Merciless deaths, p.26
Merciless Deaths, page 26
I sat back in my seat and scanned the trail. The sky over the woods was aglow from the blaze. Panicked shouts and loud hollering were coming from the direction of the burning ship.
I caressed the gun on my lap, trying to figure out our next best move.
Katy turned to me. “I still don’t get why Thomas would kidnap his own niece and then kill Jane Gray—”
An ear-splitting siren stopped her.
“My goodness, that’s an air raid!” she cried.
“Fire trucks,” I said.
Within seconds, three fire engines sailed by us, sirens blaring, their high roofs pushing away the tree branches. The firefighters inside didn’t even notice us, their complete focus on the blaze up ahead.
As soon as the last truck disappeared around the corner, I put our car in gear and my hands on the steering wheel.
“Sent,” said Win, closing her laptop with a click. “They have the info now.”
“Great job,” I said, rolling the car forward.
“Where are we going?” said Katy.
“To have a chat with Thomas.”
“Shouldn’t we tell Davies?” said Katy. “Get backup?”
“I don’t trust him,” I said, as I reversed onto the trail. “If he’s in on this, he’ll try to stop us, and I don’t think he’s going to be nice about it.”
The cries of a screaming child greeted us as we approached Nathalie’s navy-blue float home.
Grayson had buzzed us inside the compound.
He had got a ride back home with Officer Lee to recuperate an hour ago, but he had sounded confused, his words slurring, like he was under the influence of strong medication.
I had badly wanted to share our discoveries with him, but he was too vulnerable. I needed hard evidence before I gave him any more distressing news.
I couldn’t imagine what it must be like to see the scarred corpse of your daughter and get news of your wife’s purported suicide within days of each other. Guilt was still roiling inside of me for shocking him with Lily’s maligned body.
There was a time to bring him into this, but it wasn’t now.
After parking the car, I stomped up the pier, my weapon in hand, flanked by my friends.
Win and Katy had turned on the audio record apps on their phones. We were going to capture everything we heard from now on.
A slow anger was broiling inside of me. There was one more question I still didn’t have an answer for. Why did Thomas and his goons drag us into the vault with intent to murder?
That man had a lot to answer for.
I stomped up the front steps of the navy-blue floating home and banged on the door.
The child shrieked louder.
I turned to Katy. “How old do you think that kid is?”
“Two years, give or take—”
The door flung open.
On the threshold stood Nathalie, still in her Chanel suit and pink heels. But her makeup was smeared, and her hair was undone, like a hurricane had blown through it.
“Go away!” She snapped her hand in front of my face, like she was shooing away a fly.
She pushed the door to close it, but I thrust my boot in to keep it from shutting.
“What do you want?” she barked.
I stepped forward and gave her a hard look. “I’d like a word with Thomas.”
Her eyes widened as she spotted the gun in my hand. I wasn’t aiming it at her, but she got the message. She staggered backward, turned around, and scooted in, almost bumping into the entryway table.
I kicked the door open and marched inside, with Katy and Win at my heels.
Thomas was sitting on the living-room couch in his pajamas, a beer in his hands, and a game on TV.
He sat up as he saw us.
“What the hell!” he shouted.
Chapter Sixty-one
“Get out of my home!” roared Thomas.
Then he saw my weapon. His face turned pale.
“Good evening, Officer Thomas,” I said, stepping around the leather sectional and taking position in front of him.
“What in goodness’ sake do you think you’re doing?” he shouted, though his voice had lost its initial confidence. “You can’t barge in like this.”
Win walked up to the coffee table, picked up the remote, and switched the TV off.
“I’m a police officer,” Thomas spluttered. “You’ll go to prison once and for all, and you’ll never see the light of day.”
“I believe that’s your future you’re referring to,” I said, my eyes boring into his.
He blinked rapidly, like he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
The little girl behind us hadn’t stopped crying. I wondered where Nathalie had run off to. Was she calling the police station?
I hoped so.
I would have loved for them to get a front-row seat to this conversation.
“The only way a mid-level civil servant could afford not one, but two, multi-million-dollar float homes in this exclusive community is through a lottery win,” I said, watching him carefully. “Or through outright theft.”
Thomas blinked again. “It was inheritance money.” His voice was faltering.
“We know you bought Geena her house, too.”
He looked away, a nervous twitch coming on his face. He spread his arms as if to reply, then he pulled them back again.
The clicking of angry heels on the marble tiles came from the kitchen. Nathalie strutted into the living room, her eyes on her husband.
“What’s this?” she said, placing her hands on her hips.
Thomas ignored her.
“You told me Chris bought Geena the house,” she said.
Thomas gave her a dismissive wave, but the fire in her eyes was unmistakable.
The toddler tottered from the back of the kitchen toward Nathalie, clutching her toy in one hand, her tiny chest heaving with quiet sobs.
She reached for the woman’s leg, but Nathalie shoved her away with her foot, like she was nothing more than an annoying pet. The child fell back on her bum and started crying again, but no one paid attention.
I turned my focus back to Thomas.
“You’re Grayson’s brother, aren’t you?”
“What if I am?” he snapped, slamming his beer on the coffee table. “That’s none of your damn business!”
“I make it mine,” I growled, a red-hot flash going through me, “when you try to kill my friends and me in an airtight vault.”
Nathalie took a sharp breath in.
Thomas got up from the couch and pulled himself to his full height. Even in his pajamas, he cut an imposing figure. I could now see how this man could have influenced others to take part in illicit activities.
He glowered at me. There was a quiet rage in his eyes, but it was mixed with a flicker of fear.
I knew why. He didn’t know how much we knew, and that was unsettling him.
A phone rang from somewhere in the room.
“You might want to pick that up,” I said, waving the gun in the direction of the ringing. “It’s probably Davies calling to report what he and your entire team are up to tonight.”
He glared.
“Your rusty barge is on fire, Officer Thomas,” said Win, relish in her voice. “It’s burning to the ground.”
Thomas jerked his head back.
“Your counterfeiting operation has been exposed,” said Katy. “You kept it hidden well, using your position to steer everyone away from your criminal activities, didn’t you?”
Nathalie gasped.
I wondered if that was because she had just found out this news. Or if it was because she now knew that we knew.
The phone rang again, more urgently this time, it seemed.
Thomas floundered on the couch, searching for his cell. When he finally found it, he put it to his ear. His hands were shaking so hard, I was sure he’d drop the phone at any moment.
Davies’ voice came from the other end. He was speaking in staccato fashion, anxiously calling out Thomas’s name, asking if he could hear him.
Thomas just stared at the device numbly.
Davies mumbled something we couldn’t hear, but Thomas’s face went white, giving us a good indication of what his partner had just told him.
Katy leaned over to me to whisper. “You sure Davies is part of the racket, too?”
I didn’t have an answer to that.
Not yet.
Thomas let his mobile fall to the carpet and stared out the window, seemingly forgetting we were in his living room.
I turned to his wife who was leaning against the counter.
“Did you know about your husband’s lucrative side hustle?”
Nathalie’s focus on her husband didn’t waver. Her lips were curled in contempt and her eyes were flashing in anger.
“How could you?” she spat out. “How could you do this to us?”
Thomas spun around to her, his face a dark shade of purple.
“I gave you the life you never could have imagined. You think this house, your convertible, those clothes, are possible on a cop’s salary?”
“I put up with all your shenanigans!” she screamed. “And now this?”
Thomas shouted back. “I did everything for you, but you’re never happy!”
He pointed at the window.
“You know what they’re trying to do to me? Push me out to the pasture with a reduced pension. That’s what! They hate my guts. I put up with their BS for years. You never cared for me either. All you wanted was the money!”
His wife took a step back, her lips pulled back in a snarl.
The little girl had stopped crying and was watching the grown-ups.
She may not have understood the gravitas of the situation, but she had felt the dangerous energy. She kept glancing from Thomas to Nathalie, then back again, those huge, innocent eyes taking everything in.
Katy turned to the woman.
“Your husband’s retirement plan is going up in smoke as we speak. You might want to think of calling a divorce attorney.”
Nathalie’s eyes flickered. The truth was sinking in, and she was looking for an escape.
“You don’t seem too worried about Thomas going to jail,” I said. “A loving spouse would be pleading for his innocence.”
“I’m not falling to my knees for a cheating A-hole,” she snarled.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” said Katy, turning to Thomas. “You were having an affair with Jane Grayson.”
Thomas didn’t reply, but his face said everything.
A deep pink color rose from Nathalie’s neck.
“You were sleeping with Jane?” she blurted, her arms waving in the air. “I thought it was that big fat slob of a Geena!”
Chapter Sixty-two
“I thought you were having a lark with that trailer trash prostitute, but Jane Grayson? Jane Grayson?”
Nathalie’s anguished screech rose with every syllable.
“She was such a nasty bitch. I hated her! How could you!”
Her perfectly manicured fingernails grated on the kitchen’s granite counter.
Thomas didn’t speak.
The sound of static came from somewhere on the floor. Thomas’s phone was lying by his feet where it fell.
Davies hadn’t hung up. The faint background of shouting mixed with the crackle of fire told me he was still there, listening in.
“You had an affair with your own brother’s wife,” said Katy, shaking her head. “Then you viciously killed her and dressed it up as a suicide.”
“Killed her?” Nathalie grabbed a stool by the counter to steady herself, her chest heaving.
Thomas swayed back and forth, his hands clenching and unclenching. His eyes flickered over to my gun, but he didn’t make a move to fight back.
But I was on guard.
He had covered his tracks well and abused his position for years. He was also a cold-blooded murderer.
My head was clearing and the puzzle pieces were slowly coming together.
“Jane found out about your counterfeiting racket,” I said. “Then she found out her daughter was still alive. You couldn't have any of that get out, could you? So, you murdered them both. But you did it in a way to stick it to Grayson as hard as you could.”
I paused to think.
“I’d bet anything you stole those gold bars to hit Grayson where it hurt the most. That was all he had left to remember Lily. You didn’t need that gold. You were printing money.”
“You’re a police officer,” said Win, her voice hardening. “You took an oath. I hope your colleagues give you everything you deserve.”
“How could you do this to your own family?” said Katy.
Thomas turned to us, fire in his eyes. “I hate that bastard!”
I leaned in. “What did Chris Grayson do that was so terrible you had to get back at your own brother?”
“He’s not my brother!” Thomas’s eyes flashed in furor.
“Your adopted sibling, I mean.”
“He killed our parents!”
We stared at him in shock. Even Nathalie.
This was unexpected.
I could hear yelling and car doors slamming through the phone on the floor. I wondered what Davies’ next steps would be.
“Your parents died in a car crash,” I said, observing Thomas for signs of lying. “It was a hit-and-run.”
“That’s what everyone thought!” Thomas yelled, his spittle flying. “Chris said it was an accident. He hit their car and ran off, then came home a mess. Didn’t even stop to make sure they were alive!”
He flung his arms around, agitated.
“He was scared. He thought they’d put him away for manslaughter.”
For a minute, I wasn’t sure if Thomas had become completely unhinged or was purposefully concocting a tale. But his outburst had been so forceful, he couldn’t have been lying.
Or could he?
He pulled his head down and shook it violently, like he couldn’t bear to re-live the story.
“We took the car to a junkyard and told them to crush it. I pretended to be his alibi. Me. A cop. I could get anyone to do what I wanted with the right words.”
He turned to us, his face a picture of despair.
“I’m the loser in the family. My own parents rejected me for him. He was their golden boy, and I saved him!”
His breath was coming fast and shallow. His world was crumbling, and he couldn’t stop it.
Thomas looked at his wife, tears welling in his eyes.
“Can you understand?”
Nathalie didn’t answer, clutching on to that stool, like she was seconds away from fainting.
The puzzle pieces were clicking together.
“That was when you found out what was in the will,” I said. “Your parents, whom Chris killed, left everything to him. The man you helped save got all of it. That would make anyone mad.”
Thomas started convulsing. He turned his head back and forth, like a cornered animal.
I followed his eyes. He had to have his service weapon here somewhere.
My ears were alert to sounds of a car arriving, or to footsteps along the pier. If Davies was involved in this, he could run out of town. But he could also show up to back his partner.
“Thomas,” I said, keeping my voice even. “Why don’t you give yourself up? Save your wife and child the pain of seeing you get arrested. They’ve been through enough.”
Thomas shot me a strange look.
“Never. They will never get me, you hear!”
His voice turned hard.
“If I’m going down, I’m taking my wife and that kid with me.”
Nathalie’s face turned white.
“Don’t you dare,” said Katy, taking a step forward.
“You people have created enough trouble!” he shouted, his blood-red eyes bulging like they were about to explode. “I should have killed you when I had the chance!”
He was turning.
“You didn’t expect your brother to hire a private investigative service, did you?” I kept my voice calm, though my heart was pounding.
My only thought was how to come up with the best way to subdue this man before he hurt himself or others.
“That’s why you sent your goons to snatch us from the airport.”
He didn’t answer. He spun around on the carpet, his eyes darting around the room like he was searching for something.
“I suggest you don’t search for your weapon,” I said. “I’m trained.”
He spun around to give me a wild look. Then, without a warning, he stomped over to the kitchen, grabbed the toddler from the floor, and swung her up by her shoulders.
The kid shrieked in fear, her ear-splitting scream almost deafening us.
I stepped forward, aiming my gun at Thomas’s head.
“Put her down. Now!”
He stepped backward, holding the squirming kid in front of his chest, one massive hand wrapped around her tiny neck. The toddler wiggled and howled, but he held on tight.
My heart pounded as I tried to find a good aim. I had never faced a man holding a child before. The magnitude of my next decision felt like a ton of lead wrapped around my right hand.
Thomas stepped backward, heading toward the open window.
The girl screeched and dropped her toy. The dirty cloth doll stumbled to the floor. It was the angel, the one I’d fished out of the water.
“Stop right there!” I hollered. “Stop or I shoot!”
I aimed at Thomas’s knees. He let go of the kid’s neck and dangled her by her arms, swinging her back and forth.
My heart skipped a beat.
I pulled my weapon up, trying not to shake. I was ten feet from him. If only that kid would stop moving.
Thomas pulled the girl up against his chest. The child kicked and cried.
Stop moving!
Suddenly, the front door crashed open, and the sounds of boots pounding on the floor came from behind me.
It was like an army had descended on the house.
Chapter Sixty-three
“Police!”
I swung around to see Davies rush in, followed by half a dozen uniformed officers, all armed.
