Oracle Rising (30 page)

That was all Luke had to hear. He was going to kick the mad carver’s ass.

They took off, guns drawn, as they navigated the fallen trees in the thick swamp like woods.

Nate was grateful he’d worn his sneakers. Whoever they were chasing obviously knew his way around the area.

There was no sign of him anywhere.

Up ahead, there were more squawking birds, so both men headed that way. Luke kept up the pace, making sure his partner had someone protecting his flank.

It had been a while since they chased a killer through the woods.

He actually missed it. This was one hell of an adrenaline rush. 

As they leapt over a fallen branch, both men stopped to survey the area.

It was dead silent.

Nothing was going on around them.

No animals, no people, nothing.

“I think we lost him,” Luke said.

“Shit! We were so close.”

“Are you thinking this is the killer?”

Nate had no doubt. His gut said it was true. That was the only thing the message could possibly mean. Now, he needed to figure out who he saw. Was it Avalon or Juliett?

“Wait,” Luke said, seeing something through the trees. “What’s that up there? Is that a building?”

He focused on it. “I think so. Maybe he headed that way,” Nate suggested. “We should check it out. Watch our backs.”

Luke followed his boss. What he would have liked more than anything was some of Maura’s military grade Kevlar. They were walking into a potential ambush, and that freaked him out. All he could do was hope and pray that no one would be there waiting to shoot them.

That would put one hell of a damper on their day.

Out of the woods, they approached the small saltbox cabin. It looked much like the one they were staying in. As Nate pointed one way, he and Luke split up.

It was time to make sure the person who left the message wasn’t lying in wait.

This is where it really got dangerous.

Moving around the house, Nate couldn’t see any trace of anyone. It was like the person vanished into thin air.

How could that be?

He and Luke were damn good at their jobs, and they rarely lost a suspect when they fled.

They did things like this all the time.

Peeking in the windows, it looked like the place definitely had a resident. There were books, dishes, and lots of plants. Someone had to be there to take care of them.

When a cat leapt into the window, inches from Nate’s face, he actually jumped.

“Shit,” he muttered. “I hate cats.”

It watched him with bicolored eyes, as if he was an intruder in its domain.

Nate ignored the cat to move around the side of the house. Just as he cleared the side, he saw someone from the corner of his eye. Then he was hit with the full spray of ice cold hose water.

He gasped.

“Who are you? What are you doing around my house?” Came the old lady’s voice.

Nate glanced up. “FBI,” he muttered, never looking away.

“Prove it,” she said, pointing the hose at him again to douse him with more water.

Yeah, this definitely wasn’t their criminal.

It figured.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Juliett’s Cabin

When she got into Avalon’s room, the woman was asleep, and as naked as a jaybird. Maura’s first instinct was to call Jagger and get him in there, but she wanted to give Avalon some time to dress.

After her talk with Nate, she understood how much Avalon craved dignity. She’d been stripped of it years ago, and the entire team was still doing it to her.

It had to end.

Tapping her on the shoulder, Avalon rolled over.

“Maura?”

“Yeah, honey, I need you to get dressed. We had an intruder.”

“Nathaniel?”

“He went after him.”

Immediately, she felt for the dress she always kept on the side of the bed. Blindly, she fumbled to find the neck hole and tag. Once she was in it, she could see Maura’s aura moving out the door. She could hear her knocking on Jagger’s door, and them talking.

While she was sitting there, she searched for the outcome in her mind.

“Are they okay?” Maura asked, worried about her husband. Normally, she didn't like Avalon giving her clues to the future, but in this case, she’d make an exception.

“Yes, they’ll be back soon.”

Maura glanced over as Jagger escorted a sleepy woman into the room.

“You must be Juliett.”

She nodded. “I am. Who are you?” Her eyes wandered the woman’s attire, and much like Jagger, she was dressed like a soldier. The camo pants and black t-shirt told the tale.

“This is Major Maura Gaines-Mars. She’s one of my guardians, and she works on our team.”

The woman looked hesitant, especially when Maura pulled her weapon and took sentry at one window. When Jagger did the same, Juliett knew who was in charge.

“She kinda looks harmless,” she whispered to Avalon as she joined her on the bed. “She’s going to protect us?”

Avalon turned her head to study the woman. “Looks can be deceiving. Maura is a killer.”

       
                
* * *
  O R A C L E   * * *

On his drive over there, he was whistling. While he hadn't sleep well, thinking the entire time about Juliett, he still had something to smile about. The woman was going to have a second date with him.

In his life, that just didn't happen.

After he divorced his wife for sleeping around, he never trusted anyone else again. With each date, he’d carefully measure the quality of the woman to see if they were compatible with the way he was raised.

Women should be women.

He was firm about that. He didn't want someone who was over the top with feminism, but he didn't want a doormat either.

It was a fine line.

After having dinner with Juliett, he wanted to be her Romeo. Rhett needed to find his Scarlett, and in the worst way.

He was pretty sure she was it.

Her honesty was refreshing. After all, he had the mother of all run ins with vicious, heartless, and mean.

Rhett didn't want to go back there again.

It was an ugly time in his life. Tonight, he was going to see what she looked like in his place, tell her about his life, and see if she changed.

For the first time, in a long while, he was willing to bet that this girl could be the one. Something about the deep brown eyes, the sexy grin, and how she didn't think he was some big, dopey backwoods hick was refreshing.

She saw him.

Rhett was still amazed.

This was his lucky week. Yes, he had a serial killer, but he also saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

He might just have found his other half.

Heading into the driveway, he saw a new vehicle sitting there. It was blacked out like the Hummer, so he assumed it was one of their team.

Jogging up the stairs, he noticed the door was open a crack.

That snapped him back to reality, and fast.

No one, especially a Fed, would do that.

Pulling his gun, he toed the door open with his boot. It was silent inside and looked as if someone had vacated the place, and fast.

There were steaming mugs of coffee still sitting on the table.

Yeah, this didn't look good.

He’d bet something had gone down. Immediately, his heart began thumping in his chest. He was worried about Juliett. Had the killer got here that morning?

Instead of alerting anyone inside of his approach, he moved quietly through the house. Clearing the living room, there were only a few places left. Down the hall, there was only one door closed, and he suspected the worst. Heading there, he listened.

There was silence.

When he touched the knob, he prepared to open the door.

Only, he didn't get a chance.

The door swung open, startling him, and a woman he had never seen before knocked his gun from his hand, sucker punched him in the solar plexus, and took him to the floor.

There she cuffed him.

“Looks like I caught an armed intruder. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

Jagger started laughing the second he saw the man. “You actually caught the sheriff.”

Juliett gasped from behind the man, moving around him to see Rhett cuffed on the floor.

“Uncuff him!” she demanded, before rushing to his side.

When Maura set him free, he rolled to his back to stare up at Juliett.

“Morning. Is it time for coffee?” he asked, trying to catch his breath.

“Oh, Rhett! My God!”

Yeah, she could say that again.

This was getting to be a really bad habit.

       
                
* * *
  O R A C L E   * * *

The woman offered them cookies and lemonade to make up for hosing the one man. They were pretty tasty, if Luke did say so himself.

It was kind of funny.

When he came around the building, he’d just missed being sprayed too. It was funny to see Nate on the ground, soaking wet.

It was priceless.

He wished he had his camera. He would send it to Callie and Quinn so they could bust his ass.

Now, they were inside the woman’s cat house, trying to get some dirt from her. Hopefully, she saw someone run past.

“Ma’am, it’s okay,” Nate said, as she apologized for the tenth time. “I’m not going to arrest you for assault. You only got me wet. It’s all good. It wasn’t an assault with a deadly weapon. I was sweaty anyway.”

She sat, passing him another cookie. “I just saw you come around the corner and I needed to keep Cornelius safe.”

As if timed, the cat meowed.

“It’s okay.”

Adelaide Cobb was an interesting character. She was closer to eighty than seventy, and a spitfire. You could tell by how she moved around.

When Nate was her age, he wanted to have her spunk. After all, she took out a Fed with a hose. That took skill. She was some crazy ninja granny.

“I’m just so nervous now that the town has some serial killer.”

“Does it?” Nate asked, trying to get information from the woman. “Did you know the girls who died?”

“It does,” she said, munching on a cookie. “I did know them. They both went to my church. Mandy Ryan was a handful. She once showed up to communion drunk, and then proceeded to chug the communal wine. It was so embarrassing for her father.”

Nate smiled, and then lifted a brow so his partner could start taking notes. It looked like they found a deep well of town gossip. While it wouldn’t solve a case, it would give them some direction.

Where there was smoke, there generally was fire.

“She was spoiled rotten since her mother passed away. That girl was running wild since the day after the funeral. I’m not shocked this happened to her.”

“Do you know who she hung out with?” Nate asked, hoping for a lead.

“She used to cavort around town with a couple men.”

“Can you tell us their names?”

“I don’t like to gossip.”

Oh, the irony of that statement.

“We’re sure you don’t, ma’am, but think of this as helping with an official investigation. We need all the help we can get.”

That seemed to convince her.

“There was gossip about her and the reverend.”

Nate leaned forward. “What kind of gossip?”

“That he was messing with her. We all thought she was getting counseling after the wine incident, but it went on for a long time. Mildred, my bridge partner, said she was in the church dropping items off for the rummage sale, and she heard things.”

“Like?”

“Sex sounds,” she whispered, as if trying to not sound so salacious.

That was interesting. They had someone raping and killing women, and a reverend with his hands in the young girl cookie jar.

That made Nate, and Luke, incredibly curious.

“What else?” Nate asked.

“Well, Caitlyn was a little wild herself.”

“We hear she was the sheriff’s assistant.”

“Oh, she took the job for one reason,” the woman stated. “She’s been trying to get in that man’s bed for the longest time. Since he divorced his wife, he’s been Crosspointe’s most eligible bachelor.”

“The sheriff was married?”

“Yep. He got hitched to his high school sweetheart as soon as she returned from college. They only made it a few years before the trouble started. He’s been single for a handful of years now, and he doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to settle down. That’s why Caitlyn took the job. She threw herself at him in church, at parades, and whenever she could.”

“Do you know why he got divorced?”

“He won’t talk about it, but his ex was more than happy to sing of his shortcomings.”

Nate was curious. This was a man working with them. He was private, and he appreciated that, but not when he had direct access to Avalon and Juliett.

“Like?”

“She told people he was cold in bed. That’s why they never had kids.”

“That sounds like an angry woman trying to smear a man’s reputation,” Luke said. He and Nate had both had momentary lapses with past indiscretions, and they’d been called cold too.

Yeah, and a slew of other uncomplimentary things.

“It might be, but she told everyone that he beat her. He came home drunk, knocked her around, and then divorced her.”

That worried both men.

The sheriff was a big man, and they needed to know what they were dealing with.

“His daddy was a mean drunk too. The sheriff’s brother did some time in jail, and his momma, God rest her soul, died early. She likely wanted out of that man mess."

Nate made a mental note to have a little discussion with the sheriff. Before they went on, working together, he wanted to ensure that the team wasn’t being dicked over by a killer.

It could happen.

The risk was too great.

“Who else?”

“Well, both girls liked to drink. They hung out at a place called
‘Artie’s’
. He’s been known to serve underage girls to get them in the place. Caitlyn would go there when the sheriff was there with his men. The wife of one of the deputies told me all about it. That girl was shameless. She was always putting her hands on the man’s stuff.”

“Stuff?” asked Luke.

“Are you going to really make me say penis, son?” she asked Luke. “You know, his dick, tool, junk, and whatever you kids are calling it these days.”

Nate tried not to laugh at the look on his partner’s face.

“We’ll have to look into that,” Luke said, clearing his throat.

“I hope you do,” she said. “There’s a DJ there on the weekends, Dennis Tucker, I think, and he’s playing that loud music of the devil. He hits on the ladies all the time. I’ve seen him checking out tail in the grocery store.”

Luke almost laughed when an old woman referred to a woman as ‘tail’. It took all he had not to start.

The look Nate gave him helped out.

“Ma’am, you’ve been so damn helpful,” he said, smiling at her. “I think getting hosed by you has been a good thing.”

She smiled. “If you were only twenty years older, I’d be chasing you around my yard.”

He found that amusing. Standing, he gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Adelaide.”