Her Anchor (8 page)

“So you want to keep spending time with her?” 

“Laura, that is not what I said.”  Steve’s tone was rising.  He seemed more on edge now.  “I don’t want you to lose your friend.” 

“Of course not.”  Laura stepped away.  “Because if I do then you can’t see her anymore.” 

“Laura, come on-.” 

“Steve you let me make my decision when it comes to Stephanie.  Don’t worry about it.” 

“Ok, fine.  Forget I brought it up.”  Steve went back into the bathroom for more clothes.  He dressed as Laura gathered clothes. 

They were ready in a few minutes.  Steve looked over at her, more sympathetic.  She didn’t like that look. 

“Do you want to grab breakfast?  Just coffee?” 

“No.”  She realized that her distrust for him had come back.  If she got back together with him, this would be her life.  She’d always be wondering if they were actually good.  If he was looking at other women, if he wanted someone else.  Friends, babysitters, teachers, trainers, coworkers-they’d all be potential threats.  She didn’t think that she could live like that. 

“Ok.”  Steve reached out.  He took her hand.  “Laura-.” 

“Don’t.”  She murmured.  “I can’t right now.  We’ll talk later.” 

“Ok.”  Steve leaned in and kissed her on her cheek.  “I’ll see you around.” 

They walked down to the lobby together.  Laura wondered if there was a way they could overcome these issues.  She loved him so much.  Last night had proven that.  She wanted nothing but to be with him.  Maybe after they went back to Philadelphia she’d suggest therapy. 

******

Laura spent the day pouring over case files.  One huge thing that had come out of last night was Steve’s information about the other murders in the area.  There was no clear connection between the case that she was currently working and these.  Aside from a few small add ups. 

Lana Miller, the woman found dead in North Park, had been a jogger like Sandra Wilks.  The other two-Melanie Taylor from Moraine and Emily Watson from Clearwater-had been hikers.  That made Laura believe that someone was killing at random.  They were taking advantage of women alone in isolated areas.  The only thing she could definitely connect was that he knew their routines and was following them. 

But why suddenly use a rope for Taylor?  Why had he taken that kind of time?  There was no mention in Taylor or Miller’s files of the two being found with their shirts pulled up.  That seemed to be the only trademark that their man used. 

And why suddenly latch into the troll in Clearwater?  An experienced killer wouldn’t want to expose himself like that-unless he’d suddenly decided to start playing with the authorities.  Maybe it had been too good an opportunity to pass up.  Plus, Watson was the only body that he had attempted to hide.  If it was the same killer, he was getting away from water.  Yes, a creek ran through Clearwater, but he’d left Watson a good mile from it.  And there was none near Wilks. 

At the end of the day though, there was nothing.  No clear connection, no evidence, nothing.  Laura felt like she was still at square one. 

The one thing she did notice was that Jones had worked every case.  Yet he’d been more interested in sleeping with her than in getting into detail of the past cases.  She wondered why. 

Laura decided to take the case information back to the hotel with her.  She thought she might work better in a place where she could switch into yoga pants and nap if she wanted to work all night.  She hadn’t been spread out longer than fifteen minutes when there was a knock on the door.  Expecting Steve, she opened it to find Tom instead.  He smiled at her. 

“Thought that you might want some dinner.” 

“I….  I’m not really hungry.”  She motioned over her shoulder at the desk.  “I just spread out paperwork.” 

“Paperwork that I can probably give you a better explanation of rather than reading it.  Come on.  No sex this time, just dinner.”  He winked at her.  Laura didn’t really like it, but she did want case information.  So she went along. 

“Ok.” 

They took his car to an Outback which was about five miles up the highway.  Once the waitress had brought their drinks, Tom started talking. 

“Do I think there’s a connection between the cases?  Probably.  But I don’t have any clear evidence of it.” 

“Well yes, that’s what I gathered from reviewing the case files.”  Laura stirred her iced tea.  “I don’t know.  It just seems so random to not be connected.” 

Their food came.  Tom kept attempting to switch the topic.   He brought up Steve a few times.  Laura was hesitant to breach it. 

“I just don’t know,” she finally admitted honestly.  “Like I really don’t know.  I always thought…”  She trailed off, shrugging. 

“That he was the one?”  Tom nodded.  “I always hear that from women.” 

“So I take it you’re not involved with anyone?”  Tom made a face, shaking his head no. 

“My relationship with women is…”  He searched for his words.  “Awkward, to say the least.  I’ve never been very good with them.” 

“Really?”  Laura was surprised.  “I took you for a total ladies’ man.” 

“Hardly.”  He laughed.  “You and I just seem to have a decent connection.”  He smiled, looking somewhat uncomfortable. “Maybe it’s the job, right?” 

“Maybe,” Laura agreed chuckling to herself.  “I have to say it’s what first drew me to Steve.  Not many women want a cop for a wife.  Or a girlfriend.” 

“I can imagine.”  She was sure that he did.  Women didn’t really like men who were cops either.  It was a dangerous business. 

By the time they left the restaurant, Laura was feeling calmer.  She still didn’t have any answers on her case, but she felt better about Jones.  Maybe they really did just have a connection that she was missing.  It was ok. 

She slipped into Jones’s car.  On the front seat, she saw a receipt she hadn’t noticed on the first trip.  She picked it up. 

“Sorry about that,” Jones apologized.  “I’m a man.  Typically messy.  Just throw it anywhere.  I’ll clean it up later.” 

As she was putting it aside, Laura noticed it was for a bagel place on Wilson Road.  She knew that name.  She just couldn’t place why.  She also caught note of the date and time on it.  It was from 6:04 in the morning.  Why so early?  She figured it was just the cops’ life. 

But then she realized the date.  It was the same date that they had found Sandra Wilks body.  And Wilson Road was the road which lead into the park. 

Laura felt a sudden chill on her spin. 

“What is it?”  Tom looked over at her. 

“Nothing.”  Laura dropped the receipt into the cup holder.  “Not a thing.” 

“It’s nice to really talk to a woman.”  Jones nodded as he drove back towards the hotel.  “I don’t get to do that very often.” 

“I’m sure you don’t.”  Laura wondered if what she was suspecting was real.  Had she had a killer in plain sight in front of her all this time? 

It made sense.  He had covered all of the cases.  If a body was found, he was one of the first ones on the scene. 

He’d pulled into the hotel parking lot.  But he’d parked in one of the darker corners…away from the streetlights.  Earlier he’d been parked only a few feet from the doorway. 

“Laura, what are you thinking?”  Jones looked over at her.  “You shut down on me after you found a receipt.  What is that receipt making you think?” 

Laura looked up at him. 

“Nothing.  It’s your car, your receipt.” 

“So if I want to buy bagels at a store that’s only a mile from where we found a body last week that’s my business?” 

“Yes.” 

“And what time did we find the body?” 

“I…I don’t know.” 

“Sure you do.  What time did they find the body?”  Laura let out a shaky breath.  She hadn’t even brought a weapon with her.  It was back in her hotel room. 

“The call came in at 7:15.” 

“Right.”  Jones was smiling at her.  “I’m not good with women, Laura.  Because I hate them.  At the end of the day, I really hate them.  I was the youngest of four children-three girls.  My mother was so disappointed that she had a boy.  I broke her streak.” 

She couldn’t be hearing this.  She couldn’t be sitting in a car with a man who was about to come clean to murders. 

“Do you think she paid me a bit of attention?”  Jones brought one hand down on the steering wheel.  “Of course she did.  She or my sisters.  I grew up hating them-all of them.” 

“So you…”  Laura tried her best negotiator voice.  “So you started taking it out on women?” 

“I did.  It did make me feel a little bit better.”  He hit the unlock button.  But there was only one click.  He’d only unlocked his door.  “I’ve been trying to go for nice, simple women.  But the minute I met you, I knew that you were going to be a fun choice.  You were the most adventurous of my choices.” 

Now he was getting out of the car.  He walked around the side, yanking her door open.  He was reaching in, grabbing her hair.  Laura cried out more in surprise than in pain.  She pulled in all the self-defense methods that she knew.  Her heel went down on his foot, her knee trying for his crotch.  But he was bigger, stronger than she was and he could twist her with no effort. 

“Laura, don’t fight me.  None of the others did.”  His hands were suddenly wrapped around her neck.  Laura tried to gasp in a breath and failed.  His hands were tightening, squeezing.  Laura had never thought she would die this way.  To be murdered by a serial killer she had missed the signs so greatly?  Never. 

Her vision was starting to blacken.  Just as she knew she was about to lose consciousness, she heard a huge explosion.  Jones’s hands loosened on her throat.  Laura was falling to the ground, landing on top of his now crumpled form. 

******

It took her a minute to come back to her senses.  When she did, she realized that Steve was leaning over her. 

“Steve?”  She croaked out. 

“Laura.”  He looked down at her.  “Are you ok?” 

She realized now that she had been out longer than she thought.  There were two other men kneeling beside her.  She could now see their uniforms as paramedics.  She tried to sit up slowly. 

“Easy.”  Steve caught her arm.  “Easy.  How do you feel?” 

“How did you know?”  Laura ignored his question.  “How?” 

“I didn’t.”  Steve shrugged.  “I was waiting here at the hotel for you.  I saw his car pull down here so I started out to see what was going on.”  Laura rubbed her throat.  She was going to have bruises for sure. 

“So you came down here?” 

“Not until I saw him with his hands on yours.  I thought it was….”  He trailed off.  Laura knew what he thought. 

“I love you.”  She whispered. 

“I love you too.”  Steve ducked his head to kiss her.  “Come on.” 

******

Tom Jones was truly the worst cop.  After digging through several Allegheny County cold case files, they found a variety of murder cases that he had covered.  His finger prints were linked not only to five more of those, but to the most recent cases including the one in Clearwater Park. 

Everything that he had told Laura about hating his mother and sisters was true.  His home computer was a mass of journal entries ranting about them and women in general.  Several weeks ago, he’d asked a woman out.  He’d promised to stop killing if she’d agreed.  She’d told him that she didn’t date cops.  There was an entry from the night that he and Laura had slept together.  He’d been planning to do it that night, but murdering women in hotel rooms went against everything he stood for.  The bodies were too easy to find.  He wrote that he had dumped Sandra Wilks so close to the trash because that’s what women were-trash. 

He had been telling the truth-he had known about kids partying in the Clearwater barn for years.  He had been up just recently to notice the activity of the Clearwater Troll.  It had seemed like a perfect opportunity to amuse himself at the police expense.  Unfortunately, it had also backfired.  He might have been more successful if he had not made the special trip back to leave the note after Sandra Wilks murder. 

Laura Allbright decided to return to being a cop immediately after healing from the incident with Tom Jones.  She and Steve Lewis did not stay in Philadelphia much longer.  Steve took a job in Cleveland, Ohio and Laura followed him.  They knew that they were going to be a family of cops forever.  After seeing one of them nearly die at the hands of a criminal, the danger was much more real.  But the move solidified them.  They knew the risks, and they were willing to go through that for each other.  They were the only ones they could ever dream of settling down with, and they were going to take on this life together. 

THE END

Emily stared into the bottom of her purse, scraping together enough change to make a long distance call and wondering how this day had gone so wrong. This wasn’t exactly what she had in mind when she shut the door on her old life, locking it with a finality that she felt all the way down to her bones. In her mind this trip would have gone smoothly, would have been the prefect transition from old to new. But life rarely goes to plan. Or smoothly. All that she cared about now was getting to her sister’s place.

Her sister would understand. She had long ago broken free from their father. And despite his claims to the contrary, she managed to create a life for herself without him. Emily kept hidden the fact that she still talked to Marin. It was only a couple times a year and only a brief call when she could sneak away, but Emily held onto that connection to her sister with a white knuckle grip. She knew full well that doing so defied her father and Shane. It was the one thing she allowed herself to disobey and she couldn’t find it in herself to be sorry about it. She was thankful now for that stubborn streak they could never train out of her, because Marin was her lifeline right now.

She had spent the better part of her drive today trying to go back and figure out when things started to go wrong between her and Shane, until she was going back trying to figure out when things had ever been right between them. And why things had to go so far before she realized that.

She could live with him telling her what to do. What to wear. How to act. She could even live with him talking to her father behind her back as if she was a child in need of constant direction. But when he hit her it was like the dam broke.

All of those things she told herself she could live with tumbled down around her until she was standing amongst the ruins of the life she thought she was creating. The humiliation was debilitating, but she took that first hit like a punishment for all the lies she let herself believe. That one hit she could deal with because it was what she needed to finally see what loving him was costing her.

Standing at the kitchen sink just that morning, facing another day of washing his laundry, cooking his meals, taking his insults, seemed too much to bear. Leaving while she had the nerve and while she still wore the reminder of why she was doing it plainly on her left cheek seemed like a good idea.

It all made so much sense at the time. Leaving him. Leaving her father, her duties. She had no job, Shane didn’t allow her to work outside of the house. No friends that weren’t Shane’s friends first. There was no love between her and Shane anymore, if there ever had been to begin with, so no heartbreak to contend with. She allowed herself be only a little sad that after all these years she had so little to leave behind. She tried to think of it as a blessing that made leaving so easy.

But now, sitting at the scarred up counter of a greasy spoon only one state and not even 400 miles from home, she was beginning to lose confidence in her plan. She should have taken Shane’s car brand new turbocharged BMW, but instead she wanted to prove a point. She wanted to make her break on her own, so she had taken her old beater of a car. It was a tank on gas and had more rust than paint but it was hers. Well if she was looking to prove a point then that hunk of junk that barely limped its way to the truck stop was it. Point taken, universe.

Her fingers dug through her purse again, pausing at her wallet. One quick swipe of her credit card and it would be problem solved. Except it wasn’t really her credit card. Nothing was really hers anymore. Plus, Shane would be able to track her down if she used it.

She had no idea if Shane would actually come looking for her, but she didn’t want to chance it. She wasn’t even sure if he would notice she was gone.

No
, she thought,
he would notice
.

As soon as he walked in the door and couldn’t smell his supper cooking he would be hollering for her. She glanced at the clock hanging above the special’s board. It would be 8:00 in Colorado. Yep, he’d be looking.

Emily imagined him walking through the house looking for her. What would he do when he realized she wasn’t there, she wondered. Call her father? Call her? It would do him no good because she left her phone on the counter before she left. Would he decide she was too big of a hassle to track down and instead try to figure out how to cook his own supper? Emily smiled to herself as she pictured Shane mashing the buttons on the microwave. Getting food poisoning, perhaps.

“What’s so funny over there?”

Emily looked up and to her left, to a couple stools over where the counter wrapped around to the wall. She hadn’t realized someone was that close to her, or that they had been watching her. Just like Shane never let anyone but him be the center of her attention.

She looked at the man that had spoken to her, the one who had most definitely been watching her.

“Nothing, really.” She said, shaking her head and resuming her search for coins.

“Seemed like something.” His blue eyes were no longer on her, he was adding cream to his cup of coffee, stirring it.

She could have just left things like that, rebuffed the stranger trying to strike up a conversation with her. And it had been so long since she had talked to anyone without Shane stepping in that she sort of forgot how. Not to mention that this man was all kinds of good looking. Thick lashes shaded his blue eyes, regarding the cup he cradled in his hands. His dark hair was tied back at his nape and he was so wildly different than Shane.

Her mouth opened and words spilled out before her brain knew what it was doing.

“If it was it wouldn’t be funny to anyone else. Funny in that warped kind of way, you know?”

The smile that slid onto his face should have been illegal.

“Who says I don’t like warped?”

Although his attitude, all confidence and attraction, sent a zip of appreciation through her, she wasn’t in the mood or the position to flirt. Not about this. She had wanted him to look at her again, to talk to her. Not talk about herself. She wished that she would have just let him drink his coffee and she could have sat and stewed by herself.

“Trust me, it’s not what you have in mind.”

“Try me.” He persisted.

“Okay.” She said, turning towards him. “Ever hear the one about the girl who left her abusive boyfriend only to have her crappy car die and nothing but his credit card to get her through until she found a bank?”

There
, she thought,
he won’t want to touch this situation. He’ll politely go back to drinking his coffee and leave me alone.

The muscle in his jaw tightened, as did the ones in his arms. She couldn’t help but let her eyes wander down to the smooth ink covered sinew. Her brows dipped, thinking back to when she once told Shane she wanted to get a tattoo. It was years ago, but his disgust still rang loudly. He told her she was never to mark her body in that disgusting way. That sure didn’t stop him from marking her with his hand.

“What are you going to do?”

Her eyes snapped back up to the man across from her, the concern in his voice contradicting his rough look. She shrugged.

“Call my sister I guess. See if she can get me a bus ticket.”

He seemed to think about this for a minute, his eyes sweeping over her in a way she’d never experienced. She wasn’t familiar with his kind of attention, a casual curiosity. He wasn’t obliged to care, nor was there any advantage to be taken, yet he sipped at his coffee and wrinkled his forehead at her problem.

“There’s no bus station here.”

“Oh.” She hadn’t really thought it through, yet again. “I guess I’ll think of something else.”

“Can your sister come and get you?”

“Maybe.” His forehead dipped again at her answer, so she added, “Probably. I was just going to call her now.”

Emily slipped from her stool and made her way to the back of the diner. She picked up the phone, plugged in her change, and dialed. While it rang she took a peek over her shoulder to where the man’s stool was now empty.

And when a few minutes later, after she left a voicemail message for Marin and was walking across the parking lot to her car, she was glad to not have to explain her lack of a way out of here. She already knew she was in a predicament; she didn’t need him making it more obvious than it already was no matter how good natured he was being.

The sun was setting over the truck stop, but the Texas heat had yet to ease up. Emily unlocked her car and tossed in her purse, but the heat radiating out from the inside had her shutting the door and leaning against it. It was all up to her to figure out how to get to her sister’s place. No one was going to make the decision for her. And it wasn’t like she had a ton of practice making decisions on her own. She could only imagine what Shane would say right now.

She didn’t wish she had Shane there to figure things out, just that she had done a better job of planning her escape. If she had been smart about things and waited a few days to get things in order this probably wouldn’t have happened.

“Your sister coming?”

Her head snapped up at the sound. Emily looked up into the dark gaze of the stranger from the diner.

“Um, no.” She said, even though it was sure to earn another disapproving stare from him.

He had kind eyes that didn’t care to hide what he was thinking, but there was something dark about him. Something that she didn’t want to mess with, and her inability to figure her shit out seemed to be messing with him. He moved to beside her and leaned against the old car, like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. Like a person accustomed to people letting him do whatever suited him.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know yet.” She said, starting to get irritated with his questions.

“You have no plan?”

“What is wrong with you? You don’t even know me, yet you have to follow me around judging my actions. No, I don’t have a plan.” She was waving her arms around, most likely like a lunatic, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. “This entire situation wasn’t planned. But you telling me that this wasn’t my smartest idea isn’t helping.”

“Hey, cool it. Being alone in a piece of shit, broken down car at a road side truck stop at night isn’t the safest place to be.” He blew out a breath and ran a hand through his shoulder length hair. “Listen, I didn’t mean to make you mad. It’s just that we’re pulling out soon and I was watching you from the window.” He pointed over his shoulder to a bus painted black and silver, the words Thorn Crest painted on it. “I couldn’t drive off with you just standing here, you know, stranded.”

“You were watching me?” She asked, surprised that he really genuinely cared about what happened to her.

“I told you a truck stop at night wasn’t a safe place.” The grin that pulled at the corner of his lips was sinful. It caught her off guard, made her smile back in spite of herself.

“Sorry I freaked out at you. I’m a little out of my depth here. Having that pointed out hit a sore spot.”

“Understood. Which way are you headed.” He asked.

Emily pointed out across the southbound interstate roughly in the direction of Marin’s.

“Us too.” He said. His hand scrubbed across his stubble, his eyes fixed in the direction she had pointed. “Wanna lift?” He said after a moment.

“A ride? With you?”

“What are your other options?”

Emily held up her fingers and counted them off for him.

“One, locking myself in my car until I can get a hold of my sister. Two, not getting murdered.”

“I get it. It was just an idea.” He shrugged before pushing himself off of her car. “I’m not a murderer, and you wouldn’t be alone. If that helps. I’ve been on the road for hours. Months, actually. Having some company for a few hours might do both of us some good.”

She looked at him, at the concern around the edges of his eyes. It would have been easy to assume because of his hulking presence, the dark ink line creeping up his neck, his big black boots, that he was one of the people he was warning her about. But she couldn’t make herself believe that. It was hard to disguise the worry in his eyes, just like Shane could never disguise the monster in his.

He wasn’t pushing her to go with him. He wasn’t forcing her to make a choice. And maybe that’s why she wanted to go with him. Or maybe she wanted to make a decision that Shane would never have approved. Whatever the reason was, though, she did.

“Do you have room for my stuff?” She asked, pointing to the duffle bag that she had thrown her things into.

He lifted an eyebrow before smiling down at her. “Yeah, I think we can manage all that luggage.”

He grabbed her bag and Emily locked the car up before they headed across the parking lot. Under the glowing orange lights she looked up at him, his hair brushing against his perfect jaw. He was an interesting man from what little she knew about him. So many contradictions in such short time.

“I’m Emily, in case you’re interested in knowing.”

“I’m Dylan.”

He didn’t seem to want to supply anything else, but curiosity got the best of her as usual.

“So where are you heading?”

“Houston, I think.”