Secret Sins (38 page)

“Do we have a choice?” he growled, knowing they didn’t. “If we don’t and she doesn’t
show up, then the governor will have the excuse he’s looking for to take over that
investigation.”

He couldn’t allow that to happen. “Carter Ferguson has a hard-on for us like it ain’t
nobody’s business,” he continued. “The last thing we need is the FBI and the state
police on our asses. Dammit, Elizabeth Haley isn’t even a resident of Corbin County.
No one should have even known about her.”

“True,” Amory agreed. “But it’s not every day two teams of U.S. Marshals are beating
the damned bushes searching for one of our playthings either.”

“Ferguson is fueling this,” he snarled. “He just won’t let it go.”

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you rape and murder a man’s daughter. They just get
all out of sorts and want to kill ya.”

Sliding a sideways look Amory’s way, Wayne thinned his lips in irritation. Amory was
so damned critical of the past, and he was getting sick of it.

“And just how would you have handled it, Amory?” he asked snidely. Damn, he was getting
real sick of Amory’s assured attitude that he could have handled everything so much
better than his previous partners.

Amory pursed his lips thoughtfully for several seconds before grinning back at him.
There was no doubt the other man had been waiting for this question for months now.
If he had thought of it, he would have never given the younger killer a chance to
answer it.

“First off.” Amory lowered his chair and stared back at him with a smug look. “I wouldn’t
have touched a representative’s daughter. Never ever choose a high-profile victim.”

“She slept with Logan Callahan.” What the hell did Amory think the point was here?

“She was a badge,” Amory drawled with a mocking smile.

“What the fuck do you mean?”

“She was an FBI agent, a badge,” Amory repeated. “That made her a challenge to you,
and we both know it. Add to the fact she was a representative’s daughter and she was
more or less deliberately goading you.” Amory shrugged. “If I had been working with
you at the time, we wouldn’t have touched her with a ten-foot pole.”

Since when did Amory think he would have had that much control? The past days since
they had taken Anna, Amory had acted differently. More confident, perhaps? As though
he were certain he suddenly knew more, had more experience than his trainer had.

“She was the perfect target,” Wayne all but snarled, hating the fact that Amory was
making him feel stupid.

“The point is, she was a friend of the Callahans, not a lover,” Amory stated. “Your
partner did not do his research well.”

And Amy Ferguson had been such a joy to kill.

Particularly sweet, and such a fighter.

“So she hadn’t slept with him?” he mused.

“Does that make a difference?” Amory asked.

He had to grin. “No, not particularly.”

He would do it again.

There was a flash of something dark and disapproving in Amory’s eyes for a second.
How amusing, a killer with a conscience.

“We’re still left with another problem,” Amory pointed out, flicking his fingers to
the monitor as he leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the opposite knee
as he cradled a cup of coffee in his other hand. “Ms. Haley is very high profile.
I don’t know who she is yet, but she’s obviously in the Witness Protection Program.
Two teams of marshals are already searching for her and they won’t stop. She could
be the end of us if we keep her.”

“So we don’t get to play for a while?” Wayne asked in disappointment.

“Not for a while,” Amory answered as he forced himself to contain his fury.

This attitude was pissing him off.

“I think I’ll see about finding someone far enough away that they won’t be connected
to the Callahans.” Wayne grinned. “Even though they are connected.”

He wasn’t pissed any longer.

“You think that’s possible?” Amory asked.

Wayne’s grin widened. “They were away for twelve years, my friend, I’m certain they
had many bed buddies in that time. We just have to find them then we can continue
having our little snacks.”

Amory watched the other man, restraining a sigh of regret. At this rate, he would
end up having to kill the bastard himself.

“I look forward to it,” Amory agreed, though. “Does this mean we let Ms. Haley go?”

Wayne rose slowly to his feet and glanced at the monitor. “Get her out of here. Thank
God you had the foresight to sedate her well before bringing her in. I’ll head back
to Corbin County and see what the hell is going on there.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Amory nodded as he rose to his feet and headed for the door.

Halfway there, he paused and turned back with a frown. “What about Amelia? Ms. Corbin
has called her cell phone and texted several times. The sheriff will begin asking
questions soon. Once he does, her disappearance will be tied to the Slasher.”

His jaw clenched. “It would have been so much easier to get rid of her. She might
not have found anything, but it doesn’t change the fact that I caught her searching
the basement. She’s suspicious of something.”

“Whatever you want to do.” Amory’s shoulders lifted negligently. “Perhaps the governor
will overlook her disappearance.”

“Bastard,” Wayne growled, his fingers curling into fists. “I should have killed him
rather than his daughter.”

“What is it they say about hindsight being twenty-twenty?” Amory asked, mocking.

Wayne clenched his teeth furiously. “Let her go,” he snapped. “We’ve kept her well
drugged while I’ve been in her room, correct?”

Amory shrugged. “You injected her before taking her blindfold off,” he reminded Wayne.

“Let her go,” he sighed, then smiled slowly with relish before rubbing his hands together
gleefully. “Dump her on Crowe Mountain. That clearing before reaching the cabin. Let’s
see if she’s learned how to keep her legs closed where he’s concerned. If she can,
then maybe we’ll let her live.”

Amory’s grin was amused. He obviously approved. “I’ll take care of it.”

As the other man left the room, Wayne turned back to the monitor to watch Elizabeth
in disappointment. He had so been looking forward to her.

As for Amelia, he had no desire for her himself, but she was a danger to the future.
Not that she was aware of his identity, because she wasn’t. What she was was a danger
to the plans he envisioned for Anna if she suspected something or, God forbid, managed
to actually find something that he might have missed in his efforts to cover his own
ass.

She was definitely suspicious, though what she was suspicious of he wasn’t certain.
What he did know was that his daughter was damned intelligent and damned devious.
Considering who her mother was, he should have guessed that last part. He had time
though.

With the governor’s threat now hanging over all their heads, he had at least six weeks
to figure out what to do. At the most, he and Amory would just have to separate for
a while. Or as he had told Amory, there were twelve years the cousins had been out
of Corbin County. They could continue their hobby elsewhere.

He wasn’t willing to lose Amory though. The other man was the perfect partner, despite
his sometimes superior attitude. And perfect partners were so very hard to find.

*   *   *

Amory stepped into the room Amelia had been placed in, amazed Wayne was unaware of
the APB out for both of them.

He hadn’t wired this room, but that didn’t mean his partner hadn’t placed, at the
least, a listening device inside it.

He’d learned over the years to be paranoid and very careful. Not that he didn’t still
make mistakes, because he did. His present partner was proof of that. He’d made a
hell of a mistake there, and he had less than six hours to fix it.

It was nearly time to go home, thank God.

All his preparations had been made.

The private plane was in place, thanks to his eldest son.

His alternate identity had a vehicle waiting close by.

Within a matter of hours, he would shed Amory Wyatt and become Steven Glasglow until
he managed to get out of Corbin County and arrive safely in Aspen.

The plane was waiting at the airport.

The private plane his son had purchased the year before under the umbrella of the
family business. Who would ever suspect a well-respected businessman from England
to have managed to alter not just his face, but his whole persona for over a year
as he worked himself into the Slasher’s little game?

By the time he left, he would have fulfilled his blood lust for a while, and on leaving
he would ensure his partner was ruined and no longer a threat. After all, learning
the Callahans were innocent of the crimes laid at their feet had pretty much ruined
this game anyway.

The rules had been a lie to begin with, because their basis didn’t exist. Because
of this, his partner would have to pay.

Amelia, though, had done nothing to deserve her punishment, just as Anna Corbin had
not. Yet both of them had paid. Both of them would still pay yet further. And that
was truly a shame. They had already paid a lifetime for crimes they had not committed.
For men they had not been with.

The men too had been innocent.

What a disappointment to learn the family of Callahans had always been innocent. For
generations his family had been led to believe the Callahans had begun the bloodshed
all those generations before. That they had deceived his ancestor. That the Callahans
worked with his ancestor and Jonathon Mulrooney in their quest for blood, only to
have betrayed Jonathon and his partner, Devon Castle—not that that had been his real
name—and caused them to be hanged while escaping unscathed himself.

To learn that early Callahans had nothing to do with the betrayal of Devon Castle
changed the rules. They could only shed the blood of the enemy, and the Callahans
had done nothing to the family of Devon Castle to be considered the enemy.

No, family had always been most important, and they had tried to teach that to the
Mulrooneys at one time.

They had never learned their lessons.

Releasing the straps that held Amelia to the bed, Amory mentally shook his head. No,
the Mulrooneys had never learned, but they would now.

Wrapping Amelia’s slight body in a blanket, Amory carried her from the room without
ever speaking to her. Just in case his partner was listening. Just in case he had
become suspicious. And that was always possible.

Carrying Amelia’s body outside the remote cabin to the SUV he’d acquired, Amory slid
her into the back, grinning at the tension in her body. The mild dosage of the drug
was even less than Anna had been given. He had readjusted the active drug in the mix
himself. What Amelia had been given had only made her mildly disoriented and completely
capable of maintaining her control. It kept her from appearing conscious, while all
along she had been. Just as Elizabeth Haley had been fully conscious. Fully aware
of Wayne Sorenson’s identity.

Sliding into the driver’s seat of the SUV, Amory chuckled.

His partner had no idea who Elizabeth Haley was, but Amory knew full well. He had
run the search on her through his partner’s home computer. He’d even gone so far as
to attempt to hack the U.S. Marshals’ network, which had immediately resulted in more
than the two teams Amory had told Wayne about being sent to the area. They were awaiting
Wayne.

Within the next couple of hours, there would be two young women found. Amelia Sorenson
and Elizabeth Haley would be found in Crowe Callahan’s mountain cabin, and what an
incredible story they would have to tell. A story that would destroy his partner’s
life, and for a while at least, would allow the Callahans to live in peace.

CHAPTER 23

The Corbins had had over two decades to explain their actions, and to explain the
truth to her, Anna thought the next day as she dressed.

Buttoning the silk white-and-maroon-striped sleeveless blouse, she straightened the
hem over the creamy calf-length full skirt she’d purchased from the Goodwill store
after first moving in with Archer.

He liked the skirts. She liked the way his gaze darkened, then flared with hunger
whenever she wore them.

The skirts or dresses made her feel more confident. Three-inch or higher heels gave
her an illusion of height while the skirts or dresses made her feel more feminine,
yet stronger.

One of her professors had always claimed that a woman held her greatest power when
she looked her most feminine. That soft, flowing dresses gave a woman an illusion
of hope and forgiveness. Straight skirts and stiffly starched blouses beneath blazers
gave a woman the appearance of superiority and power while casual day dresses gave
the appearance of maternity, of mother’s love and cookies and brownies baking in a
kitchen filled with love.

Today, her skirt was soft and flowing, her blouse silky and warm, her heels at three
inches, adding height but giving the aura of hope and forgiveness.

When she walked into her grandfather’s home, she wanted them to think she was weak,
that she was all love and forgiveness and please-allow-me-to-come-home.

She would never return to the ranch and Anna knew it.

She would never see her family in the same light, because she had changed since leaving.
She hadn’t just changed in becoming Archer’s lover, or in knowing she loved him versus
just believing she loved him. She had changed in the fact that since she had left,
she’d learned everything she knew about herself was a lie.

She’d changed because she wasn’t the child she had been when she had announced she
wasn’t returning to a college she had already graduated from. She wasn’t that naive,
uncompromising young woman she had been when she had started walking down a mountain
road, all but daring a killer to take notice of her.

She didn’t need her family to be her life any longer.