Page 68 of Her Final Hours
He chuckled at the thought of him being read the riot act by his brothers in blue. What an embarrassment that was. He’d been longing to do that for ages. The ideal situation was he would let Ray attack him and then turn around and have his badge taken and him tossed in jail. They would chew him up inside. Cops were despised, even more so if he called in a favor to a friend. There were still those inside that owed him. Folks he’d covered for, helped, and gone the extra mile for.
Oh, the ripple effect of that one would be beautiful.
The Sutherlands’ reputation in town would go down in flames. He laughed hard, thinking of the talk in the city. Her old man would probably keel over and have a heart attack. Wouldn’t that be a gift that kept on giving? Then there would be Noah. One more thorn in his side, an easy one to handle. He never wanted to be in High Peaks, the last he heard. Maybe he could convince him to quietly leave with his tail between his legs and hold on to whatever little reputation he had left.
It was good to dream.
But first, he had to reconnect with Maddie. Help her see the light. Three days might not change her mind, but it could surely dent her psyche. Solitary had taught him that. Throw a man in a 6 x 9 cell for days; even the hardest would break. And that’s all she needed, a little convincing, a little time alone to chew thingsover — the mistakes, the missed opportunities, and the real jewel to be found.
But that meant taking care of one little hurdle in the road.
Her boyfriend.
He could wait till evening, but why bother? The gloom of snow had already darkened the sky, and raids by U.S. Marshals were always conducted in the early hours. People were tired, off guard, and not expecting someone to bust down their door.
And these two lovebirds were still resting.
He got out of the truck, clutching a bag in his hands. Tools rattled inside, items that would come in handy to make his point. He abandoned his vehicle on a side street and trudged through the snow, cutting around the back of a house and across another road until he had her home in sight. Confidently, he marched up the driveway without a care in the world, relishing what he was about to do.
He glanced off to his right and left. Most neighbors were dead to the world. Others were awake but busy funneling their generators with gas to keep things ticking. Hidden by a curtain of snow, he sidled up the side of Maddie’s home and made it to the back. He approached the window he’d jimmied open the day before when he broke in. It was still not fixed. Typical. They bought the whole front door busted open but never thought about the purpose of his visit.
Indeed, he got a kick from destroying her photos and laying her lingerie on the bed before jerking off. But that was just for kicks and giggles. No, he was pre-planning, setting the home up for his entry today.
He shifted up the window that fed into the mudroom and listened quietly for voices.
Nothing. No dog. No cat. No TV. No conversation. Just the way he had imagined it. Tommy stuck his bag of tricks throughthe window and crawled in, his heart rate picking up with excitement.
Inside, he removed his boots so he wouldn’t be heard and worked his way into the house, eyeing the empty living room and open-concept kitchen. He smiled at the absence of framed photos. Good girl. You don’t want to upset me today, he thought.
Without hesitation, he ascended the staircase, careful to tread only on the steps that didn’t creak. Another reason why he visited the house before. To become familiar with the layout and every sound.
Tommy turned onto the landing and eyed the main bedroom. The door was ajar. He set his bag down, took out some zip ties and a rubber mallet, and slowly pushed the door wide. There, in the bed, were two mounds.
He entered and stood at the foot of the bed, breathing in the warmth, allowing his fury to rise like a flame creeping higher. Then, without mercy, he made his way around to the side where the boyfriend was and raised the mallet.
24
Thursday, March 22, 8:02 a.m.
“For the last time, I have nothing to say!” Caleb Mitchell screamed over the intercom. The conversation with the next person of interest was like night and day compared to the Lucas Blackwood interview. Caleb wanted nothing to do with the police. The fact that they had managed to track him down after he’d upped and left his previous two addresses must have been a big enough shock.
Add to that their request to talk about a two-decade-old case, and they were right to expect the cold shoulder from him.
The former taxi driver in High Peaks had fallen under scrutiny at the time for two reasons — his likeness to the composite released after Payton Scott went missing, and an alleged sexual assault not long after followed by accusations close to home.
Callie was on the phone with Rishi, getting an update on the NCIC offline search, when McKenzie pressed the Nest doorbell. The house was a modern, prefabricated abode nestled amidstthe breathtaking landscape of Au Sable Forks. Despite the heavy snowfall, the house stood out, firm and inviting, its architecture harmonizing with the surrounding beauty.
The two-story structure boasted clean lines and a minimalist design, yet with a touch of rustic charm. The exterior was clad in rich cedar paneling with warm hues. The roof of the house sloped gently, allowing the snow to slide off its surface gracefully. Some of which had fallen on McKenzie on the way, causing an outburst of profanity that only a Scotsman would approve. Still, it garnered a smile from Callie.
McKenzie leaned forward, speaking into the hidden microphone and doing his best to convince the man that he wasn’t in trouble. He’d been pressing him to give them a moment of his time for the past five minutes.
“I just don’t see what the problem is here.”
“Law enforcement has done nothing but hound me. I want to be left alone.”
“We are more than willing to do that, but we just had a few questions.”
“I answered them all twenty-five years ago.”
