The Right Woman Read online

  “Step up the pace,” Bill said. “We have to find him.” He looked at Daniel. “This is going to be an all-nighter so it’s best if Ms. Welch went back to your place. We’ll post guards inside and out and everything should be fine. This guy’s probably on the run now.”

  “Okay,” Daniel replied, staring at Sarah. He wanted to stay with her, but he had a job to do. He took her arm and led her away from the others.

  “Are you okay with that?”

  “Yes,” she answered. “Like your lieutenant said, this guy knows the cops are on to him and he’s on the run.”

  “I’ll check in when I get the chance.”

  “I don’t guess I can kiss you.” She gave a small smile, glancing at the other officers.

  Daniel guided her down the hall and around the corner and kissed her deeply. He leaned his forehead against hers. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “You better,” she whispered and saw Chad coming down the hall. She pulled back and Daniel gave Chad his orders. She walked away with Chad, but looked back at Daniel and had an eerie feeling that she couldn’t shake.

  WITHIN MINUTES it seemed, she was in Daniel’s condo sitting on a sofa hugging a pillow and longing for Daniel. Chad and Ron, another officer, were searching the house. Two other officers were outside. They conversed through two-way radios so everyone would know what was going on inside and out.

  Sarah was drained and went upstairs, planning to take a shower, but decided to lie down for a bit. She kicked off her sneakers and curled up on the bed, thinking about Daniel and hoping he was safe.

  She must have dozed off because she woke up to loud voices.

  She charged down the stairs. “What is it?”

  “Daniel’s brother is outside wanting to see Daniel. We can’t make him understand that Daniel’s not here,” Chad said.

  Drew probably thought he and Daniel were going fishing. “Let him in and I’ll talk to him. Maybe I can get him to understand.”

  Chad hesitated, then, “Okay, but make it quick.” He went to the front door, turned off the alarm and spoke to Mac, an officer outside. Ron stood a few feet away. Chad opened the door and Drew came in.

  “I—I—I come to see Daniel,” Drew said, looking at Chad, Ron, then Sarah. “W-w-why…why are cops here, Sarah? Where’s Daniel?”

  She went to him. “He’s at work.”

  Drew frowned. “Make them put their guns away. They scare me.”

  “It’s okay, Drew,” she tried to pacify him. “It’s late and you shouldn’t be out. Where’s your caretaker?”

  Drew shrugged. “Don’t know. I—I—I ran away—have to talk to Daniel.” The look on Drew’s face bothered her. He was on something. She knew that drugged look; she’d seen it before.

  Sarah was struggling for a way to handle this without bothering Daniel. “We’ll call you a cab to take you back to your place, then I’ll phone Daniel and have him get in touch with you. Will that be okay?”

  “I—I—I guess.”

  Sarah nodded at Ron and he went into the kitchen to call a cab.

  “Daniel will phone as soon as he can,” she told Drew.

  “H-h-he’s mad at me.”

  Sarah smiled at him. “No, he isn’t. Daniel’s not like that.”

  “He’s a good guy,” Drew stated.

  “Yes, he is,” Sarah agreed, watching Drew closely. He kept looking around as if he didn’t know where he was.

  “Time to go,” Chad said, then spoke into the radio, “Mac, he’s coming out.”

  There was no response.

  “Mac, is everything okay?”

  Still nothing.

  “Mac…”

  A loud boom sounded and the front door flew open. Everything happened so fast that Sarah didn’t have time to do anything. A man rushed in and fired two quick shots, one at Chad, the other at Ron. Sarah’s whole body froze in abject fear. It was him—the guard from Teasers. Bear. She recognized him. He was a big, heavily muscled man with hair sheared close to his head. The gun was now pointed at her. A scream solidified in her throat. It all happened in a split second.

  “W-w-why’d you shoot them, Claude?” Drew asked, his voice thick.

  “Shut up, you stupid idiot!”

  Sarah was trying to stay calm. She glanced at Chad and saw blood oozing from his chest. She had to help him. Bending down, she checked his pulse to see if he was breathing. There was a faint heartbeat. He was still alive. Thank God. Ron was in the breakfast area, lying perfectly still. She made a step toward him.

  “Stay right there, you bitch,” Claude snarled.

  “These men need a doctor.” She was amazed how calm her voice sounded.

  Claude smiled a sinister smile and her skin crawled. “Don’t worry about them, baby. You should be worried about yourself.”

  “Y-y-you can’t hurt her, Claude,” Drew said, his words becoming thicker. “S-s-she’s Daniel’s girlfriend.”

  “You stupid idiot,” Claude hissed.

  “Y-y-you say I get in Daniel’s house you give me more heroin.”

  “Here’s your heroin.” Claude backhanded Drew across the face and knocked him against the wall.

  Drew crumpled to the floor, whimpering, “Y-y-you mean.”

  Her gun was in her purse, which was in a chair about six feet away. She took a step in that direction. Poor Drew! Evidently Claude, or Bear, or whatever he was called, was manipulating him with drugs. She took another step.

  Claude turned to her. “Now, Ms. Sarah Welch, you and I are gonna have some fun.”

  She fought the nausea churning in her stomach. To stay alive until Daniel got here, she had to keep him talking. She had to use all her skills to do that since revulsion was in every beat of her racing heart.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “For money, baby, and lots of it.”

  “Boyd’s paying you?” She took another step.

  “Not exactly,” Claude sneered. “He’s in jail, as you well know, but he has some valuable holdings that will be mine and Arnie’s.”

  “And for that you’re raping and killing young women.” She couldn’t keep the horror out of her voice.

  It didn’t faze him, though. “Rudy’s a smart dude. He wouldn’t give it all to us at once. After I did each girl, we got so much. You, Sarah baby, are the big payoff. Rudy wants to know every little detail of what I do to you and the cops will have nothing to trace it to Arnie or me.”

  She swallowed hard. “Why did Boyd want Daniel to investigate the crimes?” She had to keep the questions coming—to keep him busy.

  “The needle in the arm was brilliant. Garrett, the heroin expert, was all over it.”

  “Was it because of Drew?” She took another step toward her purse.

  “You’re pretty smart, Sarah baby.”

  She shivered but she didn’t let it show.

  “Boyd was Drew’s drug connection in college.”

  Sarah gasped, unable to stop herself.

  “Yeah. Drew had plenty of money and Boyd sold him all he wanted. The more his parents pressured him about his grades, his future, the more heroin he took until finally, well, you know the rest.” He glanced at Drew’s slumped form. “He’s a blubbering idiot.”

  “Did Boyd sell Drew drugs after the overdose?”

  “Yep. As soon as Drew went home from the hospital, he called Boyd. His brain doesn’t work too well, but he knows he wants drugs.”

  “Why didn’t Boyd mention this to Daniel after he was arrested? It would have been a way to get back at him.” She was trying to get all the information she could. Daniel would need it.

  Claude’s lip curled back. “Boyd ain’t stupid. He had a plan to really stick it to Garrett. After what happened to Drew, Garrett was gung-ho about getting the big drug dealers. When he made detective, his number-one goal was to put Rudy behind bars and he never knew Rudy was Drew’s drug source. Rudy liked it that way. Drew was very profitable and he didn’t want Garrett stopping that. Rudy always managed
to stay one step ahead of Garrett. He knew about the surprise raids, he knew every move Garrett and his boys made.”

  Sarah took a breath. “How?”

  “Shut up, you damn bitch!” Claude shouted, the questions getting to him. “Boyd should have shot you like he did your boyfriend, but he wanted you in the worst way and he wanted you to suffer before he slit your throat. Everything snowballed after that—your sister came looking for you, Ethan Ramsey got involved and Garrett was there to finally nail Rudy. It should’ve been over, but Rudy’s been waiting to even the score with Garrett.”

  “How?” she asked again.

  “The plan was for me to get close to Drew and get him so hooked on drugs that he’d take another overdose. The plan changed slightly when Rudy decided he might be able to beat a death sentence by trading his life for the young women of Dallas.”

  “How did you become Drew’s caretaker?” She’d thought the Garretts were more astute than to hire a criminal.

  “I took my cousin Claude’s identity. He was a male nurse and died in a car accident seven years ago. He had an impeccable record and the Garretts didn’t check for a death certificate and neither did Mr. Detective. He was so busy tying up all the loose ends with Rudy that he left a door wide open.”

  And like a vermin you slipped right through. She took another step closer to her purse. “You won’t get away with this.”

  “I have so far.”

  “They’ll catch you,” she insisted.

  His lips curled back again. “Sarah baby, nothing is gonna interfere with this night. I watched you take your clothes off at Teasers and I watched Rudy drool all over you, but tonight you’re mine.”

  She made a dive for her purse, her hand finding the gun immediately. She gripped it tightly and released the safety. Before she could aim, Claude was on top of her.

  “You bitch,” he snarled.

  The weaker Sarah of five years ago would have crumbled easily, but this Sarah was determined to fight. A man wasn’t taking advantage of her again. She’d fight to her last breath. She kicked out with her arms and legs and they tumbled to the floor. The fall jarred the gun loose from her fingers. It spun a few feet away. She clawed to reach it before Claude.

  “D-d-don’t hurt her,” Drew muttered, coming out of his stupor. He clutched Claude’s feet and Claude turned the gun on Drew and fired. Drew’s body jerked then went limp, blood seeping from his stomach.

  “Ohmygod! Ohmygod!” The fight went out of Sarah and she tried to get to Drew, to help him. Claude grabbed her around the waist and hauled her toward the stairs. His arms were solid and strong and she could barely breathe, but she knew she had to stay alive so Daniel could know the truth. Like five years ago, she’d use her body any way she had to to accomplish that.

  Any way.

  IT WAS AFTER ELEVEN and Daniel and Russ still had no trace of Melvin Jenkins, so they decided to question Arnie again. He knew where Bear was and they intended to get an answer. Hannah hadn’t pressed them to release him and spending a few hours in jail made Arnie surlier than usual.

  “I’m not telling you bastards a goddamn thing,” Arnie spat.

  Daniel laid some photos in front of him. “Take a look at your guy’s handiwork. These are the two girls he raped and murdered.”

  Arnie turned his head. Russ caught Arnie’s head with both hands and turned it so he had to look. “Take a good look,” Russ demanded.

  “The one on the left is Janet, twenty-two, just received a degree in journalism and was working for a newspaper,” Daniel informed him. “The one on the right is Lori, twenty-one, a student in elementary education. Two beautiful young women with their whole futures ahead of them, but it was snuffed out just like that.” He snapped his fingers in Arnie’s face.

  “I didn’t have anything to do with those murders,” he mumbled, and Russ released his head.

  “You ordered them,” Daniel said.

  “You can’t prove it.”

  Daniel placed both hands on the table and leaned in close to Arnie’s face. “Tom Hudson,” he spoke the name slowly.

  “Is that suppose to mean something?”

  Daniel nodded. “He’s the snitch in our department working for Boyd—and now working for you. He’s talking his head off to save his own hide.”

  Arnie didn’t say anything, but Daniel could see he wasn’t quite so pompous anymore so he pushed further. He tapped the photos. “When a jury sees these photos and hears Tom’s testimony, there’ll be a cell on death row with your name on it.”

  “I want to see my lawyer,” Arnie spouted.

  “Well, Arnie,” Russ said. “That high-powered attorney from Austin you called hasn’t shown up. Guess you’re not his number one priority.” Russ opened a door and a man stepped in. “This is Wendell Groves, a court-appointed attorney.”

  “Get that idiot out of my sight. He doesn’t know the first thing about being a defense attorney.”

  “Are you refusing counsel?”

  “You’re damn right.”

  “You heard the man,” Russ said to Wendell. “Your services aren’t required.”

  “Are you sure, Mr. Bishop?” Wendell asked.

  “Damn sure.”

  Wendell quietly left.

  “I wanna go back to my cell,” Arnie muttered.

  Daniel got into his face again. “Listen, you sleazebag, you’re not going anywhere until you tell me where Bear is. Do you understand me?”

  “It’s too late anyway.” Arnie glared at him.

  “What?” Daniel strained to catch what he was saying.

  “It’s too late,” Arnie shouted. “Can’t you hear?”

  “Why is it too late?” Daniel asked.

  Arnie glanced at the big clock on the wall. It was eleven forty-five. “He was supposed to kill her by midnight.”

  “Kill who?”

  Arnie stared directly at Daniel, a sly smile on his thin lips. “Sarah Welch.”

  The blood drained from Daniel’s face and he could feel it seeping from his body, leaving him defenseless and weak. He jerked up and tore out the door with one thought on his mind—to get to Sarah.

  He ran out the building to his car. As he backed out, Russ yanked open the passenger door and leaped in. Daniel turned the siren on and they blared through the night.

  “Slow down, Daniel,” Russ said. “You’ll kill us both. I’m trying to get Chad on the phone.” Russ frantically poked out numbers on his cell phone. There was no answer.

  Daniel pressed his foot down, praying, hoping she was still alive.

  Hang on, Sarah.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  DANIEL WAS OUT of the car before it came to a complete stop. He went in with his gun drawn; Russ was a step behind and backup was on the way. They found Mac and another officer first. Daniel felt for the pulse in the officer’s neck.

  “He’s dead,” he murmured in a stiff voice.

  “Mac’s still alive,” Russ said, and called for an ambulance.

  Daniel ran toward the house, not thinking, just reacting with steel-like precision.

  “Let me go first,” Russ appealed. “We don’t know what we’ll find in here.”

  “No. I have to do this. Cover my back.”

  “Daniel…”

  Daniel wasn’t listening. He wasn’t feeling, either. He was frozen inside and he let his training, his cop instincts, take over. Slowly he moved to the front door. The lock was broken and swung open easily. He stepped inside the foyer, looking around, an eerie quiet permeated the place and he moved to the den then… He stopped dead at the scene in front of him and a sharp, paralyzing pain shot through him.

  “My God,” Russ uttered as he took in the bloody sight.

  Daniel fell down by Drew, trying to keep his emotions at bay. “Drew, buddy,” he whispered, feeling for a pulse. He was still alive. Air gushed from Daniel’s lungs.

  “Chad’s alive—barely,” Russ said as he checked him and moved to Ron. “Goddammit. Ron’s dead.”

&
nbsp; “Buddy, can you hear me?” Daniel asked.

  “D-D-Danny.”

  “Yes.” Daniel swallowed. “It’s me.”

  “H-h-he killed her. I’m sorry.”

  Daniel had to swallow again. “Where’s Sarah, buddy?” Where is Sarah!

  “He killed her,” Drew said again.

  His heart slammed into his chest, restricting his breathing. “Who killed her?” he asked with a tremor in his voice.

  “D-D-Daniel,” Drew gasped. “I’m sorry.”

  Sirens could be heard in the distance. “Hold on, buddy. The ambulance is coming.”

  “I’ll check upstairs,” Russ said.

  “No.” Daniel got to his feet and took the stairs two at a time. The bedroom door was locked and he kicked it in with his foot. He took the room in at a glance. Claude stood with an arm around Sarah’s neck, a gun pointed at her temple. Sarah had a bra and jeans on and her hair was in disarray. She was alive, was all he could think. She is alive.

  “Hello, Detective,” Claude sneered. “You’re a little early.”

  “Melvin Jenkins,” Daniel said, holding his gun squarely on him. It finally came together in his head as Boyd’s words played out a sickening echo. In ways you’ll never imagine. The rapist and murderer was Claude, alias Melvin Jenkins, alias Bear, Drew’s caretaker. A violent scenario put together for revenge—revenge against him. The thought threatened to cripple him, but he fought it. He had to get Sarah away from him.

  “Let her go,” he said, his words sharp. “This is between you and me.”

  “Wrong, Detective.” Claude laughed. “It’s between you and Rudy. I’m just the messenger.”

  “And you’ll die his messenger.”

  “Don’t think so. I’m walking out of here very much alive.”

  “Hear those sirens?” Daniel brought his attention to the sirens that were getting closer. “For you to walk out of here alive you’d have to be God.”

  “No one’s going to touch me as long as I have her.” He tightened his arm around Sarah’s neck.