Page 36 of The Last To Know (Hallowed Halls Series #2)

Two weeks later—BAU Headquarters, Quantico, Virginia—0900 hours

A s soon as he stepped into the room, applause erupted. Cooper smiled, though a bit embarrassed. He didn’t much like having attention solely on him. There’d been enough of that lately.

He searched the room for her. She wasn’t there.

Zeke enveloped him in a hug that had Cooper wincing. “Glad to have you back, Coop.”

“Good to be back. Where’s Hannah?” he said loud enough for only Zeke to hear.

“She’s taking some time.” Zeke didn’t look him in the eye.

Questions flew through his head. He couldn’t ask any of them now.

“Coop!” Jane gave him a hug then looked him over. “You don’t appear any worse for the wear considering you died.”

“Almost died,” Cooper corrected her.

After each had greeted him, Cooper slipped into one of the chairs, the excursion exhausting. Since the stabbing, his energy level was next to none.

“A lot has happened since you’ve been gone,” Jack told him. “And we have more details about Pete Albertson.”

“Okay.” Cooper dreaded the news to come. There had been a tidal wave of bad news since the Embalmer case resurrected itself .

Jack opened a folder and looked Cooper in the eye. “Are you sure you’re ready to hear this?”

Cooper forced himself to confirm he was.

“For reasons we don’t know, Pete adored your old man. They connected off and on through the years. The most recent was a few months before Ellison was arrested.”

“So, my father knew exactly where Pete was and that he’d be there for him after he faked his death.”

“Exactly. I think they had a rough plan for his escape before he was even arrested. We can’t prove it, but it’s possible Pete may have assisted his brother with the previous murders.”

“Unbelievable. Did they find out what happened to the father who started all this insanity?” Cooper wouldn’t let his father or Pete excuse their behavior because they’d suffered unimaginable things. Others had gone through the same nightmare and hadn’t turned into serial killers.

“He pretty much dropped off the face of the earth about fifteen years after the siblings’ mother was arrested for drug possession.”

“Pete killed him,” Cooper deducted from Jack’s expression.

“Probably, but we don’t have any proof of that. The mother, Elizabeth, went through several marriages. She never tried to get her children back from the state. I think she was just as messed up as the siblings by Bruce Albertson’s reign of terror.”

A part of Cooper actually felt sorry for the kid his father had been back then. For Pete and the others.

Megan took up the story. “We found out why there was no DNA match to you for Pete. He wasn’t actually Oliver’s brother but a cousin who was taken in by Elizabeth. Oh, and get this—Elizabeth had dark hair and a similar build as the victims. I guess even though she was a drug addict and an unfit mother, Pete and Oliver still loved her.”

While Cooper tried to digest this piece of information, Megan continued. “Anyway, since Oliver knew the Ellisons and they felt sorry for him, they took him in and later adopted him. By then, the other children had been placed in foster homes or orphanages.”

Cooper had to know the truth. “Did Oliver or perhaps Pete kill the Ellisons?”

Megan shook her head. “We don’t have any proof, but I’d say it’s likely. Oliver had the most to gain.”

Zeke shoved away from the wall where he stood and sat beside Cooper. “Tonya was the baby of the family. It appears Pete tried to protect her most of her life, and yet she fell into drug use. He found out she called us and killed her soon after. We located her trailer house. Pete wrote unworthy on the wall and then snitch.” Zeke shook his head.

Cooper was in shock. “What about Pete? Did he survive?”

Jack nodded. “He’s alive. He’s not talking. We’ve tried to interview him with his attorney, but he’s not making any sense. I’d say it’s an act to get found unfit to stand trial, but, in this instance, I actually believe he is mentally unfit. He keeps talking about Mentor as if he’s a real person. We believe Mentor is Oliver, his brother.”

“Oh, and there’s good news on Isobel.” Sierra covered his hand with hers. “She’s awake and talking. She’s helped us fill in a lot of the pieces.” She hesitated.

“Just say it.” Whatever she didn’t want to tell him couldn’t be any worse than what he knew about his family so far.

Sierra glanced to Megan who nodded. “Isobel said when Pete took her to your family’s basement he had your father with him.”

He’d been wrong. This was far worse. “How is that possible? How long has my father been dead?”

“More than ten years, according to the medical examiner.” Jack flipped to the report. “He was injected with the same type of concoction given to the worthy victims. Cooper, Pete took your father with him on his hunts for victims. Isobel said he talked to him as if he were still alive. As I’ve said, he’s delusional.”

“What about Luis Noland? Did he know Pete? Were the two cases connected at all?” Cooper wasn’t sure which one he hoped for. That the deranged man targeting Hannah might be working with Pete, or that they were two separate cases, which confirmed more than ever the existence of true evil.

“They aren’t connected,” Jack told him. “There’s no record the two ever crossed paths. But we did look into other transplant recipients of Brenda’s organs. Several were brutally murdered.” Jack hesitated. “He cut them open. He was looking for Brenda’s heart.”

Cooper’s stomach turned. “That’s one sick individual.” There were more questions he should be asking, and yet all Cooper could think about was Hannah. She’d left him without so much as a goodbye, and he had to find her.

He staggered to his feet. All eyes were on him. “I-I’m a little tired, I guess. I think I’ll head out.” He grabbed the door and yanked it open.

“Coop, wait up.”

Cooper slowly turned and waited for Zeke to catch up with him.

“She just left without a word.” The bitter emotions behind those words couldn’t be hidden.

Zeke slowly smiled. “She did. She’s mixed up inside.”

Cooper’s mouth twisted. “Yeah, well, I can’t change her mind.” He started to leave when Zeke grabbed his arm.

Cooper closed his eyes before facing his friend again.

“You’re the only one who can change her mind. Go get her, Cooper. Bring her back where she belongs. Back with her family.”

Cooper glanced past Zeke and noticed the entire team standing there cheering him on.

He suppressed a smile. “Where is she?”

“Montana.”

Cooper wasn’t surprised. Hannah used to talk about living in Montana one day. Having a ranch and maybe a yellow dog. Suddenly, an idea took life. Could he?

“Go, Cooper. We need her back here,” Megan told him.

“And she needs you.” Zeke held his gaze. “She loves you, buddy. She needs you, and you need her too.”