he was in everyday life. Scenes from the past floated through her mind—Lenny taking on her childhood bullies, walking her home from school every day, giving her spending money when he got his first job, dropping off her favorite rocky road fudge at her office.

There was so much good in him. Way more good than bad.
Please, God. I don't want to have to give them bad news. I don't want to tell them their son is dead. I don't know how they'll get through this! Hang on, Lenny! Please, don't leave us.

“
I've got a pulse!” Jake cried out, his voice filled with a tension she'd never before heard in him.

He held her gaze, his soulful eyes imploring her to not give up. “He's a fighter. He's fighting to stay here.”

A slew of officers stormed the house at the same time the EMTS charged through the front door and ran toward Andre. Jake waved them over to Lenny, and two of the EMTs began assisting him, placing him on the board and strapping him down as they prepared to take him outside for transport. She turned to look at Andre, anger flaring within her at the sight of the EMTs giving him medical assistance.

She jumped up from her kneeling position, her arms flailing as she shouted, “Don't you dare take him first. He's the shooter! He tried to kill me, and he may have killed my brother!”

Jake pulled her toward him, wrestling her as she fought against his attempts to quiet her.

“
Shhh, baby. Shhhh. They have a job to do. Just let them do it.” He cradled her against his big chest, his hands smoothing back her hair as he soothed her with comforting words. “See. Look, they're taking Lenny out first.”

“
How did this happen?” she asked Jake mournfully. Her mind was whirling in a dozen different directions. She needed to know why things had gone down the way they had. Jake had told her she was no longer in danger. Somewhere along the way, someone had screwed up and allowed Andre free reign to come after her.