Worth Dying For (A Slaughter Creek Novel) (27 page)

“Jesus.” Nick sighed. “I’ll get a team together.”

Rafe hung up, his mind spinning as he tried to decide where Harlan would take Liz. Details of the case nagged at him. Harlan had kept his victims for three days before killing them. Long enough to beat them and punish them for what he considered their transgressions.

At first police hadn’t known where he’d kept them, but three months after Rafe threw Harlan into the river, they’d located the house. It was miles from nowhere, tucked so deeply in the foothills that no one could hear the girls scream for help.

The police had searched for evidence, but Harlan was missing, presumed dead, so they’d put the evidence into a file and stored it at the TBI.

Harlan might take Liz to that house.

Rafe jogged out to his SUV, tires screeching as he drove across the parking lot. He slowed at the security gate just enough to tell the guard to call him if he saw Liz or anything suspicious, then hung a sharp left and roared toward the mountains.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

R
afe fought images of Liz bleeding and beaten, as he flew up the mountain. Ridge after ridge swallowed him as he drove deeper into the hills. More rain fell, slowing him as he negotiated the switchbacks.

The engine rumbled, gears grinding, rain swishing off his tires. He turned up the graveled road, bouncing over ruts and potholes, keeping his lights on bright to show him the way.

Driving on autopilot, he swung around a curve, then dodged a clump of tree limbs that had fallen into the road. Through the leafless trees he spotted the dilapidated house on top of the hill. His headlights illuminated the road, but he flipped them off, not wanting to alert Harlan if he was at the house.

He prayed Harlan was there. If not, Rafe had no idea where to look. Harlan could be anywhere in the acres of wilderness.

He swung the SUV to the right and parked between some trees. He grabbed his gun, then slowly opened his car door and closed it, scanning the property ahead.

Rain sluiced down his neck and jacket, mud squishing beneath his boots as he wove behind the trees toward the house.

His flashlight illuminated the way enough for him to see that the house had been boarded up. But a car was parked to the side, under a giant oak.

Why had Harlan brought Liz here? Didn’t he know the TBI had found the place after his disappearance?

Wind blew rain across the path, and the answer hit him.

He could be setting a trap.

All his senses straining, Rafe continued up the path, scanning the outside until he neared the house. There was a rustle behind him, and he pivoted.

He raised his gun but didn’t have time to fire it. A shadow moved, the butt of a gun slammed into his head, and he fell to the ground.

Another blow, and he tasted dirt and blood. Then the world went dark.

Liz watched in horror as Harlan dragged Rafe inside the house and hauled him into a chair.

Fear engulfed her as he sagged unconscious in the chair. Blood dripped from the side of his head, where Harlan had struck him.

Harlan made quick work of tying Rafe to the chair, then filled a pitcher with water, walked over, and dumped it on Rafe’s head.

Rafe jerked his eyes open and looked up, disoriented for a moment.

“Rafe?” Liz said, striving for calm. “Are you all right?”

Slowly he angled his face toward her. “Yeah. Are you?”

Liz nodded.

“Well, well, well, isn’t this a happy little reunion?” Harlan said in a singsong voice.

Rafe pulled his gaze back to Harlan, but Liz saw him visually sweep the room, sizing it up, looking for escape routes just as she had.

Unfortunately they’d have to free themselves before they could fight Harlan.

Harlan stepped over to the computer, with a sinister grin. “Looks like you’re in time to watch the show with us, Hood.”

Rafe’s look could have cut glass. “Show?”

Liz gritted her teeth as Harlan pressed the play button. Her own face flashed onto the screen.

“Stop it!” Liz said as she realized that he’d filmed himself beating her during her captivity.

Rage filled Rafe’s eyes as he stared at the scene. Harlan had tied her up just as he had now, and was telling her how he’d killed her mother and the other women because they were bad mothers.

Then he’d attacked her, sending blow after blow to her midsection. Liz had sobbed, begging him to stop.

“Please don’t,” she cried. “I’m pregnant. You’ll kill my baby!”

Rafe’s body went completely still at her cries. He inhaled sharply before cutting his gaze toward her.

“Liz?”

Tears blurred her vision. “Rafe, I—”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, his voice raspy with pain.

“I . . .” Liz’s throat clogged with emotions. “I’d just found out . . . I didn’t have time . . .”

“Enough lies!” Harlan slashed the ropes restraining Liz in one quick motion, then dragged her up from the chair and hauled her toward the door.

His shrill laugh rent the air as he raised the knife to Liz’s throat.

Rafe struggled with his bindings as Harlan teased Liz’s neck with the tip of the blade.

He’d managed to reach inside his back pocket for his knife as the bastard forced him to watch that video of Liz begging for her life.

Liz had been pregnant with his baby.

The realization both stunned and enraged him. Hurt that she hadn’t told him mingled with fury that Harlan had robbed them of the chance to meet their child.

He would not get away with it.

Blood trickled down his arm, but he ignored it, sawing faster as the bastard pushed Liz toward the door.

“Maybe we should go down to the river. You know that’s where I left your mother.”

Liz suddenly threw her foot up and kicked Harlan in the knee, at the same time jabbing her elbow into his side. Harlan grunted and loosened his grip slightly, and she spun around and swung at his arm, sending the knife skittering across the floor.

Liz dove for it, but Harlan grabbed her leg, and she fell face forward onto the floor. She kicked at him, trying to dislodge his hand, but the asshole yanked her backward and crawled on top of her, straddling her back.

Rafe jabbed his hand with the knife and cursed, but one more slice of the knife, and his hands jerked free. Pulse hammering, he slashed the ropes around his feet and lunged for Harlan.

He yanked him off of Liz, threw him to the floor, and sank his knife deep into his belly. Harlan’s eyes widened in shock, and he emitted a gurgling sound.

The man’s blood soaked Rafe’s hands as he dug the knife deeper.

Liz pushed herself up from the floor, her lungs straining for air. She drew in a deep breath, relieved that Rafe had subdued Harlan. That the bastard was the one finally feeling pain.

A horrible thought, but she couldn’t help herself. He’d killed her mother and baby.

He deserved to die.

Rafe looked up at her, the emotions in his eyes mirroring her own.

Liz didn’t hesitate. She grabbed the knife from Rafe and thrust it again as deep as she could into the man’s belly.

“Where have you been hiding all this time?” she growled.

Harlan’s eyes fluttered closed, and then he opened them again. “Watching you,” he said in a choked voice. “All those women I carved up . . . All for you.”

“You’re the Dissector?” Liz asked.

Harlan nodded and then coughed, the sound feeble, as Liz twisted the knife again and watched the life drain from him.

Rafe met the ME outside and directed him to Harlan’s body.

He watched as he loaded Harlan into the back of the ambulance. But he couldn’t bring himself to look at Liz, knowing she’d kept something as important as her pregnancy from him.

Lieutenant Maddison and his crew pulled up, and Liz went to fill them in.

God, she’d been through hell, but even with blood on her neck and bruises on her face and arms, she looked beautiful.

Dammit. He’d almost been too late, and Liz had nearly died because of it.

But she had survived.

If Harlan was telling the truth, they could tie up both cases with his arrest, and she’d finally be safe.

Then . . . what?

What was he going to do?

He’d lost his head over her again. But how could he forgive her for not telling him about the baby?

Worse, how could he forgive himself for not being there to protect her and his child?

Liz explained to Maddison and the CSI team what had happened. “Let’s search this place for evidence to confirm that Harlan was the Dissector. If we find the body parts he took, we can nail him.”

CSI Perkins gestured toward the dead man, his brows furrowed. “You think he was lying?”

Liz shrugged weakly. “I just don’t want to miss anything.”

“Don’t worry,” Lieutenant Maddison assured her. “We’ll be thorough.”

Liz wanted to explain about the pregnancy, but she sensed Rafe closing down, and she was exhausted. Now the ordeal was over, her adrenaline was waning fast.

She should’ve been content. Relieved.

But Harlan’s confession bothered her. Something wasn’t quite right about it.