Touched by Death (37 page)

Stephen stood in the middle of the room, staring at
the center support beams, careful to not touch anything as he studied
the chains. "These are covered in blood."

"No surprise there."

Dane walked over to the center support beam. His voice
caught, before he rasped out, "There are names and dates scratched
into this pole."

The other two men came to look and found even more
than a dated tally. Pleas for help scratched into the wood made Dane
turn away, his eyes closing in pain and disbelief.

Grimly, Bruce said, "Good, this information will
help us identify the victims and provide answers for their families."

"Yeah, except we don't know where this asshole
is. He's still on the loose and here we are, so focused on John, we've
lost sight of Peppe. For all we know he planned to kidnap Jade from
the beginning."

"Christ." Dane rubbed his chin, feeling
as if he'd just been given a huge reprieve. "This just gets better
and better. So my brother is innocent and Peppe is a killer? Did Emile
know? Did he help his father? Did Tasha? Is that why no one could bear
to look after him? Why they didn't dare hire a local to look after him?
In case he killed more women or in case someone found out what he'd
done? It would bring everything back onto them?"

Stephen snorted. "This place is giving me the
creeps."

Dane smiled, relief washing through him as he realized
something major. "At least this proves my brother's innocence.
We need to get the authorities out here right now."

Stephen, shaking his head, took one last look around
the cellar. "I'll wait here for the authorities. You go check in
with the others and you might as well check out John's shop. Peppe could
just as easily have stashed Jade there. Especially if it's close to
the hotel."

Bruce turned to go. "Wilson is waiting outside
with Meg. He started retching when he saw this room. We'll leave the
three of you here to wait. I don't need to remind you not to touch anything.
If you find anything else, contact Dr. Mike and Susan back at the hotel.
Call and fill them in. Dane and I will go straight to the shop."
Bruce had his phone out, and was climbing the stairs to call the police
from outside.

"And if you hear anything, or see anything, call
me on my cell." Dane wrote the number down on a receipt he found
in his wallet and handed it over to Stephen. "We have no idea where
Peppe is, so be careful. I don't know what the old man might have in
his arsenal. He got these women here somehow."

Dane drove into town in a much more positive mental
state than he'd left it. Surely his brother was innocent of all the
suggested crimes?

He desperately needed to find Jade. To know she was
okay, and to hold her again. There was so much ugliness here. He couldn't
wait to go back to Seattle now.

When this was over, he'd convince his brother to come
home with him. That was the best answer. Put this all behind him and
start again. Dane could give him a job, a place to live, help him get
back on his feet.

Bruce called Dr. Mike with an update that had Dr.
Mike gasping with outrage. He told Bruce there'd been no sign of John
or of Jade. Fifteen minutes after Bruce had finished his call, Dane
pulled into the back of the shop he'd only ever driven past before.
It looked the same. He reached into the glove box of his truck and pulled
out a small clipboard. He rifled through several sheets of paper to
find the one he was looking for. "726 Main Road. This is it."

Bruce stared at the broken door numbers on the entrance.
"Well, let's go check it out. I really don't want to find any more
nasty horrors like what we just found."

"I just want to find Jade – safe and sound."

The men approached carefully. It was late afternoon
now but still people walked the sidewalks and vehicles moved quickly
along the street. An ordinary day.

But not for him. For Dane it was as if time stopped.
If she were here, it would devastate him. But even then, it didn't mean
John was to blame. And if Jade weren't here, he'd be even more upset
and concerned for her. He needed to find her. Fast.

"This wall is cracked enough to enter."
Dane shook his head. Why the hell hadn't he come here earlier and checked
up on his brother? The back wall wasn't just cracked. It was half gone.
Shrugging, Dane stepped through carefully and followed the dirty pathway
to a small door. He opened it. Dirty footprints led down the stairs.

Bruce stepped up behind him. "What is it?"
he whispered.

Dane motioned to the tracks. Bruce grimaced. "Are
we thinking he's down there?"

The two men exchanged looks. Dane knew that if there
were someone still down there, they had the advantage. Then again, he
didn't have an option. He slipped down the first couple of stairs as
quietly as he could.

He bent down to peer around the corner.

"Oh, my God."

Jade's heart clogged her throat.

Even as a she watched, a large square of light appeared,
highlighting stairs in the far corner.

Her muscles tensed. She could hardly breathe. She
didn't know if she should try to make it look like she were sleeping,
or sit casually and wait.

That she was finally going to find out who was behind
her kidnapping, almost scared her more than not knowing.

Her heart beat so hard she could barely think. Work
boots like Dane's appeared followed by jean-clad legs. Long and lean.
She gulped and shoved her fist into her mouth to stop the whimpers forming
in the back of her throat.
It couldn't be. Please not.

Then a familiar face came into view. Jade stared in
disbelief and horror.

It was.

D
ane raced to her side. "Jesus. Jade. Thank God,
we found you."

"Jade?" At the sight of Bruce's worried
face, Jade burst into tears. Dane wrapped her in his arms. "I'm
so sorry. It's going to be fine now. I promise. It's over."

She couldn't stop crying. "Thank you for finding
me. I can't get free." She kicked her leg out to show them the
chain. "I've been so scared. I was afraid he'd come back, then
I was terrified he wouldn't come back and I'd die here forgotten and
alone."

"Never forgotten, sweetheart. We're here. You're
going to be fine now." Dane gave her a big hug then stepped back.
She reached for him again, scared he'd leave her alone. He grabbed her
hands. "Bruce, come hold her. I need to find something to knock
that manacle off."

Bruce stepped forward and wrapped his arms around
her. He held her close. "I just called the authorities again. I
expect they'll escort us all to the airport after this and wait until
we get on to make sure we leave."

Dane shook his head. "I can't say I'd blame them.
Now what the hell can I use to get that damn thing off her leg?"

She pointed to the far corner. "There's a mess
of stuff over there. You might find something to use."

Dane headed to the corner.

"Damn it, Jade. What the hell happened?"
Bruce gave her a quick shake. "We were so worried about you."

She sniffled slightly, touching the side of her head,
still tender but no longer bleeding. "I was sitting at the table
waiting for Dane and Meg to come back, when the lights went out. I woke
up here. With this." She pointed to her foot again. "What
is
this place?
Where are we?"

"We're still in town. It's been about five hours
since you went missing. Oh, and you wouldn't believe what we found out."

She slid her arm through his, unable to let go of
him. They both watched as Dane bent down to check something then stood
again. He returned quickly with an odd assortment of tools in his hand.

"Dane, what's over there?"

He shot Bruce a hard look. "I'm going to work
on this lock. Bruce, why don't you go and see? Maybe you can identify
it."

Curious, Jade watched as Bruce hurried to the far
end where he became lost in the shadows. She could barely see as he
stopped and stared before dropping to the floor. "What is it, Dane?"

He sighed and stopped fiddling with the lock to look
up at her. "It's not what, as much as whom?"

"Oh, God." Jade's stomach threatened to
heave. There
was
a person over there?
Dead?
Dane hadn't said so, but she hadn't heard a word the
whole time she'd been here.

"He'll need to add an ambulance to the fleet
on its way." Dane shook his head. "I never thought to call.
All I wanted was to get this damn manacle off you." He struggled
to break the manacle while Jade watched, willing him to hurry.

The longer it took, the more she started to panic.
They had to get away. Fast.

A hoarse, hard voice sliced through their concentration.
"Well, well. Look who finally came to visit. Checking up on me,
big brother?"

Dane froze. He closed his eyes briefly, his face contorting
in disgust. And pain. Jade gasped and huddled in a ball in front of
Dane. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. Poor Dane.
She tried to peer around Dane to be sure. "Dane? Is that
John
?"

Slowly opening his eyes to look into hers, he whispered,
"Yeah. I'm so sorry. I'd hoped to get you safely away before your
kidnapper returned. Looks like he found us first."

"Stand up,
step
brother." Jade couldn't see John's face but his voice
conveyed no sign of the weak, ineffectual man she'd believed him to
be.

Sighing, Dane dropped the tools and slowly stood.
Turning to face John, he motioned at the gun in John's hand and casually
said, "What's going on, John? I don't get it. Explanation, please?"

"You never did have the brains everyone gave
you credit for. To the world, you were always the first, the best, the
biggest. God, I hated that. You were always trying to steal the limelight.
And here I find you, trying to steal my new girl."

Dane shook his head. "
Your
girl? You actually kidnapped Jade? Are you crazy?"

John smiled.

Jade peered around Dane.
Oh God.
That look on John's face. So empty, so lacking in anything
recognizable. She reached for the tools Dane had dropped and worked
frantically on the lock.

"No," John said softly. "I'm not crazy.
I didn't figure you'd find Jade so fast."

"I have to admit I had some help from friends."

"That damn team. They're the reason everything's
wrong. Then again, they also offered the perfect avenue to bring about
a much needed change."

"Change? Is that what you call the destruction
of your family?"

"I didn't touch Emile. Peppe fought with him
and knocked him down. The two of them had a whopper of a fight about
the doctor he was trying to bring in behind my back to look after Tasha.
Peppe was just getting his own back. Emile had already washed his hands
of the old man. His death just finished off Tasha but that had nothing
to do with me." He smirked. "Except for the pillow over her
mouth and nose."

"What about your high school girlfriend, Celia?
Did you do her in?" Dane's voice held a plea that Jade had trouble
understanding. Her gaze shifted from one brother to the other.
Who the hell was
Celia?

Shock sat heavy on John's face. "Wow, you have
been doing your homework, haven't you?" He smiled. A gesture that
shot ice rippling through Jade. God, whoever Celia was, Jade was sure
she'd died at John's hands.

"And your first wife, Elise? Did you kill her
too?"

"That stupid bitch. She thought she could leave
me. She asked for a divorce of all things. Then she didn't even tell
me she was pregnant. Doubt it was mine anyway. Besides, she deserved
what she got."

Jade switched her gaze to Dane's face, watching the
myriad of emotions wash over him. His fists clenched, then relaxed.
These people Dane mentioned had been people he'd known. People that
had been part of his life, too.

Anger and disbelief fired up Dane's voice. "And
Tasha – had she wanted a divorce as well? Or did you think the baby
wasn't yours? Is that what you do, get rid of women when you don't want
them anymore?"

"No. You see you should give me a medal for Tasha.
Now that lady was a bitch. Especially toward the end. And I didn't kill
the baby. She lost that all on her own. You can't lay that one on me."

Jade could listen no longer. "She lost it or
you helped her lose it?" Bitterness flowed from her voice. She
didn't even try to hold back. This innocent-looking man had caused so
much pain and suffering. She stared down at the chain in her hand. So
much misery. "Did you kidnap and abuse those poor women under Tasha's
nose, too?"

Dane shook his head at her, but she didn't understand
why.

John chuckled, a hard, nasty sound that made her shudder.
"You're as stupid as Tasha was. I wasn't even here then. At least
not for all of them." He relaxed slightly, rocking back on his
heels. "I didn't kidnap those women. That was Peppe. I had no idea
he could be so ingenious. No idea all that time I was stuck with Tasha
that he was out scouting new victims. It still pisses me off that he
thought of it first. That he'd been doing it for years."

He waved the gun around. "I only found out when
I was burying those fucking bodies. Talk about a turning point in my
life. Emile brought a woman over and threw her on top of the pile thinking
I wouldn't notice. I might not have, except for the goddamn manacle.
They didn't even take the thing off her in death."

"Peppe has a mess of them hanging in a busted
down shed. They are seriously old. Probably find his whole damn family
were either slaves or slavers at one time themselves." He grinned
a nasty smirk that made Jade wince. "I confronted him and he told
me about Peppe – that Peppe hadn't been strong enough to get rid of
the body on his own, so he'd had to do it for him." John laughed,
a cold sound that sent shards of ice down Jade's back. "The women
were Peppe's slaves. They looked after his every need. Emile wouldn't
have anything to do with his father after that. Little wuss. And Tasha
could never look him in the eye again. She lived in terror of him being
found out."