Untainted: (Crime Romance: The Photographer Trilogy #3) (10 page)

“We’re birds?” Annie whispered back softly, coughing up blood with the attempt.

“Can’t you feel those wings under you?” Kate kissed Annie’s forehead and held her tighter, trying to hold back the sobs threatening to burst out.

Annie just nodded yes.

“Let’s fly away together, okay? Anywhere you want, Annie.”

“I’ll be happier as a bird, right Katie?”

“So happy, baby girl. You’re going to love it.”

“Are you coming with me?” Annie’s voice was almost gone now.

“I’m flying right behind you, baby girl. I’m right here, I’ll never leave you. We will fly anywhere you want, Annie.” Katie looked at her lovingly, wiping a tear off of Annie’s face.

“Is it okay if I fly away now, Katie?” Her little body jolted slightly in Kate’s arms, then stilled, sagging slightly.

“Fly away, Annie. It’s okay. I’m right behind you, baby girl.” Pulling her tighter up against her chest, Kate felt Annie’s body go completely limp.

A loud sob escaped her lips as she rocked back and forth, still holding her sister in her arms.

“It’s kind of fitting, isn’t it?” Frank’s deep voice broke through the moment and Kate threw a glance up at him as she continued to rock her sister gently.

“Right in this spot, it’s where you took my family from me. Right from that beam above you, all because of you and your lies. And now, what is it, twenty years later? All your loved ones die in the same spot.” Frank had his arms crossed, the gun still in one hand and tucked under his other forearm.

He seemed to be genuinely enjoying watching her in pain, but she refused to say anything to him or to respond at all.

“Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it, Kate?”

CHAPTER TEN

“McCraig, what’s your location?” The radio crackled in the car as the older detective raced down the road at record speeds, his siren on allowing him to weave around cars.

“I’m a mile out from Fallen Oaks Stable.” He grabbed up the radio held it to his mouth.

“I’ve got that information you wanted on a Frank Bild’s father.” The radio operator told him and McCraig immediately focused his attention on the sound.

“Seems like he took his mother’s last name, because his father went by the name of Stanley Smith. He was an administrator at an elementary school, first worked as vice principal, but then was principal for a few years. The only actual report on him in the system is his death. It looks like there were a few complaints that were filed against him a few years before that, but they were all dropped.”

“What were the complaints? Who filed them?”

“Child sexual abuse, a few different families over the span of two years at the school he worked at. You were right, your victim’s name is on here. Kate Jackson was one of the children, her mother filed the complaint, but then her father withdrew it.”

“It was unsubstantiated?” McCraig was puzzled.

“Legally yes, but the amount of complaints and the level of similarities between them all makes it look pretty likely. Stanley Smith was then fired by the school shortly after the last complaint, too.”

“Any reports after that?” McCraig questioned as he saw a sign indicating Fallen Oaks to be the next turn.

His anxiety built as he moved quickly, worried that he hadn’t been able to contact Liz again. His years of experience and his keen instinct were shouting at him that something was wrong.

“Just around his death a month or so later. It was ruled a suicide. He was found on his property, Fallen Oaks Stable, by his son. Hung himself from one of the stable’s ceiling beams.”

“Thanks, I think that’s all the information I need. I’m pulling up to Fallen Oaks now. How far away is backup?”

“Not even a minute behind you, McCraig. We’re coming in strong.” The operator reassured him just as McCraig pulled up to the front of the stable and slammed his car into park.

~~~~~~

“You don’t scare me, Frank.” Kate hissed at him, refusing to budge from where she sat on the stable floor, holding her sister’s body tightly against her.

“Because you know that you are going to die. It’s a freeing feeling isn’t it? Knowing there is nothing that you can do about it and that you’re never going to have to feel all this pain anymore. Knowing you will see your family again.” Frank paced slowly in front of her, rambling dreamily.

“What the hell would you know?” She spit out, hatred seeping through her every pore.

“Ah, my dear Kate, I know because I’m feeling the same thing. I just killed a cop. And your man, your sister, and soon you. You think I can run from that?” He chuckled sinisterly.

“Running isn’t the plan, my little Kate. I’m going to go the same way my dad went, just as soon as I finish with you. It’s poetic how all of this is playing out, isn’t it? Better than I dreamed.” He grinned, stopping to look down at her.

“You’re going to kill yourself?” She was shocked.

“Don’t be selfish, Kate. You’re not the only one who gets to see her family and escape all this heartache.” He lifts the gun toward her again.

“You’re going to hell, you bastard.” She didn’t move, she refused to be scared as she stared into the cold, metal barrel.

“Maybe we can be roommates down there,” he winked at her.

“Goodbye, Kate.” She closed her eyes and tensed her body, holding Annie against her as tight as she possibly could.

A crackling sound came from behind where Frank was standing and he turned his head to see what the noise was.

Liz was still slumped against the wall, but the police radio attached to her hip was on. Kate’s eyes flew open at the sound and she saw Frank’s attention shift.

Instinctually, she catapulted forward and threw her arm down against his wrists, causing the gun to drop before he realized what had happened. With one arm against his hands, the other scooped up the weapon with ease and she twirled to face him. The situation was suddenly reversed and Frank’s jaw dropped as he realized what had just occurred.

“Kate, you don’t want to do this.” He said steadily, his hands up in defeat.

“The hell I don’t!” She shouted at him, shaking the gun slightly as she felt rage coursing through her.

Looking around her, she saw Liz against the wall, her sister laid flat on the ground, and Derrick face down.

All because of him.

“You really think you can live with yet another death on your hands?” He spoke slowly.

“What are you talking about?”

“My father. All those women before you. That’s a lot of blood shed because of you. Can you really handle more?”

“Those women’s lives are on you! God, you’re such a sick bastard! You really think you can fucking murder someone and blame it on someone else? Is that how you sleep at night?” She screamed, inching closer to him.

“Kate, slow down.”

“And your father? He was a freak, a disgusting, perverted child molester. His death is because of his own guilt, or maybe cowardice, but either way, his death is on him. It’s not on me, and it’s not even on you. All of this, every single woman, every life... you did it for him? A man who didn’t love you enough to stay? Who didn’t love you enough to think about being a good father instead of touching little girls?” She was shouting as her words flew out in one fast stream.

“Fuck you, bitch.” He snarled, his demeanor turning darker as his temper flared.

“You already did, remember? You ruined my fucking life! I should kill you right here and now!” She put a slight bit of pressure on the trigger.

“Do it.” He took a step toward her, but she didn’t budge.

“Do it, Kate!” He shouted almost directly in her face as the muzzle of the gun pressed up against his forehead.

She bit her lip as she looked at him, everything in her body was itching to pull the trigger, but something was stopping her. Her entire body shook with rage, maybe even a little fear, as she felt the trigger under her finger just waiting for her.

“Kate, put the gun down!” A low, thunderous voice behind her told her that Detective McCraig was on scene.

She recognized the voice instantly, but she didn’t move. The end of the gun still squarely placed against Frank’s forehead as he burst into a smile.

“You going to listen to the detective, Kate?” Frank’s words were almost musical, as if he was reveling in every part of their interactions.

Enjoying the torment on her face.

She just pressed the gun harder into his skin.

“He killed them, Mike.” Her voice was steady, calm.

“He did. Frank did, Kate. Not you. You’re not like him.”

“How would you know? He killed my fucking sister, Mike!” A strangled sob slipped out of her.

“Shit.” She heard McCraig sigh, she  knew that he was probably taking in the scene around them for the first time.

“Kate, I’m going to be really honest with you for a minute here. I’m putting aside all my training and cop talk, all of it. Okay?” He moved in a circle to come around to her side so that she could see him.

His hands were up defensively and his gun had been re-holstered. She just glanced at him briefly, then turned her attention back to the vile man in front of her.

“I see Liz over there. It doesn’t look promising. I want to tear his fucking head off for that. Liz is my best friend in this world, fuck maybe my only friend. And I see your family, so I know you are feeling the same way.” He told her.

“Doesn’t matter how hard I search my brain, I can’t come up with a reason why this fucker should live. Why you shouldn’t shoot him right here and right now.” Mike continued.

“Hell, I’m having a hard time convincing myself why I shouldn’t shoot the cocksucker! So then all I can think about, Kate, is what do I deserve. What do you deserve? He deserves to fucking die. We agree on that. But do you deserve to fall asleep every night with the memory of pulling that trigger? The memory that you are giving him exactly what he wants?” He asked, while Kate glanced quickly at him, then back at Frank.

“What do you deserve, Kate?” McCraig finished his speech slowly, looking between her and Frank.

She stood stoically, not moving as she thought about what McCraig had said. Frank began to look nervous.

“Are you going to listen to that psycho-babble, Kate?” Frank chided her.

She blinked as she looked into his eyes, then she pulled back, still pointing the gun at him. She took two steps backward, Frank began to look around frantically, seeing that police were beginning to filter into the building with weapons drawn.

“Shoot me, Kate! I killed your sister. Annie is fucking dead. And I loved every second of watching her bleed. Fucking shoot me, Kate!” Frank began screaming as she dropped the gun onto the dirt floor and walked toward McCraig, falling against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

Frank continued screaming, but she wasn’t listening anymore. Police swept in and detained him, taking him out to a squad car in hand cuffs. The fallen gun was retrieved immediately and paramedics swept in quickly.

Kate didn’t cry, she didn’t think, she just stood against McCraig’s warm body and tried to calm her breathing. He held her tight, soothing her with soft words like “it’s going to be okay”.

Her face stayed buried in his chest as she heard professionals working on her fallen family, the sounds of stretchers being opened and bodies being lifted. She couldn’t watch any of it.

So she just stood there, hiding in his chest. And he let her.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“You can come in now, Mrs. Kane.” The doctor smiled sympathetically at her when he found her sitting on the plastic chair in the waiting room.

She glanced down at the ring on her finger, contemplating correcting the doctor and telling him that she and Derrick were not yet married. Deciding to let it go, and secretly enjoying hearing the term, she just nodded and followed him down the stark halls of the hospital until they came to a stop in front of one of the rooms.

“I’ll give you guys some privacy. Just so you know, he is on a heavy dose of morphine which might make him seem a bit loopy. The dosage will go down over time, but he is still in a lot of pain from his injuries right now.” He told her, before walking away.

Kate pushed open the extra wide wooden door and entered the room, her eyes immediately falling on the giant man stretched across the hospital bed, barely fitting in it. Her face lit up immediately and she rushed to his side and threw her arms over him, burying her face in his neck.

“Shit, Kate! That hurts.” Derrick chuckled, after his original groan.

“Oh, sorry!” She pulled back off of him and just sat on the edge of the bed, her arm gently resting over his stomach.

“That hurts, too.” He grinned at her.

“What?” She looked around her, trying to see if she was sitting on a tube or something important.

“Not hugging you, it hurts.” He winked and she rolled her eyes, smiling.

“Such a flirt. How are you feeling?” She giggled, but looked worried.

“Doctors said the knife went straight through my back and missed my heart and lungs by less than an inch. I guess they gave me some transfusions because of the blood loss, so after all that I regained consciousness. So aside from some bruises and soreness, I’ll be fine.” He shrugged, then regretted the action immediately when a spasm of pain shot through him.

“Is that all? That’s nothing.” She smiled, speaking sarcastically.

“More importantly though, are you okay?” His face turned to a look of concern.

“Some scrapes and bruises here and there. A few cracked ribs, they have me all bandaged up under here.” She motioned to her torso.

“What about your head?” He asked, reaching up to touch the gauze bandage down one side of her cheek up by her hairline.

“Two stitches, it’s nothing. A flesh wound at most. Nothing like what you went through.” She reached up to touch the wound, self consciously.

He chuckled and she leaned in to kiss him softly on the lips.