Don't Cry (18 page)

That's what he needed tonight. A woman who'd give him what he wanted—a few hours to forget about the past. All he had to do was drag his sorry ass out of there and head over to his favorite bar. The owner, Peggy Ann, was a lady who had never turned him away, not in the fifteen years he'd known her. More than once, she had put him up at her place overnight and let him sleep it off after he'd gotten totally wasted. If he drowned his sorrows tonight, he'd pay for it tomorrow, of course, but better to face reality with a bitch of a hangover than to go slowly out of his mind tonight. And that's what would happen if he stayed sober.

He had thought that it was long over, buried in the past so deep that it could never resurface. God damn it all, Blake and Enid had been gone for twenty-five years. Regina Bennett had been apprehended more than two decades ago and had spent the rest of her life in the nuthouse. They had all dealt with what had happened and moved on, he and Wayne and Hart and Audrey, each in their own way.

Why was this happening? Why, dear God, why?

Hadn't enough lives been destroyed? Hadn't everyone involved paid more than enough in pain and suffering and guilt? God, the guilt!

If any one of them had done something different in the past, would Blake still be alive? Would Enid? If he could go back to that day, the day Blake had gone missing, what could he change, what would he do differently?

Stop doing this to yourself!

Garth stood, slipped on his jacket, and turned off the lamp.

He'd have to tell Hart, but not tonight. Tomorrow would be soon enough. He had to find a way to help the boy, to prevent him from going off the deep end. He had spent years trying to keep his nephew clean and sober, but now he wondered if maybe…if getting drunk and staying drunk or getting high was the only way Hart could cope…

What about the other Baby Blue toddlers? How would their parents deal with the truth? Two families would soon learn the fate of their missing children. And once the information became public knowledge, what then?

If they didn't find the Rocking Chair Killer and stop him, it was only a matter of time, wasn't it, before the bodies of the other missing toddlers showed up?

Keith Lawson's parents would have to be told. A quick search had revealed that the couple had divorced years ago; each had remarried and had children with their new mates. He still lived in the Chattanooga area. She lived in Knoxville.

Chase Wilcox's mother had died three years ago. His father now lived with his daughter in Nashville. She had been born after Chase had disappeared. Chase's brother, Blaine, five years older, was a detective with the Nashville PD.

As soon as Willie told Wayne about the DNA results, his former brother-in-law would go straight to Grace Douglas, was probably with her now. Wayne thought Garth didn't know about Grace. And Garth had never said any different. He figured Wayne's relationship with Shane Douglas's mother was a private matter between the two of them. Hell, he didn't give a rat's ass who Wayne was screwing. It wasn't as if he was being unfaithful to Enid.

Garth breathed in the night air as he left the station and walked across the road to the parking lot. The arthritis in his knees ached something awful tonight. Damn, getting old was the pits.

As he headed for his car, he thought about Audrey. Tam had told her by now. She knew about the DNA results. Knew the skeletons belonged to the first two Baby Blue toddlers. But Garth didn't have to worry about Audrey. Wayne's daughter was strong. She always had been, even as a little kid.

She'd be okay.

As long as she didn't remember. As long as the old nightmares didn't return.

 

Why was Enid screaming? Why was Hart crying? What was Uncle Garth doing here?

“Hart? Hart, what's wrong?” Audrey asked her stepbrother.

He didn't answer. His tear-filled eyes stared straight ahead as he continued sobbing softly.

“Where's Daddy? I want my daddy.” Audrey ran out of the house and into the backyard.

Something was wrong. Horribly wrong.

Enid cried a lot, but not like that, not screaming her head off. And Hart. Why did he look so funny, his eyes all blank and spooky, as if he was scared to death?

Something had happened to Blake.

Something terrible.

Poor Daddy. He loved Blake so very, very much.

Audrey felt strong hands grip her shoulders. “Daddy?” But the hands that turned her around did not belong to her father.

“Uncle Garth?”

He smoothed the flyaway tendrils of her waist-length hair out of her face and wiped the tears from her cheeks with his fingertips. “It's all right, Audrey. Don't be afraid.”

“What happened to Blake?”

“Blake's gone,” Uncle Garth said. “Do you hear me, Audrey, he's gone. Somebody came into the house while you and Hart were playing outside and Enid was asleep, and that person stole him. Your brother has been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped?”

“Yeah, sweetie, that's what happened.”

“Daddy?”

“I've called your father. He's on his way home now.” Uncle Garth squeezed her shoulders. “I need for you to be a big girl and not bother anybody. Your daddy doesn't need you bothering him. I'll look after you and Hart. I'm not going to let anybody ask you and Hart a lot of questions that will upset y'all. I'll protect you, both of you. Just do what I tell you to do. Do you understand?”

She nodded. “Yes, Uncle Garth.”

“And if you need to talk to somebody about what happened today, you talk to me, okay?” He searched her eyes as if trying to decide whether or not she understood. “Losing Blake…it's going to kill your daddy and Enid.” The last sentence he'd said almost as an afterthought.

Enid's anguished screams and mournful weeping replayed itself over and over again in Audrey's mind as she huddled near the fence in the backyard. The sirens wailed as police cars surrounded the house and an ambulance pulled into the driveway right behind Uncle Garth's car. Curious neighbors lined the street and peered over the fence. Audrey squatted on her knees and curled up as small and tight as humanly possible, hoping no one could see her.

Blake was gone.

Uncle Garth said someone had stolen her baby brother.

 

Audrey woke with a start and realized she'd been dreaming.

She didn't turn on a light, didn't get out of bed, didn't even glance at the bedside clock. For years after Blake's disappearance, she had been plagued with terrifying nightmares that often made no sense whatsoever. Occasionally, she simply relived that day or part of it, remembering bits and pieces. But the feelings were always the same. A strange mixture of sadness and fear. Even now, she still wasn't sure why memories of that day evoked a sense of fear deep inside her. The only reasonable explanation was that being a child herself, she had been afraid that she, too, might be abducted, that Blake's fate might become her fate.

If only her father had allowed her and Hart to stay in therapy longer than a few weeks. If they could have received, at the very least, some type of ongoing grief counseling, perhaps their lives would be different now. Of course, hindsight was twenty/twenty.

But Daddy and Uncle Garth had done what they thought was best at the time. Big, strong He-Men types sucked it up and went on. They didn't want or need some “headshrinker” asking them about their feelings. Neither of them made allowances for the fact that she and Hart were children who had been traumatized by the abduction of their baby brother. An abduction that took place while they were supposed to be taking care of their brother.

J.D. Cass was the same kind of man, cut from the same cloth as her father and uncle. He alternated between bulldozing over his daughter and neglecting her. He didn't know the first thing about being a good parent.

She believed Zoe had been right when she'd said, “My father doesn't love me and he sure doesn't want me.”

Didn't J.D. have any idea how lucky he was to have a beautiful, smart, amazing daughter like Zoe? How many parents who had lost a child would gladly swap places with J.D.? Charlie and Mary Nell Scott would. Debra Gregory's mother would.

And what about Keith Lawson's parents? And Chase Wilcox's?

“And Daddy,” she said aloud. Her father would give up anything and everything if he could have Blake back. He'd swap her for his son in a heartbeat.

Damn, Audrey, let it go. What is, is.

She had to stop comparing J.D. to her father. It wasn't fair to J.D. to make him pay for her father's sins.

J.D. had apologized to Zoe. And he had apologized to her.

Her father had never apologized to her for anything he'd ever said or done. Not even when he had accused her of wishing Blake dead, all the while knowing it wasn't true.

And J.D. had agreed to family counseling, hadn't he? That alone should prove he was different.

Audrey groaned. Monday she would have to refer J.D. and Zoe to one of her colleagues for family counseling now that she was personally involved with Zoe. And heaven help her, she was involved with J.D., too.

J.D. had immersed himself in work, leaving the situation with Zoe as it was. He had apologized to her and she had accepted his apology, but nothing had really changed between them. Things weren't any better, but thank God, they didn't seem to be any worse. His job was something he understood and could for the most part control, unlike his daughter. It seemed that the harder he tried to be a good father, the more he screwed up. Why was it that Audrey Sherrod, unmarried and childless, seemed to instantly connect with Zoe, where he, her own father, had no idea how to deal with a teenage girl? Maybe that was it—Zoe was a girl and Audrey was a girl. Girls understood one another. Or it could be as simple as Audrey's knowledge and experience as a mental health therapist giving her an edge. Or could the fact that Audrey had lost her own mother when she was just a kid be the reason she had been able to form an instant bond with Zoe?

Audrey had phoned him on Monday to tell him that she had set up a five o'clock Friday afternoon appointment with Dr. Sally Woodruff.

“I've known Sally for years and I respect her as a person and as a therapist,” Audrey had said. “She and her husband Jim are friends as well as colleagues. I've always thought of Sally as my professional mentor.”

J.D. had felt relieved that he wouldn't have to sit through counseling sessions week after week and have Audrey judge him as a father and as a human being and find him lacking on both counts. “I'm okay with the switch in counselors, but how do you think Zoe will take this news?”

“Actually, I spoke to Zoe first, and after I explained my reasons for handing y'all over to another counselor, she understood. She says that she's fine with having Sally as her counselor.”

“She is? I'm amazed.”

“Why? Because your daughter reacted in a rational manner and didn't throw a hissy fit?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Perhaps if you would explain things to her first, before issuing orders, you might get a more positive reaction.”

He had come close to losing his temper and telling Dr. Sherrod exactly what she could do with her advice. Instead, he had grunted and said, “Anything else you want to say to me?”

“Only one other thing—Zoe and I would like your permission for me to become an unofficial big sister to her. I've worked with the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization in the past and I've been a big sister to several young girls. But this time I wouldn't be going through the regular channels, just doing this on my own. Zoe needs a strong female role model in her life. I think it would help her tremendously. And it's something both Zoe and I—”

“You have my permission.”

He had replied instantly. After all, how could he possibly object? Zoe did need a strong female role model, someone she could admire and emulate, someone who really cared about her, someone who understood her. And Dr. Audrey Sherrod was the ideal person, seemingly the only person who fulfilled all the requirements. Besides that, apparently she was eager to take on the problems of an unhappy, often angry and rebellious teenager.

During the past four days since Audrey's phone call, she had eaten lunch with Zoe at school on Tuesday and again today. Zoe was supposed to spend the evening with Audrey tonight so that she could help Zoe with a class project. J.D. had no idea what the project was because his daughter had not bothered to share that information with him. But then, he could have asked her about it, which he hadn't done.

As he zipped in and out of heavy traffic, trying not to be late for his morning meeting with Tamara Lovelady, J.D. turned his thoughts from his personal life to his professional life. But before he'd had a chance to focus on the crossover cases—Baby Blue kidnappings and Rocking Chair Murders—his phone rang.

He answered on the second ring. “Special Agent Cass.”

“Well, hello, Special Agent Cass.” Holly Johnston's sultry voice held a tinge of amusement. “I haven't heard from you in a while.”

“I've been busy. You know what's been going on.”

“I know what the DA knows. The Rocking Chair Murders have become even more bizarre now that we know those skeletons belong to a couple of the little boys kidnapped all those years ago. It's just plain weird.”

“That it is.”

“I didn't call to talk business,” she admitted. “I thought you might be free tonight. I could sure use some of your special brand of TLC.” Her sexy sigh told him just how much she wanted him.

“Tonight's not good for me.”
Why the hell not?
Zoe would be at Audrey's house until ten. That would give him plenty of time for some R&R with the gorgeous ADA.

“Tomorrow night, then?”

“Maybe. Let me get back to you first thing in the morning.”

“If I didn't know better, I'd think you've found yourself another playmate,” Holly said. “If you have, just say so and don't waste my time.”

“At present, you're my one and only playmate,” he assured her.

Holly laughed. “Then call me in the morning, but if you think I'll wait around for you, think again. If you're too busy tomorrow night…”

Did she think it would bother him if she had sex with another guy? He didn't give a damn if she screwed a dozen other guys. “I understand. You're a popular girl, and if I prefer not to come running when you snap your fingers, you'll find someone else who will.”

“Is that what you think I'm doing, snapping my fingers?”

“Maybe.”

“Sorry. I guess I forgot who I was talking to, didn't I? If you're free tomorrow night, call me in the morning, and if I don't hear from you by noon, I'll consider our mutually satisfying relationship over. How's that?”

Did she just issue him an ultimatum? “Sounds about right to me.”

“God, I'm glad I didn't fall in love with you,” Holly told him, an angry edge to her voice. “But I hope I'm around when you finally fall, and you will. One of these days, you'll fall hard, and some woman will have you eating out of the palm of her hand.”

The idea of him being pussy-whipped by some unknown woman out there somewhere amused J.D. He hadn't meant to laugh, knowing it would only piss Holly off more than she already was, but he did.

“Don't hold your breath,” he told her. “Not even my ex had that kind of power over me.”

“Maybe that's why your marriage imploded.”

“Maybe. Or maybe it was because she found somebody else.” Some guy who had been able to give her what he couldn't. Erin had wanted a man who would worship at her feet, a guy who'd sit around adoring her from daylight to dark. He wasn't that type of guy. Never had been. Never would be.

Holly reversed gears and, breathing heavily, proceeded to remind him of all of the little bedroom tricks that she knew he enjoyed.

Her vivid descriptions aroused him. A man would have to be dead not to respond to such erotic promises. But oddly enough, he wasn't thinking about Holly, about her big tits, her rounded butt, or her talented mouth. No, damn it to hell, the woman who came to mind was the tall, slender, aloof Dr. Sherrod.

J.D. grimaced. How stupid was he? He wasn't interested in Audrey Sherrod, not in that way. Hell, he didn't even like the woman, and she certainly didn't like him. That was one road he would never travel. No way.

 

“My father thinks that Garth and I should consider handing over the Rocking Chair Killer cases to another team,” Tam explained to J.D. shortly after he entered the office she shared with Garth. “He believes that all of us, him included, are too personally connected to the Baby Blue kidnappings to remain objective.”

“What do you think?”

“Honestly?” She shrugged. “I don't know. I'd like to think that despite the current investigation overlapping with the old cold cases, we can do our jobs effectively without allowing our emotional connection to one of the missing toddlers to cloud our judgment.”

“You'll be walking a tightrope,” J.D. said. “Especially Garth, since that missing toddler was his nephew.” He glanced through the open door. “Where is Garth?”

“Talking to Dad, trying to persuade him not to replace us.”

“Hmm…Your family and the Sherrod family have been friends for a long time, huh?”

“As long as I can remember,” Tam said. “My dad and Wayne went through the academy together. And Audrey's mom and mine were college friends, which considering their vastly different backgrounds seems implausible. My mother never knew her father, and her mother worked two jobs to support them, so for the most part my mom was raised by her grandmother. My mother grew up very poor whereas Norma Colton grew up with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth.”

“Audrey's mother came from money?” He should have known. Despite being the daughter of a retired police sergeant, she had an air of superiority that often came with being filthy rich.

“Oh, yes. Norma came from old Chattanooga royalty.” Frowning, Tam shook her head and snorted. “Audrey's grandparents disowned Norma when she married Wayne Sherrod. Audrey never met her mother's parents, and even after Norma and Wayne divorced, she didn't try to mend any fences with them. Then when she died, her parents didn't come forward and acknowledge Audrey as their grandchild. Of course, that was years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Colton are both dead now.”

“Interesting.”

Tam eyed him suspiciously. “Why all the interest in Audrey?”

“I don't think I initially asked you about Audrey,” he told her. “I believe I asked if your family and the Sherrod family had been close for a long time.”

“So you did. My mistake.”

Tam's close scrutiny bothered J.D. It was as if she were trying to read his mind. “Shall we exchange information about the case we're working on?” he asked, hurriedly changing the subject and getting back to business.

Tam rose from her desk. “It's about time for my morning break. I'm getting a Coke and some crackers out of the machine. Want anything?”

“Nothing, thanks.”

She left him sitting there for only a few minutes. When she returned, she was munching on cheese and wheat crackers. She placed the open cola can on a colorful ceramic coaster before sitting down in the brown swivel chair behind her desk.

After chewing and swallowing and taking a sip of the Coke, she said, “Talk. I can listen and eat at the same time.”

J.D. went over some basic info about the Baby Blue kidnapping cases and then tossed out a couple of the hypotheses he had discussed with George Bonner.

“Let me get this straight,” Tam said. “You think it's possible that Jeremy Arden or one of the other kidnapped toddlers who somehow survived could be our killer?”

“It's a thought. We know that Jeremy Arden has been back in Chattanooga for a while now and that he visited Regina Bennett several times before she died.”

“Why do you suspect Jeremy and not the unknown nephew?”

“Maybe Jeremy Arden and the nephew are one and the same.”

“Oh…” Tam considered the possibility. “That would be a reasonable assumption if only one of them, either Arden or the nephew, had visited Regina Bennett, not both of them.”

“Maybe only one of them did, but using two different names and possibly a disguise of some type when he visited as Corey Bennett.”

“Why would he do that?” Tam asked.

“Who knows, maybe to throw suspicion off himself if anyone started snooping around trying to find out who had visited Regina.”

“Okay, that's possible, but the idea that maybe one of the other Baby Blue toddlers survived isn't feasible. We know now that the first two missing boys are dead and the sixth boy was rescued. That leaves three possible survivors.” Tam scrutinized him with a surely-you-don't-believe-this-is-true expression on her face. “There is no reason why Regina Bennett would have kept one of those little boys alive, not if she thought each one of them was her son Cody.”

“Probably not,” J.D. agreed. “Like I told you, I'm just tossing out possibilities. Anything and everything that might help us to discover who our Rocking Chair Killer is.”

“Until a better choice becomes available, my money would be on Corey Bennett, whoever he is.”

“Yeah, whoever he is.”

“You don't think he exists, do you?”

“I think he exists, but I don't think he goes by the name of Corey Bennett.”

“Was he ever Corey Bennett?” Tam asked.

“I'm not sure, but if he was, that means he was in some way related to Regina. Brother, cousin, uncle, nephew, or son.”

“Son? But—but I thought Cody was her only child.”

“The only child we know about,” J.D. said.

“How could she have hidden a second child? When the FBI arrested her and rescued Jeremy Arden, there was no other child with her or with her aunt and uncle.”

“And there's no record of Regina having any siblings or an uncle or a cousin or a son by the name of Corey. But it isn't out of the realm of possibility that she had another child, that he lived with her during the years when she killed Cody and the other toddlers.”

“If that were true, then where was he when the FBI arrived at the farm that day?” Tam asked. “What did she do with him? And where has he been all these years?”

“I don't have the answers,” J.D. admitted. “All I have are a few unsubstantiated scenarios and a lot of questions. Maybe Corey Bennett is Regina's other son. Maybe he's Jeremy Arden. Maybe he's really her nephew. Maybe Jeremy Arden is our Rocking Chair Killer, or it's possible, if there really is a Corey Bennett, he's our guy.”

Tam dropped the two remaining crackers in the garbage, took a sip from the can of cola, and then said, “I'll agree that either is possible. But the idea that one of the other toddlers survived and is now killing Regina Bennett over and over again is a little far-fetched.”

J.D.'s brow wrinkled. He knew Tam was right. “Okay, here's another scenario, a more probable one, but one you're not going to like and are going to refuse to consider.”