Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1) (23 page)

On Saturday morning, Avery purged her apartment.

Boxes of photos were sifted through, along with newspaper articles
from the time when she’d defended Howard Randall; clothing she’d worn as an
attorney, everything from her past life—a life that no longer defined her. She
kept photos of Rose, clothing that had special meaning, but most of it went
into the trash.

Lights were turned on—all of them, which she’d never done
before—and when she viewed the painted walls and the carpet and kitchen, she
thought: you bought this place after Randall and right before you became a cop;
it still reeks of your misery from that time. Just like you, this place needs
to change.

It’s time, she realized, to sell it. To move on. To buy a new
place in town, maybe somewhere closer to Rose—if she’d let her.

Avery stood out on her porch and stared at the sky and realized
there was still something she had to do, something that would really put an end
to the past.

She grabbed her car keys and headed out.

The ride to the South Bay House of Corrections was easy for her
now; she’d made the trip so many times. She made a call on the way to reserve
an appointment with Howard Randall.

“You can’t make appointments on the day of,” the woman said.

“This is a big step for me,” Avery replied. “I’m
making
an
appointment.”

“I’m sorry, but we…”

Avery hung up.

At the prison, the guards were quick to congratulate her on
finding—and stopping—what had become known as the College Girl Killer. Once
again, the female officer inside her green booth was annoyed that Avery hadn’t
made an appointment, but she recognized her from previous pictures, and now,
from the papers.

“You stopped that killer, right?”

“Yeah,” Avery said with pride, “I did.”

“OK, no appointment needed for you today. Nice work.”

Howard Randall had a smile on his face when Avery was led into the
conference room in the basement. Hands were cuffed and steepled on the table.

“Congratulations,” he said.

“Thanks,” Avery replied.

He seemed older than she remembered, and not as powerful. The
power he’d had over her life was now, surprisingly, almost gone.

She took a seat.

“I’ve wanted to say something for a while now,” she said. “I’ve
never told this to anyone but, I knew.” Her blue eyes gazed deeply into his. “I
knew you were guilty when I took your case. Not completely. I mean, you put on
a good show but, I had this feeling that everything was about to fall apart
because of you.”  

Randall leaned forward.

Genuine tears glossed his eyes.

“I
know
,” he whispered.

“How could you have known?”

“I was caught,” Randall said. “There was no denying the
connections: they were both students. We’d had lunches and dinners together
many times. The murders were presented on campus. One of them had kept a
journal. However,” he said with a sly smile, “I was certain I could convince a
jury of my innocence, a lie detector test, a lawyer, anyone, because you see,
Avery, I don’t
believe
in your concepts of right and wrong. The murder
of those two students was
right
in my mind. It would ultimately help
them
,
and the world. Therefore, I was innocent of any wrongdoing, any crime. I was
prepared to be set free and to continue my work, only smarter. That is, until I
met
you
.”

A sigh escaped him.

“What did I see?” he wondered. “A beautiful woman, lost and in
desperate need of salvation. You
believed
you were doing right. You
believed
you were doing good, and that belief—that
false
belief—was eating you
alive. You couldn’t see it, but I could. The only way I knew how…was to show
you. To tear down the lie and force you to face the rubble of your life.”

“Why?” Avery whispered. “Why me?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Howard said. “I love you, Avery.”

The declaration was too much for Avery to handle. She turned away
and shook her head.

Love? He destroyed you. Did he? she wondered. Or did he free you
from that path you were on? No, she assured herself. He’s a killer, a
manipulator; no good can come from someone like him. And yet, she was happier
now than she’d ever been. The dark gloom that had followed her during her
rookie years as a cop had lifted. Her past life as an attorney was now
understood for what it had been: a desperate move to escape her former life and
be someone she’d never truly enjoyed being in the first place.

Avery stood up to leave.

“Don’t go,” Howard begged. “
Please
. Not yet.”

“What else do you want?”

“You never finished your story,” Howard whispered, and a twisted
smile formed on his lips, and his eyes were shiny beads.

“My father?” she asked. “You want to know what happened?”

Silently, Howard watched her.

Avery turned away. This part of the story she had never relayed to
anyone, not Jack or Rose or the reporters that had interviewed her as a young
girl. She remembered her mother’s legs in the grass, and the blood on her
dress, and her father, standing overhead with the shotgun in his hand.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and prepared to face her
deepest demons. She wasn’t sure if she was ready.

“I heard them yelling,” she began, her voice tremulous.

Then she paused for a good minute before continuing.

“Before the shots,” she added. “He was calling her a whore, a
worthless, drunken whore, and she was saying vile things to him,” she whispered
and glanced at Howard for only a moment. “Vile things. Then I heard the shot
and saw him there. He laughed, he actually laughed at me, like it was some joke
that I’d shown up. He said: ‘Go get me a shovel. You have to bury your
mother.’”

Avery faced him with tears in her eyes.

“And he made me do it,” she said. “I was there until nightfall. I
dug that hole all by myself. My arms were shaking, my legs were black with
dirt. I honestly thought that whole time that he was going to shoot me and
throw me in there with her. I was so scared. Every second felt like an eternity.
It was very dark when I was done. No lights anywhere except for the stars. He
watched me the entire time. ‘Good job,’ he said when I was done, and he touched
me, he touched me like he’d done before, only this time he was harder, more
forceful. I guess now that he’d taken care of my mother, he thought he could
finally have his way with
me
.”

She looked up and sucked in a deep breath.

“That’s when I left,” she said. “That very night I ran away from
home. Police found me and tried to take me back. I told them, I told them
everything. A few months later, I was a ward of the state and assigned to a
family. You don’t want to know about
that
time,” she said. “In some ways,
it was worse than with my father.”

“I do want to know, Avery,” he whispered like a craving alcoholic
that only wanted one more drink, “I
do
.”

In that moment, Avery saw him for what he truly was: the ugliness,
his shriveled features and demonic stare. He reminded her of the story of the
butterfly and the cocoon. He was more like the caterpillar in the story, she
realized, a slimy, odd creature that was capable of transforming into a
beautiful butterfly, but never had.

“You’ve helped me,” she said, with true affection. “In my life,
and on the case. I won’t be coming back. I don’t need to anymore.”

Howard leaned back and slowly, demonically, he broke into a grin.
But unlike the other times, it was a weak grin, one that showed a crack in his
confidence, that showed that he was no longer so sure.

“Oh, you will,” he said. “You will.”

* * *

Outside the prison the sky was overcast, the first cloudy day in
over a week. Since the first day of the case, Avery had longed for rain, longed
for clouds to match her mood. Now, she didn’t even care.

As Avery walked across the vast parking lot toward her car, she
felt lighter than she’d ever had. For the first time in a long time, nothing
seemed to matter. In fact, the cooler air and dark clouds felt good: the start
of something new.

She stopped and took in the cool breeze, and for the first time in
the longest time she felt she had a life ahead of her.

COMING SOON!

Book #2 in the
Avery Black
mystery series!

In the
meantime, please enjoy ONCE GONE, book #1 in the RILEY PAIGE mystery series,
a free download on AMAZON!

ONCE GONE

(a Riley Paige Mystery--Book #1)

Women
are turning up dead in the rural outskirts of Virginia, killed in grotesque
ways, and when the FBI is called in, they are stumped. A serial killer is out
there, his frequency increasing, and they know there is only one agent good
enough to crack this case: Special Agent Riley Paige.

Riley is
on paid leave herself, recovering from her encounter with her last serial killer,
and, fragile as she is, the FBI is reluctant to tap her brilliant mind. Yet
Riley, needing to battle her own demons, comes on board, and her hunt leads her
through the disturbing subculture of doll collectors, into the homes of broken
families, and into the darkest canals of the killer’s mind. As Riley peels back
the layers, she realizes she is up against a killer more twisted than she could
have imagined. In a frantic race against time, she finds herself pushed to her
limit, her job on the line, her own family in danger, and her fragile psyche
collapsing.

Yet once
Riley Paige takes on a case, she will not quit. It obsesses her, leading her to
the darkest corners of her own mind, blurring the lines between hunter and
hunted. After a series of unexpected twists, her instincts lead her to a
shocking climax that even Riley could not have imagined.

A dark
psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, ONCE GONE marks the debut
of a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning
pages late into the night.

Book #2
in the Riley Paige series is now available!

ONCE GONE

(a Riley Paige Mystery--Book #1)

Blake Pierce

Blake
Pierce is author of the bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which include
the mystery suspense thrillers ONCE GONE (book #1), ONCE TAKEN (book #2) and
ONCE CRAVED (#3).  Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE
mystery series.

ONCE
GONE (book #1), which has over 100 five star reviews, is available as a
free download on Amazon!

An
avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to
hear from you, so please feel free to visit
www.blakepierceauthor.com
to learn
more and stay in touch.