Page 77 of The Drowned Woman
“Iama chemist. With access to any number of industrial poisons. Things no doctor would ever dream of testing for. If you’re smart and careful, you can create any symptom you want in a person.”
“But why?” Luka was doing more than stalling. If he got out of this, Leah would need as many details as possible to treat Risa.
“She couldn’t focus on me—the real me—if she was galivanting around the world writing her stories, now could she? I needed her home, dependent. On me. But Risa, she’s like a thoroughbred, strong, stubborn, so independent. So I had to… break her.”
“By dosing her with poisons?”
Jack merely shrugged.
“You were meant to be at the hospital with Risa and Leah—”
“I was.”
It was clear Jack wouldn’t harm Risa, but… “Where’s Leah?”
“Safe. For now.” Jack’s lips thinned as if daring Luka to ask again, to beg or plead for Leah’s life.
Luka didn’t give him what he so obviously wanted, instead moving to another subject. “How’d you fake the live streaming video from this morning? Vogel’s death?”
“I see what you’re doing.” Jack chuckled. “Pretending to be interested, stalling. As if that would save you.” He gunned the van. It roared forward, rammed the sedan, forcing it to the water’s edge. “I don’t mind. The video was child’s play. I simply changed the clock on the camera, synced it to when I had the text scheduled to be sent, drove back to Risa’s and waited.”
“What’s the story you’re telling with all this, Jack?” Luka asked. Get him talking about himself, the one topic he couldn’t resist.
“The story of a podunk cop who stumbled across a serial killer and let him get away with murder.” Jack reversed the van again.
“Kill us and the police will never stop looking for you.”
“Not me. Dominic—thanks to his DNA and prints being all over the crime scene. Believe me, no one will ever find his body. As for poor Jack O’Brien, they’ll find plenty of evidence on Dom’s computer that he’s been stalking Jack for years, was obsessed with Risa—also his motive for killing poor, stupid Cliff. After tonight everyone will believe Jack was one more victim of the Chaos Killer, Dominic Massimo.”
He nudged the gas and hit the Honda, ramming its front wheels into the water.
Jack slammed the brakes. With his hands behind his back, Luka was jolted into the dashboard. When he caught his breath and was able to push himself back upright in the seat, Jack had reversed the van a few yards, far enough for the headlights to offer a good view of the sedan, its front bumper lashed by the rushing water.
“Perfect,” Jack said with a grin. Then he surprised Luka by jumping out and dancing through the rain to Luka’s side of the car. He opened Luka’s door, grabbed his arm, and jerked him out of the seat. Luka went sprawling into the mud, Jack standing over him.
“Poor, pitiful Luka. The wannabe poet turned wannabe cop—as if carrying a badge would give you what you really need.”
“And what’s that?”
“Power. You wrap yourself in guilt, as if you had any control over Cherise’s life or death. You mope around all sad about losing the love of your life when there are plenty of women out there, if you’d just stand up and take one.”
Luka forced himself to a sitting position, ignoring the rain and mud soaking his slacks, ignoring the gun in Jack’s hand. There was a way out of this, he just needed time to think. “Like you’re taking Risa?”
“Risa is different. She understands me—but she’s not afraid. She sees my power and she wants to know more, not run away. That’s what makes her special. Different from all the rest of you. You’re all so blind, willing to let fate, destiny, God, whatever, control your lives, like you’re rats in a maze. Well, I am Fate, I am Destiny, I am God. And it’s your turn to play my game, Luka.”
Jack dangled a key ring with a handcuff key above Luka’s head. “If you want to save your friend, Dr. Wright…” He nodded to the Honda straddling the river’s edge. “Just say the word. Your choice, Luka. Come after me, try to stop me—or play the hero. Which will it be?”
He was bluffing, Luka thought. Because… because Jack lied. Maybe he’d never even taken Leah, maybe she was already dead. But could Luka risk that? “Give me the key.”
When Jack didn’t move, Luka pushed himself up to his feet and lunged toward Jack. “I said, give me the key.”
“Sure, Luka.” Jack’s grin gleamed in the glare of the headlights. He pocketed the handcuff key. “But first, I need to buy some time. Come with me.”
He led Luka to the driver’s side door of the Honda, their feet sinking into the mud and gravel of the riverbank. All the windows on the Honda were down, Luka saw.
Jack kept his pistol trained on Luka as he opened the door, shoved Luka into the driver’s seat, and threaded Luka’s handcuffs through the steering wheel. Then he tossed the handcuff key into the back seat. “As promised, the key is all yours. It’s been fun, Luka.”
Jack raced through the rain back to the van, gunned the engine, and rammed the sedan one final time, sending it fully into the water.
