Caught in the Storm Page 5

  He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I can understand that, but seeing you whip that thing out, well, I was kind of taken aback for a moment.”

  Kat momentarily lost her train of thought when he said something about ‘whipping it out’. Fucking Trio. Now I’m thinking like them! “Let’s do this.”

  “Fine, we’ll stay together. He’s in room six. The curtains are closed, so let’s go up and stay out of the line of sight.”

  “Sounds good.” Kat couldn’t identify the feelings running through her. Part of her was excited at the thought he might be caught. But another larger part was afraid of what would happen when she came face to face with him. It was hard enough looking at Anthony all the time. But now, knowing it was Jeremy, what would she do? Could she pull the trigger?

  She tried to take deep breaths as they walked up to his door. Knowing he was just on the other side of it, her hands started to shake and she was afraid she’d start hyperventilating and pass out.

  “Maintenance,” Jackson called as he pounded on the door, making sure to stand where no one from the room could see him. They could hear someone inside the room moving around but not answering the door. He pounded again. “Maintenance. Open up now.”

  They heard the lock turn and they watched as the knob slowly started to move.

  “No!” she screamed. They’d found him. Her vision tunneled so all she could see was the two of them at his door. She had to do something quickly so they wouldn’t catch him. He was hers to play with. He had to suffer like the women he killed did. With her fingers crossed that her ID would hold up, she put her car in gear and raced toward Jackson’s parked Camaro, bracing for impact.

  Jeremy had just started to open the door when he heard a crash so loud he could actually feel it. He caught a quick glance of the two people waiting by his door. He knew who it was. While they were turned around looking at the wreckage, he quickly slammed the door without bothering to lock it and ran out the back, not slowing down until he was deep in the forest.

  Kat and Jackson turned back around when they heard the door slam behind them.

  “Fuck,” Jackson said as he flung the door open and looked around the room, searching for Jeremy. When he got to the back, he saw that there was a rear exit. He made a mental note to check for other ways out of motels the next time. Assuming there would be a next time. He didn’t look to see if Kat was following him. He was single-minded in his pursuit. Knowing that Jeremy couldn’t be that far ahead of him, he kept running until his knee finally gave out.

  He stopped, his hands resting on his knees, his breath coming in deep, ragged gasps, searching, always keeping his eyes open to make sure Jeremy didn’t sneak up on him. He’d caught a glimpse of him further up the trail; he knew he was around here somewhere.

  Limping back to the motel, he cursed himself for letting Jeremy get away and for not keeping track of Kat. Hoping she was still back at the motel was the only thing that kept him going. His knee was throbbing and he could barely put any weight on it, but he had to get back to her. She was his sole motivation for putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that Jeremy could sneak up behind him at any point and bash his brains in.

  Kat paced back and forth by Jackson’s wrecked Camaro. The woman who ran into his car said she swerved to miss a cat. The police had shown up and were getting the information from her. Kat had called Evie figuring she was the best, since Jackson was her brother. She didn’t want to worry Lexi and if she had called Noah, Lexi would have been worried.

  Kat felt so exposed out here by herself, and she worried about Jackson. She was worried that somehow Jeremy had gotten the upper hand and killed Jackson. What would she do if she lost him just as she found him again? When she heard a powerful engine pull up she glanced over knowing it was Evie, what she wasn’t ready for was Anthony with her. She should have known he’d come with her, but still, seeing him right now when she was just about crawling out of her skin waiting for Jackson to return, was almost more than she could stand.

  “Where is he?” Evie demanded.

  Kat spread her hands out. “I don’t know. He took off out the back door after Jeremy. He hasn’t come back.”

  “How long has it been?”

  “I don’t know, it seems like forever.”

  “What do you know?”

  “Evie. Be nice. Think of how you’d be in this situation,” Anthony calmly stated.

  “Damn it! My brother is out there running around with some psychopath and we’re just standing here …” Evie stopped when from around the corner of the building they saw Jackson limp toward them.

  “Jackson!” Kat raced toward him and didn’t notice Anthony hold Evie back from following her.

  “I was so worried.” She buried her face in his neck and wrapped her arms around him. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

  “Oh, baby, you don’t have to worry about me.” He squeezed her tightly. “He got away. And it looks like my Camaro is totaled. This is shaping up to be a great day.”

  “Yeah, and now your sister is here.”

  He looked over at Evie. “What’s she doing here?”

  “I called her. I knew we were going to need a ride and I figured out of everyone she was probably the best one to call.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. Shit. There’s going to be hell to pay when she figures everything out.”

  Kat knew he wasn’t just talking about their adventure today, but the fact that they were more than just a couple of people working together.

  “Let’s check out his room, with everything going on I hadn’t had a chance to.”

  “Well, I’m glad you didn’t go in there, if he had doubled-back I’d hate for him to have caught you in there. Let’s see what we can find before we have to talk to the cops.”

  As they walked to his room, she noticed that Evie and Anthony were following closely behind them. “Looks like we’ve got company.”

  “Yeah, there’s no way she’d miss out on this. We’re going to have to make it quick.” Jackson nodded toward the cops. “Looks like they are almost done with the lady who hit my car.”

  They all entered the room at the same time and without a word to each other, started searching it. Everything seemed normal; nothing out of the ordinary until Anthony pulled up the mattress and in-between was a diary. They all looked at each other. Evie finally reached down and grabbed it, putting it in her purse while Anthony put the bed back the way it was. They had just turned around when a police officer came to the door to ask them questions.

  She couldn’t believe her luck. Everything had worked out the best way possible. Jeremy was on the run, but she had a way to track him so wherever he showed up, she’d be able to continue her surveillance. She had also just cleaned his room so well, finding any kind of DNA was going to be difficult, especially since he’d also spent a great deal of time doing his own cleaning. Nothing was lost, and as a bonus no one paid much attention to her because they were all too busy worrying about where Jeremy was. Being that close to four of the central players, especially Anthony who looked so much like Jeremy it was frightening, without them knowing who she was made her feel powerful, like she could do anything to anyone and get away with it.

  The image of her standing strong, while men bowed to her, was completely different from the image of her growing up. This image she craved, this was the one she wanted to become.

  Jeremy clutched the picture he had just found in his journal in his hand. He’d kept it with him since he discovered it. He had no idea where it came from, could he have taken it and not remembered? So many things were becoming fuzzy now. He sat on the ground looking at it, at them. He was outside the restaurant that night, right? Not inside. No, not inside. Then how did this picture end up in his journal? When was it taken?

  He brought the picture up to his face and licked them; his eyes closed in pleasure, dreaming of the day when he’d be able to lick their dead bodies from head to toe.

  Jackson sat with his foot propped up
on the coffee table and a huge bag of ice wrapped around his knee. He could tell that Kat was full of nervous energy, as she never sat still. He felt like someone was staring at him; looking over, he saw his sister giving him the evil eye before looking at Kat. He knew this wasn’t going to end well. He only hoped that Evie would talk with him before going off on Kat. Hoping to distract her, he tried to bring the focus back to Jeremy. “Anything useful?” he asked Anthony.

  Flipping through some of the pages, Anthony looked up at Jackson after a moment, his eyes haunted. “Too much. We know he’s a monster, but he’s truly obsessed with the three of them. He sees them as failures, as what turned his luck from good to bad. He feels if he can somehow kill them ‘again’, his words not mine; he will get his luck back.”

  “Then there is this.” Anthony showed them the pages and pages of Jeremy’s writing; their names crossed out along with things like ‘fuck them while they die’, ‘save their blood, mix and drink’, ‘burn it out of them’, ‘remove eyes and cut into little pieces’, ‘shred tongue while still alive’, I could go on. They only get worse from here.”

  After a moment, Anthony continued, “There are times when he thinks he killed them and they have somehow come back from the dead to torment him. He’s trying to find a way to kill them for good. But also, he knows he can’t live forever. He wants to know what the secret is to coming back from the dead.”

  “What the fuck? Can he get any more demented?” Evie asked.

  “Do you really want to ask that question? You’ll jinx it and he will,” Lexi replied dryly.

  “Does it say anything about what his plans are?” Noah asked as he rubbed Lexi’s back.

  “He wants to kill all three of them together. He feels that is the best way; however, he’s not opposed to killing them one by one. As far as I can tell, he’s going to keep them somewhere alive until he’s got all three. But if he ends up killing one, or more, before all three are together, he’s fine with that. He’ll just ‘preserve’ the bodies. He thinks he is smarter than us. He knows what is going on and will use it to his advantage.”

  “So, what? All of this is for nothing?” Kat asked. “He’ll get to us anyway?”

  “No, it’s not for nothing. We are all in this together. We’ll win, and I’ll tell you why.” Kat edged closer to Anthony as he spoke. He held the book out to her. “What do you see here?”

  With shaking hands, she took the book from him and started to read aloud. “I’ve been so lost for so many years. Why do they all leave me? Mommy? Where are you? Fucking whore. No one leaves me. I’ll fuck you when you’re dead just like dear old Dad did to Mom after he killed her in front of me. Why won’t they stay? Am I that unlovable? Mommy I need you. I’m so tired of hiding like you told me to.”

  “I think he’s starting to lose it. This may be the edge we need to take him down,” Noah said.

  “That’s what I was thinking as I read this. He goes from very organized thoughts and plans in the beginning to rambling on and switching thoughts and plans.” Anthony took the book back from Kat and pointed to a specific place in the book. “Here, this is where he goes from one extreme to the other. ‘They know everything, they’ve found everything, I couldn’t kill her, and I couldn’t kill them. I’m a failure. This is the only link to my past, this dirty journal; everything else is gone. Gone. Gone like her soul. The soul I could never possess. They’re mine. All mine. Where are my pictures? Where are my tools? I need to kill. No wait, I need to run. I haven’t had to run since my father was alive. Why, why Daddy, why did you beat me? Why couldn’t Mommy leave? Why did she want to leave without me? Kill. Kill. I need to kill them all.’” Anthony shook his head as if trying to get the words out of his mind. “That was dated the day after he tried to kill Evie. The day he became the hunted.”

  Kat walked up to her room slowly. It had been a long day, full of highs and lows. Just knowing how sick and twisted Jeremy had become, made her want to keep looking over her shoulder. She was seriously worried about nightmares tonight and wondered if she should lock her door. Something she never did. When she entered her room, she stopped and looked around, not sure if she had been so lost in thought she’d gone to the wrong room.

  “You’re in the right room,” Jackson said from behind her.

  She spun around to face him. “Why is there another bed in my room?”

  “As much as I want to, I am assuming you don’t want to share your bed with me and cuddle the night away like we used to.” When she continued to stare at him, he pushed past her and into the room. “Come on, baby, I know with everything that happened today you are going to be a little freaked out. Not to mention, I’m a little freaked out and would feel better being closer to you. Lexi and Noah are together, so are Evie and Anthony. Please let me stay here with you and protect you.”

  She didn’t want to admit it to him, but having him here would allow her to sleep better. “Fine. But don’t think I won’t kick you out if you start snoring.”

  Grinning at her, he said, “Baby, it wasn’t me who snored,” and ducked when she threw a pillow at him, just like he expected her to. It drove her crazy that after all this time, he still knew her so well. But he was right; she would feel better with him in the same room as her. Knowing that he was just a few feet away all night long might not be easier, but getting through the night and the possible nightmares would be.

  Jeremy made his way slowly to the farmhouse. He was thankful he had studied the map so well, cutting through the forest hadn’t been his first choice but it was better than the alternative.

  He clutched his phone in one hand. He really didn’t know why it felt so important to have it with him, but he always seemed to have it close by. Maybe it was the pictures he had downloaded from the internet. Pictures of women he’d killed that were plastered all over the news sites. It was all he had left.

  There was no electricity to the barn, but that didn’t worry him; he had it in the house. Lighting a lantern, he looked around the room. He’d set up three beds waiting for them, knowing he’d have them here at some point. He began to stroke himself as he got hard thinking about the three of them chained to the beds, and going from one to another slamming into them as their bodies cooled in death.

  She was surprised that he went to the farmhouse. It was sooner than she expected, but she had spent the prior day out there setting up her equipment after he’d left, so there was nothing to worry about. She could continue to monitor him and pick the perfect time to make him curse the day he’d started down this path, and each and every day afterwards. Retribution would be hers. She’d give the women the justice they so rightly deserved. She would have the power to show him how wrong he was. How much it hurt.

  Since the Halloween party was coming up, Kat was being fitted for a baby bump that would match Lexi’s. It was a gel based filler and when you touched it, it would move and felt like an actual pregnant belly. The ladies sat around trying to think of costumes. Once the Troublesome Trio entered the room and talked about what to dress up as, all of the men decided they had better things to do and quickly left.

  “You know I’ve got a great idea. You’ll love this. Are you ready?” Leigh asked as she stood up.

  “No,” Evie and Lexi said at the same time.

  Kat had to hide her smile at the look on Leigh’s face when they were both so quick to stop her.

  “Well, I’m only trying to help. You haven’t even heard it yet.” Leigh sat down in a huff and crossed her arms across her chest.

  “If it were up to you, I’d barely be wearing anything, and I know you’d want Noah just about naked,” Lexi said dryly.

  “So, what’s wrong with that?” asked Evelyne. “Naked men are good. Real good.”

  “While I can’t argue with that, she does have a point,” Marie said. “Jackson is going to have to take Noah’s place. They don’t have the same tattoos. It’d be a dead giveaway.”

  “Well, shit, there goes my idea. You’re right, Marie, we’ll have
to think of something where Noah and Jackson are more covered up since they don’t look as much alike as Lexi and Kat do,” Leigh said.

  “Are they having any kind of theme to the party? Because that could help.” Kat queried while she stood there and had her measurements taken for the fake baby bump to match Lexi’s. She hadn’t really considered that she was actually going to have a baby bump; something she would never be able to experience in real life. Following orders, she turned around and looked out the window. Staring blankly at the storm as waves crashed on the beach, she remembered the pain and shock that had ripped through her body when the doctors told her she’d never be able to have children.

  She had fallen into a black hole of depression that had lasted years. Even now, she knew she could slip back down there, never to climb out. She felt like she was right there, grasping the edge, grasping for happiness, but one false move and she’d fall. She knew she didn’t want to go back to being the person she was, but changing was just as scary.

  Looking down, she saw the men standing out on the patio pointing to the sky and it looked to her like they were arguing. It had taken her awhile, but she was finally starting to relax around Anthony. It had taken her much longer than Lexi, but she wasn’t as forgiving as Lexi. And Noah, she had always felt that Noah was like a brother to her, even when she was just an employee guarding the person most precious to him.

  Then there was Jackson. The man she had fallen in love with so many years ago. At that point, she was already broken and trying to find information on Lexi to exact her own revenge on her attacker who, at the time, she thought was Anthony. She had lost track of what her goal was and fell for Jackson until that night she’d had that nightmare. The one that brought everything back. She couldn’t look him in the eye after that and had snuck out in the middle of the night after he had fallen back to sleep. She didn’t like him knowing how damaged she was, how she could never be whole. She had honestly never expected to see him again, but now that she had, and he had pretty much told her she wasn’t going to be sneaking away from him again, she didn’t know what would be coming next. What she wanted next. Well, she knew what she wanted, but that wasn’t ever going to happen. Not for someone like her.