Denouement (The Darkness Series Book 3) (15 page)

“Aubs. Hey, come on. Let’s see what we can salvage. The library is still here. We can replace all of this stuff,” she spread her arms wide to encompass the entire room. “What we can’t replace is you. I’m so damn grateful that West got here in time.” Autumn’s voice shook with emotion. It wasn’t often that she was so serious. Thinking of what could have happened to her twin, her best friend, had shaken her up more than she wanted to admit. Her usual sarcastic and carefree nature were non-existent as what could have happened played over in her mind.

“What was he doing here?” she suddenly blurted out. Aubrey paused in the act of taking a broom out of the utility closet and looked at her curiously.

“Who?” she answered, puzzled.

“West. You said you thought the fire started at nine-thirty. The library doesn’t open until ten. So how did he get here so fast?”

Aubrey shrugged, not sure of the answer. “I didn’t ask him. I didn’t even think about that to be honest,” she replied.

Autumn narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “We need to ask him. I don’t trust anyone and I want to know how the hell he got here before the fire department and before you’d even opened the doors.”

Aubrey sighed, exhausted. She’d stayed overnight in the hospital but hadn’t got much rest. She’d needed to be on oxygen for several hours to combat the smoke inhalation she’d suffered. Other than that, physically she’d been unharmed. She was sporting a nice shiner from being knocked out, a fact that reminded her of the horror she’d survived every time she looked in the mirror. But the fact was, she did survive. That man…that soulless, evil man had tried to kill her, but she’d escaped. She shuddered as his eyes swam in front of her face. A dark, piercing stare that was burned into her memory. Every time she closed her eyes she was met with those eyes.

Taunting her.

She knew without a doubt that he wasn’t finished with her, he’d failed in his attempt to take her life and she instinctively knew it wasn’t over. He would be back. It was a concern she hadn’t voiced to anyone; even West when he’d visited her in the hospital. She’d been so out of it she didn’t remember much of him being there, but just the fact that he was close offered her comfort. She felt safe with him for some reason; protected. Autumn might be having doubts about him at the moment, but she trusted him and would continue to do so.

With a sigh, she started sweeping up a pile of ash. “Alright, I’ll talk to him and get some details. But really, Autumn, I don’t think he had anything to do with this if that’s where your thoughts are headed. He saved my life, for God’s sake.”

Autumn started stacking unburned books in a pile. Her red hair was piled on her head in a knot-type bun and she was wearing her rattiest sweats and an over-sized t-shirt. She sent Aubrey a wry look over her shoulder.

“Sorry, Aubs. But at this point, everyone is guilty until proven innocent. You could have
died
. Actually died. It twists me up when I think of how close of a call this was. So be mad at me if you want, but I’m going to get some answers—and I think he’s got some. Look, I like the guy—I really do. But not so much that I’m going to cross him off my suspect list. He’s got some explaining to do before I’m satisfied enough to do that.”

Aubrey pulled a full garbage bag from the bin and knotted it before lining it with a fresh bag. She looked around the library, they had a lot of work to do to get the place back in working order. It was her goal to re-open the library doors the following week.

“I love you too, sis. We’ll figure this out. They must be close to catching this lunatic now. Hopefully they found some useful information from this disaster,” Aubrey said as she opened the windows. They needed to air the place out to rid it of the smell of smoke and fire. Nora was going to join them later to help and a few other townspeople had called, offering to do whatever they could to get things moving. By the looks of things, she was going to have to take them all up on their kindness.

They had a long way to go to erase the damage. It was going to be a long few days.

*     *     *

West sat in
the locker room of the fire station and stared at the wall in front of him. The past few days had passed in a flurry of worry and anger. He was so damn furious that Aubrey had been targeted by the psycho terrorizing their town. The fucker would have succeeded too, if he hadn’t been there to save her. Which was another worry in itself. What the fuck was he doing sitting in his car out front of the library? These blackouts he was having were becoming more frustratingly frequent. He had no idea when to expect them or what the cause was. And the bigger worry that he refused to let himself dwell on for too long—what did he do during those lost spaces of time?

He scrubbed a hand over his face as the image of Aubrey laying in that hospital bed swam before him. She looked so small and fragile against those too white sheets. He’d had to fight the urge to scoop her up and carry her out of there. His fierce over-protectiveness of her was surprising. He’d never felt that way about a woman before. His feelings for her were growing bigger and stronger each day, the more he tried to deny it; the more he was attracted to her. It was a damn vicious cycle that was driving him mad.

He’d heard that the Fire Marshall had cleared the scene. She was likely at the library now starting to sort through the wreckage left behind by the fire. He planned on stopping by after his shift to see what he could do to help out. He was determined to get her used to being in his presence, he needed her to accept the idea of him being in her life before he could make a move. Something told him that she would need a lot of convincing.

“Lieutenant? There’s some men here to see you,” Martin, one of the candidates interrupted his thoughts.

He got up from the bench and followed Martin down the hall, passing the framed photos and plaques of all the men and women that had fallen in the line of duty. Stockton Crossing didn’t have many, but they honoured the ones that lost their lives in service. His brother’s photo was the newest addition; his death plaguing him each time he walked down the main hallway to get to the common area.

In the lunch room, West was surprised to see Theo, Gabe and two men he didn’t recognize. Theo came forward straight away and offered his hand. “West. Good to see you, man. Sorry to just drop in on you like this at work.”

“Don’t worry about it,” West replied, clapping Theo on the back. “Gabe.” He nodded to his friend and then let his eyes fall on the two unknown men. “I’m Lieutenant Weston Hunt,” he introduced himself, curious about who they were. One was dressed casual and the other was in a Sheriff’s uniform.

The Sheriff spoke first. “Sheriff Brady James. And this is Sam Ridley,” he jerked his thumb at the other man. Sam offered a smile in greeting.

“Nice to meet you. Now what the hell are you all doing here?” West cut right to the chase. He had a feeling he knew what this little visit was about, but wanted to hear it from them.

“We know about what’s been going on with this maniac on the loose. We all kinda specialize in these sort of cases so in a nutshell—we’re here to save the day,” Theo joked and Gabe groaned, elbowing him.

“Cut it out and be serious for once, you dumbass,” he told him, turning his attention back to West.

“Look you can tell us to fuck off if we’re out of line, but we thought it would be a good idea to come down here to see what we can do to help. Especially with Nora in town,” Gabe filled him in.

“Well I’m not on the case or anything like that. I’m a firefighter not a cop.” West still wasn’t sure exactly what they were hoping to accomplish by showing up out of the blue like the damn A-Team or something.

“We get that, but Theo thought that you might be open to a little side work with us on this case. He seemed to think that might be something you’d be interested in. Seeing as your Sheriff’s department has yet to come up with any concrete leads,” Brady answered smoothly. West could see how this guy held down the position that he had. He was diplomatic and authoritative at the same time. Some of his brothers were watching the scene curiously and he didn’t want them to be overheard any more than they had been.

“Here, follow me,” he told them and led them out of the common area to the bunk room. Checking to see that they were alone, he closed the door and took a seat on one of the nearby beds.

“I’m all for getting involved. We just had a call that was way too close for my liking the other day. The fucker attacked a woman in our local library. Trapped her inside and left her to burn to death. Thank fuck I got there when I did and managed to get her out. This incident was different than the others, it seems less planned out. I can’t believe Aubrey nearly died in there. If I’d been—”

“Wait a minute, did you say Aubrey? As in Nora’s cousin, Aubrey?” Theo interrupted. His face showed how incredulous he was with that news and his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

“Yes. Three days ago she was attacked and left for dead. She’s fine, just a bit banged up, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse.”

“Three days ago?” Gabe asked. “Why the hell didn’t Nora tell me about this?” Theo sent him a sidelong look.

“You haven’t exactly been Mr. Available, dude. She’s been getting her ranch updates from me. But you’re right, she didn’t tell me about this either and we’ll be having a conversation about that,” Theo was unimpressed that the newest incident had been kept from him.

“Maybe they just think the police here can handle it,” Sam spoke up. “I mean, I know it’s not really my business but that could be why they haven’t broadcast this newest attack everywhere.”

Brady looked to be considering Sam’s words. West could tell there was more to the story about this guy Sam. He seemed on the straight and narrow, but how exactly did he fit in with the other three?

“You could be right, Sam. But regardless, we’re here now and I do want to get a feel for what’s going on before we leave. If we aren’t needed—that’s completely fine. Checking things out isn’t going to hurt anything,” Brady said. The other men nodded their agreement, showing what a good team they were.

“So how are you going to handle this then? And what do you need from me? I’m a firefighter as I said; not a detective. Do you plan on involving Sheriff Moore?” West wanted more details before he made a final decision on joining forces with them.

“No. We’re doing this our way, which may skirt the law a little but that’s why we have Captain Straight Arrow over here with us. He’ll make sure we don’t do anything completely crooked as we work this case. You’ve been on the inside of all calls, right? Seen the victims?” Theo asked, ignoring the way Brady rolled his eyes at his comment.

“Most of them. A couple happened when I was off shift. This guy is fucked, whoever he is. The things he puts these people through; well you might not believe me if I told you,” West answered with a grim smile. He couldn’t bring himself to say the gory details out loud, each time he thought of it he remembered how Aubrey looked laying on that floor in the library—it could have been her tortured that way so easily. Thinking about losing her helped him make up his mind. “I’m in. Whatever your plan is, count me in. This fucker needs to be taken out.”

Theo grinned at him. “Good. So here’s what we’ll do—”

A walkie-talkie chirped, interrupting him. “All units respond, all units respond. Report of an unidentified female body discovered on Maple and 3
^rd
. Request fire, ambulance and arson response units. Suspected homicide.”

“Fuck,” West swore. “I’m not going to ask where you got that walkie. Sounds like there’s another body.” Panic filled him as he yanked out his phone and dialed Aubrey’s number. She answered on the second ring. Relief filled him at the sound of her voice.

“Just me, Ms. Sinclair. Checking in on you.” He played it cool, not wanting to alarm her. She explained that she was indeed at the library cleaning up with Autumn, Nora and a few other ladies. Telling her he’d be by later that day, he ended the call and looked at the group.

The alarm sounded, alerting the fire house that they’d been called to respond. “I’ve gotta move,” West told them, heading for the door.

“We’re going to follow the truck. We’ll stay back, but I want to get a feel for the scene,” Brady said. “Sheriff Moore knows me, he won’t have a problem with it.”

West nodded and left, calling to his men to get their asses moving. The fire house came alive as hats and jackets were grabbed, equipment already packed and at the ready. Swinging up onto the truck, West gave the okay and with sirens blaring, they pulled out of the firehouse on their way to witness the next act of horror in the madman’s game.

A few hours later, the five men reconvened at the local coffee shop. Each wore the same grim expression after what they’d experienced at the crime scene. It was obvious the killer was furious about the miss with Aubrey. Unfortunately, this latest victim had beared the brunt of that rage.

“He’s elevated once again,” Theo said what was on everyone’s minds.

“That poor woman…” Gabe trailed off, he didn’t need to elaborate any further. The body was mutilated terribly, burns and slashes turning her skin into an unrecognizable mess.