Page 43 of A Sublime Casualt
Lizzy looks to me for help once again, but it’s my mother who sniffs hard and straightens.
“This has to do with that porn site, doesn’t it? Is that where he found you?”
Thomas inches back as he looks to Lizzy for an explanation.
“I needed to take care of myself after we split up. I needed to make ends meet.” Her wild-eyed response draws ire from the three of them, me included. “It was stupid.”
“And dangerous,” my mother adds.
“I didn’t mind it with Neil. He was Theo’s partner. With Neil I felt safe.”
“And look where it got you,” I say. “I’m sorry, Lizzy. But you made one wrong move after the next. And, Ashley”—my voice breaks—“the two of you were a pair, that’s for sure.”
Nikki reaches forward and picks up Lizzy’s hand. “I don’t care what you did. I’m just glad you’re home safe, where you belong.”
The door opens and in walks the doctor asking us to clear the room for a moment. I wait for Phoebe to come out of surgery, and when she does, I’m the first to kiss her beautiful face. Both of my girls are safe and where they belong tonight, right here in Wakefield. Right here with me.
* * *
The next evening,the captain calls me in. Phoebe has been released and insists on coming with me. We drive down to headquarters and step into his office.
His expression is stern, but he’s amicable to both Phoebe and me as we take a seat.
“We’ve got surveillance video that puts Harper at Del Sol Park after you claim to have left. We found traces of blood on his club. It looks like you were right.”
“Knew it.” I nod, waiting for more. “Any news on what happened between him and my sister?” I know for a fact Neil was questioned this morning. I want to know what the bastard said.
Captain looks to Phoebe and winces as if he’s sorry he has to discuss such delicate matters in front of a lady. “They met through you. He found her online. They both had their addictions—mostly physical. He claims she wanted to disappear but also claims she was easy to groom. It sounds as if he had been planning her abduction for some time before the event took place. By that time, he was having an affair with Ashley Engle as well. I understand you have a unique connection to her.” He looks downright sorry for me, but I don’t need anyone’s pity right now. “Regardless, she’s being held with aggravated kidnapping charges. There’s a psychiatric evaluation pending. First sweep of the cabin turned up quite a bit of sexual paraphernalia. Your sister mentioned she was forced against her will.” His lips press white. My stomach drops. I feel lower than dirt. I couldn’t protect my sister. While I was roaming free, she was tortured for sport, and I’m not sure I will ever get over that. “DNA evidence places Karen Gilroy in Harper’s basement. We found a toxic mixture of street drugs, enough to put down an elephant down there as well. As soon as he brought Lizzy to the cabin, he got rid of Karen. Neither your sister nor Ashley Engle realized how dangerous Harper really was.”
I offer up a reluctant nod. “But we knew.” I pull Phoebe’s good hand over to me and tell him about our suspicions regarding those cold cases in Abilene. “Neil was the perfect gentleman to everyone he knew. Just goes to show you. Sometimes you can’t trust your gut.”
Phoebe and I take off and step out into a frozen Wakefield night.
“I’m glad I have you by my side.” I sweep her hair to the side and offer a kiss to her lips. “You okay for one more outing?”
“If we’re going where I think we are, yes. I’ve been itching to see Neil myself.”
I pull her in tight as we make our way to the truck. Neil is lucky he’s alive, but I’m betting right about now he wishes he were dead.
* * *
Wakefield General feelslike an old friend, one that I have no desire to get to know any further. I’ve been here more in the last twenty-four hours than I care to think. Since Phoebe’s release, I wanted to keep her comfortable, keep her the hell away from this place. But she knew I’d be coming back to see him, and she wasn’t about to let me do this without her. At this point, she needs closure as much as I do.
We take the elevator up to the third floor and head straight for his room, last one down the hall with an armed guard out front. I give the friendly officer a nod as we head on in, and we spot him there in his bed, slumped like the worm he is.
“What’s this?” Neil struggles to sit up before adjusting the mattress to an upright position. Neil was shot twice, one in the side by Phoebe, clean exit, no vital organs. And once by me, just below the heart. Missed his left lung, fractured a rib on the way out. “No flowers?” He offers his mocking grin. All these years I’ve known him, I assumed it was amicable, affectionate, and here I had been reading him wrong the entire time.
“We’ve heard every angle of this twisted story,” I start. “And now we want to hear it from you.”
His affect drops on a dime. Neil actually manages to look bored with the prospect of having to recount the details. “Your sister came onto me during the Officer’s Ball. You remember the time, don’t you?” He lifts a brow, and my stomach pools with acid. I do remember, early spring before last. She had just left Thomas. She had already bought the tickets and boasted of finding someone new there. “She shared her body with me first, then her fantastic pictorials.” He tilts his head, sarcasm thick in his voice. “We had no reason to make it public. Her friend, Ashley, came onto the scene. They devised a plan that oddly fit in with my own.” He lifts a hand, amused. “Imagine that—the prey volunteering for duty. It wasn’t difficult to get her where I needed her to be.”
Phoebe takes a quick breath. “It’s doesn’t make sense. When Ashley saw that you weren’t releasing Lizzy, why didn’t she turn you in?”
“She loved me.” He cocks his head with a marked level of his own disbelief. “She liked the idea of Lizzy on a chain, pun intended. She had no interest letting her out into the wild. Ashley is as controlling as Lizzy is belligerent.”
“And as you are insane.” Phoebe shakes her head, choking on her disbelief.
His lips curl at the thought. “A perfect storm you might say.”