Heinous (19 page)

9911 Conroy Road, 8:50 a.m.

Jess hated to leave Dan at home. It felt wrong. She’d barely slept after they’d gotten home. Once she’d started going through those files she couldn’t stop. Her father’s name hadn’t come up in any of McPherson’s reports. He’d documented murders going all the way back to Amanda’s great-grandfather. According to his calculations, Amanda was the first female killer of the family.

“Lieutenant Hayes is here.” Dan looked from the window to Jess. “You hardly slept at all. You could wait and go in after lunch.”

She grabbed her bag and managed a smile. “I’m fine. I should turn these files over to Agent Manning and see where this leaves our investigation. We’ll be focusing on my mother’s journal and Henshaw’s ramblings today. I’m hoping his notes will lead us somewhere besides a dead end.” A frown tugged at her brow. “What about you? I hate leaving you here like this.”

“I have a lot to do. I’m having lunch with Dad. Looking at more houses. Maybe I’ll drag him along.”

Jess hugged her arms around his waist. “That’s a very good idea. What about Katherine? Won’t she want to come along?”

“Mom and some of her friends are helping Mrs. Baron today.” Worry slipped back into his eyes. “I feel like there’s something I should be doing, too.”

Jess hugged him tighter. “The senator will have the best out there looking for his daughter, but if you feel you need to help, then you should. House hunting can wait. You and your dad go help out where you’re needed most.”

Dan nodded. “I’ll check in. See what I can do. Nothing official, of course.”

“That won’t matter.” Jess smiled up at him. “Being there will.”

“I love you, Jess.” He looked deeply into her eyes. “Please be safe out there.”

“Promise.” She tiptoed and kissed him. “Love you, too.”

Dan walked her down the stairs to meet Hayes. Leaving Dan standing there watching her go made her chest hurt.

“Nice ring,” Hayes commented as he guided his car onto the street.

“Thanks.” Jess admired the engagement ring Dan had given her. It was gorgeous.

“We headed to the office?”

She thought about that for a moment. “Before we go to the office, I’d like to drive by the Irondale house. Have another look around.”

“Headed that way.”

She searched for her cell. If Sylvia needed anything, Jess wanted to do what she could. She made the call, but it went to voicemail. Jess urged her friend to call if there was any way she could help. There was probably something more she should say, but Jess had never been very good at that sort of thing.

If Spears was involved with Nina’s disappearance, what in the world could he have planned?

This game he was playing had taken several startling twists and turns from his usual MO. His obsession with Jess had become his singular goal. Rather than abduct and murder her as he did his other victims, he had set her up as an equal challenger in his game. Of course, he fully expected to win—he was a sociopath—but he couldn’t resist upping the stakes against himself.

If Jess had her way, his obsession with her would be a fatal error.

Birmingham Police Department, 9:05 a.m.

The call ended and Lori turned to Chet. “That was Jess. She and Hayes are headed to the Irondale house.”

Chet looked up from his laptop. “I guess we stay on the Henshaw investigation.”

Lori nodded, frustrated. “Where’s Cook?” He hadn’t come to the office and hadn’t answered when she called him in the middle of the night about going to Scottsboro.

“Maybe he’s helping Dr. Baron.”

“I should try to call him again.”

“Maybe he was out partying last night.” Chet shrugged. “Too early for him to know anything on the exam to celebrate.”

Before Lori could put through the call her cell vibrated.
Corlew
. Surprised, she hit accept. “Hey, Corlew, what’s up? Where have you been? The chief has been trying to reach you.”

“Listen up, Lori, I got a situation. I need back up fast but I don’t want Jess involved in this.”

Lori tapped speaker. “I’m here with Chet Harper. Chief Harris is in Irondale. What’s your situation?”

“I don’t have time to explain how this came about so you’re going to have to trust me on this, okay?”

“Let’s hear it,” Chet said, his skepticism showing.

“I’m sitting across the street from a house on Argyle Drive in a Red Mountain neighborhood. I’m texting you the exact address right now. I’ve been staked out here for forty-eight hours and I now have visual confirmation that Spears is in the house.”

“What did you say?” Lori needed to confirm what she thought she’d heard.

“I repeat, I have visual confirmation that Spears is inside the house.”

Chet reached for his phone. “SWAT can scramble in—”

“Don’t call anyone,” Corlew cut him off, “except Burnett. If Spears has a source inside the BPD we don’t want him getting a heads up. I need Burnett and you two. No one else. You keep Jess out of this. It’s too risky.”

“She’s not going to like it,” Lori warned.

“Just get here,” Corlew urged.

“Calling Burnett now,” Chet assured him.

“Okay. We’ll do this your way,” Lori relented. “Just don’t do anything reckless, Corlew.”

“Can’t make any promises, sweetheart.”

The call ended. Lori tried to calm her racing heart, wasn’t happening. “I don’t care what Corlew wants, I should call Jess.”

“Let’s see what Burnett says. We can make a call to the chief en route.”

It would take them at least twenty minutes to reach Corlew’s location.

If he had Spears cornered... this nightmare could be over soon.

Twentieth Street South, Irondale, 10:00 a.m.

Jess wandered through the house that had been her childhood home. No matter that it was falling down in disrepair now, she could still see each room as it had once been. The living room with its comfortable furnishings, and the kitchen with its delicious smells and her mother all smiles fussing over her latest baking creation. Down the hall were the two bedrooms, the first being the one she and Lil had shared. The walls were no longer pink and the cute rug that once graced the floor was long gone. The sounds of laughter and her mother’s voice whispered through her.

Funny, she didn’t hear her father’s voice. Was it because he was gone all the time with his job?

Fury swept through Jess. Or had he been visiting his other family—the one that somehow got him and their mother killed.

She tried hard to reserve judgment until she knew the truth, but part of her hated him already. The pain she and Lil had suffered when their parents died, the myriad of foster homes—all of it was his fault.

Jess gathered her composure. “Let’s go, Lieutenant.”

She had seen enough.

“Excuse me a moment, Chief.” Hayes stepped to the other side of the room to take a call.

As the lieutenant’s hushed tones echoed in the room, her attention settled on the message Spears had left here for her two weeks ago.

Welcome home, Jess!

He thought he had her right where he wanted—confused and off balance. He was wrong. Yes, she wanted to learn the truth about her parents’ death, and yes she wanted to know why her father did the things he did. She would look for the answers, but if she couldn’t find the truth she could live with it.

Her life now, with Dan and the baby, was what mattered. Today and tomorrow and every day after that. This rotting house and the past she had no power to change were no longer important.

Spears could take his game and go to hell.

“We need to go, Chief.”

The urgency in Hayes’s voice jolted Jess from her unsettling thoughts. “What’s going on, Lieutenant?”

“That was Chief Burnett. He’s with Wells and Harper. They’re providing backup to Corlew.”

Dread welled in her chest. “What kind of backup?”

“Corlew has Spears cornered. They’re going in.”

How was that possible? Worry and confusion joined the dread. She would know if Spears had been found, wouldn’t she? “We need to get there, Lieutenant. What’s the location?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“Burnett wouldn’t say. They’re doing this off the grid to ensure there’s no leak. No one else knows about the op. No one.”

Emotions whirling like a hurricane inside her, Jess grappled to put what Hayes was saying into prospective. Was it possible this nightmare was about to be over?

It could be just another distraction Spears had set in motion... or a trap.

DEPRAVED is coming November 22! Order your copy now by clicking
here
! Then, it’s down to the wire for Jess and her team in the shocking two-part finale coming December 26!

Don’t miss any of the Faces of Evil books already available! Look for OBSESSION, IMPULSE, POWER, RAGE, REVENGE, RUTHLESS, VICIOUS, and VILE!

DEBRA WEBB, born in Alabama, wrote her first story at age nine and her first romance at thirteen. It wasn’t until she spent three years working for the military behind the Iron Curtain—and a five-year stint with NASA—that she realized her true calling. A collision course between suspense and romance was set. Since then she has penned more than 100 novels including her internationally bestselling Colby Agency series. Her debut romantic thriller series, the Faces of Evil, propelled Debra to the top of the bestselling charts for an unparalleled twenty-four weeks and garnered critical acclaim from reviewers and readers alike. Don’t miss a single installment of this fascinating and chilling twelve-book series!

Visit Debra at
www.thefacesofevil.com
or at
www.debrawebb.com
. You can write to Debra at PO Box 10047, Huntsville, AL, 35801.