Caught in the Storm (20 page)

Jackson’s mind spun with her words. Thinking back to the previous morning, she must have figured something else out, something the rest of them didn’t see. She had kept it from them and had planned on going out to kill Jeremy. “Why?”

She turned to look at him. “Because you matter more to me than any kind of revenge. Because I know killing, him won’t change anything. Because I’m not that person. I couldn’t kill anyone. It wasn’t who I used to be.” She turned toward him. “Jackson, I want to be her again. I want you to know the carefree girl I used to be. I want us to have a future together. I was so caught up I couldn’t see anything else but ending what mattered most to him, his life.”

He knew this was a huge step for her and he didn’t want to fuck this up. He sat up and laced his fingers through hers. “So what do you want to do?”

“I need to find out if he’s there. It’s a long shot, but it’s all we’ve got.”

“How did you figure out where to look?”

She shrugged. “I was just staring at the map and noticed there are a lot of back roads that aren’t heavily populated. Then I remembered driving around when I was Lexi’s bodyguard. I wanted to know every possible escape route if I needed to get her to safety. I remembered there was a Tiffani Lane; at the time, I thought it was strange because it wasn’t the typical spelling of Tiffani. Then I remembered his first victim. There was a house for rent on that road. He’d love the significance of that.”

“He would. But what if he sees us? What if he gets away again? Shouldn’t we just call the police?”

“Would you be able to sit here and wonder if they’d caught him, if he’d somehow escaped again? And would they even look into it?”

Sighing, Jackson knew she was right. He’d hate just sitting around and waiting. “Fine. Let’s go.”

When he started to get up, she stopped him by throwing herself into his arms. She whispered in his ear, “I love you.”

Those were the words he’d been waiting for. Hugging her close, he wanted her to be right, that Jeremy was there and they’d finally catch him so they could start their life, together. “Baby, I love you too.”

Jackson and Kat parked down the road from the farmhouse on Tiffani Lane. Once they were out of the car, the wind picked up and she could smell rain in the air. Looking up, she saw the moon was disappearing behind fast moving clouds. She was starting to have second thoughts about coming out here in the middle of the night, when a storm was blowing in and they couldn’t use flashlights.

“How are we going to get there?” she whispered to him.

“Very carefully.”

“No, really, try not to go into so much detail.”

“Hey, you were the one who was going to come out here to begin with, shouldn’t you have an idea?”

“You’d think. But I was kind of planning on the whole going in with guns blazing plan.”

“And what if he wasn’t here. What if it were some family?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t really think of that.”

“Here, hold onto the back of my jeans. I’ve got a red LED flashlight. We aren’t going to be able to see much, but enough not to fall down an abandoned well. Try to be quiet, and step where I step.”

“Sure. I can do that.” She rolled her eyes at him.

He turned to her, and for a moment, she thought he knew what she did. “And remember, if he’s there, we leave
quietly
and call the cops.”

“No problem there. I’ve got my phone in one hand and the other is in your pants so we don’t have to worry about me going for my gun.”

He nodded toward her phone. “It’s on silent, right? And we don’t have to worry about it lighting up for any reason, do we?”

“Nope, it’s all good. Let’s get this over with.”

Without another word, they started their hike to the house. After looking in the windows on the lower level, they could tell no one was living there. Jackson started to move away, but Kat tugged him back and pointed toward the barn. Shrugging, he turned and moved toward it. They were out in the middle of the open when lightning filled the sky. Kat jumped and pulled Jackson toward her. They both looked around, their eyes temporarily blinded. She closed her eyes in the hope they would adjust back to the darkness quicker.

Large drops of rain started falling on them as thunder rumbled through the night. She shivered as the heavy droplets started to dampen her clothes. A freak fall thunderstorm was all they needed right now. They started walking toward the old barn. As they got closer, they could see where the wood was rotting and holes were appearing. Knowing they wouldn’t be able to see what was inside, did not stop them from finding two holes close to each other so they could look in. At that exact moment, lightning struck and illuminated a bloody mess of a body spread out on one of the tables in the barn.

Kat gasped and walked backwards, still gripping Jackson’s jeans, pulling him back with her. “We’ve got to get out of here,” she whispered as her eyes darted around, wondering if Jeremy was somewhere around.

“What if that person is still alive?” Jackson hissed back at her.

The rain was coming down harder and mixing with the tears that were flowing freely from her eyes. “I can’t do this. I can’t go in there. Please don’t make me.”

“I’ve got to see.” He grabbed her and gave her a little shake. “What if we can save that person? Don’t they deserve that?”

Kat knew he was right, but the thought of going in there brought back too many memories. Shaking, she couldn’t focus her mind to come up with the correct answer.
All the blood
. Her lips felt numb and she could feel her heart pounding as she slowly blinked, trying to focus only on Jackson.

“Kat, we’ve got to do this. You can stay here. Call the police. They’ll be on their way, but I’ve got to go in there.”

She had no answer for him.

“Kat, can you hear me.” After she finally nodded, he continued, “I’m going in. You call the police. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He kissed her quickly and turned, running toward the barn doors. It felt like she was watching everything in slow motion as he flung the barn doors open and the wind caught them. She flinched as they slammed against the side of the barn. She shook her head, trying to clear it. She lifted the phone she had gripped in her hand and dialed 9-1-1, never taking her eyes off Jackson.

Her legs seemed to have a mind of their own. While she waited for the dispatcher to answer, they started moving and she found herself walking toward the barn. The closer she got, the more she started to notice a rancid smell. Not being able to identify it though, she kept walking even as the smell grew stronger.

Jackson was using his phone as a flashlight and she could now see what shape the body was in. There could be no way the person was alive. She shuddered as she heard something dripping, not knowing whether it was the run-off of blood from the table or the rain on the roof.

Lightning filled the barn and they had their first full look at the body. And its face. A face Kat knew all too well, a face that looked just like Anthony’s.

Jeremy was dead and someone had tortured him. Tortured him to death.

Dana moved quietly from her hiding space at the back of the barn. She had sat there in silence until he finally took his last breath, and then sat there a little longer. She couldn’t put her feelings into words. She had killed a monster. Women were not going to have to worry anymore about him finding them and killing them. She took revenge for her mother. There was nothing left to do; her work here was done.

While Jackson and Kat were busy at the front of the barn learning that Jeremy was now dead, she snuck out the back and walked off into the woods, never looking back. She hummed to herself and thought about the other files she had back on her computer, wondering which one she should find next. Now she knew she could kill, there was nothing stopping her. There were too many men out there who preyed on women and children, using them, abusing them. They
all
needed to pay, and she was the one to hand out the justice the system was unable to deliver. Already, she had forgotten about the six and Jeremy, her mind moving on to who was next.

They all huddled together on the porch of the old farmhouse. Light rain pattered on the roof. The doors of the barn were wide open and law enforcement were all over the place, collecting evidence. It was over. Jeremy was dead.

“I still can’t believe it’s him. That he’s dead. We don’t have to worry anymore,” Lexi said.

“Believe me, it’s true. Whoever did that to him didn’t touch his face. It was almost like they wanted to make sure he’d be positively identified.” Kat shook her head, trying to erase from her brain the memory of what he looked like.

“But how would they know he’d be found?” Evie shook her arms and legs as if to use up some of the extra energy she had.

Anthony looked up from the screen on his phone. “Jeremy was renting month to month. The landlord would have been here in a couple of days if he hadn’t paid. This place is hard to rent so the landlord didn’t check as carefully as he should have. A clean-cut man had enough cash to pay for the deposit, first and last month’s rent, so he took it.”

“He was so close. All this time. Only ten minutes away from our home.” Lexi shivered and Noah wrapped his arms around her.

One of the detectives in charge came out of the house and stopped to talk to them. “I know you’ve all been through a lot, so I’m going to keep you up to date on what’s been going on. We’ve found evidence in the house that he’s been keeping track of all of you. From what I understand, not as much as before, but what pictures he could take, were of you in public. There’s a lot of writing on the walls; it’s going to take a while to process it all. And quite frankly, I’m not sure if it would be anything you’d really want to read. Most of it doesn’t make any kind of sense.”

“I don’t get it, how was he able to get our pictures? We had security all over the place.” Jackson’s hand gripped the railing so hard his knuckles turned white.

“We found a lot of theater make-up and some men’s wigs. He could have been standing right next to you and you wouldn’t have known it.”

“I
so
did not need to know that.” Evie glared at the detective.

“Sorry, well, that’s about all we’ve found out from the house. I’m heading into the barn now. I’ll come back and talk to you soon.”

“Thank you, detective.” Noah shook his hand before leaning back against the house, waiting for him to leave. “This is so surreal. It’s over.” He grabbed Lexi and hugged her tight. “It’s really over, love.”

“It is.” A smile spread across Lexi’s face before it started to fade. “Is it wrong that I feel bad about being so happy someone is dead?”

“Yes, it is wrong.” Evie sat on the railing. “I for one am happy the bastard is dead. Part of me wishes I could have been the one to do it.”

“Evie!” Lexi scolded.

“Lex, come on, he’s killed over a dozen women. He tried to kill you twice. He was planning on killing all three of us. When it comes down to it, either him or us, it was going to be him.”

“Yes, but still Evie, he was a human being. No one deserves to die that way.”