All the Shiny Things: A Kate Reid Novel (Kate Reid Series Book 1) (19 page)

“The chief really wanted to believe you had something when you told him about the necklace, but then the DA shot him down. There’s not much you can do about that.”

Katie watched the trees pass by in a blur as they drove down the highway. “So, what do we do now? Do I just go home and go on about my business?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what you do, Kate. Go on about your business of helping other victims’ families find answers. Keep them from going through what you and your family went through. Get married. Live your life.”

“I just don’t know if I can do that, Marshall. I don’t know if I’ll ever sleep without the nightmares.”

“I believe they will pass, eventually. You even said they were coming less frequently. Maybe continuing with your therapy will help.”

“Maybe.”

» » »

It was late Saturday night when Katie arrived back at home, weary from the journey, both physically and emotionally.

She forced a smile as Spencer greeted her. “Welcome home, babe. How was the dress hunting? Did you find one you liked? I’m surprised you decided not to stay until Sunday.”

Katie realized she couldn’t continue the lie. She would have to accept whatever consequences would come, but she wouldn’t lie to him any longer. He deserved better than that. “Do you think we could sit down and talk for a minute?”

Appearing concerned, Spencer sat down on the sofa. “What’s going on, Katie?”

She squeezed his hand and steadied her tone. “I went home, but not for the reason I told you. I went back to the place where they found me. I had hoped that maybe, if I was actually standing there, I would be able to remember something, but nothing came to me.”

What had initially been concern was now turning to anger. This was it; the moment she dreaded, but she had brought it on all by herself.

“You lied to me?” Spencer released her hand and began pacing the room, breathing deep, quick breaths. “Why would you lie to me? Didn’t we just have a long conversation about this? I thought you were ready to move on. Katie, have I not been there for you through all of this and you repay me by lying?”

“I’m sorry, Spencer. I knew you’d be upset. I know how much you want to get past this.”

“I thought you did too!”

“I do, I swear. That’s why I went. I had to see for myself if there was anything there. Anything at all I could remember. Detective Avery said it can help sometimes, going back to the scene. It can help victims remember things.”

“Detective Avery? Was he there with you? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Yes. He was helping me. I didn’t want to go alone.” She thought it best to leave out the fact that it had been his idea in the first place and that she’d secretly been working with him for the past few weeks.

“And so you thought it best to lie to your fiancé, go out of town with another man, and have him help you? Jesus. I knew something was going on. How could I be so stupid?”

What response had she expected? If she lied about her intentions, why was it so unbelievable that she might lie about her relationship with Marshall? Still, she thought he knew her better than that. “Spencer, I’ve told you before, nothing is going on with him. What kind of woman do you think I am? I would never cheat on you.”

“Well, certainly not the kind of woman to go flitting about with another man on the pretense that he was helping you.”

“He
was
helping me! God, I knew you wouldn’t understand. That’s why I wasn’t even going to tell you at all.”

“So why are you telling me now?”

“Because I don’t want our marriage to be built on lies. I’ve had enough lies to last me a lifetime. Everyone in my family has lied to me my entire life.”

He started to laugh. “Our marriage? You think we’re still going to have a marriage?” Spencer stormed off into the bedroom.

After several minutes, it became apparent he wasn’t coming back out. She walked softly down the hallway and into their room. He was packing a suitcase.

“What are you doing?” Her heart fell into her stomach.

“I can’t deal with this anymore, Katie. I thought I knew you, but clearly, I don’t. It scares the hell out of me how easy it was for you to lie like that.”

“Easy? You think any of this has been easy for me?” She stood next to him now and placed her hand on top of his suitcase. “Stop, okay? Please stop.”

“You’ve turned into someone I no longer recognize. I caught a glimpse of who you used to be when we talked a few weeks ago, but now I can see that it was just a fleeting glimpse. You’ve become obsessed with this. You changed your job… you lied to me.” He turned away and looked at the picture on his nightstand. “You see this? This is what we used to be. Happy. I saw this coming. I supported you as much as I could, but it just wasn’t enough, was it?”

“I know this has been hard on you. Please don’t give up on us. I will get through this. I just had to do this one last thing; one last try to figure out what happened to me. Can’t you understand that?”

“Katie, I don’t believe this was the last thing. I don’t believe you’ll stop until you find what you’re looking for.” He pushed her hand away from his bag. “I just don’t think I can hang around until that happens because it may
never
happen. I don’t want to live out my life with someone who is always searching for something, no matter what the cost to others.” Spencer zipped up the bag and threw it over his shoulder.

Katie’s eyes swelled with tears. There was nothing more she could do to make him stay. “I’m sorry I did this to you…to us. I wish to God none of this ever happened.”

“So do I. Goodbye Katie. I hope you find the answers you need and that it will bring you some peace.”

She watched him walk away. Life as she had known it for the past seven years was over.

12

I
n the light
of
morning, Katie reached for her cell to call in sick for work. Her eyes were red and swollen, having found no comfort in her tears during the long hours of the night. She had no one to call, not even Sam; especially not Sam. Wasn’t she the one who warned her that this would happen? Detective Avery, too, but Katie didn’t listen. He warned her not to take this too far. But at least he understood why she had to continue, even if he knew it would come to this.

The wedding would have to be called off. Whose side would their friends choose? Spencer would surely not reveal the reason for the breakup; he was a good man and he would not put Katie in that position. But what did any of that matter now? She lost the man she loved and was no closer to finding the man who stole her from a loving family, which was forever changed.

It was too exhausting to think about. Katie lay down on the couch and finally drifted off to sleep.

The late morning sun was shining through the front window when Katie’s phone rang, waking her from the deep sleep that always comes after the pain. She looked at her phone; it was Marshall. Speaking to him right now was the last thing she wanted. No one needed to tell her she brought this on herself; she was already quite confident of that fact. But what if he had news?

Curiosity got the best of her and she answered.

“Katie? I tried your office, but didn’t get an answer. Are you in today?”

“No. I wasn’t feeling well and decided to stay home.”

He was going to see through that.

“Oh. I’m sorry to bother you. I just wanted to let you know before you heard it on the news that we got the evidence we needed on Isabelle’s case. DNA came back and matched Johansen. He’s going to go to jail, Kate. I can only hope after the jury sees what we’ve got, they’ll send him to death row.”

Katie was silent on the other end.

“Did you hear me, Kate? We got him. And you had a hand in that.”

“Yeah, I heard you. That is very good news. I hope he gets what he deserves.”

“Is everything all right? You don’t sound like your usual self.”

“I’m fine, Marshall. I’ve just had a rough night.”

“The dreams again?”

“No.” She paused, hoping he would continue, but he had a way of creating awkward silences that forced a person to speak. “Spencer left last night. Left for good, I’m pretty sure.”

“Oh man, I’m so sorry, Kate.”

“It was my fault. I told him the truth about our trip and he lost it. Then, I watched him give up and walk away; can’t blame him though. I probably would have done the same thing if he went off with a woman and lied to me about it.”

“Does he think there’s something going on between us? I can talk to him.”

Katie interrupted. “No, no, he doesn’t; not anymore. He just got tired of dealing with me and this situation; everything really. So, the wedding’s off.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

There was one thing he could do. One thing that could help her come to terms with why she’d just destroyed her relationship. “I’d like to come down to the station when you bring Johansen in to formally charge him.”

“You sure about that, Kate? We’ve got hard evidence on him now, so it’s only a matter of determining what happened to Isabelle. It won’t be easy to listen to what he’s got to say.”

“I know, but I have to see for myself the kind of monster he really is. I have to know why he did it.”

“You can come down, but don’t expect Johansen to suddenly be remorseful or to beg for forgiveness. That’s not what they do. They take pleasure in the details of their crimes, especially when they know we’ve got them. They wear it like a badge of honor.”

“I’m prepared, Marshall. Please, I need to see this.”

» » »

Katie arrived at the station and she was escorted by two officers to the viewing room. She expected to see a two-way mirror, like in the movies, but there was a table with a monitor on it. The closed-circuit camera showed an adjacent room. In that room, sitting handcuffed to the table, was the monster. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-seven, maybe twenty-eight. His defense attorney, no doubt court-appointed, sat next to him.

This was not the same man who answered the door several weeks ago when she and Detective Avery had first met Mr. Johansen. Sullen and pale, he appeared to have lost weight, so much so that his skeletal frame poked through his thin jailhouse uniform.

Detective Avery entered the interrogation room and glanced up at the camera. Katie thought he was looking directly at her. Although he hadn’t seen her beforehand, he knew she was there.

“I’m sure the camera’s already on, detective,” said Johansen.

“Just checking if the little red light is flashing. We’re planning on uploading this to You Tube.” Detective Avery smiled.

Johansen unveiled a sly, unnerving grin in return.

“Detective, I’m Mr. Johansen’s attorney, Jim Bernard.” The man rose to shake hands.

Marshall quickly dispensed with the pleasantries and immediately jumped in. “So when did you graduate from molestation to murder?” Avery asked as he pulled the folding chair out and sat across from Johansen.

“Don’t answer that.” The lawyer turned to his client. “Detective Avery, are we to expect this sort of behavior from you right at the start?”

“You flatter me, Detective. What makes you think I’m a murderer?” It seemed Johansen wanted to bite at the carrot Marshall had dangled.

“We found Isabelle in the dump where you left her. You know, someone like you, I would have thought, would have taken better care to dispose of the body.”

Johansen’s eyes flickered vaguely at the revelation that Isabelle’s body had been found and he shot a glance to the lawyer. He’d been in jail since his arrest for the registration offense and presumably hadn’t heard they found her. Johansen suddenly stared up at the camera.

Katie gasped, taking a step back.

One of the officers held her shoulders. “It’s okay, Miss Reid. He can’t see you.”

“Thank you. I’m okay.” She wasn’t. In that moment, she saw something terrifying in his eyes. She had seen that look before; a brutality that flashed before her in an instant.

“We’d like to discuss a plea deal, Detective.” Just as Mr. Bernard began retrieving the papers from his briefcase, Johansen opened his mouth.

“She was so pretty with her brown hair blowing in the wind and her tan skin,” He started. “I saw her riding her bike one afternoon when I got home from work.”

“Yes, she was a very pretty little girl,” Avery jumped in.

Johansen glared at him as if he’d just been roused from a pleasant dream.

“You must have had your eye on her for quite a while,” Avery said.

“Don’t say anything more, Mr. Johansen.” The lawyer seemed to grow more incensed by the minute at the back and forth between the two men.

“I guess so. I had only seen her once more on my street when I decided to follow her home one day. I just watched as she rode up onto her driveway. Saw her brothers and sisters come out and play. Her mom didn’t seem to be around, though. Boy, is she a piece of work.”

Katie saw the disgusted look on Marshall’s face.
The pot calling the kettle black
, she thought.

“Shut the hell up, Michael.” Bernard continued.

“But, she stopped coming down my street and I missed her. She was only five blocks away. I parked along her street and watched her ride her bike to school. Sometimes she rode alone, sometimes with friends.” His face tempered slightly as he turned to Detective Avery. “I swear I just wanted to make sure she got to school okay. No one else seemed to give a shit about her. It wasn’t until that boy started riding along.”

He revealed himself once again as the monster Katie thought him to be.

“That boy.” Johansen shook his head. “She liked him. I could see it in her face. She was gonna end up turning into a whore just like all the others, just like her mother. She was gonna let that boy touch her.”

“She was eight,” Avery said, growing even more exasperated.

“For God’s sake.” Bernard shook his head. Any hope of a deal for his client had just evaporated.

Johansen looked at him, smiling again. “Those whores start early, detective.”

Katie watched as Marshall tried to keep from losing control.

“So you decided to kill her? Because you wanted to keep her from becoming a whore?”

“I tried to protect her.” Johansen appeared agitated. “I wasn’t gonna hurt her. Tell him, Jim, I wasn’t gonna hurt her.”

“How did you convince Isabelle to get in your truck?” Avery asked.

“Well, that’s the genius that is me, detective. Puppies. All little girls like puppies, don’t they? One morning, before she was supposed to leave for school, I waited outside the truck a few houses down. I saw her riding down the street; she was alone, which was a good thing because it would’ve put a damper on my plans.”

“I think we’re done here, Detective Avery.” The lawyer started packing up his files.

“So, anyway, I started calling out for my poor lost puppy. I named him Max; admittedly, not very original. Young Isabelle came riding up toward me on her bike. I was standing on the sidewalk and blocked her way so she had no choice but to stop. I asked her if she’d seen my lost puppy. She asked what Max looked like and I said I had a picture of him in my truck. I swung open the passenger door hard enough to knock her off her bike. She was on the ground, so I grabbed her, put my hand over her mouth, and shoved her in the truck.”

Katie clutched her chest and closed her eyes. She was shocked by the ease with which he had been able to speak about such a thing.

“Would you like to leave, Miss Reid?” one of the officers asked.

“No,” she whispered.

“Where I really messed up was in forgetting that damned backpack. It was hanging on one of the handlebars and I didn’t have enough time to grab it. Didn’t want to be seen, you know, had to be quick.”

“Got it,” Avery interrupted. “What did you do with her after that?”

“I’m warning you, Mr. Johansen. You need to stop talking right now.” Bernard was already on his feet.

“Luckily, I had some prescription pain meds and I just fed ‘em to her to keep her quiet. It wasn’t easy. She put up a fight sometimes.” Johansen chuckled.

“Did you assault her?” Avery pressed on, ignoring the pleas of the lawyer.

Johansen was quiet. He glanced again at the camera. Katie could swear he knew she was watching.

“We’re gonna find out sooner or later, so you might as well come out with it.”

“I’ll tell you that I treated her better than any man would ever do. I guess the pills weren’t enough, though, because after a while, she got a little too feisty. You see, I had to punish her that day you and little Miss Priss came along, knocking on my door. I could hear her rattling around in that closet when I was talking to the two of you. I was surprised you didn’t hear anything, detective. There she was, right under your nose. Of course, that first officer who came round…well, he was just an idiot, thinking I was the old man who I rented the place from. But, after that close call, I had no choice.”

Detective Avery launched out of his chair and grabbed Johansen by the collar of his uniform, pulling him as close as he could. “She was still alive? You fucker, you’re gonna get the needle for this.”

“That’s assuming they start executing again here in this beautiful state of California, detective.”

Avery swung at Johansen, striking his jaw so hard, the bone could be heard breaking under the weight of the blow.

“Son of a bitch!” One of the officers ran out of the backroom and into the interrogation room, pulling Avery off Johansen.

Bernard pressed down on Johansen’s shoulders to keep him in his chair.

Johansen touched his jaw and looked at the blood on his fingers. “I hope everyone saw that!” he muttered at the camera. “You see that, Mr. Lawyer?”

Detective Avery stormed out of the room. Katie ran out after him. She found him in the hallway, bracing himself against the wall, out of breath. He looked up at her.

“She was there, Kate. God damn it! She was there!”

“There’s no way you could have known that, Marshall.” Katie reached for his arm.

He pulled away. “It’s my God damn job to know!” Marshall turned his back and walked away.

Just as Katie was about to follow him, the officer who pulled Avery off Johansen appeared around the corner. “Just leave him, Miss Reid. He needs time to cool off.”

» » »

Every detail that occurred at the station today replayed in Katie’s mind as she drove through traffic, making her way home. Detective Avery left without a single word and she was forced to deal with this on her own. She couldn’t blame him though; he’d warned her it would be difficult and she clearly underestimated his advice. He was having a hard enough time coming to terms with it. How naïve she had been to believe in her ability to handle the situation. The line she crossed was well beyond her periphery now and there was no turning back. There was no Spencer to come home to; no one to comfort her at all.