Caught in the Storm (3 page)

There were times when she felt like she was starting to feel whole again and then something would happen to make the woman she was now seem miles and miles away, years even. Feeling like she was on a roller coaster of emotions, she never knew when the ride was going to end, or which version of her was going to win, the old her or the new one.

Talking with her parents had been difficult, telling them what she had done. All of the lying and not sharing the information she knew. She was so ashamed. Her father was a man of few words, his marshmallow center hidden by the gruff exterior, perfect for the chief of police. Her mother was kind, quiet and a bit of a bookworm, going through book upon book every week. Glancing over at the television that was playing old movies of her without the sound on, she couldn’t believe how carefree she used to be. They had gone overboard sending her all the home movies and pictures, hoping it would help her remember how she used to be. She had them spread out all over the room. Looking at them, she wasn’t sure if it was helping or making her feel worse.

Placing her forehead against the cold windowpane, she wasn’t sure where she was going to go from here. She absently traced lines in the condensation from her breath, wishing she weren’t so lost.

Walking quietly up the stairs, Jackson Taylor walked silently over to Kat’s open door. All he wanted to do was help her, but she wasn’t letting him in. He never backed down from anything and he wasn’t about to let her close herself off from everyone. Pausing when he saw the movie playing on the television, he couldn’t believe it was the same woman. The one on the screen was so full of life and laughter. A close up of her smiling into the camera took his breath away. While he knew it was the same woman, she looked so different from how she looked now. He knew Jeremy had beaten her up pretty badly, bad enough she had to have reconstructive surgery.

No woman should have to suffer what she or Lexi had, and though his sister hadn’t been raped, she’d still been traumatized by all she and Anthony had seen. He hadn’t been there for them before, but he was there now. He wanted this bastard to pay and he vowed to do whatever it took to bring him down. Rubbing his hand over his aching chest, he wanted to take all of their pain away. All the worry and looking over their shoulders, always wondering when Jeremy would come back for them, wondering when he was going to strike again.

Not wanting to startle her, he cleared this throat hoping to get her attention. He watched as her shoulders tensed and she slowly turned her head to look at him.

“What do you want?”

“It’s almost time for another planning session.”

“I know you didn’t have to come get me.”

“It’s no trouble.”

“Really? Coming up all those stairs with your bad knee?”

The old football injury that ended his career did bother him, but he wasn’t going to let her know. “Really. Are you ready?”

“You go on; I’ll be down in a minute.”

Leaning up against the doorjamb, he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her. He watched her chest heave in a sigh before she got up and crossed to him, stopping inches away.

“Don’t you get it? I don’t want you around. Leave me alone.”

“Don’t you get it? I’m not letting you go this time.”

“You have no say in this.”

“Yes, I do, you might as well get used to it. Now let’s go.” After she left the room, he walked over to the remote to turn the television off, essentially shutting off the vibrant woman. He made a vow to himself that one day she’d be like that again, if it was the last thing he did.

Kat didn’t know why they continued to do this all the time. Suspecting it had something to do with the fact they had not been able to find a body or any sightings of Jeremy, she held her tongue. At least they had something to do, besides looking for cameras and bugs. They had begun to suspect Jeremy had planted something, even though they weren’t sure how he had done it. When they found the surveillance equipment hidden in the plaque for Pepper, they swept the whole house every day, along with everything that came into the house. And Lexi’s old house. And the new house for the Trio.

They had been doing the same thing every other day for the past two months. It was getting old. Taking her normal seat away from everyone else, she got ready to sit back and watch the show. At some point, tempers would overflow and the men would start metaphorically pounding their chests. The only thing that helped was she would gauge the mood when she sat down and then try to guess how long it would take. Since everyone was all lovey-dovey, she expected it was going to take longer than usual. She was wrong.

“I have an idea,” Evie said while putting her feet up on the coffee table.

“Now there’s a scary thought,” Noah said as he swiped at her feet. She just stuck her tongue out at him and put them back up on the table.

“No, it’s not. Anyway, I was thinking we need to do something to make him come out of the woodwork. Something that would be irresistible to him. Something he couldn’t pass up.”

“Sounds good, but somehow I don’t think I’m going to like what you have to say.” Anthony scowled at her.

“Think about it before you react.” She looked him deep in the eyes. “Please.”

Sighing, he said, “All I can do is try.”

“Okay, but there are three women here that Jeremy has failed to kill. What if we all went out somewhere, alone and …?”

“Oh, hell no.” Noah jumped up. “Don’t even continue. Not. Going. To. Happen.”

“But Noah …”

“No
la mia belezza
.” Anthony shook a finger at her. “And get that look out of your eye. Don’t even think of going behind our backs.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she pouted. “But come on. It’ll work.”

“Yeah and you’ll get your ass hurt or killed, not to mention other people. No.” Jackson came over and sat down next to Kat, ignoring her when she scooted away.

“Fine,” Evie muttered.

Kat watched as Noah walked over and picked up the inter-house phone. “Bruno, make sure there is extra detail on the ladies please … thanks … and don’t let your men fall for anything they might say or do … bye.”

“Was that completely necessary, Noah? Really?” Evie stood up and started stalking over to Noah when Anthony grabbed her arm and stopped her.

“Yes, it was. And if he didn’t do it, I was going to. You can’t be trusted when it comes to your family and friends. You’d do whatever it took and we all know that. We aren’t going to be putting you in danger. Any of you.” Anthony made sure the women, including Kat, knew he was talking about all of them.

“Well, we’ve got to do something.”

“Sis, we aren’t arguing with you on that, just your idea. There has to be a better way.” Jackson held up a hand to stop her when she opened her mouth. “Just let us think about it for a bit, maybe we can come up with something. Until then, just chill.”

“Fine.”

Lexi laughed, “Oh, just say asshole like you want to.”

“Fine. Asshole.”

“Feel better?”

“Nope. But hey, calling my brother an asshole is always great.”

“Shut up.”

“Never.”

Kat could tell that Evie and Jackson were going to get into it, but Noah stopped them before they could start.

“Can we get serious here? We actually have some new information.”

Instantly everyone was quiet and looked at him. “We’ve got some of the reports from Jeremy’s house. As far as forensics could tell, all the women were killed about the same time every year. In the month of June. Going back through Jeremy’s history, that is when his mother disappeared. It seems he would kill a woman in the same house his mother was killed in, at the same time every year. Also, based on the age of remains this is something he just started doing since Anthony was put into prison. So while he didn’t kill any women that matched Lexi’s description, he did kill women that matched his mother’s. The only thing I can think of is when the anniversary of his mother’s death came around; he left the self-imposed prison of an apartment, killed and then went back.”

Anthony got up and started showing some pictures around. “These are the women who have gone missing around that area in June over the past seven years. Some of them have been positively identified, others they are still working on.”

Kat couldn’t contain the shiver that took over her body. Knowing that Jackson knew it didn’t help anything. Unable to bear it anymore, she had to speak. “That is just seriously fucked up.”

Lexi gave her a small smile. “We know better than others how fucked up he is, but yeah, this surprises even me.”

“Just what I needed, something else to give me nightmares.” Evie ran her hands over her arms. “You all didn’t see what we saw up there. And now knowing this, yeah, here come the nightmares again.” When Anthony came up and wrapped his arms around her, she leaned into him.

“As if we didn’t have enough, this just gives us more reason as to why you shouldn’t be used at bait.” Jackson held his sister’s gaze.

“What if we …” Kat started to speak and then stopped. She didn’t typically offer anything in these meetings.

“What if we do what, Kat?” asked Noah.

Looking down at her fingers, she still didn’t like being the center of attention with these people. It reminded her of when she’d had to tell them what happened to her and what she’d done. “What if we made it appear that security wasn’t as tight. Like we were relaxing things since there have been no sightings of Jeremy in two months? I’m not saying it would be true, just if it was made to look like it.”

Peeking out from under her eyelashes, she saw the look between Noah and Anthony. Not sure how to interrupt it, she quickly looked back down at her hands.

All of a sudden, everyone was talking at once. The only one who was quiet was Jackson who sat next to her. It wasn’t long before she couldn’t take it any longer and looked at him.

“I think it’s a good idea. We might be able to bring him out of hiding without putting any of you in danger,” he said quietly to her.

“Don’t ever forget that he’d kill you in a heartbeat. He did it to that security guard at your grandmother’s. If you stood in his way, he’d end yours,” she whispered.

He flashed his trademarked dimpled smile at her. “Darlin’, does that mean you care?”

She looked away, knowing that she wasn’t worth caring about.

When Jeremy read the latest news, it took everything he had not to scream and rage at the top of his lungs. Knowing he was losing it didn’t help anything. He knew it was just a matter of time now before he was caught. Not liking the feeling of being the hunted, he started realizing he had nothing left to lose. An old song went through his head, something about a blaze of glory. Three of them lived when they should be dead. All in one place. The odds of a setup were large, but the payoff would be even larger.

Franticly he started writing in his journal. Everything he would need and what he would do to them. What it would take to make him whole again. He absently rubbed his cock at the thought of killing all three of them, ramming into their cold dead bodies.