Beautiful Triad (24 page)

The reminder was gentle, but the look on his face was terrifying.

Them
?

At that moment, the sound of a motor came across the water, low and distant, but definitely there.

Help. Her heart surged but at the same time Ben Heaton jumped up, rocking the boat as he moved, caught her under the arms so she was lifted to her feet, and then he pushed her overboard.

The black water was cool as it closed over her.

And he was right, she discovered as she broke surface, gasping, only to sink again. It was very difficult to swim without the use of her hands.

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176

Kate Watterson

It was something he’d dissected, picked through, analyzed. He’d even agonized over it, wondering, trying to understand. Ben often wondered if being suicidal was part of the profile of a serial killer, because a good percentage got caught, and when they did…

Society was unforgiving.

So was deliberately killing someone else an act of suicide?

Fascinating
.

He just couldn’t decide.

The splash as he’d pushed Lauren from the boat had been satisfying, though it always gave him a deep sadness, also. They went into the water and became his, but he would never see them again.

Television pictures weren’t the same as the intimate discussions; the ones where they told him things they would never tell anyone else.

That was it. He liked owning that part of them and he had never been good—even as a child—at sharing. The divorce was the reason Regina had to die. He wasn’t interested in sharing his possessions with the greedy bitch.

A gasp. A gurgle…a small cry, given too late because the police had cruised past already. Water splashed, and he could see the vague outline of her head as Lauren Hanes came up for air.

Anchored in the shadows, his boat was probably invisible, though it wouldn’t stay that way for long as the sun was due to come up…Ben glanced at his watch, reluctant to leave the cove. Virginia Marcum and Karen McKenzie had been unconscious when he dumped them in, so it had taken very little time. The first one…for whatever reason he always had to search his memory her Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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name…anyway, he’d killed her first and then dumped the body in the stream, but he found he’d liked the idea of the water taking them. It was clean, washing away everything but his forever claim to them.

When he knew Lauren was gone, then he could go, too.

The loaded pistol sat next to him on the seat.

* * * *

The shore was too far. Even if she could see as she tried to tread water, there was no orientation of where anything might be because it was so dark, and Dr. Heaton had stopped the boat right in the middle of a good-sized cove.

Don’t panic, she instructed her body, but the pumping adrenaline refused to obey. Lauren sank down, used her feet to push back up and tried to ignore the streaming wet hair covering her eyes.

The clouds parted and she caught a glimpse of moonlight dazzling on the rippling surface and off to her left, the pitch darkness of crowding the crowding forest.

That way.

It
was
possible to swim, she discovered, but not very well. If she could relax, maybe she could float, but honestly, being dumped in a lake with bound hands by a confessed murderer precluded that sort of calm.

To make matters worse—if they could be worse—something bit her on the ankle. The jab of pain was incidental, a trifle, part of the general misery. She was going to drown, Lauren thought as she sank under again, so this was just another element of the night mare.

And then long fingers grabbed her, scratching, clawing…

Not fingers, she realized as her foot hit something solid. A tree. A submerged tree.

The wet rotting bark was slippery but as she fought for purchase, she did find she could keep her head above water.

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178

Kate Watterson

“Lauren?” It was an eerie call, quiet as it drifted across the water.

“Don’t fight so hard.”

Go to hell.

She stopped moving, the water lapping at her mouth. He still had the gun and she was still probably a visible target…

The boat came around the corner silently, the sudden glare of the bright light the only clue anyone might be nearby. A voice called,

“Dr. Heaton, sir, this is the Terra county sheriff’s department.”

The light was the worst possible addition to a situation that had taken on new hope. The first zing past her ear made Lauren submerge, the blinding effect of the spotlight rendering her confused for a moment.

The embrace of the water was comforting, the world shut away.

But she had to breathe.

Feet braced on the trunk of the fallen tree, she forced herself upward.

And the minute she broke the surface, the sound of gunfire followed her shuddering gasp for air.

* * * *

“This,” Drew said with weary conviction, “goes down in the annals of worst days ever. It even beats out the time I had engine trouble flying from Singapore to New Zealand and had to make an emergency landing on some island airstrip that wasn’t more than a glorified goat track.”

“Since you are here all in one piece that adventure obviously turned out okay.” Agent Marzetti handed him a cup of coffee, his face somber. “This one hasn’t turned out too badly either yet.”

As long as Rob makes it
.

The sentiment didn’t have to be voiced out loud.

The coffee was luckily from somewhere else than the hospital cafeteria, so that was a boon. The grim events of the past hours still Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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had Drew in a state of disbelief. “Well, at least Heaton did one decent thing and saved the taxpayers a lot of money when he shot himself.”

Marzetti sat down next to him in the waiting area outside intensive care. “We were going to get him on capital murder. He knew it. His big mistake was killing his wife, but be glad he made it, because otherwise Miss Hanes would have been the next victim and you would have never seen it coming. Federal agents in Louisville interviewed his graduate student, Matthew Bonham, this morning.

According to him, he and Heaton were having a relationship and the professor’s wife had her suspicions and wanted a divorce. Heaton knew his wife was heading down here, swore all he wanted to do was talk to her, so he came down first and they had an argument that got out of hand. He called Bonham, half-hysterical on his way back to Kentucky, saying he’d killed her but it was an accident. Bonham calmed him down, gave him an alibi, and drove down himself to dispose of the body. Clever of Heaton to turn to him, because if Matthew Bonham disposed of the body, he would be much more likely to keep his mouth shut when Regina Heaton’s family started flinging accusations.”

“You think he planned it?”

“Oh, hell yes. My guess is Heaton didn’t want to part with his money. I also wonder if, as Regina became more and more discontented in her marriage, she didn’t reveal she suspected him of the murders of two of the women he’d interviewed for his books.

Maybe she knew something and at that point, she had to go. She didn’t fit into his usual pattern according to the profilers, but still her death was no accident.”

“Her mistake, apparently, if she threatened him.” Drew rubbed his jaw and shut his eyes, the gritty scrape of his lids indicative of interrupted sleep and, yes, a few tears during the horrific drive to the rest area. He’d never felt so tired, not even after a transatlantic flight.

“Why the hell did he kill Karen?”

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Kate Watterson

“I’m not sure. I’d say it had something to do with Miss Hanes.

She was his main focus. We have his computer and notes. In fact, the three of you…interested him.”

At that, Drew’s eyes opened and he shot Marzetti a look. The expression on the man’s face was neutral. Drew said carefully, “He was a weird son of a bitch.”

“No argument here. Lots of crazy ideas going around in his twisted head. Looking at the notes is really just procedure. Since he isn’t around to go to trial, it won’t be made public.”

Drew relaxed a little. Lauren had been through enough already without the details of their private life trotted out on national news.

Just then, the subject of his thoughts came out the doors of the intensive care unit, looking impossibly beautiful despite her pallor, no makeup, and the tracks of tears on her face. When she’d been brought in to the hospital, she’d only been wearing her tee-shirt and the shorts that she slept in, both still damp from being in the lake, but someone had given her a set of scrubs that was a little too big for her slender figure. Drew set down his coffee and stood, and she came right into his arms.

“Good tears or bad tears?” he asked, holding her close, fear gnawing at his stomach. “Has something changed? They said he was doing okay.” Rob had pulled through the surgery well, and though he’d lost a lot of blood, the prognosis was cautious but optimistic last he’d heard.

“Good tears.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “They upgraded his condition to fair. He isn’t awake yet, but the doctor said he should be in a few hours.”

Drew kissed her temple. “That is wonderful news, babe.”

“I don’t ever remember being this tired in my whole life.”

He heartily agreed. He looked at Marzetti in open question.

“There’s a motel about a block away,” the man said with a small smile. “I’ll make a call and get you a room, courtesy of the FBI. Least Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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we can do. The hospital has your cell number and there’s nothing you can do here. They’ll call you when he regains consciousness.”

He was as good as his word and Drew guided Lauren out to the car, drove the short distance, and checked them in. The room was absolutely ordinary, but that was fine with him. He collapsed on the bed while Lauren took a shower, idly flicking through the cable channels, his body still humming from all the tension.

When she came out, toweling her hair, he said without preamble,

“It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life, but I left you.”

Lauren stopped drying her hair, her eyes luminous. “What are you talking about?”

“I knew Heaton had taken you. I heard the boat start. I would have followed…” He stopped, the recollection of that terrible moment overwhelming. “…but Rob was—”

“Andrew Fletcher, if you apologize for saving his life, I am going to strangle you.” Her voice held the huskiness of tears. She dropped the towel she was using on her hair on the floor, looking adorably disheveled. “I’m serious.”

“I—”

“Shut up,” she snapped out, but he could see the violet shadow of fatigue under eyes.

Mildly, he said, “I was just going to say I love you.”

“Oh. That I’ll listen to.” She came over and sank down on the bed, wet hair and all. “It was awful,” she confessed as she snuggled in next to him and his arm came around her. “But I think the most awful part was thinking he’d killed Rob. I wasn’t even scared at first. I was just…paralyzed.”

In retrospect, Drew had to wonder if even though Rob had been shot and Lauren abducted, if he hadn’t gotten the worst of the deal. “I know what you mean,” he stroked her wet hair. “I love you. I love Rob, too, in a different way, but it still counts…I couldn’t leave him, I Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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182

Kate Watterson

couldn’t help you, Jesus, it was so damn awful. I’m not used to feeling helpless, but I was…you know,
helpless
.”

“The nurses told me if you hadn’t gotten him to help so quickly, he probably wouldn’t have made it. That isn’t helpless, Drew. You’re a hero.”

“You’re the heroic one.” He wanted to pull her tight, tight against him and never let her go. She’d survived Heaton’s attempt at murder by managing to stay afloat long enough for law enforcement to find her in the dark lake, and Marzetti had said she’d been remarkably calm when they questioned her about what happened.

“Next time,” he said with feeling, “we’re going on vacation to Jamaica or something. Or a desert island. That’s even better. No other people, just the three of us.”

Just the three of us
.

It wasn’t usual, but it
felt
right.

When Lauren didn’t answer, he peered at her face and saw she was fast asleep, spiky wet lashes against her pale cheeks.

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“They don’t have a chance.”

“Please don’t tell me you think Minnesota does?”

“Better than Illinois.”

“Purdue
could
be good this year.”

“I wish I agreed, but I think you’re dreaming there, Hanson.”

“Come on now…they have that freshman who…”

Lauren listened to the byplay as she rinsed a dish and stifled a smile. The lasagna had been delicious if she did say so herself, the wine lovely, the music was soft in the background. The airy kitchen was perfect on this kind of evening, with the French doors open to the patio and pool area, and the scent of crisp fall air. Rob and Drew, still at the table, had their elbows propped on the tablecloth as they earnestly debated the college football season.