Deadly Affair: SCVC Taskforce World Novella (SCVC Taskforce Romantic Suspense Series Book 5) (11 page)

Soft laughter filtered around him, though none were Celina’s distinct sound. As he wandered from room to room without success, uneasiness filled him when she was nowhere to be seen. Where was she?

His cell phone rang and he dug it out. He saw the text from Celina, sent ten minute before, telling him she was in the vineyard offices with Bailey. He relaxed a bit, but it annoyed him that she was questioning the monk without him.

His phone rang again. Caller ID showed it was Ronni. He stepped over to a window near the front desk. “Yo. Tell me you have something good,” he said.

Ronni didn’t miss a beat. “We do, indeed. Thanks to Dupé’s influence, we have DNA test results back on your vic. The bones belong to the missing girl, Ana Verdoni.”

Cooper’s grip tightened on the phone, not at all surprised by the news. “Do we know cause of death?”

“Official COD was asphyxiation with suffocation, though they did find trace elements of Ketamine in her bone fragments.

“Ketamine. The date rape drug?”

“Yep. The forensic anthropologist also confirmed what my friend thought. Ana was whacked in the back of the head before she died. My guess? The guy drugged her, then dragged her body to the hole. She must have started to wake up, so he knocked her in the head. It didn’t kill her, just incapacitated her, so she was easy to bury.”

“That’s how she asphyxiated.” He ran a hand through his hair. The image of Ana’s bony arm outstretched above her head, hit him hard. She’d probably woken surrounded by dirt, he thought, gut churning. She’d tried to claw her way out. “Who in the hell would do that to an eighteen year old girl?”

“Who would do that to anyone?” He could hear the frown in Ronni’s voice. “Do you guys have any leads?”

“Kind of, but no confessions yet. I’m on my way to interrogate one of the monks now. I’ll let you know if it turns up anything.”

Disconnecting the call, Cooper sent Celina a reply text that he was on his way.

“It’s his turn to give the meditation,” one of the other monks was lamenting as he and another monk passed by Cooper. “Is Father Bailey aware that he’s passed it off yet again?”

Cooper fell in behind them.

“He said Father Bailey gave his blessing on it and Father Lopez has asked we not disturb him or Father Bailey for the rest of the evening. They have a soul to attend to. I think it might be that woman who was studying the paintings.”

While the two monks carried on with their duties, Cooper’s mind turned over the conversation. Celina was with Bailey, was she the soul he and Lopez were attending to?

What exactly did that mean?

Picking up his pace, Cooper stormed down the hallway and outside, passing the wine tasting area and the Koi pond.

The door to the building that housed Bailey’s office was locked and no one came when he rapped. Not one to be deterred, he walked around the perimeter, peering through the windows for a sign that anyone was inside.

“Shit.”

Father Bailey was slumped over a desk, his body twisted at an awkward angle. Racing back around to the front, Cooper kicked in the door, hurrying to the man.

“Father Bailey?” Gently, Cooper turned him over, checking him for wounds. A large gash on the side of his head oozed blood, though there were no other signs of injury. Whatever had happened here had happened recently.

“Mr. Harris?” Father Bailey’s words were slightly slurred, his eyes unfocused. “Where am I? What happened?”

Whipping out his cell phone, Cooper called for an ambulance. “Hold tight, help is on the way, Father. Where is Celina?”

“Miss Davenport…” Father Bailey’s eyes fluttered shut.

“What about Celina?” When Bailey didn’t answer, Cooper shook his shoulder. “Please, Father Bailey. What about Celina? Is she in trouble?”

Father Bailey’s eyes blinked open again, this time with a little more force. “He took her. Father Lopez. He took them both.”

Both? Who else had been here with Celina? Frustrated, Cooper tried not to shake the man any harder than he already had. “Where did he take Celina?”

“He took my Ana.” Bailey’s eyes focused on his desk now. Reaching up, he touched the side of his head, wincing when his fingers found the gash. “He said he did it out of love for me, that he couldn’t stand to lose me. He found my diary—oh, dear Lord. He knew Ana and I were going to elope. He said he brought me back to God.”

“And now he has Celina?” Cooper swallowed, stunned by the news. He never would have pictured Father Lopez as a murderer, but if Bailey spoke the truth then Celina was now in the hands of a killer. Fuck. “Where did he take her?” Cooper asked again.

Bailey lifted his arm, pointing towards the woods. “Follow the trail past the spot where you found the body. He can’t go back there, so he must have taken her into the woods. He hit her in the head, like me.”

Cooper’s jaw clenched. He was going to kill the monk, sure as shit.

Sliding an arm around Bailey, Cooper helped the older man stand, dragging him through the broken front door and setting him down on a bench outside. The wail of a siren could be heard in the distance, growing louder at its approach. “Help should be here shortly. I have to go find Celina.”

Bailey was already waving him on before he even finished his sentence. “Go, hurry.”

“Keep your eyes open.” Cooper instructed, already heading towards the trail. Cell phone still in hand, he dialed Ronni.

“Miss me already?” she answered, a grin in her voice.

“It’s Lopez,” he barked into the phone, maintaining his pace.

“Uh…and Lopez would be…?”

“Father Lopez with the Abbey of Our Lady of Benedictines. He killed and buried Ana Verdoni, and now he’s got Celina. I’m en route.”

“What the…?” Ronni breathed, her amusement gone. “What do you need me to do, boss?”

Cooper leapt over a patch of vines that had grown across the narrow path. “Contact Sergeant Givens with the local PD. Fill him in and send him my way, ASAP.”

“I’m on it. Go get our girl.”

Disoriented, Celina came awake slowly, aware she was lying on the hard ground. Her head pounded and it was hard to know how long she’d been out. The sun was setting and the woods were darkening quickly.

She wiggled her toes, her fingers, taking stock of her body. Other than the ropes binding her hands and feet, everything appeared to be in working order. If you didn’t count the vertigo attacking her senses and the drum clanging in her head.

Someone had gotten the drop on her and she was willing to bet that someone was Father Lopez.

Carefully, she rolled over, her eyes finding a shape in the shadows. The man appeared to be preoccupied with digging a hole, a hole she had a sneaking suspicion was meant for her.

No thanks
. She didn’t do dirt holes.

Twisting her wrists, she worked on stretching out the ropes, careful to keep a wary eye on Lopez. It was him, she was sure. After a minute of nearly dislocating her shoulders garnered no results, she decided to change tactics, slowly curling her knees to her chest to bring her ankles within reach. If she could just get her ankles untied, at least she could make a run for it.

A voice carried to her through the dark, giving her pause. “The ropes will hold. I’m an expert at knots. Not that it will matter. Soon you will be with the earth.”

Yep, definitely Lopez. “What makes you think you’ll get away with this?”

Climbing out of the hole, he tossed the shovel to the ground. A stripe of dying sunlight filtered through the trees onto his face. He’d changed from his robes to a worn shirt and pair of jeans. “I’ve gotten away with it before. I have no intention of turning myself in now.”

She swallowed. “You killed Ana.”

Moving closer, Father Lopez knelt on the ground beside her. “You are a lot like her. Young, beautiful. You think you can take on the world. But the world is not yours to take, as it was not hers.”

Celina squirmed away when he reached out to her. The man was crazy. He’d buried Ana alive.

Keep him talking
. The longer she kept him from throwing her in that hole, the better chance she had of getting free. Cooper would be searching for her. Bailey would come to and send help. “I don’t understand.”

“Ana was going to take Father Bailey away from me. She corrupted him, corrupted his morals. She would have
ruined
him.” The last words were filled with hatred, the vehemence in his voice chilling. “Ruined
me
.”

Something about the way he spoke suddenly made everything click together. “You’re in love with Father Bailey.”

He smiled, the patronizing smile of an adult having to explain something to a young child. “No one other than our Holy Father loves him more than I do. Ana was leading him away from his path. I brought him back.”

Oh yeah, she thought in disgust. Father Lopez was definitely taking a trip on the crazy train. “By killing an innocent girl?”

Father Lopez’s face morphed into hatred. He grabbed her arm, hauling her up with a jerk. “She was no more innocent than a prostitute on the street. She and that…illegitimate
child
she carried were sent by Satan to lead Father Bailey astray.”

Her mouth gaped. “You knew about the baby?”

He didn’t answer, instead keeping her arm in a bruising grip as he pulled her towards the hole.

Oh hell no
.

She dug her heels in with all her might. Father Lopez might have gotten the drop on her earlier, but there was no way she was going to let him do to her what he did to Ana.

He growled at her struggles, face full of fury. Releasing her arm with a toss, he shoved her to the ground next to the hole. He dug into a bag and withdrew a syringe. “I had hoped this would go much easier, but seeing as how you are going to fight me….”

He approached her cautiously, liquid bubbling over the tip of the needle.

“Is this how you took care of Ana? Drugged her and dumped her in a hole? You’re a coward. A monster. You didn’t—don’t—love Father Bailey. You just want to control him.”

“You may deem me a coward, others might see me as a redeemer.”

Rolling onto her side, Celina tucked her feet underneath her and coiled her body. If he thought she was going to go down without a fight, he’d better think again. “No one sees you as a redeemer. You’re a murderer.”

Without hesitation, she sprung at him with her full force.

Chapter Eleven

With the lights from the Abbey far behind him, Cooper left the trail and entered the dark woods. Only able to make out shapes in the darkness, he turned on the flashlight app on his phone, using the light to guide his way.

Within minutes he came across telltale signs of someone being dragged through the bush, the grooves in the ground and broken branches giving him a clear path as to which direction Lopez had taken.

Fear ate at him. His gut burned. If Lopez hurt her…

Of course, Lopez had hurt her. Was going to hurt her. The bastard was going to kill her.

Not on my watch
.

The alpha male that Celina always poked fun at, raged inside him. The adrenaline coursing through his system could light Northern California for a year.

Cooper’s ears picked up the distinct sound of a struggle. His body hitting the red zone, he shoved his phone in his pocket and tore off in that direction.

“You really are making this much harder than it has to be. Just be still. It will all be over soon.”

Lopez
.

Bursting through the tree line, Cooper found the monk standing over Celina, a syringe in his hand. He was trying to jam it in her leg. Her hands and feet appeared to be tied, but that didn’t seem to be stopping her from giving him hell.

“Get the fuck away from her!” Cooper growled.

Lopez startled, dropping the syringe. Cooper caught him by the back of the neck, whipped him around and slammed a fist into his face.

There was a satisfying crunch from the impact, though it did little to quench the fury charging through Cooper’s body.

Lopez fell to the ground, a low moan escaping his throat. “You broke my nose!”

“You deserve more than that, you son of a bitch.” Grabbing the front of his shirt, Cooper hauled him up and landed another solid punch to the Father’s face, only satisfied when the man slumped to the ground unconscious.

“Cooper,” Celina gasped. Her face was in shadows, but the relief in her voice shook him to the core.

Dropping to his knees beside her, he helped her to sit up. His hands shook as he ran them over her face and arms, reassuring himself that she was okay. “Are you hurt?”

She shook her head, leaning into his warmth. “A little lightheaded and a little bruised, but otherwise okay. Get me out of these?”

She held out her hands and he brought out his pocket knife to cut the knots at her wrists and ankles. Once free, Celina didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around his neck, holding on to him like he was her lifeline. She trembled in his arms and he rubbed her back, kissing the top of her head.

“He killed Ana.” Her voice was small, with a trace of sadness.

“Yeah, I know. Ronni called, confirming the bones belong to Ana, and I found Father Bailey knocked out in his office. He was able to fill in the rest of the story for me.”