FADE TO BLACK - Thrilling Romantic Suspense - Book 1 of the BLACK CATS Series (38 page)

Well, actually, he’d been crying all along. Ever since Dean’s first punch had crunched into his cheekbone.

“Is it possible?” she asked. “Sure. Anything’s possible, isn’t it?” Stacey, who looked so bone-weary she appeared on the verge of dropping, rubbed an exhausted hand over her eyes. “Do I think so? No.”

“You know he killed your dad’s dog.”

“He swears he hit her by accident when he was angry and out looking for me. That he did the rest only after Lady was dead.”

“And you believe that?”

She didn’t answer, looking like she really didn’t want to know the truth right now. Maybe it was easier to believe that version, and he supposed it was at least possible. Even if it was true, Monroe was one sick bastard.

“I do suspect he’s the one who’s made some late-night anonymous calls to me this week.”

He gawked, not having heard that part before now. “He’s obviously unstable.”

Judging by the things Monroe said in the back of Stacey’s squad car, he had been for a long time. He seemed to think he was in love with her because she’d had the really bad judgment to go out with him once when they were teenagers. He’d been obsessing about her since the day she’d come back to town.

The hateful act with the dog? All about punishing her for being with Dean at the diner.

Tonight’s break-in? Simple, unrelenting lust. His parents had gone out of town, the leash was loosened, and he’d been unable to resist his depraved urges. Maybe he’d just come over to spy on her and had taken his shot at stealing her panties when he realized she wasn’t home. Who knew what the sick creep had been thinking?

“If he was the Reaper, don’t you think he would have just killed me when I pissed him off so much by being with you? Why the stupid, petty games? Why not grab me, take me somewhere, rape me, and slit my throat for his viewing audience?”

Jesus, did he hate hearing those tired, matter-of-fact words coming out of her mouth. “I want to hurt him,” he growled, still feeling the black cloud of rage that had enveloped him when he’d seen the man in her room. The thought of what might have happened had he not accompanied Stacey home tonight haunted him. Yes, she could take care of herself. But she was exhausted and vulnerable. Any woman walking in on something like that might be slow to react. Even this incredibly competent one.

His whole body shook, and he clenched his fists, pounding them on her desk, trying to force the fury away.

“I’m okay,” she said softly, putting both her hands over his. “Dean, I’m all right.”

Thank God.
He couldn’t even imagine what he’d do if something happened to her.

He hadn’t realized it until now. Yes, he’d said the words to her, told her she wasn’t alone. But he hadn’t realized until he’d walked into her bedroom and seen the attempted mind-rape that prick Monroe was trying to inflict on her, that he had fallen in love with the woman. Fallen fast, but fallen hard. He would do anything to keep her from harm.

“I don’t think I can stand up straight anymore,” she mumbled. Her beautiful face was haggard. Brown, half-moon smudges filled the hollows beneath her eyes.

“Go home,” he said. He looked out the window, where dawn had begun to break. “It’s almost six.”

“You need me.”

“I don’t need you unconscious and collapsing from sheer exhaustion.” Acknowledging that he was on the verge of the same thing, he added, “Come back with me to my room at the inn. We’ll both crash for two hours, then get back here around eight and wait for Wyatt to call. He swears Lily’s had a major break and should know something this morning. And if she doesn’t, we won’t waste time. We’ll get a warrant and search Monroe’s house.”

No, he didn’t really believe that weak, simpering prick was the Reaper. But it was something to go on, a thin lifeline to continue the investigation.

“I want to go home.”

He frowned, hating the thought of her walking back into that house.

“Believe me, I’ll be throwing my underwear and my bedding out, but I really need to be in my own place. Besides, I don’t think it would be good for your fellow agents to see me leave your room later.”

She had a point. “Okay, I’ll come with you then.”

“No, honestly, it’s all right. I’m tired, but I’m also horny, and if you come home with me, I’ll seduce you so neither one of us gets any sleep.”

That didn’t sound like such a bad thing. At least, not at any other time. But today, there was too much at stake. “All right, you win. But I do demand a rain check.”

“You’ve got it, and I’ll hold you to it.”

Their stares met, and for an instant they were both back in the car, wrapped around each other, acknowledging in silence what he, at least, had already acknowledged in his head: They cared about each other. More than cared, on his part. Yet this wasn’t the place and certainly wasn’t the time to find out if she felt the same way.

“Let me make a couple of calls and then we’ll go,” she said. “I need to let the DA’s office know about Rob so they can wake up a judge and get us a warrant.”

He gave her fifteen minutes to make her calls. Then, as the sun rose and morning spilled through the windows, he took her by the arm and led her toward the exit.

“Sheriff?” the deputy at the front desk said.

“What is it, Frank?”

“I got a call a few minutes ago from Mrs. Covey.”

Dean tensed. Hours ago, he’d been convinced Randy Covey was the brutal killer who stalked Satan’s Playground. Now, even though he knew better, his head still pounded when he heard the name.

“Is there any word on Randy’s condition?” she asked.

“He’s unconscious, but it sounds like he’ll pull through. She said she’s been unable to reach Seth. I guess he was out when Mrs. Covey was notified, and she raced away, leaving him a note. He hasn’t responded or shown up at the hospital. Now she’s worrying herself into fits about him, too.”

From the way she had talked about Randy’s mother, Dean knew Stacey didn’t like the woman. But sympathy for a mother’s fear made her nod in understanding. “I’ll swing by their place, make sure he’s okay, then let him know about his dad.”

“Now?” He glanced at his watch. “He’s a twenty-year-old kid, and it’s not even seven a.m. He’s probably dead-to-the-world asleep.”

“If the situation weren’t urgent, I’d do it later. But Randy is in bad shape. If something had happened to my father, I’d want to know.”

Being close to his own father, he completely understood the reasoning.

“Besides, I like Frank and would rather spare him any more frenzied calls from Mrs. Covey. And it’s the least I can do, given what we thought.”

He dropped a hand on her shoulder. “We thought that for very good reasons.”

“I know.”

They walked to the squad car, and Dean rode shotgun. He’d left his agency car at her father’s house. Since Stacey was going right by it to visit the Coveys, he’d asked her to drop him off so he could retrieve it.

When they got there, he turned to her. “Go home and sleep.”

“I’ll try.”

He reached for the door handle, then turned back with a frown. “Don’t spend a lot of time at Covey’s. You need to rest.”

She put her hand up and made an old scout’s-honor sign. “Promise.”

Kissing her again, he got out and went to his car. As she turned around to drive straight out the long driveway and he followed, he couldn’t tear his attention off the back of her head. He watched the weary droop and noted the tangle of her long hair.

He was worried. Well, he’d been worried for days, but this was something else. His cop’s sixth sense tingled, telling him something was off. Something was happening that he didn’t know about.

He almost followed her when she pulled into the next driveway, but didn’t want to come off as nutty and overprotective. She’d proved more than once that she could handle herself. Could she ever.

Tapping the horn, he waved and kept driving toward town. “Thirty minutes,” he told himself, watching in the rearview mirror as her car drove up the long, hilly driveway to the Coveys’. He’d give her a half hour; then he’d call to make sure she was home.

Because he had the feeling he wouldn’t be able to catch one minute of sleep until he knew she was okay.

Stacey watched Dean
slow as she turned off the road, and waved him on. She knew he was worried. He’d been as shaken up by that filth Rob Monroe as she had. Later, when she had time, she looked forward to cleaning her home thoroughly, eradicating every trace of the vile man. But she had one more task to fulfill before she could, for at least a couple of hours, give in to her bone-deep weariness.

The Covey house sat at the top of the hill, and as she crested it, she saw Seth’s truck parked outside. Wondering if he had just missed his grandmother’s note and gone to bed when he’d gotten back home last night, she found a last bit of energy to jog up the front steps of the two-story farmhouse and knock. And knock. And then to pound.

No answer.

Stepping across the creaky wooden planks of the porch, she reached a window, cupped her hands, and peered inside. The living room looked the same as it had since she was a kid. Plastic on the furniture. An old-fashioned upright piano, untouched and unplayed. Fussy and protected and cold, just like Alice Covey.

She returned to the door, knocked again, then walked to the opposite side and looked into the kitchen window. She’d just about decided to give up when she saw movement. A door inside the kitchen was pushed open a few inches, a skeletal hand appearing around the edge of it.

“Seth!” she called, rapping on the glass.

Seth stumbled out from behind that door, shock widening his eyes. His naturally pale face grew one shade paler, which emphasized the harsh red acne scars on his cheeks.

He met her stare through the glass, looking terrified. Jeez, if he was this startled, the kid must have been coming up from his room anyway, not having heard her knock.

“Sorry,” she said, speaking loudly. “I need to talk to you. Open up.”

His eyes shifted. He was thinking about it. Frozen with indecision.

Which was when she realized how wrong this whole situation felt.

She took a step back from the window. Staring straight ahead, she saw the smear her own face had made on the glass. Saw Seth’s dark form move around the kitchen, heading past the window toward the front door. Saw that he was dressed in black from neck to toe, despite the earliness of the hour.

Her heart began to thud, tripping in an unexpected rhythm. Her pulse followed suit, her blood surging through her, really waking her up for what felt like the first time in hours. Her body had gone into instant readiness even though her brain hadn’t yet caught up and told her precisely why.

The front door opened a crack. Forcing herself to stay calm, she stepped over.

“What do you want?” Seth asked, his voice gravelly and filled with sleep.

“I need to talk to you. It’s about your dad.”

He stared, his eyes shifting. Glancing down, he spotted the blood on her khaki uniform pants, which she’d been wearing for twenty-four hours, and his mouth fell open.

“Oh, no, that’s …” She almost said,
That’s not his blood
, but caught herself in time. “Your dad was involved in an accident, but it looks like he’s going to pull through.”

Silence.

“Seth? Did you hear me?”

“My grandmother left me a note,” he mumbled.

“Yes. She called the station this morning because she hadn’t heard from you.”

Another quick shift of the eyes. Then an explanation. “She didn’t leave any number. I figured she wouldn’t be able to answer her cell phone inside a hospital.”

Plausible. Maybe. But still, how weird that Randy’s only son wouldn’t have gone right down to see his dad.

“Okay. Well, please do give your grandmother a call.” She told the young man the name of the hospital, suggesting he write it down.

“I’ll remember.” He began to push the door closed.

Stacey reached out and touched him before he could shut it all the way. “Seth, is everything okay?”

His brow pulled down over his eyes and he glared at her hand, visible anger appearing, as quick as it was shocking. “Don’t touch me.” He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his thin neck. “You … you’re dirty.”

She let go immediately, seeing the stains on her blouse. Yes, she was a mess. But dirty? Her hands certainly weren’t, and he’d said the word with such revulsion.

“I’d better go call Grandmother.”

She nodded once, then watched as he shut the door in her face. The loud click of the lock cordially invited her to get the hell off his porch.

Shaking her head in pure confusion, she did so. For some reason, though, as she walked down the steps she found herself unable to face forward. She kept her head turned and edged down sideways. Something in her didn’t want to present her back to that closed door and all those windows. To Seth.

Her instincts screamed in her brain, demanding that she admit why.

And suddenly she did. The shocking possibility took shape and flashed in her head.

Ridiculous. But not impossible.

Her steps slowed as she walked down the driveway, to Seth’s covered pickup. An American-made one. Late-model.

She didn’t touch it, just peered through the driver’s-side window into the cab. Nothing.

Walking to the back, she looked in that window. There, she saw something that turned her blood to a river of ice.

It was a backpack. A child’s ninja-warrior backpack, the type a seven- or eight-year-old boy might like, lay on the floor of the truck. A few boyish toys spilled out of it.

“Oh, fuck,” she whispered, slowly backing away from the window, her hand rising to her mouth.

It couldn’t be, could it? Seth Covey? Quiet, unassuming, twenty-year-old Seth?

The wheels turned, the gears clicking into place in her head. That night at Dick’s, his father had feared his son had been there and had left early. Had he, in truth, seen him or his truck lurking around the tavern?

The video and computer equipment—of course Randy would steal it for his son.

Tim had said Seth used to do the ride-alongs with Randy. Perhaps to the very mall where the last victim had been snatched?