Don't Tell (47 page)

They believed Winters was the bad guy.

Finally.

It took that bastard stealing his son to make these assholes finally see the sun in broad daylight. It took the sight of their sympathy, too late, to make him snap. Rage rushed through him and he stopped walking. Deliberately he met the eyes of every man, every man that just two weeks before had regarded him with open hostility and distrust because he had the unmitigated gall to accuse one of their local darlings of spousal abuse. They’d known Winters. They’d known his wife. They must have seen something.

Somebody must have seen something.

„You’re hypocritical bastards, every last one of you,“ Steven gritted through clenched teeth.

Toni pulled on his arm. „Steven, this is neither the time nor – “

Steven shook her hand off his arm and addressed the room at large. „You knew him. You saw him in action. You knew his wife. You must have seen her wear sunglasses in the winter, long-sleeved blouses in the summer.“ He spun around and glared at a detective whose nameplate read G. West. „You, West. Did you know Mary Grace Winters?“

West dropped his eyes. „Yes.“

„Did you see her with bruises, ever?“

West lifted his eyes and Steven saw them fill with guilt. „Yes. Rob said she was clumsy.“

„And you believed him,“ Steven sliced with sarcasm. „You believed him, didn’t you?“

West dropped his eyes. „Yes.“

„Then you’re just as guilty,“ Steven hissed. He raked the room with his angry glare, but not one man could meet his eyes. „All of you are guilty. So what will you do about it?“ He clenched his fist and fought to swallow the lump that was building in his throat. „Because you didn’t do anything then, he’s killed – maybe three people, maybe more. Because you didn’t do anything then, he now has his wife in his hands once again.“ He slapped his hand down on the nearest desk and its occupant jumped. „He has my son in his hands, goddammit.“ His voice broke and he didn’t care. „So tell me what will you do about it now?“

Not a soul spoke and Steven hung his head in dejected defeat.

„Come on, Steven,“ Toni urged, her voice gentle.

„Wait.“

Steven turned to find one of the detectives visibly trembling where he stood by his desk. It was Crowley, the detective who’d driven a drunken Ben Jolley home on his first day in Asheville. Two weeks ago. When his baby was still safe and Winters was just a name in a file. „What, Crowley?“

„You’re right.“ Crowley drew a deep breath. „Mostly. I knew Mary Grace; I knew Robbie. I thought I knew Rob. I was wrong. I knew Rob was a bully and he could be rough during questioning, but I never thought he could kill in cold blood. I never saw Mary Grace with any bruises, but honestly I never really looked. I never suspected Rob could be…“

Steven waited.

„Evil,“ Crowley finished with a small shrug. A few heads around him nodded. „I didn’t help then, because I didn’t know. I know now. I never went to the cabin with Rob. I didn’t know him that well. But Jolley did.“

The tiny hairs rose on the back of Steven’s neck. He looked over to Ben Jolley’s empty desk. „Where is he?“

„Home,“ Toni offered. „He took leave after Spinnelli found the dead prostitute. He needed time to process. I let him have the time. He’ll come up before the disciplinary board soon enough.“ She pointed to Crowley. „Jim, I want you to bring him in. If he’s got a map, bring it with you.“

Crowley stood and pulled on his jacket „I’ll likely have to dry him out first. I saw him at Two Point Tavern last night and he was fallin’ down drunk. I had to drive him home.“

Tom pursed her lips. „Then pour some coffee down his throat and sober him up. But get him in here as fast as you can.“ She turned to Steven. „Your aunt called me from the hospital in Raleigh. She said she’s fine and not to worry about her, to concentrate on finding Nicky.“

Amazingly, Steven found his lips curving in a smile. „She’s some woman, my Aunt Helen.“

Asheville

Monday, March 19

11:15 A.M.

„Miss Broughton.“ Max found himself pleading brokenly and was beyond caring. He wanted to grab the woman and shake her until he rattled loose the truth and was almost beyond caring that she was also Winters’s victim. He clenched his fist on the worn tabletop of the justice center interview room and pounded once. „If you have any decency you’ll tell us where he’s hiding. For God’s sake – where is that cabin!“

Sue Ann Broughton sat at the interview table, her hair tangled and dirty, her eyes fixed on the tabletop. She refused to look at them, any of them.

„I want a lawyer,“ she whispered, barely loud enough to hear.

Detective Lambert shook his head. „You’re not under arrest, Miss Broughton. You’re free to hire a lawyer at your own expense, but I’m not required to provide one under the law until you’ve been arrested.“

Sue Ann lifted weary eyes. „Then why can’t I go home?“

Lambert never moved a facial muscle. „Because you’re being held as a material witness. We’ve been over this several times before.“ He casually rested his arm on the table. „I can, however, charge you with aiding and abetting a suspected felon.“

„Rob didn’t kill those women,“ she protested, but the words were obviously borne of fear rather than true confidence. „He didn’t.“

Lambert merely raised a brow. „He told you this?“

Sue Ann glared. „You know he did. You bugged our phone. That’s the only way you could have known he was meeting me this morning.“

Lambert shrugged. „Then you also know that we know the two of you arranged some sort of money drop. You gave him cash to run on. That’s aiding and abetting a suspected felon.“ He eyed Sue Ann sharply and Max felt a small glimmer of hope. Maybe Lambert could get through to Sue Ann. Maybe Sue Ann would tell them where they could find Caroline. „Now, Sue Ann, you don’t want your baby to be born in prison, do you?“

Sue Ann paled. „No. You can’t put me in jail.“ Her hand instinctively splayed across her abdomen. „You can’t.“

Lambert shrugged again. „No, but a jury of your peers can and will. It’s not a chance I’d be keen on taking if I were you. So you can tell me what I want to know, or I can go to the District Attorney with what I know. It’s your choice.“ Lambert stopped and watched Sue Ann’s face change expressions as the woman fought with herself and her fear of Winters.

Max glanced from the corner of his eye as Tom leaned forward, his face ashen.

„Ms. Broughton.“ Tom’s voice was gravelly. „You’re having a baby.“ He cleared his throat. „Do you want him living with a father that will hurt him?“

Sue Ann shook her head, her eyes bright width tears. „Rob would never hurt a child.“

Tom shook his head. „No, ma’am. You’re wrong.“ Slowly he stood and began unbuttoning his shirt. „He hits you? I know he must.“ His voice had grown dull, monotone. „He hit my mother.“ Another few buttons slipped from their buttonholes. „He hit me. Yes, he did,“ Tom insisted when Sue Ann began to shake her head vigorously. „He hit me with his fists. He kicked me with his boots.“ Tom swallowed as he pulled his shirttail from his waistband, exposing the fine blond hairs just beginning to cover his chest and again Max was struck at once by Tom’s youth and his maturity. „But it got worse, Sue Ann.“ He shrugged one arm from its sleeve. „One day, he hit my mom into a wall and she was unconscious. He was about to kick her again and I leaned down on top of her.“ He didn’t take his eyes from Sue Ann’s face. „I was six years old and all I could think about was protecting my mom. She was crippled and walked with a walker. He was about to kick her ribs in.“ Tom held up his arm. „Look close, Sue Ann.“

Max looked and felt his stomach roil. Scars, faint and round, lined the inside of Tom’s arm starting about three inches from his shoulder and proceeding to his armpit, evenly spaced.

Sue Ann paled and dropped her eyes to the table.

„I said look close, Sue Ann,“ Tom snapped, his tone one of instant authority. Sue Ann looked up, her eyes filled with horrified tears. „My mom doesn’t even know about these. I’ve hidden them for years. If she knew she’d hate herself and I don’t want that to happen. But hear me, Sue Ann. The man you’re protecting burned me with a cigarette for trying to protect my mother. I was six years old. Do you really think he’ll treat your child with any more respect?“

Trembling, Sue Ann dropped her eyes back to the table-top and a long, agonizing minute passed as she rocked herself, her arms locked across her abdomen as if the action could protect her unborn child. Finally she raised her eyes and in them Max saw defeat. „No,“ she whispered hoarsely. „Give me a pencil. I’ll draw you the best map I can.“

Lambert stood and tapped on the two-way mirror. A uniformed officer appeared in the doorway as he bent to write on his notepad. Lambert ripped off the note, leaving the ragged edge fluttering in pieces. „Call Lieutenant Ross with this message. I need backup sent to this location.“ He turned to Max and Tom. „I’m afraid you’ll have to stay here.“

Tom shook his head, his jaw taut. „No, we’re going. I may be the only one who can get through to him – if he’s as obsessed with finding me as everyone says.“

Max stood and grabbed his cane. „Every minute we argue are minutes we could be finding Winters. Please, Detective Lambert, let’s not waste any more time.“

Lambert regarded them with an even stare before inclining his head. „Let’s go. But don’t make me sorry I said yes. When we get there you stay in the car.“

Western North Carolina

Monday, March 19

11:30 A.M.

She’d taken matters into her own hands, so to speak, her first step to regain use of her hands. She’d found the tool in the jagged edge of the aluminum frame of the window screen. It took her precious minutes of scrunching and rolling, caterpillar style to get to it. It took her even longer to position her body so the jagged edge rubbed against the twine binding her hands behind her back. Midway through her struggles, which she tried to keep as silent as possible, the little boy rolled around and opened his eyes, watching her every move. Caroline took a deep breath through her nose and gingerly winked the eye that was least swollen, trying to give the child some hope.

He winked back and she found giving hope went both ways. She rubbed the strands of twine harder against the aluminum, finding a rhythm until finally the effort paid off.

The twine snapped. Her hands were free.

Trembling, she pulled the tape from her mouth and took a great gulp, filling her lungs with musty air that seemed sweeter than that of a spring meadow. Keeping the tape, she crawled over to the child whose eyes were now bright and interested. Gently she pulled the tape from his mouth. He too drew a deep breath.

„Who are you, honey?“ Caroline whispered.

„Nicky. Nicky Thatcher,“ he whispered back. „My daddy is a policeman.“

Caroline glanced over at the door between the two rooms of the cabin, wondering what role the boy’s daddy had in this whole nightmare, what he’d done to make him a target of the formidable Rob Winters. If the boy’s daddy was a good cop or a bad one. That didn’t really matter. Freeing this baby was her first priority. „Are you a brave boy, Nicky?“ He nodded soberly. „Then this is what I want you to do.“

Chapter Twenty-three

I-40 towards Blowing Rock, NC

Monday, March 19

12:30 p.m.

„How much further?“ Steven asked from behind clenched teeth. If he didn’t hold his teeth tight together, they’d chatter pathetically. He was past the point of caring if anyone else heard the chatter, but somehow felt that hearing it himself would be the straw that pushed him over the edge.

„Another half-hour,“ Jolley answered, his speech still the slightest bit slurred. Detective Crowley had been working to sober him up for the last hour, hoping he would be more lucid once they got closer to Winters’s cabin.

Ross glanced over from the driver’s seat, disapproval and worry etched into her face. „When we get there, you stay in the car. I’m serious, Steven. You’re off this case until we find your son.“

„You can’t take me off this case, Toni,“ Steven replied evenly, knowing she was trying to help.

Ross’s lips pursed, knowing he was right. „Give Ben another cup of coffee, Jim. I want him sharpened up sometime in the next thirty minutes.“

Crowley poured another cup of coffee strong enough to peel wallpaper. „Drink up, Ben.“

Western North Carolina

Monday, March 19

12:45 a.m.

Caroline’s head jerked up when she heard a loud thump from the bedroom. He was awake. Damn. She glanced down at Nicky Thatcher’s wide, frightened brown eyes. He’d heard it too.

She had a minute more. Not enough to finish, especially as her own ankles were still bound. And if Rob found them like this he’d be even angrier. She fought back the shudder as she thought about the punishment that would inevitably follow. She abruptly changed her strategy.

She flexed her swollen fingers and checked her work, confirming that she’d loosened the twine just enough for Nicky to wriggle his hands free. She’d already freed his feet and now she looped enough twine around them to appear tied, from a distance of four or five feet. She retrieved the duct tape she’d pulled from Nicky’s mouth and the little boy shook his head frantically. Pitifully.

„No,“ he whispered, his eyes filling with tears. „Please don’t. I can’t breathe with that on.“

Caroline glanced over her shoulder as footsteps thudded across the floor. Panic skittered down her spine making her body shudder. „He’s coming, honey. I have to put it back on, but I’ll make it loose.“ She laid it lightly against his face, covering his trembling lips. She brushed a fleeting caress across his wet cheek. „See, you can breathe through this little pocket. Now curl up and pretend you’re asleep. Do not open your eyes. And whatever happens to me, don’t look. Pretend you’re somewhere else, like Disney World. Have you ever been there?“ He nodded, a small nod. „Then pretend you’re on your favorite ride. And if he takes me back to the other room, wiggle free, sneak out and do what I told you to do. Do you understand me?“