Catch Me If You Can Read online

  The investigation was going forth as before.

  Except now they had a viable suspect.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jake called the judge from his office. It wouldn’t take long now. Sooner would be better than later. He needed the physical evidence to put handcuffs on Deputy Roy Webb. If there was something in his house to tie him to the killings, Jake and his agents would find it.

  He’d taken a risk putting Roy’s name out there. But the pieces fit. The case needed to be closed before another victim showed up. If Roy were guilty, Lynn would have to accept the truth.

  The way the killer had cut the victims hair and colored it to match Lynn’s gave him pause. What was the reason? Was Roy after her job? Did he want her gone so he’d be the logical one to take her place? It made sense and it fit with the rest of Jake’s scenario. Then again, why did Roy make a point of bringing it up in the first place?

  The door swung open. Lynn stepped inside and slammed it shut. “You’re dead wrong about Roy. Do you really think a man who was born and raised here in this town, became a deputy soon after high school, served honorably for almost fifteen years, could be guilty of murder? Using poison? Hell no.” She answered her own question. “If so inclined, he’d pull a gun and shoot.”

  “If I find what we’re looking for he’ll be in custody before the day is over.”

  “How could you do this without telling me?”

  How could she have his child and not tell him? He wanted to fling the words back at her, but held back. He wanted to be sure. Before he’d let Jackie out in front of her school, he’d convinced her to do the same. The convincing hadn’t been easy as she was ready to confront both Lynn and the woman she’d called Mom since birth.

  “What? You’ve never kept a secret?” he asked now, waited for Lynn’s response. Sure enough, her face flushed bright pink.

  Bingo.

  His anger escalated. He still couldn’t believe he had a daughter he’d never heard of until now——a fifteen-year-old daughter.

  “Did the judge deny the warrant?”

  “It’ll be here in an hour.”

  “You’ll go without me. I want no part of this fiasco.”

  “Your choice.”

  She closed the door without slamming it. Though he admired her loyalty, he suffered her stubbornness. From what he’d seen and what he’d found since he’d been back, Roy was the logical suspect.

  The fact that he led an exemplary life on the surface meant nothing. Lynn should know that. She’d studied serial killers in college at length. Wasn’t Ted Bundy the poster boy when it came to good-looking, charismatic, male serial killers? For some reason she had a mind-block when it came to Roy Webb.

  Jake got up, went to the window in time to see Lynn’s cruiser turn onto the street. Where was she going? Why did he worry about her?

  Be honest. You never got over her. Deep down, you still love her.

  He wouldn’t go there. He was too angry with her to even think such thoughts. He turned away and sat at his desk again. Went over every bit of circumstantial evidence against Roy.

  He needed something to tie Roy directly to the murders. One small thing.

  He waited for the phone to ring.

  ****

  Roy wasn’t in the office, didn’t answer his cell phone, and he wasn’t on a call. He had to be at home. That’s where Lynn pointed her cruiser. The least she could do was warn him. Not kosher, but she was convinced of his innocence. Besides, she owed him.

  After she’d won the election, he’d given her more info on the ins and outs of the office, and the politics involved than she’d learned as a raw deputy. He’d explained how the system worked. It wouldn’t have taken her long to learn on her own, but he’d given her his help without begrudging her win. That meant a lot.

  She pulled into the Webb’s driveway, but didn’t see his cruiser. However, Beth’s SUV was there. She’d check and see if Beth had heard from him.

  Beth opened the door, frowned when she saw Lynn. “Is anything wrong?”

  Dressed in tight jeans and a T-shirt, Lynn realized Beth had lost weight. She looked good.

  “I didn’t see Roy’s cruiser, have you heard from him?”

  “He called earlier, said he’d stop by for lunch if he could get away.”

  “Did he tell you where he was?”

  By now they were in the kitchen. Beth waved Lynn to a seat at the table. “You didn’t answer my question. What’s wrong?”

  Everything, Lynn wanted to say. Instead, she looked around. It had been a while since she’d been here. Beth kept a neat and clean kitchen. Kitschy knick-knacks decorated several shelves.

  Either they were Beth’s or leftovers from when her parents were alive. Lynn would bet on the latter.

  The next thing Lynn knew Beth was sitting a cup of tea with a cupcake in front of her.

  “This looks wonderful, Lynn said with a smile. “I can really use some tea right now.”

  “Good. Now tell me why you need to see Roy so urgently when you know full well he’ll be at the office later.”

  Lynn took a few swallows of tea, a bite of the apple-cinnamon cupcake before she stood and looked out the window at the backyard. “You’ve kept this place so nice and neat. Inside and out. I’m sure your parents would be pleased.”

  “They took pride in it. I couldn’t do otherwise.”

  “Of course not.” Her gaze swept the yard. Beds of flowering annuals surrounded a few crepe myrtles. At the back was a small greenhouse. “I didn’t know you had a greenhouse. What do you grow in it?” She turned to look at Beth. Her face had paled. Why? “I’ll bet you have fresh veggies all year long.” In Lobster Cove that would be a blessing, as nothing grew during the snow months.

  “My grandmother had an amazing flower garden when she was alive. Mind if I take a look at yours?”

  Before Beth could agree, Lynn opened the door and stepped outside. The flowers were beautiful. She walked closer. She thought she’d recognized the row of white flowers with their yellow throats from the window. Daffodils. “Just like grandma’s,” she told Beth, who had followed her out.

  Didn’t they have another name? Her mind didn’t seem to want to work. What was it? Where had she heard it? Think. Narcissus!

  Dear God, was Mackenzie right? Was Roy a killer?

  Lynn turned around to find Beth staring at her with something in her eyes like fear.

  “Let’s go inside,” she said shakily, “and have some more tea. All of you have been under so much stress lately it’s a wonder you can even think straight.”

  “Are you sure you don’t know where Roy is?”

  Lynn’s heart was dancing in her chest, fast, then slow——faster still. Fuzzily, she followed Beth back into the kitchen, then sat down and wondered why she was suddenly dizzy. Shock. That’s what it was. Shock that she’d been so wrong.

  Did Beth know?

  Trying to gather her composure, Lynn let her gaze sweep past the kitchen and into the laundry room. A wheelchair! Of course they had to have one when both of Beth’s parents were ailing. Why hadn’t she thought of that sooner?

  She should leave.

  Mackenzie and his agents would be here soon and she didn’t want to jeopardize the proceedings. She stood, only to find her legs were too weak to hold her up. This wasn’t right. Wasn’t normal. Sure she was shocked, but shock wouldn’t make her heartbeat kick up, or her legs crater under her.

  She looked over at Beth.

  “What’s happening?”

  From a distance she heard Beth chuckle.

  Lynn blinked, brought Beth back into focus. Realization came to Lynn in waves; the pretty beds of Daffodils, or Narcissus, whichever you wanted to call them——the wheelchair in the laundry room. The jealousy she’d seen in Beth’s eyes when they were kids had ballooned over the years to gigantic proportions.

  “You…you killed those women?”

  Beth laughed. It was a sound Lynn had never heard before.

&n
bsp; “Why? They never hurt you.” She managed to get to her feet only to grab the wall to steady herself.

  “Drink some more tea,” Beth demanded.

  Lynn reached for the cup, swept it across the table, and saw the liquid soak the pretty red placemat.

  Good.

  She had to think. Gun. She reached for the holster, her fingers stiff, almost numb, unsnapped it and pulled it out, pointed. Only Beth wasn’t there.

  Then she was.

  Did Lynn drink enough poison to kill herself? She didn’t think so. She just had to stay conscious long enough to put Beth in handcuffs.

  But Beth didn’t seem frightened of the gun. Why?

  Then Lynn saw the knife in Beth’s hand as she pushed the wheelchair closer. If she got close enough Lynn would kick out at her as she’d learned in Karate class.

  Come closer. Closer.

  But Beth stopped.

  It took every ounce of strength Lynn had to raise the gun, point it at the woman, a knowing smile on her lips, death in her heart.

  It was hard to breathe now, hard to keep her eyes open. But she had to. Beth was insane. She had to be stopped or she’d continue to kill. Beth’s mouth was moving. What was she saying? Something about Roy? How he deserved more? Something about Lynn taking something away from him. No. that wasn’t right...

  Then she heard a noise at the door.

  Mackenzie?

  Hurry.

  Her vision went in and out. Beth screamed and lunged closer, the knife in her hand raised to strike. Out of the corner of her eye Lynn saw Mackenzie rushing toward them.

  Lynn tensed every muscle in her body, tightened her grip. With her last ounce of strength, she pulled the trigger an instant before Mackenzie stepped in front of Beth.

  There was a flash of red for a second before everything turned black.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Voices.

  “Will she be all right?”

  Jake. Had he saved her life? Or had she shot him when he stepped in front of Beth? Maybe they were both dead and the voices were arguing her judgment. Tears leaked from unopened eyes. She’d wanted to stop Beth, not hurt Jake.

  She’d never wanted to hurt him. She wanted to tell that to the voices. Even when she’d hidden the truth about Jackie from him, it was only to protect him. She had to explain. But her mouth failed to move. Words wouldn’t come.

  The voices faded away.

  She really was dead. Her judgment reached.

  Resigned to her fate, Lynn slept.

  Sometime later her eyes popped open. Jake sat in a chair next to her bed. His arm was bandaged from shoulder to elbow. What had happened? Did Beth stab him, or did Lynn shoot him?

  Her eyes shut in pain as she relived that horrible moment.

  Thank God he was alive.

  Next to Jake was her mom, and next to her, Jackie. They sat there, their eyes shut. Asleep. Lynn didn’t know how late it was, but she had to have been there for hours.

  She hadn’t died. Alleluia! She had a chance to make things right. To tell Jake and Jackie how she’d screwed up. Apologize to her mother for putting responsibility for Jackie on her shoulders instead of taking them on her own.

  She studied Jake’s face. He’d been a handsome kid, was far better looking now. His dark hair fell onto his forehead. His mouth, so like his daughter’s she wanted to cry, was clenched tight. Even in sleep, he was worried about her. It made her heart still.

  Was it possible he still cared?

  Moving her hands and arms, then her legs, she decided she’d recovered enough to sit up.

  She hadn’t ingested much of the tea Beth gave her, so there couldn’t have been that much poison in her body.

  The second she moved her legs Jake’s eyes flew open. “You’re awake.”

  “Raise my bed. I want to sit up.”

  Jake was at her side in an instant. Mom and Jackie shot to their feet.

  “Are you all right?” her mom asked, tears in her voice. “You scared us to death.”

  Jackie ran to the other side of the bed and grabbed Lynn’s hand. “I thought you were going to die.” She started to cry.

  “She didn’t,” Jake reminded them as the bed raised enough for Lynn to sit up.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You’re sorry?” Jake asked. He was upset and agitated. She wanted to make it right. She wanted to make everything right and knew she couldn’t.

  “Tell me what happened. Did you arrest Beth? What about Roy? How is he taking this? And Buddy? Was he there when it happened? I didn’t see him. Tell me Buddy is all right.”

  “Take it easy,” Jake told her, his voice low and comforting. “Relax. I’ll tell you everything, but you have to give your body time to flush out the rest of the poison.

  There were tubes dripping liquid in her arm, another taking it out. She hated this. Hated being helpless.

  “I didn’t drink much.”

  “She gave you a pretty strong dose. I think Beth knew she didn’t have much time and was hurrying the process.”

  Lynn lay back, took a few deep breaths. She wanted answers. Now. And Jake was the only one to give them to her. “Tell me everything.”

  “I’ll start at the beginning. After you reamed me out and left the office I was still convinced Roy was guilty. I was waiting for the search warrant to come through when Ted Underwood burst into my office. Don’t worry, the deputy you assigned him was right on his heels.”

  “What did he want?”

  “Be patient. This is a long story.”

  She gave him a partial smile.

  “Roy came into the office to drop off some papers, chatted with your dispatcher—Patty, is it?—for a while and went to his cubicle. He was on his computer when Ted came in to tell me you were in danger.

  “I thought he was referring to Roy. I asked Ted if he’d seen him. The deputy with Ted told me Roy was in the outer office, so I didn’t see how you could be in imminent danger. Then Ted told me that when he got close to Roy he sensed the danger, but it didn’t emanate from him, but someone close to him. The only person that close would be Beth. Though I didn’t have faith in what he said, I couldn’t ignore it. I grabbed a couple of agents and got to Roy’s house as fast as I could.” He paused. “When I saw your cruiser in the drive, I knew Ted was right. I thought I’d have a heart attack when I saw Beth coming at you with a knife, and you standing there on wobbly legs waving a gun in her direction. I didn’t see any way you could defend yourself.”

  Lynn shut her eyes and flashed back to the horror. “Did she stab you?”

  “Sliced my arm.”

  “From shoulder to elbow,” Jackie put in, her voice full of pride. “Forty-five stitches. He was trying to save you.”

  “What happened to Beth? Is she behind bars?”

  “She’s dead, Lynn. Your bullet hit her in the heart. Just like you told me, you took care of yourself.”

  Lynn dropped her head. “Poor Roy. And Buddy?”

  “They’re taking it pretty hard,” her mom said. “But you had to do what you had to do.”

  “She’s right, Lynn. Don’t feel a moment of guilt over this.”

  “How can I not? I never suspected her. Never would. The only thing I remember her saying was that Roy deserved better. No, more. He deserved more. And there was something I’d stolen from him. His job? But that makes no sense. That wouldn’t be a reason to kill three innocent women.”

  “In Beth’s twisted mind, I think she had multiple reasons.”

  Lynn turned to look at Jake——at the conviction in his eyes. She’d thought through the years that if she ever saw him again she’d be immune, she’d never feel for him the way she once had. But to see him standing beside her bed, his arm sliced defending her, made her mouth go dry and her heart beat faster.

  Dammit, she still loved him. Probably always would, but when he found out she’d kept Jackie’s paternity a secret for fifteen years, there would be no hope for them.

  “Tell me the rea
sons,” she said, bringing her mind back to the present.

  “The reasons were twofold: she was, by nature, a jealous woman. She thought each of these women threatened her marriage. Plus, if they disappeared, there was a case you couldn’t solve. It would make you look weak as a sheriff.”

  “Three cases would make you look awful,” Jackie put in.

  “Roy was a shoo-in to take your job,” Mom added.

  “Why didn’t we see this?”

  Jake gave her one of his you’ve-got-to-be-kidding looks. “How many women serial killers have you read about? She was around all the time, bringing food to prisoners, passing out goodies to the crew. Why in the world would anyone suspect her? It’s what she counted on. I have to admit, Lynn. You were right about Roy. He was an innocent in this.”

  “Told you,” she said tiredly. “Why don’t you all go home? I’d like to get some sleep.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Two weeks later

  It felt good to be behind her desk once more——to be in charge again. Lynn had wanted to come back a week ago. But there had been too many protests from Jake and Mom.

  Even though the media had camped out on her front lawn the first week, she’d stayed home. They were gone now, as were Jake and his FBI cohorts.

  He’d dropped by the house to tell her goodbye. And to tell her Ted Underwood was moving to New York.

  She was elated. Ted was getting out from under his parents’ steel hand. Maybe he’d have a life now. Especially since Jake had told her he’d recommended Ted to the FBI as a consultant.

  It made her realize again what a great guy Jake could be.

  When she’d asked about the haircuts and color on the victims, he couldn’t give a definitive answer. His gut told him Beth was insanely jealous. She wanted her husband to have Lynn’s job and was probably jealous of the time they spent together. Jake wasn’t even sure Beth wanted Lynn dead. Not until the end anyway. Beth would have gotten more satisfaction in seeing Lynn ousted as the sheriff and her husband appointed to take over.

  The room Jake had used as an office was empty, a reminder of how he’d looked sitting at the table either hunched over his computer, shuffling papers, or looking at her with dark, penetrating, blue eyes.