Fear for Me (19 page)

Then he’d have another chance with Lauren Chandler. Lauren would finish the circle, a perfect ending to a new life that had begun twenty years ago. He’d just have to be more
careful.
They
would have to be more careful. Lauren couldn’t be protected, not always, and there would come a time when the marshal slipped up, when the uniformed cops weren’t watching.

Lauren would be his chance to prove he was the one in charge. The one with all the power.

Lauren would have nothing but death.

It was dawn. Cadence stood on the small dock at Rattlesnake Bayou, her gaze on the body that had been dumped like garbage.

Helen Lynch, Steve’s ex-wife.

“She’s been dead awhile,” the ME said as he bent near the body. “Lividity has set in.”

“Give us a time frame,” Kyle McKenzie said as he waited near Cadence’s side. She could feel the tension rolling off her partner’s body.

He’d thought they would find Helen alive. Kyle, always the hopeful one.

She’d known better.

If the Bayou Butcher had really taken her, as he’d told Steve, she’d known Helen was dead. The Butcher didn’t trade. He just killed. And after being locked away from his preferred prey for so long…

Walker knew he’d kill her from the moment he took her.

Greg tilted his head as he studied the body. “I’d say at least twelve hours.”

Long before Lynch had played willing sacrifice and brought Lauren into Walker’s web.

“He didn’t kill her here,” Cadence murmured. That was obvious. There wasn’t enough blood at the scene. Not enough to
match all of the deep, horrible cuts on Helen’s body. The Butcher. He’d earned that name for a reason.

Killers seemed to be getting more twisted every day.

To think, once upon a time, she’d lived without knowing about these monsters.

Now she saw them everywhere.

Cadence looked up and found Kyle’s hard stare on her.

“He’s getting his payback. Lauren, the judge, Steve.” He expelled on a long sigh. “Hell, even Karen was part of the reason the guy ended up in jail. She was an investigator on the case.”

The attacks weren’t going to stop, either. She knew that. Normally, a serial killer had a dormant period between his hunts. The kill itself almost calmed or controlled him. There was no control for the Butcher. What he was doing—hell, he was beyond anything she’d seen before. “We need to make sure all of the jurors have protection.” Those still in the immediate area would need a police watch. Those who’d moved away would need to be on guard.

But the guy might not just be targeting jurors. He could be targeting cops who’d worked on his case years before. Witnesses. The families of his victims. Just how much revenge would he want?

She had to learn more about him. Had to work up her own profile on him, and not just go by the work another agent had done five years ago.

“How the hell is he doing this?” Kyle demanded as he jerked a hand through his hair. “He should have no resources. He should have been fighting to survive!”

The ME was putting small plastic bags over Helen Lynch’s hands. Trying to preserve evidence.
I hope you fought him, Helen. I hope you hurt the bastard before you died.

“Walker grew up running through these swamps,” Cadence murmured. “He knows the area back and forth. He can use the land, the water—he can hide from us out here, and he knows it.”

“But he had to go into the city to get Helen,” Kyle pointed out. “He went into the city for Karen, for the attack at the judge’s office…”

That was a whole lot of back-and-forth activity. Too much for one man? The new profile she’d been working up on this case said—
yes, hell, yes.
Cadence didn’t think they were just looking for one killer.

She pulled out her phone and called Ross. He’d need to know about Helen’s death.

He answered on the second ring, and she could hear a hospital intercom sounding behind him. “Ross.” He sounded distracted, worried.

She turned away from the scene. “We found Helen Lynch.”

“Hell.” He understood. Ross wasn’t new to the game. “How long ago did he kill her?”

She took a few steps away, distancing herself from Greg and Kyle. “The ME says at least twelve hours.”

“Dammit. I knew this would happen. Steve Lynch should have come to us. We could have helped him.”

There would be no help now. Lynch was being held at the PD. Someone would have to give him the news about his ex-wife.

“How’s your DA?” The wording was deliberate. She’d seen the way those two looked at each other. Lauren was definitely Ross’s, and the rage he had to be feeling after Lauren’s attack…

“She’s gonna make it.” There was rage biting through his voice. “I am tired of this bastard screwing with us.”

So was she. “I have to come and see Lauren. I need to talk to her.” There were questions only Lauren could answer. She’d
see Lauren, then she’d pay a visit to Steve Lynch. But first, she ordered, “We need to up the guards on Judge Hamilton.” She’d talk to the police captain about that when she got back to the station. “Are you staying with Lauren?” She knew the answer, but asked anyway.

“She won’t leave my sight.”

The hospital’s intercom sounded in the background as a doctor was paged.

“If I learn anything else, I’ll get back to you,” she said and ended the call.

Helplessly, she turned back to the victim. Helen Lynch was in her early thirties, with dark-brown hair. Her eyes had been opened in death, a deliberate move, and her lips were pressed tightly closed. The neck bore the same morbid grin—a deep slice right across her throat. The blood had stained the skin there.

She had to ask, “Did he leave us another message?”

Greg glanced up at her.

“Go ahead,” she ordered, keeping her voice calm and quiet. There was no room for emotion at a scene like this. If she felt too much, if she empathized with the victim, she’d be lost. “We don’t have time to wait for you to get back to your lab. If another victim is out there…”

His gloved fingers rose to Helen’s neck. He pressed lightly on the skin, making the wound gape open even more.

I can see the paper.

He pulled it out, slowly, carefully.

Kyle edged closer to her. He wasn’t as good at compartmentalizing as she was, but he didn’t have to be. Control was all she knew.

Crime scenes pissed him off, and she knew he hated to see a victim’s pain. It reminded Kyle of his own past too much.

The paper got stuck in Helen’s throat.

Kyle swore.

Greg hesitated, then grabbed for the tweezers in his kit. A few moments later, the paper slid free. Greg unfolded it, and when he read the note, she saw him swallow.

“What does it say?” Kyle demanded.

Greg glanced up at them. His gaze darted to Kyle, then to Cadence. “‘Guilty.’”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Anthony stood less than two feet from Lauren. Her arm was being stitched up—a long, slow process because that freak Walker had carved into her so deeply.

Lauren didn’t make a sound as the doctor worked on her. Lauren actually hadn’t spoken at all since she’d opened her eyes. The blue of her gaze seemed dulled, missing the normal sparkle. Too much pain. Too much fear.

A bandage was on her cheek. The doctor had said the wound wasn’t deep enough to need stitches. Her shoulder had been reset—popped back into the joint in a fast, brutal move that had made him swear.

Even as she’d continued to keep silent.

He wanted to take all of her pain away.

Anthony’s hands clenched into fists.

“I want you to stay here overnight,” the doctor said. She was a woman in her early fifties with dark hair and light-cream skin. “You have a concussion, and we need to monitor you for—”

Lauren shook her head. “I
can’t
stay here.” There was fear in her voice, a tension that pulled at him. He wouldn’t have Lauren afraid. “I hate being in hospitals. They remind me too much—I
have to get out.
”

“Ms. Chandler”—the doctor’s voice firmed but Anthony could see the compassion in her eyes—“you need someone to watch you. I don’t think you understand the severity of the situation. With a concussion, you—”

Lauren’s gaze rose and finally she looked at Anthony. “Will you watch me?”

That soft question almost broke him.
Always.
“Yes.” He hadn’t been able to let her out of his sight since the cabin. Matt had taken over the hunt in the swamp, and Anthony had gone into the ambulance with Lauren. He’d held her hand the whole way, but she hadn’t known. Her eyes had only opened when the ambulance pulled into the emergency area at the hospital, and then the EMTs had pushed him back so that they could get her out.

He hadn’t been pushed far. With every step that the EMTs had taken, Anthony had remained close. Fear still twisted his guts, and he wasn’t sure if the tight knot would ever go away.

“I’ll have a marshal watching me,” Lauren said, her voice a strained whisper. “What more do I need?”

The doctor frowned at Anthony. “She’s got a grade-two concussion, so when I say watched, I mean I want you in the same room with her at all times. If her pain gets worse, if her speech starts to slur, if she has seizures, you rush her back here right away.”

Anthony nodded.

The doctor exhaled as she removed her gloves. “I’ll give you a sheet with warning signs, but I don’t like this.”

“I don’t like this either.” Lauren’s voice was hoarse. It was breaking the heart he’d tried to pretend he didn’t have.

Lauren was lying on the hospital bed, a thin gown over her. Her clothing had been taken and bagged as evidence. Voyt and his crime scene guys were going over the cabin, and Anthony
was hoping the dogs and their handlers from the K-9 unit ran down Walker.

As much as he wanted to join that hunt, his priorities had shifted.

To her.

“One of the cops is supposed to be bringing you some more clothes,” Anthony murmured as the doctor slipped from the room.

Lauren wasn’t looking at him anymore. She was staring straight up at the bright lights overhead.

He edged closer to her. Took her hand.

She flinched.

“Lauren, it’s all right. He’s not going to get you again.”

She laughed. He’d never heard such a brittle sound come from Lauren. “He said he would. Told me he’d be back.” Her tongue slid over her lips. “He said…” Her words trailed away.

Anthony’s fingers tightened around hers. “I don’t give a shit what he said. He’s
not
going to hurt you.”

Her gaze came to him. There were tears in her eyes.

Something broke inside of him.

“He hurt Jenny.”

Anthony frowned. He didn’t remember a victim named Jenny in Walker’s file.

“I wondered for so long. I used to hope she’d come home, but she never did.” Her breath rushed out. “He
hurt
Jenny.”

Fuck—
Jenny
. The name clicked. Jenny was the sister she’d been talking about in the ME’s office. The drumming of his heartbeat echoed in his ears. “Baby, slow down. You’ve got to start at the beginning and
tell
me what’s happening.”

“My sister…” She swallowed. The small sound was painful to hear. “Walker killed her. He told me—” A tear tracked down her cheek. “He told me he killed Jenny.”

“He was messing with you. His first victim was—”

Her hand twisted in his. Her nails sank into him. “He
told me
. He knew about the piano lessons. He knew…”

He had to take her into his arms. Carefully, Anthony climbed onto the narrow bed. He positioned his body around hers. “The bastard was trying to get into your head. Whatever happened to your sister—”

Her body was tense and hard against his. “She was supposed to pick me up from school and take me to piano lessons. She never came. Never came…”

His jaw clenched.

“He said he watched her get cut up. That he buried her—and that he would do the same to me…”

The door squeaked open behind them. Anthony looked back, expecting to see the doctor, but instead, he saw the FBI profiler. Cadence had sure made good time getting there. He’d talked to her less than twenty minutes ago on the phone.

Cadence hesitated in the doorway. He knew she’d see—and understand—plenty by the way he was holding Lauren. He’d worked with Cadence on two other cases. The woman was private, smart, tough. In so many ways she reminded him of Lauren.

But she wasn’t Lauren. That was why they’d never clicked—why he never clicked with anyone but Lauren.

No one could ever be
just
like his Lauren. He could never want anyone else as much.

“I need to ask her some questions,” Cadence murmured as she hesitated in the doorway. “But I can give you a few minutes longer.”

“She has a concussion.” His voice came out clipped. He knew the drill with witnesses, knew they were supposed to tell their stories when they were fresh. But this wasn’t just any witness.
It was Lauren, and she was shaking in his arms. “She needs to rest. I’m taking her with me. You can get your answers tomorrow.”

“Anthony…” Cadence sighed out his name. “You understand that isn’t how it works.” She walked into the room, her shoes nearly silent on the tiled floor. “Lauren, surely that isn’t how you
want
this to work? You’re a DA, you have to want us to catch Walker as fast as we can.”