Page 5 of The Last To Know (Hallowed Halls Series #2)

I mages of Giselle’s gruesome death were still on the screen when Cooper returned to his seat. The face of a woman he didn’t know morphed into one he couldn’t forget. His mother’s. Ivy Ellison’s dead eyes stared back at him.

Megan and Jack had followed him back into the room.

“We believe the murder of Giselle Witherspoon shows similarities to an old serial killer case dating back more than twenty years earlier,” Megan said, addressing the team. Her fingers tapped across several keys, and his father’s first victim appeared on the screen, replacing Giselle.

Cooper steeled himself to face his past. All the ugliness leading up to the final moment when the curtain had been ripped away and the truth was there for everyone to see.

Megan’s gentle gaze found Cooper. She was like the sister he never had and one of the most caring people he knew. “The killer, known as the Embalmer, stalked his victims for weeks—possibly longer. They were all women and people he seemingly admired. For reasons known only to him some were deemed unworthy, as in the case of our victim, Giselle.”

“That’s awful,” Sierra said. “That’s one sick individual. It’s like he’s playing God or something. Kind of like Dan tried to do.”

Cooper flinched. Dan Orlando had believed himself to be God. He’d created angels, and, like the Embalmer, he decided if they were good or bad angels.

To this day, Cooper didn’t understand how he’d never seen the real person his father had been. His father had done everything with him. Was his Boy Scout troop leader. A deacon at their church. Oliver Ellison worked hard. Treated his wife like a queen. Cooper still couldn’t reconcile the monster who had killed his mother and the others with the gentle, caring man he’d called Dad.

“Serial killers are often able to compartmentalize their desire to kill,” Hannah spoke up. “I’ve talked to many family members of killers. Several said they had no idea their loved one was capable of such violence.”

“What about the victims who weren’t labeled unworthy by the Embalmer?” Zeke asked. Cooper glanced over at his partner Zeke mouthed, “You okay?”

Cooper nodded, a lie Zeke wouldn’t believe. His partner had witnessed what happened earlier. He’d know this case was somehow connected to Cooper.

Cooper had tried so hard to keep his past hidden from the world. Every time someone asked about his parents, he spoke about his adoptive parents. They’d taken him in, despite being the son of a killer, and had loved him. Through their help, he’d had a somewhat normal life.

“They were found after Embalmer was convicted for the unworthy victims’ murders,” Cooper said. “Oliver Ellison had been sentenced to five counts of life without the possibility of parole.”

“My biological father, Oliver Ellison, was the Embalmer,” Cooper blurted out. All eyes were immediately on him, including the woman he’d been on the brink of falling in love with.

He glanced around at his friends. Sympathy seeped into their eyes. All for him. Each had seen the breadth of evil existing in the world. Everyone on the team understood that it sometimes disguised itself as good and, like sin, wormed its way into the lives of the unexpected.

“Did you have any idea?” Zeke asked, no doubt wondering why Cooper hadn’t shared about his past before.

“None.” And he hadn’t. “My father was always there for me. He and my mother seemed close.” He shrugged, remembering that little boy he’d been back then. So innocent. So fragile. Cooper wished he could take all the ugliness away from his past.

His gaze slipped to Hannah. She had tears in her eyes. Pity for him. Not the emotion he wanted from her.

Jack left his place in the corner of the room and stepped to the front beside his wife. “We have a missing woman and a killer with a head start. If this guy is copying Embalmer, we won’t have long to find her. Megan will send each of you the original case files and what we have on Giselle and Tiffany. We’ll go over both cases in depth on the flight to New York. We leave at 0900 hours. Go home and pack for an extended stay. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

As soon as Jack dismissed them, Cooper rose. He needed to get out of there before more questions came.

Cooper headed for the door, passing the table where Hannah remained seated. Her pity hurt more than the way she’d avoided him earlier.

He stepped out into the hallway and started for the exit.

“Cooper, wait up.”

Zeke.

Cooper wanted to keep right on walking, but he couldn’t. Zeke was more than a partner; he was a friend.

He stopped and slowly turned as Zeke approached. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Because he didn’t. Not now.

Zeke opened the exit door. “That’s cool with me. Come on. You can ride with me. We’ll stop by your place first.”

Cooper didn’t argue. His old Mustang would be safe in the parking garage, and he needed Zeke’s quiet presence to still the demons in his head.

Zeke hit the key fob. The crew cab pickup’s lights flashed.

As they left the garage, Cooper’s thoughts went back to Hannah. What had caused this change in her? There would be no answers coming from Zeke. Whatever secrets Hannah kept, Zeke would take them to his grave.