Did You Miss Me? (44 page)

‘Which brother? I have two.’

‘Doug.’

‘I don’t have a brother named Doug.’

‘You’re Cole, right? The one who gets suspended all the time?’

He scowled. ‘Yes.’

‘Then you have a brother named Doug.’

Wheeling, West Virginia, Wednesday, December 4, 8.28
P.M.

Daphne’s scream still ringing in his ears, Joseph threw open the door and ran the length of the hall to Ford’s room, where there was chaos.

The uniformed officer who’d been on guard duty was on the floor, bleeding profusely, a knife imbedded in his gut. A nurse knelt beside him, already doing first aid.

Daphne stood beside Ford’s bed, shielding him with her body. Her eyes were wide and filled with abject fear as she pointed to the door. ‘Scrubs. He’s wearing scrubs. Old man, gray hair. Six feet, maybe. Hector followed him.’

Joseph took off again, looking over his shoulder. Deacon was behind him, laptop under his arm, shoving his feet into his shoes as he ran. ‘Deacon, pull up hospital security video. Get a description, put out a BOLO.’ He drew his weapon and pointed to McManus. ‘Let’s go.’

He entered the nearest stairwell, taking the steps three at a time. He heard a door slam below and ran faster, blowing through the exterior door in time to see a white truck peeling out of the parking lot. Hector had started to chase the truck on foot but had given up and was running back.

By the time Joseph got to his car, the truck would have been on the interstate already. McManus ran past him, carried by the momentum of running down the stairs.

‘I got his license plate.’ Hector called and, breathing hard, recited it to McManus.

‘Call it in,’ Joseph said. ‘White truck, taillights looked like a Suburban.’

McManus nodded. ‘Dispatch, this is Detective McManus.’

Joseph turned a slow circle, searching the parking lot as McManus put out the BOLO, eyes narrowing at the sight of a car with its trunk partially open. He ran over to find the car’s tire flat and blood spattered on the hubcap. A cell phone lay on the ground about ten feet away. Another slow turn had Joseph’s racing heart sinking.

Against the building was a dumpster. From behind it extended a bare arm. Again he ran. The arm was attached to a man, stripped down to his briefs. Blood had pooled beneath his head and torso, the latter the result of a stab wound that had split the man’s abdomen wide open.

Joseph knelt, pressing his fingers to the man’s throat. ‘He’s still alive, barely. Hector, run upstairs and get a doctor. They’ll need something to stop the bleeding.’

McManus ran up, phone in hand. ‘I called Dispatch and they’re calling the ER. They should have someone here in a minute.’ Then McManus sighed. ‘That’s Billy Pratchett, a guy I went to school with. He’s a nurse here.’ He nodded to Joseph. ‘I’ll wait with him. You go check on Ms Montgomery.’

‘Thanks.’ Joseph made his way back up the stairs, more slowly than he’d come down.
What the hell is going on here?
He walked back to Ford’s room, where things seemed more under control. The uniformed officer must have been taken to another room, because he wasn’t there.

Ford was awake and sitting up, peering at his mother through bloodshot eyes.

Daphne sat in a chair, her back to him. Her wig gone.
Curls
. Her head was covered in tight blond curls. But she wasn’t looking at him now. She was staring at her hands. Joseph imagined that this wasn’t the way she’d envisioned laying herself bare. So to speak.

Why ever would she want to cover up curls like that?
His hands itched to touch her, but he stayed where he was, in the doorway. Later he could touch all he wanted.

‘
Are you all right?’ she asked quietly. ‘Did you find him?’

‘No, but we did find a nurse named Pratchett. It looks like he was attacked for his clothing and ID badge. Detective McManus is with him now. We got a BOLO out on the man and his vehicle. Now, please tell me what happened here. Where is the uniformed officer who was here before?’

‘He was taken to surgery,’ Daphne said. ‘I wondered how the intruder got in. I guess now I know.’

She still hadn’t looked at him. ‘Daphne, what happened?’ He touched her shoulder. ‘Talk to me.’

‘Hector got here right after I did and we went to get a cup of coffee,’ she said. ‘I thought Ford would be all right with an armed guard. When we came back, the officer was standing guard and the door was closed. He said a nurse had come in to give Ford a new IV. But a nurse had just finished doing that. I pushed at the door, but the old man had put a chair across it. I could see him through the window.’ Her voice shook and big tears plopped onto the hands she’d twisted in her lap. ‘He had a pillow over Ford’s face.’

‘I’m okay now, Mom,’ Ford said thickly. ‘Please don’t cry anymore.’

‘How’d you get in the room?’ Joseph asked her.

‘The officer broke the window with a fire extinguisher and reached through to move the chair. We pushed open the door and rushed in. The man grabbed me and put a knife to my throat. Tried to drag me out with him. I fought him and he grabbed my hair.’ She smoothed a hand over her curls self-consciously. ‘When it came off in his hand . . .’ Her chuckle was watery. ‘It surprised him. He yelled and threw it. That’s how I got away. If my hair hadn’t . . . you know, come off, then he would have gotten me across the throat. Bye-bye me.’

Joseph’s blood chilled. When he’d entered the room, he’d been so focused on the chaos that he hadn’t noticed the wig was gone. He hadn’t realised how close he’d come to losing her, yet again. ‘Then what happened?’ he asked hoarsely.

‘He was fast for an old guy. He threw me down, stabbed the officer and threw him into Hector. He ran like hell and Hector chased him. I screamed for you.’

‘Did you know him, Daphne?’

Her eyes flickered uncertainly. ‘I didn’t see his face. He was either bent over putting the pillow on Ford’s face or he had my back pulled against his chest. But it wasn’t Doug. He was too tall and too old.’

‘That’s okay,’ Joseph soothed. ‘Hector got a good look at him and Novak’s looking at security videos. Between them we can get an ID.’

‘I’m back,’ Deacon said from behind him. ‘We got his face. I made a still and faxed it to the local PD and to the Pittsburgh field office. They’re putting up road blocks. They said McManus called in a white pickup.’

Crouching next to Daphne, Joseph looked over at Ford. The boy was still out of it, but some clarity had returned. ‘It was a white Chevy pickup, son.’

Ford’s mouth fell open. ‘He . . .’ He closed his eyes, then opened them, his effort to focus admirable. ‘Can I see his photo, please?’

Deacon crossed the room. ‘I’m Special Agent Novak, FBI. It’s good to meet you, Ford.’ He showed the photo to Ford and the boy flinched.

‘Yeah, that’s one of them.’

‘There was more than one?’ Joseph asked, sharing a glance with Deacon.

‘Yes. There were two. One was this old man. He had the cabin and the truck was his. Heather. Last name, last name.’ He closed his eyes, murmuring to himself. ‘Ice tea.’ His eyes opened. ‘Lipton. Heather Lipton. I found her purse under the seat of his truck. I didn’t see her in his cabin, but I got free and pretty much got out of there. I took all of his knives and all his clothes and put them in the truck. Stripped him naked and took his shoes. Tied him and left him in the cabin. Figured that even if he got loose from the twine I used, he wouldn’t get far buck naked in the snow.’

‘Smart,’ Joseph murmured.

Daphne sat like a statue, her eyes on the paper in Ford’s hands. She could see the face, upside down.
She knows him
, Joseph thought, his heart beginning to race.

‘I drove about thirty miles, I think,’ Ford said, ‘then the piece of shit ran out of gas.’

‘So you walked?’ Deacon asked.

‘For miles. Oh, wait.’ Again he closed his eyes. Then rattled off a license plate number, the same one Hector had noted earlier.
Kid’s got an amazing memory
. ‘That’s the white truck. I think I remember it right.’

‘You remembered it perfectly,’ Joseph said. ‘We spotted it driving away.’

‘Good. I rolled his fingerprints across the blade of one of his knives before I left the cabin. I didn’t want to drag him with me, but I thought you could run his prints.’

‘Very smart and incredibly practical,’ Joseph said, impressed.
No wonder my dad thinks this kid’s a genius
. ‘I don’t know that I would have thought of that.’

Ford leaned forward, touched his mother’s knee. ‘Mom? I’m okay.’

She nodded. ‘I know, honey. It’s just . . . I’m emotional.’

‘Do you remember which way you walked?’ Joseph asked.

‘For a long time I stayed on a road, but then the road ended and there was nothing but woods. At one point there was a fishing area with picnic tables. I sat there for a while. Looked like it was only accessible by boat. It was really snowing hard by then. I couldn’t see a thing. I followed the waterline inch by inch and finally I found a road and stayed on it until . . .’ He frowned. ‘There was a van. It stopped and I thought I was okay. But . . .’ He lifted the hospital johnny to look at his thigh. ‘Sonofabitch tased me. Again. And shot me up. Again. That’s all I remember until I woke up here.’

‘What about the other guy?’ Joseph asked.

Ford’s expression changed, becoming grave. ‘That was him, the one who tased me last night. The old guy said it was the other one’s idea, that they were asking for a ransom. Five million dollars.’

‘No one ever called in a ransom demand, Ford,’ Joseph said.

‘There was something else going on. Strange stuff. There was a shed. When I first woke up, I was in this shed that had been a garage. Detached. Which was weird because when I finally got to the cabin, I think it was smaller than the garage. I woke up the first time and the guy who tased me was there, whispering in my ear, then shooting me up. What was it? It wasn’t heroin or meth, was it? Please say it wasn’t.’

‘Ketamine, which is used as a sedative,’ Joseph said. ‘Addictive but not at the levels you’ve received. Also fentanyl, which is a narcotic. Again, not addictive at the levels you received. Don’t worry. What else do you remember?’

‘When I woke up the next morning there was this smell. Something dead. I got the blindfold off and it was . . . cats. One was decomposing and the others were just bones.’ He paused, remembering. ‘Another weird thing, the decomposing cat had been dug up. It was wearing an old collar, but a brand new tag. The tag had a cat’s name.’

Daphne had begun to tremble. ‘Fluffy?’ she whispered.

Ford’s frown was immediate and sharp. ‘Yes. How did you know that, Mom?’

Abruptly Daphne reached for the photo in Ford’s hand. ‘Let me look.’

Joseph held his breath because she was holding hers. She gripped the paper and spread it across her thigh to keep it from shaking. Then jerked her chin down to look.

‘Oh God,’ she whispered. She’d started to hyperventilate. ‘Can’t be can’t be can’t be.’ The words ran together, like a prayer. ‘What did he say, Ford? Exactly?’

Ford cleared his throat. ‘I’m back. Did you—’

What color was left in her face drained away. ‘Miss me?’ she finished.

‘Yes,’ Ford said, alarmed. ‘Mom? What’s happening here?’

Joseph gently turned her so that she looked at him. ‘The old man, the man in this picture. It was him, wasn’t it? The one that took you and your cousin.’

She nodded, tears welling in her eyes. ‘Why is he doing this?’

‘I don’t know, but we will find out. I promise you. But you know what I need from you. The whole story. Because somewhere in there is a connection to a guy named Doug who wants your life to be a living hell.’

‘There are still two girls out there,’ she whispered.

‘Maybe three,’ Joseph said. He pointed to the picture of the old man. ‘Ford found evidence that this man’s taken another seventeen-year-old girl.’

‘Another?’ It wasn’t even a whisper. More an exhale. She fixed her gaze on Joseph’s and the temperature around him seemed to plummet. There was knowledge in her eyes, terrible knowledge. And terrible guilt. ‘I’ll tell you everything. But you should update the BOLO.’

‘With what?’ Joseph asked, almost afraid of the answer.

‘Now you can add his name. He’s Wilson Beckett.’

Joseph couldn’t control his reaction. Utter shock. And then anger as the implication set in. ‘You knew his name?’

She flinched slightly but didn’t break eye contact. ‘Yes. I’ve always known.’

Chapter Twenty

Wheeling, West Virginia, Wednesday, December 4, 9.30
P.M.

‘
T
hank you.’ Daphne took the cup of coffee Hector offered, her hands shaking with a combination of cold and shock.

Ford had insisted that he be allowed to listen. He’d earned the truth, he’d said.

Daphne didn’t think he could handle the truth.
I’m not handling the truth
.

Joseph agreed with Ford and now arranged a few additional chairs in her son’s hospital room. A minute later Daphne was facing what felt like a tribunal. Joseph, Hector, Agent Novak and Detective McManus. Pittsburgh Agent Kerr had returned from setting up the search for the missing girl, Heather Lipton, and squeezed in Ford’s room with them. And then it was time.

Joseph hadn’t looked at her after that first stunned, furious reaction. The others wore expressions of horrified disgust. All but Ford. He looked heartbroken. Betrayed, even. And he didn’t even know about Kimberly yet.

You knew and you never told?
No one had voiced the question aloud, but she heard it just the same. It was written all over their faces.

Daphne pressed her fingertips to her temple. Her head hurt. Her heart hurt because Joseph still wouldn’t meet her eyes.

And Beckett had another girl.
Another girl
. The words were like knives.

It’s been twenty-seven years since he took Kelly and me
. How many had he taken in between? There was so much blood on her hands.
Dear God
. There could be no coming back from this. No forgiveness.
What have I done?

She drew a breath that hurt, her chest was so tight.
Get it over with
.
And then you’ll have to accept the consequences
.

‘I thought he was dead,’ she said flatly. ‘I searched for him and received a death certificate from the county courthouse. I just want you to know that before I begin.’ She looked at each of the men in turn. ‘So you don’t think that I’m a total monster.’

Joseph looked at her then, the rage in his eyes now mixed with surprise. And regret.
But regret for what?
Being angry?
Being with me?
She wished she could ask him, but there were too many people here. And this wasn’t about her anyway.

It was about Beckett’s victims, however many there had been.

‘I never thought that,’ Joseph murmured and she so wanted to believe him. ‘Not once.’

‘Neither did I,’ Hector said.

With an effort, Ford sat up enough to take her hand. ‘I’ve known you a long time, Mom. You’re not a monster.’

The others remained silent, watching. Withholding judgment.
It’ll have to do
.

‘Thank you, Ford.’ Her voice wobbled and she had to clear her throat. ‘Okay.’ She let out a harsh breath. ‘I have to tell you about my family. So you’ll understand. My father was a musician but he worked in the coal mine to put food on the table, just like everyone did around here. We got by and we were pretty happy. Mama was one of five, and her family lived all around us. All except Vivien, Mama’s oldest sister, who had a sales job that kept her on the road all the time. Vivien was Kelly’s mother. I don’t know if anyone knew who Kelly’s father was.

‘I remember Vivien having a lot of boyfriends. My parents would whisper about it, how it wasn’t healthy for Kelly, having all those men around. When Vivien was on the road, Kelly stayed with us. It got to where Vivien was only home on weekends so Kelly had practically moved in. Then Vivien surprised everyone by getting married to a guy she’d met on the road. A preacher of all things. The family was so happy that she’d finally settled down and got her heart right.

‘She had a church wedding, but I got a cold and couldn’t go. I heard all about it later, because it did not turn out the way Vivien planned. Kelly showed up in a short skirt, got tipsy and flirted outrageously with all the men there. At seventeen years old that would have been bad enough, but then she actually disappeared for a while with the groom’s brother and they were caught having sex in the baptismal pool. Vivien was so angry that Kelly had spoiled the wedding. Kelly was out of control, her behavior “not appropriate for a minister’s daughter”.’

‘Sounds like she just wanted her mother’s attention,’ Joseph said.

‘I’m sure she did, but it didn’t work. After the wedding, Kelly lived with us even on weekends. Vivien wanted no part of her “drinkin’, whorin’ ways”. I mean, hello, pot meet kettle, but Vivien didn’t see it that way. And neither did I. But I was only eight years old.

‘It was Kelly’s job to walk me home from school and that day I couldn’t wait to get home. My cat had just had kittens and I wanted to play with them. But Kelly dawdled and I kept telling her to hurry. A car passed us, turned around and came back. The man asked if we wanted a ride. I said no, I didn’t ride with strangers. But Kelly told me it was okay, that she knew him, that she’d met him at her mother’s wedding. The two of them laughed, like it was a joke. It was Beckett, of course, but I didn’t know him.’

‘She’d arranged to meet him that afternoon?’ Hector asked, very softly, as if Daphne was breakable. Daphne figured she probably looked that way.

‘She might have arranged it. I never knew for sure. I knew about the groomsman that she’d disappeared with at the wedding. I thought this was him. I didn’t know that much about sex, but I knew enough to know that it wasn’t right for Kelly to have done what she did at the wedding when she was only seventeen, and in the baptismal pool at that. I also knew never to get in anyone’s car that I didn’t know. I pulled Kelly’s hand, told her I wanted to go home, to my cat.’

‘Fluffy?’ Ford asked in a strained voice.

‘Yes.’ She patted her son’s hand. ‘This isn’t going to be pleasant. Nobody will blame you if you leave. I’ll be honest and tell you that I don’t want you to hear this.’

Her son met her eyes. ‘I haven’t left you before. I’m not starting now.’

Her throat closed. ‘Okay. So . . . Kelly got annoyed. She wanted a ride home and I was making her walk. Her job was to walk with me and maybe she’d figured I’d tell on her to my parents. So she told me that if I didn’t want a ride that I could just walk alone and she got into the car with him. I didn’t know what to do, so I just started walking home. A few minutes later, the car stopped again and the man got out. He wasn’t so friendly looking anymore.’ She swallowed hard. ‘I was eight years old. I tried to run, but he caught me. Pressed a hankie over my face . . .’

She closed her eyes. ‘I woke up in a garage and it was cold. I was tied up and gagged. There was a trap door that went underground. The trap door was open and I could hear Kelly crying, screaming from down below me. She screamed for help, mostly. Then it was just screams. I don’t know how much time passed. Beckett would go down the stairs to the room with food. Every time I’d hear him say, “I’m back. Did you miss me?” And then she’d scream some more. But nobody came to help. Nobody came but Beckett.

‘He took my gag off so I could eat, but stood there, watching me with a knife in his hand. Told me if I made a sound he’d kill me. I believed him. When I’d eaten, he’d gag me again and go back into the basement room and Kelly would scream some more. I wondered why he kept me gagged and not her, then I realized he liked the screaming. But other than to take off the gag, he never touched me.’ She looked at Ford, but his eyes were closed. ‘Do you understand me, Ford? He left me alone.’

Ford nodded unsteadily. Said nothing.

‘For maybe a week, Beckett would go down the stairs saying, “I’m back. Did you miss me?
”
’ She closed her eyes. ‘Always with the trap door open. Eventually she stopped screaming. She must have gone into shock. But I could still hear her screaming inside my head. I still can.’

‘God.’ It was a horrified whisper from Agent Novak.

‘I think it was at the beginning of the second week that he took me to the cabin. I thought he was going to do to me what he did to Kelly, but he didn’t.’ She shook her head, laughing incredulously. ‘He made me clean his cabin. Told me if I tried to run, I couldn’t get far. The next town was forty miles away and there were no neighbors. If I tried, he’d kill my mother. He laughed and said he knew where she lived.

‘He felt confident enough that I wouldn’t escape to go out to the garage and leave me in the house. He’d locked me in and locked up his knives. One day he was in the garage and the phone rang. I wanted to answer it, but was scared it was a trap, that it was him and he’d kill my mother. He had an answering machine, and the volume was turned up. It was the gas company telling him they were coming to fill his tank that afternoon. He had one of those old steel tanks outside the house.’

‘He still does,’ Ford said dully.

‘I wish you didn’t know that,’ she said, looking at her hands. But then she took a deep breath and went on. ‘It was the first time anyone had come to where we were, the first contact with anyone outside since he’d taken us. I knew that would be my only chance to get away. I didn’t have a weapon, but Beckett kept hornet spray under the sink with the cleaning supplies. I waited until he’d opened the door.’ She cocked her jaw, still feeling the grim satisfaction of the moment, all these years later. ‘He said, “I’m back. Did you miss me?” and I sprayed the hornet spray in his eyes and ran as fast as I could. He was coming, thundering after me.’ Her heart still raced at the memory. ‘I knew there was nowhere to run, so I climbed a tree to hide. I was a tomboy in those days, thankfully. He was still crashing around, screaming, tears streaming down his cheeks. He couldn’t see me because his eyes were burning.’

‘Good for you,’ Hector said fiercely and made her smile a little.

‘I got to the top of the tree and looked around and he was telling the truth.’ Her tiny smile faded. ‘There was nothing for miles. Just trees and mountain.’

‘Still is,’ Ford muttered and she patted his knee.

‘I stayed in that tree for hours. He went back to the house and came out with a gun – and Kelly. He was dragging her, the gun up against her head, yelling for me, calling my name, saying that he’d kill her if I didn’t come out. I almost did. But I was too scared to move. And I figured he’d kill us anyway. He passed right under me as he dragged her through the woods, looking for me. I was sure he could hear my heartbeat. And then Kelly yelled, “Run!” He hit her in the head with the gun but she yelled again, this time that she was sorry. That he’d told her I was dead. He hit her again and she went really still. He dragged her back to the garage.’ She sighed. ‘And that was the last time I saw her.’

‘That’s why he kept you gagged,’ Joseph said quietly. ‘He didn’t want her to know you were there.’

‘I figured that out, much later. After a while he got in his car and drove away. I guess he figured I’d made it down to the road. While he was gone, the gas truck came and I got down from the tree. It was a guy with a pickup truck and he hauled the tank with a hitch. I’d almost run up to him for help when Beckett came back and asked if he’d seen a girl running around. Said his sister had left her brat with him and that I’d run off again. The gas man said if he saw me, he’d bring me back. So I said nothing, just waited until Beckett went back into the garage and the gas man took the hose around the back to fill the tank. Then I climbed into the bed of the man’s truck and hid under a tarp. I didn’t breathe until the truck started and we’d been driving for a while.

‘The police report said you were found in Dayton, Ohio,’ Novak said. ‘How did you get there?’

‘The gas man stopped at a convenience store. I got out and hid in the next truck over. It had a camper top so I opened the hatch and crawled in. I figured I’d wait till the gas man drove away and then I’d find help. But the driver of the camper came out at the same time. I was too scared to come out and then the camper was moving. Didn’t stop for a long time. I fell asleep. Next I knew, we were at a rest stop and it was night and I was so cold. I climbed out when the driver went to the men’s room and I went into the ladies’ room where it was warm.’

‘Why didn’t you ask the driver for help?’ Hector asked kindly.

‘I don’t know. I think I was so scared at that point . . . I didn’t want to go with a man and I didn’t know how far I’d gone. I was afraid they’d take me back to Beckett. A few weeks in isolation can mess with your mind.’

‘Not to mention the trauma,’ Agent Kerr murmured. ‘Who found you?’

‘A nice lady. I don’t even know her name. She called the police who told me I was in Dayton. They asked me what had happened, but by then all I could hear was Beckett’s voice in my head, telling me he was going to kill my mom. I was too scared to talk. They didn’t have Amber alerts then, so it took a while for them to figure out who I was. Once they did, the police took me home.’

She pressed her hand to her stomach. This was one of the worst parts to recall. ‘My parents were waiting for me in the living room with Aunt Vivien when the sheriff brought me home. And in the kitchen doorway was Beckett.’

Baltimore, Maryland, Wednesday, December 4, 9.30
P.M.

‘I don’t believe you,’ Cole whispered, but Kim didn’t answer. After telling him all kinds of lies, she’d gone unconscious, or maybe was pretending to be.

He didn’t believe a word she’d said. Couldn’t.

But deep down he knew some of what she’d told him had to be true. He prayed all of it wasn’t. Although he knew it probably was. She said Mitch had killed people. Enjoyed killing people. And was apparently pretty damn good at it.

She’d told him she’d met ‘Doug’ in September, fifteen months ago. That’s when he and Mitch had just moved back here from Florida. Mitch had been one mean SOB to live with. He was on the run again, although he pretended it was just another job change.

But a week after they’d moved back into this house, something happened to Mitch. Cole had come home from school to find his brother sitting at the kitchen table, pale. He’d been reading an old book which he’d whisked out of sight when Cole came in the room for an after-school snack.